Super storm Sandy

Storm of the year ...

Started off labeled as hurricane which of course forecast to hit on Sunday 10/28 when I was flying back from London to Cleveland.  I was one of the lucky flights that left on time and was not delayed.  Got to JFK airport plenty early and heard all the reports of the 3 NYC airports going to close sometime between 7pm and 9pm and bus lines and subway also close sometime late that night.  Thankfully my Cleveland connection was scheduled @ 4pm but we still sat on the tarmac waiting for 2 hours for the take-off.  I think by the time we took off, there were over 40 planes lining up on the tarmac.  I didn't get into Cleveland until 8:30pm which was 2hrs later than originally but nonetheless made it.

The hurricane was then re-labeled as superstorm and didn't hit Cleveland until Monday afternoon.  Lots and lots of rain and wind.  It wasn't super cold but expected for the time of year.  Power was out in a lot of places and quite a few street lights and homes did not get power back for 2-3days.  This was probably the worse I have seen personally in all the places I have lived in.

The news about NYC after was definitely devastating as my friend living in the Bronx was said "NYC was destroyed" the day after the storm hit. Definitely sad to hear that boardwalk in Atlantic City was destroyed too.  It was one of the iconic Northeast thing and the re-build is going to be different and who knows how long before everything will be back to normal.

Crazy next 6 weeks

This is the start of my crazy 6 weeks where I'll be either out of town or on call for weekends.  We'll see how much havoc it will wreck.  The first 2 weekends will be weekend calls, hopefully they won't be too bad.  After that, I'm going back to LA for the first in 6 years for one of my college roommate's wedding.  I have already missed 2 of their weddings. Then I'll be flying home then flying back for the next 2 weekends.  Finally, going to NYC to see Kirstin before I get a breather.

Whew! I can only imagine how my life during the week will be crazy.  But can't wait.

Week 1

Today I have my 1 week post op check and get to have the contacts bandages out. Yippee!!!

So before removal, I had the eye chart exam. I was able to see without the pinholes and read about 20/30 right eye and 20/25 left eye with little bit of blurriness.  Then the contacts came out, it feels like it was a layer being peeled.  When doc looked at the corneas, I was told I had some dry spots and keep using the artificial tears (refresh plus) as needed and often.  Now I'm down to just using the steroid drops, on tapering dose.  Guess I'll have to up my usage, I have been using about 5 vials a day, I'll just increase it to 6 a day.  Still using the refresh pm at night and need a vial of artificial tears in the morning when I first open my eyes.

Also, it's my birthday!! I had to work late so I just bought myself birthday dinner and dessert.  I got dumpling noodle soup and jade tofu with fish fillet from Wonton Gourmet, and cassata and tiramisu cake from Presti Bakery. I went to my go to Chinese restaurant here in Cleveland and a yummy Italian bakery in Little Italy.  Overall, a quiet birthday, my typical since I've been living by myself and not being able to go home for it.

Fun Weekend

This was a great weekend, the last one right before my hospitalist month torture to start.  It's going to be my last month of floor medicine and it's not the same as last year in terms that I'm the only resident with 10-15 patients and working 6 days/week.

Kirstin came for the weekend and it was great to see her, it's been 3 months since our Caribbean trip.  It's going to be a low key weekend, just relaxing and hanging out.

Went to Westside Market on Saturday. It was fun, having our lunch there, wandering around looking at the stalls.  Found the homemade pierogies, we each bought 3 kinds, can't wait to eat them.  They've got interesting flavors and sound very good.  For dinner, it's Indian, originally planned for Saffron Patch but they've got a wedding party going, so we went to Indian Flame, so yummy.  Of course, it's a snowy evening, but we went to Velvet Tango Room anyways to have our after dinner drinks.  They specialize in handcrafted cocktails, everything is freshly made, not instant stuff.  I've got the apricot sour and boy was it yummy.  The ambience is fun too, Jazz group playing and we just catched up and had a good night.

