Pre-Graduation: The Week Before

It's been a while since I've updated my blog, so let's begin from where I left off:

Friday May 11, 2012
 This was the last day of my clinical rotations at Arizona. My mind was preoccupied with thoughts of packing, cleaning, driving all the way back up to Berkeley and seeing all my classmates again after a whole long year of separation. It didn't even cross my mind that this was the last day I was going to see patients as a student until the tech, Velvet, at the Arizona clinic brought me my last patient and said to me: "Amiee, this is your last patient EVER as a student" and then it hit me like a brick wall.

I guess I should be feeling happy about finishing my clinical rotations and graduating, but I was actually overcome with sadness. I guess I was feeling sentimental about graduating and actually being a real doctor. I have become so comfortable as a student that I was very happy with where I was in my education. I wasn't ready to graduate and be on my own! That just sounds so scary! I never dealt with change very gracefully but I have to come to terms with the idea that graduation is coming and my days as a student are over. Desperately trying to hold back tears and not think about what changes graduation is going to bring into my life, I finished up the last free exam I will ever give to my last patient as a student at Casa Grande, Arizona. I packed up my things, returned my keys, waved good bye to my roommate, and ended my student chapter of my life by driving away. Now onto graduation at Berkeley...

Sunday May 13, 2012
I had to make one pit stop in Vandenberg AFB to see my attending doctors before I head back up to Berkeley for graduation. They PCS to Texas in June so that probably means I'll never see them again. They were my first attendings at my first out rotation so they had a pretty big impact in shaping/molding me as a clinician. It just so happens that this landed on the same day as Mother's Day. I really thought I was only going to stay for a lunch, but ending up, I stayed 5 hours and had dinner with them as well. We had lunch at Panera (it's where my attending would always buy me some babka bread because he knew I LOVED to eat). The cashier mistook me to be my attending's wife...which made me blush.......hehehehehe......For dinner they made some salad and some REALLY tender ribs with some super good homemade sauce!! YUM!

I snapped some pictures with them!

So after this LONG break...I hit the road again. I ended up getting back to the bay area around 10:30pm. That was surely a LONG day.

Monday May 14, 2012
No lectures today!  <--So if you are asking: what does this mean??...here's the explanation:

It is Berkeley's tradition to gather all the fourth year students and herd them back to Berkeley 1 week before graduation for what they call "OLD HOME WEEK". This is where they bombard us with lectures in their final attempt cram last bits of clinical wisdom into us so we don't completely tarnish Berkeley's prestigious reputation by screwing up in the real word! Well..at least that is how I see it anyway.

Since there aren't any lectures, you might ask why I decided to drive back to the bay area so soon? Of course I had to spend some quality time with my best buddy, LIZ. One of the FEW reasons I was really anticipating returning back to the bay area was to see Liz.

Liz and I were fortunate enough to meet each other when we were studying abroad in Hong Kong and then stay connected when we returned back to the states because we lucked out and live close to each other. Ever since she was diagnosed with her "sickness", life hasn't been the easiest ride for her. And being on my out rotations, I really hadn't had time to be there for her and offer her the support she needs. In house rotation back at Berkeley during the first part of Spring allowed me to spend some time with her, but aside from that, I've been very absent in her life. I was really glad to have had time to spend with her on my week back before graduation. I didn't want to leave the bay area without spending some time with her.

So on this day, I enjoyed some good old dim sum with her that morning and sat around chatting for as long as we could before we felt bad for taking up a table when there was clearly a long line out the door at the restaurant. We then continued our chatting back at her house, where I spent the rest of the afternoon. It was nice hanging out with her again. I wanted to feed some ducks, but we never got to it.

I was swept away by Harvey during that evening and we had a nice dinner together at a Korean restaurant on Taraval ( we ALWAYS eat Korean), where we proceeded to chat for hours as well. Almost as unexpectedly as graduation had creeped up on me, Harvey and I have spent the last four years studying/struggling together at Berkeley and our mere relationship as classmates has blossomed and grown into a friendship. It's still a mystery to me how a 26 year old female and a 42 year old male have enough in common to be best friends, but sometimes, life is not always predictable and often, these surprises can become a pleasant addition to your life. :)

Tuesday May 15, 2012
After a long day of lectures and seeing my classmates again, I had a dinner date with Alvin to thank him for being ever nice to let me crash at his apartment for the entire old home week. So since I was treating him I let him pick where he wanted to go eat and of course he picks a Japanese Seafood Buffet. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE food but I also know it's my WORST enemy! I can't control myself when it comes to eating so when you put Amiee (no self control) and Food (sooo delicious) together....it equals DANGER!! Or simply: gastric distress and gaining 10lbs in one night. The buffet that he took me to was Hokkaido. It was $20 a person for dinner and boy was it worth it!! I've been to my fair share of buffets and I've got to say that this was probably the BEST I've been to. Just basing off of variety, it's the most I've seen! Basing off of quality, it's pretty good! And basing off of decor, this place was so elegant and fancy! I was blown away by this place (especially the all you can eat sashimi bar!!). So after finishing dinner there, just as I expected....gastric distress and I gained 8lbs that night.


