much to say...

it's been a looooong time since i blogged--so much to catch up on! i'll try not to make it too lengthy:

-we lost another classmate, this time a girl. she dropped out of our program with less than a month left. she's not coming back unlike Brian, and did not state a reason for leaving. personally i think she no longer wants to be a PA. i can't imagine going this far in the year (i feel like i've aged 3+ years these past 10 months, mostly mentally) and then leaving. so now we are down to 29 students. =(

-we chose our 2nd year rotation schedule! i got my 2nd choice in terms of order of the required rotations, but i am still waiting to see if i get the electives i want at the time i want them. the electives i chose are:
1) cardiothoracic surgery (open heart surgery such as valve repair, coronary artery bypass grafts, stents, etc)
2) orthopedic surgery/sports medicine
3) pediatric emergency
4) ambulatory medicine (outpatient care, like stiches, casts)
This is my tentative order, each one lasts 1 month starting june 20th and i finish sept 10, 2006.
June - Emergency Medicine
July - General Surgery
Aug - Thesis I
Sept - Internal Medicine I
Oct - Internal Medicine II
Nov - Ob/Gyn
Dec - Thesis II
Jan - Primary Care
Feb - Primary Care
Mar - Psychiatry
Apr - Cardiothoracic Surgery
May - Pediatrics
June - Geriatrics
Jul - Pediatrics ER
Aug - Ambulatory Med
Sept - Orthopedics surgery/Sports Med

-so with my schedule, i get the month of august partially free. i am planning on going to the 2005 badminton world championships in anaheim, ca, for 7+ days!! it's like the wimbledon of badminton--HUGE HUGE HUGE!! tickets are $200-300, but well worth it. it has never been held in the US!! i hope we can organize a fun group trip!

-we have an interesting project for my "patient understanding" course: each one of us has been assigned a disease and we have to pretend we have it for a week, meaning we take the necessary medications, do the proper checks, schedule follow-up visits, change our diet/exercise habits, etc--things dr/pa would ask a patient to do. I wanted diabetes, since i have a family history of it, but i got assigned COPD (emphysema) with a recent bout of pneumonia. i also have high blood pressure. i got lucky--i have to take 5 different "pills" (candy) different times during the day, schedule a follow-up visit in a week, restrict sodium and fat, and not exercise too much 'cuz my lungs are weak. so far, it's been easy to follow. however, the people who got diabetes actually have to finger-prick several times a day!! now i'm happy i didn't get it--i don't like pain! tho it would have been cool to see what my blood sugar is throughout the day.

-my program is making me very techy. we are all required to buy a tungsten T5(?) palm for $280 and enter our patient data daily and transmit it wirelessly, and we all have to get a pager (for those great on-call nights). so i'll be fully loaded starting june!

-we only have 3 more weeks left of didactic work!! i can't believe it's so close, yet so far. i have 7 more exams (pediatrics, otolarynogology, dermatology, orthopedics, emergency, ophthalmology, pharmacology) and 2 more papers including our pre-thesis. =(

-but, once i'm done, i think radu and i are going on a trip! for now, our tentative plans is to go to NYC 5/21-22, then 5/23 i'll go with him to boston where he coaches. he'll drive me back down 5/24 and i'll fly back to good ol' California! =) i stay in CA for a week (so plan for me around 5/25-6/1), then i'm back to CT to move to a sublet, buy a car, etc. Radu and i are thinking of road-tripping/camping around massachusetts (cape cod, martha's vineyard), up maine coast, and back down new hampshire from 6/2-6/5 before my classes begin again. Other things we are considering is washington DC, niagara falls. i wish we could do canada, but radu can't leave the country yet--he's waiting for his visa. any other suggestions??

-so i guess with the trip u guys can figure radu and i are going out now. he's in miami now, lucky guy. i'm so jealous. =P i guess i'll have my turn in july with the girls! the tournament he was at was TOUGH--radu lost singles and mixed day 1, and doubles in quarterfinals day 2. andy also lost mixed day 1. tons of international players there. and to think, world champs will have even BETTER players! i sure hope i can go!