For Sunday, we went to Velocity Church.  It's a young church but somewhat charismatic as well but not as much as what Kirstin is used to.  People are nice but I just don't feel like it's somewhere I could grow.  It just doesn't feel as Bible based as I'm used to. After church, I introduced Kirstin to Vietnamnese food. We went to Superior Pho, I had the vermicelli and had her ordered the sweet and sour fish (also one of my favorite).  It wasn't the best I had but I still like the places in Cali.  Can't wait to go home to have good Vietnamnese food.

For the rest of the day, we just chill, caught up on our gossip and tried to hang out as much cuz who knew when's the next time.  My plan to is to got to NYC in April and June.  We shall see.

New Year 2012

This year I decided to do something different.  I'm setting goals this year as a trial to see if it really help me to organize my life.  This is not to say that my life is a mess but I'm just trying to see if setting goals can become part of my life.

Goals:
1. spend some quiet time daily with the Lord
2. pick a church and go on average twice a month
3. lose 30lbs by end of year
4. spend more reading time for residency
5. call home more often

Let the New Year of 2012 begin!!

Ca 1 year update

This is just a quick update of life in residency since July, starting my Ca 1 year.  This is the year where I'll start spending my time in the ORs.  It's been good so far, some routine cases and some crazier ones.  Calls have been good, busy during daytimes but question whether surgical teams really know the definition of emergency.  I've had a couple true emergency but most of the cases during weekend calls were not really emergency.  Definitely learned a little about other subspecialty areas that will get more in depth next year.

No complaints overall, enjoying my time being busy at times.  Only wish I could figure out reading daily after being exhausted from work and also squeezing time for exercising and doctors' appts.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year was very low-key. I spent it with a family that I met not too long ago and the wife, Melissa, is also my endocrinologist.  I didn't have to work the day of and had very light day before and after. We just had dinner and just chatted about random things.   Also got to play with their 2 little girls, absolutely adorable. They are definitely a family that I don't mind hanging out with again.  Dinner was actually yummy. They had their food delivered from a grocery store and all they did was heated up.  The cranberry sauce, mashed potato, turkey and stuffing were good.  Corn souffle was a maybe but the green bean was a no.  But it was still enjoyable cuz of the company.

The one thing I was happy was that I finally get to make another apple pie, except this time, I changed it to crumbled and used a combination of granny smith and fuji apples. It was yummy. Friends at dinner enjoyed it too. It wasn't too sweet but it definitely needed another apple in the mix.

Feeling of Cleveland ... 1st year

This has definitely been my most miserable year.  The job/work has been ok, most of the time I actually enjoy my work.  The part of my life that's been a downer is the living in Cleveland part.

This all started with the fact I moved to Cleveland for residency and that was not my top choice, so in my mind, I didn't fully accept the decision probably until October that I'm here for 4 years. I was in denial in May and June when I first moved out here, but I still went out trying to have fun and meet other interns.  I didn't really find anyone that I clicked with or people that I would like to hang out away from the hospital. By October, the winter has arrived already with the gloomy gray skies.  What I was not expecting was the lack of sun for the entire winter and that the entire winter goes from mid October to April. I knew that I've SAD but I didn't know that I would be in the worst depression that I've every experienced.  I changed my vitamin to get more vit D, but it irritated my stomach, so I had to change it again.  My mood didn't change much.

The fact that I was working over the holidays didn't help, so I went to visit Kirstin.  That help a little but it only made me realize that I really don't belong here in Cleveland.  Other residents say that Cleveland would grow on you, but I really don't think it ever will.  At this, I met Angel and really got to know her as she's going through hard times, so that kind of gave me a different focus, but it didn't last long for my attention span.  I soon got mildly annoyed with her problem, but she was someone that I clicked with.  She was applying for CRNA school and got accepted to one in Florida, which she will be going in Dec if all goes well.  So I'm already trying to distance myself, not getting too attach so I won't be too disappointed when she leaves.

