Thanksgiving In New Jersey

Source here.

 Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We're only working four hours today, and since the year is winding down, work is slowing down as well.  I still have two final papers waiting for me, but I'm taking this little break to update my blog.

I am THANKFUL that my bone-marrow biopsy went well even though I suffered some sort of anesthesia withdrawal afterwards.  I was too sick to do anything after the procedure.  My hip still hurts from time-to-time, and I am hoping it will go away soon.

We will be doing something nontraditional for Thanksgiving.  Since it's just the two of us, Kepi and I will be spending our Thanksgiving at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, NJ.  I've been to the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas so this is my first time visiting this sister casino in AC (not sure if they're managed by one company).  I'm actually excited because they offer a special Thanksgiving buffet at a very good price.  I'll blog on that when I come back.

Another exciting news, we'll put up the tree this weekend.  This is one of the things I look forward to every Christmas season.  Also, the countdown has begun for our trip to Spain next month. I am excited.

Christmas Exchange Gift Party

Photo Source here.

Here's my Christmas Wish List Guide

• Something you use everyday: cosmetic case and scented pens
• Something soft: cute fluffy ear warmers
• Something sweet: milk chocolate or any hard candies
• Something you need for work: desk calendar
• Favorite colors: pink, blue and red
• Favorite flavors: strawberry and mango
• Something you collect: Sanrio or Rilakkuma stationeries
• Something you need:a bento style lunch box that I can take to work
• Share you most important wish this year: Health for me and my family.

Please note that this list is just a guideline. It's Christmas and whatever you put into that box will surely make me happy as long as it's packed with cheer and kindness.

If you'd like to exchange gifts with me, leave a comment on this entry, post your Christmas Wish List by November 21 and leave me a link of your blog post.

Where Did Autumn Go?

November comes

And November goes,

With the last red berries

And the first white snows

- Elizabeth Coatsworth -

I think we skipped autumn and went straight to winter.  Or, I have simply not paid attention to the changing colors of trees that when I finally woke up, they're all bare and brown.  In addition to this time lapse, hurricane Sandy left us with a parting gift - chilly temperatures.  Hurricane Sandy brought wind, rain and fury, but we're glad that she left us unscathed in my area.  Nearby farms were flooded and the quiet Monocacy River swelled up making the bridge impassable.  But such is life, after the storm, we pick up where we left off.  Slowly, the mid-Atlantic is starting to feel normal again; I send my prayers to those who have lost so much most especially in the New Jersey and New York areas.

Due to the storm, my bone marrow biopsy was postponed. I wasn't really happy with that, as I wanted it done the soonest.  My rescheduled date is this Thursday, and I had to stay in a hotel for 2 nights during my tests at NIH. I have to summon my strength to get through all these.  I can't wait when all of these tests are over.  Gosh, I can't wait when I no longer have bone marrow failure.

School is coming to a close.  I have been busy writing my final papers; I've got two.  My brain feels dull and sometimes I am plagued with run-on sentences and guilty of incoherent thoughts.  I sometimes wonder how I'm going to survive this semester.

I keep wondering if I'm keeping myself too busy or spreading myself too thin.  These days, I prefer cuddling with Dizzy or imagining the first sight of snow.  Perhaps idle thoughts aren't so bad and are a welcome relief to a stressed mind.

Kayni's 2012 Christmas Exchange Gift Party

It's here! It's here! Kayni's 2012 Christmas Exchange Gift Party :)

Image Source here.

Christmas Wish List Guide

• Something you use everyday:
• Something soft:
• Something sweet:
• Something you need for work:
• Favorite colors:
• Favorite flavors:
• Something you collect:
• Something you want:
• Share you most important wish this year:

Please note that this list is just a guideline. It's Christmas and whatever you put into that box will surely make me happy as long as it's packed with cheer and kindness.

If you'd like to exchange gifts with me, leave a comment on this entry, post your Christmas Wish List by November 15 and leave me a link of your blog post.

I'd like to finish shopping early, as I'll be on vacation on the first two weeks of December.

