Turning the big 21!

My 21st has already come and gone - a few years ago. My 21st was spent in San Antonio studying for the MCAT (the SAT of med school). I went out to dinner with a few friends. My first drink was an apple martini. After that we headed to a comedy club (BYOB) and I drank vanilla vodka and diet pepsi out of my nalgene bottle.
Aunt Ed remembers going to a bar in Willows with Grandma Ann and ordering a martini (she doesn't remember what kind, but what she does remember was that it was disgusting).
How did you spend your 21st?

My cousin Taylor just turned 21 in the middle of December. This of course calls for some celebrating. She went out with her friends on her 21st. I was still in Hershey. The Aunties and cousins went out a few nights ago to help Tay celebrate.
Here are some of the highlights of the evening.


All the girls - out to dinner, before the young one's had to head home.


After dinner we headed to Panama's for good cheap drinks (the best is still the Orange Julius which tastes like a 50/50 ice cream bar!). Played some dice and lost some money.


Then we headed to The Crazy Horse - where...they actually ID'd my Mom, A. Tina, A. Sara, and A. Ed. Can you believe it!

And you can't go to the horse without riding the bull!
Here's a description of what went down, before the video below.
Taylor walks up to the bull and is ready to mount it. She places her hands on its back and jumps...she pulls with her arms...and slides off. Ok, we'll try this again. The pretend rodeo clown gives her a tip and tells her to toss her leg over. Alright...arms on the bull's back, jump, leg up, and...she slides off. Third times a charm, right? Not for Tay. Repeat previous scenario for a 4th and maybe a 5th time. I lost count, because I was laughing so hard.

Finally, the rodeo clown told her to step on a different part of the mat that was harder. He could have given her a boost or at least just grabbed her by the belt loops and thrown her up there. Oh well...we enjoyed watching Tay try and get on the bull.
Once on, well you can decide for yourself how you think she did.






Photo op. This time they had some help getting up on the bull.


You can't end a night of drinking without a DD! Thanks Colby!

Christmas Pictures

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words - so here are a few pictures from Christmas this year.

In San Fran - Union Square tree


Cousin Colby proudly holding up her lovely white elephant gift!


A. Sara as Nacho Libre?



The newest member of the family - Taylor's baby Calvin


The Chun Family


Grandpa, Grandma and the grandchildren!

finally home

My journey home started at 4:15 am on Sunday morning. My good friend Rich picked me up to take me to the airport, so I would make my flight at 6 am. It was an icy morning. It had been raining the day before - so a nice thin layer of ice covered the ground everywhere. Rich warned me - "it's really slippery." Out I walk to his car. I slip a little here, slid a little there... and then of course my right foot flies out from under me and down I went. I land smack on my ass and catch myself on my right hand. Thankfully, I have some junk in my trunk which helped protect my fall (which is still a little sore, but no bruising). A little scrap on my palm and I was good to go. Completely relieved that my laptop was not in my backpack or else it would have been history. Also, very grateful that I am not a little old lady with osteopenia / osteoporosis - otherwise I would by laid up in a hospital somewhere with a shattered pelvis and a broken wrist. I am somewhat proud that I've been in Pennsylvania for 3.5 years and this is my first spill on ice.

Made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. 20 minute flight to Washington DC. I slept. Then a direct flight to San Francisco. This was delayed for 2 hours due to mechanical issues, which wouldn't have been so bad, except we were stuck on the plane for that extra 2 hours. Thankfully I wasn't catching a connecting flight in San Fran.
One of the greatest traits I inherited from my father was the ability to fall asleep quickly and to be able to fall asleep anywhere. Airplanes are the perfect napping place. Sit me up beside a window and I will nap on and off all day. I have fallen asleep while sitting on the runway, only to wake up as we are taking off. There was even a time I slept through take off and woke up to find out that we were in the air!

My parents and I enjoyed a few wonderful days in San Fran - shopping, eating, walking, etc. Walking around Union Square and San Francisco Center you would not guess that there is a recession! People were everywhere! I'll be posting pictures later.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

3.5 years done!

I am now officially halfway done with my 3rd year of medical school (assuming I passed this last test).
I leave tomorrow and will spend a few days with my parents in San Francisco, before returning home to enjoy the rest of my break. 2 weeks which surely will not be long enough.