Then I got sucked into the SICU, which was even more depressing with the work load, call schedules and just the ICU madness.  I'm feeling down is not really work related, it's more due to the fact that I don't have anyone in Cleveland that checks up on when I don't show up to church or small groups in a while or someone for me to fall back on to just talk or rant.  I visited Kirstin again this time, and I could tell the difference, I was much more quieter with her, not my usual loud crazy self.  I then realize that this can't keep going.

Now, I'm at the point where I'm very close to asking someone from work to write me a Rx for wellbutrin for short term to just fight this off.  I also got to talking to Eddy and David, so hopefully I'll be able to find a relief through them.  I just feel frustrated with the low moods that I'm feeling, most of the time, I just want to sleep more, and eat more of my comfort food.

I really want to beat this. Please God, help me.

Food ... last 2 months

I haven't stopped eating out to try places despite my somewhat crazy schedule.  The reviews might be out of order but there they are.

South Side
Went there twice.  First time was brunch and I had chicken and waffle.  Before you say gross, it is very yummy despite the sound of it.  I remembered the first time I had chicken and waffle was Roscoe's in LA, I was grossed out by it too until I took my first bite.  It's soo good that you can feel you arteries clogging up. South Side was just as good, crispy chicken and waffle with maple syrup and cinnamon butter.  Totally recommend it.  The second time I went for late night dinner and ordered Grilled Eggplant Capresa sandwich with Fried Portabella.  The sandwich was made with fresh mozzarella and the portabella was fresh too. mouthwatering.  The atmosphere was great too, very friendly, great place for just hanging out, time with girlfriends.

Chinato
Went there on a Friday nite for dinner.  Not impressed at all.  The portion was ok but pricey.  The flavor is just not there.  It wasn't anything special.  Whatever I ordered, it didn't make a lasting impression.  The atmosphere was ok, a little loud, maybe it's because people were eating there prior to bars.

Sushi Rock - Beachwood
It's very modern for a Japanese cuisine.  The menu is very fusion like and the decor portrayed that too.  It would be a good date night too.  I had the Golden dragon roll and my girlfriend had the sushi rock tempura roll.  They are both good.  Very well made, it's comparable to the ones I've had in Cali.  I also had the lobster bisque.  It's a little weakness of mine, lobster bisque and pumpkin bisque, always gotta try them if the restaurants have them.  The soup was a little too salty but huge portion.  The calamari appetizer looked good too, I think I would get that next time too.  I would come again but it won't be the top sushi place, it's a little too fusion for Japanese cuisine.

Pacific East - Eaton Village
Yummy!!  It's got good sushi, no doubt.  Even now, I can totally go back and eat more.  They've got good size portion, especially if you ordered the bento box/combo.  The flavor is there with the raw fish and they've got some good combo and some with their own added twist.  Can't wait to try the one here in Coventry.

Melange
Eh. Not enough flavor.  I had the lobster mac and cheese and something just didn't taste right.  It's got a taste of seafood not clean or not cooked proper.  I could smell and taste the fishiness.  It's definitely got the Midwest portion,  I had enough for another 2 meals and when I heat up the leftover, there was so much oil.  gross.  definitely not coming.

The Mad Greek
It's my 2nd trip.  Love the place.  It's a great little Mediterranean restaurant, family owned but large enough to not be hole in the wall.  It's fancier than Taza and a little more formal.  The food, oh my, delish. The first time I ordered the gyro and the second time I had chicken souvlaki.  They were both yummy. It's not too salty and there were both refreshing, exactly what I would imagine Greek cuisine would be like.

Aladdin - across from Mad Greek
Aladdin's Flavor special is cheap and good.  Totally would be something I would be ordering takeout, which I already did.  Their hot sauce is something, it's tart, pepper spicy and a hint of sweetness too.  I know, usually I don't eat beef but for this I made an exception.  They did well, very juicy and flavorful.  Even the rice was good too.  None of it tasted too oily and it's light too.  The atmosphere is very casual, very collegiate like.  It reminds of the restaurants in Westwood when I was at UCLA.

