Saturday, January 12, 2013

Man vs. Angry Sea Turtle

image from www.treehugger.com


     We often hear about encounters between man and other creatures in the wild. Some are scary, some adorable, and some funny. This particular video posted on YouTube shows a rare glimpse of a sea turtle, an animal we usually think of as mild mannered and gentle. While the clip doesn't exactly show a turtle gone wild, it does offer a rarely seen facet of its personality.




     To the diver's credit, it interacts with the turtle in a gentle manner. However, I wouldn't recommend placing your hands near a turtle's mouth if you value your fingers. It was kind of amusing to see the turtle snapping at various parts of the diver's body, like a boxer being shown punching in slow motion. On the other hand, I never realized just how massive and intrusive an oil rig is until I saw this video. I can only imagine what the ocean's inhabitants make of it, as well as all the ruckus created when it is being constructed. No wonder Mr. Sea Turtle got miffed enough to go back and have a second try at the diver.


© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.

Meet the Happiest Creature on Earth

     While scrolling through pins on Pinterest, I came across a picture of the quokka (pronounced kwak-a), a marsupial found in southern Australia. The size of a cat, it kind of looks like a cross between a kangaroo, a koala, and a rat with a seemingly permanent grin on its face. Click here to see a video and article on this adorable creature.

http://www.thefeaturedcreature.dreamhosters.com/wordpress6/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/quokka_close2.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Quokka-Raffi_Kojian-CIMG6317.JPG

     Although it may not actually be feeling the emotion of happiness or is perpetually happy as its expression implies, who can resist that cute, chubby face. One just can't help but smile in return. Let's just hope that the species' population decline stops before it's too late.

http://taronga.org.au/sites/default/files/imagecache/media_lightbox/quokka-and-mum-resize.jpg



© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Aaaarrrggghhhhhh....!

image from http://obeedesigns.tumblr.com/post/18553950131


     That pretty much sums up how I feel this weekend. Just three weeks into the semester and I'm already weighed down by all the readings, skills that need to be learned, exam, assignments, and online material from not just one but two different resources. And all these are just for one subject. I'm actually taking two subjects this semester but thank goodness the other one is not as demanding. Otherwise I'd be pulling out all my hair by now. I don't think bald is a good look on me. Then again, the sem's still early. I can still lose some hair by the time Christmas rolls around. Not a nice prospect when it's winter time and snow is falling.

     But this is all just venting. I'm glad I've finally started on the nursing program. Two weeks from now we'll be going on our hospital clinicals. We'll be dealing with actual patients, walking around in an actual hospital unit. It's exciting and kinda terrifying at the same time. Even with my medical assisting experience and background, I feel a kind of performance anxiety. It's going to be health care at a whole new level. At the very least I hope to uphold the directive of "do no harm". And that I don't do a face plant while on duty. Can you imagine doing that in front of a patient?

     Anyway, enough venting and goofing off. I hear my megaton textbook calling me.


© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present. 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Farewell to Summer

     To me it still feels like 2012 had just started. But as the cliche goes, time flies and now summer is almost at an end with autumn close at its heels. This summer I wasn't able to go to the beach even once, nor did I get near a pool at the least. But one of my favorite summer activities that I'm glad I did get to do is have a barbeque.

     On the eve of Labor Day holiday we finally got the grill out to do a simple barbeque for dinner with just the family. On the menu were chicken drumsticks, potato salad, steamed veggies and rice. The only thing I got a picture of were the drumsticks while they were grilling, everything else are a pleasant memory by now. These drumsticks were marinated in a simple ketchup based marinade, and happily enough they turned out ok. Next time I'll take an extra step to make sure it comes out really tender.

chicken drumstick on the grill, yum!

      What's your favorite summer activity?

© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

5 Ways Not to Start Your Monday (Guest Blog)

(Note: As I'd mentioned earlier, I invited two of my friends to guest blog here and they accepted. So today we have a blog from one of them - Malou of Thinking OutLoud. I have known Malou for more than ten years now, and she shares with me a passion for writing, from which her blog was born. Without further ado, I now turn you over to her.)





