i'm DONE!!

I’m DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE!!! I had no idea what to do with myself after! I was the last to finish (I arrived at our last test late, can you believe it!) so there wasn’t anyone left in the classroom to celebrate with—everyone rushed out the second they finished. SOOOO nice to be done!!! Still, not quite 100% finished, another 15 months to go. But the hardest, most tortuous point is done with! Radu was already here when I finished, and brought a cookie even larger than the first one!! I swear, it was like 15” diameter. Very very scary!! Even more scary is how we devoured it in almost a day! =P

So our first “vacation” together went very smoothly. I was half-expecting something to “happen” in terms of a minor argument, getting annoyed, etc…but NOTHING! It’s so hard to believe. Maybe we still don’t know each other well enough, but usually after 5 day of 24/7, somebody gets cranky. But nope, we had tons of fun despite worsening weather. So happy CA is sunny and warm, and not the crappy 40-50s, windy, stormy with heavy downpour weather we had here! Yup, quite nasty for end of May! So here's a recap of our wknd:

Fri – we went to play tennis after my exam—he’s really consistent, and we got good rallies going. He thinks I’m better than him, but I’m pretty sure he’d beat me if we played a game. I’m not consistent enough, and I try too many crazy lucky shots! After, we went to a celebratory sushi dinner at one of the best Japanese places in CT. It was really good—I actually met two of my classmates at dinner there! Then we watched National Treasure, which was a decent movie, and tried to rest early for our trip tomorrow!

Sat – NYC baby!!! So excited—the true beginning of my vacation. We had greasy dim sum after a long 1.5 h train ride, shopped a bit in Chinatown, then walked to Statue of Liberty, World Trade Center, and did quite a bit of shopping. Neither one of us had ever seen Statue of Liberty before, and the line for the ferry was not worth the wait so we just saw it from afar. We walked sooo much I was getting leg soreness, and had to re-energize with good ol’ junk food so we had a pit stop at McD and ordered mini-donuts, apple pie, cookies, fro yo. Hahhaha, the entire dessert menu basically! Ended up giving some of it away to homeless. But that definitely picked me up and we continued our shopping. We didn’t really buy anything—just walked around a TON—ended up going all the way back up to Central Park from Statue of Liberty! The weather was absolutely perfect—70’s, blue sky, light breeze. We decided to eat at this expensive diner for dinner, and I had one of the best BBQ pulled chicken sandwich ever! And guess what—it started to POUR right during dinner, and did not stop for the next 3 days! It’s still raining as I’m typing I’m sure. We had to subway it back to the train station ‘cuz of the rain, and made it home by midnight. What a tiring but fun day!

Sun – I managed to convince him not to go to Ikea for breakfast (that’s his fav place) and ended up “making” breakfast in the common kitchen. It was nice to prepare our own food and much healthier too! He had to coach badminton today, so we went from 1-6:30pm. I played quite a bit, so pretty tired and sore after. Radu and I beat James/Matt, which was pretty cool. We were starving after, but as a rule, I always shower before eating. I know that after eating, I’ll be too lazy to want to shower, so I always do it first. I chose to eat at an Ethopian restaurant ‘cuz he’s never had it—it was ok. Blue Nile back in late 1990’s is still the best. The injera was sourdough based and I didn’t really like it. But Radu liked it. We came back and watched more DVDs. I couldn’t get into Chronicles of Riddick—I just don’t like scifi kinda stuff! Good thing he’s not a trekkie!

Mon – drove LONG way (4 hours) past Boston to Marblehead where he coaches every Monday. Radu showed me all the landmarks and sites--he used to live there. Radu is really good with kids! His first two classes are kids under 8, and it’s really cute what he can teach them and how he does it. Then he has 12-14yo girls, and it gets pretty rowdy there. I feel bad for him….girls at that age are nearly impossible!! They wanted to play 4 girls against him, and so the loser had to do 200 “start jumps” which are these squats/froggy jump things. Pretty painful. And the girls lost pretty badly 15-5, and they fought and fought about having to do 200 jumps. It was annoying. After, we went to the Asian center of Boston near MIT (super 88) to eat good asian food, pearl team, and shop in the Asian grocery store! I had GREAT bibimbap—one of my favorites! and got lotsa good asian snacks =). He loves dried squid, lychee jelly cups, coconut tapioca drinks, chinese soy milk, and other weird asian snacks. I asked how he knew so much about Asian foods and he said he had a Japanese gf before. He admitted to having a thing for Asians…eep, kinda wary about guys like that! =P Anyhow, the drive back was scary---horrible rain, but we made it by midnight. We had good convo on the way back about our past relationships, our current one, and where we want to go in the future. Important stuff I guess. It’s good that he’s straightforward and very honest. He’s HUGE on trust and hates flakes and ppl who betray others, but then again, who doesn't! He did say that our relationship has been extremely smooth (prob ‘cuz we are way too similar) and that he sees us together for a long run, which is surprising to hear only a few months into a relationship. Then again, he is 28. We got home and I tried to finish “the Notebook” but fell asleep. Movie started out good, but quickly got dull and predictable and too sappy for me.

