Top of "Big C" 

which way to go?? 

happy 27th b-day

yup, i'm definitely in my late-20's...boohoo but i had a great birthday!! =D started off early, went with radu to fremont corn maize and wandered through that (took 25 minutes to get through). wasn't half-bad, but would have been more fun at night with less people. then we drove up to berkeley to have lunch, where we pre-ordered zachary's spinach and mushroom (added chicken) deep dish pizza...YUUUUMMMM!!! the second we got there, we were seated and the pizza was ready!! i think they skimped a bit on the fresh tomatoes, but still very tasty. then we drove up to foothill parking lot to tackle on the "Big C" trail to see the beautiful panoramic view of the Bay Area. very worth it, despite all the puffing and sweating! we then revisited berkeley campus since i hadn't been here in over 2 years, and found lotsa renovations and new shops/food stores. Yogurt Park was still there, and we ended up getting a small fro yo with reese's cups. sigh...it was already almost 4pm, i was stuffed with food, and i had a birthday buffet in 1.5 hours!!! but i couldn't resist...too much good food in berekley! went shopping a bit down telegraph, and proceeded to Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot in Union City for my dinner. met up with my close friends and we had more YUUUMMMMY eating, very spice-ful and hot!! afterwards, we came back to give friends a tour of our new apt, and spent most of the night chattin' away after some Scattergories. good relaxing end to a long day of walking and eating! =) oh, and i finally used the gift certificate my friends gave me and got myself a massage chair that i know i'll desperately need once work starts! it should be shipped over very very soon, can't wait!! radu will be sooo relieved!

remember we had ms. horley be the purple lady...what's her name?? 

does anyone remember our backdrop? 

and the cycle repeats...

so outta complete boredom, i look up LHS (my high school) website and find that the current senior class has chosen "Scooby Doo" as their homecoming theme!! i wonder if they ever heard about ours....

almost got a free car!

i went to the fremont mazda dealer to look at my mazda 3 in "aurora blue" 'cuz there were only 3 in the entire bay area in that color, and that was the closest dealer. so i get there, the guy gives me the key to open the door and such, and i look around...what a beauty! but i still like the "winning blue" color more from the discontinued 2006 style or the new "icy blue" available only in the lower non-leather seats models. anyhow, so i leave 'cuz i'm still not sure about the car, and go to visit a friend at a festival. after the festival, i pull out my key to open my car, and out comes a strange-looking key--it was the mazda 3 key from the dealership!! and believe me, i wondered how the heck could i have just walked away with it! and i won't lie....the thought of a free car did pass my mind, but i knew the consequences would be horrendous. so i drove back to the dealership, gave the guy the key who was shocked to see he had forgotten it. lucky for him, or it could've cost him problems with his boss!! so that's that...key's back, no car still! but i did see another pretty pretty car...scion tc coupe in metallic baby blue. i'll prob go test-drive it, but the reviews online were kinda crappy. we'll see!

so PISSED!!

so very very very mad. i was at radu's apt watching "scrubs", and we hear a big CRASH. i thought a car had hit the curb and maybe the garbage can or something...and ignored it. radu asked, "hey, where are you parked?" i said out in front, and he peeked out our window where he saw my car looking okay, and said, "your car seems fine," and we went back to watching the dvd. as i left to go home, radu said, 'let me walk you to your car" (it was past midnight), and he looked around my car, and found the rear light smashed!!! and the bumper scratched deeply!!! on my dad's toyata avalon xls!!! some dumb idiot either backed right into my car, or hit it turning out of the driveway or something!! and since we didn't look outside the window when we heard the crash, we didn't catch anyone!!! and the idiot didn't even leave a note...some people are sooo immoral. i was SOOOOO pissed 'cuz i knew i'd have to pay for it out of my own penniless pocket. =( what a stinkin' ending to a day.

