Simonscapes

Simonscaped

2007-05-27T20:55:00.000-04:00

It is time my friends, for us to stop meeting like this.

I intend for this to be my last entry into this online journal.

I let the web ensnare my thoughts on a whim some years ago. Later justification for this blog's existence was typical.

It was a way for my parents to keep track of me, to let my friends know what I was up to etc, etc...

But you write for yourself. It's an indulgence, a chance to entertain, to get on a soap-box, to write what is difficult to say. A fun little opportunity to sneak my future self little hidden messages to celebrate and ruminate on a time and a world gone by.

The tagline for this blog is "a tree grows in Hamilton". I'm not done growing. None of us are. But I am grown up. I don't know how it happened. I suppose somewhere in the past few years, I realized that I trust my own judgment more than I trust anyone else's.

And I think that this is the way that it should be.

I have had a wonderful time in Hamilton, and in medical school. Like all goodbyes, this comes sooner than I expected, and is a little bittersweet. I'm proud of my little piece of the world wide web, and I truly appreciate if you've ever taken the time to peruse this blog. If you ever want to know what I'm up to, or to be alerted if I start blogging somewhere else, please fire me an email! (chan_siu_man|at|hotmail.com)

My adventures will continue! As, I am sure, will your own.

Until we meet again,
Simon

Water nature

2007-05-17T01:25:00.000-04:00

I'd like to go snorkeling between now and residency.

My sister tried and it and she said it was super fun.

To train for this, I will start holding my breath during the day.

In fact, this whole thing was written with me holding my breath?

Impressive, isn't it? Look how much I can write in one breath!

I can keep going! All in one breath! Look at me go! Ok... this is about it i can't holdinag;l

Old news: Vince Carter is useless

2007-05-15T10:49:00.001-04:00

A sports recap:

1. Phoenix. Hooray for Steve Nash!
2. Senators. I never thought I'd see this day. I remember when Sylvain Turgeon was our star and the jersey had the Peace Tower on it. Now they're like... gritty play-off performers or something. How'd that happen?
3. Warriors. Please win.
4. Vince Carter. I remember once, when he was a Raptor, they ran an iso play for him to win the game. He dribbled the ball off his foot. Bwahahahaha! I'm not so shallow that I get my hate on just cause he's a lousy baller. I don't like him because he's not professional. I think if you're being paid (and paid well!) to do something, you have some sort of moral obligation to do your job well.

True or False?

2007-05-12T14:26:00.001-04:00

All good things come to and end.

Squash is a funny game

2007-05-12T00:33:00.000-04:00

Every so often (I'd say... twice a year?) Greg and I play squash.

It started waaaay back in high school, when the two of us wandered onto a squash court after swimming lessons one day to give the sport a try. We've played each other regularly (albeit infrequently) since then. The noteworthy aspect to our bi-annual clashes is that, well... I always win.

This was not surprising (at least to me) at the outset, since I felt my experiences on badminton courts (nothing gets you chicks like being on the school badminton team) were quite applicable to squash. As time progressed however (And as Greg improved his squash skills by playing other people, while I stagnated by playing.. twice a year. Against him.), it became somewhat of an oddity that I would always walk away the winner from our squash battles.

The games are always close, but somehow the gods of squash are unkind to Greg.

Or so I thought. Until I realized, half and hour into todays game of squash, that Greg has become an entirely different squash player. He has developed a deadly serve. He now returns my best service efforts. He has a new finesse. He can drop the balls into the corners and can run down my balls when I try to do the same.

So naturally, I was feeling somewhat pessimistic when, after having lost virtually all of our warm up games, Greg suggested our traditional, best-of-five, winner take all, champion of the world match.

So it is that I can happily report that my winning streak continues! I really don't know how or why. I'd probably have to admit that Greg is now a better squash player than me (a position he feels that he attained several years back...), and yet the title of squash champion is safely mine for at least another six months!

I should enjoy this. I don't think this streak can go for much longer...

Listener discretion is advised.

2007-05-11T10:05:00.000-04:00

My sisters were telling me that I have very happy music on my Mp3 player.

When they told me this, I was listening to happy music and wearing a bright yellow shirt. I think everyone would be happier if they did this.

I also think music should come with warning labels. I think I get spurred to greater action (to..uncharacteristic action?) when I'm listening to certain music. The computer people should come up with some sort of program that automatically inserts a footnote in my documents, blog entries and emails that warns of this. Something like:

note: Simon was listening to SONG when he wrote this.

Of course the program would actually put in the name of the actual song. This actually doesn't sound like it'd be that hard to program.

Final note on music/musicians.
One of the neatest ideas ever: Who stops to listen if a world famous violinist were to show up and play in a D.C. subway station?

To live

2007-05-10T18:45:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling a bit stressed out lately. I feel like there are things to do, and I'm not getting them done very efficiently.

I've thought a lot about "how" is the best way to live. As absurd as this may sound. ie, How to best acquire skills, be happy, be fulfilled, be productive etc etc etc.

I think I may be a bit compulsive about trying things, about wanting to make sure that I haven't left stones unturned, about really fearing that I'll have lived in a way that will make me look back and think "if only..."

We focus on results and productivity so very much. We make lists, and we scurry around trying to accomplish accomplish accomplish. There are too many external incentives rewarding automaton-like behaviour!

Maybe it's just where my mind has wandered. I feel like there really IS a matrix!

Task. For EVERYONE. Live more, live better, live for real.

I kind of miss the studying...

2007-05-09T14:53:00.000-04:00

So now that I'm post-exam, I have the freedom to figure out the details of my move, and to plan some sort of adventure with this, my last big block of vacation time.

The thing about studying is that it gives you a very clear sense of purpose. Now, I wake up late and mosey around with an unsettling sense that I really should be doing something.

Facts:
1. Moving is unpleasant.
2. Planning a vacation is stressful. Especially if everyone keeps on hyping it as "The last summer vacation you'll ever have." Which I suppose is true...

Say you had four weeks off. (I really should have stopped and appreciated this more back in grade school...) What would you do? It's almost like there are too many options.

Also, if anyone has leads on a nice one bedroom in Kitsilano, I'm all ears.

The day before

2007-05-03T19:14:00.000-04:00

I write my licensing exam tomorrow.

I spent most of today hanging out with some Omar and Kevie from undergrad.

Omar says this blog is overly philosophical. Course this is from a guy who believes that cutting your hands on the rock wall is the only sign that you're putting sufficient effort into things.

Why am I rock climbing on the day before my exam? I was convinced by my friends who said "If the difference between you qualifying to be a doctor is 2 hours of studying, you should NOT be practicing medicine."

I found this to be a very convincing argument. That and the fact that Kevie was visiting from London (ENGLAND!), where he is a real live actor. Exciting, no?

Lasts

2007-05-01T20:26:00.000-04:00

Today was my last day of med school.

We had our project presentations in the afternoon. On our poster, my name is followed by B.Sc. ARCT. Why not?

It's odd to think that I've had my last bus ride in Hamilton. My last haircut at my favourit hair school. My last bowl of noodles at that pho place in Westdale.

Last last last.

When will life bring me back? Back to Mac?

A huge and heartfelt thanks to my extended family in Hamilton. It's odd to think that I arrived into this town a stranger not so many years ago.

A tree grew up in Hamilton... and everything is about to change.

Packed lunches

2007-04-29T23:59:00.000-04:00

I was sitting around with some of my classmates today at lunch.

One of them was telling us how his mother keeps on sending him to Hamilton with tupperwares and tupperwares full of food. He said he couldn't keep up, and had resorted to throwing food out, because there was simply too much of it.

I was very jealous, since I've been eating take out for the past few weeks, since I have no home cooked goodies. (I would cook, but the place I'm renting doesn't have a kitchen...)

Anyways, the guys said I shouldn't take the lack of homecooking to mean that my parents don't care. After all, their parents live in the GTA, whereas mine are several hours further away, making the prospect of regularly giving me tupperwares upon tupperwares of food an unfeasible proposition.

We then asked our other classmate where his parents live, since he didn't have homecooking either.

It turns out his parents live in Vietnam. He fled Vietnam in a boat when he was 16.

So yes, I'm a big softie whiner.

Surprisingly hilarious

2007-04-28T10:36:00.001-04:00

That is one lazy cat. (link courtesy of Janet!)

Wait for it...

2007-04-27T14:40:00.000-04:00

I've been living in a state of delayed gratification for... my entire life.

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. For as long as I've been out of the house, I suppose. Which honestly feels like it's been forever.

Anyways, since leaving the nest, I've always lived in a state of flux. Since I'm always moving, I never know where I'll be next, or how my needs or circumstances will change.

This has led to a pattern of consumerism where I'll only buy things if they're cheap, easy to pack or disposable. Likewise, my housing for the past eight (!) years has more often than not just been a place where I store my (limited) assortment of knickknacks. Places rarely feel like a home if they are chosen and furnished with ease of exit in mind.

This is about to change!!! The days where I see something nice and think "..if only I had a place to put that.." are about to come to an end! I'm going out west, and I'm determined to make myself a home.

On that note, guess what I bought this morning? A wii! (btw, Robbie, if you're reading this, I shipped a wii to your house this morning. I hope this is ok.)

I haven't even decided when I'll be moving out, but already, I've stocked my yet-to-found home with the stuff of dreams!

