Ultimate Coffee Date – August

Hey everyone! The last (and only) one I did was back in May; I had to miss the last two coffee dates due to boards studying, but…I passed, so it was all worth it!

Coffee is rampant everywhere I go. (Luckily, hospitals/clinics/pretty much every place we go to understands that we’re all chronically sleep-deprived individuals.) I actually haven’t had any yet, but I’ve only just finished my first week of clinical rotations, so there’s definitely still time!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d just like to say that I really, really love being out in the real world and getting to interact with living human beings once more. It’s a wonderful feeling, especially after the last 2 years of somewhat-solitude from my various study hibernations. That is not to say that it’s no longer an uphill battle anymore. Life in terms of constant-book-studying is over…in a way. In its place is learning “on the job.” This is good news to me because I’m very much a kinesthetic learner; I retain information much more easily if it’s something that I can actually do (hence, why the last two years were such a struggle). My preceptor’s really great about explaining things to me, the nurses are super helpful, and the patients are really sweet. They bring in fresh vegetables and home-canned foods for the staff. :] Our break room looks like a cafe, and drug reps come in and feed us 2-3x/week!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, despite how awesome this is, I can’t shake the feeling that I feel like I know nothing. I feel pretty incompetent–there’s so much that I feel like I should know, and I’m sure my being nervous plays into it when my preceptor asks me questions that I don’t answer correctly, even though I definitely know the answers to them. But it’s just the first week, so as long as I continue to improve, mayhaps it’ll be okay!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that even though it’s difficult, I really love this. My preceptor started sending me in to do H&P’s for patients on Wednesday, so I’ve been getting a lot of practice in and learning a lot. Not knowing the answers motivates me to look things up so I’ll never get it wrong again. I’m getting better at asking questions (something I never used to do). Even though I feel like I don’t know anything, her patients seem to really like me, so I’d like to think I’m doing something right. :] Yesterday, one of the ladies told me I would make a great doctor and also told me that I was really pretty, haha.

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that I’m getting really fed up with GoogleMaps. While it’s never failed me in the past, I guess there has to be a first for everything. Whilst trying to get to the hospital, I was led to the middle of two train tracks and it told me I’d arrived. There was a car dealership on the other side of one set of tracks, and a row of very small, fairly run-down houses on the other. (I wish I were kidding about this.) I’m going to a psych clinic in a little over a week, so I figured I’d prevent myself from getting into such a predicament again. (I wasn’t late, but that was not a fun experience.)

After sending me on a narrow and frighteningly pothole-ridden road through a cemetery…

…this is where Google sent me. At a population of 12k, this town is 4x the size of the one I came from. No, Google, I am not about to believe that I’ve arrived at the medical clinic.

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that…I’m famous again! (This is what I meant about #6.) Hooray hooray!

If we were having coffee/tea this morning, I’d tell you that I’m secretly envious that my preceptor’s wearing jeans/flip flops, and it makes me wonder if that means that I don’t have to dress up every day either. I am notoriously low-maintenance (to a fault). My idea of dressing up is changing out of my yoga pants/sweat pants/shorts to a dark pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so for me to put on dress pants and a nice shirt or button-down each morning is a struggle. There’s only one thing that’s not true on this list, and it’s because I don’t drink beer (or any alcohol, for that matter).

(Seriously, this is my life.)

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So there we have it! I hope everyone’s been doing well! Things that I’ve been wondering lately:

• What’s an absolute dealbreaker for you when you’re choosing your doctor? (Or something you absolutely would not tolerate with an established doctor?)
  
• What’s something your doctor has done or said to you that made you feel much more comfortable with them, and that s/he was really just there to do whatever s/he could to help you get better?
• What’s something you think your doctor could improve upon?

This linkup is hosted by fellow GGS ambassadors–Nikki, Jill & Lynda!

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by Montana over at Pretty Lil Mudder! Thank you so much! :] (Check out her blog for super awesome race info and workout ideas!) We’re also starting up a recipe linkup soon with a few other ladies from Girls Gone Sporty. Stay tuned (Fridayyy)!!!