CRAMP!!!

oh boy, so on day 4 of my bikram yoga, i was feeling pretty good 'cuz i'm keeping up with my routine. i rushed to class after eating 1/2 sandwich and a couple slices of cantaloupe about 4h prior, and not drinking much water all day 'cuz i was busy test driving cars. =P anyhoo, i go to class, by the 5th move, both my arms started getting tingly and numb. i tried to shake it off, but it only got stronger, from shoulder to fingertips. soon enough, my legs got numb, as well as sides of my body! with 30 min left in class, i began cramping up, my fingers stuck in positions that made me look like i had rheumatoid arthritis. i stopped doing the poses 'cuz all i could think was, "how do i get this numbness/tingling/cramping to go away?? and i can't untangle my fingers!! am i gonna start having a seizure? i better not pass out, how embarrassing!!" so once class ended, i immediately tried to get up and out of the hot room, but i could barely walk--my quads and calfs had cramped too. so i limped out, the instructor immediately asked if i was ok, and found out that i was most likely dehydrated (duh!). so he gave me electroyte fluids and made me drink a liter...20 min later, i was all better. but it was FREAKY! i've never cramped like that in my life where my entire body was contracted! hehe...even worse, i went to play 3h of badminton right after this incident...and had some heart palpitations where i had to stop 'cuz i couldn't keep my breathing up to match the need! so next time i better be a bit more careful! i've learned my lesson already, and will drink lotsa lotsa fluids before next class!

bikram yoga

oh boy, as part of my relaxing "vacation", i decided to try out yoga. my mom told me about this "10 for $10 challenge" at this local bikram yoga studio (10 consecutive days for $10), so i decided to give it a shot. let me tell you, bikram yoga takes place in a 104 degree heated room (yup, you read that right) where we go through 26 poses or so twice around for a 90 minute session. let me say by the first 15 min (where all we did was breathing exercises), I felt sweat drip down my arms! needless to say, by the 30 min mark, i was pouring sweat out of pores i didn't even know existed on my body!! fortunately, i looked around to see everyone else pouring sweat just like me. literally POURING...drops of water falling on my mat continuously each time i bent over. and they only allow 3 small water/sweat-wiping breaks. the session is 90 minutes long, but after 30 min, i no longer cared how horribly sweaty i looked. the problem was that i was so sweaty that it was difficult to hold the postures without sliding around and losing my grip on my feet/legs, etc. at the end of the 90 min, my shirt was more drenched than my usual 2-3h of badminton!!! so if any of you are interested (my mom says it really detoxifies the skin, and the people who do it regularly look sooo slim and tone, wow!), come join me!! i have 9 days left! the website is: www.bikramyogasanjose.com, located at westgate west on prospect. they have 36 classes every week, you pick and choose which ones you want to go to. call me if you want to go together!

ATC, again!

so with my newfound freedom, i decided to spare a few hours of my time and get some quick cash working as a per-diem high school football athletic trainer (ATC). i covered prospect high school's two football game this thurs/fri, and boy, was it deja vu again to be standing at the sidelines!! the good/bad thing was that none of the players knew me since i'm only there to cover the game (they can't start the game without at least a certified trainer, EMT, PA-C or MD). but i had to run out to the playing field more times than expected!! lotsa "wind got knocked outta me" pauses, but we did have 2 serious injuries: 1) fractured clavicle (collarbone), and 2) dislocated patella (kneecap). the dislocation was bad...required immobilization and call to ambulance to transport him to hospital. felt like a very very very long 20-30 min to wait for ambulance to come. poor kid, he was in such pain but was embarrased to be holding up the game (we wouldn't let him try to get up despite him begging to be carried off the field immediately instead of waiting for paramedics). i felt so helpless and remembered why i went back to PA school...if only i knew how to pop it back in place, the kid would feel so much better so much faster...but i didn't want to risk chipping a bone or getting tendon/muscle caught underneath the bone. i have to admit, i didn't get to practice how to re-locate a kneecap in PA school....but i can picture holding the bad knee with my left hand and extending the leg quickly with my other hand..and POP!!!! in goes the kneecap (after a yelp and some cuss words)!! and the boy is feeling much better! guess that will come soon enough!

