Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! My attending gave us Christmas day off! He's going to be an intern for a day. That was awefully nice of him. I spent Christmas eve with Bernette's family. They had a wonderful dinner set up, along with too many yummy desserts. I've been eating way too much during this holiday season! We also played some Lego Star Wars as well as Halo 3. It was a much talked about game, and although I usually don't play first person shooters, it was addicting! It was fun to just play video games again. I went home this past weekend. Will came back from Ohio and my cousin Stanley came over from Iowa. It was great to have so many people together. I suppose this is what Christmas means, family and friends enjoying each other's company.

Street Fighter IV

I can't believe Street Fighter 3 came out 10 years ago! I remember my dad would have the arcades in our garage and we would play all day. We even got the game on the SNES. And now, 10 years later, Capcom is coming out with Street Fighter IV. Prepare yourself!

Done with CCU!

I'm officially finished with CCU. It's been one busy month! I'm now on Hillcrest wards, and the patients I'm taking over seem like rocks. Hopefully I can cut down on the list soon. I also watched Enchanted. It was a surprisingly intriguing story of fairy tale meeting the real world, storybook romance in the modern day.

One more week

One more week at the CCU. The unit itself isn't that bad, but the attendings and fellows are not exactly the best people to work with and to learn from. In fact, they are the opposite of what I would like to become. Anyway, I'm already counting down the days.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! My residents were so cool to give me an extra day off, so here I am at home once again. My brother is flying in from OSU tomorrow morning, it's a while since we had a meal together as a family. I'm back to work on Friday though. I might also hang out with a few med school friends tomorrow. Last I saw many of them were during our graduation.

USMLE

I passed Step 3! Now I just need to wait for internship to finish and I can apply for my license. I'm in the midst of the CCU rotation, which is pretty busy. I have tomorrow off, but my next day off is Nov 30, which means I'll be working through Thanksgiving. Hopefully the hospital isn't too busy during this time.

Back to work

I'm back on my rotations now, on CCU. The day was uneventful, I suppose. There's so much I don't know about the heart. I updated the pictures from Hawaii, so go take a look! I have been listening to a new song, Bubbly by Colbie Caillat.

Hawaii

Ahola! I'm back from Hawaii, and finally back at home in Walnut. It was a hella tight trip. We stayed on O'ahu the entire time spanning 6 nights. We went around the island on a tour, to the Dole plantation and Macadamian nut farm where food was aplenty. We visited many of the surfing sites around the island, and watched people sunbathe at Waikiki. We managed to get a tan and, some areas, sunburned. We climbed Diamond Head Crater and got an excellent view of the concrete jungle that is our hotel and absorbed the salty air of the Pacific all around us. Parasailing was an adventure. Aside from getting airsick, we were that much closer to the clouds that incessantly threatened rain. It was nice, though, when the sun came out. Snorkeling was probably the best part of the trip. The fishes did not care one iota that we were within arm's reach of the coral reef they call home. They probably know that we'll get in trouble if we stood on the reef and scrape our fragile feet, and maybe even swallow some salty sea water that is their bathroom. Halloween was a nice change of pace, following the Pacman around like one of the ghosts. We saw many oddities during that night, but I still managed to get a good night's rest. We visited Pearl Harbor where USS Arizona still sits, the Flea Market around Aloha Stadium, and watched a Luau with yummy buffet and live entertainment. Overall, the trip was a great getaway from the fire-prone LA and SD. At the end of the day, the weather was kind to us, only pouring rain the morning of our flight back to SF. Even with passing showers though, we were prancing around without a care for the world. And that's what made the vacation the most memorable. So, enough of the brief rundown. I'll post pictures when I get a chance get them on my computer. Whale!

First Vacation

I finished clinic early today, and it was a night of catching up and hanging out. I watched the movie, "The Namesake," suggested by Elan. It was a surprisingly good movie. Slow-paced, but thoughtful and at some parts very dramatic. It's about an Indian family in the States and about all the struggles, surprises, love and fear that they encounter. I'd recommend it to anyone who is into movies; actually I have it with me =).

