lovin' (and missin') the life of leisure

ahhhh vacation. those glorious 2 weeks that make me question why sloth and gluttony are considered 2 of the deadly sins. the hubby & i are now readjusting to work, but it's very difficult after having such great fun and getting oodles of sleep to get used to the residency lifestyle. *sigh* someday, a balanced life? anyhoo, for your viewing pleasure, a pictorial timeline of our carefree frolicking in socal & hawaii...

the hubs had never been to knott's berry farm, so i decided that we needed to take a little trip. twas literally a ghost town, as most folks apparently would rather be scared out of their minds at knott's SCARY farm instead of the wholesome attractions available during the day, so we were able to hop on rides without waiting... as pictured above, one of their newer rides where you get on a little plastic pony and are shot forward at great speeds. unfortunately, my partner is somewhat vestibularly challenged, so we limited the wild rides... which is good, actually, because i think my favorite part of the day was visiting the knott's chicken dinner restaurant for lunch and indulging in some fried chicken with biscuits. twould not have served to have a queasy belly.

we were able to meet up with jayon, one of the groomsmen and now medicine resident who's been slogging away at his program in LA... ate at pizzeria mozza, my first sampling of mario batali's fare, for dinner (tasty but nothing spectacular, though as a bonus we did get to see dave grohl & wife dining at an adjacent table) then hit up the ktown pinkberry where we found these PARK ON 6TH signs. so there you have it. a Park on 6th ;) though i was sorely disappointed (again) to find that the strangely milky new taste of pinkberry as experienced at another store previously was now THE taste of pinkberry everywhere because of a recipe change. NOT cool. so what if the original recipe wasn't "real" yogurt??!!! it was TASTY, and ADDICTIVE- they didn't call it crackberry for nothin. now it just tastes like red mango. boo. i'm planning a petition.

here's me and my sis in front of the santa monica pier- we wandered the promenade and the pier, sampling yummy cupcakes, and got a lot of sun...

...then met up with my bro & mom for some good eats at the water grill. and by good, i mean very expensive but superbly tasty. the occasion for the family dinner (minus my pops)? a belated and early bday gift to my siblings- MUSICAL TICKETS!!

i know, i know, not exactly the first thing that one would expect, especially for my bro, but hey- i think they enjoyed it. loved allison janney in it.

but then it was time to go to hawaii. to stay here:


thank you costco travel for a great deal @ the fairmont orchid, an excellent hotel which has only served to prejudice me even further against any non-luxury accomodation. we were at the big island, which is good because as island vacations go, it seems that bigger really is better because we found ourselves going a little stir-crazy towards the end of our ~1 week stay. twas nice to have a LOT to explore, and explore we did. north, south, east, west, all the coasts.

here are all our exploits at the volcanoes national park- walking through a lava tube, trying to see the lava flow (it doesn't flow all the time, who knew??!!), sulfurous steam that creates "vog" (volcanic fog) coming from the craters... and some pretty flower.

the hawaii spirit. love it. except when it comes to the hawaii style of driving. i'm all about getting from A to B in as little time as (legally) possible. driving in hawaii, not so much about efficiency or speed. luckily, andy drove.

then, on the east side, we visited hilo: ate authentic saimin @ nori's saimin and snacks, a yelp favorite. ate rambutan (a cousin of lychee?) from the hilo farmer's market. wandered through some japanese gardens. visited akaka and angel falls.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park down towards the south, past Kona.

we enjoyed a couple of gorgeous sunsets... oh and so many other things i was just too lazy to photograph, like visiting both a macadamia nut and coffee factory, kayaking at our resort, eating at ridiculously excellent restaurants like merriman's (twice), alan wong's outpost @ the four seasons, etc... good times.

but we couldn't leave hawaii without seeing our good buddy jonk. we stayed in oahu just for a night, but got the abbreviated culinary tour including malasadas and bubbie's mochi ice cream. many thanks to captain kim.

and finally, right before we caught our red-eye back to reality, we had to eat at alan wong's one more time.