-as for next year's housing, i've been waived out of the dining plan so i no longer have to pay $300/month for lousy expensive dorm food! i argued that being on rotation schedule makes it hard to make the open cafeteria hours, and it worked! =) so for now, i've decided to stay in the cheapest dorm room next year for $500 and save some money. it's across the street from the hospital, has all utilities including cable tv and DSL, a gym downstairs, i don't have to clean, and there is a kitchen on the floor i'm moving into. pretty good deal i guess.

that's all i'll say for now, long enuf blog! hopefully i can manage everything for the next 3 weeks...then i'll see everyone soon! =)

the gift

guess what! radu got me a present let me tell you the story--it's kinda funny:

he told me on tuesday that he had a present for me, and told me to guess. I said i would need a hint, and he told me, "it will make your workouts a lot easier." he also made his brother swear not to say a peep, and i began to brainstorm...shoes? he was about to get me a new pair of badminton shoes at boston open, but i made him stop 'cuz i like my shoes as is. warmup pants? i did say i needed more than one pair of pants, but it's hard to find my size 'cuz i'm so short. maybe t-shirt or dry-fit shirts? he did say he'll try to get some freebie clothing from his sponsorship company. but none of those would "make my workout easier" necessarily...so i thought maybe hair ties, water bottle, or a stopwatch/calorie counter. i didn't voice any of my thoughts, because i didn't want him to be disappointed if i guessed it right.

so radu came up friday night, and he was carrying some bags and a box of cinnamon toast crunch cereal. he said, "this is one of my favorite cereals--we can have it for breakfast tomorrow." i was like, "hey, i have that exact cereal in my room (i did)!" i didn't think twice about it because he brought breakfast for me also last weekend, so i just figured he really likes breakfast! in my room, he handed me the box, and i remember looking at it wondering, why is the top lid taped with scotch tape? but i ignored it, put the box down next to the rest of my cereal boxes. then he said, "hmm, i'm kinda hungry. do you have milk? maybe we can have some cereal." i went to pick up the box, and it suddenly didn't feel right--too heavy, and solid! no jostling of the little cereal squares! then it hit me--that was my gift!! i started laughing, and i opened it--and could not believe it--he'd given me a 20gb IPOD!! i was shocked--he remembered that i kept borrowing his brother's IPOD during the boston tournament 'cuz i was so nervous i needed music to calm me down. so now i have my own! i was pretty speechless after that.

so that started off a GREAT weekend. i hardly did any work (besides the couple hours where i left radu in my room to watch TV so i could study in the lounge; i know i'm a bad hostess but i have work to do!) and the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL--blue skies, 65 degrees, slightly breezy, not a cloud in the sky. on saturday we went to brunch in the undergrads--it was good. then we headed off to badminton for 3h where he beat me in singles 15-0 (i start off with 14 point lead, so all i have to win is one point to beat him, and i couldn't even do that!! arrgh! well i did beat him and matt earlier 15-7, 15-0, 15-5, 15-3 with my crazy rules). after badminton, we went to Durfee's (the convenient store with i can use my Yale card money) and bought a bunch of snacks =). we wanted to go up to East Rock park (this beautiful cliff that oversees all of new haven) for awhile, so we decided to buy subway sandwiches for dinner and bring it up there on our hike. it was beautiful up there--we saw the sunset. it was COLD though--nearing 7pm! we finally got back, i did some studying but ended up dozing off, and then we watched "cellular" on DVD. the movie was pretty awful--lotsa holes and such. oh well, maybe we'll get fockers next time--has anyone seen it?

Sunday was cool--i was still tired from long saturday. we went to play badminton again for awhile, and then dinner at Uno's. it was really good! we got big fat brownie ice cream sundae too--haha, i'm gonna get sooo fat! then we quickly went to mall to buy an adaptor to my PC for the IPOD. it's my first time in a mall in CT--too bad we had no time to shop. by now, i was very tired and stressing about schoolwork again (i had a paper to write and a class to teach monday to prep for), so he took me home. what an amazing weekend!! =D

school update

a few interesting things to report:
1) i was asked by our director to co-teach an orthopedic lab workshop on different tests we use to evaluate muscle/bone injuries. =) that'll be fun and look good on my resume!
2) our "31 flavors of ice cream" (i.e. 31 ppl in my class) is no longer--our class president sadly resigned today to go home to take care of his sick mother. it was soooo sad--we have been with each other DAILY nearly 8h/day for the past year, through all the hardships, and now one of us must depart. =*( and our class president too. i wish him the best. he will be back next year to repeat the ENTIRE year (i think he's nuts), and graduate a year behind us. i know i'll miss him.
3) since the VP took over the president's position, somebody in my class nominated me for replacement VP! i was very shocked, as i'm very quiet. anyhow, i lost the election to Maura--even i'd choose her over me! =)
4) we are choosing our rotations now for the next 15 months! i'm soo indecisive--i can't decide when i want to do my electives, what order i want, and which electives to choose!! AACCKk!! i want to have my "thesis month"/vacation month probably around a time when i plan to travel...like to weddings? trips? i dunno!
5) our class has our first bf/gf relationship. prob the only one since there are only 2 available guys!
6) dr. soong, my preceptor, apparently picks on me when we're going over patient cases. i always thought i was just dumb or slow, so he asks me lotsa questions to make sure i'm thinking. then two of my seminar-mates separately tell me that he drills me so much compared to the rest of the group, and that it must feel unfair. so after hearing that, i got frustrated and annoyed. i know i'm not very good at presentation, and not very good at integrating the million things swimming in my head to make a clear case. but, him picking on me only MOTIVATES me--i'm gonna show him!
7) for now, i'm gonna live in the dorms for the summer. a couple friends are i are looking for 3-bedroom house/apt for next year, but i'm being a slacker and letting them do all the work.
8) i still can't decide to lease or buy used. radu's gonna help me find used cars as he's had experience. i guess i'll have to find out how much leases are first.

