RESURRECTED

*dusts off the cobwebs, opens the blinds*

HELLO AGAIN! After a few minutes of trying to figure out how to even post a blog, I return. It's been a while, but I felt the urge to start writing in this again. It's a nice way to get my voice out there(even if no one is listening) and get my creativity going. We'll see how this goes. :)

CLASS OF 2010 UTAH TRIP
February 20-22 2009

I'm just going to let the pictures and videos speak for themselves. I had a blast on our trip and it made for great memories!!

PICTURES

VIDEOS



GETTING READY - WILL AND HIS CONTACTS



FALLING STORIES



GLADIATOR



DINNER AND GAMES



ON THE MOUNTAIN



ERIC AND PETER SKIING



PETER TAPES COURTNEY SKIING

Philippines Dec. 28 2008 - Jan. 9 2009



This holiday season I took a trip to the Philippines for (1) my cousin Franco's wedding, (2) to visit relatives and (3) for vacation. The pictures speak for themselves, so instead of going through a play by play of my vacation(because that could get very boring) I will just comment on the highlights and observations.

Highlights
1. Seeing all the friends and family I hadn't seen in 10 years -- especially my Tito Ito, who had a stroke about 7 years ago; Tito Abner who is currently battling throat cancer; my nieces and nephews.
2. Visiting all the places I grew up in especially in Calauag.
3. Eating yummy food! Although I have to say I have had my fill of Max's and Jollibee(both of which we have here.) I did not get to eat Santol or Lansones, but I did have a consolation prize of Mangosteen. I just learned that Santol is "wild mangosteen" while trying to find links for the blog. And I just learned that they may have Lansones in Hawaii....interesting!
4. Franco and Monica's Video Montage by Jason Magbanua because it was such a pleasant surprise and the music was Tonight, Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins
5. The boatride around Calauag Bay(see pictures)
6. My 300 peso($7) haircut and hot oil treatment!
7. The bottle game(see pictures)
8. FoodStreet. There was this fast food place in Baguio that sold street food(fishballs, kwek-kwek--deep fried, battered, fishballs and quail egg respectively in sweet sauce-- etc.) The good thing about this is you know you won't get sick from the food because it's pretty well regulated, whereas on the street you don't know where that sauce has been and how long it's been sitting out there.

Observations

MUST HAVES
1. TOILET PAPER: 80% of the time there will be no toilet paper in the public bathrooms; NOR will they have toilet seat covers. So carry it in your purse, backpack, what-have-you; it's a lifesaver!
2. ANTIBACTERIAL GEL: You will also notice that most places may or may not have soap. If you don't want to have raging diarrrhea, it's best you bring this along.
3. BOTTLED WATER: Please don't drink the water. My uncle got VERY sick from drinking the water.
4. LOOSE CHANGE: Yeah, carrying around pesos in 1000 and 500 peso bills doesn't help you if you want to buy something on the street or tip someone. You need coins.
5. A DRIVER: If you don't have a driver, you can't go ANYWHERE. If I could somehow figure out the highways and the roads there, I would be good to go; but I think this is an impossible feat. Plus I'm pretty sure I would get into a major accident.
6. CELLPHONE: I have no idea how we got around and communicated before. The phones there are all prepaid, and it costs about 1 peso(less than a penny) per text and 9 pesos/minute. Our sprint phones didn't work there, plus we had no loose change(see #4) so we had to borrow money from the porter to make a phone call for our ride home from the airport.

THINGS I NOTICED
1. Filipinos use random big English words, that make sense, but no one in America uses them in that context. When I was checking out of the hotel room, the desk clerk asked if I had any "consumption." After about 5-10 seconds of heavy thinking I realized she meant if we had taken anything from the fridge. I wish I could think of more examples, but I thought that was funny/interesting. I guess another one is "Comfort Room" instead of "Bathroom or Restroom." "Comfort" is similar to "rest" but I don't know where that came from.
2. Filipinos love their religious statues; sometimes I think to the point that it may be idol worship. It was kind of disturbing to watch people bring their handkerchiefs up to the glass casing(not even the statue)---the glass casing of the statue and look up longingly and sort of worshiping it. I guess in these times of hardship people need a lot of help, but sorry to say, I don't think those statues are going to help you.
3. Things are CHEAP in the Philippines! I got manicures and facials for under 10 bucks and those people came to the house! For less than a dollar I got a meal that had rice, sausage, a pancake, a coffee and egg! You can build a house from the ground up for around $40K. I saved more money while I was there than I would have if I were at home.
4. I know why people in the Philippines don't usually gain weight. They eat small frequent meals. It's definitely about portion control. Those that were bigger tended to eat ALL THE TIME and eat alot. At one point we had gone out to eat, went to another house, only to eat some more. But I wouldn't expect any less. You just have to watch your portions.

That's all for now. Should I think of anymore, I will post addendums.

Pomona Valley Hospital Holiday Festivities!



I just wanted to thank everyone in my life for being so supportive and awesome. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Here's to an exciting next year and many more to come!

