senior photo

we received proofs of our senior photo today. i'll make sure that all of you, my fans, will receive an autographed copy ;). just make sure i have your current mailing addresses.

london bridge is falling down..

falling down, falling down
london bridge is falling down,
my fair lady.

we got our tickets to london! we decided that we'll skip germany this time and just focus on england and france. i started watching movies set in france. i just saw paris, je t'aime, next are chocolat and before sunset.

now back to my paper on the ethics of artificial insemination for lesbians and the physician's right to conscientious refusal.. and for the record, i sincerely don't have a problem with my lesbian friends availing of artificial insemination. for a long time, i even thought that i, as a single woman would consider it. but i do realize that fathers are essential to daughters. so, i think i will get pregnant, the old-fashioned way ;).

speed traps

it was soooo ironic.. there i was, in front of the entrance to the indianapolis motor speedway, flashing lights behind me, an officer getting ready to write me a ticket.

i was actually early for church this morning. my car was second to arrive. but soon after, i realized that i had left my choir robe. so after the choir practice, i had to go back to my apartment to get it. on the way back to church, i was clocked going 60 on a 35 mph zone.

that's one thing about moving to a new place. your driving routine gets altered and you have no clue where the cops like to hang out. now, i know :). oh well, as we always say in our family, "charge to experience..". ;)

feels like college

a couple of advantages of living across campus: 1) freezing rain, sleet.. no worries about driving. 2) i can come home in the middle of the day, take a 3-hour nap, be back fresh for my overnight call tonight.

so, what's the price of convenience? ummm, just hundreds of dollars that i have not earned ;).

total eclipse of the moon

primetime view from my window as it unfolds! my fave celestial event though seen from my window was the 2001 Leonid meteor shower. i wanted to make a wish for each shooting star but i was so mesmerized that i forgot :).

a room with a view

one goodbye hug for the road and i was off..

i got here to my new place about an hour ago. i wish i can share with you my bedroom view of the indianapolis skyline at night. it is simply gorgeous! my camera doesn't capture night images very well. but i'll point you to this link so you have some idea. yes, indiana have some tall buildings. we're just not about cornfields, you know :).

so, tomorrow i won't have to drive to school. i'll just cross a street and i'm there. i really like these moving experiences. i get to live in different places. i get to know different people. and this time, my roommate has a tibetan dog named pabu. so i'll even have a pet for a month. i already told her that i'll be interested in walking pabu. quite the bonus, huh? :)

messing with me

i'm sitting here in the library seriously listening to our required modules as i google away. i've been kinda thinking of what i'll be doing for dinner tonight. i have some leftover food from a dinner hosted by one of my classmates the other night. i thought i should be ok just heating that up later. then there's this guy who i have met briefly before who stops by and tells me that someone wanted me to have the food that he is carrying. huh? i tried to look where he was pointing. then he tells me that he's just messing with me. now, i'm hungry :).

inside of you

peering inside the human body is both a revelatory and mystifying experience. you marvel as you look at the symphony of the various parts that composes all of us. the actual surgery though is not a spiritual experience for me. it seems that in a period of time, you may forget the sum of all the parts. you focus on the incision, the stitch, the sterile environment. no part of the body becomes sacred anymore. we prod, we poke, we sponge, we cauterize, with the hopes that when we sew the patient up, all may be well.

favorite smells

the smell of affection that lingers,
the smell of breakfast cooking,
raspberry-scented soaps,
th scent of sampaguita, and lavender, too!

the smell of the earth after a rainstorm,
the clean smell after a shower,
freshly cut grass,
clothes just out of the dryer..

scented candles,
new books,
my grapefruit, jasmine and mango body spray
smell of the ocean,
apples and freshly-baked goodies,
baby's skin..

just some of my favorite smells..

heartbeat

for the last three thursday afternoons, i've been working with dr. m. in her women prisoner's clinic. dr. m. is one of my favorite ob/gyns. she's a mother of 4, happily married to another ob/gyn doc. she's very kind and warm-hearted. she is a popular invited speaker on campus. she's always energetic and gives excellent talks on balancing career and family and women's health in general.

so i went and saw our last patient for the day. she's due in the next couple of weeks. today was the third time i was seeing her. i asked the normal stuff we ask, any vaginal bleeding, contractions, leakage of fluid, baby moving ok, etc. then i tried to listen to the baby's heartbeat. i could not hear it. i assured the mom that i'm still learning so it's taking me awhile. dr. m finally walked into the room. she gives it a try and could not find it either. she asked me to get the portable ultrasound. i started to worry a little. but finally, she heard the baby's heartbeat. the baby just had an unusual lie or position.