I'm done with Step 3! It was a tough test, so hopefully I did okay on it. I'll find out in about a month. It was fun to be at home for the 4 days. I went to Indian Wells for the ACP meeting, and saw Ray there. Haven't talked to him since we graduated from med school. He's still the gunner type, it seems like. My brother Will also came home for the weekend. My mom came back from Taiwan as well, so we had a house full of people again. High winds and brush fires were all around this weekend. It feels like the entire southern Cali is on fire. Ashes everywhere, and I hear that the clinics might be closed in SD. We'll see what happens when I get back. We're in code orange, so not sure what I'll end up doing... probably urgent care. Anyway, 2 more days until my vacation! It'll be nice to head over to Hawaii, where the weather will be nicer, and hopefully air a lot cleaner.

Study weekend

It's the weekend, 2 whole days off! But I'll need to study for Step 3, so it'll still be busy. I think this might be the first weekend I'm staying here even though I have it off. Anyway, we're planning on maybegoing to Gaslamp in downtown tomorrow night. Only been there once a few years ago, seemed to be a fun place to go.

Day Off

Tomorrow's my first day off in 12 days. It actually went by pretty fast. During the last call night, my resident brought the xbox 360 and we hooked it up to the conference room projector and played Lego Star Wars for a few hours. I have also started playing more tennis now, today for 1.5 hours. It seems like I have not played this hard for this long in a few years now. Tomorrow, I'll probably have to start studying for Step 3, which is coming up fast!

Fall

It's October already! I'm still chugging along in my wards rotation, now half way through. It'll be 3 weeks before I take my Step 3. Time flies fast when you need to study. But it'll be nice to be done with the exam, then I can concentrate (or not) on the rest of my intern year. Immediately after the exam, I'll have my first 2 week vacation! I'll be going to Hawaii with Helen, and it should be lots of fun. Last time I went to Hawaii was several years ago with my family. In other news, my mom's going back to Taiwan in a week to finalize the remodeling of the 2nd apartment. I guess that's it for all the news... 'til next time.

Blur

I just realized how fast life goes by when you least expect it. It's a strange feeling to know that I could have been part of it, but in the end I was merely left out of it all. I guess I should have expected this to happen, but I suppose I was just in denial. It shouldn't affect me like this; it shouldn't affect me at all. I am hurt, left to wonder, left to contemplate, by myself.

It's already mid-September! I recently went up to SF. We went to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream at Presidio Park, which was great! Check out my pictures. I can't believe I'm already 4 months into my intern year. Time really is going by fast, especially being on call. Seems like I miss 1 out of 4 days. I recently started playing tennis again (actually only once), turns out he is a cards fellow. It was great to be outdoors again, haven't exercised for >1 hr in a long time. Anyway, it's getting late and time for sleep!

It's almost September! Recently, my aunt (dad's sister) and cousin came over for a visit from Taiwan. My mom's friend's son also was over for a week. They went to lots of places, as you can see from Jack's website. They returned to Taiwan this past weekend, and it seems like the house is a lot emptier now. Jack also got the Nintendo Wii, and it is addicting. I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's a lot more fun to play with this remote than the old-school remotes. I updated some pictures, so enjoy!

I have 2 new songs now: Michael Buble - Everything, and Marie Digby - Umbrella.

I'm on night float rotation now at the VA. I'm not sure whether it's the rotation itself, or the VA, but it's pretty slow at night (which is a good thing!). I am finally caught up on my sleep. I feel like I'm sleeping the whole day. I get a few good hours at night, go home during the day and sleep some more. I might eat a bit and then it's time to go back into the hospital. The hours are a bit longer, but it's only 5 days a week, so I get my weekends. Since it's slow, my sleeping cycle isn't totally thrown off. It's weird to be home during the day. It's too hot to go jogging, unless I go in the early morning, which I might do tomorrow. But it is a nice break, very different from the last 2 months of wards. I am taking the last portion of the USMLE exam in end of October, so I should start studying now anyway. Too bad this rotation is only 2 weeks, but then I have consult after this, so the schedule should be a bit better too.

