Live every moment

Yesterday was a day spent
Tomorrow is a day yet to come
Surviving in today's fleeting tent
Is an art known only to some

Cherish every second, every moment
Live like it's the end
The sound of laughter
A hand to hold, and a prayer so near
Love what you have right now
Forgiveness, relatedness, meaning, and hope

So love your life
Live every moment
Laugh every day
And love beyond words

Whirlwind

It's almost the end of January! It's been busy with work and wedding planning. Finally finished my MOD rotation and now back to a regular schedule. Wedding planning is going well, since Noelle is in charge. She picked a dress already, and now we need to find a tux for myself and the groomsmen. Meanwhile, Andy is planning the bachelor's party, which hopefully will be a relaxing time with good friends. This weekend we are heading up to Napa for Karen's birthday, and then the following weekend is the Surf City half marathon. We're still trying to find time for snowboarding, since I've never been. Hopefully Valentine's day will be the date. I have my time off set up for Will's wedding in Taiwan in March. We have yet to look for a place in LA but will try to get this finalized around April so we can start moving in. This last 6 months of my residency seemingly will fly by very fast, and before I know it, I'll be married and starting fellowship.

Merry Christmas!

Has it already been a year? This has truly been on exciting year, and always getting better it seems like. Noelle and I recently returned from a Mexican Riviera cruise. It was my first cruise, and it was so much fun. It can be as busy or relaxing as you make it. You get pampered, with food everywhere and too much activities to do, despite the few days at sea. Check out the pictures! I got a new camera, Panasonic GF1, and it was so much fun to use, not to mention that the pictures turned out so much better than the point-and-shooters. Over the past few months, both my brothers bought houses. Jack got engaged and also expecting a little one. We have a new dog at home, and we're all getting married next year. So much changes, and the year has yet to come to a close. Looking forward to what next year has in store for us!

Blogging

Wow, has it been that long since I updated? I feel like it's been a whirlwind over the past month. Noelle and I decided to go around the different theme parks in the area. We hit SeaWorld, Disneyland, Raging Waters, and still have tickets to Legoland. Our cousins are came over from Taiwan and we'll once again be out and about on the weekends. We also went to LA County Fair over Labor Day weekend. Entrance fees were only 1 dollar, and we won a few stuffed animals along the way. Wrapping up to the month, we went to see Colbie Caillat at Anaheim House of Blues last night. It was a great show, but boy was it tiring standing for almost 5 hours straight. We've been listening to her songs all this time, and it was so much more fun to know all of the songs she sang! She even sang Lucky, which we heard in Jason Mraz's concert. Now if only they could come together...

Last year during the LA County Fair was when I officially got with Noelle, and I can't believe it's already one year (at least officially tomorrow)! Let's see what this weekend has in store for us... The following weekend will be her birthday, so there's no time to relax just yet. Sounds like it's going to be a big weekend with a lot of company. After all, it's going to be her 30th!

San Francisco

So I finally finished my 3rd call month in a row, and will be on outpatient rotations until March. It will be great to get weekends off, and I'm really looking forward to more sleep. I started off my weekend freedom by heading up to San Francisco and ran the SF Half Marathon. I finished at 2:12:27 with a pace of 10:07. This is significantly slower than the Surf City Half, where I went 1:58:47. However, there were a lot more hills than Huntington Beach, and I didn't even get a chance to train. Now that I have started running, I'm going to have to keep going! Here are the rest of the stats: 7.6 mile split time 1:17:24 with a pace of 10:12. I finished 1933 out of 3481 male runners, and 535 out of 859 in my age class of 25-29 y/o. I'm so proud of Noelle, who finished with a respectable 2:54:23, still under 3 hours without any training!

4th of July

The day started out early. I had to go into work, but Noelle got up even earlier and made chocolate chip pancakes! It was a surprise breakfast, and much better than my usual cereal. I managed to get out of work early, and we were off to lunch, and then Seaport Village. I've never been there before, and it was a really nice day. Lots of people probably arrived first thing in the morning to camp out for the prime locations. We ran into the face painter, and after Noelle mentioned it was my birthday, I got a free crab on my cheek! It turned out well, and stayed on for the rest of the day. We roamed the area until nearing dinner time, and that's when I knew something was up. Noelle kept getting text messages, and her excuse of wishing her mom happy 4th of July didn't fly. She kept stalling on going to the restaurant, and I realized that she planned to have dinner with other people. I kept running through my head who would be there. Turns out Noelle coordinated with Jack, Will, Ivy, my parents, and her mom to come down. I was so surprised, and happy that I was able to spend the evening with everyone. She even had a carrot cake for me! We stayed to watch fireworks, which are a lot more exciting with everyone. I have to say that this is the most memorable birthday ever, and I can't wait till next year!

3rd year

I'm officially a 3rd year resident now! Can't believe it's July already, and I'm sure this next year will go by pretty fast. Finished my last call night in the ICU last night. I'm back on wards, 3 more call months to go. This last year should be more relaxing with more weekends off. My first weekend off will be the SF half marathon at the end of the month. Gotta start running again! Noelle came back from her Northern Europe cruise. Sounds fun, but such a shame that I didn't get a chance to go. Maybe this next year, I'll finally make my way to Europe. And it's time to start planning for the big day!