Death

Death seem to be everywhere, especially recently. People that I know of from home church, my friends' friends' relatives, relatives of people that I just met at the new church. Has it always been that many or has I just become aware it more as I get older and going through med school?
I don't remember death as something as prominent when I was younger. My grandmother's death in '93 and my grandfather's death in '96 didn't make me to be more aware of it. Yes, my grandmother's death eventually led to church and to Christ. My grandfather's death was the first one where I was actually present for. But neither one brought me the awareness that I have now.

I really do wonder whether it's age or is it my career choice in medicine? I'm sure for others it's the age thing but for me, I think both played heavily in my life. I have to deal with death and the possibility of death with patients in my daily life as a physician and I have to figure out early on about what my perception of death is.

One thing I am very glad is the love, hope, grace, mercy and trust that I have in Christ. I have the comfort in knowing that I will be taken cared of whether it be on earth or after death. Death is not really the end of all because I have hope in Christ. It's just a time for a long nap before joining God in His kingdom where I can praise Him and everything is so perfect that earth pales in comparison. Wonders will never end.

Week of Little Things

Oh Boy! This week was not busy but just lots of things to take care of. The first grocery of the apartment and the little things that my apartment needed, ie nite lites, flashlight, butcher knife. I spent too much time looking for a decent and cheap pitcher for making iced tea. That shouldn't be hard but it was. It seems like people here don't use it or they buy ones that are overpriced.

Then I have to take care of car insurance, registration and losing my CA driver's License. Really didn't want to do that but if I want my car to be legal here in Jersey, I gotta lose it. ::sigh:: Totally not happy about it. So I went to transfer my insurance from MO to NJ within State Farm. I find out I have to pay arms and legs for insurance, tripling what I was paying in MO. Totally not cool. So I spent a couple of hours shopping for insurance and now I'm with Geico. They only double what I was paying in MO and I get Roadside Assistance. How awesome is that. It's the one thing that has gone my way. :)

Then I went to get a library card. The library around my place still uses the catalog index cards system and not computerized. So I have to wait another 30 days before I could check books out from another local library. Ugh.

Then I find out I can't order checks from WaMu because I have changed my address and I have wait for 30 days. And on top of that, the branches here can't do any maintenance stuff because the CA system is different than the Jersey ones. They are suppose to be a nationwide banks. I'm ready to pull my hair out.

Nothing is going my way and the errands are taking too long to get done. So I'm catching up on the TV show, The Closer as a comfort. On a side note, I found those caffeine mints that I've bought in Walmart in Kirksville. I found them in CVS. Yippee.

Week in Weston, Florida

Back from a week in Florida during a hurricane season with a girlfriend. The week was muggy, warm / hot and wet. It literally rain for a couple of hours 3 days out of the 7 days we were there. The place we stayed, Mizner Place in Vacation Village. The place was gorgeous. We mostly sat around the pool and got sun and read random fiction. very chilled. We gone a yummy Italian restaurant not once but twice. The first time we got their appetizer caprese and it was yummy. The second time we got dessert instead, Italian canoli and Tiramisu. oh boy were they yummy beyond description.

We also went to one of the sports cafe and the bad for you fried seafood. Tried conch fritters which I'm sure I've had before but it was in Chinese soup that my mom made. We also tried one of the one of the more upscale restaurant for their yummy fresh fish. I had the seared halibut. It was done to perfection. We went to one very popular Asian buffet. It was only $11 and they've got sushi and hot foods and green tea ice cream. We have definitely had our share of unbelievable yummy food.

We spent half a day in the famous Everglades. We took the tour of the Everglades via an airboat, like the ones on CSI Miami. Saw bunch of crazy native birds ie vultures. Saw 2 alligators in the swamp. Then we got the alligator show and took pictures of me holding a baby alligator (Liana).


The Airboat Ride in the Everglades


The Gator in the Swamp; Vultures waiting for meat


The Gator Show


Me and Baby Liana; Lovely sign :)


Last nite out

More pics of the resort to come.

First week in New Jersey

The drive to Jersey from Missouri took forever. With all the breaks, it took me 15 hrs or so to get to Harrisburg then another 2.5 hrs to my apartment. It just felt like forever. I don't think I would ever want to do it again. It was cramp driving and not much leg room. Ugh.

Then we sort of unpack a bit then me and my parents took a tour of East Coast for 5 days. It is my second time but their first. It was still fun but my favorite this time is Niagara Falls and the Bostonian atmosphere. Perhaps I might spend some time in my fourth year there. Who knows.


The Brooklyn Bridge

Fake or Real? Wax Museum, NYC


Capitol Hill, White House, Washington D.C.


Hershey's Chocolate World


Niagara Falls


Bostonian Lobster (yummy)


Boston Harbor Boat Ride

Will be going to Florida to enjoy the sun next week. Be a fun boring bum.