A Mid-October Update

Photo Source

It's mid-October and the holiday season is upon us. I am excited.

My apologies for my absence in the blogging world, as school has taken precedence in my life.  After this semester, I have one more semester then I have to write my thesis. I keep thinking a lot of you are living far more exciting lives than I am these days. I feel that while I'm stuck rotting with my textbooks, everyone seems to be doing something more fun. I miss having my free time or just traveling to some place on a whim. I miss the familiarity as well as spontaneity of travel.

I do have travel plans, but they won't take place until December. Also, it depends if my Hematologist would approve it; I remain optimistic. My platelets are in the high 20s the past three blood works, so if my count goes up, I'd be hopping on a plane to Spain. This is my second time to visit Spain, and although our port of entry is Barcelona, we will be spending most of our trip exploring Andalusia. Our itinerary is still in the planning stage, so I am hoping we will get our itinerary straightened out before our flight day arrives.

In two weeks, I am going through my fourth bone-marrow biopsy. Please keep me in your prayers and well wishes. There will be other tests that I'll go through as well. November 1st is the completion of my first year in clinical trial and the beginning of my second year treatment for my Aplastic Anemia. It's been a challenging yet enriching journey. But this is one journey I do not wish for anyone.

Here's a few more thoughts I've been mauling about:

• Christmas exchange gift with me - There were three who joined last year. I am hoping to post the announcement before this month ends, so that we can start posting our lists. This exchange gift is with me, so if you're interested to be my partner, leave me a comment.
• Have you seen "Taken 2" yet? I love it! The movie is a continuous adrenaline rush, no boring parts.
• Kepi and I went to the Sugarloaf Festival this weekend and pigged out...oink, oink. I did my little shopping for handmade crafts, but we spent most of our money on festival food - kettle popcorn, turkey leg, greek gyro, steak sandwich and ribbon fries topped with cheese, bacon bits and Japaleno. I'd love to go back to the November festival.
• October 22 marks the first year Kepi and I are engaged. Wedding plans are on-going.

The Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg - Iceland

The Krysuvikurberg area is accessible by car, preferably a four wheel drive vehicle, but if you're a hiker, you can also walk from the main road to the cliffs, which is a good 20 to 30 minute hike through rough terrain. Even  the road is rough and bumpy, but our little rental made it through. It even drove through a creek.  Apart from the breathtaking view, the Cliffs of Krysuvikurberg is home to some of the largest colonies of seabirds found in Iceland. According to the brochure I got from the inn, it is about 15 km wide and a great place for hiking.

The crescent shaped cliffs battered by wind, snow and rain.

 

The vastness of the cold sea, the crescent cliffs, the chilly temperature that made me shiver, the wind pushing and pulling yet the birds seemed to be at home. I wasn't.

A colony of birds live on the side of the cliffs.

To them, this is home.

No wonder the birds love it here, they have the best view in the world - the horizon and the sea.

 This is no place for bikinis or shorts or spaghetti straps. The wind is fierce and the chilly temperature crept through every bone in my body. Still, I managed to smile. I do love Iceland.

Kepi the photographer.

At that time, we were the only ones visiting the cliffs. Perhaps everyone went to bed as when these photos were taken, it was close to 9 PM.

Thingvellir National Park - Iceland

According to the continental drift theory, the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates shift and drift apart in an endless clash of awe-inspiring forces under the gaping rifts and chasms at the tip of the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland, through Thingvellir National Park and elsewhere in the drift zone or the Icelandic Graben. It actually is the continuation of the Mid Atlantic Ridge oceanic plates in successive stages back in time to about 200 million years ago. Since then, the theory of plate tectonics has been debated, tested, and expanded and has become both a paradigm and a centre of controversy for the geological sciences. (Source here)
 

The place is amazing, and the view is so beautiful.

The water there is so clean and clear, and I don't know why some people still throw coins into the water, as it is prohibited.

A river forms as the tectonic plates move away from each other.

I keep thinking the owner of that house is so lucky to be beautifully located.