Wednesday May 16, 2012
More lectures during the day...but at night...I had a dinner date with Eric, Stephanie (Eric's girlfriend...OoOooOoO), Liz, Alvin and Me! We went to PPQ in SF where I ran into my classmates Vutha and Gigi (random...). The food was delicious, but after being starved of social interaction, I was yapping away the WHOLE night with everyone. I felt like I ate enough but apparently, Liz and Eric didn't think so. They were constantly encouraging me to eat more...I think I can interpret that in two ways: 1) They really think I need to eat more to be full or 2) they just wanted me to stop talking for a few minuets while I chew some food. Oh well, either way, it was a fun night!

Thursday May 17, 2012
No lectures this morning, so I took advantage of that and had breakfast with Liz and then lunch with Tarah. It's always nice catching up with people one on one. I'm really glad I got to see Liz one more time before I leave her again. And It was nice hanging out with Tarah one final time. Who knows when will be the next time I ever see her again.

Friday May 18, 2012
Lectures again in the morning.

After lectures...I had a couple of errands to run but only got one of them done.
Errand #1: Pick up stuff I left at a classmate's apartment and move it to my locker so I can easily pick it up the day of graduation. I was able to pick things up, but I left more than I remembered so I couldn't carry it all, so good thing one of my other classmate's offered to store some stuff in his locker so I was at least able to bring the stuff back with me to school.
Errand #2: I wanted to visit the clock tower at Berkeley. It's been FOUR years and I haven't even found the time to go up the clock tower for FREE as a student! Well, my plan was a bust because I missed its opening hours! So that means the next time I want to go up the clock tower, I'll have to pay! I'm totally kicking myself because I had FOUR years and I couldn't find the time to do it! Arg!

Dinner tonight was with my ex-bf's aunt, uncle and nephew. I know it seems weird that I still hang out with them, but they are VERY nice and super friendly! And besides, his little nephew is soo cute! I couldn't bare to leave the bay area without seeing them one last time! So they took me to J-town where I had shabu shabu for the first time AND my own bowl of udon noodles! It was VERY good but I think I still prefer the Chinese hotpot more because the soup base used in hotpot is a lot more flavorful! After dinner, my ex's aunt had a chat with me about my ex. I think she's convinced that we are meant for each other and that it's a shame we are not together. She's very insightful and I really respect her judgement because she seems to understand me and my ex so well. She left me with a lot to think about.

The Hunger Games Series

The Mockingjay

I finally finished The Mockingjay of The Hunger Games series. I have to say this trilogy series really went downhill. Book one was exciting, some of the excitement started to die down by book two, and then book three was just difficult to get through. The only parts I was interested in were the ones about Peeta. I was really upset with how Katniss was treating him and punishing him because he was all crazy from getting "hijacked". Then killing off Prim was just too much. Very anti-climatic and disappointing...

Reunion

I'm so excited the attending doctor I have in Vandenberg is inviting me back to Vandenberg to meet up with him before he relocates to Texas in June. I'm probably going to drop by on my drive up to Berkeley when I head back up for graduation this weekend. Can't wait! This will probably be the last time I see him! Have to get a good picture of him AND me together :) :)

Graduation

As graduation approaches, I'm dreading it MORE and MORE and MORE. I really don't want to go through with the whole ceremony and all my relatives coming up. I really want them to just throw my diploma at me and be over with it. I don't want to walk on stage and get hooded. I don't want them to read my personal statement while I get hooded. I don't want to take a million pictures with a million relatives. I don't want to sit and eat with everyone while everyone just talks about  me graduating. I don't want any of that!! Arg! I'm a million times more stressed about graduation than I am happy about it!!

Nightmare

I had a nightmare last night that included my ex-boyfriend. I'll spare the details, but it left me feeling really weird and scared. I can't believe I had a dream about him!! According to Freud, my dream would be a psycho-social representation of my unconscious desire for it to become a reality. I don't know what to make of it, but I just know that I REALLY hope that NEVER happens in REAL LIFE!!