we spent the last precious weekend in socal with family, visiting andy's sister in loma linda (and discovering an awesome board game- Settlers of Catan), getting my hair cut & permed (a semi-annual occurrence), eating delicious korean food, and dreading monday. why is it that one has to work to get paid? *sigh* it was wonderful to see all our friends and to spend time with family, but it's back to the grind for now and hopefully i'll remember what's so great about this whole medicine thing soon.

flight of ideas

battling the bulge aka freshman 15+ is HARD. particularly when i've let myself slide into an unprecedented state of deconditioning. and why is it that there are so many cute clothes that just don't accommodate a poochy belly?! but i digress... one of the reasons why it's so difficult to shed pounds- trips to APPLE HILL!!

andy and i decided to take our annual trip to Apple Hill earlier this month, and were happy to actually find APPLES on the trees... and fresh apple pie with homemade ice cream, and the delicious apple cider doughnuts that go oh-so-well with fresh apple cider.

that little blue speck is andy, wandering through the orchards looking for the perfect unsullied fuji apple. citing puffy insect-bitten feet (that's another story), i lingered behind and snapped away.

after a hard day's work of apple-picking, we found sustenance. Schnitzel and bockwurst!

so random... our very own Oktoberfest ;) sans beer.

here's a pic of some combined (family med or internal med + psych) folks- we got together for some soondubu .. twas a nice distraction from the daily grind of internal medicine @ the VA.

in other news, made my first pie (with hand-picked apples from Apple Hill)... it's pretty difficult to make something taste bad if you add lots and lots of butter. and sugar. but dang, pies are no joke. much respect to the bakers of the world. no longer harboring dreams of opening my own bakery... unless someone else is going to be rolling out those crusts.

omg, jon stewart just compared john mccain to gollum. awesome.

totally looking forward to vacation. counting down the days, in fact. 8 more days. 3 more calls. bring it.

not all doom & gloom

so... yes, the past few months have been difficult and stressful (andy starting out as a resident on medicine, me on inpatient psych), but we HAVE been taking advantage of some of our free weekends. here's some evidence of how we're staying sane ;) and having some summer fun.

date night @ 55 Degrees, and one of the few movies i would go to an actual theater to see- WALL-E!!!!! seriously, we're trying to come up with ways to infiltrate pixar- i think they need a company doc/shrink... and i think that doc/shrink should be ME.

the suitemates reunion

i lived with these 4 ladies my senior year of college, and 5 years later we are all in norcal again... at least, we were :( sadly, the occasion for our reunion was to say farewell to youn, who has moved across the nation to boston. of course, our sorrow didn't keep us from cooking and eating up an excellent brunch, as pictured above. we know how to eat. it was so great to hang out with this collection of very different, amazing ladies.

i've been working on some fitness goals for myself, and roped a couple of my FP/Psych coresidents into a health pact... so, one sunny afternoon, shannon (who refused to be photographed) and i set out on the american river bike path. we did ~10+ miles, and let me just say... i have such heightened respect for cyclists now. but clearly, as pictured below, my dedication to health has not been fanatical... to say the least.

yay for fair food!!! the california state fair is back in town, and again it's just mind-boggling that a whole year has gone by... we went in the evening this time, which was a GREAT idea because we were able to walk around the entire fairgrounds without fearing heat exhaustion. enjoyed lots of fried foods, admired food stands with LCD screens, saw some livestock, watched a hypnotist show, ate some more fried food, oohed and aahed over fireworks, then called it a day.

here's to big fun.

mental exhaustion

today, one of our more vocal psychotic manic ladies was muttering, "no feelings, no feelings! they don't allow you to have feelings in this place..." as i walked out the door. she was looking at the mirror and doing her little jerky dance of madness as she said it, but i felt like she was talking to me. but now, for a short while, i'd like to share some of the feelings that i normally have to suppress in order to get through the day.

