James and John's Band 

Thanskgivings Dinner 

Pre-thanksgivings dinner party 

Touring Yale 

thanksgivings

what a great thanksgivings--and it wasn't even at home! first off, it snowed thanksgivings day! a white turkey-day!! =) i think this is my first thanksgivings in a LONG time that wasn't with family, but i had great food and a ton of fun. joanne and katharine came from DC and California respectively to visit me, and we went to radu/my friend's james' place for dinner. he's an EXCELLENT cook, and healthy too! it's amazing how he makes a relatively healthy but tasty meal (he lost like 50# and kept it off for 15 years). we had: turkey, rotissiere chicken, baked ham, sweet yams, baked beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, veggies, cranberry sauce, veggie lasagna, stuffing, and HUGE caramel apple pie and pumpkin pie a la mode. needless to say, i was stuffed, but everything was sooo tasty! =) i also met radu's mom--she looks soo young that at first i mistook her for mike's (radu's brother) date! seriously! she has great skin, and she's only 51 i think. she was very kind and polite, no questioning me or anything. whew! hopefully my parents will receive radu as kindly. oh, and she made me a very yummy cake with fruits and whip cream, yum! anyhow, we also got to see christine (james' sister) ballroom dance competition videos, and james play piano (he's a classical pianist, amazing talent!), and james/john play songs in their little band studio--they are sooo good, i wonder if the videos i took will show up. they seriously sound like the real group--they played clocks by coldplay, the graduate by verve pipe, and others. good stuff! we went home very happy and full. =) joanne and kj stayed with me another night before heading to NYC; we toured the Yale campus, ate a lot, hung out with Radu, etc. i miss them already! =)

rest of wknd was very relaxing. i tried to work out to make up fo the eating, and i'm sooo weak. nearly passed out after only 18 min on precor! maybe i should have eaten before working out. now my hamstrings are all sore from lifting. i'll go back to my routine hopefully in december since i'm stuck here in CT without a car, and i need to get back in shape for the january back-to-back badminton tournaments. i tried to make breakfast today with Radu--eggs, home fried potatoes, and french toast, but it's nowhere as good as Denny's (yeah, we're cheap, but that place is sooo good) and took us more time and probably more money! so i've decided to give up on that. need to work on my cooking skills!

one more week of rotations then i'm on "thesis month" from dec 3-jan 2! i better get crankin' on it or i can't go to my next rotation! at least then i can go back to my regular schedule of 11am to 3am...much better than 7am-1am. =)

rotation is improving...

the rotation i was complaining about is improving...my legs still ache from standing at the end of the day, but at least i'm doing more now. the PA i work with (the one who threw out his back) is sooo nice. he bought me coffee, didn't yell at me when i made mistakes (i was sooo late into a case), very patient, and likes to teach. not to mention the hours are great--no more than 8-5pm. what a job to have! kinda brainless tho--not sure if i'd want to do this my entire life.

lotsa upcoming plans: joanne and katharine are coming to visit me for thanksgivings, and we'll have thanksgivings dinner with radu and his family and friends. this'll be the first time i meet his mom (his dad is in FL)! at least i'll have my friends to back me up. =) then in dec radu is coming with me back to cali for 3 short days. i had to ask my mom for "permission" for him to come...and i'm kinda worried how they'll react to him and such. usually my parents are great with friends, but so far all my friends are asian...so this may be different. oh well, guess i'll find out soon enough! any ideas/tips/suggestions on how to make this "meet the parents" easier?

other than this short trip home, i'll be in east coast for all of december as my master's thesis is due 1/3/06. =( so i'm stuck here to crank it out. boohoo.

Philly wknd

wow, what a weekend! we left Friday around 11am (after picking up a salad from the hospital cafeteria--it's HUGE and you can put anything in it, i love it!), and didn't get to Philly til about 3:30pm. We took lotsa rest stops, weather was lovely so we could admire all the foilage. Got to our smelly hotel ("smoking room"), changed, and went to tourney. Friday was just singles, and i played this young girl in singles who trains crazy hard, but can't seem to win. she's excellent in warm-up and drills, and i kinda got scared watching her warm-up, but when i played her, i beat her in 14 min (she timed it). so that brought me to semifinals against my own doubles partner, mutsumi. although she only weighs 100#, she has great endurance and speed.

