About me

Hello. I am Claren. An RN, an X-generation parent, a struggling neophyte writer, who recently developed a wanderlust. I hope to share my roam.

Welcome to my infant website.

“What you do speaks so loudly, I can not hear what you say”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

In addition to saving lives, preventing infections and anything else that could make a patient feel a little better, I try to be one less uncaring face they have to handle today. Weekend break,- weekend sojourn helps me do that.

My roots

Born and raised in the Philippines, specifically in Iloilo, a western province of the archipelago. A proud UP Visayas HS grad and a Paulinian, graduate of St. Paul University, in the 1990’s, where i studied my butt off to achieve my BSN.

I and my family migrated to the USA 8 years ago. Started from Arkansas, found my way to the all-year sunny California. Hah! Now Filipinos abound in this part of the US. I missed having a conversation in “tagalog” (Philippines’ Nat’l Language) with my colleagues. You do not have that opportunity in the Midwest. The only pinoys (slang for filipinos), you meet are the ones that came with you or the pinoys and i mean 5-8 people, already in the hospital, also from the same agency that sponsored you all. With that, we formed a small community that made us feel a part of one big family and has since kept tabs of each other. A big thanks to our agency, VHR, Vintage Health Resources, Inc.-https://www.vintagehealth.net/, which made our American Dream possible.

Work

I have been working in Critical Care for years, in four different countries, including mine. Being a nurse, you get exposed to all kinds of human emotions; rage from a misinformed family member that usually unloads of their angst on you, grief from loss, helplessness during the end of life stage, pain and suffering witnessed in your patients. Do not even ask me about the service we nurses render cleaning up messy excretions from any mortal orifice. Are you puking yet?

Ah Yes, also pride, self worth, that I, inspite of staff shortage, co-worker drama, and administration bureaucracy, made my patient and his family express gratitude. That is not an easy task to pull in between, meds, orders, procedures, nursing care and all the other crazies, an RN working bedside in an ICU, tackles every single shift. RNs working together develop some kind of sick humor which we only understand. That is our little camaraderie keeping us afloat.

Now, I work as part of the Infection Control Team. Not as tiring but plenty challenging. All the while i thought the department is nothing but hand washing. Boy, was I so wrong. And then…Covid-19 and Pandemic. What do you know?!

Family

Married for 28 years. Even I sometimes, question the years. I have a grown-up married daughter who manages her own website (https://www.marecaranne.com/ and youtube channel TheBrownDaredevil – https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRacemil. She encouraged me to start my own. We had our fair share of modest travel before immigrating, but did not actually got the chance to document them. Didn’t think of putting the effort to. Social media was non-existent that time.

The Birth

When you get to be my age, notable changes affects everything. You’re not as energetic, you gain extra pouches in your mid section, sagging everywhere, eyesight failing, and the most bothersome to me, I forget. I forget dates, activities i did two weeks previously when on vacation. I forget i bought something and buy it again. Then it hit me, I need something to remind me. I can not rely on my memory alone.

After a week or two of contemplating, when my 48th year on earth approaches, I will chronicle my gallivanting. I will create my very own time capsule by taking photos, shooting videos, write about them and piece it together. So that someday, when my earthly body can not go anymore, my mind hopefully can still bask on the glory of youth, travel and adventure.

Join me as I record, film, organize, and anything in between, mine and the family’s weekend sojourn. Bear with me as i try and stutter, cram for words, unable to make out a sentence, struggle to make, design, present, my rove, but also have fun, laugh at myself, fail and be silly, disappointed and angry. All real with no pretensions, sharing it with anyone who comes across this site. Not how to do it, but exactly how we did it.