Made it.

These past few months, I’ve found myself in a harrowing creative dry spell. There was nothing to write about, nothing to make art about, or at the very least, nothing to feel about (which explains my over due absence from this blog – I’m sorry!).

I remember a funny story (or at least I find it so), that in his supposed diary, King George III was known to have written, “Nothing of importance happened today” – on the same day that America declared independence from Britain.

And I guess this is what I have been feeling on days on end, which stretched to weeks and months? That nothing of importance is happening at this side of my world.

12 Realizations on My First Month of Residency

Batch love: Marian, Chennie, Me, Donnah, Ikay

It’s January 27, 2019, meaning, I have only been officially 27 days into my Residency Training, yet it has been overwhelmingly crazy for a noob like me.

I’ve come up with a Passion Project to monthly document the little wins and losses of my Residency. And to start with this month: Here are 12 Realizations On My (Almost!) First Month of Residency:

2018 Closing Remarks

To Monica of 2018,

This is the year you became a Doctor. Officially.

You will look back at this year as the year you legitimately became the 11^th doctor of the family. There’s Lolo Mando, Tito Biyong, Tito Joe, Tita Ciony, Kuya Mark, Kuya Clyde, Ate Iris, Ate Hanisah, Aaron, Justine, then you. The struggle to find your own niche will take its toll but the people before you shall stand as your North Stars – they’re there to shed light on your unchartered path. Look up to them.

PLE protips, finally

Digital illustration by: Monica Cope

I made a deal with myself that as soon as I pass the board exams, I will be duty-bound to give the blessings right back where they are due. And by giving back, I meant helping other future board-takers tread the path of the most awaited, most dreaded, and most anticipated examination in a med student’s life – the Physician’s Licensure Examination (PLE).

Officially Dr. Monica Cope

2012 was the year my life reached a fork in the road. I remember wanting to go to med school but was doubtful of myself if I ever am truly physically, emotionally, and mentally prepared to go through rigorous studying and training to become a doctor.

An Open Letter to the BFF

Pawwy,

It’s October 31. Halloween. Always our favorite time of the year. I can only imagine Black Market being so jammed right now. And in my head, I see us at the center of the dance floor: dancing, gramming, screaming, singing – perhaps a little out of beat and out of tune (but always in full costume, lol). It’s always been that time of the year when we’d cancel all other irrelevant plans and reserve a whole night just to party together (regardless if duty the next day). And, man, we gotta admit – you and I make a pretty great Halloween duo. It’s been 4 years of dressing up, showing up, and putting up awesome parties. It wasn’t even just another holiday for us. It was tradition.

In Poetry

How to Survive

There’s a reason
they’ve always told you to
never get trapped.
After many foolish heartbreaks,
you’ve learned that you don’t really have much,
you are all that you have. And even so,
you have learned things beyond your years.
Like, mostly, of course, how we ‘lay’ and how we ‘lie’—
these are hugely two different words, but
oftentimes interchanged.