uh oh. i just discovered southwest now has flights to la guardia, ny. i'm in trouble. (I know jen's fear is that i'll start knocking on her door tomorrow morning ;)

baked pasta

i saw on 30 minute meals, rachel ray was spooning out this very cheesy baked pasta onto a plate, with the cheese dripping. so i whipped up some of my own - except i think my broiler was on too high, so before the cheese could melt, it literally crisp-ed (not burnt black, but it was hot enough to dry out the cheese before it melted).

missing my mom. a fuzzy picture~ 

i paid almost $40 to fill up my car today. yikes. i have a feeling we're just a few moments away from $3.00 a gallon, and I've given up, just resigned to paying that much.

an almost perfect weekend: mostly sleeping, then moments of ice skating, and a dinner with family and meetings with friends. phd life is definitely nicer, s says she can see the difference in the demeanor of my face, so different from my med school years. ;)

"One female patient filed a complaint with the state of New Hampshire after her doctor told her she was obese and needed to lose weight. The state board of medicine investigated and turned it over to New Hampshire‘s attorney general, which asked Dr. Terry Bennett to take a medical education course and acknowledged he had “made a mistake.”

Dr. Bennett says he doesn't think he had done anything wrong. "

Dr. Bennett's words: "You are running down a razor blade when you're talking to an obese patient of either gender. They wouldn't be obese if they weren't really good at ignoring reality. So, you have to overcome that mind-set and deliver the news without making somebody angry, because, if they're angry, you lose them.
...
But, if you look at the facts now, 60 percent, 65 percent, whatever number you want, are obese adults. More than 70 percent of physicians no longer address this at all, because they're looking at the same kind of mind-set and the behavior that I have gotten here."

depending on who wins, i guess it may change medical school education... it's true that a lot of people are in denial and so if presented with the facts, they may just get upset. seems like more and more, doctors are restricted to be put in a position where we're, more and more, going down the middle. i think it's a tough issue.

talk about how the male gaze truly permeates through society. (a concept that i learned in dance, gender, and history, but interesting how it comes up in law). Talking about a law in Hong Kong and gay sex.

"The laws prohibited ``gross indecency'' or sexual intimacy between men if one or both are under 21. But heterosexual and lesbian couples who are 16 or older can legally have such relations.

Under the laws, gay men who engage in consensual sodomy when either is under 21 face life imprisonment. "

(bold edit: mine) This law got overthrown by a 20 year old guy. Wow, awesome how a small young voice can make a difference for a nation.

i found a charming series on Slate magazine about an American living in Amsterdam. Reminds me of Sarah's friend, who is writing the American girl in Paris point of view -

"(This is a side note, but I find it sad that eating while walking—or worse, eating while driving—is the great American pastime. The Dutch almost never do this, except maybe with an ice cream cone. Having been here for a while, I've now decided I'm firmly on the side of the Dutchies in this matter. The notion that you wouldn't take time to slow down, sit at a table, savor your food—and, better yet, break bread with a couple of friends—seems weird to me now. And please don't start in about lost productivity and the demands of ruthless capitalism. I maintain that you can make money and also make time for a half-decent lunch.)

The larger point is this: They live much better here. They carve out cozy, delightful moments anywhere they can find them. They bring their families on candlelit, nighttime boat rides through the canals. They chat with their friends at outdoor cafes as the sun sets. They leave work by 6 every evening. And these are not special, once-in-a-blue-moon treats. This is how they live, all the time. Even in my short stay here, I've found myself drifting into various gezellig moments (involving, for instance, good food, thoughtful friends, copious pints of Heineken, and a rainy afternoon inside a bar that played only Al Green records)."

again, i'm convinced i'm stuck in the wrong city. is there a point of view that I'm missing out on, to see this dinky city as a cool place to live?

articles here.

fresh faced in amsterdam~ 

conversation:
(working title: "geography is not so cool sometimes")

c (for canadian friend): 'what's the capitol of canada?'
me: 'toronto? quebec? prince edward island? saskatchewan?'
c: 'saskatchewan is a province'

quick, without cheating, what's the capitol of canada?

funny, i got my first pickup email on myspace.com . it's from a guy who works regularly with jason mraz and gavin degraw, even has pics to prove it... apparently he was drawn to my profile b/c both are included as my favorite musicians. surprised to see that all my cousins were on myspace~

life has been feeling a bit like a rat race lately. kind of like when you buy one item online, you're never satisfied and end up buying more... (wait, not entirely a metaphor :D) jk seriously tho, all the inadequacies of life is so never ending, just feel like the only thing to stop it is to be still.