Intraining Exam/Tokyo Kitchen/Boomers
Nov. 7, 2008

wow it's been a long time. here are pics from my birthday and my trip to arizona

Beautiful dancing on So You Think You Can Dance

Class 302: Shaved Snow

My boyfriend took me to this place, Class 302, today. They serve random asian food, but we came for the shaved snow. The place is a cute little cafe that has classroom desks for tables and on the side of the desks have school bags that house the napkins and straws. On the wall is a huge chalkboard with the specials written on it. Also displayed are notebooks and school uniforms. It's a very cute place. Now onto the shaved snow....

Shaved snow is different from shaved ice in that it is shaved frozen milk! This girl explained it better in her blog about the place:

"Snow is fabulous! Nothing that I could have ever imagine it being. When I first saw it, I thought it was layers of shaved white chocolate but in fact it’s super thin sheets of creamy goodiness. Just layers and layers all soft and pillowy, yet creamy and slightly sweet. It’s actually a block of frozen milk that’s shaven.
The good thing is this new addiction only has one source so it’s less likely to get out of hand but on the other it’ll be more difficult to satiate my cravings.
The restaurant is called Class 302 in Rowland Heights and is a small grade-school-themed taiwanese cafe. The tables look like little desks and the chopsticks and napkins hang in backpacks on the side of the desks. The chalkboard has “Today’s Activities” with the menu written in colored chalk and even the waiters dress like school children.
The food was decently priced and tasty and served in little lunch boxes. It’s simple and traditional Taiwanese food. But back to the snow… So far I’ve tried the snow with red beans & rice cakes, green tea snow with red beans and rice cakes, and snow with mangoes. My favorite combination is the rice cakes and red bean. The rice cakes are basically mochi. mmm… so chewy and sweet. It goes really well with the snow. The red beans are sweetened and there’s condensed milk poured all over everything. Drool…"

Now if I had known that the rice cakes were mochi balls, I would have TOTALLY ordered THAT! yum.

Jason's 30th Birthday: Downtown Fullerton Scavenger Hunt 2008!

GRADUATION 2008: Congratulations to the 3rd years who graduated. We'll miss you!!!

Intern Ceremony

This past Friday, my program held a ceremony for us interns. It was to commemorate our transition into 2nd year. There was good food, good company and a great slideshow put together by one of the Chiefs.


Dodger Game

Will and I went to an all-you-can-eat Dodger game. They played and lost to the Cubs but it was fun nonetheless.

Another Momentous DAY IN THE LIFE

Today I found out I passed my Step 3 boards! Next I apply for my license. :) WOOT WOOT!

My Initiation Into Second Year

For a few months now I have been anxious about the transition from being an intern to becoming a second year/senior. I just didn't feel like I was ready to handle things on my own, not to mention, teaching an intern who is just as terrified as I am.

This weekend I had the most grueling call I've ever had since internship. Mind you, I am sure a lot of people have had worse, but for me it was enough. I am on the medicine service this month so during the day I was already taking care of the patients I would be taking care of while on call. Our list stood at 17 patients that day. Our call shift starts at 5pm.

Between 4:30 and 5pm, I got called for three different admissions. One was a consult, one was a transfer and one was a direct admit. I took the transfer and my senior went to see the direct admit. I knew I had to work fast because we had to sign out to the senior coming on with me. Luckily the case was simple and I was able to contact the consult and write orders. I ran the case by my attending breifly and rushed to the consult because she needed acute attention. The consult was a little bit more difficult because we sort of had to stabilize the patient and get her heart rate under control, but all in all pretty simple. I felt really confident and thought I handled being on my own great.

My senior was dealing with the direct admit who they called a rapid response on, while I told the oncoming senior about the patients on the list. Patient count: 20. We finished the consult admission and get paged for a 4th admission in the ER: generalized weakness. On the way we get a rapid response to the Cath Lab. Scratching our heads, we wonder, "Isn't there already a cardiologist there?" We get to the rapid response and we weren't needed anymore. My other senior shows up and we start signing out patients and getting updates, when we get a call for a delivery. I head over and deliver the baby with the attending and come back for sign out. For floorwork there was a post-operative note I had to do and we were supposed to do visuals on some of the patients. Food status: still no dinner; time: 8pm.

A little background so you all can understand how timeconsuming everything was that night, is that our attending on call and on the medicine service specializes in geriatrics. She is very particular and wants to know everything about the patient; and you know how older people are GREAT at remembering things. Our 4th admission was a 76 year old lady with generalized weakness. During our evaluation we get called for, not one, but two MORE admissions: Admission #5: 83 year old female with fall and generalized weakness; Admission #6: 75 year old female with abdominal pain/kidney problems. After admission 4 we take a 30 minute break for dinner and decompression. Patient count: 23, Time: 1130pm.

At midnight we had admission 5 and 6 to do still. I figured I would get maybe 2 hours of sleep, at most. During admission 5, we get called for yet ANOTHER admission. Admission 7 was a lady in her 70s or 80s who also fell and also had generalized weakness. This isn't going to get confusing at all! I had to tell myself multiple times to focus because my brain was slowly turning into mush and all the patients were mixing together in my head. We finished seeing the patients and presenting to our attending at around 6:45am. We never had time to do the floorwork that needed to be done. I never did that post-operative note. I had not slept. And patient count was 24.