Opportunity cost

2007-04-25T10:13:00.000-04:00

The thing about doing anything is that it will inevitably keep you from doing something else.

I've committed the next five years of my life to learning how to do a very specific thing, and now I can't help but mourn the fact that my obligations will make it very difficult (impossible?) for me to travel/play/sleep as much as I'd like.

I suppose that's why people tell you to travel and enjoy life when you're young, before life's commitments catch up with you.

The problem is that this in my mind, this "freedom" is somewhat of a myth. Observe the graph below (note: This is fairly representative of my life... it may be different for others, I suppose.):

As you can see, my free time drops with each degree I pursue, until you get hit the depressing low point which is going to be my next five years of residency. You'll also notice that my job security has been doing the exact opposite.

There lies the rub. When I have the most free time, I don't have the future job security to enjoy it, so I have to spend my free time doing things like studying to ensure that I will have better security in the future.

And now, I'm looking at enjoying the most job security I'd ever had, yet I'll have no time whatsoever to enjoy it.

Does this make sense?

At least I don't live in Hong Kong. My poor little cousins there study harder in primary school than I ever have.

Gliding through the night

2007-04-20T17:05:00.000-04:00

Last night,

over the squeak of the bearings in my over-used rollerblades,

I heard the clatter of hooves, and six deer, in two groups of three, clattered across the road in front of me and disappeared into the night.

Brave New World: Redux

2007-04-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

I have written recently regarding the new electronic frontier that is Web 2.0.

It is interesting to monitor the uptake of this new technology. Not on a population level (although I'm sure that's interesting too. Facebook has literally exploded in the past few months in my demographic. From zero to everywhere.), but rather on a personal level.

More specifically, who have been the early adopters and who have been the late stragglers?

Malcolm Gladwell has written about the hunt for cool and the characteristics of those cutting that edge. I think there is a certain open-mindedness that is needed to be the first to innovate, but my thoughts on this topic remain largely unformed.

I have, however, noticed a bit of a trend among my friends who've been resistant to the "new" web. They were among the very first online, back when "the web" was still a novelty. They were online back when the internet was text-based, and "Freenet" and "MUDs" were in vogue.

They were in fact, the very cutting edge of Web 1.0!

...and yet they were the last to adopt to Web 2.0?

What gives? Perhaps those who resist Web 2.0 are those who have the most invested in Web 1.0?

The intersection of my mouth and my money

2007-04-15T20:07:00.000-04:00

I'm a fairly thrifty person. If I were to guess, I'd say that both nature and nurture have conspired to make it thus.

Now, as I am on the brink of finally making a salary of my own (oh, glorious day!), I would like to advance a new ethic of financial expenditure.

My current system is such that I buy the things I need (or want), and try to buy them for as cheap as possible.

This system is lacking. It is lacking because it fails to incorporate other values that I hold into the equation.

For example, I care about the environment, and about sustainability. I remember I had a friend once who bought two printers at the same time. There was sale on, so it was cheaper to buy an entire printer than it was to buy ink cartridges. By my previous financial paradigm, this makes awesome sense. But if I take into account the extra waste created ... maybe it'd be better to just pay more and buy refill cartridges.

You get the idea, I hope. Here are a few guidelines I was hoping to adhere to:

1. Buy local whenever possible.
2. Repair instead of replace when possible.
3. Buy used when possible.

In such a capitalistic society, our money talks louder than just about anything else. It's time that my money say something worthwhile.

iRack!

2007-04-14T13:07:00.001-04:00

Was MadTV always this funny?

Brave new world

2007-04-13T10:45:00.000-04:00

Maybe you've heard. Maybe you haven't.

The internet is a different place nowadays. It's become collaborative, social, participatory. The term "Web 2.0" has been used to describe this new milieu.

The lines between online and offline life is blurring.

Example: I'm sitting in lecture. The presenter mentions a disease I've never heard of. I Google it on my laptop. I find a cool website and a pdf paper. Someone behind me taps my shoulder, so I forward both these things to his email. While in my email, I notice someone has written on my wall. I learn that plans for the weekend have changed, so I change my tickets online. The friend sitting in front of me has "poked" me virtually. I poke her twice. Once online, and once again in the back.

Online/offline/online. It's become a fluid thing. We no longer have "online" lives and "real" lives. It has all become one.

I think there is a perception that things "online" don't happen at all. But they do. It's all just human interaction. It's all REAL.

I look good

2007-04-12T21:22:00.000-04:00

Point 1: My purple hair looks awesome. At least that's what people have been telling me. They wouldn't lie. Would they?

Point 2: I borrowed my friend Alim's clothes today. (We had a special graduation dinner, and I didn't bring any nice clothes to Hamilton.) He stopped to talk to a couple girls he knew on our way to the library. I wanted to go change back into my own clothes so I said to him, "Hey, I'm going to take off your clothes," before walking off.

Point 3: I hope he didn't have his eye on either of those girls.

I am Lazy.

2007-04-10T16:39:00.000-04:00

There was a time when I claimed that I was a procrastinator. I'm realizing that I am not this. I am, in fact, lazy.

The key difference being a procrastinator completes the task at hand, albeit at the last minute, whereas a lazy person.. does a lot of nothing.

What have a done in lieu of study for my exam?

I have bemoaned the power imbalance of the world.
I have bemoaned my sad vocal stylings.
I have bemoaned my lack of furniture.

It's all the internet's fault.

The lesson of the day is...

2007-04-05T00:42:00.001-04:00

Don't use washrooms in Japan. Seriously.

March Madness!

2007-04-04T21:14:00.000-04:00

I know that many of you are disappointed that I didn't run a March Madness basketball bracket this year.

It was just a hectic time of year.

To prove that I'm still capable of bringing madness to March, I give you this:

The sisterly unit modeling an outfit she bought for her recent cruise to the Bahamas!

My friends are smart!

2007-04-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the friends I've made from high school, from summer camp, from university... from all over really, are all going places.

Sometimes I wonder how it is that everyone I know is doing so well. Then I realize the common denominator. Me. I must be very inspiring.

Anyways, back in undergrad, I remember my friend Omar skipping computer classes to play GTA in our house all day, and then pulling all-nighters for any one of the myriad campus publications he wrote/edited/produced/lorded over.

While it may seem odd for a computer science major to spend so little time on his actual degree (The story regarding his honours thesis is probably best left untold...) and so much time on "extracurricular" events, this evidently all payed off.

Omar has been nominated for a National Newspaper Award!

Imagine rising to the top of your field just a few years after leaving university! I'm so proud.

Also, a quick note to my mother: Please be aware that I have streaked my hair purple.

What I did in February.

2007-03-31T13:26:00.000-04:00

I flew.

A lot.

It's that flightpass I was always raving about.

Big thanks to all the family and friends who put up with me!

Also, I really DO have more than one set of clothes. I just tend to pack very, very light when I travel. Honest.

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Ola!

2007-03-29T17:39:00.000-04:00

I feel like it's been awhile since I've written anything.

I think what happens is that I like to write about things/events/occurrences in chronological order, and so when I don't get a chance to write something, I feel I should go back and catchup.. but in the interim, things happen and I feel I should write about THAT...

but anyways, what I'm saying is that a sort of backlog occurs, and I put off writing since there seems to be so much to be written. And now, I figure if I let this continue, I'll never write here again.

Not that my life is really that eventful. Who knows. I need to think less maybe.

I played basketball yesterday with some of classmates. I can literally count the number of times I've played basketball in my life. I just never really enjoyed it growing up. This may be due to the fact that my father was always convinced that my height would make me the next great Chinese baller, and it's always a safe bet to dislike something your father likes.

I remember I used to get out of playing in gym class by citing the danger the sport posed to my piano playing hands.
I do recall one teacher telling me to suck it up. I spent most of that class taping my fingers together prophylactically. He never asked me to play again.

Yesterday's game made me wish that I was good at basketball.

On a somewhat related note, when I visited my Uncle Ming and his family in Indiana this past February, they took me to an NCAA game between Butler and SIU. I've posted a short clip of the crowd before the game. They take basketball reaaaaaalllly seriously down there.

MATCHED!

2007-03-14T12:32:00.000-04:00

I matched!

Details when my heart slows down enough for me to type more.

Simon!

Wings Clipped

2007-03-10T09:48:00.000-05:00

My flightpass expired earlier this week and I've been experiencing some difficulties re-adjusting to "normal" life. I've grown accustomed to my jet-setting lifestyle, to flying twice a week.

I feel like I have more time or something. Which I suppose isn't surprising since all the time I used to spend planning flights and waiting in airports is now freed up.

It's also nice to be in the same time zone for more than a 3 days. Although I don't notice this as much as I thought I would.

You know what I wouldn't mind though? Unpacking. I'm crashing at my sisters' place right now, and there's no space for me to unpack even the one small suitcase I have with me. The rest of my stuff is currently being stored with family and friends in Hamilton.

Speaking of the rest of my stuff, I would like to take this opportunity to assure everyone that I do in fact own more than one long-sleeved shirt. It's just that I only had room to bring one sweater on my travels, which is why I've worn the same brown-ish shirt every day for the past... 7 months or so...

yikes.

That brown shirt looks great doesn't it? Really wears well.