That's how clean and clear the water was.

A sign for "Do not throw coins" yet people are so stubborn.

It would be nice to come back here and swim at night.

The Earth is moving, and so are we.

A road or pathway was built in-between the Eurasion and North American tectonic plates.

I want to go back to Thingvellir National Park again and perhaps camp there. I've seen quite a few campers who stayed there overnight. That part of the park we explored is just a fraction of the entirety of the park I look forward to exploring this area perhaps on foot next time.

First Sign Of Fall

Summer is gone, and I look forward to Fall.

The Labor Day weekend went too quickly, but I felt that I was able to catch up on some rest and sleep; it was the official end of summer and the start of Fall. Labor Day signaled a couple things: the beginning of Fall and the first day of school. Of course, it also meant busier schedule for me.

While driving on Sunday, I saw the first sign of Fall - leaves have started to fall and are scattered in the neighborhood. I sighed. It was a sigh of relief because the summer heat took a toll on my health. Perhaps with the cooler temperatures, I can recuperate. I'd say September will be a month to regain my strength, as I prepare for D-day for October, a two day trip to NIH for tests and another bone marrow biopsy. This marks the end of my first year in treatment. Gladly, I have regained my hair. I am scared yet I can't wait to get the biopsy out of the way. I really don't know when will this journey with AA end; I am getting tired of it.

With September here, I can't help but think about Christmas. After all, it's my favorite time of the year. Perhaps Santa will bring me a bag of perfect health this year.

I remain grateful and hopeful.

Geothermal Spot - Seltun, Iceland

I LOVE visiting the geothermal spots in Iceland.

Whenever I walked to a geothermal spot, I felt like I was in another planet. The vents, the red dirt, the boiling mud pots and the smell of sulfur is quite an experience. We visited a few geothermal areas in Iceland, but for me, Seltun was impressive and has left me intrigued what can be possibly boiling beneath us.

 It drizzled when we were driving towards Seltun.

 T'was a sight to see so many mud pots and the smell of sulfur was ubiquitous. My clothes, skin and hair smelled like sulfur when we got home that day. I finally experienced what my Dad used to tell us about sulfur when he was still working at the Batong-Buhay gold mines.

 More mud pots and fumaroles.

 Boiling mud pot.

It would have been nice if we brought eggs to boil here.

 I really felt like walking in a another planet.

 Mineral deposits from geothermal activity.

According to my Reykjanes brochure, "Seltun is an important geothermal area. It provides a wealth of study opportunities due to the great variety of features. Sulphur is especially abundant and has been mined there in the past. Cold, clear water flows off the hillsides and through areas teeming with fumaroles and boiling mudpots."

Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavik, Iceland

And we're back to Iceland...

This is the Hallgrímskirkja, which was very close to our guesthouse. We've actually used this as our guide in driving and exploring the city. You can't miss this church because of its interesting architecture, and it's one of the not-to-miss icons in Reykjavik.

In the cold evenings, Kepi and I would walk around the church just observing and studying its architecture.

According to Wikipedia, the Hallgrímskirkja (church of Hallgrímur) is a Lutheran parish church in Reykjavík, Iceland.  At 244 ft, it is the largest church in Iceland and the sixth tallest architectural structure in the country. The church is named after the Icelandic poet and clergyman Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 to 1674), author of the Passion Hymns. State Architect Guðjón Samúelsson's design of the church was commissioned in 1937.  He is said to have designed it to resemble the basalt lava flows of Iceland's landscape.  It took 38 years to build the church. Construction work began in 1945 and ended in 1986, the landmark tower being completed long before the church's actual completion.

The church is also used as an observation tower. An observer can take a lift up to the viewing deck and view Reykjavík and the surrounding mountains. The statue of explorer Leif Eriksson (1929–32) by Alexander Stirling Calder in front of the church predates its construction. It was a gift from the United States in honor of the 1930 Alþingi Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Iceland's parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD. More info is available here.

REFERENCE:  Italicized words are from Wikipedia.