Tues – finally I caved in and allowed him to go to Ikea for breakfast for the umpteenth time. I’m getting tired of eggs, potato and crepes! Good coffee tho. After eating, I had to quickly pack and head off to the airport in the rain. I had a 30 min delay on the runway to Dulles, then 1h delay at Dulles on the runway as well due to crappy weather. To make matters worse, I got sick on the drive back from Boston, and had to drink hot coffee to soothe my aching throat. I drank at least 4 cups if not more of strong strong coffee in less than 6h (2 for breakfast, 2 at airport), and had to pee 3x before I even got to the airport, and 4 more times on the flight to SJC! It was sooo bad!!! No more coffee for me! But it’s great to be back!! Sunny sunny weather! Good ‘ol CA! MUST get a tan!

almost there!

oh boy, i'm pretty behind in my posting. we're just having exam after exam...2 more to go, and then i'm FREE!! i cannot believe it--it's only been 10 months, but i feel like i've been in school for 3 years. my brain is so packed with crap i don't know how to fish any of it out! then again, i've lost most of it by now, hehe. soooo much reviewing to do before my rotations begin in a month!! better go buy some books!

i just finished my dermatology exam--it is definitely something i do NOT want to get into after looking at all those slides of nasty skin diseases. then again, i seem to have sensitive skin and 4/5 risk factor for developing malignant melanoma--the most deadly form of skin cancer:
1) many moles (some atypical) -- i REALLY want to get them lasered/cryo-ed off! any suggestions?
2) senstivity to sun (can't tan, burn well--i'm sure you all remember costa rica)
3) fair skin
4) serious sunburn as a kid
5) family history of MM (which i hopefully don't have)

how scary is that!! i better protect myself, esp in miami! can't wait tho!

two more exams to go (otolaryngology and emergency medicine), and then i'm free as of noon on friday 5/20!! NO MORE EXAMS!!! NO MORE HOPE 203!!! ok i lied...we still have exams after every rotation (to make sure we're learning "something", but i heard the exams count for nil) in hope 203, but at least i'm no longer stuck here from 8:30am to 3:30pm five days a week! instead..i get to live in the hospital for even longer hours. at least i get some evenings/wknds pseudo-free to relax, if not catch up on paperwork and reviewing!

hrm i really don't have much to say. radu and i have been frequenting the local Ikea store for breakfast--99 cents!! that includes bacon, egg, and potatoes. another 99 cents gets you pancakes. =) great deal! i'm trying really hard to improve my eating habits by having breakfast, especially since i'm doing my research proposal on whether or not skipping breakfast increases your chance of developing Type 2 Diabetes in children. i've heard it can, and since i have a strong family history of the disease, i better be careful! watch my weight, eat less sugar (yea rite, that's my next big dietary goal), exercise, eat breakfast...

oh and i hurt my right hamstring a few days ago, i think while doing leg curls on wt machines. at first i thought it was my calf 'cuz the pain (which started on the treadmill and not the wt machien) is behind my right knee on the right side, but after doing some tests on myself, it's my darn hamstring! it SUCKS!! i can't go downstairs without walking sideways like a crab, and i can't jog even at a 4.5 pace!! it's sad....so my workouts had to be altered to precor and no running. i think precor gives me better muscular workout (esp thighs), but running gives me better endorphin rush which is what i need during finals! i sure hope i heal fast...i want to play badminton tonite! then again, i know hamstring strains heal slow...=(

so i'll be back in a bit over a week, on may 24th! can't wait to "truly" relax and have some good ol' CA sunshine (it's raining right now)! see you all soon!

i still blush!!

ok, i thought i had mastered the "control-my-blushing" technique by telling myself to cool down, but tonight i blushed like i've never before!! at least not for the past few years! ={

so radu offered to take me to bridgeport hospital for a lab session on "how to scrub in for surgery" that supposedly takes 2h. yeah, i also wondered how scrubbin' in can take 2h, but it did! anyhow, i said i could get a ride with classmates, but he said he was free and could take me, and would wait for me. i assumed he'd wait for me outside in his car...but no! he came inside! while all my girlie classmates were sitting around in the lounge, gossiping as always. and he walked right over to me, and began talking to me, giving me his ipod (he just got one, 40gb) to listen. of course it got quiet as everyone wondered who this "stranger" was randoming talking ot me at a hospital 30 min from yale! i dunno why, but i felt the heat rising...face flushed...arrrggh!! and yea, so i was pestered with questions after our class left the lounge to go into surgery rooms. only 3 of my closer classmates know, and i guess half the class now knows too! i just felt bad cuz i'm sure radu saw me blush, and prob thinks i'm embarassed to be seen around him! oh well =P.

on some funnier notes, scrubbing in was soooo funny! with a group of silly girls, you can only imagine. took us 2.5h (poor radu, at least he's patient), but lotsa good laughs! i dunno if you will find any of it funny since you kinda have to be there, but i sure did!
1) this girl in my class has HUGE hair. you have to wear this blue "showercap-like" thing to keep hair out of face, and when she put it on, she looked exactly like Marge Simpson! so the doc kept calling her marge all night--it was hilarious!!
2) they let us borrow scrubs that were obviously too big for us. one thin girl had to put on large scrubs, and the waist was literally 3x her's! so when she pulled the drawstrings, she immediately had a huge "poof" on the front...and of course with 10 girls in the locker room, we had to laugh at that one and crack bad jokes.
3) the special surgical lights hanging from the ceiling need to have covers placed on the handle so they are kept sterile. the handle comes off the middle of the lighting system like a stick...and you put on a plastic green cover that they like to call "condom". of course we were asked to practice putting these on the lamps, and it's not as easy to keep it on! that was quite funny too!
4) roxanne, the tiniest girl in our class (prob 90#), was nearly knocked off her feet when the surgical doors (it's like those kitchen door that swing back and forth so that you "back into it" to open and not use your hands to touch anything) back-swung and hit her! it was sooo funny.

so we scrubbed 2x--it's soooo complicated. we have to clean underneath our nails, wash at least 5 min (hospital requirements) for first scrubbing (my arms hurt from the bristles! all red!), then gown up all properly without touching anything. it's crazy--putting on gloves, booties, hat, scrubs, then the outer gown, and learning the million tools. i can't believe i'll be in surgery in just two months, starting late july! eep!!