My Undying Love For Sulfur

Sulfur soap does look like pastries after all.

I am not the type of person who goes bashing around people and their products, nor do I give an opinion about a product I have never tested. I prefer, and probably enjoy, trying new things and doing some little experiments with myself. I have to try things for myself so with that I can be the one to claim first-hand that a product is worth the trial or if it was just a waste of time.

Way back to my childhood days, I used to have skin allergies brought by sweets, especially chocolates. I know, it is as if I am grounded in hell like forever. Going back to my allergies, I tried different products my dermatologist had given me. If I remember it correctly, I've tried using Carica (it's a brand name) and I think it worked for me back then. Aside from that topical, I also used Dr. Wong's Sulfur soap (a medicinal soap) and if I am not mistaken in any point, my red marks, which eventually led to dark spots, diminished thanks to my continuous use of that medicinal soap. The darkening of my red marks stopped for a long time, and my allergy only came back now. Now that my allergy has been irritating my skin again, I once had been to a drug store and remembered about Dr. Wong's Sulfur soap however I found only Dr. Kaufmann's Sulfur Zinc Oxide soap. With a new chemical introduced to me, as compared to Dr. Wong's, I was a little anxious to try it out. As written in the box, it cures skin diseases including acne. Thus, I became curious and decided to try it out for my face.

Ever since I started living in Manila, about more than five years from now, my skin started to be irritated and eventually led to pimples and blemishes, as well as "backne". I tried benzoyl peroxide products but it extremely dried out my oily face. I also tried salicylic acid, however I can't exactly remember the result. A dermatologist said I should use tea tree oil products, however the soap was probably harsh for my skin and it caused my cheeks to turn red and dry. Well, that same dermatologist gave me erythromycin solution to stop the redness. I also used to take Doxycyline, however the medication seem to intensify the symptoms of acne during the early week of use.

Trying sulfur soap for my face, I can say that it alleviated the symptoms of acne as early as three days, though I didn't have much acne, just marks. I've been using it for half a month now and my pimples are not, or at least prevented, from showing up. It doesn't seem to dry my skin. The only downside is its unpleasant odor. However, what is odor if I can gain back my young skin. :p

Researching on its active ingredients, sulfur and zinc oxide, the following are the details that I've gathered.

Sulfur, a naturally occurring, inorganic element has germicidal action, which aids in killing bacteria. It is also keratolytic, from the root words keratin and lytic, then we can assume beforehand that it breaks down the outer layer of the skin. Since acne is a skin disease caused by dirt, oil and bacteria build-up which clogs the pores of the skin, this keratolytic action will be helpful in removing and shedding the dead skin cells clogging the pores. Certain compound os sulfur, such as sulfonamides, are believed to retard the growth of bacteria by limiting the acids that they need in order to reproduce. Even though the use of sulfur as medication for skin diseases has not been well described, it has been used as skin treatment for about 500 years to combat skin conditions such as acne, fungal infections, eczema and the likes.

So this is how sulfur works for the skin.

Now moving on to the next active ingredient, zinc oxide, this compound can help prevent acne as well as to regulate the activity of the oil glands, since acne is also brought by too much oil production of the skin. When it is combined with oxygen, it can be effective in allowing protein synthesis and promoting a healthy immune system. Since acne is a superficial wound, a good immune system can aid in the healing of surface wounds due to the body's ability to fight bacteria that may cause acne flare-ups.

If this product keeps doing well for my skin, then this is a sure for keeps!

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Random December Ranting

This is my worst December so far. I'd just rant about it some other day when I have enough time already to commit suicide. I just hope it doesn't get any worse than now. On the bright side, no classes tomorrow, and Christmas break starts on Friday! Yey for the nearing three weeks of boredom! I am as boring as a rock that I do not do anything different on Christmas and New Year's. And yes, I know what you're thinking right now, so might as well thank you for the compliment, pal. NOT. #asifsomeonereallycares

And yeah, belated congratulations to my dearest friend, no need to name the person, for having a new love life yesterday. I only wish the best to the new couple. May you guys be able to attain your 12/12/12 dream. And by that, I meant that you should. Just always stay in love, you, lovebirds. Oh well, this just proves that love is in the air, but am I some kind of an anaerobic organism to be deprived of it? Another reason to hate this almost-ending year. #pleasekillmenow

Anyway, Christmas isn't about having a romantically-important someone by your side, but it's about celebrating for Christ's "birthday". But the heck with it, I'm no Catholic to believe in that. Not to ruin anybody else's yuletide season, but December is not really the birth month of Christ, just so you know.

Monsters and Us

Note: This is another journal write-up for my Humanities class. Just a short write-up on my view on monstrosity.

Monsters come in different shapes and sizes, rather different forms, depending on who sees it. For children, monsters are those with terrifying physical attributes, just like Pixar's Monsters Inc. Vampires and werewolves were also considered as monsters before, but not until Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series came into the scene and eventually became teenage girls' new fairytale.

