you know you're addicted when...

... despite it triggering hot flashes that could almost make you cry, you still drink coffee.

seoul preps III

• reserved rooms at Seoul Backpackers today. I tried to do that thru their website's reservation form yesterday, but I didn't get a reply, so I sent them an e-mail to make sure my request goes thru. Fortunately, I did, because that's only when I got a response from them. I wonder what the point of having an online form if it doesn't work the way it should.

• thinking about going to the mall tomorrow before work and do some canvassing of stuff to buy for the trip. that is if I get up earlier than 9AM tomorrow. it's up to the lazy me.

• still haven't finalized the itinerary - although we don't plan on sticking to a definite course of things to do. it would be a great help to have a list of alternatives of places to go or things to do. it's still winter in Korea, some tourist spots may not be as pleasing to visit as they should in summer or autumn.

seoul preps II

Got my Korean visa.


Now is the time to really buy stuff I need for the trip... such as:

• hiking boots
• traveler adapter (for all those e-gadget charging needs)
• memory cards
• camcorder

... and all other things I think I need but probably won't be able to use.


I'm half-excited, half-scared. It's my first time out of the country, and me and my travel companions are doing it DIY. (The idea of restricted itinerary doesn't appeal to us.) And the first-timer me is doing most of the research and preps for our itinerary.


And we even have the guts to travel by train from Seoul to Busan - and then back to Seoul all within a day.


I hope this trip goes very well as I plan to go back to see Nami Island and the Korean Folk Village by September with my folks.


Goodluck to us.

that bbq feeling

I started having my lupron shots a month ago - that med that's gonna cause me temporary menopause (to stop new cysts from growing in my ovary) for a month, and since I'm in a 6-month program, I get a shot once a month till June.

It's only the second month, and the low level of estrogen is already wreaking havoc in my body, i.e. hot flashes, night sweats, sleeplessness in the night, sleepiness by day, and mood swings. My hot flashes ain't the kind you experience when you blush when you see your crush. It's the kind of feeling you get when you run a marathon and then suddenly stopped on your tracks - it's a burning feeling from the inside. It starts at the back of the neck, or at the upper back, and then spreads (sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly) to the torso and the limbs. Even when inside an airconditioned room, I sweat like I was under the midday sun. Imagine me in the office, fanning myself to cool down while everybody else is donning a jacket. What's crazier is that when I cool down, I cool down to a chill. And then I get goosebumps from the low temperature.

Now I understand why 'occasional crying' is a menopausal symptom - the roller coaster temperature, when it happens in short intervals, is enough to drive you crazy. And frustrated. And irked. So irked, you cry. And then you get the mood swings.

"Now you know how it is to menopause," my doctor told me, "remember that when you get old."

Think about that. All that suffering plus mid-life crisis.

So, to the kid reading this: don't get irritated by your middle-aged mother's fits. (Glad I wasn't when my Mom went through this.) You don't know how it is to be barbecued from the inside every now and then.