OSCE

2007-03-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

I had the final OSCE of my medical school career last night. The set-up is very simple. 10 rooms. In each room is a standardized patient as well as an asssessor. The bell rings, you walk into the room and play doctor for 10 minutes.

My friend Alim and I spent all afternoon cramming clinical skills into our heads. It's been a year since clerkship, so the skills were rusty.

One of my classmates was actually an assessor at one of the stations. In first year, we were in the same group, so I used to take his blood pressure every week. And now look. Not only is already a doctor, but he's here to assess the medical students.

Time does fly.

March Madness coming up! Watch this space for details.

Coming from America

2007-03-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

I've been unable to update for a little while because Google tagged this blog as a spam blog. (aka splog. No, really.)

Anyways, I start back at school tomorrow. I'm joining a new class. I hope they're nice to me. Being the new kid isn't ever easy.

You remember high school, right? I only mention it because I've had the great fortune of seeing/crashing with a whole wack of high school friends in the past few months. I gotta say, I'm really impressed by how people are doing so far. Truly.

Also, I must also say that Google food is the bestest thing I've ever had. If I had job shadowed a Google employee back in high school, I guarantee I'd have gone into computers. It's so good I can't even describe it. It's like they took all the goodness of California.. the weather, the ocean, the architecture, the history.. and put it into a cafeteria. An all you can eat cafeteria. Every time I think about Google food, I get sad because I don't get to eat it. And jealous that Jerome gets to eat it every day. aargh.

Frantastic!

2007-02-28T03:09:00.000-05:00

You know how there's that place, that you've always dreamed about, and thought, boy wouldn't it be awesome if I could go there, visit there, laugh there?

Well for me, that place is San Francisco. Something about the ocean, and bridges, and warm Californian climes.

I asked my Dad once to move to California, so our family could live the sweet West Coast life. He told me to go there myself. So I have. Big thanks to Rob and Jerome for putting me up!

Extras

2007-02-26T17:16:00.000-05:00

In my wallet, I have bus tickets from three different cities, I have restaurant vouchers for establishments in different provinces, and I have slips of paper with phone numbers and addresses from postal codes across Canada.

It seems a bit senseless to save such knick knacks. But it does make sense. At least for now. For now, I'll hang on to this wide panapoly of scrap paper. And I'll look forward to the day when I'll be able to clean out my wallet with a certain mind.

Nothing to do but rank and wait.

2007-02-17T08:24:00.000-05:00

I had my last interview yesterday. It's amazing to me how approachable and friendly world experts can be.

Also, almost without exception, I think I left every school with a higher regard for it than when I arrived.

The interview crowd hit the town to celebrate. I flew at 6am this morning, so this meant I had to go straight from the bar, to packing, to a taxi, to a plane. (And I only took the taxi since I fell asleep in the hotel lobby while waiting for the airport shuttle.)

Anyways, now I have to rank the programs I applied to. And then wait.

In other news, I'll be boarding a plane to Indianapolis in 10 minutes! Hooray!

Halifacts

2007-02-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

I'm in Halifax right now. My last interview is this coming Friday.

I'm staying with a friend from French camp. It's hard to believe that it's been five years since French camp. My friend looks different, but her laugh is the same.

For all those in the GTA, my sisters' are going to be in a musical from Feb 21-24. Be there or be square!

Back from the West

2007-02-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

I was telling my mother yesterday about my interview experiences so far. How I'm tired, I'm traveling every other day, how I see more of airports than I ever thought possible, how I'm just getting... fatigued.

She told me to stop whining. It's something everyone has to go through, she says. Suck it up, learn form my mistakes and move on!

My family is practical that way.

Anyways, the interview tour has moved out of the west, and we now prepare to barnstorm through Ontario.

I think the most discouraging thing is when you don't' feel you've showed all that you had to offer in an interview. This is especially if it's at a school you were keen on. It's like being kicked in the groin many times. (You may think i don't know what this feels like, but I do, since I've had the (dis)pleasure of riding a trotting horse.)

Anyways, I thought to myself, how can I do this better? And of course my thoughts turned to Sexy Rexy and Tango-hips Manning.

As you may know, one quarterback leaves the Superbowl a loser and one leaves a winner. Thinking about this made me realize two things:

1. It really sucks when you work really hard for a really long time at something, only to flub up at the last, crucial moment. (ie, the big game, the big interview). I've come to realize these "all the marbles" type moments are just a part of life.

2. Just cause you're awesome, doesn't mean you'll always come through for "all the marbles". Witness how many times ol' Tango Hips had to lose before coming through. And even his detractors have to admit that he's pretty awesome (and his dectractors do not include my cousins Ryan and Matthew, who I hope to visit in the coming month in.. you guesed it,
Indianapolis). Anyways, I'll bet losing all those division finals musta felt pretty awful. And yet he stuck it out, and won. Eventually.

And why? Because he was super prepared. Because he didn't try to force things like Sexy Rexy. Because he learned from experience. And because he wasn't afraid to come around for another kick at the can. For all the marbles.

What? For real? Get OUT!

2007-01-31T00:21:00.000-05:00

So around the time of my graduation this May, I'll officially be closer to thirty than I will be to twenty.

What? For real? Get OUT!

I'm not kidding. I'll be closer to middle-age than I will be to youthful days (daze?). This thought hit me while I was sitting on the floor of a hotel room in Edmonton this afternoon.

I'm... grown up.

What?

I'm... mature.

For real?

At least I should be.

Get OUT!

Now this doesn't mean I want to lose my youthful optimism, my zest for life, or my oh-so-endearing boyish charm. But I'm thinking that since I'm all old and whatnot now, I should be able to dial back these qualities (as difficult as that may be) and turn on the mature when warranted.

Maybe it's just me ruminating after my very first residency interview, but I think I've reached the point in my life where the ability to appear professional, to appear polished, and to do it all with appropriate gravity is very important.

I can do that. Piece of cake. For real.

Mocked

2007-01-25T17:29:00.000-05:00

I had a mock interview today.

The career counsellor actually filmed it and then we watched it, to examine for areas of weakness etc...

It's odd to see yourself on film. I think I would act very differently if I had consistenly been shown video footage of myself.

See, I think we all have a pretty good idea of what 'cool' is. We all know the cool kid in a movie when he appears. We all know who the cool guy in school is.

The point is, we all know what cool is, so I'm pretty sure that most of us act in a way that we think approximates cool. It just turns out that some of us are better at it than others. What you think you're like can be a far cry from what you're actually like. Perception is a tricky thing.

For example, why didn't any of you tell me that I have this tendency to bob and tilt my head? I look like a giant budgie or something. Seriously. What's up with that?

The Snowbirds and Me

2007-01-24T12:22:00.000-05:00

I sat next to a very pleasant set of retirees on my trip to Toronto yesterday. They were going to Toronto to take a flight to Florida. They also were the very first people I've met (other than myself) who own a flight pass.

As we all marvelled together at the wonder that is a flight pass, it occurred to me that I was likely to meet many people in this age bracket in the next little while. Especially on my Tuesday flights. See, the flight pass restricts travel to Tuesdays and the weekends. Not many have a lifestyle that will accomodate such a travel schedule. Just snowbirds like us!

Londone + Sleepover chez Krobertvilla

2007-01-22T09:23:00.000-05:00

My rotation in London finished this past Friday. Now the fun really begins.

Special thanks to Vops, who not only drove me to London, he found a place for me to stay, made sure I went out AND introduced me to top notch shawarmas. I saw a lot of familiar faces from Queen's while I was in London. It really is a very small world.

I flew into Ottawa (flight pass!) on Saturday and went out that evening with Kroberts, Caro and their crew. Judging from the good times that they are having, I have decided that wherever I end up, I will look into joining in on local Queen's alumni events. They are definitely partying harder now than they did in undergrad. We went to a rather random house party, which was unique in that the majority of the males present batted for the other team. I was rather late in discovering this, and was actually entertaining thoughts of introducing one of my new acquaintances to one of the girls when snippets of overheard conversation quickly put that thought to rest.

I relayed this story to my parents the next day along with tales of the ensuing night on the town and general good times. I think it may have been too much for them.

Surfing in Costa Rica!

2007-01-14T17:48:00.000-05:00

Snippets from surf camp.

Ah, the memories.

Speaking of which, I think Richard gave me whatever he was suffering from in Costa Rica. I shoulda been more sympathetic to him. Karma got back and bit me.

London

2007-01-11T17:55:00.000-05:00

I'm spending some time at Canada's premier site for hand and upper limb surgery. How awesome are the surgeon's here? Let's just say that tomorrow, Michael Moore is coming to interview one of the surgeons here for his upcoming documentary. For real.

In other news, one of the patients I was chatting with today couldn't get over how much I resembled one of the contestants on Beauty and the Geek. I'm guessing they weren't talking about the beauty. I had to console myself by eating half a birthday cake that had been brought in for one of the nurses.

WINGS!

2007-01-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

I am the proud owner of an Air Canada Flight Pass!

What it means is that I can fly ANYWHERE (well... almost.) in North America on Tuesdays and Saturdays from Jan 9 to March 6. Isn't that crazy super awesome? Say I want some good home cooking. I can FLY in for lunch and FLY back to school that same evening. I can make day trips to the Smithsonian, Broadway, Fenway! The sky's the limit. Literally! I think Gaby was saying it was sort of like having an airplane buspass.