According to the post, the rules are:

• Thank and link to the person who nominated you
• List the rules and display the award
• Share seven facts about yourself
• Nominate 15 other blogs you enjoy, then comment on their posts to let them know you have nominated them

7 Random Facts About Me

1. I get called upon by the guys (HBLers + 1) to help move things [aka furniture] around. I find this very flattering. The last time this happened, my friend’s mom happened to overhear and protested, “Don’t ask her to do that for you!” (M: No, Mom, you don’t understand! She’s really really strong! She does powerlifting and holds a state record for deadlifts! She’ll be fine. And we can’t move it without her.)
2. By the time I graduate medical school, I will be in about a quarter of a million dollars in debt. This does not include interest and also depends upon me continuing to live on <$10k/year, so mayhaps you can see why I get a slight bit annoyed when people say that we go into the field of medicine “for the money.” (I really don’t think I’d be picking the least-paying specialty if that were the case.) But one of my life-long goals is to be able to spend my life doing something that I love, so here we are.
3. My goals when/if I ever swim out of my student loan debt are to pay off my parents’ house, take them on a cruise, fund no-kill animal shelters (Please Save A Cat + Friends For Life are biggies on my list) and donate to the clinic I used to volunteer at. I’d also eventually like a house with an awesome kitchen, fruit trees + an herb/vegetable garden, and a room with high ceilings that can be a dance studio
4. The only time I willingly call people is when I’m driving (relax, I’m using a headset/just one earbud)…but I still usually hate talking on the phone (#25 of 25 Things You Didn’t Know). This is probably why long-distance relationships would be a bad idea for me. (Y’know, other than the fact that I’d only be able to pencil him in once every couple days in probably-10-minute-intervals.
5. I can fall asleep anywhere at almost any time, within a matter of minutes. The floor, a couple chairs, standing up…you name it. (Sometimes, I seriously think I have narcolepsy, but it’s more likely just chronic sleep deprivation…?) Symptoms of narcolepsy include:
   • Excessive sleepiness or sudden muscle weakness
   • Cataplexy
   • Sleep paralysis
   • Hypnagogic hallucinations
   • Automatic behaviors (like driving home and not remembering how you got there)
   • Disrupted major sleep episode (disruption of the longest sleep episode that occurs on a daily basis)

   …and now that I think about it, my dad can do the same thing. Crud. (Nooo, orexin, stay with me!) Even if I really do have it, I’d like to think that I’m a pretty effing high-functioning narcoleptic. :O

6. I’m not very good with improvisation, or being extremely articulate with words (spoken, anyway). Given the opportunity, I plan it all out to excruciating detail before I start talking. More on that on Saturday. :O!
7. If food is in front of me, it tends to disappear. Especially if I’m preoccupied with doing something else. I spend most of my day thinking about food, eating, or planning my next meal(s).

Unofficial #8: I’m really, really terrible about nominating people because I always feel like they’ll feel obligated to respond even if they’re super busy (also because all[?] of the people I wanted to nominate have already been nominated already! Go figure. What can I say? We have good taste in people. Can I just…ask you, my dear readers, to share random facts about yourself? :]?

JUST KIDDING. I’m nominating the ladies I’ve been doing Fitness Fridays with because they are awesome and have not in fact been tagged yet (as far as I can tell, anyway)! ;)

1. Jen from JVKom
2. Brittney from Brittney Breaking Free
3. Katie from Fit Beach Babe
4. TO MY DEAR READERS <3

I’d also just like to note that Trish is wonderful and awesomely amazing. <3 She went to the farmer’s market over in Ithaca earlier this(? I’ve lost track of dates) month and got me some pepper jelly! 3 homemade blueberry muffins using blueberries she’d picked herself! (Super jealous. I wanna go berry picking!) I’ve been enjoying it with a smoked jalapeno cheese spread and maple chicken sausage patties stuffed with a beet greens scramble (recipe will be up in a couple days) in a pita bread pocket. <3

Fitness Fav on Friday | Inspiration

I can’t believe it’s nearing the end of July already. Where did all the time go?! This marks the last of this month’s Fitness Fridays.

This week’s theme is on where (or what) we draw our inspiration from.

My first two years of undergrad were frighteningly unhealthy, mostly because of my course load (let’s just say that I had enough units to graduate by the end of my second year) and the fact that I didn’t know any better. Granted, I’m sure it could’ve been worse. I ate healthily (usually), but in large quantities. (Alright, fine. This really hasn’t changed too much. ._.) I didn’t drink alcohol, but I didn’t exercise very often. My second year was the worst. I was slaving through organic chemistry and very heavily questioning my life choices. A typical day consisted of many, many cups of green tea, Nature Valley Oats n’ Honey granola bars throughout the day (I consumed over 500 that academic year. I am unfortunately not exaggerating.), and some sort of hopefully healthy-ish dinner. To this day, I can’t eat those granola bars anymore because it reminds me of ochem.

If you’ve ever happened upon the “fitness” section of my frighteningly long “About” page (forgive me; I love to write), you’d know that once upon a time, I made the glorious decision to change my major from Biological Sciences to Exercise Biology. It was easily one of the best decisions of my life, and those last two years of undergrad still remain as some of the best times of my life.