Wow, it's been a month since I updated the site. It's been super busy, now on my 2nd ward month. It's been hard to find time to do anything, but this weekend is my first golden weekend! I'm still deciding whether I'll go back up to LA. I was just up there last weekend. I'll probably just try to get some errands done tomorrow and relax and read Harry Potter. My mom went to Taiwan this past week and will be there for 3 weeks, returning in time for my brother, Will's, birthday. Speaking of birthdays, yesterday was Andy's birthday, happy birthday man! Hope you're doing well at Olive View. Today is Helen's birthday. Happy birthday! She's coming to visit me next weekend, so that'll be exciting. I think my place is as close as it'll ever be for visitors. Below is an appropriate comic for the birthdays.

Happy 4th! I'm 1.5 weeks into internship, and it seems like it'll be for a long ride. However, I'm optimistic. Once I get over this learning curve of 2-3 months, I should be okay. Each day seems to pass so fast, and before I know it, it's already past my time to go home. There's just so much busy work at the hospital. However, it still isn't easy waking up at 4:30 every day. Anyway, hope you all are safe on this day. Happy birthday!

Tomorrow is my first call night! I've only been on for 3 days, and it's been rough. Everything is new, computer system, people, hospital, city. Heck, there's nothing old here... It's interesting being considered and called a doctor, but most times I am not exactly sure whether I'm doing the correct thing. However, it's running a bit smoother though, got out today at 6 instead of 7:30 yesterday. I'll have to go to sleep early (like everyday), but I think I'm starting to get used to this schedule again. 4th year of medical school really was fun in retrospect. Getting weekends off, getting out early, exercising... My first day off will be July 8th, so I'll finally be able to go home for a day. Anyway, wish me luck on my first call!

It's been a whirlwind over the past few months, too many things to tell, yet no time to tell them, so this will be a short update. I went to Taiwan for 6 weeks and left for San Francisco with Helen for the last 2 weeks. We went to Monterey and Hearst Castle. I graduated from UC Davis School of Medicine yesterday. It is a great relief to finally reach this stage in my life. However, residency starts in 1 week!! I'll be moving down to San Diego this coming Saturday. Meanwhile, Helen is coming over later today and we'll have a chance to hang out in LA for one week before "life" starts. Her residency at CPMC starts on Saturday, so she'll be even more rushed. This week, we're planning on going to a taping of Jay Leno, Magic Mountain, Laugh Factory, and try to catch Wicked. I'll post pictures of fun stuff when I get them.

Wow! It's been a while since I updated this website. Many things happened in the interim; happy belated Chinese New Year, Topher's birthday, and St. Patty's Day! Most recently, I found out that I'm going to UCSD for internal medicine residency. This will be an exciting stage of my life. This have been an unpredictable year thus far, and I'm looking forward to new surprises that may come. The orientation start date is June 18, which is a mere few months away! I'll be leaving to Taiwan mid-April and returning to the States at the end of May, which does not leave me much time between that, graduation, and the start of internship.

Hope everyone had a great Superbowl weekend. Apparently, the Colts won. We visited Topher yesterday. He's 11 months old today! He's so cute, crawling around and making lots of noise and mess. I updated the pictures, and finally put up videos from Seattle New Years too. Nothing much happening on this end. February 21 is the last day to submit our rank list, and then it'll be a waiting game until March 15. I played basketball last week, which was the first time I played since September last year. I'm so out of shape, tired after 1 game! I'll have to go out to the gym more often now, now that I'm trying to shape up before getting fat again during residency. Enjoy the comics!

Happy New Year! What's your resolution? Mine is to get into the best shape of my life before I start residency. We started the ranking process, and the match will be in March. So exciting! I'm still debating on which will be my top programs. The weather in Sacramento is very cold! I don't remember it being this bad over the past 3 years, but it might be because our house doesn't have working heater. In the morning, my room stays at a chilly 55 degrees. Nowadays, my rotations are a bit easier. I have my special studies module next month, then Dermatology, and then EKG reading course. I'll be done with Sacramento (unless I come here for residency) in early April. I'm already looking for the eventual move to wherever I end up going. Anyway, that was a quick rundown of nothing too important that's been happening. I updated some pictures, so enjoy!