It's not. It's way better. It's like having a magic carpet.
It's the coolest thing I have ever owned.

So if any of you out there are hankering for a visit from yours truly, let me know. I'll be there in a jiffy.

Fade to Black

2007-01-03T17:33:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

Neither Dickie nor I brought flash cameras on our vacation. This was due to our cheapskate ideals (the flash-free disposables were cheaper), and also to the fact that our friend Yonny had assured us that she had had no need for a flash camera in her Asian adventures earlier this year. (btw, Hope the new job is going good, Yonny!)

The result of this is that our 24 exposure cameras returned less than 24 photographs. They simply didn't develop those that were too dark. Some of these gaps I can account for. The frantic and frenetic (and ultimately dimly lit) moments that we attempted to capture at the rodeo yielded zero photos. But many of these moments slip my mind.

I think I'll wonder at these lost photos in the coming years. These lost images that were dimly lit in life and now go completely unlit in my memory.

At the ol´swimming hole

2006-12-19T23:10:00.000-05:00

Later this afternoon, I went to a local swimming hole.

It was by FAR the greatest swimming venue I´ve ever been to.

A Tarzan rope swung you directly into the middle of a pool which was fed by two little waterfalls. The edges of the pool were perpendicular rocky crags, and most people elected to float downstream to get out of the swimming hole. For the daring and adventurous, the walls of the pool gave an excellent opportunity to boulder. The sense of accomplishment I got from climbing out of the pool was enormous. The current tried to peel me off and send me downriver, but I would not be denied!!!

I was later joined by a friend from the hostel. In addition to being an avid climber, he is the proud owner of a waterproof digital camera! We swam behind the smaller of the waterfalls. The sheets of water completely wall off a tiny little enclave, which oddly enough had been worn away by the water in such a way that a comfortable little chair had been formed. Hopefully, he´ll send me pics so you can see what I mean.

In other news, I´m leaving tomorrow morning for an overnight white water rafting trip on the Rio Pacuare! Also, I got my first invitation to an interview today!

It seems like things happen all at once sometimes, eh? As my friend Robin would say, what the peace?

But then again... I HAVE spent most afternoons of the past two weeks reading novels of questionable value. Well, that´s not entirely true. Some of the books were good.
Either way.

Pura Vida!

Holy Batman!

2006-12-19T13:55:00.000-05:00

I went on an expedition to the Venado Caves this morning. I´m new to spelunking, and it really is a world unimaginable.

They gave me a pair of galoshes and a hard hat with a headlight, and we set off into the heart of darkness.

It´s wet. Gosh it´s wet! The floor of the cave was some sort of subterranean river. Occasionally water would fall from the ceiling or just suh out from an opening in the wall. There was even a chamber with a huge coral in it! The guide told us that this was evidence that the caves used to be filled with sea water.

It was also very, very dark. While this may seem obvious, it´s hard to appreciate from descriptions or pictures just how dark a cave really is. While you´re there, your whole world consists of these bobbing spots of light, which reveal tiny portions of the whole, and move whenever you move your head. I´d lag behind sometimes, crouch in the water and flick off my light. The darkness is overwhelming and... palpable somehow. It fills your eyes, your ears, even your mouth feels full of dark. And while some of the chambers we entered were grand, with crevices soaring overhead that stretched beyond the strength of our headlights, and some of the tunnels we crawled through were small, requiring one drag one´s stomach along the wet cave floor... NONE of this matters in the dark. With my light off, your senses fill to the brim with blackness and with the constant sounds of flowing water. You could be in a cathedral. You could be in a closet. It makes no difference in the pitch black of the caves.

I saw some neat critters, like bats, crickets and ginormo-spiders. And there were really neat rock formations. Stalactites, and stalagmites, and one large stalactite/stalagmite combination they call ¨The Papaya¨. But the caves, as fascinating as they were, gave me a vague sense that I was seeing something forbidden. That I was in a world that was very much not my own. And that the feeble light of our torches was the sheerest safety net keeping me from being blanketed in darkness and helplessness. Such visual creatures humans be!

A Horse and His Boy

2006-12-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

I set out this morning on horse back to see the La Fortuna Waterfall today.

I don´t know how cowboys ride a trotting horse. It´s not a big deal for cowgirls, I imagine, but I just don´t see how cowboys would manage. (It may have been better that Dickie went home for this portion of the trip, given his recent injury.)

Our guides took us to the edge of a canyon, where a waterfall (I forget the name) was visible in the distance. We then descended into the canyon to swim at the base of the La Fortuna Waterfall.

The waterfall itself was hidden around a bend in the river, so most people stayed to splash around in that area. I made my way upriver, forded the white water and was soon standing at the edge of a large pool of water. The waterfall poured itself into this pool with such force that it was quite impossible to swim anywhere near it. The water pushed you against the rocky shore.

The rocky walls surrounding the waterfall were covered in greenery, and as I made my way along its edge, there was a constant rain from above which pattered around the long tendrils which extended from the forest all the way down to just above the water´s surface. I managed to inch my way behind the waterfall, and found a rocky beach, which had at its edge, a massive slab of black rock. Water sluicing off an edge of the waterfall had worn the rock into the shape of a wedge. I lay on this rock, and wondered at it all. At the pounding roar of this sheet of water, not even a stone´s throw in front of me, at the green walls on either side of me that dripped with water and life, at the birds that flickered through and around the chaos, at the water which fell in pitters, patters and buckets on my head, at the blessed solitutude of being walled off from the world by a waterfall!

It´s the most miraculous thing I´ve ever done.

Canyoning!

2006-12-17T22:13:00.000-05:00

I met some very nice people on my canyoning tour today. They really added to the whole experience.

We basically made our way along this river, and when the need arose (i.e. waterfall, or really steep incline), we would rappel down. This was truly excellent. Meandering your way down a creek, punctuated with sudden burst of adrenaline amidst lush greenery with friendly Brits, Ticos and Canucks really IS as fun as it sounds.

I was the first to rappel down the last, finale waterfall. After completing the 45m drop, I had a bit of time to explore before the rest of the group made it down. I followed a branch of the river up around a bend...

And came face to face with another waterfall! The water cascaded down onto the massive rocks beneath it. While it was roughly the same height as the waterfall we had rappelled, there was significantly more water coming down. But not so much water that I couldn´t find a place near the front of the waterfall where I could stand directly beneath the falling water.

The water was clear, clear and almost.. sweet. It was a wonderful thing.

A meal was provided with the tour, and while at the restaurant, I was able to see a blue jean frog, as well as leaf cutter ants! I´ve seen documentaries about the industriousness and organization of these ants, but it´s really something to see a whole train of little critters carrying pieces of leaves in person. I heart the ants.

Volcano!

2006-12-16T22:03:00.000-05:00

After much deliberation, I decided to head to La Fortuna, to see the Arenal Volcano.

The bus drive this morning was lovely. Costa Rica is a very picturesque country. I´ve decided that I´m a bit envious of any country that can grow papayas. Lucky lucky Costa Ricans!

La Fortuna is a small little town near the centre of the country. It took me around seven hours to get here from the pacific coast, where our surf camp was. You can look up the main street of La Fortuna, and BAM, all you see is Volcano.

I found a nice little hostel to stay in. It´s costing me 3 dollars a day. Plus there´s free coffee. Isn´t that something? The rest of the hostelers are very impressed that I´ve come all the way from Canada with nothing but a day pack. I´m kinda proud of myself actually.

Anyways, after ditching my stuff at the hostel, I signed up for a tour of the volcano (from which I have just returned.) On the drive to the volcano, we stopped by the road to look at a sloth. They are hilarious animals.

After trekking through the forest to the base of the volcano, we were served drinks as we waited to see lava. It wasn´t what I expected.

From the fog-shrouded peak, burning pieces of rock would come hurtling down the mountain. It was like stars were tumbling down the mountain. Occasionally, you´d hear a rumble as the rocks collided with each other. Apparently, I am quite lucky to see as much lava as I did. Some of the hostelers had gone the day before and seen nothing!

On the way back to the city, we were taken to some luxurious hot springs. There were 15 pools, all heated by the volcano and all at different temperatures. It was luvly.

Pura Vida!

Graduation

2006-12-15T22:31:00.000-05:00

We had our graduation trip today. Instead of our usual beach, we drove an hour to Playa Avellanas. The break was perfect, and an off-shore wind held the waves up just so.

So far, we´ve been pretty good about avoiding noon´s intense sun. We couldn´t avoid it today, and even with our sunscreen precautions, Richard came out with sunburned arms. As for myself, I now look like a Mexican. I also burned my lips.

There was also a graduation ceremony at night, to mark our last day of surfing. Tomorrow morning, Richard heads back to northern climes, while I plan to mosey around Costa Rica a bit. While I´m not one to compare our respective surfing abilities, I must admit that our friends here at surf camp had a much easier time getting pictures of Dickie standing on a board. In most of my pictures, I´m laying down. Resting, see?

We´ll miss surf camp.

Pura Vida!

Vacay our way!

2006-12-14T19:05:00.000-05:00

Richard and I have decided that this vacation will be the barometer against which future vacations shall be judged.

I scope out the days waves from the balcony of our room. I've read more books this past week than I have all year. We are relaxing to the maxing.

We're at surf camp to learn to surf. But really, as I lay on my board watching the sun set on the afternoon's sets of waves through a patter of light rain, I realize there's nowhere else I'd rather be. It hardly matters if I actually learn to surf or not!

