Bugs Love

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Dr. Chubby?

As part of our FPC group on Tuesday, we were all given gifts celebrating the year's end. Everybody got one of these medical kits. It's really nice -- it has everything a kit should have. A stethoscope, a blood pressure cough, an eye chart, review of systems checklist, and of course, a doctor's bag! Look at the cute picture of Elmo!


We're saving it for when Chubby is old enough to play with it. It'll be his first toy, meant just for him. No pressure to become a doctor of course, that will be his decision. Unfortunately, he won't be able to play with it until at least 3 years from now.
Yesterday (6/22) was the final day of the year. A 4 hour, 111-question exam to cap it off. Afterwards, Yu and I went to a barbecue place in the Richmond that looked good. The side dishes were delicious but the main attraction just didn't satisfy. The ribs were too dry, the pulled pork was too smoky, and the sauce didn't match the aroma. In the evening, we watched two movies; A Mighty Heart with Angelina Jolie, and a Japanese anime called Paprika, directed by Satoshi Kon.


Paprika is one of the coolest animations I've ever seen. The movie is about what happens when the dream world intersects with the real world, where people can enter other's dreams. Such power can be intended for good or for evil. It starts out as a research experiment to better conduct dream studies (psychoanalysis). However, it's quite natural to expect that the dream world doesn't welcome intruders from the real world, and crazy things start to happen when people can't keep the two worlds separate. The "bad guys" want to preserve the sanctity of dreams, but overdo it in their quest for dominion in the dream world. For those who fight against the imbalance, luckily, there's a backdoor in place for those , and it starts as an internet portal (genius!) Well, the movie plot is hard to describe, but it gives a lot of food for thought about the importance of dreams, of intrusions into private spaces, and of the value of psychoanalysis. I think the director gives an interesting treatise. Oh, the film is also wildly imaginative, not to mention at times wildly confusing. I'd like to see his other movies and buy this when it comes to video, just to see if it makes any more sense.

Today, (6/23) we were pretty lazy. Went to Ocean Beach and laid out at Land's End, on the sand, under the canopy of a very large Columbia jacket. Just as Yu said she loved the beach, the tide came rushing over us and our beach mat, getting our feet and sandals wet and sticky with the rushing sand.

Tomorrow, we might go furniture shopping. That's all for now, the battery is running out.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Day in Review - Father's Day

Less than five full days before the first year of medical school is over! Can't wait until I have some free time. Or will I have any free time? The summer is already looking pretty full. I'm doing the Curriculum Ambassadorship at more than full time beginning July 2nd, then scaling back to part-time once I start working at the Chinese Hospital at the end of July. I'm considering asking my consulting contact for some part-time work. Toss in getting ready for the baby, trying to learn enough Chinese so I'm not a complete idiot in the hospital, and working out a preliminary USMLE study plan, that's not a whole lot of time to be goofing off, lounging around with the PS2 or some other pointless distraction.

But it's not bad. I think it's better to keep busy, as long as the things you do are always a little fresh. Working a bit will feel nice to contribute to our finances, while working in the hospital will go a long way towards making the clerkship year a lot more comfortable. And what greater motivation will I have to learn Chinese? Chinese-speaking patients, plus a son on the way who will probably learn more Chinese than me by his first year.

I'm on track on my weight goal. I believe at the beginning of the year, I was around 220 lbs. My goal was to get to under 200 by the year's end. I also set up some short-term goals; that I would be at 210 by the end of the first year of school, 205 by the start of the second year, and then 200 by Dec. 31. Well, as of today, I'm at 209.5 lbs. So that's very encouraging! But I must admit, it's hard to block out hunger signals. And it's definitely not that easy to lose weight.

Going back to the summer, one thing I've wanted to do is make a list of all the fun things I want us to do, whether short-term or long-term, whether urbane or outlandish. Some of those common things include getting out to an A's game, going to a U-pick fruit orchard, heading back to New China Tofu. Other things included going to Italy (I hear Santorini is nice), Japan, back to China and Hong Kong of course. Then there's also going back to Michigan, see Mom and Dad, and welcome Uncle Lawrence and his family. I hope I can manage that this summer, maybe towards the end of it. I want to be there for my family and friends.

But coming back from the dreamy recesses of my brain (they've never told us where the region of creativity is, but I'm guessing it's in the frontal lobes somewhere), I should get back to studying. I hear the signature cracking of the sunflower seeds by Yu, and will go bug her for a bit.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Thursday, June 07, 2007

3rd anniversary

For our anniversary, Yu gave me a very touching card; I was only able to give her flowers at first; I wrote a card later. We had talked about getting each other some leather-themed gifts. Being the 3rd anniversary, leather is supposed to signify durability and stability. Ah, speaking of which, my leather belt is looking a little bit shabby. I think it's about three years old... well we didn't end up getting anything. Saving everything for the baby. My dreams of a Ferragamo wallet will have to wait until I am a resident's scutmonkey.

Yu and I played it low-key on our anniversary and decided to go to a French restaurant in the Richmond neighborhood, a place called Clementine (like the little orange). The food was delicious, fresh and inventive. Yu ordered the prix-fixe menu for $25, and it came with a shrimp salad, seafood risotto and warm chocolate cake w/coconut sorbet. I had a spring mixed green salad, rack of lamb and carmelized french toast w/hazelnut ice cream. As we were eating , we thought, no way is this going to be enough food! But we actually left pretty full. I think we found our neighborhood fancy restaurant. Slowly, we're building a list of favorite places to go.

We took a stroll around Clement and came upon a fascinating aquarium store. It's called Sixth Street Aquarium (not very creative, are they?). It was full of exotic fish, and even stingrays, tiny sharks and moray eels. According to their website, they have 13,000 gallons of water. For Dad, he might be interested in knowing about their 100 gallon tank for $100. They had this amazing fish that had paper thin transparent cheeks that would blow in and out, kind of like two jellyfish attached to its head. I thought it was called an oranda, but googling didn't turn up with the right fish. Oh well. The store doesn't allow any pictures, either. I think we'll go back when we have some time. We need to buy a new pot, and will probably do that on the next block over, at Kamei Restaurant Supply (Yu's favorite store).

We finished the evening with a sunset walk in Golden Gate Park, along the rhododendron garden. It was a little bit to the northeast of the de Young. I think in our next journey to the park, we'll try to locate the resident bison. They're supposed to be wandering around Spreckels Lake.