I absolutely fell in love with the major, and also had a little more freedom with my schedule, so before I knew it, on top of the Tahitian + hula dancing I was already doing, I was also taking kickboxing classes, abs/back conditioning, archery, tumbling, learning to lift weights, running…I tried it all and loved most of it (I really did try with long-distance running, but my apparent lack of type I muscle fibers just makes weightlifting so much more appealing). One of my most recent pipe dreams would be to be able to compete for WBFF, but given the amount of time and dedication it would take (coupled with the current road I’m taking), I don’t think it’d be a viable option. :[

I love the way lifting weights/exercise makes me feel, and it’s great to set state records and be awesome and all that. I will admit that I draw part of my inspiration from my dreams of badassery…but what matters more to me goes beyond that.

I want to lead by example. My hope is to go into family medicine (possibly sub-specializing in sports medicine) and to really be able to show my patients what I mean when I counsel them on incorporating exercise into their life, or tell them to start or maintain a healthier diet. I’d like to be able to give them concrete examples and tailor it to their individual needs. (I basically did this throughout the last two years, even though all my patients were fake.) I learn best by doing, so the past two years of medical school were really difficult for me. Matters were not helped by the fact that we were the guinea pig class to the new curriculum, but what matters is that we made it through. (I like to refer to our class as the “spirited survivors.”)

I’m always the first to admit that I am definitely not a genius (nowhere close :[ ). I got to where I am today because of my persistence and determination. I hope that continues to pull me forward, but for now, LEMME BASK IN THE GLORY OF NEVER HAVING TO TAKE THIS MONSTROSITY AGAIN. <3

I get to start my clinical rotations and start seeing real patients on Monday! Words cannot express how ecstatic I am right now. :]

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This marks the last of Fitness Fav on Friday–go check out jvkom next week for a Feature Friday!

Also, starting next week, I’m really excited to announce that I’ve teamed up with several other ladies from Girls Gone Sporty for a Foodie Friday linkup! Each week will be a separate theme, so feel free to join in! :D More details will be up later on this/next week!

fitness 5 on friday (round 4!)

Augh! I can’t believe June is almost over! Where has the time gone?! I’m summarizing my life in pictures. (I’ll spare you of another screenshot of my notes. It just makes me sad. :[ )

My brain is tired. I need this to be over soon.

The messages on our windows continue. We’ve gotten pretty good at writing in reverse. (+1 for useless life skills!)

There are only a handful of things keeping me sane right now. One of these things happens to be good food. <3

Homemade carne asada tacos!

1. Have you ever taken a fitness class?

Oh, whew. Where to start? I used to regularly do pole, BJJ, Tahitian and hula dancing. I’ve also taken aerial silks, salsa, abs/back conditioning, yoga (general / Bikram), pilates, archery, tumbling, kickboxing, aerial hoop, hooping, circus conditioning, ballroom dancing, and belly dancing. There’s probably something left out in that list, but this is the gist of it, haha.

2. Why do you work out?

I really like to eat. (No, seriously. Of my two years in med school, I did not turn into a hypochondriac, but if I were forced to diagnose myself with something, it’d probably be [a mild-ish form of] compulsive eating disorder.)

3. What is your biggest motivator?

I am mostly fueled by my dreams of badassery. :] I like the idea of seeing what I’m capable of, and working towards constantly improving myself.

4. Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I have a pinterest board for dance. <3

5. Do you have routine physicals? (it’s very important to check your health)

I get one pretty much every year and really like getting my lab tests and such back because I like being able to analyze how I’m doing, haha.

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Greek Yogurt Mashed Potatoes

I had a bag of baby Yukon gold potatoes that I’d gotten for 99 cents (yay for manager’s specials at Kroger!) that I needed to use up, so I rescued them from my apartment and brought them over to Linda’s so that we could use up the mountains of fresh dill she had. (We’re trying to clean out our respective refrigerators, so it’s somewhat of a joint process.)

I didn’t think to drizzle in some sriracha sauce until I’d already eaten most of it, but I’d recommend you try it with that! Gives it an extra kick! :D

Greek Yogurt Mashed Potatoes

253 calories, 49g CHO’s, 0g fat, 17g protein, 4g fiber, 90mg sodium!

Ingredients:
-10 baby Yukon gold potatoes
-1 cup Fage 0% Greek Yogurt (Plain)
-2 tbsp Homestead Creamery 2% milk
-1 tbsp garlic, minced
-sea salt, to taste
-freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
-fresh dill
-drizzle of sriracha sauce (not pictured)

Instructions:
1) Wash potatoes and peel skin.
2) Fill a pot with just enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then let simmer on medium heat for ~15 minutes, or however long it takes them to be tender enough to mash with a fork (or potato masher, if you happen to possess one).
3) Add greek yogurt and milk to the potatoes and mash to your desired consistency.
4) Add salt, pepper, dill and sriracha sauce until the flavor is to your liking.