Speaking of rain, it rained for the first time yesterday. It was a crazy tropical storm, the likes of which we don't see in our northern climes. Mud EVERYWHERE.

We went to a local club last night. Some of the other kids wanted to go check out the locals and their mambo skills. As it turned out, us surf-campers were the only ones on the dance floor. We're crazy like that. More on the demographics of surf-campers later. It's an interesting crew.

Also, Richard and I love mashups. For real.

Futbol in Costa Rica

2006-12-13T07:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first time since our arrival that waves were too big for us to surf. After Rich and I got pummelled for awhile by the crashing water, out instructor finally told us "It not worth it, man!"

So it was largely a non-surfing day for us. Luckily there's free foosball at the surf camp. Two ten year old Costa Rican girls came to join us. They pummelled us. Just not our day.

I joined a local soccer game a couple of days ago. On my way back from dinner at a local soda, I stopped to watch a game involving a group of middle-aged Costa Ricans. I was waved on in short order. Costa Rica is a friendly kind of place.

RODEO!!!

2006-12-11T14:01:00.000-05:00

Surfing is super hard. Imagine snowboarding, only you have to run after and jump onto the peak of a moving ski hill. It's way hard. I'll write more about the ins and outs of surf camp another time. A quick summary though:

surfing: HARD!
weather: PERFECT!
living: AIR CONDITIONED!
food: AWESOME! and CHEAP!
beer: CHEAPER!
locals: FRIENDLY!
Richard: DIARRHEA!

What I'd really like to write about is our adventure to the RODEO. There's this travelling rodeo that goes around Costa Rica, and we were just lucky enough to be here in Tamarindo when it came to town.

On Saturday night, the entire surf camp (instructors and students) all piled into the surf camp bus and careened our way to the edge of town where the rodeo was. (Remind me to talk about the driving here. It's crazy.)

There were fairground type rides for the kids, and trinkets for sale, and everywhere you looked was a milling whirlwind of Costa Ricans. (We've never met an uncool Costa Rican. If you have kids, do them a favour and raise them in Costa Rica. Or get them a posse of Costa Rican friends. It will guarantee a lifetime of coolness.)

And the food! Friend rice, and friend chicken and friend pork! Skewers of meat, ice cream sundaes and bottled soda! (Although Dickie's current gastro-intestinal issues may have been due to his overenthusiastic consumption of pork rinds. We're not sure. Also, I overpaid for a soda, and the guy at the soda stand recounted my money and gave it back to me. Isn't that something? Also, I'm pretty positive I was the first Chinese person some of these Costa Rican kids have ever seen.)

The highlight though, was definitely the bullring. A large circular ring had been set up, and there was a grandstand of seats. You could press right up against the fence, to watch cowboys ride bulls and stallions. The crazy thing about this whole thing is that once the rider had been pitched by the bull/stallion, things were just getting started. See, before the release of a bull or stallion, ANYONE was free to get into the ring. After the rider had been pitched, they let the bull/stallion take his anger out by trying to run down the other people in the ring.

Take a look at this video (Taken by one of my fellow surfers). See the other people in the ring? They're spectators! Professionals they are NOT. Actually, a lot of them teach at the surf camp.

Anyways, after watching this a few times, Richard and I decided to seize the bull by the horns (harhar), and we took a turn in the ring. (The surf camp instructors were very enthusiastic. They were also pouring rum very liberally into each other and into us.)

I remember standing in the ring wondering if perhaps health insurance might not have been a good idea. And then suddenly, there was this Stallion barrelling down at us. We ran like the dickens. For real. Like. The. Dickens.

It made you feel alive, that's for sure.
In conclusion, the Rodeo is super-awesome.

In other news, Richard and I chipped in to sponser one of the cowboys. He ended up falling off a stallion and separating his shoulder. Ah well.

Anyways, that's all for now. I'm sitting shirtless by the beach waiting for high tide. Richard is in our room chugging pepto-bismal. I suppose you could say the stallion scared the @#$% out of him. Nono! That'd be mean. Rest assured, I'm taking good care of the boy. I owe him. His marketing savvy saved my bacon earlier this week. A story for another day.

Pura vida!

Sometimes. If we're really lucky.

2006-12-08T19:16:00.000-05:00

Chest deep in the warm pacific waters. The waves crash against a sky burnt orange by the setting sun. A crab shuffles along the sandy sea floor. A pelican glides by, just just skimming the ocean foam.

I turn to Dickie, "Dreams do come true, eh?"

Pura vida.

To Sunny Skies and Waves

2006-12-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

I'm flying to Costa Rica in six hours.

My residency applications are due by Dec 7th.

Everything seems to happen all at once.

Cowabunga.

Oddly hilarious

2006-12-01T00:32:00.001-05:00


Is this an argument against obesity? Or for it?

Do Not Pet Me. I am Working.

2006-11-29T19:42:00.000-05:00

So that's what they put around my neck at the hospital. Some of the patients can be grabby when they see fine specimens like myself.

Nono, I jest. That was a sign I saw today on a patient's guide dog.

It's kind of a tragic kind of sign, isn't it? Because of all dogs, you'd think guide dogs would deserve a good petting. They're obedient, self-less, loyal and intelligent. Plus, they're usually really beautiful dogs. You'd think that for all they do for people, they'd deserve some pampering.

And yet, people will go so far out of their way to spoil other dogs, who've never done anything for anyone.

There's quite a life lesson to be learned from guide dogs, but darned if I can figure out what it is.

Tonedeaf?

2006-11-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

Go do this neat little music test.

What sort of scores are people getting?

Pay it forward. Pay to everybody!

2006-11-25T11:58:00.000-05:00

I'm currently in the process of writing essays for my residency application.

The reason I've been traipsing across the country is to check out programs at other schools, and to let schools check me out as well.

In my travels, I've come across quite a few medical students. Many of whom will be applying to the programs I will be applying to. The "competition", if you will.

The number of candidates for certain specialties outnumbers the number of positions by quite a bit. That being said, I have yet to meet a single person who I think would do a bad job as a resident in their chosen specialty. How do programs choose among so many qualified applicants? And how do medical students react to the pressures of selection and competition?

I wish kindness played a bigger role in the answer to both questions. But I don't think it does.

Additional thoughts on excellence

2006-11-20T16:16:00.000-05:00

Thought 1: From my Father.

My Dad always said the key to a satisfying career is to be the best at what you do. From my previous post concerning the impossibility of being the best, it would appear that this sort of teaching would be a perfect setup for lifelong disappointment.

Maybe not. The trick is to specialize, subspecialize and then super-subspecialize. This works because:
a) you can spend more time learning about fewer things
b) you shrink the competition
Let's say I were a plumber. It'd be hard to be the best plumber in the world. But say, I were a plumber who specialized in fixing swimming pools. Better yet, I specialize in fixing swimming pools that were manufactured in Thailand between 1976-1985. Suddenly, I might have a fighting chance at being the best at something!

Thought 2: From my Sister.

Justine thought that this spread of excellence was not a good thing.

She argued that thinking you're the best, even if you're not, is preferable to being the best you can be, and knowing that you're not the best. Happiness is relative. It doesn't matter how good you are. It's all in who you compare yourself to. It's better to be sucky, but be better relative to other people, than be good, but have everyone be awesome. She's saying that ignorance is bliss. I'm not saying I disagree.

Thought 3: From me.

I think our perceptions of beauty are an instance where exposure to excellence is not necessarily a good thing. We are exposed to inhumanly beautiful people all the time, and I worry that our expectations are being warped by these images, harming our chances of longterm happiness. Beauty is only skin deep, but we live in shallow times. Ah to return to simpler (more ignorant?) times.

You're really quite good.

2006-11-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

The internet and the pervasiveness of modern media is allowing us unparalleled access to human excellence.

Imagine living in a simpler time. Imagine you were the fastest runner in your village of 50 people. Living in such a small world, you might go through your whole life thinking you were the fastest runner there was. Or the best singer, or the best dancer, or the best xylophone player, or the best hockey player. Or maybe you're just amazed with yourself because you can do a round-off when everyone is still doing cartwheels.

We don't have the option of believing we're the greatest at anything nowadays. If you keep your eyes open, and your ears to the ground, you WILL find someone better.

I don't think this is a bad thing. The thing about being all you can be, about fulfilling your potential, is that for the majority of us, this isn't possible without SEEING something better, without KNOWING what IS possible.

I'm not saying I could learn to do this, but before I saw it, I would never even imagine such movements to be possible. And while I might not reach that level of craziness, if I started training today, and practiced really hard, with the image of his flight in my mind, I could achieve something I wouldn't have even thought of previously. The person who was so satisfied with his round off would aspire to greater.

I think the point is that you must surround yourself with excellence to be all you can be. But more than that, I think there exists a population on this planet who MAKE the impossible possible, and raise the collective excellence of our species by showing people that what was previously unimaginable, can be done.

It's a shame that with such unprecedented access to excellence, we ALL know about the limited talents of people like this and this, and hardly anyone has heard of kids like these!

Slowing down

2006-11-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't had to cut my hair nearly as frequently in the past few months.

I wonder if this is a sign of malnourishment.

You are what you eat!

2006-11-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

I was telling my friend Robin about my new hardline tactics for eliminating obesity in our country.

