babybuttcheeks's Xanga

Friday, November 21, 2008

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:11:17 GMT

In a pathetic attempt to deeply express my inner conflict with standardized tests, this is what I've come up with: BAAHHH! I hate you, USMLE!!!

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:07:36 GMT

A friend called me up today and left me a silly message saying happy 1-year before the wedding anniversary! It was cute. Gosh, it still seems like so far away... I wish the day would come sooner. Mike and I already have the big stuff taken care of- the reception, the church, the photographer, the dress (yes, I bought it more than a year ahead of time- I couldn't help it... I'm a compulsive shopper). What else do we need? I guess guests would be nice and an officiator would be helpful. Ah well!

I recently watched kasumi80's Singapore/Malaysian reception video with her, and I couldn't help but laugh and laugh at how the videographer made her do such silly things, and how they so dramatically portrayed the couple. Dry ice, fading images of the bride and the groom, an entrance dance for the food presentation... It was a lot of fun to watch, I hope I can look back one day at my wedding day and laugh.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:26:36 GMT

It's been 2 weeks since I started residency, and though it has its moments of insanity, I've really enjoyed it so far. I think God went easy on me by having me start in the ER. Not to say that ER is easy, it's anything but easy-- the learning curve is like HUGE, but it is a good place to start for a nubie. And to my utter delight mostly everyone in the ER is super supportive at UMASS. Still very serious about their jobs, but also understanding and willing to correct you gently. Or it could just be me- I've had it much worse at some rotation sites in medical school that UMass is like a gift.

A few months ago I could have decided to move back to Oklahoma or Texas, but I chose to stay in Massachusetts, and I'm very glad about it. I was talking to my roommate 2 nights ago and could sympathize with how she was wanting to go back to Singapore even though her boyfriend is here in MA, still finishing up school, and had no desire to live in a foreign country. It made me remember something that my pastor's wife once told me when I was deciding whether I should leave or stay. When you find that person that you want to commit to and eventually marry, that person becomes your family. And aside from God, your family is more important than your career. I guess the challenge then became, was I really willing and ready to commit? Or was I just fooling around, wasting time, and playing with someone else's feelings?

...It's been 6 months since my engagement and I think I honestly have to say that saying yes to Mike was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Not because I don't love him and don't want to marry him, of course I do. But talking with my roommate reminded me that it was hard because I had to make the decision to let go of the uncertainty the future holds and just say yes, I want to commit my life to you. And that is no simple thing.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:15:26 GMT

To my best friend:

Thank you for these 3 wonderful years! I would never trade a minute of it.

Happy 4th of July!

Whale Watching 07- Gloucester, MA

Tue, 15 May 2007 16:48:37 GMT

I had the greatest time whale-watching with Mike last Saturday. It was the best one by far out of our annual trips since 2003. We didn't see any dolphins like we did our first time, but we saw whales as close as 15 feet away, and we saw a humpback whale actually breech through the surface of the water and jump 50 feet into the air! It was soo awsome. It happened so fast, we couldn't get a shot of it, but it is a picture in my mind that I won't soon forget. Here are a few shots that I took... I wish I could have taken more, but my batteries started dying.

This is called a fluke display, it's when the whales starts to take a nose-dive.

Here the whale is actually opening it's mouth to let the birds feed out of it.

Whales swim up to the northeast in April to start feeding, they are returning from the winter and have gone without food for 6 months.

We saw as many as 3 or 4 whales swimming close together.

A nice close-up of their dorsal fin. These are all humpback whales, and they're given names based upon the white pattern at the bottom of their tales.

I love whales! They are large, magnificent creatures with a gentleness about them. It was such an incredible experience watching one jump out of the water 30 feet away from us-- it was just an amazing display of its massive body and power that I thought I would never get to see. If anyone ever wants to go whale watching, Gloucester is definitely a great location.

A funny sight...

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 20:12:57 GMT

What could be more precious than seeing your baby for the first time through a glass window at a hospital nursery? Seeing the male equivalent of a man's "baby" through the glass window of a car garage:

Mike was getting his snow tires switched over to new tires, and as we were waiting for the car to be finished, Mike was watching his car through a glass window in between the waiting area and the garage. As he was looking through the window, another customer walks up right next to him and asks him, "So which one is yours?" Mike says, "The blue one. I've had it for 2 years, it's been good to me." Mike then asks him in return, "Which one is yours?" He says, "Mine is that one they just brought in." I stood to the side and watched as two grown men were hovering over the glass, watching intently as the car mechanics took care of their "babies," and I couldn't help but chuckle on the inside... men and their cars.

Only 1 more to go!

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 11:35:46 GMT

I'm counting down the days when I'll finally be done with medical school... I just finished Dermatology (snoooze... not as exciting as I thought it would be- I learned everything I want to know about acne) and I've only got Radiology left to go. My classmate in Derm just finished her 4th year and is moving down to Florida right now. I can imagine the anticipation she must be feeling to finally be done with it all.

