My Workout Songs

I actually don't workout hahaha! But I plan to do some jogging and decided to create my workout playlist. It is undeniable that music affects our emotions, intelligence, and health. Even without words, music can make us joyful or depressed, energized or sleepy.

Listening to music that induces relaxation, before taking a test has been proven to temporarily enhance IQ and improve scores. Music also has unending benefits on our health.

With regards to health, it has been proven that music reduces blood pressure and music is also used as a form of therapy to pain and to calm patients in mental hospitals.

Mark Tramo, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, commented on a study which "showed that the heart muscle of people exercising on treadmills didn't work as hard when people listened to music as it did when they exercised in silence."

That is why I spent some time creating my perfect workout playlist and here it is:

1. Any songs from Britney Spear's Blackout (yup I love it!)
2. Stronger - Kanye West
3. Elevator - Flo Rida Feat Timbaland
4. I Got It From My Mama - Will.I.Am
   
5. Low - Flo Rida feat t-Pain
6. Feedback - Janet Jackson
7. pump it - Blackeyed Peas (or any songs from them actually)
8. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake
9. Like This - Mims
10. Dance Like There's No Tomorrow - Paula Abdul
11. Easy - Paula DeAnda
12. Aikoi - Kajiura Yuri
13. In the Church - Kajiura Yuri
14. 19 Sai - Suga Shikao
15. I'm Coming - Rain (Bi)
16. Fergilicious - Fergie
17. Tokyo Drift - teriyaki Boyz
18. Get It On the Floor - DMX
19. Show Me The Money - ???
20. Not Gonna Get Us - t.A.T.u.
21. Any Song from Panic! At the Disco!
22. Please Don't Stop the Music - Rihanna (or any other of her songs like Break it Off, etc)
    
23. I'm A Scatman - Scatman Jack
24. maria - Kim Ah Joong
25. Outta My Head - ashlee Simpson
26. Me & You - Cassie
27. Die Another Day - Madonna
28. Do It Well - Jeniffer Lopez
29. Push It - Salt & Pepper
30. Fighter - Christina Aguilera (or her other fast tempo songs)

So how do you choose songs for that incredible workout playlist? Here are some guidelines:

• The song must have a fast tempo with a nice beat to it that would want you to move more
• A song that you personally love (therefore don't just copy other people's workout playlist)
• A song where you lose yourself making you forget your fatigue and make you go an extra mile.

Music is a great motivation to keep on going and it is fun to listen to music right? Happy workout guys!

I ♥ Crunchyroll

I am a known Anime fanatic and I love anime and I am addicted to it. Anime inspires me to dream and to believe that there is something more and greater to this life. Some anime that I have watched and enjoyed are Elfen Lied, Flame of Recca, Erementar Gerad, Vision of Escaflowne, Hunter X Hunter, San Goku, Naruto, xxxHolic, Card Captor Sakura, DNAngel, Detective Conan, and a lot more (I may have even forgotten some titles, damn I have a bad memory). But one thing is for sure, it is very difficult to find these anime titles online. Youtube sucks because they remove it while other online video streaming communities don't have the complete series. So where do I find good quality anime? Simple! Crunchyroll!

Crunchyroll which is sometimes called as the Asian Youtube is a fast growing online community for anime lovers. It was started by the mysterious "Shinji" who started Crunchyroll just for fun.
Crunchyroll has a vast collection of anime (as well as other Asian dramas and movies) for FREE! You just pay if you want to watch a high quality and high definition streaming. And the payment is used to keep the servers running and to give more bandwidth as hosting a site is not free after all.

Like Youtube, Crunchyroll also faced some copyright problems as some of their anime was licensed. But this was already addressed by Crunchyroll so don't expect to find any licensed material (you may still find some videos if you're lucky that are uploaded by some members) and hentai (Anime porn, hehehe). Wait, is hentai even licensed?

But they still have a lot of unlicensed anime that are worth the watch, like Naruto for example.

I'll Miss My Boiled Peanuts

One advantage of living far away from civilization is that you get to go on an hour travel time. And what do I do during these travel times? I either take a nap, listen to music, or I think... Yup I think of emo stuff to serious stuff to dirty stuff hahaha! I just have a lot of thoughts that surges into my mind when I'm not doing anything. And I was on a one way ride to daydream land I was thinking what I'll be missing in the Philippines when I move to Canada.

I was nibbling on my favorite bag of boiled peanuts when the thought hit me, I'll miss my boiled peanuts hehehe. I know that Canada will have peanuts but I'm not sure if they'll have my favorite fresh boiled peanuts. Maybe I'll start my peanut shop there and spread the addiction to peanuts, acne afflicted skin, and anaphylactic shock from allergies to peanuts hehehe. What an evil plan to destroy the world. But seriously, I'll miss Pinoy dishes but I don't think that I'll be missing it that much because my dad (yup he's our personal slave/cook/house boy/carpenter/plumber/driver/assistant/etc) will be with us.

I'll miss my friends, my school, and my way of life here in the Philippines. But I won't miss the sight of poverty, injustice, and plain ugliness that the Philippines has to offer for Filipino. Moving to Canada is a an escape from all these hardships that the common Filipino has. Well, we aren't poor so I haven't really experience real hardship but we're not rich either so I somehow have an idea of how a poor Filipino live.

I know for a fact that I'll be enjoying my new life and I sure can't wait to move.

