Old Age

Armand was just commenting that his past month over at [Affiliated Hospital] was harder than last year's month there, and I replied that maybe it was because we're getting older. I've noticed that my intern year was hard but not as hard as I imagined. I always had that on-call adrenaline and even after a 30-hour shift, I was somewhat functional.

But now? Now, I can't even form sentences on rounds after being on-call. I think I'm getting old. Or maybe it's the sleep debt that's piled up!

Last night, I had my first 6p-4am ER shift in more than 6 months. Sure, I did night senior where I worked 7pm-7am, but there's usually some down time and maybe even an hour of lying horizontal in bed. But in the ER? No way. There's not even time to get a drink of water, most days. It's Go, Go, Go, for 10 hours straight. And man. I didn't really feel it last night as I was working, but I could NOT wake up today. I got home around 5am and set my alarm for 11:30am, figuring I wouldn't even be able to sleep that much... but I had to literally drag myself out of bed at 1:30pm! and I have to go back to the ER tonight. sigh.

Last night was hard because it was the first time where I had to use the computer system entirely... It took me an hour to see ONE patient. One simple patient with a cold. So painful to write notes and comments and everything on this horrible computer system that is NOT user-friendly at all. Who the hell built this thing?!? Seriously?!?

Also, I was supervising a medical student, which reallllllly slows things down. It's hard to have lots of teaching moments when 1) it's really busy in the ER, 2) i have no idea how to use the computer system, 3) there are a lot of the same type of patients in the ER this time of year. I felt bad for the other residents who probably had to work harder to make up for my lack of efficiency.

Onto happier thoughts... I'm dreaming of going to New Zealand in May for our "honeymoon." But I'm worried that it won't work out with all the competing trips that need to happen in the Spring, involving interviews, academic conferences, apartment-hunting, and visits that I've been promising friends for a long time...

finding meaning in quotes

i used to love quotes. i have several on my facebook profile. i'm not as avid of a collector nowadays as i was before, but i still enjoy reading them and thinking...

don't make fun of me for this but i still sometimes browse this wedding website and i found this post on quotes.

this quote got me thinking:
"No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth." Robert Southey (1774-1843)

i disagree with this. i have definitely found that it's true with some friends... you can go for months, maybe even years, without talking/seeing them, and you can just start back up from where you left off. but with some friends, time and distance grow between you and they become strangers. now this is where it gets confusing. because they're not strangers. they're this special person who holds a very big place in your heart, but they're just not there anymore. how can they remain in the past, if you think about them in the present?

Reception details

Even though we kept things pretty simple, we did have a lot of details that I loved.

I made everyone's seating card. This was a lot more work than I thought. I tried to do as much as possible way ahead of time so I wouldn't be stressed out the week before, but the guest list kept changing right up until the very last minute, so there was a lot of moving people around and trying to figure out who should sit with who, etc. This meant a lot of changes to the seating cards too. But once the table assignments were set, I printed them out, cut them, and mounted them to the backing. My dad and aunt helped us put them in alphabetical order and put them out at the venue. There are all these fancy decorative options from the florist, but we only had scattered rose petals on the table with these:

I didn't want to do a guest book at all because really? No one ever knows what clever, meaningful thing to write, and who's going to look through it more than once? One idea that I liked was to have a polaroid guest book where guests take pictures of themselves with the polaroid camera and paste them into a book and write a note next to their picture. Sounds cute, right? But that involved obtaining a polaroid camera and film and finding an appropriate book, adhesive, etc. i.e. way to much work for me, especially since polaroid is now obsolete. Funny enough, the wedding that we went to exactly 1 week after ours had a polaroid guest book! It was fun.