That morning I had to round on 6 patients and rounds with the attending started at 9am. I took a really crappy 15 minute nap and went to go see them. For some reason my brain wasn't functioning the way I wanted it to and I had to go at lightning speed. At the beggining of rounds with the attending, I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. I felt like I didn't know any of the patients and that my presentations were sucking. After the first two presentations of the new admissions, my brain was starting to function again, and rounds weren't so bad after all. I just felt bad leaving so much floorwork for the oncoming team.

At the end of rounds, my attending commended me on a job well done. It felt really good to get that affirmation and at this point, I think I might just be ready to be a second year resident. I just need to get that darned anxiety about rapid responses out of my head!

Sushi Party/Call of Duty 4
Since the beginning of internship, the residents have been throwing sushi parties. I missed the first one, but have made it to the subsequent 2 at Eric and Kimberly's house. The 3rd one was this evening. Kimberly was on call this time, so Eric was our gracious host. We were joined by their friends Bryce and Jenny; the gang was rounded off with me, Peter and Will. As always good food and good company.

Today I got to play Call of Duty 4 for the first time, instead of just watching the boys play. I had one really good attack kill. I was in the balcony and threw a grenade at the 3 boys down below and used my gun to finish off whoever didn't get killed. The rest of the time was me trying to find my way out of buildings and find my targets. Go ME!

On Complications

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" ~ Robert Burns

No matter how organized, well prepared, and determined you are, sometimes things just don't work out how you want them to. You leave 10 minutes early for work, only to be stuck in traffic for 20 minutes. Your application to medical school is rejected and you find yourself moving across the country to pursue a Master's degree instead. The only defenses you have against these unforeseen complications is a good Plan B and a great attitude.

Take, for example, our night out to Takami Sushi/Elevate. The plan was to have dinner at Takami Sushi so we wouldn't have to wait in line for club Elevate. Usually Elevate is free cover and if you eat at Takami, you're guaranteed entrance to the club. The night started off well. The food was delicious, despite being ridiculously overpriced. We had some drinks and good conversation. After we paid our bill, we were ready to tear up the dancefloor. Unfortunately we were stopped by the manager of the restaurant who informed us that there would be a $20 cover. On previous visits to the club, this was not the case. My friend proceeded to smooth talk the manager, and we were able to get four free tickets for the girls. The guys would have to pay full price. Our Plan B was to go meet other friends at another bar, but we had already paid valet, and we weren't sure we were guaranteed entrance.

During a bathroom break, my friend talked to the manager of the club who said he could get the guys in for free, but my friend would have to change his white shoes into dress shoes(he had worn his white shoes there before without a problem). While my friend went to get his dress shoes from the car, I bought the girls a drink(Pear Vodka and Sprite...yummy.) We headed over to the club entrance, only to be stopped by the bouncer because a. my guy friend was wearing a hat(which he had also worn on another occassion) and b. all the girls had drinks housed in "glass" tumblers. My cousin downed her drink and my friend and I changed out our glasses. FINALLY we were able to go into the club. We found a good spot to lounge and waited for some good music to come on. About an hour later, one of the bouncers approaches us and says we have to move because there was a private party that had that spot reserved. So we sauntered to the dancefloor and resorted to dancing, which we were perfectly happy with. Once on the dancefloor we were happy. We danced the rest of the night and it ended up being really fun.

Had we been any other group that night, we would have probably gotten really grumpy, given up and headed home. But we went with the flow, swerved at the turns, and got to our destination. My cousin and I polished the night off with carne asada fries from Albertos and watched some "How I Met Your Mother." All in all it was a good night.

Damaged by Danity Kane

I'm obsessed with this song now. The video isn't the greatest. It's very Britney circa 1999, but I like the song. Also, the doctor thing at the end is kind of lame.

Random Blog

1. One more week until my Medicine rotation is over. If I could sum it up in one word I would use: draining. There's so many social issues that go into the dance that is medicine. It really takes a lot out of you.

2. I miss my friends. I miss going out. I miss sleeping well. I miss sleeping in. I miss my family.

3. After next week I will have to start studying my arse off for Step 3. This, I think, is one good way to redeem myself for feeling stupid at work. I'm only kind of looking forward to the long hours at Starbucks. We'll see how it goes.

4. My personal life is so blah right now. Circles...going around in circles. I honestly think I'm just chasing my own tail. *woof!

"LAST LECTURE"
It's 11 minutes long, but should stay with you for a lifetime. Really inspiring talk.

I'm obsessed with this song "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87f5nj7cOjc

I haven't watched the movie it was written for ("Once",) but one of these days I will. The songs purity and honesty really grab me. The tones and chords are simple yet touching. I'm learning it on guitar right now. I asked my cousin to learn it on piano and we can play next time I'm at her house.

My Daily Fortune: "Just slack off today."



....and that's exactly what i did.