(Please excuse the messy sides of the bowl. I decided to save bowls/water and just mashed em’ up in the bowls we’d be eating in.)

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This week’s Spill It, Sundays theme is “5 Facts!” :]

Five facts about…your family!

1. I have one older brother! We were born 13 months apart and he’s one of my best friends.
2. We used to beat each other up all the time, but when I was around 12, we made a pact to stop fighting and have actually kept the peace ever since then!
3. My parents are awesome and I love em’. :D They are super chill, as far as Asian parenting goes. I’ve never had a curfew (although to be fair, I never did anything with my lack of curfew either, so that might be why).
4. My dad has a somewhat twisted sense of humor though. When I injured my neck and couldn’t turn my head or look down, he’d drop money in front of me and laugh because I wouldn’t notice. :[ These days, he tells me I’m fat and I flex my biceps at him and tell him it’s not good to insult people who can beat him up.
5. My mom is of the variety of human being who only eats it because she has to in order to live. This makes me sad, so I’m constantly trying to make awesome things when I’m home to change her mind.

Five facts about…your childhood!

1. All my family friends my age were guys, so I grew up very much a tomboy and was really upset that I wasn’t allowed to do all the things that they could do (e.g. pee standing up, join boy scouts, etc.).
2. I’m still a little sad that because I refused to do anything “girly” (see #1), I passed up gymnastics/singing/dance as a kid. Better late than never though, right?
3. My parents didn’t know what we’d be interested in as kids, so they just had us try everything. I think this was an awesome philosophy, but unfortunately, I like everything, so I keep picking up new hobbies and keeping all the old ones. I want/need more hours in a day.
4. I’m super grateful that my mom got me started on music when I was little. :] It’s still one of my favorite ways to de-stress and for a couple years, was also what paid for my livelihood through college.
5. I wrote in paper journals for ages (regularly since 2000) and have had an online journal since 2001, but med school has not been conducive to my paper-journalling, so I switched over to exclusively blogging. I still miss the paper sometimes, but time will always be an issue.

Five facts about…you + school!

1. I double-majored in Exercise Biology and Music Performance in undergrad. I had the most amazing professors on the face of the planet and was living with my best friends, so even though I was taking 8-12 classes per quarter (while doing a billion other things), it was an awesome experience, and my last two years there still remain as some of the best times of my life thus far.
2. I am about 2 classes away from having an associate’s in Athletic Training (so close, yet so far!).
3. I moved across the country for a year to do an accelerated master’s program at UMDNJ in Biomedical Sciences.
4. I’m currently in medical school!
5. I have, on more than one occasion, been called a degree slut. I promise I’m stopping after the med school degree?!

Five facts about…you + travel!

1. My mom loves to travel, so I (very eagerly) get dragged along on her adventures when my schedule allows for it. This is actually how/why I ended up on a 12-day cruise through the Mediterranean a couple weeks before taking my MCAT. Perhaps not the best of ideas, but Greece was involved and I couldn’t turn it down. It turned out okay though, because hooray! I made it into med school.
2. To date, my favorite places are Hong Kong, Greece, Thailand and Hawai’i.
3. I’d also love to go on another medical service trip! I went to the Dominican Republic over spring break this year and it was awesome.
4. I love to travel, but I’m not a very big fan of long plane rides. On the plus side, I can fall asleep anywhere and don’t get affected by jet lag, so it’s not as bad as it could be.
5. Somewhere in South America, Tahiti, and Costa Rica are on my bucket list!

Five facts about…your eating style!

1. This one throws people off, but I’ve never knowingly eaten bacon. (My friends like to refer to my church as the “no-bacon-church.”)
2. I like durian, but no one likes to associate with me if I eat it. :[
3. For the most part, I like to eat healthy, but I always designate a cheat meal/day for the week. This is usually Saturday, because my church makes amazing food.
4. …but I’m also very gifted at packing down alarming quantities of food in one sitting, especially if it’s food that I really like. My friends can attest to this. :O
5. I most likely have a missing or mutated acetaldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme (why hello, Asian glow, palpitations, nausea and terrible times!), so I can’t/don’t drink alcohol. This is perfectly fine with me though, because alcohol is expensive, and I would much rather eat good food instead. :]

We’ve been collaborating on flashcards and have been trying to keep each other motivated, so…Pixie stuck this on one of the cards. Thanks, High Expectations Asian Father!