inpatient psychiatry is... challenging. we see the sickest of the mentally ill, and it ain't pretty. most of the rules of medicine and inpatient care that i've learned last year and in med school don't apply. patients' histories and diagnoses are often a mystery. most of them DON'T want to be there, and tell you so- over, and over, and over again with varying degrees of hostility. they also don't want to take medications, which is usually what landed them in the hospital in the first place. so, as you can guess, patients who don't want to be there and don't want your stinking meds also aren't interested in building a therapeutic alliance, or in giving you more insight into their psyche. they just want out, and I'M the one standing in their way. how do they know this? because i'm the one who has to go to their court hearings and testify about how they're unable to take care of themselves because of their mental illness... which means that they need to stay longer and take those goshdarn meds. some of the patients have gotten past the anger and are just there, waiting, until we can find a place for them, which depends on funding and just how crazy they seem because i have yet to hear of a living facility for mentally ill that wants mentally ill patients... then there's the scariness of it all- potentially unpredictable, crazy patients who could lash out in violence. i've already gotten over the verbal lashings- my favorite printable name that i've been called thus far has been "psych witch".

so how do we get through all this? how do i cope... well, it helps that my time there is limited- only a few more months, then i'm done. it's really important to use my sense of humor- to chuckle when my previously very sick, manic psychotic lady calls her even more manic and psychotic roommate "nuts". to smile when the very scary stocky pacific-islander male patient who mumbles to himself and stares me down suddenly breaks into song and starts doing the hula to "pearly shells". i've heard that the friday night dance is pretty amusing- the recreational department turns on some hip hop and lets the patients get down with their bad selves. sugar is also a temporizing measure- my fellow resident stocked his desk with jelly beans, which never fail to uplift (briefly) on a tough day. and i talk it out- to my co-residents, my husband, to anyone who will listen... or read ;)

but it is tough, even if the hours aren't bad, because i feel so drained most days. forget about working out- i'm pretty happy if i put some dinner on the table and do a few loads of laundry. my reading selections from the library have gotten progressively fluffier. they say it gets easier, and it's certainly better now than it was the first week... so i continue to hope that things will get better- and not at the expense of my optimism/idealism.

.... and i'm spent.

that's enough uploading for the month.

my pet peeve of the week: people who expect respect because of a title. respect is earned, and is not correlated to the grouping of words (or letters) following your name. argh.

oh joy and happiness- love, LOVE our new FP/Psych interns. and ridiculously happy that betza has joined me on this long, crazy journey that is our 5-year residency. yay for great comrades-in-arms.

totally did NOT love my first week at our inpatient psych ward, but i'm slowly getting used to the barely organized chaos. one thing i'm not getting used to- teaching med students. you'd think this would come easily, after all i was JUST a med student, so i should know what was helpful and what was not. you know, like i used to tell myself when i was a kid that i would never be one of those adults that "didn't get" children because i would always always remember what it was like... but no. sigh... i may not be able to teach much, but at the least i'm hoping that they have a great experience with psychiatry, to encourage a little empathy for the extremely mentally ill.

alright, enough blogging. time to whip up some grub for the hubby, who's now on internal medicine (as a SENIOR, craaazy) and working late most days. and then, off to bed early to recover some hours of precious sleep lost last night while on call- *sigh*... only 4 more years of call to go :P

potpourri of pictorial randomness

you know the thing about waterproof cameras? you never finish them, so they stick around for ages and then when you finally develop them (if you develop them) the pics have this grainy, ancient look- BUT i had to share these pics of our honeymoon!! check out the turtle!!! ... yes, i'm very excited... as we kayaked around, there were turtles all over the place but i was so afraid we wouldn't get a nice underwater pic. anyhoo, i'm definitely looking forward to some more watersport fun on our next trip to hawaii, this october.

my bro graduated!! some pics from the happy event... i was retarded and left my digital camera behind, so these are from an old-fashioned disposable. what can i say, i have a soft spot for the old school.

rafting, moi??

i rafted down the american river the other week... and survived. this was an awesome opportunity set up by alvin for our housestaff- man, it was fun. it was seriously great to try something NEW and potentially risky, if for no other reason than to push my normally risk-averse boundaries a bit. my Michigan visor was sacrificed to the river gods, but in return i think i regained some of that ole adventurous spirit that i've been mourning this year.

here are some pics of the group, signing forms before the trip, then happily grouped together for a picnic lunch. also, joby and shomir picking wild blackberries for dessert.