(a side note: mutsumi leads the life of most women's dreams. she doesn't work, her husband owns some restaurant and their family is crazy rich--she has 1 son, they own a 7 bedroom mansion and building another, and has 4 cars for 2 drivers. she spends her days at spas, massage/chiropractor centers, hanging out with other moms and friends, and she's travelled the world. she is sooooo lucky. very independent lady too.)

saturday was the most tiring day i've had in a long time, physically at least (hospital rotation is mentally draining). i ended up playing nine games, nearly non-stop, off only one 4" subway sandwich and 1 viactiv calcium chew (10am-10pm). i think i dropped 3# that day in water weight (all gained back, hehe). anyhow, i ended up getting 3rd place in A WD ($30), 1st place in B MX with radu's twin brother (see story below), and i beat my women's doubles partner in singles semifinals much easier than i expected (11-2, 11-8). i think she was suprised too. =) anyhow, let me tell you the story of my 2nd mixed doubles game with mike:
we were playing against this really strong indian man (covers the court like singles) and this crappy white girl (stands in the middle and doesn't move), and every shot mike hit was right at the guy. even though mike is twice as strong as big as me (he's 6'1 and 180), the indian man returned everything no problem. however, i placed my slow shots away from the man, and even though they are not as powerful as mike's, they were more effective and we won points with them. so i told mike, "please please please do NOT hit at the guy! can you smash cross court or at the girl?" and he responds, "no, i don't know how!" i was like, "what the heck?? what do you mean you don't know how??" anyhow, he insisted he can only smash right at the guy, so i told him to drop, and he said he'd try. so for the entire game, i ran like a chicken with my head cut off, backing him up on his shots. i was afraid we'd lose! finally we won in 3 long games, and our opponent's friend came up to us and said to mike, "you owe this little woman this game. she covered for you. you should be wearing the skirt on the court!" heehee, =P. mike was quite embarrassed and speechless, poor guy got his ego shot. anyhow, i had just about zero energy after that game, and thankfully mike improved his performance and our opponents were not as strong, as we ended up cruising all the way to win the finals. but boy, what a day!

sunday was nerve-wracking. for the first time in ages, i made it to A women's finals, and in SINGLES! my worst event! basically they play one final game at a time on center court, with bleachers all around for spectators. i was soooo nervous once i saw the set-up! radu played his men's singles finals first, and lost to a polish guy. =( then i played and got killed by the #2 ranking USA women, 1-11, 2-11. i wasn't too disappointed--i played ok, but i was slightly embarassed to lose so fast. but i got $80! so that's good. =)

after, i had promised jody, alice, and sharon to meet up with them in philly for some cheesesteak lunch, and even though it wasn't on our way home, radu and his bro agreed to drive me down there. however, we got lost, and it took us 1.5 hour to find a place 30 min away! finally we got there and had some yummy food, but everyone had plans so we had to cut our visit short. still, it was nice to see everyone! i hope to sightsee in philly again in the future.

autumn 2 

autumn 1 

autumn in new england

it's so pretty here! the leaves are all changing colors--above are some pics. radu and i went a few times to check out the foilage. we're going to philly this wknd for a tourney, and will be travelling south to see more changing of the leaves.

had a great wknd--saw "march of the penguins" which is a really cute and funny movie--you guys should see it! i can't believe the male has to keep the egg warm for 4 months in the dead of winter, going without food the entire time (the female gives the male the egg after birth, and she has to hike 70 miles back to water's edge to feed in the ocean 'cuz she loses 30% body fat during egg production). after that 4 months, the mother comes back to feed the now-hatched baby penguin (sooooo cute!), and the father then leaves to go to water for food (having lost 50% body fat during the 4 months). such a crazy lifestyle of survival, but it works! go see it!

the weather this wknd was absolutely beautiful--def not november weather. 60's! i hope it lasts...but i know it won't! we did a lot of walking, very relaxing. =)

i started my 5th rotation today in "interventional radiology" which is basically using x-rays and MRIs (radiology) to visualize vessels and provide minimally invasive treatment (interventional). for example, we can declot brain clots leading to strokes by sticking a long tube from your hip artery, guiding it up to the brain, injecting contrast dye to see the vessels light up where it is patent, find the clot, and then inject thrombolytics to lyse the clot, or put in a balloon or a coil stent to keep the vessel open, then retract. the best part is that you go home the same or next day, you don't even need stitches (the "hole" in your hip is about 1-3mm), and it's all done under local anesthetics (inject lidocaine in hip only). quite awesome how advanced medicine has become, dontcha think?

however...as exciting as all this is, the rotation is as BORING as can be. my PA-C threw out his back on my first day when a 455lb patient nearly fell of table 2x, and he's out til at least thurs. so i have no guidance, nobody to follow/shadow, and each hour feels like eternity. for example, i stood for 2h straight today, wearing 20lb lead shields (remember, it's radiology), not moving more than 6 inches (sterile environment). i was DYING. my legs were cramping, i was feeling tipsy, and I thought i was gonna end up with a leg clot myself from immobility! each minute felt like a hour. to make matters worse, the MD working completely ignored me except for the 30 seconds where i was asked to hold a cathetar (tube). that was all i did for 2 freakin' hours of torture. i couldn't wait to get out! i soooo do not want to go back... =( boohooo-ey.