It'd go a long way to making people healthier. If nothing else, surgery is easier to perform on skinny people.

Anyways, I think it's become a bit of a taboo topic, since we've come to accept as a society that people can't help but be the size that they are. That in fact, that is part of who they are.

I don't think this is true. I think it has a lot to do with your intake. If nothing else, the laws of physics make anything else impossible. I think all physicians should be asking patients about their weight. We ask about smoking, don't we?

Anyways, Robin brought up the point that I may be ignoring the socioeconomic aspect of things. Could people be eating junk food because that is all they could afford?

At first, I scoffed at this. But then I realized that since embarking on my nomadic lifestyle (I'm in Edmonton now. It's snowy! It reminds me of the Ottawa of my childhood.), my junk food consumption has skyrocketted.

I think this is because there are a lot of hidden costs to eating healthy. Let's say I want junk food. It's very simple. I give my money. I get my food. I eat it.
Healthy food is more complicated. You have to cook and clean and refrigerate a lot of the foods we consider "healthy". In order to have a healthy meal, you have to have a location to store the food, a location to clean the food and a location to prepare the food. As well as the time to do all this.

What we need is more healthy fast food. Like Pho!

Soap will wash you clean

2006-11-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

Dove has started a self-esteem campaign. This is a version of their commercial that ran in Hong Kong.

Remembrance day

2006-11-11T19:00:00.000-05:00

I sewed up the leg of a veteran this morning. He flew bombers in WWII.

I used half a dozen sutures to close two gashes alongside his knee. Maybe a similar procedure had been done for him half a century ago. It may have been a medical student just like myself doing it too. Instead of the peace and quiet of the OR, it would have been done in the dirt and cacaphony of the battlefield.

We take a lot for granted.

I opened an abdomen for the first time yesterday. From skin to bowels. It was spectacular.

If you don't move with purpose, it's better not to move at all.

Artificial Sweetening

2006-11-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

This is cool and not cool, all at the same time.

Simmer down!

2006-11-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

As I was writing in a patient's chart this morning, I heard someone huff angrily behind me.

I turned around, to be confronted by the angry looking desk clerk.

"What's your problem?," she asked me, "you bumped me over by the phone, and here, you reach for the chart and bump me again, and you don't even say boo. I'm starting to get a little pissed off here." (Try and picture this in ebonics.)

It's not every day I get confronted like this. Luckily for me, I have extensive experience dealing with angry people from my time working at the Copy Centre at Queen's. (Ok, I lie. There weren't any angry people at the Copy Centre. My service was way to spectacular for that. My experience with angry people is likely from my success in making people angry.)

Hmm.. what to do next? Cry? Confront? Retreat?

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was bumping you. I'll be more careful in the future." I then turned my back on her and continued writing. (What's cooler than bein' cool? Ice cold!)

But as I continued with my work, I couldn't help but think about what happened.

First of all, I had to convince myself that I wasn't bothered by this event. Check.

Second of all, I had to convince myself that I handled it alright. Check.

Thid of all, it occurred to me that maybe subconsciously, I had a crush on her and I was subliminally bumping into her in the vain hopes of getting noticed. I decided that this was unlikely. (I try not to fall for women who could take me in an arm wrestle. note to self: get gym membership. note to self: the subliminal bump method appears to be effective.)

My fourth thought was that maybe this lady had a reason to be irate. I could have been more polite when reaching for things etc...
I think the important realization was that not everyone responds to the Simon in the same way. And I suppose I could have been oblivious to that.

My fifth and final thought was that perhaps SHE had a crush on me, and was angry that I'd be leaving Winnipeg in just a few days.
Which is too bad for her, since I don't date girls who could take me in an arm wrestle. (note to self: cancel gym membership)

Thoughts while waiting in a loooooong line at KFC:

2006-11-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

How should we address our nation's obesity problem?

Moments so dear.

2006-11-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

It's common to attach significance to certain dates. It is obvious why we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and new years. In addition to commemorating a memorable or significant event, I notice that we use these dates as "reset" buttons of sorts.

We make resolutions and promises. This is the year I'll get in shape! This is the year I'll learn German!

Largely, I think this is because the occurence of these 'significant' dates makes us aware of the passing of time. And it makes us pause a moment, to reflect on life. I know that in the past, when my birthday has rolled around, I get a bit reflective.

I'm not convinced that birthdays deserve the extra attention.
You may think that I'm saying that birthdays aren't special.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm saying that the REST of our days, the non-birthdays, aren't being given ENOUGH attention.

Are any of us suitably grateful for the myriad of possibilities that await us every morning of every day?

So I suppose I do have a resolution to make this birthday. I resolve to give each day of my life the respect it deserves. The respect it demands.

I'll take you to the candy shop

2006-11-02T13:03:00.000-05:00

The hospital has become a hotspot of sugary delight.

Most reception desks, nursing stations and lounges have baskets of candy somewhere waiting to be found.

I go to the OR recovery room for chocolate bars. The CT department has little bags of chips. The ward had a good selection of lollipops. The xray department has a big box of those eyeball chewing gums. Those eyeball gums lose all taste within 20 chews. But the first 5 or 6 chews are totally candylicious. I've taken to grabbing 3 or 4, then I can spit one out as soon as it loses it's taste and pop in a fresh one. Decandent, I know.

The trick is not to overly stress any given candy source. You don't want to upset the delicate balance of the candy ecology. With care and conscientious management, I'll have delightful treats for weeks to come.

Did you realize...

2006-11-01T22:10:00.000-05:00

that the days of our lives can be measured by the thousands?

Let's say you live to be 85.

85 x 365 = 31 025. Tens of thousands of days. That's it.

You know those crazy teenage years? Those years of turmoil, and change, and pimples and rebellion?

19 - 12 = 7
7 x 365 = 2555.

Would you believe me if I told you that you were a teenager less than three thousand days?

So if there's stuff you don't like, or things you'd rather be doing, or things you'd like to change, I say DO it. There are only so many days. And so much living to cram into them!

October 2006- Toronto and Vancouver

2006-11-01T00:45:00.000-05:00

They always say pictures are worth a thousand words. I've debated for awhile about posting pictures online. If you have any thoughts, please share! If you see yourself in these pictures (and you'd rather not), let me know! If you don't see yourself in these pictures (and you rather would), let me know!

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The hospital that trained a thousand Chan's

2006-10-30T19:43:00.000-05:00

I don't think I have fully appreciated the history my family has in Winnipeg. As I rode the escalator down to the ground floor of the airport, I got a strong sense of deja vu. I've been on the same elevator before. But in the past, there had always been crowds of family waiting to greet me.

My Dad's family made Winnipeg their first home when immigrating from Hong Kong. Virtually all my uncles did degrees at the University of Manitoba. My parents used to ditch us in Winnipeg to live with Grandma and Grandpa while they went travelling. I also remember Uncle Max taking us out for slushies and getting mad at me for not eating all the zucchini Grandma tried to feed us. (Which, for the record, was a ridiculous amount of zucchini. I think standards have changed. I got in trouble for politely asking for less zucchini after two weeks STRAIGHT of the following menu:

appetizer: zuchinni soup
main course: zuchinni stir fry and zuchinni stew with rice
[Keep in mind that we usually ate zuchinni soup noodles for lunch. My grandma used to grow the most obscenely large zuchinnis in the backyard.]

Nowadays, kids can go ahead and eat or not eat anything they want. I swear. Where's the discipline gone?!)

My family has left Winnipeg nowadays. Gone to other, warmer climes.

But as I'm walking around the hospital today, I can't help but think that I'm strolling the same halls that my Dad and my uncles walked as medical students back in the day. That I'm acting as a human retractor in the exact same ORs. It feels like an odd kind of homecoming.

From the mouth of another...

2006-10-29T23:28:00.000-05:00

The same words coming from two different people can have a very different impact. This is pretty obvious I think.

"Bend over." changes drastically if the speaker is a doctor, a police officer, a friend (a reeeeeeeaally good friend maybe?) etc...

It's natural and reasonable for us to interpret the meaning of words using things like context, the expertise of the speaker, our relationship with the speaker etc..

But I was thinking that this cuts us off from a lot of potentially good advice.

I'll give two real life examples:

1. I'm on the airplane. The fellow sitting next to me has acted in a way that makes me think that he may not be the sharpest tool in the shed (We can go into prejudice and whatnot some other time. We all love to judge. It's human!). Anyways, I'm setting the clock on my cellphone as our plane descends. He leans over to tell me (in none too friendly a voice), that use of electronics would interfere with the plane.

My first reaction is to tell him to stuff it. I'm a pretty affable fellow however, so I do a bit of small talk while I fiddling with my cellphone.

Afterwards, it got me thinking a bit though. What exactly DO cellphones do to planes/hospital equipment etc? I really have no idea. I dismissed his advice, but it may have been good advice. Who knows?

2. A friend told me today that I need to "live a little" and "take more risks". This advice raised my hackles a bit. First of all, I feel like I "live a LOT" never mind a little! Second of all, the advice seemed out of place coming from that particular person. I suppose it's fair to mention that our history makes advice giving a sensitive area.

anyways.

But back to the matter at hand, it's gotten me thinking a bit. Could I be living more? And could I be taking.. not MORE risks, but more WORTHWHILE risks? Intriguing thoughts that raise intriguing possibilities! Maybe it's about which part of your life you take risks in...