So how does it feel to be a year and a half away from getting that degree? Great. It's been a long hard road. Medical school has been very different from what I expected. The material is not extremely difficult. It's the amount of material, it's the hours of work required, the mentally and emotionally draining part of it all that makes it so hard. Ironically, there is so much isolation and oftentimes selfishness that comes out of wanting to work with people and help people.

The Battle

I want to run, I want to hide Get me out of here Doesn't matter where - anywhere, but here Yet here I sit, here I stay My chosen path, I chose this way
Everyday I walk through this battleground
Rarely a moment to ever look around
One step at a time, an occasional misstep
A stumble or two
Down on my knees, I scream out
Muffled I must hide the pain
Silent streams of tears lost

When I signed up for this - I didn't realize the cost
It's all worth it - they say
I'm in so deep, no choice but to stay
Battle it out & rise above
It is not a war to win
But a compromise made
I am different and will be different still
When I walk off this battlefield
Scars and pieces of me lost
Tougher I will be, more jaded too
It's inevitable

Getting ready for x-mas

Lady at home anxiously awaiting my arrival.
One week until x-mas! Just wanted to remind you, in case you forgot!
Test tomorrow, California on Sunday!

life's little surprises

Some days life just likes to spice it up a bit and throw a surprise your way. These little surprises are never quite what you expected and somehow even if you had an inkling they were coming - they still can hit you like a wave of happiness/joy or knock you down like a ton of bricks. Life's little surprises aren't always good. It's times like these when your not exactly sure what to feel, or maybe you don't even know how to feel.

Today I had one of those surprises that hits you like a ton of bricks, even though I knew it would happen at some point. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel. So I decided to just let myself feel - let the emotions take their course. Naturally, I tried to rationalize some and tell myself it will be ok. And it will - it always is. I was a bum today, unsure of how to feel, how to react, or how to behave. I guess that's ok. It's all part of growing up. New experiences, new emotions. In a way you could say I'm lucky to have the opportunity to feel this and experience this - whatever it is.
It's days like these when I wish my best friends were right here to sit with me and just be together. Words don't necessarily need to be shared, but just being together. Knowing that other person is there and doesn't care that I don't know how to feel, or act.
Once again thank you to the technology of the cell phone - friends and family are just a fingertip away.

Here's to life's little surprises and me growing up just a little bit more today.

Gyn Surgery

Oh my! Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner (12 days). I still feel there is still so much to do! Only a few more days working in the ob/gyn clinic before taking my exam and then finally getting to fly back to Cali! Yeaaaahhhhh can't wait.

The last couple of days I have spent observing gyn surgery. I've seen quite a few hysterectomies. They can do them vaginally, laproscopically, or open (transabdominally). Laproscopic surgery is when they place 3 ports in your stomach - 1 in your belly button (camera) and 2 laterally. They puff your abdomen up with air so they are able to see and move around once inside. Then the other 2 ports are used for various tools to remove pieces, etc. It's really interesting to see a person's anatomy that way - relatively undisturbed.
Something I found surprising was that a normal sized uterus is smaller than I thought - probably about the size of a 3-4 inch apple maybe. Not as big as one would expect. And it's an amazing organ, especially after you think about how large it must become to accomodate a baby!

I thought there was a possibility of me really enjoying surgery, because I really enjoyed dissecting in anatomy. The human body truly is amazing. It fascinates me to dissect and see how all the different parts fit together, work together, and how it appears so seamless. If you gave me a chance to dissect another cadaver (without all the studying and stress that goes with anatomy) I would probably jump at the opportunity. But...not so sure surgery is for me. Don't get me wrong - I think it is truly astounding what is being done in some of the operating rooms today. But I just don't think I want to be the one doing it. A general surery residency is way too long for meand I want a life. As a gynecologist - your surgeries are all about the va-jay jay and it's friends. Not so sure I really want to have my head stuck in a woman's parts for the rest of my career life. Unless a baby was coming out. The Obstetrics part, I loved. C-sections I also truly enjoyed, but surgery - not so much.

Here's a random piece of advice for you. If you are going in for laproscopic surgery at any point in the future - make sure you clean your belly button before you go! They'll clean it for you once you are knocked out and you would be amazed at what they find in some peoples' belly buttons. You don't want to be that person! haha :)


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Ok, in order to earn my way back on my Aunt's good side. She sent me a much better picture of her and the new hubby!
Tell me he doens't look like Old St. Nick! :)