Now Hosted by Janet!

Five

Red – lots of red pictures, some of them I feel my very best. :) I love flowers and I love droplets!

1. I feel ___a little stuffy, I have a little cold__.

2. ____Laughing_______ is always fun.

3. Right now, I can hear these things: __a car motor running, cars driving by, typing_________.

4. _____It’s friday______ and I’m glad ___that I have a 3 day weekend!!!!!!________.

5. The last time I ____went to Boston_______ was ____for interviews and it was cold!_______.

6. ___I’m very much looking forward to________ this Labor day weekend.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __getting prepared for my trip___, tomorrow my plans include __a drive and seeing some good friends I don’t get to see much___ and Sunday, I want to __laugh and enjoy being with people :)___!

And you ? This weekend?

1. Tag and link back to the persons who tagged you. (Pranksy Gang – thanks for the tag!)
2. List six(un)important things that make you happy.
– Silly ads that have cute animals
– A great shower
– Sunshine
– A yummy healthy snack
– An empty inbox
– Finishing taking the trash out
3. Tag six bloggers and let them know they’re “it”. -> Just come play along :)

I can’t quite believe it’s May!

This is the month I’ll graduate. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been longing for this time to come – and then there’s the whole thing of my Dad not being here for it. I’m still absolutely looking forward to graduation, but it really puts it right there in a way I can’t deny that my Dad is not here. As stupid as it might be, there’s some kind of rationalization that goes on of why I haven’t spoken to my Dad. I don’t consciously do it but then there’s this heaviness inside of the reality of my Dad not being here, never going to be here, all that happened with having to say goodbye and the suddenness of it all. I know my Dad told me that he’d still be there, in just a way that I wouldn’t know – but !! :( It’s really something I had wanted to share with him and is really, really hard to swallow.

Now for something lighter and fun!
1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is __drop it, as in the emotional stuff, not the physical things___.
2. ___I don’t eat__ clams.
3. When I think of carnivals I think of _of the smell of popcorn, cotton candy…___.
4. __Tulips are___ my favorite spring flower.
5. Things on my desk include __paper, papers, more paper, stuff I should have taken care of but was neglectful…___.
6. _____ makes me wanna _____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __class BBQ___, tomorrow my plans include _looking for the rooting reflex____ and Sunday, I want to __play some tetris with buddies___!
Play here!

1. Design work, always ongoing – soon as you answer the one round of emails new ones come in. :)
2. Finding a new apartment for residency.
3. Checking out my gas bill, I can’t remember if I paid it.
4. Paying rent.
5. Studying antibiotics for my next rotations
6. Finding an amazing dessert wine. :)
7. Enjoying the spring – I’ve been waiting for it so long!
8. Planning a trip to the Galapagos after graduation with my mum :)
9. Post on my blog
10. Making up clinic protocols (the student run clinic I’m the director of)

And your to-do list?

1. I’m __up___, I’m _up____, I _’m up up and away____.
2. Why do I have __rotations___ and not __vacation___.
3. How does this __brain___ work, anyway?
4. Every morning, I put __shampoo___ on my _hair____.
5. I consider myself lucky because __I’m going to be graduating as a DR (!) in 80 (!!) days___.
6. One day we’ll see _a kinder place, I hope____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __some kind of get together with med sch buds___, tomorrow my plans include __Japanese food & wine bar___ and Sunday, I want to __PLAY TETRIS___!

Random shot:

Which crumb is the best?! ;)

1. Give me __a diet coke___ and I’ll __drink it!___.
2. Whenever __this time of year rolls around, I get the winter blahs___.
3. I wish __I didn’t have any more rotations___.
4. __Hot dogs cooked on my little baby grill___ was the last thing I ate that was utterly delicious.
5. To live in this world __one must have a tough skin and a disarming smile___.
6. Other than this one, __Kristen‘s___ is the last blog I commented on.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to __tetris party – my new favorite wii game___, tomorrow my plans include __medical school prom___ and Sunday, I want to __recover___!

… Want to play too? Visit the Friday Fill Ins site!

From my travels on the interview trail! (George Washington in NY)

A perfect winter looking bridge.