Instead, I spent a half day looking for a matte that people could sign. I've had a couple friends do this and then they put the matte in a framed picture and it hangs on the wall. Much more practical than a guest book. Surprisingly, it was hard to find a frame that I liked so we just put the matte out and will have to find a frame later. We had our parents' wedding pictures out next to the matte. I think it's sentimental and also kind of amusing what they wore. :)


We put a lot of thought into our table numbers. In the end, we wanted to bring a little Chicago to our LA wedding, so we had different Chicago landmarks as our table numbers. Luckily, I came across this deck of "knowledge cards" of the Great Buildings of Chicago from the Art Institute. It had card-sized pictures of landmarks and then historical/architectural information on the back, which I copied and typed up in a Word document. So on one side, our guests had information to read:

and on the front side, we had the picture showing. Below is the Field Museum, which just happened to be our table. We really didn't want a wedding party table or a sweetheart table because we felt this separated the wedding party from the rest of their friends. So we sat with our parents/sister, and everyone else sat with other friends.

Here's another great detail shot of our flowers, from Jen K Floral Design. She was great. She was actually the very first wedding vendor we ever met. She has a bubbly personality, lots of ideas, and the best part is that she only does one wedding per weekend, giving her clients her full attention. Plus, she'll import flowers from around the world, so you can have any flower you want, regardless of season. We hit a couple bumps along the road, involving small miscommunications... but I guess that's what happens when you plan a wedding mostly entirely over email! I admit I was a little nervous about the flowers going in, but they turned out beautifully.

I had the idea of a croquembouche pretty early on in our planning process. There are so many pictures out there for beautiful wedding cakes. But they're really ridiculously expensive and really not tasty for the price. (They can run easily at $6/piece, plus some venues charge a cake-cutting fee, which could make a piece of cake $10 or more!) Some people do cupcakes, which I think is a cute idea (again, the wedding we went to 1 wk after ours had cupcakes!). But to celebrate the husband being part-french and having a french name, we went with the cream puff cake. The croquembouche translates into "crunch in mouth" and is named so because the cream puffs are held together by caramelized sugar. We had two, one vanilla and one mocha. They were from a local french bakery called Maison Richard.

Here's a shot of what the reception looked like:

The venue provided the uplighting by each window for a small fee, and the DJ had the rest of the lights included. This was nice because people also go crazy for lighting. You can have fancy spot-lighting on various places, and even have your "monogram" lighting the dance floor. Again... it would have been nice had I had an unlimited budget, but in the end, totally unnecessary.

New Year, New Haircut

Gosh... the last time I went for a haircut was right after we got engaged... back in July 2007. Here's my post. I chopped off all my hair back then and donated to Locks of Love. I've been meaning to get the "post-wedding chop" for a while, but today, I finally bit the bullet. I went to the Chicago Ave Salon and donated 10 inches to Locks of Love!

I should have taken a "before" picture, had I remembered... but here's the new look:

and... I even got some bangs! for the first time in I don't even know how long!

I feel so much lighter! The best part is that the haircut was FREE! because I was donating my hair. So I got a new hair product (invisible styling cream), a new hair brush with boar nylon mix bristles, and tip, all for like $60!

go blue!

I am very proud of my Wellesley roots. Here's a news release that was just delivered to my inbox about the three amazing Wellesley women who will be at the White House with our new President.

Go Wellesley!

on the eve

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. How appropriate that it is also the eve of the Inauguration that we've all been waiting for. Yes. Even though I'm STILL bitter and outraged that the better Democratic candidate didn't win the presidential nomination, I'm pretty excited that the Bush Era is over.

I think I'm more excited that the American people elected an African-American man to the presidency, than I am about Obama, specifically. and that's pretty much the extent of how I feel about tomorrow... it's going to be so HISTORICAL. But I really don't understand why all these people are dropping everything and flying to D.C., and talking about how wonderful and perfect the World is going to be after tomorrow. That hope campaign has seriously caused a lot of people to put on rose-colored glasses and become DELUDED.

Regardless. I'm excited about the historical moment. What are we doing to celebrate? We're going out to dinner at a french restaurant in the neighborhood- reportedly, the place for many Obama meetings before he moved. The restaurant is probably the fanciest restaurant we have in this neighborhood and I've yet to go! So I'm looking forward to it. (Getting to check another box of the List of Things To Do in Chicago Before I Leave). They're having a pre-fixe menu. and my friend is bringing his 3-month old baby. We'll see how it goes! :) Hopefully, it doesn't involve crying.