Blake's Seafood - Crocker Park
We just had a good day and just decided to stop in for dinner. I had Garlic Crusted Haddock.  The fish was cooked nicely and it had the richness that the haddock has.  The place is like a steakhouse environment that serves mostly seafood.  It has the very Western flavor in the decor but at the same time it feels like there's a little class.  Dunno if I would come back for seconds.

Wow, after all this, realized I ate a lot.  I'm sure there's going to more later .... :)

Nighttown ... Taza

So after a day of fellowship and small group workshop at Parkside with Angel and Eric, we went to Nighttown in the Cedar/Fairmount area for their burgers.  We each got our own.  I had blue cheese with mine and we all had mayo (which I believed it house made) with our fries.  It was good, delish, and juicy. I asked for medium well and mine was slightly overcooked.  Angel's was perfectly done for medium well, which should still be slight pink but with no raw juice running out.  Nonetheless, it is good place for bar burger.  Just as we were leaving, they are packed in the sit down area, which I think it's expensive, high end menu, not really my regular fare.  I would definitely come back for a quick bit of burger.  The ambience is very homey, jazzy feel.

On Sunday, after church, we ate at Taza, Lebanese grill.  With Mediterrean restaurants, I always order either gyros or vegetarian cuz they usually have the best vegetarian meals around.  So I did the same today, ordered the vegetarian feast with hummous, baba, tabouli and falafel with pita breads. They served the pita bread first with their homemade dipping sauce (balsamic vingerette, olive oil and sesame seeds).  They have the normal pita and their own pita which they call it puffy pita (poufs up like naan but with yeast).  It was a good pita, wish I could buy in a store. The portion was huge. They only thing I picked on them was that the baba was slightly saltier than I would have liked.  But otherwise, the meal was very light and refreshing.

Parkside small group workshop

Parkside held a workshop on small group, how to lead and participated in one.

The first session was about the basics of small group, the purpose of one and the basis of one.  Purpose of small group is simple, receive Christ as Lord and live with Christ as Lord.  To receive Christ is what it means, salvation to conversion to trust Christ.  Small group should do that for unbelievers because of the teaching that transformed lives.  To live with Christ is the daily relationship with Christ.  This is the fundamentals of the small groups, building relationship to promote the purpose of small group.

The second session was on essentials of small group, which should be Gospel centered and small group should be learning from Bible, praying together, serving each other, evangelism and disseminating information.  Gospel should the main ingredient of the small group and it should direct us how to live our lives.  Small group should not be special interests focus among the members since it can very easily excluder new comers.

The last session was the practical application of leading small group.  The leader should lead the small group to be a faithful shepherd and be a humble servant.  Seek out unbelievers (the lost sheep) and serve each other in the small group.  Then we had an exercise where we each have a role who are difficult to handle in small group.  It just goes to show that even with people that are disruptive within the group, a good leader can turn it to good and enhance the dynamics of the group. Then the finally onto the basic structure of small group and pearls of wisdom.

This workshop really remind me that I need to find my own small group of girls and have weekly meeting where open up ourselves and have each of us hold accountable.  It has been since college that I have been in a true small group.  Throughout med school, it's only been Kirstin that has really been there for me.  So far in Cleveland, it's only been Angel and a little with Sarah.  I'm praying that I'll be better plugged in at Parkside here and find my own niche with my own group to hold me accountable.  I'm finding that since I've been going to Parkside, I'm having more of burning desire to better my relationship with God and wanting to read and know about Him through Bible.

We met Rosa who sat with us at our table.  She regaled us with stories on relationships with what she had seen and experienced.  It was very informative.  She was the first person that have treated me like a daughter since I've moved to Cleveland.  I hope I'll find more older ladies that are willing to be my "mother".

B Spot

One of Michael Symon's 3 restaurants, very casual burger spot.