update!

yayay, i'm done with Ob/Gyn exam. kinda disappointed--thought i did better than my score, but oh well, it's over! i'm exhausted! slept 3h last nite, and 4 the two nites before. but at least i'm free for now...8 more exams to go in 6 more weeks! insane insane! then i've officially finished didactic year of PA school. =)

so here's the long awaited update of me and radu. first date was back in february, and we talked off/on maybe once or at most twice a week for a month. he called while i was back home in CA during spring break, which i found surprising since he knew i'd be gone. anyhow, things finally started moving along when i came back. we tried to make a 2nd date, but timing was bad with school and bad weather. finally, i saw him again at the Boston Open in late March.

He "surprised" me by giving me a pearl tea drink he got--i told him how much i missed it on our first date. he even kept it fridgerated for me, and i got a few sly smiles from people at the shop when he gave it to me. throughout the tournament, i tried to "show interest"/"not show interest" thanks to the advice of my gfs. we talked a bit here and there, but he was busy working/playing most of the time. his ex-gf's new bf came, so they are clear on that issue. =) R bought me lunch, some candy, and came over on a few occasions to chat. even still, i was unsure of the whole situation. then sunday came, the last day of the tournament. i was in consolation singles finals, and as much as i wanted to sit and talk to him, i made myself go practice single serves. as i practiced, i turned around and he was standing behind the court, watching. i asked for some tips, and he helped, and then asked, "hey, do you want to go to lunch with me?" i said i couldn't 'cuz i have to play my finals any time now, and he said he'd wait til i finished, and if he passed out, it would be my fault. I said i know CPR, and thank goodness he didn't use a lame pick-up line then. but what really got me was that he watched my entire singles final match, instead of watching the men's doubles final btwn USA and Canada. esp since he was soo close to making it to the finals himeslf. let's just say we had 7 people watching my "boring" game (only 2 cheering for me), and about 100+ watching the men's doubles. i could not believe he stayed the entire time--it really suprised me. and of course, i had to lose to a little peruvian girl, and was bright red and profusely sweating for 30 min after. even still, he gave me a little hug after--i didn't expect it so i gave him the friendly "guy-pat-pat-on-the-back". haha, see how bad i am at this?

we went out for our second date a week later to a nice indian restaurant and movie, but he was sick from boston open so our joke of the night was, "stay away from radu!" and this time, he parked his car in front of my dorm instead of just stopping...making me do the inevitable--bolt from his car! =P but i did give him a hug.

since then, we've been talking more and more. gone out a few more times, mostly to badminton open gym, to eat, or just hang out. he is just so sweet, i can hardly believe my good luck:
- baked me a huge cookie knowing i'm cookiemon
- brought me breakfast with milk 'cuz i randomly said that i ran out of food for the weekend
- baked me more cookies (i'm gonna get so fat!!)
- drove 45 min to get me, and we drove 45 back to his town to play badm, and drove 45 min back again to take me home
- he gives me undeserved compliments that i have no idea how to respond to!
- we have many similiarties despite our very different appearance: he can't sit still and enjoys working out, loves sports esp badm, loves desserts and fruits, can't eat lamb, patient, loves asian food (even the weird stuff like dried squid and the unusual dim sum dishes), plays tennis and water polo (but doesn't snowboard), wants to travel (maybe even move to CA), and other stuff i can't remember!