I think this is spreading like a plague in the facebook land, so I’ll just post it here too since the feed here gets imported in anyways. I will note that I am not too fond of such things since it’s kind of hard to think of interesting things that are “cool” about me since essentially, coolness is not really me :P

1. I never hit snooze. If it’s time to get up, it’s time.
2. I love my hair. I would like it not to be so fine, but it’s soft and generally compliant with my demands.
3. Hard boiled eggs are freaky.
4. I like being in the hospital far more than the office.
5. I really, really like green beans.
6. I love text messaging. Especially on the iphone where you have a full keyboard so it’s not the 66 444 7 555 thing!
7. I use a mouse with the laptop because it decreases wrist strain and my wrists are sensitive.
8. I listen to pandora radio a lot.
9. I would like to grow my own vegetables.
10. I always carry lip medex and aveeno intense relief moisturizer in my white coat.
11. I like to learn on my own without much instruction.
12. I prefer blogs that use full posts in their feed. In fact, some blogs I will unsubscribe to based on this fact. Put ads in your feed if you really need that revenue.
13. Speaking of blog things, I detest pay to post. I don’t read blogs to hear some contrived relation to some product and then a biased opinion of it.
14. I get more self conscious about my excessive picture taking when I’m with someone. Well, except my mom, she’s used to it and I know she’s a good sport. But I try not to, people see the quantity of pictures I take – they know it has to come from somewhere right? And they are my friend who wants to spend time with me… :P stupid self consciousness.
15. Having music playing and the tv on makes me feel violently ill. Make it stop now. I don’t like multiple inputs, same goes for two people talking to me about different things at the same time.
16. I love having a dog. :) If all the pictures aren’t a testament to that enough.
17. I don’t use the TV for background noise. Silence is ok, ambient noise is ok.
18. I hated being an only child. I know my parents did the best thing for me and I had all the opportunities in the world – and it was the right decision. But I still hated it.
19. My life changed when I got the iphone. ;)
20. I love to toss and turn. Sometimes I make myself turn right as I’m about to fall asleep… hehe!
21. I like the scent of almonds.
22. I am a huge advocate of electronic medical records, trying to find any note I could maybe read while on surgery to see what was going on with my patient… safe? not much. I know they are expensive, I know they are cumbersome for older physicians, but it’s playing with fire without them. Especially electronic ordering systems/prescriptions to remove medical errors with medications and other therapies.
23. I hate wearing the stethoscope around my neck. In fact, I hate the white coat as well. Rotations that I can sneak that thing off into a corner – extra points.
24. I love scarves. They keep you warm and are fun to play with since they are soft, have tassels and the such.
25. Well after doing this for … hours… here’s 25 pictures I took. You can read whatever you’d like about what it says about me. ;)

I can’t believe I didn’t post all weekend, but I guess I was otherwise doing things. It was a nice full weekend, and sad that it’s over. It’s monday and I can’t think of anything good to say so… :)

What gives you hope?
Opening my eyes in the morning because you never know what might happen in a day!

How often do you get your haircut? Describe your worst haircut.
I have no idea how often it is because I just do it when I feel like it. Worst haircut – well probably the one I gave to myself when I was trying to get the baby weber (gas grill) started and it wouldn’t catch. So I turned it off for a few and tried again, but I guess the gas was still in the air – cause WOOSH! Ignition! And the bottom of my hair was all singed and I had to cut off an inch or two. Eyebrows were still intact tho!

What’s your most treasured piece of jewelry? Why?
I got this necklace this Christmas from Janet, and I picked it out from etsy. I got it because I think a tree is very representative of this whole life thing – you have this large structure and these flimsy little leaves on them (our lives) and the leaves hang out, wave in the wind, get rained on, birds poop on, caterpillars eat, make energy from the pretty sunlight, and fade away – and die. And some leaves go early, others hang on and on… I really got this idea from this book that was given to me when my grandmother died when I was a kid. But I think it still holds true and just the general insignificance of our own individual lives, but the beauty we have all together in the tree. And then of course, experiencing the loss of my Dad and how that has changed me.