Packing and Mum & Dad ::sigh::

How I hate packing all my things into bags and boxes. It's so annoying and tiring. Ugh!! Now I just wish my mum is here to sort out all my things and my dad is here putting things into bags and boxes nicely. It was impressive what they did for me when I first needed to pack for med school. Parents are just amazing. Thank God for my parents.

I'm moving my things tomorrow and driving Thurs. I will be very sporadic with internet, but I will check in once I get internet.

Boards are officially DONE!!!! (for now)

Scores are in ..... And I passed. YIPPEEEE!!!! Scores are not exactly what I was hoping for, but under the time constraints and the set of questions I got, I'm happy with the scores.

COMLEX 574/87
USMLE 205/84

Once rotations start, I'll start prepping for Step 2 for next summer. Ugh. More tests.

I'm officially a 3rd year.

I'm looking forward for my 2 weeks of traveling come August. 1 week with my parents traveling the East Coast and 1 week with friends in a Florida resort being a bum and enjoying the sun.

Crazy Week ....

This started with me agreeing to come back home to volunteer as the Arts & Crafts translator for Sacramento's Chinese Culture Camp. I was scheduled to fly back on Tues and land at 11am and immediately get myself to the camp and start my work. My flight leaves from Kansas City at 7:30am and it's a 3 hr drive from Kirksville. So I left my apt at 2:30am and got to the airport around 6:30am with a 1/2 hr nap and 15 min detour on the airport exit. At the same time, I got a cold which started 2 days before. My nose was so stuffed that I couldn't sleep before my drive. All in all, I was up for 36hrs when I got back from the first day of "work".

Work was fun. Translating what the teacher from Taiwan was teaching and at the same time teaching the kids the Chinese Arts & Crafts. After the day is done, my mom and a couple of her friends were in charge taking the 3 Taiwan teachers out to dinner and sometimes after dinner program. This was from Tues to Fri.

For the after dinner programs, we have gone to Tapioca Express for Shaved Ice. We walked around Old Sac and the Delta Boat and the walkway along the Sacramento River. After that we went to Leatherby's Creamery for their gigantic banana split and sundae. The next night we took a walk along another small river in a residential neighborhood. The highlight of all those were the conversations. The conversations were non stop and full of laughter.

Then on Sat, my family and I drove to SF for my brother's white coat ceremony at his dental school. They don't have a different white coat for students. Their coats are the same length as the fully licensed docs, unlike mine. Then we spent the weekend hanging out with my brother at his apartment and had some yummy food. We spent some time playing card games and did some grocery shopping in Chinatown. We at Thai food, Taiwanese food and Korean food. All in all, it was great to be able to hang out together as a family. It's been a while since we were able to do that.

Taiwan Scallion Pancakes

These are one of my all time favorites lunch/snacks in undergrad at UCLA. Then I didn't have access to Asian market in MO to buy the frozen ones, so I learned to make it.

Ingredients :
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of oil
3/4 cup of boiling water (more or less)
4 tbsp of vegetable oil or sesame oil
1 cup of finely sliced scallion

1. Mix the flour and salt together and then add the 1 tbsp of oil and the boiling water to the flour. Mix thoroughly to form a dough then knead for 5 minutes.
2. Form it into ball, cover and let rest in the mixing bowl for 20 minutes.
3. Form into a log and cut into 4-6 pieces then roll each piece into a round disk.



4. Brush with oil or sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions. Roll into a cylinder and then coil it into a snail shape. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.

5. Flatten the dough with your hand and then roll it out again.
6. Heat up non-stick frying pan over medium heat and brush it with some oil. Pan fried both side until golden brown.
7. Cut into wedges and serve with any dipping sauce of your choice.

Beautiful Storm

Last nite was really hard to fall asleep, but it was really beautiful. The thunder rolled like crazy. Everytime the thunder clapped, there was a car alarm going off. The lightning was amazing. It was so so bright that lit up my room through my windows. The rain was pattering like crazy. Just my type of weather. It was amazing to see this kind of storm. I'm very glad that God has put me in Missouri where I can enjoy this type of weather where the sunny California doesn't get even in the winter.

Unfortunately, I'm discovering a really weird allergy, perhaps mold. It's making me cough like crazy. It's not an itch but more a slight pressure pushing down on me but coughing relieves the weird pressure. One thing I'm definitely glad to leave behind in a little over a month is the darn allergy. They drive me crazy.

Few things been going through my head ....

As the clinical rotations coming up, few specialties have been running through my head, wondering what would fit me and what I want better. Hopefully I'll eventually find something that will fit. I have come down to a few: OB/Gyn, Anesthesiology, Allergy/Immunology, Heme/Onc. We'll see in the next few months.

This is one of the few things that I have found while I was searching online regarding specialties and personality. This one is very interesting.

This one is just for fun for being the perfect resident. Hopefully, it'll be amusing to you as well.

Hopefully, God will open the right doors and lead me in path that will do His work.