Monster, as defined by the dictionary, is something of wickedness or cruelty, which may be in the form of a threatening force, such that it is believed to may have cause harm to someone. Monsters, as how we see them, are no longer of physical ugliness; hence, they are those who take ugliness deeper inside of them such as a corrupt politician, our terror school professor, our bully classmate, heartless criminals or even our parents - that is for scolding us whenever we least want it to. However, unbeknownst to ourselves, I believe that we all have monsters within ourselves, only we don't see it since we tend not to harm ourselves but only others.

Racism, sexism and discrimination, those are our ways of showing how cruel of a monster we are to the inferior, thus abusing one's power and knowledge, or superiority, itself, are simple forms of monstrosity which will be hard to perish within us. Where we will soon realize that one's happiness may be one's misery, a truly terrifying truth we must learn to accept.

Self-Awareness

Note: This is a journal write-up for my Humanities class. I just wanted to share to my readers the thoughts I have on how important life is.

Dying, a single word, so powerful, it can end all of one's suffering. However, I think most of us will agree that it is indeed easier said than done.

Life may give us all of the surprises, may it either be good or bad, when we least expect it. One moment we're crying, and next, we;'ll be laughing, without even noticing how it happened. Happiness, problems, all of those come and go. We sometimes feel like we're the happiest or maybe the most unfortunate person in the world; but no matter what it is that we are experiencing, let us not forget that we are not the only one suffering from difficulties in life, because somewhere in this planet, there is someone who suffers more than we do. This is actually what I told a good friend of mine when she broke up with her lover.

When life gets tough and we feel like hoping is no longer an option, we tend to get rough with our decisions; and such decisions include dying, rather ending our lives. But what we do not know, or maybe what we actually tend to forget, is that there will always be a rainbow after the rain - that no matter what comes in our way, there will be a moment for us to smile about, and that the other side of the field is greener than where we are standing now - that we tend to focus on the downside of life, thus not even seeing the brighter side of what we have. Let us not forget that surviving and living a dream into reality will give true happiness to ourselves, to our souls, because life is a gift, not just any ordinary gift, but it is the greatest gift ever given to those who deserve it and also for those who need to learn how to value it.

THEY ALREADY

And who would have thought that these people will be prettier and sexier than me? This fact I cannot take into account. Lels. Kidding aside, just look how awesome these contestants are.


She actually looks like a stressed version of Melissa Ricks.


I personally think that she is the cutest.


And yes, I find her pose extremely hawt.

Done drooling over them already? Or should I say paffing instead? Well, if I'd paf on someone among those three photos above, I'd say I'd pick the last one. Anyways... after me sharing a non-sense opinion on paffing, then you shall prepare yourself 'coz Imma tell you a dirty little secret. Believe it or not, they are contestants of a gay male beauty pageant of the College of Engineering in University of the Philippines Diliman. Honestly, after seeing their photos, I kind of doubted myself if I am a female at all. I mean, comparably, they are more female-ish than I am. Not to mention their nice boobsies and asses, both of which I lack. So, my message for them? Two words only. THEY ALREADY. #diesofenvy

My Swish Moment Photo Contest

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Swish moments are normal everyday close "breath" encounters
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Not-So-Best Day of My Life

So... tomorrow's gonna be the not-so-best day of my life, so far. National Medical Admission Test, or NMAT for short, is tomorrow and I'm not even half-way prepared for it, I guess. Well, I'm taking it just to see how relatively knowledgeable I am compared to others just trusting on my so-called stock knowledge.

According to a friend, the test will be held from 7am to 7pm, and boy was I shocked. I thought it'll only be an eight-hour exam, but staying 12 hours in a foreign school sitting with a thick exam booklet staring you in the face must be dreadful experience. And yes, I and my not-so-trusted neurons shall be tortured tomorrow. I've still got nine hours left before the start of the torture, but this is like no ordinary exam, and I can't afford to have no sleep. And as I am typing this random shit down, I realize that I should be studying instead, or memorize the formulas in Physics and Chemistry, at least. Good thing Math and some parts of the IQ test is easy, should I not say it's a piece-of-cake since I will sound very "evilishly"-bossy. But fuck, I just hope Physics and Chem wouldn't fuck me up tomorrow. Been reading on those for a couple of days already and I still don't get a shit out of it. Anyway... I shall cram for those tonight. I've scheduled to allot one hour each of study or review time for Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

And there you have it, Le Ren ranting over her stupidity for cramming and not reviewing. Trolololol. Ciao~

The Virgin Diaries

Do you still remember your first kiss? Or if you haven't had one, have you ever imagined how it will be like? Well, if you ask me, I'd rather not spill things since I am not some kiss-and-tell shit who would be floundering around and telling everything that happened that one night.

Enough about me. Hee hee. There's this new series titled "The Virgin Diaries," and well... it's a story inspired by those virgins who have not had their first kiss yet, and have been saving themselves and their first kiss for their marriage. However, there's a twist. It may sound boring to some of you, but this show's commercial is the best thing you've gotta see. And when I say you've gotta see it, you really need to see it. Watch and be amazed! And you decide whether you'll watch the series or just be addicted to it. And one tip for some people who have never been kissed, try not to do some chewing, or lessen it the least you can. Lalalala~