It was one of those days where I finished work earlier and I went without lunch. So I decided to go to B Spot for a burger.  I ordered Shroomage and Lola fries. The burger has a huge portabella mushroom with some cheese and onions on top of the burger.  The patty is not one of those thin ones, it was meaty, thick patty.  It was just a little too salty for me.  I added their pickled onions and pepper and their red pepper sauce.  Very good gourmet burger.  The Lola fries is okay, not my favorite. It just wasn't crunchy enough but it did have good rosemary flavor.

I have yet to try the vanilla bacon apple shake.  I have been told that it is good despite it's weird name.  We shall see.  It's definitely one to go back when I get my occasional burger craving.

::Transit::

Parkside's large group mostly for young adults. I've been wanting to try out the fellowship since the first time I've visited Parkside.  My only issue is that it's on Wed night and with my work schedule, a lot of the times, I'm really exhausted by dinner time and I would passed out sleeping on my couch.

So this week, I've finally made it since I wasn't feeling sleepy at all.  I got there and I got a surprise. Vince was there too. Totally was not expecting another Asian there, especially someone I know. The service was good.  Worship was thoroughly touching especially when I connect more with music.  I totally feel like it's some place where I can stay and sing my heart out for worship.

The message was short but thorough.  Now they are going through John. It's such a good reminder of who Jesus is and what he did for us to save us from the world.  I just wish if the message was just slightly longer, maybe 10-15min, but overall it was still very refreshing for a midweek service.

I'm going to try really hard to make it on Wed nite and try to meet more people there and get plugged in.  My goal for the year is to get plugged in.

Birthday weekend ...

Weekend arrived thinking that I just might end up spending my birthday by myself again. But Lord was great, provided me company so I'm not lonely and actually develop deeper friendships in Cleveland.

Started the weekend off with Le Petit Triangle Cafe for brunch with Hee-Jeong and Erika, girls I met in Chinese church but they are non-Chinese. It was good times. I don't think I have laughed as much or as hard since I've been in Cleveland.  The two of them are quite a pair.  Random thoughts connected, random comments with no filter, friendly abuse and most of all, I felt like they are people that I can have fun random hang out.  Needless to say, the food wa awesome. This is a French cafe and they have crepes, my all time favs.  I've always had chocolate crepes but decided to try their chicken cheddar chutney crepes.  Oh my, yummy to the nth power!

Later, I had my girl date with Angel at Paladar.  Its's a Latin restaurant with more of Cuban flavor.  We decided to share our dinner, which was fine by me since I had such a yummy brunch earlier.  For appetizer, we had chorizo and cheese papusa. It was good, chorizo and cheese stuffed between plantains and corn cakes with spicy tomato sauce.  You can actually taste every single flavor in it. For entree we shared the roasted chicken mole.  The chicken was tender and was served with fried plantains and mole sauce over rice.  The mole sauce was slightly different than what I have tasted before, not my very favorite but still yummy nonetheless.  For dessert, we had their flan.  Wow, that definitely was the hi-light.  It was creamy and couldn't taste the egg taste that's common with flan.  Overall, would definitely come back for other tastes.  I want to try their guacamole since they have different flavor base on the chef's inspiration.

After dinner, we went to Wickliffe bowling lane with other people from church and bowl for 3 games, as there was a special going with 3 games and shoes for $10. Let's just say, I sucked.  My highest was 89 and my scores just got progressively worse over the next 2 games.  I did have fun though, trying to learn to spin the ball. What a sight that was.  Also I came home with a broken thumb nail. Owie. Oh well, will just be 2 weeks before it'll be fixed.  Time change too, spring forward.  So tired, losing an hour of sleep, but worth it.

After Parkside church on Sunday, me and Angel went to McCormick and Schmick for lunch and Mitchell's ice cream after we walked around the mall for a little bit to see if there was anything eye catching. McCormick and Schmick's is good seafood restaurant.  I had the crab and shrimp melt, a little saltier that I would have liked but yummy, delish.  Just couldn't tell if the crab meat for fresh or canned. Mitchell's as always, just absolute dreamy.