Last Weekend in AZ

Saturday
I spent a wonderful day with my classmate's mom in Tucson. She took me to this cookie cabin 8000ft up a mountain! She treated me pizza and apple cobbler for a "post" birthday celebration! It was really good! And of course, photo shoots are always included if you hang out with her since she's a photographer.

And then when it got dark enough for the moon to come out, we went MOON HUNTING! (I didn't realize this until I listened to myself, but I sound like 6 year old in this video...but that's NOT how I really sound in real life!!)

Sunday

I wanted the highly anticipated AVENGERS and it lived up to ALL THE HYPE! Now I have go back to watch Thor and Iron Man because the only references I recognized where the ones from Captain America. I'm sure I would appreciate the movie so much more if I watched all the other character's side stories (individual movies). I have some movies to catch up on. 

After the movie, I drove around looking for a White House, Black Market because I really wanted this dress I saw there. But NO LUCK, means NO DRESS. I did find a really nice Thai restaurant and had myself a 6 course meal there. Yes, it was a little over the top, but if I didn't order that much, I wouldn't be me. I have plenty of tasty left overs to enjoy for my last week here in AZ! 

I would say this is a nice way to wrap up my last weekend here in AZ! Now I just have to wrap up my last week of clinic! Hope nothing tooooo crazy walks in this week. 

Oh, final thought: I never thought I'd say this...but I can't wait to start READING MOCKINGJAY TODAY! 

It's Friday Night!

A typical night for a 26 year old: 

Instead of doing what normal 26 year olds do on a typical Friday night, I went to Target and found a candy sale. Refer to the photo A.

Photo A: Byproduct of chocolate craving and a coincidental encounter with a chocolate sale. Notice cute innocent Kurtis poking up in the background. He's excited about all the chocolates too.

Still more Birthday Surprises:

The birthday surprises don't stop coming from SWEET SWEET LIZ! Apparently, the edible arrangements she sent for my birthday were just a distraction from what my REAL present actually is....wait for it...drum roll....

JASON MRAZ and CHRISTINA PERRI CONCERT TICKETS!!

         

Wow, I've got to say that I was so shocked I called her and told her that it was too much and I couldn't accept her gift. AND then 30 secs later I called her back to apologize because I was in shock of how awesome the gift is and thanked her for endowing me with such a splendid gift for my birthday!!

She told me this through a very very VERY touching/sweet card, which, I'm gonna spare the details because  I don't wanna bring anyone to tears with her heartfelt message. But I just wanted to thank Liz again for making my twenty sixth birthday so special when I'm stuck all alone out here in Arizona!!

Reading again??: 

Yes world. You read it correctly. I am reading AGAIN! I finished Catching Fire AND Eat, Pray, Love a few days ago. (To be fair, I've been trying to finish Eat, Pray, Love for over a year now....it's a slow read). I'm about to read Mockingjay soon.  Can't wait to finish this trilogy I got sucked into! But I've got to say....Wow, this is like 200% more than what I'm used to reading. Must be all this sun here in Arizona, probably all this dehydration has caused me to commit acts that are completely out of my usual character. Where does it go from here? Maybe I'll start hanging out in libraries and book stores...and actually start liking books....am I morphing into my reading/book loving friend, Liz??

Twenty-Six

I turned 26 yesterday. I never understand why people celebrate their birthdays or why other people give the birthday person gifts. Doesn't make sense to me. It's not like the birthday person did anything special that day, they were just born. If anything, their mothers' should be celebrated. They did all the work. That's what I always thought until I watched a scene in Smallville where Lana was trying to celebrate Clark's arbitrary birthday with him (because of course he doesn't really know his real birthday, he was just launched into space and landed on Earth, adopted by some farmers). Clark was sad that he didn't know his real birthday and felt silly celebrating an arbitrary day that he was found as his birthday. That's when Lana said:

"Maybe the people that care about you want to just celebrate the day that you were brought into their lives"

Ever since then, celebrating people's birthday and showering them with gifts made sense to me. But that still doesn't stop me from being sad on my birthday. Not only is it a bitter reminder that I'm another year older, but it reminds me of how little I've accomplished in my life. While almost everyone else I know is happily married and some with kids, I'm still in school, have a large load of loans, and have been travelling around for a full year like a nomad with no sense of place that I belong to.

