A HEARTFELT DEDICATION TO MY EX-COLLEAGUES

My Thoughts on Adele, Bieber, and 1D's Newly Released Albums

This week, I had an opportunity to completely listen to the three of the humongous pop albums released last week: Adele's 25, Justin Bieber's Purpose, and 1D's Made in the A.M. Here is my honest verdict (spoiler alert: at the end of this review, you'll discover that I am a newfound Belieber.:-))

25, ADELE-9/10
The vocals are obviously stunning, and 'Hello' indeed is a stand-out track. The album revolves around love, break-up, moving-on, closure, pain, and daydreams. My other secondary favourites are When We Were Young (expression of utmost admiration to a partner or lover) and Million Years Ago (about having small dreams and how to achieve them overwhelmingly). Remedy is also a nice track. Overall, the album made me feel things, but wait, here's Bieber...

Purpose, JUSTIN BIEBER-10/10
I don't know why, and I don't want to know. I just became a part of a world phenomenon called Justin Bieber. 3 years of hiatus then here comes a quality album called "Purpose", which is totally nothing like he has done before. Every single track is unique and the vocals are outstanding and captivating. I have judged him somehow before because he just can't keep things in his pants. But now Bieber is giving the Beliebers pop songs that they want to hear, like I do now. My most favourite are "Sorry", "Purpose", and "Love Yourself". They are equally catchy and the melody kills. "I'll Show You" is for the judgemental people, "Life is Worth Living" is for the murderous ISIS, and "What Do U Mean" is for his ex, Selena. I can't get enough of this album. Highly recommended. I forgot to mention that 17 out of 19 songs from the album are part of this weeks Billboard Hot 100. That says it all.

Made in the A.M., One Direction-5/10
Awful album. There's nothing new at all. I need at least a decade without One Direction, so that when they come back, they can come up with an album that is not a rip-off from other pop artists. It's disappointing how they rip "Love You Goodbye" from "Apologize". (Try to listen to it and prove me wrong). The only good song in the album for me is "If I Could Fly". The rest of the songs are just bland.

BEST OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA

ON THE WINGS OF LOVE

STEFFEN UND MIKE FüR IMMER UND EWIG

Estranged, I Lost My Way Home

I am not estranged from my family but I don't make it a habit to go back to my hometown regularly. The last time I went home was April of this year and the closest date before that was June of last year. Literally, I only went to see my loved ones once a year. Am I really a bad son?

I recently just lost my job in a brutal way (this happened to me also 6 months ago; the deep cut is still fresh) but there is no way that I'm coming home. Just one SMS message and a short call to my family can already ease my pain. And I did that. No more drama. There are so many jobs out there, only if I choose not to be picky.

Don't think though that I am a thousand miles  away from home. It's just that, I don't like being in the countryside. Living there could be miserable for me. The television has only 2 channels there. Our local government implemented a scheduled power blackout 8 hours a day and I always got to miss my favorite TV show. In addition, I was a bit lucky to have a GSM and GPRS signal on the Internet, but hell, I can't stream videos, download movies, or make a Skype call. The distant church would also increase my likelihood of practicing a  now-I-can-be-seen and now-I-don't habit on a Sunday mass.

When it rains, it pours. But in the country side, it's a different thing. When it rains, the road gets muddy. I just simply hate it. And who would like to share my very large bath area? You just don't know how to feel taking a bath with a water buffalo wiggling a tail in a swamp nearby, or with the whole village watching your naked glory (Oh, this had worsen my exhibitionist side). The scarce transportation and distant travel would also had me wish I could apparate just like the Non-muggles do in Harry Potter movies.

Oh, my mother loves me so much, I swear, but every time, I went home, after seeing me in almost a year, she would utter, "Noy, ngaa nag-uli ikaw haw? Malutak, giya nga daan pay". I just smiled every time I hear that line. Mother really knows what's best for me.

I remember, when I came home last summer, I lost my way home, LITERALLY! After almost a year of being away from home, I was surprised to see the detours and some fences in the middle of the plains and rice fields. The bushes and grasses were even taller with some vines blocking my way. I wondered I might be in Terrabithia or Narnia. It took me a while before I could get to find a way home. When I got home, no one's around. I burst into tears. Later I found out that they all went to see a basketball tournament and a fancy circus show in the village center. And so I remained composed.

With these, I had big realizations in life. Things are really different now, and so I am. It seemed like yesterday when I felt the joy of living my young life in the countryside. Nothing could be happier than the memories of my childhood but I ought to have a different life now. I am a grown-up man, I now have different priorities and bigger dreams. But no matter where the road will lead me, I should always come home. I must come home.

My life is really a melodrama and I can't help it. When should I be coming home again?

WANTED: School Nurse for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

As of press time, I haven't watched Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II yet. I'll find time in the coming days, that's for sure (I became an instant fan after watching all the first 7 episodes in a span of 4 days while others waited for them the entire decade). Don't think though that this article is about Harry Potter's battle against the Dark Lord or he-who-must-not-be-named. This is all about my profession. Where on Earth are the nurses can be found today? Where am I?

When I filled out that registration form (RF as commonly known in many state universities) to enrol myself to nursing back in 2001, I was driven by the idea that after 4 years, I'm going to America. A decade after, I'm still here. I was a bit lucky to practice my profession for 5 years in two of the most reputable hospitals here in the country. The bad news is that not every nursing graduate shared the same fate with mine, especially today. With the high commercialization of the nursing profession (with nursing schools sprouting across the country), our state was able to produce nursing graduates and nursing professionals that can no longer be fully accommodated by hospitals, clinics, and other local.health care facilities.

What's next? The scenarios for nurses are getting hilarious and quite alarming. Here's a bit of them:

• More and more nurses choose to work abroad before serving their very own country. (This is not new, of course. The issues of brain drain is an old story).
• When you ride a jeepney, you can't just simply talk or boast about your being a nurse or so because everyone sitting next to you (except for the driver, of course) are all nurses too.
• Many nurses are working on the BPO companies either as virtual assistants, customer service representatives or telemarketers. (It's quite sad, those things are not even included in the Fundamentals of Nursing).
• Many clinical or nursing instructors are teaching even with a very working experience in a clinical setting (What would students will learn aside from theories?).
• Many nurses today have completed a number of nursing and English exams (costly at that), yet they are still stuck in the country because they lack the required number of years of experience to apply to open countries.
• Most hospitals right now are charging the new nursing applicants of unreasonable training or affiliation fees. (Mostly have got no choice but to pay just to join the nursing organization of a particular hospital they wish to apply).
• Nurse Volunteering became a regular program even on private health care facilities. What's worse, most would volunteer working as a nurse for over a year and fail to get a post or staff position. The hospital will just give a “Volunteer Staff Nurse” certificate as a consolation. (That is a misnomer, volunteer nurse and staff nurse are two different terms).
• Most nursing professionals have renewed their license for nothing. They are only paying a fee every 3 years without having the feel of being a nurse, if you know what I mean.
• What's worst, some hospital nursing organizations internally built some sort of 'political system' where those whose in power exercise monopoly (I don't have to elaborate this because I don't want to speak about lies, deception, betrayal, oppression, favoritism and greed for power).

Indeed, with the above scenarios, nurses of today have nowhere to go. There are so many negative forces holding them (us) back. The competition is very steep, too. When there's no job opening for nurses in the Philippines, maybe nurses could go somewhere else. I have heard, there are so many casualties in Hogwarts now. They have an opening for a school nurse!