And all I had to do is step back. And try to consider more the advice itself, and less the person giving it.

This woulda saved me a lot of arguments with my parents growing up.

Speaking of which:

Happy Birthday Dad!!! You get cooler every year. For realz.

Oh dear.

2006-10-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

I left Vancouver today.

The peaks of the Rockies are higher than the clouds. Isn't that something?

I give Vancity two ginormous thumbs up. up up up! I think the quality of life there is outstanding. Great weather, great people, great food.

When I left Vancouver, I was wearing sandals. As I left the airport in Winnipeg, I realized that I could see my breath.

Oh dear.

I found the house I'm staying in without too much trouble. It seemed to be in a rougher area of town. I asked the landlady about this. She told me I shouldn't walk around alone at night.

Oh dear.

I haven't had dinner yet. It's dark outside, and food is several lonely blocks away.

Oh dear.

Apprehensive

2006-10-24T04:28:00.000-04:00

I went to Sushi buffet with my housemates for dinner today. The fish does somehow seem better than in Ontario. Especially the tuna, which was melt in your mouth luvly.

Anyways, it was a combined Korean grill/sushi place, and among the things they gave us to grill were these nice looking mussels. I joyfully threw a mussel onto the grill. After what seemed like a long time, I threw the mussel into my mouth. It was cold. Apparently, our grill wasn't working all that well.

I was reminded of the time I got sick from a raw oyster in Hong Kong. As I remember, I woke up midway through the night in an almost delirious state of nausea.

I'll be heading to bed soon. Here's hoping for the best.

Sleep camel

2006-10-24T01:05:00.000-04:00

I wish I could store sleep. That would be awesome.

I'm finishing up my time here in Vancouver. I'll be going eastwards for my next elective. This is not so good, because the time change won't be working in my favour. Getting out of bed in the morning will be very very difficult.

I feel that there used to be a time in my life where I'd gut things out, when I'd stay up as late as it took, when I'd pull an all-nighter if need be.

Nowadays, I find myself thinking "Well, if i'm this tired, I won't be productive anyways...", and then I retire gratefully to bed. The mind is NOT willing, and the flesh is also weak!

Planning for possibilities

2006-10-18T02:31:00.000-04:00

All we're really doing is planning for what might happen next. Seeing as how time appears to flow linearly (at least to our very human perceptions), not any of us can say with any certainty that the sun WILL rise tomorrow. Or similarly, on a more mundane level, can I say with 100% certainty that my alarm clock WILL go off, or that my sandwhich meat WON'T go bad etc... etc...

So really, all we're doing at any instant is planning for the next instant. And our plans depend on what we believe is most likely to occur. I'm planning to go to sleep soon. But that is because I have judged that events that would preclude this (ie, Sudden appearance of alien invaders, or Swedish Ski team etc..) are exceedingly unlikely to occur.

This is all somewhat tangential. My real point is that among all our infinite mundane plans, there sometimes appears a ... really excellent plan. Or rather, a plan that would make a most wondrous possibility a very firm reality. And those brief moments, when the realization that a previously unthought of possibility could become a most wondrous reality... well, those really are some of the most precious moments of all.

Sabbaticals

2006-10-15T01:38:00.000-04:00

There was this ENT doctor I bumped into last year. He was a graduate from McMaster, and he had also done this enrichment year thing. He said it was one of the best decisions he made.

Anyways, I dropped in on him a couple of days ago. He told me that a couple of years ago, he took a year off, and he and his family lived in Spain, where he learned to speak Spanish and play the guitar.

Like he said, what does it matter whether you retire at 62 or 63?

It makes me happy to think that this could actually the first of many enrichment years that I'll be taking. I get a bit claustrophobic when I think about the number of years of training I still have yet to do. But there is no need to feel like that. Your life is really your own to control, and your options really are limited only by your imagination.

Say I wanted to be a ski bum for awhile. I remember one of my uni friends doing this in the middle of our undergrad. At the time, it just seemed inconceivable to me. But when I think about it, it would be pretty cool. And if it'd make you happy, you should do it. Life passes so quickly! You may regret not doing it someday. Ah, to be young again.

Congratulations big boy!

2006-10-12T11:15:00.000-04:00

This past Thanksgiving weekend, the very first of my high school chums got engaged. I've known Vik since grade 3 I think. And look at him now.

I remember I used to tease him quite a bit. "Vik the human body part", I used to call him. It doesn't really make tons of sense. I like to think that I'm nicer than I used to be. It's interesting to think about our time growing up, because I think of him in continuity. That is to say, I don't perceive the Vik I know now to really be that different from the Vik I knew in junior high. It's all just Vik to me. Although, this is clearly not the case, since he's grown into a person that I would hardly think to poke fun at. Although I have gotten nicer...

And now look. My narcissm knows no bounds. A post that began with the intention of congratulation one of my oldest friends as he takes his last steps away from boyhood has once again been subnverted to air my views and grievances. Tis the nature of blogs maybe? Easily corrected I think...

Congratulations Vik and Karen! Couldn't have happened to luvlier people. Let's get this party started!

I'd like to be this cool someday.

2006-10-07T02:28:00.000-04:00

Chromeo-needy girl!

I was thinking...

2006-10-06T00:44:00.000-04:00

...that we should all hang out with people who let us be ourselves.

So that social masks are unnecessary.

I'm not saying this would be a guaranteed good idea. But it's worth trying, I think.

When you ask someone to marry you...

2006-10-05T10:45:00.000-04:00

aren't you saying that you'd rather talk to them over anybody else?

I had dinner at Joda and Jenn's yesterday. I'm mistaken for Joda sometimes, but I can't fault people for mixing up their tall, skinny, long necked chinese guys. Anyways, I know Joda from med school, and he and Jenn are newlyweds. Steph and her intimidating friend Lynn were also in attendance, as they are in town doing electives. I think Jenn used to live with Lynn or something. It just goes to show that everyone really does know everyone.

It occurred to me that marrying someone means you're agreeing to spend the vast majority of your leisure time with this person for the rest of your life.

I'm starting to think that maybe looks DON'T actually matter that much, and we should all just look for someone who's conversation and thoughts we can't live without.

I heart books

2006-10-04T11:43:00.000-04:00

I think the amount of information we commonly process nowadays is astronomical. I really don't think humans were evolved to handle the data we do.

My sisters live right next to a bookstore. I'm finding that I rarely visit it though. When I take breaks from my research or from studying, I want to switch my brain off, and a bookstore is just not a good place for this.

I visited the medical bookstore this morning, and bought myself a neat little set of flashcards. Curiously enough, my first urge when I got to a computer was to try and search for online reviews. I obviously think highly enough of this product that I'd spend money on it. Why would I want to have some random person's opinion of it? It seems silly to need to search for validation.

I'll leave you all with a medical mnemonic (That's what's on the flashcards).

Causes of chronic renal failure:

Glomerulonephritis
Lupus
Analgesics
Diabetes mellitus

Systemic vascular disease
Hypertension
Obstruction
Polycystic kidney disease

More feeling, less precision!

2006-10-03T19:35:00.000-04:00

I went for a chat with the medical school's career counsellor today.

The bottom line is that I'm not being explicit enough about my accomplishments. Or rather, that I'm not talking enough about the results of my activities, and my successes. And this is after our initial talk, where she told me to use more "action verbs". It appears my Asian instincts towards humbleness will need more blanching out.

She also said that I talked better than I write.

Imagine that! I always thought I was much more articulate in print.

I have yet to start writing any of my personal statements. I told her that writing for me is quite a slow meticulous process. She suggested I just throw stuff on paper. Get the ideas, the concepts, the gist of it in writing. And then, worry afterwards about the precise wording of it.

I think this is an idea worth trying. Time for a more spontaneous, less ariculated Simonscapes! For a little while, at least.

My sister is brilliant: part 1

2006-10-03T19:26:00.000-04:00

My sister came back from a band try out earlier this month all distressed because she didn't play up to par.

She said that no matter how much she tried, she couldn't get hardly any sound from her clarinet.

Now, I was sympathetic (Which is really quite charitable of me, since she has a penchant for practicing late at night.), since I am quite familiar with the jitters that accompany live performance. (I've played at numerous recitals, and every one has been a nervous, ulcer-inducing affair.)

Being a plucky girl, my sister had asked to try out the next day instead, and was settling in for an evening of tooting (Which she has a penchant for doing, with or without her clarinet.).

Lo and behold she found herself unable to make a single noise, even in the comfort of her own home!

It was then that she sought to investigate further, and, after peering into the barrel of her instrument, fished out a large, wadded up piece of tissue.

I promise I didn't do it. For real.

Reunited! again! and again!

2006-09-30T23:22:00.000-04:00

I met an old friend from Ottawa for breakfast this morning. Emily also ended up going to Queen's and I'll always be grateful for all the times she fed me. The other people at the table were also largely from Ottawa, and in not unexpected fashion, we all ended up being linked by much less than 6 degrees of separation.

Alison was possibly the very first person I met at Queen's. She was in my frosh group. I went to lunch with her and her friends to celebrate her successful completion of her masters. We went to a sushi buffet that also had all you can drink bubble tea. This is much closer to my vision of paradise than I would like to admit.