     I always love and hate Mondays. Like a central character in a movie, it always pulls me back to where the original plot of my life: work, home, and family. Not that I feel locked up in an imaginary box and want to go out and party. Nah, I am already 30 when I got married. So I am pretty over with lazy-ing around, or going out, or doing my hair, waxing my legs or fixing my nails...Oh god I missed them. But really there are times I wish when I wake up, turn on the news and hear...'Monday has been cancelled go back to sleep'...In the gentle-mannered spirit that am well known for (oh alright, my husband still refers to me as Attila the Hun the last time he reasoned with me) I still like Mondays, thankful that I got o a job that earn me a living, and another extra day to be thankful for all God's blessings. Then again, glitch happens. And I am going to offer a few tips how to avoid those unavoidable glitches.

1. Don't start with falling off from staircase.
     Of course it is better than being bombed, attacked or roasted in fire. But for the love of holy, what is so nice from falling off from a school staircase? As I was descending the stair, my slippers must have lost its grasp, my foot wobbled and then...crash.
     I mean CRASH.
     My purse went flying. The boots my son used in coming to school rolled away. The umbrella burst open and I got a kid surprised with an oversized adult bouncing in front of him. I instinctively tucked my arms in, landed on my side and rolled to my back, with the umbrella still open. My butt still hurts when I was writing this.

2. Don't share a ride with pickpockets.

     Well this isn't under my control. This morning while I got off from the train, I put inside my pocket my cellphone, earphone, a few coins and a train ticket. As the sky was storming, I stopped and open my umbrella (the same that burst open) and voila, the white ear plugs were gone. I didn't see anyone come near me, but what is good of being a thief if you are not as quick as the gorgeous Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, right? Good thing the cellphone didn't come with it. I am always on guard while riding a public transport but glitch happens as I said.

3. Don't start without breakfast.

     Who wants to wait until lunch time? So I have gobbled up two large cups of coffee that makes me palpitating the rest of the morning. Obviously, I am not a bit coffee fan. This why I don't know what separates Macchiato and Cappuccino from Al Pacino (corny!). I can't tolerate too much caffeine. It makes me feel edgy and tensed. The way to flush this caffeine out of my body is by drinking gallons of water. Palpitating no, bloated yes.

4.  Don't start with cold, wet feet.

     I woke up this morning a little too cold. My body aches and I thought I don't feel up for work. But I came to office nonetheless. It's been raining for straight two weeks now and I'm beginning to hate it. It leaves me unpleasantly cold, the type I want to hibernate. But how can you hibernate if your house is under construction and your workers eat like three times a day?

5.  Don't start with Regine Velasquez song in your ear phone.

     Actually this is not counted. I always love listening to her. She was on when slipping off the staircase happened and she was there too when the crook took my lovely Samsung ear plugs. Go figure. May be the thief had already spotted me while still inside the train and saw how pretty those earplugs were. I don't know with others but I love Regine. Even if she is sporting a plus-size body and a big, awkward long hair these days. I don't mind if her voice is no longer clear as crystal as described by Kris Aquino before. She is to me what Adelle is to everyone in UK.

     Happy Monday to everyone!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

A Summer Afternoon in the Garden

     With summer still in full scorching swing, we've often been cooped up indoors as we try to beat the heat. Our choices are the airconditioner, electric fans, drinking cold drinks, eating ice cream or taking cool, refreshing showers. I especially love that last option at night when it's just too hot to sleep without freshening up from head to toe. This afternoon however, we were forced to sit outside for quite a spell and thankfully there was a nice breeze blowing. I wasn't doing much, just looking up at the clouds, out at the street, and sitting on the stoop. Then I happened to glance at the flowers my mother in law had in pots in front of the garage. How come I hadn't noticed the vibrant yellow daisy looking flowers there which might actually be marigolds? (Yes, they are indeed marigolds - google is my best friend hehehe) Or the striking hues of the lilies? Suddenly struck with inspiration, I brought out my camera and started taking snapshots of some of the flowers in our backyard. Here's hoping the heat will end soon!

marigolds and aster lilies
 

pink and yellow snapdragons
black eyed susans
red astilbe
hedgehogs and giant fungi
Nonee frolicking among the flowers hehehe






© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.

Friday, August 3, 2012

I Have Guests Coming!

     Just a little announcement about something I'm looking forward to. I've invited two of my friends to guest blog either here or on my other blog, In Review. They are both fellow bloggers here. Malou writes Thinking Outloud, a quirky and funny blog about life in general. Dio writes Sense and Sensibility which, in her own words, is a "view of what and how I think (even if it is scary)". I would like to thank them in advance for saying yes to my invitation. Hopefully we'll all see the fruits of this collaboration very soon!

© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.