the prisoner liaison asked me if i am going into OB/Gyn. my honest response was that i do believe that i will eventually get there. i just don't know when exactly :) while walking in between the clinic and the library, i tried to picture myself as an OB/Gyn doc. surprisingly, i do like that picture of me.

for its own sake

truth...moral...goodness...happiness...health...beauty.

my preceptor had an exhibition of his art pieces the other day. he took up glass-blowing upon his wife's encouragement. in one difficult week at work almost a decade ago, he lost three babies. he needed cheering up.

here's a press picture of a couple of his beautiful creations:

where i live

this is the first of what i presume to be of many places i would live in this year. it's nice to come home to a warm and cozy house. i don't have to wonder whether i can take a hot shower in the morning :). You probably can't read the magnet in the refrigerator. "Kiss the cook.. he's Norwegian!" I thought that was funny since I actually studied Norwegian in college.

switching

i requested to have our teacher class be this saturday instead of tonight. we are having a bible study anyway at one of the brethren's house then. i'm glad i went home sooner rather than later. i got an email from our ob/gyn intern that we are to prepare a little presentation for our rounds tomorrow morning. (by the way, i just learned today that she switched from family medicine into ob/gyn.) our topic du jour is abnormal uterine bleeding. i'm just glad that i have no problems whatsoever with the monthly flow, otherwise that would be bloody awful :).

the european trip this may is slowly getting planned. i will be spending a few days in london/oxford, a few days in paris and a few days in hamburg. i'm excited to catch up with a couple of cousins, an ex-roommate and church friends.

auf wiedersehen for now!

indecision

i don't like being indecisive. there was a time that my most disliked phrase was "i don't know". how could you not know? but maybe sometimes we just really don't know.

maritess e-mailed me today. she ended up going into geriatrics. she is now practicing in amarillo, tx. she is strongly discouraging me from going into ob/gyn. she had co-residents in new york who switched from ob/gyn to internal medicine after being sued during their intern year.

on the way home, i picked up some books from a friend who is going into ob/gyn. she seems really passionate about it. that's my only reservation about radiology. i can't really say that i am passionate about it. i guess, i'll just apply. for all i know, i may not even match to a radiology program.

Fat Tuesday

In honor of Fat Tuesday, I have cancelled my gym membership. It only took me 2 years to admit that I'm not just the type who works out ;).

home early

what was an expected 29-hour work day turned to just a 23-hour day. the hours went by pretty quickly with me participating in 3 exhilarating deliveries and performing countless pelvic exams. i was then supposed to be in the OR this morning. but we don't have a surgical gyn case till 10:30 a.m. so my attending just let me go home. sweet! i have gained 6 hours of my life! :)

a bit of news about my housing situation. i have decided not to go back to my house just quite yet. i did find a new roommate. as much as it is absolutely tempting to stay in my current place, i think it would be best if i move on when my month is up. my new roommate who i also found on craigslist is a 4th year medical student. she lives just right across our campus so i can just walk over to the hospitals. she's actually going into OB/Gyn; i am hoping that she can sway me into the field :). the other day, i was talking to my current roommate who is an Internal Medicine intern about career choices. he said that he almost went into OB/Gyn. i told him that I think i'm passionate about women's healthcare. he did make a point that passions can fade. and when the passion is not there anymore, would I really want to be stuck with the long hours?

laborettes and the lone ranger

at ob/gyn orientation we were told that we should introduce ourselves to the "laborettes" (women in labor) as early as we can. we wouldn't want to be "the lone ranger" (anonymous masked person) appearing unannounced at the delivery party. that was pretty funny to me at 7 in the morning :). Hi-yo silver, away!

tornado warning

a tornado is supposed to be heading our way as i write this. tornado in january! our lights are flickering.

the burglars strike back

i guess since my neighbors know that i am not at home, they have decided to come finish the house off. the broken computer is gone. my printer is gone. my 5-in-one printer/fax/copier/scanner/phone is gone. my modem and wireless router are gone. they even took my diagnostic set! and daddy, remember that sack suitcase we got for my trip over here? they took that, too. well, looking at the bright side, i now have less excess baggage :). this must be the year of traveling through life very lightly.

fortune cookie

"You will be spending time outdoors, in the mountains, near water."

Earlier today, between the mall food court and the theater playing 'Juno', I opened my fortune cookie. I asked out aloud where in Indiana can I find mountains. My friend reminded me that I am going to Guatemala. Oh yeah, how can I forget?

I also got to see my classmates at the annual talent show at school today. (By the way, Mr. OC, one of them was the third-year on your team in Wishard last June :). She gave birth in September.) It is always nice to catch up with good friends.