So for my actual birthday, it was a Monday so I had to work but I did get myself my family version of traditional birthday dinner.  My family always celebrated birthday with a seafood galore with noodles, with both, it usually means more than enough blessings and longevity.  Then we would have an Asian French style cake.  So for myself, I got dinner from Wonton Gourmet (Sichuan fish and chicken pan fried noodle) and mini tiramisu cake from KoKo bakery.  It was good enough for myself but really wished I had my mom's homemade dinner.  It will have to do until I can get home to my mom's birthday dinner.

Parkside part II

Tried out Parkside church again.  Tried it once a couple months ago, and it wasn't Alistair Beggs speaking. But I just felt a little lost and I think at the point I was hoping that the Chinese church would work out as well as the one in Jersey had for me.

This time, I really liked it.  Pastor Beggs' sermon was intense, about the sanctuary/temple which God has entrusted to us to care for.  I just haven't had an intense sermon like his in a long time, probably since my time at JMac's church when I was at UCLA.  It was totally inspiring, really want me to re-build my relationship with God and really trust Him for his plans for me here in Cleveland.  By the end of the sermon, I felt peace for the first time since moving to Cleveland.  It's almost like I have come to a place where I can see myself grow and not be anxious about what would happen next, waiting for me.

I'm going to really try to put Wed's large group into my schedule and make it a weekly thing.

Fracas

It's a gastropub in Coventry.  I drive past it everyday to and from work and it's newly opened.  Angel and I decided to venture out and try out this place.

Let's just say, I would not come back.  The ambience is nice.  It's in an old theater with stage and they had a Jazz band playing later that night.  It's set up like what I would imagined a lounge/dinner place would be like.  The food just doesn't have the flair, nothing really spectacular.  It's the typical American fare.  We had the chips and dip for appetizer.  Props for the kettle chips but the dip was a little too ordinary and salty.  I got the pumpkin bisque which was good. I can never turn down pumpkin or squash bisque, a new habit that I've found myself liking more as I get older. For main, I got the Grouper BLT.  It's interesting but I would not get another BLT.  It mostly just taste like someone dumped a bottle of salt into the sandwich.  The grouper was slightly overcooked, not very tender.  So overall, would not visit again.

But the night was salvaged but my chatting time with Angel.  She's been busy and I have in and out of town over the holidays, so it was the first real catch.  Realized we are very similar in a lot of our choices and what we wanted in our lives.  I really hoped she would stay in Cleveland for CRNA school.  I really think that God has put us together for a reason.  She's going through a hard time and I'm just not very happy with where I am currently, just haven't really found my niche.  So with her, I'm going to make the switch to Parkside and see how it goes.  I think unintentionally, we both decide to make this weekly happening, us trying out a new restaurant.

Interesting ...

Funny thing happened this past weekend.  It was suppose to be relatively quiet with me attempting to read for my in-training exam.  Saturday night turned out to be something different.

Dinner with people I know from church but once I got to Wonton Gourmet, it wasn't only people from church but other Chinese people from other churches.  Dinner was fun, conversations were random and just plain having a good time.

After dinner, debated between bowling or hanging out at Ferdi's place.  We ended up at Ferdi's place, where I met even more Chinese people who are PhD or med students at Case.  How bizarre.  It just goes to show that us Chinese will find each other in some ways and connections go far and wide.

Wonton Gourmet is good per Midwest standard.  It's fairly authentic. Would totally warrant a next visit.

I found out that I sucked at Rockband, esp at drum. Oh well, serves me right for not being a big gaming fan until med school. Will definitely need to get into the Wii and xbox.

Restaurants to taste

From Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri

Melt Bar and Grilled - DONE, Yum, stay on my personal list.
13463 Cedar Road, Cleveland Heights, OH
14718 Detroit Ave, Lakewood, OH

Sterle's Slovenian Country House
1401 E 55th Street, Cleveland, OH.

