I got a phone call from Australia last night – it was my friend Karen sharing the news of her engagement. (* This photo is from when Karen was a bridesmaid at a friend’s wedding, but it’s the only one I have easy access to right now.) I’m pushing for a January wedding (since I’ll already be in Australia then) but I’m sure A.J. and I will figure out how to get there for the big day whenever it happens to be… So congrats to you guys and see you soon!!
So I just got word that I honored my Internal Medicine rotation… for those of you keeping track (which is probably just me, really), that means that I honored ALL of my third year rotations! I don’t know how often this happens, but I think I’m definitely in a minority in my class of ~150 people. 🙂 I am very proud of myself and very excited. And to think it took me two attempts and a few months on the waiting list before I got into med school!
This is what my cool camera phone can do: panoramic pictures! We (A.J., Chris, Brasten, and I) went to the Mariners vs. Indians game tonight and we sat pretty much behind home plate in row 30. As you can see in the picture, Head was sitting right in front of us. That is Head, pronounced "Heed", as in So I Married An Axe Murderer: "Head! Paper! Now! Move that melon of yours and get the paper if you can! Haulin’ that gargantuan cranium about! I’m not kidding, that boy’s head’s like Sputnik! Spherical, but quick pointy in parts. Well, that was off sides, wasn’t it? He’ll be crying himself to sleep tonight on his huge pillow!" 🙂 Head’s brother (the blurry guy in front of Brasten) was very unpredictable in the way that he would just join our conversations without warning or invitation – somewhat entertaining.
(click for a bigger picture)
So here’s what has been going on with me lately…
A.J. and I flew down to LA so I could take my last test of the summer (and last test for the next 3-4years!!) We stayed at the LAX Marriott and had some fun exploring the area. My test was… well… interesting. Nerve-wracking. Long. And now over. It’s very difficult for me to estimate how I did since I feel that so much of it is based on the standardized patients’ perceptions of me. Also, I can’t really remember if I asked certain questions or wrote certain things in my write-up that seem really obvious now. Let’s just hope they were obvious to me then, too, and that my mind wasn’t crowding out my genius with my nervousness. 🙂 I’ll get the results of both around the end of August, so I’ll let everyone know how I did.
After the test, we stayed down in Cali for a much needed vacation. The Residence Inn at Oxnard was our location of choice (a real class act place). We had a nice upper level suite right next to one of the stand-alone hot tubs and the tennis courts. We utilized those frequently, and we also did some driving and wandering up into Venture and Santa Barbara, which was a lot of fun. I love driving around new cities and finding places to stop and wander. We were there for a few days before reality called us back to Seattle… but that’s a reality that I am happy to live with.
So now I am on my two weeks of REAL vacation – with no particular responsibilities or things that need my attention ASAP. It’s a nice feeling. I have been helping A.J. with company taxes and bookkeeping, and we take breaks for tennis and racquetball and kayaking… I’ve been getting up early in the mornings to work out at Curves, then A.J. and I usually take a run around the Interurban trail by the office. We’re both exercising more and watching our portion sizes and types of foods we eat – and it’s paying of nicely. We’re both getting skinnier and feel SO much better (not so tired and blah like before). It’s great!
I got my hair cut yesterday:
And, finally, there was the Hi-Yu Bowling Tournament last night…
Chris and Brasten
Me (and my new haircut) with Hannah and Hailey
Jacob (a very serious bowler with the scores to prove it :-))
7:30am-12:30pm The test took me 5 hours (they allow 9) and now I am done. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, plus I have another test on Thursday. But it feels good so far. I’m going to go out and have a celebration lunch and not think about studying for a while, it’ll be nice. 🙂
I love koalas (and if you don’t already know that about me… then I kind of wonder who you are and how you came across my blog). I haven’t seen one for awhile, but A.J. and I are planning a New Year’s Australia trip, and a visit to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is always on the agenda. 🙂
I just discovered that July is "Save the Koala Month" and the last Friday in July is "Save the Koala Day" down in Australia. The Australian Koala Foundation does lots of things to raise money and awareness about the plight of koalas. See, koalas themselves are protected by law in Australia, but their habitat/food source is not. More than 80% of suitable koala habitat is on private land, so people can do whatever they want to it (meaning chopping it all down) so the poor koalas have nowhere to live. And I guess that sometimes they get attacked by people’s dogs or fall into people’s pools (seriously, it’s recommended that if you live in a koala area and you have a pool you should dangle a "stout rope" in the pool so the koalas can climb out if they fall in).
Anyway, I don’t really know much about the plight of the koalas. But I do know koalas are cute, and I like to look at pictures of them, and if there’s a whole month devoted to koalas, well that just has to be the best month of the year!
So not even 24 hours after arriving back in Seattle, it was time to celebrate the 4th of July – or, as it is known over at the lake, the "Who has more fireworks" competition. 🙂 We went to A.J.’s dad’s house on Lake Serene (in the Lynnwood area) and spent a nice morning and afternoon playing outside – there was ping pong, basketball (with games of both "HORSE" and "JILL" :-)), kayaking, and swimming in the lake on the "Oasis Island" of fun. This first picture is me with a braided water lily boquet that A.J. picked and braided for me.
These are some of the "getting ready for fireworks" pictures. Chris has a propane torch that he and A.J. used for lighting off the massive show Al had stored up for the night. There’s also a picture of some of the fireworks… just SOME, beause there were SO many more than what you see here. It was really an amazing night – and a LOT of fun.
This last picture is me with a glow stick headband – also very fun. Next year we will have a lot more glow sticks on hand for our audience to enjoy. (FYI Mom, these were the glow sticks that A.J. got for us to use in St Louis that we kept forgetting to pull out.)
I am at the St. Louis airport right now, up in the Admiral’s Club – that’s where the fancy people hang out before they board their airplanes. A.J. and I ate some complimentary cookies and drank some complimentary water and tea and OJ… and now I’m using the computers with complimentary internet access. I suppose it’s not all "complimentary" since you pay for a membership. BUt it’s really cool. Nice and quiet and relaxing with leather chairs and magazines and newspapers. Such a difference from waiting in the terminals. When we get to Seattle we’re going to go check out the Club there too, so I can see what it’s like. A.J. the traveler has already been to both of these clubs a few times, now it’s my turn to get all excited about them. 🙂
A.J. with a cookie:
Our morning snack:
