roid week/match week (zot! zot! zot!) done, radiology done, packing for guatemala… in progress. i have to do some last minute errands (vaccinations, pinkberry), but other than that, i’m free for a short while. so… if anyone’s bored, let’s go out!

happy year of the pig, everybody! we had fun this year: meat on a stick, screaming asian people, free macaroni and cheese, and red envelopes!

I dragged the family out to back to back festivals in westminster and pasadena, watched a strange vietnamese hip-hop boy band, drank a daquiri from a hollowed out pineapple, and then drove all the way to simi to party some more.

my upper lip swelled… again.  i took a picture, but it’s too horrendous to post.  argh.  this makes 3 times with no obvious cause.  someone help me!

i finished my last interviews this week– yay! i can now retire my suit and write my last set of thank you notes. my rank list is finalized (at least in my head)… i’m suprised it was so easy. the super-excited gut feeling came only once– and ryan got his post-doc nearby. mildly exciting homey feelings came for my number 3 ranked program… and… that’s all i will rank. let the matching begin!

meanwhile, our dvd player stopped working, so we’ve invested in a shiny new playstation 2 to replace it. it’s tiny, so we can finally fit all of our dvds/games on the shelf. AND, it lets me play my new favorite game– katamari damacy. the graphics are simple and strange, as is the happy japanese pop-ish music. i find myself singing it randomly.

life in the clinic is consistently fun– we see a lot of mildly-neurotic people lately. in between dosing out hypertension drugs and antibiotics this week, i got to:

- suture an ugly looking gash in the arm

- do a shave biopsy of a nevus-looking lesion on the face

- see a vasectomy

- use an anoscope

- do more sclerotherapy

- cheer with a patient because acupuncture we’re doing is helping her allergies immensely

- diagnose a poor man with new onset diabetes, teach him how to use a glucometer, and do some DM education

- remove skin tags

- remove a lipoma from a lady’s back

good times. too bad there’s only one more week of this. my derm and ortho rotations have been suprisingly (or not sup
risingly) helpful. i’m more comfortable diagnosing my eczema, tinea, lichen simplex chronicus, neurotic excoriation, scabies, actinic keratosis patients. yay! knee and shoulder exams are less daunting, and the x-rays don’t scare me anymore. ha! next… internal medicine with some shaved ice on the side! i love alhambra.

many many days off. much much holiday fun. must blog soon. sooooooooooon.

- fantastic rotation: so far i’ve done acupuncture, omm, sclerotherapy, given injections, and counseled my new-onset DM patient

- cow-shaped humidifier named ruth (cris)

- sushi madness at the new TORO

- christmas cookies in san diego

- christmas present screaming madness in simi

- house cleaning (we can see our carpet!)

- sushi, boba, and purikura with MAAAAAAGIE

- wine and cheese and drunkeness on new years eve

- homemade eggs benedict on new years day

- gelato gelato gelato

- trapped at a san gabriel intersection as police escorted rose parade floats drive by

- coughing fit / sore throat / vitamin goodness

it’s warming up to a comfortable temperature again. no extra blankets, no jackets needed… not that i have to go anywhere today. tomorrow, however, i scrub in on a radical mastectomy!

i have the urge to go ice skating. how random is that?

4 days until i fly out to do 4 interviews in a row. i’ll be bringing back chocolates and photos galore.

i need to throw a party just so i can rent this photobooth. fun!

my mouse is acting up. i have to find a new one before i throw this one out the window.

mochi from my recent trip to mitsuwa in torrance. so gooey, so good. –>

it’s been a long time since i’ve blogged… so here’s an update:

the ortho rotation has ended, surgery has begun, and although i’m scrubbing in on cases, i really only get to stand and watch most of the time. bah. we’ve done lap choles on top of lap choles, 3 breast mass removals (one from a man with painful gynecomastia), and one carotid endarterectomy.

i’ve interviewed at two programs so far, and next weekend i’m flying up to sacramento to do 4 more.

comlex step 2 = passed! comlex PE = passed!

2 birthday dinners: opus and red white and bluezz. both fan-tastic. so fat now. sooooooooooooo fat.

ryan’s birthday: 2 chocolate cakes. chocolate shavings flying everywhere. staples center madness. lakers won!

we’re on the hunt for a wii (or 2) but have so far come up short. tomorrow, however, is another day.