Medical school ranks pretty high as being one of the most painful experiences I've had to go through. I'm sure many would agree. I wouldn't wish it on anyone, only those who can stay motivated throughout all four years. Before I started I met a friend who told me that she absolutely loved medical school, even though she said she apparently was horrible at it. Going into it I guess you could say I had some naive ideas of what med school would be like-- that I would absolutely love it because I thought this was God's ultimate plan for my life, and obviously God's plan means that everything is going to be rosey and perfect, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. Not true. When God wants me to do something, it usually means I'm going to be challenged and hard-pressed from every side. God's will isn't like going on a walk through the park. It's more like heading straight into the storm, intentionally. Joy and a sense of relief only derives from knowing that God is there through it all.

God's ultimate plan is not about me anyways. It's not about what I'm going to do with my life, what career I'm going to choose, how God's going to change me or use me 10-15 years down the road. All those things are nice and may be facilitators, but they can also be distractors to what's really important, and that is how is God alive in me today? If I were to strip away all the debris of school, residency, church, mission trips, is there anything in my character that would point to a sign that says "God is here." God's plan in me is about God and making Him known to others who question His kingship.

"Now everything's new." That's the motto of my church here in Boston called Mosaic. It's a great slogan, it's biblically based. But how often do I believe it? When I wake up and every day feels the same as the day before, and I begin to forget what day it is because they all start to coalesce, is 'everything's new'? If I treat each day as if it is new, then I begin to see how new it is. Yesterday I changed my routine by just a little bit, and saw how it caused a cascade of new experiences, of new people to meet, of new encounters with God. Each day is a new day to brave, and joy comes from knowing it's from God, as are the challenges that come with it.

Residency

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:39:59 GMT

Today is Match day for 4th year medical students who are applying to medical schools in the United States, and I have to say it was quite an experience waiting in line while the clock ticked down to 12 noon so that we open our envelopes that will tell us our fate for the next few years, the next 3 years for me. I'll be doing my Family Medicine residency at UMass in Worcestor, MA. Yay! At first I was a little disappointed because it wasn't my number one choice, but I'm getting more and more excited about it because it's an excellent program for primary care, and 2 of my preceptors who I greatly admire and respect, graduated from that program. Actually some of BU's curriculum, especially the standardized patient part, comes from criteria that was developed at UMass. Other things I'm psyched about are that the hospital is a very nice facility, the residents and attendings that I met are down to earth, they have a strong emphasis on teaching, free Spanish classes once a week, free tuition for spouses and children to attend the university, free parking at most places, on-site child care, a very multiethnic patient population, and I heard Worcestor has beautiful scenery in the spring and fall, with lots of places to hike and do outdoors stuff. It's also cheaper to live than Boston, yay! But it's further away from my friends. I guess you can't have it all.

I'm pretty satisfied with where I matched. Any of the programs that I ranked were ones that I would have loved to go to. Even though getting into UMass means that I'll still have to brave the chilly northeastern winters, I think it's a program that's going to really motivate me to become a good physician.

Congratulations to all others who matched!

I got engaged this past weekend!!!

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 20:31:15 GMT

Hello, again!

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 01:43:07 GMT

I've finally made my weekly trip back to the library, which has the closet internet access. My first week in Harlingen went pretty well. I worked with 5 or 6 six different attendings at the clinic which thankfully wasn't as busy as people said it usually is. I feel really thankful to be working with so many Christians who are excellent physicians, and to be exposed to a broader area of family medicine that I haven't gotten to see in Boston. I think it's definitely true what people say, that you really do learn a lot and get to do a lot on your own when you're in a rural setting, verses in the urban setting where there are so many specialists that can do the work up for you. But, I still miss Boston with all it's activities and hanging out with friends. I really miss my car and the freedom to just go anywhere and do anything... this afternoon I joked around with Mike saying that in Boston there is so much to do, but I never got to do the things I wanted because of my schedule and school. In Harlingen, I have all this extra time now, but there's not really much I can do here and when I don't have access to a car, that limits my choices even further. At least I will get to travel to Mexico this Saturday on a one-day missions trip. I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing there, but 4 of us from the hospital will be going. If I had my way, I would want to stop by South Padre Island to go to the beach. Everyone says it's beautiful and that I can't leave without going. Maybe I'll rent my own car and just figure out how to get there on my own. There is one really cool thing that I have to mention about this week: I got to share the gospel with someone on our one-day free clinic mission trip this past Wednesday in a small city called San Carlos. I am really rusty when it comes to presenting the gospel... previous to last Wednesday, I can't actually remember the last time I shared it. Even though it seemed like she was resistant to it, I'm still glad that I did. Hopefully she'll hear it again in the future and understand. I gotta remember to pray for her. Well, that's my update for the week. The last thing that I will say even though it's really random is, where are all the Asians? There's only like 3 of us down here! God, please send down more Asians to Harlingen!