Stalking, I mean Browsing

I spent much of my time from July 2007 until September 2008, "researching" weddings. Planning a wedding alternates between being fun and being torturous for a lot of different reasons. There's just so much that I could have gotten suckered into. It's pretty sickening how commercialized it is and how extremely ridiculous the entire wedding industry has become. I mean, when else would women in their right minds be willing to pay literally thousands of dollars for a dress they'll wear ONCE, and not only that, but order said dress months in advance so the company can "custom make to every order" but still end up requiring hundreds of dollars worth of alterations?!? craziness. Thank goodness for netbride.

But seriously, I was so consumed with not getting ripped off and trying to maintain a budget but still wanting the day to be gorgeous, that I probably did not learn a single thing for my job, you know, "doctoring" and such. Because every free moment I had, I was online browsing various websites from theknot, to projectwedding, to weddingbee.

I'm glad it's over... but I'm still mildly obsessed with wedding-related things. It's hard to let go of something you obsessed over for >1 year.

So here comes my confession.

I love wedding photography websites.

I still stalk a few photography blogs, namely:

daniel chin photography (our very own)

next exit photography

christine farah photography

I can't help it... the pictures are oh-so-pretty...!

The In Between

where did I leave off...

oh yes. The Ceremony.

I've been completely remiss in our wedding recap.

After the ceremony, everyone went to The California Club while Armand and I were whisked away to take some bride/groom portraits with Daniel. While everyone enjoyed the open bar and snacks at the cocktail hour, we took these pictures.

I was so relieved for the ceremony to be over. It was the most emotionally intense 20 minutes of my entire life.
Daniel got right to work and asked if we wouldn't mind lying on the ground at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I didn't care about anything at this point.
This is an amazing picture... and classic Daniel.

I don't really have a good close-up shot of me in my dress. This is too far to see details... but I loved my dress. I've always wanted something completely lace. No sequins. No beads. and definitely no fluff. So many dresses these days are sleeveless but I've never been comfortable in a tube-top... I'm always hiking the dress up, afraid it's going to slip off. So I went with the halter-style.

This is maybe one of my favorites... we're finally relaxed, not so serious, and just having fun in some back corner with weird machinery in the background. I remember being relieved that Daniel didn't ask us to climb onto any of that said machinery... :)

We got some great views from the top of the concert hall.

this is another one of my favorites... not only is the light wonderful, but i love my bouquet. calla lillies are a little cliche, but so pretty!

and then we rushed back to the Club to enjoy the last few minutes of the cocktail hour and to stat the Reception! More, way more, pictures to come!

Already, I miss them

5.5 months until I'm leaving this place I've called home for 7 years.

and I'm already missing my colleagues. as jaded as I've become during this residency training process, I love my co-residents and think they're each very very good doctors who care about not only the individual patients we take care of*, but also the broken healthcare system in which we work. i feel lucky to know each one of them.

*well... to be honest, maybe with the exception of one person. :)

WTH?!?

Being a Californian... I have no idea what this means.

"WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY & COLD WEATHER ALERT"

I just got an email from some higher-up at the hospital talking about how friggin cold it's going to be this week. forget the Snow. I'm talking like 20 below freezing.

The last part of the email says:

"The Hospital has emergency response plans for the loss of critical utilities (i.e., electricity, steam, water). Faculty and staff should familiarize themselves with these plans in case of an emergency."

WHAT THE HELL.

Snowy days...

It's snowing outside... actually it's been snowing since last night. And weather.com predicts some version of snow for the next 4 days. I haven't been this depressed since college. That's a lie. I was a lot _more_ depressed in college. At least my first couple years.

That brings me to... The highlight of my college years. The dear friends that I made while spending my third year at Oxford. I found this word document that my friend Andy had compiled, detailing all of our adventures from our Spain Reunion 2002. It's pretty fucking awesome.

Some direct quotes:

"While at the airport, had heart-attacks every time we saw a filled luggage trolley emerge from the doorway, hoping desperately that the piles of luggage did not belong to Vivian. Cardiac rate decreases when we see Vivian…and her small suitcase and carryon…whew!"