so the best thing about all this is that it is out in the open--all of our badminton friends know (i still haven't talked to his ex-gf yet, but i figure she's ok since she has a new bf too) that we're seeing each other. we haven't talked about our "status", but we have future plans of fun stuff we both want to do. the funniest thing is that he admitted he was interested in me back when we first me, which cracked me up 'cuz i was too! I remember being disappointed when he told me to write a check out to "Carol Milevschi"--i thought he was married! turns out that's his brother (Carol is pronounced like Carl), haha! but at least now the lines of communications are much clearer. =)

the only hardship is that i'm having bit of difficulty balancing school with a new guy. it's good that he lives far far away, and that he travels often so that i have time to myself and school. he's gone most of this week and next to boston to coach, and after that he's off to miami for that tournament. he keeps asking me to go with him, and i wish i could--but school is too intense! i guess we'll just take it week by week. he's coming straight from boston this friday evening tho, so i better get work done before he gets here!

radu and andy 

=)

things have been progressing, confusing and slow, but at least now i'm "dating" R. and it's public! yay!! =) so i'm free to post! (details to come when i need a break....)

the world has ended!!

oh my goodness: saw this on yahoo today: "Cookie monster to advocate healthy eating". what's up with that!!?? check it out: http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20050407/111291480000.html

i'm obviously very disappointed, just look at the huge cookie R made for me. =D and we devoured it, no problem.

C is for COOOOOKIE!! YUM!

slacking...

should be studying but not in the mood. =P hrm white guys are interesting. i wonder if it's cuz they are raised differently. they seem more open. maybe more honest. and perhaps more romantic. anyhow, it definitely keeps me on my toes.

ok ok i've been bad

i know i know, it's been ages since i last updated. sorry for all those who take entertainment from mindless posts.

life has been good -- school actually let up for the two weeks post-spring break (our class chose to have exams before spring break so we could truly relax during our break, which i did very very well), so i've been really enjoying it. the weather kinda sucks--no more snow, but lotsa rain. warming up to 50's tho! =)

let's see...boston open badm tourney was lotsa fun. good competition, met lots of people. won mixed doubles consolation, and got 2nd in women's singles consolation. i'm way outta shape for singles, that's all i have to say. one good thing that happened is that my women's doubles partner finally said to me, "nancy, we've tried playing together many times now and i can't seem to be consistent in my game. i understand if you want to find another partner from now on." while i tried to not show it, i was like, "haaallllaluuueah!!" or however you spell it. not to sound rude or cocky, but women's doubles is my favorite and strongest event, and i've been doing the worst in it for the past year. now i just have to find a compatible partner, but at least i'm free!

sadly, there are no more good badminton tournaments for awhile, since i can't go to miami. andy found another mixed partner anyways. and he won the boston open mixed, which proves he's a damn good mixed player. james had to make me feel worse by saying, "who would ever give up a chance to play with andy? if you do well, you might even become his permanent partner--you know he's looking right?" sigh, oh well, i'm not good enuf for andy anyways. too much pressure to be playing with one of the tops!

school - not much to say. got my first 100%, but then again it was open book exam so i can't count it. that's still a goal of mine this year...dunno if i'll ever reach it. (yes i'm a nerd =P). i cannot believe it, but we have only SEVEN more weeks of didactic work!! and 12 exams. so my life ends here once again. after these tortuous weeks, we offically begin rotations in the hospitals. next week, we start to choose where we want to rotate and which electives to do (i'm thinking orthopedic surgery, maybe cardiology/cardiothoracic surgery....what else?). i'll keep you all posted.

next year plans - sucky. it's nearing the end of a school year, and i need to think about housing and getting a car. so far i turned in my dorm renewal form for the summer, just so i have a sure place to stay. but i'm looking for somewhere cheaper and preferably with parking. as for a car, i need some advice! lease or buy used? i only need it probably 6 out of 15 months, and it will be random months (not sequential). and i do hope to move back to CA after. any suggestions as to which car to get if i lease one?

we just had our SAAAPA conference (northeast regional PA student societies conference) hosted by us at Yale, and quinnipiac, our rivals, won the trivia challenge bowl. BUT, they CHEATED!! they had the questions memorized ahead of time, cuz it turns out their director wrote most of the questions! how stupid is that! and they didn't even try to hide it--the proctor would read, "a 19yo man comes into your clinic complaining of swollen--" BUZZ!! and they would answer something totally odd like, "what is a normal finding." and the answer would be correct! it was sooo lame. no respect for those cheaters at all! hrmph!

ok i should get back to studying for oncology. i feel like i should do a rotation in it 'cuz cancer is the #1 leading cause of death now, but i know i will cry more than i ever want to. one of my classmates gave a surprise lecture on her fight against cancer, and i could hear sniffling all around me...including my own. that's a weakness i'm gonna have to work on! nobody wants a PA/doctor crying along with them! gotta learn to be tough.

ok, guess i'll finish studying prostate cancer and then go work out. i need a break!