Four Twenty-Seven O Six

Hi Everybody,

Amazing that it has already been two months since my last update. This year moves faster and faster as it draws to a close.

Recently we had our intern retreat. Like a similar trip to Martha's Vineyard during my medical school years, I rented a house on the beach in Santa Cruz for a weekend. We mainly focused on eating and hanging out but also hit the beach, threw the frisbee around, went out for dinner and ice cream in Santa Cruz, played silly board games and video games on the xbox. It was a lot of fun and gave us a chance to bond a bit more as an intern class.

A little while ago I also went to an open mike night in San Francisco. Mainly it was to see/support a friend's belly dancing performance (which was very cool and it was amazing to see how fluid torsos can be with practice) but a girl also read her poetry and a few people played their guitars and sang. Sitting there, I realized how much I missed that kind of arty stuff. I think I used to do many more creative things or at least give more time to thinking about them then I do now. Part of it is because of the work of internship this year but that's certainly not all. I think I've just been devoting myself to other things. Which is good because it's always positive to try somethingnew but I think I want that right-brained, creative part of me back too. That's what this blog is partly about. I also did get to work on those canvases though so that's a step. And they are coming along... maybe I'll put a picture up next time...

And I am now on Obstetrics at the hospital. A month spent delivering babies sounds exicting and fun to the casual observer but I as I sit and write this at 6am before rounds having gotten about 12 minutes of interrupted sleep last night, it is hard to agree. The birthing process is tough and long and all women have another level of respect from me for going through it (though I'm glad I don't have to do it myself). And though this has been the process for thousands of years, there are always moments of tense action/waiting for the shoulders to clear the birth canal, then for the infant to cry out before held breaths are finally released. But admittedly, it is wonderful to bring a life into this world (and wrap it up in a blanket like a little burrito) and really there's nothing like a mother holding her newborn to her chest or the moist tears of a new father. I think I forget sometimes how lucky I am to be in this profession.

Miscellaneously, I also recently took a trip to LA (road rage whenever there was too much traffic... man, I don't know how I'm going to survive there for three years), went to Reno (won $10 at blackjack... sweet!), went snowboarding (worst weather ever... 20mph winds and snowing so much you couldn't see where you were going... glad I didn't hurt myself), saw V for Vandetta (eh... not bad but not great), drove up to Napa (great lunch and met a new friend but one of the smaller wineries I liked got sold off to a big comglomerate... d'oh) and a number dinner/bar outing with friends. And now I am off to Japan for a combination of elective and vacation. I'll be there for 24 days with most of my time spent in Tokyo, where I will be working at Keio University studying the workings of the ambulance response system and the emegency department. At the same time I will be wandering around the town and exploring all the nooks and crannies of Tokyo and hopefully finding some grub (no, not literally, though I'm sure they are available) at the famous early morning Tokyo fish market. I'm also learning some japanese from language CD's - my first phrase 'nihongoga wakarima-zen' means I don't understand any japanese :) Also planning to go to Kyoto for about four days on the bullet train...

Lastly and most unfortunately, my friend Michael passed away. He was driving home from the hospital when a construction scaffolding fell onto his car and killed him. A random, senseless accident where he was in the exact wrong place, at the exact wrong time. He was an amazing guy and I never understood what people meant when they said geniuses are a little crazy until I met him. Flamboyant and ecclectic and strange and funny all at the same time. He could do almost anything he set his mind to but they would only hold his attention for a short time because he was somewhat transient as well. A short list of his accomplishments include neuroscience publications, international piano competitions, ballet in his spare time, semenary at St. Catherine's in Rome, Harvard Medical school, Neurology resident at Brigham and Women's, husband, son and brother. I am sad, but I keep thinking Michael wouldn't have wanted us to mope - he would have wanted us to take what we could from this circumstantial mishap. Live life with passion and without reservation, not so much because you don't know what could happen to you tomorrow but more because that's how life should be lived. A few lines from my favorite poem "... In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud, Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed..." -William Henley. We'll all miss you, my friend.