Corazon Aquino & Colon Cancer

I was actually shocked to discover that the former Philippine president, Cory Aquino, was announced by her daughter, Kris Aquino, a famous celebrity, that Mrs. Aquino was diagnosed with colon cancer. We know Mrs. Aquino as a living symbol of democracy as she was swept into power by a peaceful EDSA I revolution to overthrow the then President, Ferdinand Marcos. She also was the one that helped bring the current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to power and is also ironically the one joining protests to bring President GMA down. But this time she faces a far more bigger battle, a battle for her life as she fights against colon cancer.

So what is colon cancer? To know that we must first define what cancer is.In a normal body function, rapid division and multiplication of cells are needed to regenerate and heal the body. But there are times when the growth is uncontrollable and spreads (metastasizes) into other parts of the organs where it continue to divides and replaces normally functioning cells with abnormal cells. Cancer cells multiply so fast that they may occlude blood vessels and steal blood flow by forming their own vasculature stealing normal organs their blood supply thus the organ dies. And for the people who are confused, tumors are abnormal proliferation of cells and there are two kinds of tumors, benign and malignant. Benign is non-cancerous and does not spread so it can be safely removed by surgery. The dangerous kind of tumor is a malignant tumor as it is cancerous. Even if the malignant tumor is removed, remaining cells could still multiply at a more rapid rate that is why chemotherapy (the use of medication to kill cancer cells) is also required to kill cancerous cells, but unfortunately it also kills normal cells but that would be a different topic.

I'm not sure if Mrs. Aquino's cancer is malignant or benign, but I'm guessing that it is malignant because she wouldn't have let the whole Philippines know that she had cancer. So let me share the some relevant information as to what causes colon cancer, signs and symptoms of colon cancer, what the treatment is, and what the preventions are. These are very important to know as this could save your life one day.

So what causes colon cancer? It's still unknown but it is believed that a high fat diet increases one's risk for colon cancer. Why? Breakdown of fat leads to the formation of carcinogens (cancer causing substances). Although cancer is not contagious, it is hereditary so if you have any relatives with any kind of cancer then you are at high risk for cancer.

Symptoms of colon cancer are numerous and nonspecific. They include fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, change in bowel habits, narrow stools, diarrhea or constipation, red or dark blood in stool, weight loss, abdominal pain, cramps, or bloating. Other conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (spastic colon), ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, diverticulosis, and peptic ulcer disease can have symptoms that mimic colorectal cancer (from medicinenet.com).

The treatment for colon cancer, like any other cancer is surgical removal to prevent the metastsis or spread of cancer cells to other organs. But treatment does not mean that you will be treated immediately. Factors as to how much the cancer had progressed plays an important role. This is why prevention is better than treatment because one only notices that one has cancer when it is already too late when the cancer has already grown and spread causing the signs and symptoms.

Preventing cancer entails a healthy lifestyle like eating healthy avoiding fatty foods, carcinogens like charred meat, drinking too much alcohol, etc. But the best prevention is early detection. It is recommended that all individuals over the age of 40 have yearly digital examinations of the rectum and their stool tested for hidden or "occult" blood (from medicinenet.com).In a digital rectal exam a doctor inserts his finger through your anus and feels for polyps (abnormal growth). For males, a digital rectal exam is like hitting two birds with one stone as the prostate gland can also be checked for prostate cancer at the same time.

Other early detection procedures are flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. Here a video camera is inserted to see how your colon looks checking for abnormal growths and other anomalies.

For more information please visit this site: medicinenet.com

Deciphering the Doctor's Handwriting

We all heard about the Da Vinci Code right? But there is something more difficult to comprehend and very difficult to decipher: the doctor's handwriting... it's a great mystery why Doctor's handwriting is illegible. There is also this study conducted by the British Medical Journal to check if doctor's handwriting were legible. Guess what the result is? Doctors Fail Handwriting Test!

For years now I have always been told that my handwriting is like a doctor's. This is meant to be a joke of course, but can also be misunderstood for an insult. It is true that I had my own share of horror and eye strain from trying to read and make sense of the scribbles and marks written by doctor's on their Doctor's Order.
In fact I always have to team up with my other duty mates to help me break the secret of the doctor's handwriting. But we always end up making mistakes. It amazes us though that my clinical instructors are able to understand this foreign handwriting. We always ask our CI's in wonder how in the world do they understand those scribbles and doodles? Their answer? Lot's of experience with doctor's orders. But even the experienced staff nurse also makes mistakes because there are doctor's handwriting are so encrypted to the point that deciphering it is no use. Just a thought: Doctor's should get into the date security business.

But what is so important about doctor's having legible handwriting? Simple, a misunderstood order could lead to death of a patient. Don't believe me then take some time to read this article from BBC News: Health Doctor's Scrawl Blamed For Patient's Death. As the article shows a poorly written order or prescription could lead to a patient's death.

But let us not flame our doctors because it is not their fault too that they have such illegible handwriting. We also have to think that they have a lot of patients to take care of that is why they have to do their charting very quick. But how come nurses are able to have more legible handwriting when nurses are the ones who are with the patient 24/7 and are always documenting every procedure they do for every patient?

But there is nothing we can accomplish with complaining that we can't understand the doctor's handwriting. What we can do is look for a solution. The best solution with this problem is electronic orders or prescriptions. The orders and prescriptions are just flashed into the monitor with beautiful and neat computer generated text. This may be already true to First World Countries like USA, Canada, and the UK. But in the case of the Philippines? We can't do anything but pray that the doctor writes in print or we nag them to death to interpret their handwriting or our license is on the line. Wait, I don't have a license yet.