"You still the hunger of those you cherish" -Psalm 17:14

watching oprah's episode on hoarders motivated me to clean house today. so strange how problems can grow to be so big before you realize it.

i spent my night watching tv and cleaning house, while my sister is partying in downtown manhattan at a trendy party hosted by Out magazine (the premiere gay magazine stationed in NY). what different lives we lead.

some odd things going on in lab today. need to think things thru on why things aren't going as expected.

getting back into ice skating, it's really fun! i found a great place in sacramento that's really nice, i'm getting a lot of personal attention from the teacher there b/c there aren't that many people in my level. today, i went to practice with two friends from lab, and my teacher was there and he gave all of us some "pointers". he taught my friends how to skate forwards, backwards, and even to spin b/c he thought they were ready. and he was right! by the end, they were spinning even up to two revolutions. i worked on my spins too, which are abysmal. it was nice that my teacher was there, and one of my friends is going to accompany me to skating lesson on saturday.

it's fun exercising again. i realized that i REALLY can't keep up the gym thing for long - i really need to exercise thru ballet, ice skating, or something fun. i almost got talked into taking a ice dancing lesson yesterday - the teacher was wearing an olympics jacket, and everyone skating on the ice was so good. if i went out on the ice, the teacher would have been thinking how far he's fallen, from the olympics to teaching me. :P so i spared him the embarrassment (and myself) and saved my $12.

Wicked - a musical that's been so hot in NY city, we didn't even try to go see it. i heard so many things about it - that it should have won the tony for best musical, that there is a huge cult following (made up of 13 year old girls) of this musical, and people go crazy for it. i bought the soundtrack, was mildly disappointed with it, and so my expectations were both high and low at the same time. and i went and saw it. had great seats, and was immediately blown away. i've seen a lot of musicals and i'd like to think that i'm hard to impress, but wow. definitely laughed, and cried, and was moved. the musical was surprisingly deep, like the idea that the speaking animals of Oz can lose the ability to speak.

"Elphaba: So, you're saying that there are animals that have, somehow, forgotten how to speak? But, how is that possible?
Dillamond: Well, with so much pressure not to..."

and then later, another teacher who has replaced Dr. Dillamond (the last Animal professor left) says: "Now, as I was saying, one of the benefits of caging a Lion cub while he's young is that he never, in fact, will learn how to speak." it was a very powerful metaphor, esp in Elphaba's life and her journey in learning how to overcome her circumstances and to defy gravity. (am i sounding like one of those 13 year old girls who love this musical??)

my favorite part was the ending of the first act, which left me speechless (seen in the top two left pictures in the collage below). it doesn't look that impressive, but with the special effects and the music and the singing, the overall effect was breathtaking.

bottom left: Elphaba, the wicked witch and Glinda the good witch, consorting after Glinda sends Dorothy away on the yellow brick road.

bottom right: Elphaba's first appearance as a shadow in the background

top right: the original Elphaba, Idina Menzel, getting "greenified". It must have been horrible to do that every night!

Others: pictures of the original cast members Kristen Chenoweth (the role of Glinda was made for her) and Idina Menzel.

 


Elphaba: "I’m through accepting limits
‘Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know
... I'm flying high,
Defying gravity"

the original fiyero, the rebellious and sexy bad boy in wicked, a surprising casting choice of norbert leo butz. i thought he'd be cast as a munchkin than fiyero (altho his singing skills are amazing) 

an even better fiyero (joey mcintyre, altho not so sure about his singing skills but he looks more like a dashing fiyero) 

best possible fiyero (the real life husband of idina menzel, broadway original "elphaba" in wicked) 

after three weeks of research standing at a standstill, i finally made a small step forward today. granted, progress wasn't out of my own brilliance or ideas, but of coincidence... but it was really nice to have something work!

hanging out with PhD's really remind me of how they hate medical students/MDs. :P been hanging out with an old professor that I had in med school, he thought med students drunk would make us "more obnoxious". ouch, I guess they don't have a very good view of us.

forgive me, i'm in love.

my new hobby~ knitting. very therapeutic, i definitely like keeping my hands busy. i started last week, not bad huh? everyone's getting scarves for christmas this year~ 


need to get sunshades for my car. but when the temperature is 105 degrees outside, isn't sunshades just wishful thinking, that it's going to keep my car cooler? temperature going down to the 90s this week, so weird how many people are really excited about that. :P

worked at lab tonight (kinda scary b/c no one was there), worked out with s's id card while i was blocking my slides, and then watched the end of harry potter 2 with s while she was asking me every two minutes, "so who's the heir? what happens at the end?" muhahaha

wicked on friday!!! i can't wait~