ACTION PICS!!!

and the view from one of the quiet portions of the river.

summer shenanigans

despite weeks of neglect and intermittent guilty (over)watering... we have our first tomato.

and now, a pictorial spread of some of the reasons why i'm so surprised our tomatoes are growing... june and july have been busy months for us.

above, the oh family (jason and sharon) battling it out with air hockey (p.s. she won, 7-0)... and below that, the reason why we were fortunate enough to have a reunion- sharon and david's wedding!

andy was charged with creating the slideshow for his program's graduation, along with cathy- one of his classmates, pictured above previewing the slideshow anxiously before the guests all arrived. thankfully, the long nights of editing paid off and the slideshow went off without a hitch. and, the culmination of one year's work- andy's intern certificate. moonlighting, here we come!

this was a wonderful treat- tim, one of andy's attendings, invited us to an argentinian dinner, which was sponsored as a school fundraiser at someone's beautiful land park home. we had gourmet eats, watched a little argentinian tango demonstration, listened to good music, and enjoyed a lovely summer evening outside.

summer may never be the same again, now that it doesn't mean three months of blissful vacation, but thanks to friends and family... summer is still pretty darn great.

time flies

the morning coolness that usually greets me on my walk to work from my car has been replaced by a foreboding warmth... another sacramento summer. already?! this year has gone by ridiculously quickly, though i suppose almost all chunks of time probably seem that way in hindsight. it's totally surreal though, planning for orientation events for the INCOMING interns... not to mention other life events, like the class of '08 LLUSOM graduation that we were fortunate enough to attend (no pics tho, forgot our camera :P) or my brother's upcoming college graduation, and of course- sharon and david's wedding?!! i can only imagine what the next "school year" will bring.

i started intern year at the VA on a substance abuse rotation, waiting in my little office for mentally ill and substance-abusing veterans to show up for their appointments... and it's also how i will end my *first* intern year. gotta love the VA, when i'm on a psych rotation that is... a nice, chill, outpatient rotation. it's definitely been nice to have some time to reflect on what i've learned, and what more i need to do to become the kind of physician i want to be- needless to say, there's a LOT. i'm starting to think that 5 years, though long, may barely be enough to time to learn what i want to learn.

but enough about work... here's what has been occupying some of my newly found time on this psych rotation: PHOTOBOOKS!! we recently got the digital copies of our wedding pics, which just happened to coincide with a promotion on mypublisher photobooks for costco members... anyhoo, we got a little carried away and created essentially copies of my original wedding album for our parents (though not as photoshopped and glorious as our original from the inimitable joe latter), then decided to make a "behind the scenes" album with cool "candid" shots, then decided- hey what the heck, we'll just make an album with "our story" including the engagement stuff and everything that followed, ending with the honeymoon. our books are currently on their way, so we'll see if it was ultimately worth it, but i was thinking... you know, i rarely print out my digital pictures and put them in an album, so why not create these books (especially at a reasonable price) for posterity?? anyhoo, feel free to click on the links for previews of the books i created... i hope you enjoy!

another subject that has been on my mind recently, now that i have time to think about it, is our lifestyle- namely, how unhealthy it has become. seriously, who knew it would be this hard to exercise regularly and eat healthily?! i was horrified to realize, looking back on this year, that we've basically adopted the "typical" poor family's diet- high in carbs, frozen foods, quick meals, eating out, ordering in... it's ugly. and the degree of my deconditioning is even more horrifying- just last year, i was running several miles without a second thought... now?! well, my waistline and extreme shortness of breath with ANY exertion are testament to the fact that it's been waaaaaay too long since i've done any sort of regular exercise. and irony of all ironies, my poor hubby- whom i've tried to fatten up since we started dating- has either maintained or lost some weight... which i blame on his inpatient medicine months, when i wasn't able to feed him properly :( in any case, i'm determined to make some kind of change- i've given myself some leniency this year, because it's "intern year" and it's supposed to be arduous and time-consuming, etc... but i cannot go two years without reclaiming the kind of lifestyle i want to maintain! so, here's a belated new year's resolution... or rather, a new "school year" resolution: LIVE THE WAY I WANT TO LIVE IN THE FUTURE... i.e. tasty but healthy diet, REGULAR physical activity, good sleep, etc. we'll see how it goes...