Nevertheless, it's been the loneliest birthday I've ever had. Even though I do have a classmate here, it didn't help. I spent the day at work and doing normal activities. I couldn't even convince my classmate to go out and eat dinner with me to celebrate my birthday, so I just ate by myself in my room.

The only surprise that made my day was when Liz surprised me with an edible arrangement bouquet. I've ALWAYS wanted one of these. So, let me check this off my bucket list. Check. I always thought flowers were such a waste of money because they just die in a few days. But fruit arranged as flowers, practical and aesthetic! Sign me up!

Look how happy Kurtis looks! 

Thank you so much Liz! You were the silver lining of my gray day!! 

Sunday Fun!

Kurtis
So aside from me being stupid and misspelling "watermelon", this picture is so cute! Kurtis is such a darling!!

Food adventures...ALONE
I found a random Chinese restaurant today in the same plaza as a Trader Joe's I was trying to go to and I decided (after a LONG time of consideration), to eat there ALONE. I don't like to dine by myself because I find it very awkward. I've done it once before in Hong Kong, which didn't make it any less awkward, but I gave it another shot today.

When I walked into the restaurant, I immediately thought I had made such a huge mistake because it looked so dimly lit, run down, shabby type feel. The large fish tank at then entrance looked like it was 3 months overdue for a cleaning. The goldfish inside the tank didn't look too happy to be swimming around in so much of their own filth. But the most glaringly obvious feature that made me want to turn around and walk out was that there was NO ONE in the ENTIRE restaurant. Not even a single waiter. I stood there for about 2mins trying to decide if I should leave or if someone was going to walk out of the kitchen soon to greet me.

Finally, the waitress came out of the kitchen and seated me. I sat all by myself on the right side of the restaurant in a dimly lit corner booth near the dirty fish tank. The menu was pretty big so I took a considerable amount of time to decide what I wanted to eat. After much deliberation and many questions about the menu to the waitress, I ordered FOUR dishes. YES, FOUR DISHES, ALL TO MYSELF. The waitress was very shocked as well. She was about to walk away from me after I finished ordering the second dish but then I continued on to order the third dish, and then the fourth. I really wanted to order FIVE dishes because FOUR is such an unlucky number to Chinese people, but after taking into account how shocked the waitress looked and how it seemed like such an overkill, I decided to just leave it at four.

I was very skeptical about this place from the moment I walked into the restaurant, but the food turned out to be very good! The waitress was super friendly and very nice! I left after the meal as a very happy customer! This is just one of those moments that remind me to "never judge a book by it's cover".

Surprise surprise!

After 25 years of being myself, you would think I would know my likes/dislikes but apparently, I can continue to surprise myself....

Watching the NFL draft
I've always been more interested in playing sports than watching them on TV. I find watching sports sooooo BORING with a BIG capital "B". But as of recent, I've started to watch ESPN and have been keeping up with the NFL draft. I know...I was just as SHOCKED! It's actually took me an HOUR into the program before I realized that these guys that are being "drafted" into the NFL are in college and NOT already playing professional football. Because, apparently, if you were already a professional player and you were switching teams, that's called a "trade". Well, I sure learned something new.

I'm really into watching the players in action, like when they show highlights of the players in action. Some of those guys pull off AMAZING touchdowns, tackles, and dodges!! From all of this football watching, I've decided that I will NEVER let my son (assuming I ever have one) play football! Those guys are SLAMMED, SHOVED, RAMMED, and BRUTALLY TACKLED all the time! I'm very worried about them all developing traumatic brain injuries!! That's a common things that comes into our clinic. I'm not gonna let that happen to my kids!

Evidence we are in Arizona
My roommate was walking down the street with me and he pointed out an old snake skin on the edge of the sidewalk. SNAKE SKIN! SCARY! This is how we know we are in Arizona!

Golden Corral
After getting that generous Golden Corral gift card from my patient, I finally used it today. To my surprise, I ate the LEAST I've ever eaten at a buffet! I didn't keep track of how much I ate, but I swear, it was 1/4 of what I'm used to scarfing down when I try to get my money's worth at a buffet! I didn't really even eat any dessert! That's amazing! I am proud of myself though, I'm glad I didn't over do it and feel like blimp afterwards. I only stayed there for about 2.5hrs, which is also around half the time I usually stay at buffets...so yay for me!

Catching Fire
Yet even MORE shocking than me watching the NFL draft, finding a snake skin, and eating so very little (for my standards) at a buffet, I'm READING AGAIN!!! Let's all gasp together...*gasps* This is going to be my SECOND book this year! I'm breaking my ~1book/year rule! This better be worth it!