ParkView Nite Club
1261 West 58th Street, Cleveland, OH.

Momocho Mod Mex
1835 Fulton Road, Cleveland, OH.

Lucky's Cafe
777 Starkweather Ave, Cleveland, OH.

Geraci's Restaurant
2266 Warrensville Center Road, Cleveland, OH

ALD (Pulm)

Started this rotation off with Dr. Akindipe and each of us with 3-4 patients to get to know. Fortunately, I already knew the fellow, Mike, so it wasn't too awkward. There is a PA Kathy and NP Melanie. I realize for the past 6 months so far, I have learned to work with NP/PA to help with the workload.

Anyways, the week was nice, round started around 11am and would be cone by 2pm. After that we just update what we need to then we can sign out the NP/PA as long as one of us is around to help with admission/transfers. Even then, that's only until 4:30pm. Not too bad. Mike was hilarious and very entertaining. He pretty much has a comment for every patient, depending who was seeing the patient and what topics we were chatting about.

2nd week, we had Dr. Minai and it was the week before Christmas, which I worked. Schedule was very similar to the previous week as well. Done fairly early, considering that I didn't come in until 8a on most days. But we did change fellow. For the next 2 weeks, it was Fadi. He was good too. He's a little high strung in the sense that he gets easily stressed out.

The 3rd week was when Fadi really stressed out. We were short one resident, and Dr. Chapman was staff. He known to round forever, the never ending rounds. And our list of patients were long too. I think they said that it's the longest they have seen. Our own floors were filled and we had 8 pts spilled over to other 2 units. We starts rounds around noon but still did not finish until around 7pm. I left around 6pm most nights when I finished with my patients. Thankfully, I did not have patients that are at the end of the list. It was exhausting. By the end Fadi have had it and was stressed out. Then I finally got a holiday weekend off. My New Years weekend fun.

Last week was with Dr. Lane and with a brand new fellow, his first time on the service. The fellow was nice but he was learning so there were a little scrambling at times.  But all in all, it was a good week

Reflections ... Ringing in 2012

2011 has been good and bad for me.  Started the year off with major seasonal depression, the worst winter blues I've ever had. But in the midst of it, I gained a good friend Angel who was willing to satisfy to urge for going out to restaurants.  I lend her my listening ears and in return I get company, a good swap I believed.  My biggest problem then was finding a good fit in a church that I could call home.  I was going to Parkside for awhile but found that it was too big, not really what I'm looking for.  But I also know that CCCC was not where I should be even though I couldn't really give a good reason for it until now. So I was church hopping for a couple of months and then I finally just stopped some time during the summer.  I did participated in an intense "spiritual boot camp" where I feel more and more that what I'm looking for is not here in Cleveland but I need a place for my spiritual growth.  That's going to be a problem.  At the same time, my Ca 1 year got going where it's the beginning where you are by yourself in the ORs and determines whether you sink or swim.  On top of that I have to juggle reading/studying time into the daily schedule.  Also, finally found someone who would be willing to work with me with my crazy symptoms of hypothyroid but labs said otherwise. With all this, I felt like this has truly been one of my lowest year yet and felt like emotionally stalled.  I don't know when my bright outlook will come back but hoped the 2012 will bring some energy back into my life.

With my grandmother's death not too long ago, realized life needs to be fun, enjoyed to the maxed, because if we wait, there's no guarantee that we will get to do what we've always wanted to do.  I feel like everyone should have a list of things that are must do but they have to things that we would normally not do.

I'm determined to accomplish something in my life, therefore, only 5 resolutions chosen.

Resolutions for 2012:
1. lose 30lbs - good eating and exercise
2. be consistent in quiet times
3. pick a church to attend 2x a month
4. be good about calling home 1-2x a week
5. be mindful of budgeting and put away savings for my next big trip

See you again 12/31/12!  Hopefully all will be checked off.