PA-C!!

yay, i passed!! now i'm officially a Physician Assistant, Certified and Licensed in CA. =D i thought i did better than my scores indicated, but oh well, it's over and i don't have to worry about it for 5 more years! (we must retake the 7h exam every 6y to maintain our license). and i get to keep my kaiser job! yay! now back to vacation...

Mazda 3  

time to buy a car!

i can't believe it--i'm finally gonna have to grow up and finance myself a new car. my mom broke the news to me today saying that we don't have enough cars for me to "borrow"...which my bro did with our 1990 Accord ever since he graduated med school (3 years ago)! even though i'm dead broke from school and need to pay off loans! at least i get a new vroom-vroom all to myself now! so...the decision now is what kinda car to get!! my budget is 25K. my top choice for now is the Mazda 3 'cuz it's sooo cute, stylish, and sportish, but kinda small. Above's a pic. Let me know what you guys think!

movin'

my arms are achy but the apt is half-furnished!! we bought crazy cheap but nice sets of: 1) 3 piece sectional couch, 2) glass dining table that seats 6, and 3) king size bed for just $200 altogether!! and radu and moved them pretty much ourselves from a 2nd story apt to our 1st story apt. everything looks great and is very comfy--can't wait to have friends over! we can throw big parties now that we have sooo many seats!! the couch seats 6-10, the dining area has 6 chairs but can easily fit 8. the glass on the dining table is the size of a twin size mattress--heaviest thing by far (tho the king mattress comes a close second), and i nearly dropped it!! anyhow, it's all done, we have to do some washing and cleaning now. i still can't believe we got a KING size bed...i'm used to a full, and when radu and i first began dating, we managed to squeeze on my dorm-size x-long TWIN bed!! so crazy! but the king bed is a very comfy one, with pillow-top and mattress top, and we didn't want to rent another moving truck again to get a smaller bed. anyhow it's done, ppl can soon come to visit us! yay!!

OUCH!!!

okay, since i'm on vacation, i've decided to do the whole shi-bang (sp?) of fixing myself, so getting hair re-straightened was #1. Today was #2, which was getting my moles lasered off. lemme tell you, it was one of the most painful experiences i've had!!! i bow down to all those with tattoos--i have no idea how the heck you tolerated it, esp for 1+ hour non-stop!!! i was sweating from head to toe, and even the lady who did it said she has never seen anyone sweat so much!! i was sooo nervous...and since i have about a million moles, it was BZZZZ here and BZZZZ there with a sharp prickly laser needle. but now it's done, my face still tingles, and i have to return to "retouch" in a few months for free....and there are still some moles left that she'll do in the future (too much at once for me already!) if i want to. my "scabs" should fall off in about 7-10 days, then i will hopefully look okay. we'll see!

they look like celebreties! 

what a beautiful ceremony! 

she's just too cute! =) 

My diploma (all in Latin), finally!! 

Yale Physician Associate Program Class of 2006 

Graduation Dinner 2006 

talk about being behind in blogging!!

can this be?? has it been 4.5 months since i last blogged??? geepers!!! and not to mention, the blog title is no longer valid 'cuz i've graduated!! oh well, i'll just keep on blogging since now i'm officially on vacation and have all day to waste =). i LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! i think this is the most or 2nd-to-most relaxing time i've ever had in my life. the other would be the summer after graduating from high school when all i did was veg around with friends 'til berkeley started (and work at chinese fast food take-out due to insistance from mom to "earn money"). now that school is done, i've taken (and hopefully passed, will find out in 1.5 weeks) my national board exams, and i have a great job lined up (prob begin in november, just in time to cash in all the paid holidays!!), i literally have no worries!! i have a free home (bummin' off parents 'til i'm ready to move out), free food, free car (my dad is working half-time in taiwan so i may get to drive his when he's gone), ...there really isn't much i can complain about at this point! i guess i'll just chill, unpack and donate all my crap in my room, play lotsa badminton, and study to get ready for my orthopedic surgery job at kaiser santa clara! life can't get better than this!