"in Valencia. Fallas are something to see, but viv is trying to navigate way to hostel without killing us all. Can see the headlines now ‘Dumb rich kids in big ass BMW caught in pitiful attempt to navigate streets of Valencia’. Actually, Vivian’s doing a brilliant job, considering she’s used to the more ‘civilised’ streets of L.A. Oh the irony…."

"On the way down to the metro stop, I almost get run over by a car while crossing the street, prompting Naty to announce the headline ‘Suicidal Chinito gets run over by ‘wencho’ !!’. Thanks, I love you too Naty. We find a shop where Vivian buys all the strawberry mentos available at the counter and then asks the cashier if there are any more. Naty, Fabio and I pretend not to know her. "

"Dropped stuff off at car and then went into Plaza Réal, where Naty called to try and get accommodation in Seville. Meanwhile, a bird flew over Vivian, first pissing on her arm, then shitting in her hair, sending her into a screaming frenzy, as she ran around screaming ‘OH MY GOD! THIS IS SOOOOO GROSS!!! AHHHHHH!!!!’ Naty continued futile search for accommodation on the phone while trying to restrain herself from cracking up, all while Fabio tried to hold Vivian down, who was now screaming bloody murder and running around the plaza. I ended up taking Vivian to McDonalds, going into the women’s restroom with her to help her wash the shit out of her hair. To console herself, Vivian bought a chocolate Sundae."

Just some of the many many hilarious moments/memories during that trip...

LA Chinatown

Addendum

to my resolutions...

to not take any of my blessings for granted!

2009 Resolutions

hmm. Looking back, I didn't make any 2008 resolutions! oops.

Digging deeper, here are my resolutions from 2007 and how I did:

1. Read/Study more- definitely not...
2. Try not to be so cynical- definitely MORE cynical, especially after last month's rotation...
3. Embrace change- somewhat better at this...
4. Exercise more- definitely not...
5. Figure out how to invest money in a 401K or Roth IRA, etc.- did that! yay!
6. Pick up my violin again- definitely not...
7. Improve my Korean and Spanish language skills- definitely not...
8. Call friends and family more often- somewhat...
9. Clean my apartment- somewhat, though more difficult with husband/roomate...
10. Figure out what my goals are after residency- UCLA and oncology!

So... I didn't do that well. Let's start over for 2009.

1. Prepare for the Pediatric Boards on 10/12/09
2. Eat healthy
3. Save more, spend less
4. Move all my crap to LA in June
5. Be less cynical
6. Enjoy being a "newlywed"
7. Find my true passion within oncology
8. Reduce my carbon footprint
9. Find more time for myself, and my husband
10. Floss
11. Aspire for simplicity

2009

Happy New Year, everyone!

My trip home is winding down... it was filled with shopping, sleeping in, eating, and spending time with family and friends. all under clear blue skies and warm 60-70 degree weather. I'm going to miss this... though, thankfully, I won't have to wait too long before we move back here!

I spent new years eve, like I always do- with family! We went to my aunt's house to make dumplings from scratch. SO YUMMY. As a reward to ourselves for all our hardwork, and to ring in the new year, we had the largest oysters I've ever seen. Actually, I only had one, because I'm not the biggest fan, but look at these piles:

Afterward, my sister and I watched a movie we had rented (Smart People, I think it was called...? not that memorable) and fell asleep.

The real feast, however, began on New Years Day. This is one of my all-time favorite korean dishes... jap-chae noodles! mmm. I could have eaten this entire bowl. and ta-da! Here is the main reason I love New Years... dumpling and rice cake soup. See those beautiful perfect dumplings? They taste even better than they look!

And of course our meal wouldn't be complete without rice cakes. The one on the left is made with pumpkin. Tasty!

Shortly after ringing in the New Year, our family left for a quick weekend getaway to Ojai, California, where we gorged on more food, did some serious damage with our outlet shopping, and went on a beautiful mountain hike.

Next up, I'm going to post my 2009 resolutions!