In the evening, I went to a dinner party hosted by Liz, who highland danced with me at Queen's. She's in the foreground in the picture. Gilly is the blur in the middle and Bonney is the blur on the left. They highland danced with me as well. A fourth highland dancer, Jill managed to duck out of the frame. The last time I saw some of these people, they were in kilts! We played board games until the wee wee hours of the night.

The thing about Toronto is that it's a bit of a hub. People tend to find themselves here, for jobs, for school, to visit. This leads to days like today, where I can catch up with long lost friends three times in one day!

Anyways, I have two thoughts.

I am amazed at the links between people. At how a friend of a friend of a friend will know you, or your sister, or whatever. We're all caught up in this social web. Our roots link us in such unexpected ways! We should work harder to cultivate and strengthen these ties.

The more things change the more things stay the same. Seriously. Everyone was just as I remembered. And from what I gather, I am pretty much unchanged as well. Which is odd in a way, because I feel I MUST have changed or matured at least a little. Maybe we all revert a little to who we once were when we're around old friends? Not that this means one can't change. Just that it's difficult. And that it requires conscious effort. And that it is uncomfortable. And that maybe sometimes, it's worthwhile. for serious.

Encore!

2006-09-24T21:57:00.000-04:00

My research has been funded again!

I'm happy about this. I would have done the work even without the financial incentive.

I think a key to happiness (or maybe it's just my happiness?) is novelty. Winning a lottery is terrifically exciting, but would it be so grand if you won it on a weekly basis? Not that I'm saying that my being granted research funding has become a non-event. Not that at all.

Then again, simple, repetitive things can keep me happy for hours.

I suppose I'm just easily entertained.

Coatings

2006-09-23T08:49:00.000-04:00

You know how people aren't what you think they are? Or rather, how first impressions can be deceiving? Or how you feel people are much different once you get to know them better?

I think that a large part of this may be our own faulty perceptions. I don't know how many people actually change as you get to know them better, or purposefully hide things about themselves if you don't know them very well. I think we categorize and assume things about people we don't know very well, and then they open our eyes and climb out of the boxes we put them in as we learn more about them.

I've get caught up in the nature vs nurture debate sometimes. My Aunt came to visit last Christmas, and both she and my mother showed up for dim sum in identical poofy white jackets, short bob haircuts and metal-framed glasses. Since they share both nature AND nurture, this picture really doesn't answer any questions. It's just kinda neat. (That's Cousin Jason in the foreground.)

Lunch at Greg's

2006-09-18T19:22:00.000-04:00

Muriel and I went over to Greg's new place this past weekend for lunch. He can be seen stirring his butter chicken. The silver pot has cinnammon rice in it. I was asked to cook some rice, and in my attempts to be cuisinary, I emptied half a tin of cinnamon into the rice. I then proceeded to burn the bottom of Greg's pot, and melt the end of his spatula. I was summarily banished from the kitchen, and the afternoon would have been decidedly grim if not for the fact that my rice concoction tasted somewhat decent. In fact, Greg gave it "props". Even so, I doubt I'll be called to duty in his kitchen any time soon.

I don't know what Muriel is doing. Perhpas preparing the samosas? We had ice cream at this fun Dutch place afterwards.

I was reminded of the good times of high school by some of the pictures Greg had put up around his apartment. I really can't complain about my high school peeps. They were quite a group of peers to grow up with.

Another elective student has come on service with us. I think I've just started to really understand that I may not get what I want for residency. There are lots of us applicants, and so far, everyone I've met has been excellent. So it goes.

Simon Guides: How to Rollerblade to Work

2006-09-14T22:01:00.000-04:00

I've been braving Toronto's big city traffic on my rollerblades for the past 2 weeks. Urban rollerblading is a tricky business. For one thing, you really can't learn to rollerblade in an urban setting. It's just too dangerous. The roads are rarely smooth, and there are obstacles and vehicles to dodge. I think ideally, you'd learn to rollerblade in a quiet place, and then gradually work your way up to big city blading. Sort of like how I learned on the quiet little streets of Nepean, then got used to traffic in the quiet downtown of Kingston, then got good at traffic in the busier downtown of Hamilton, and am now perfecting the arts of city blading in metropolitan Toronto.

Be that as it may, I do have tips for the aspiring:

1. Wear a helmet!
2. Use both the street and sidewalk! Go where it's smoother/less busy.
3. When going downhill or over rough patches, put one skate roughly 15 cm ahead of the other one.
4. Try to ensure that your skates are perpendicular to cracks and ridges.
4. If you can't stop, TURN!
5. Make eye contact with pedestrians and drivers to signal your intentions
6. Err on the side of safety. You may technically have the right of way, but this will be little solace when you're plastered by a car.

Teaching!

2006-09-12T18:44:00.000-04:00

There was a 2nd year student with our team today. I taught her how to suture. It's nice to have more junior students around because it reminds of you of what you do know, whereas I'm typically reminded of what I don't know. I hope the medical student becomes some sort of bigwig surgeon. I'd totally take credit for it.

In another one of the cases, I was retracting a patient's lower eyelid with a tiny hook. When I was removing the hook, it accidentally slipped underneath the patient's upper eyelid!!! The surgeon almost had a coronary, and I almost wet my pants. I don't think I've ever had a scare like that in the OR before. Fortunately, the patient's eye wasn't damaged. I don't want to think about the guilt I'd have to carry around.

It's unfortunate that we have to suffer either misfortune or close scrapes to be reminded of the value of what's at stake.

The Crocodile Hunter Sleeps with the fishes

2006-09-09T17:50:00.000-04:00

I was discussing the recent death of Steve Irwin this morning with my sisters.

Justine (or was it Sarah?) remarked on how unusual it was that a relatively harmless animal such as a stingray could lead to the demise of someone who had routinely handled "deadly" critters like 'gators and snakes.

But it got us to thinking a bit. Could the deadly animals the man known as the Crocodile Hunter routinely associated with really have killed the man?

Take your standard crocodile. Say one managed to clamp its jaws onto Mr. Irwin. I'm guessing that the fellows off-camera with the tranquilizer guns would act quickly to ensure that this event would progress no further, leaving our hero with brave new scars to show and brave new stories to tell.

Take your standard poisonous snake. If Steve were to find himself on the wrong end of a venomous fang, I imagine the fellows off-camera would act quickly to admister the antidotes to ensure that our hero could continue his swashbuckling ways.

In fact, when I think about it, the ONLY way I could see a member of the animal kingdom causing mortal harm to our Aussie friend is if one of them could figure out a way to pierce his heart with a sharp poisonous spike to cause a near-instantaneous death.

Crickey.

The Young and the Restless

2006-09-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

I was in a lounge celebrating my friend Steph's birthday this past weekend. It also happened that quite a few of my friends from medical school showed up as well. As it turns out, people know people who know people, and many of my crowd from McMaster medical school were already well acquainted with Steph's UT medical school crowd.

I thought this was neat because I had debated between med schools for awhile, so long ago, and I realized that for this night at least, I would have been in the exact same place with the exact same people even if I had made a very different choice.

I'll be doing an elective at UT this month, so I reckon this is my chance to see a bit of what might have been. Living in the big city is alright so far. The bigger the city, the smaller your space.

I shall dearly miss living above my cousin's Chinese take-out back in Hamilton. I'll miss the plethora of currants that grew outside for me to pick at my leisure. I'll miss the wonderful Chinese sitcoms we watched over dinner. I'll miss dinner! I'll miss chatting with my neices while doing dishes. I'll even miss their overzealous guard dog who finally learned to stop barking at me. I'm very lucky to have the family I do!

Teetering

2006-08-30T15:06:00.000-04:00

One of my projects entails trying to contact people around the world. The problem with this is that it means I've been having ot wake up very, very early to try and catch them on the phone. Whenever I'm doing something, I'm always thinking: What time is it in Vienna, or Australia etc..

It's exhausting trying to worry about/in multiple time zones. I like to think that I only worry about things when I'm in some capacity to effect change. So usually, I only worry about contacting people etc. during business hours. Now, I'm in a constant state of anxiety because it's not business hours here, it is somewhere else.

I need this insanity to end!

Simon Guides: How to Bug Your Sisters like Simon

2006-08-30T11:25:00.000-04:00

In composing this post, I realized with some consternation that of all my earthly talents, this is far and away the one in which I can claim the most expertise. My methods are too numeerous to list, and my knowledge of these dark arts so extensive, that if i were to reveal the deepest and most dangerous of my teachings, anarchy would ensue and your sister would shoot you.

While others would have become depressed at the realization that after seven (and counting!) years of post-secondary educationt, their greatest talent is still something picked up at the age of five, I take a more pragmatic view. You have to play the cards that are dealt, and if this is what I'm good at, then so be it.

Regardless, here is one of my favourites techniques. It's called talking to her subconscious mind:

How to Bug Your Sisters like Simon
1. Address your sister's subconscious mind instead of her.
2. Carry on a conversation with her subconscious mind.
3. Ignore anything your sister says.
3. Continue/repeat ad infinitum.

example:
Simon: Hello Sarah's subconscious mind!
Sarah: Go away.
Simon: Sarah's subconscious mind, why is Sarah so stupid?
Sarah: I have homework! Go away!
Simon: Sarah's subconscious mind, would you mind if I ate this snack Sarah so painstakingly prepared?
Sarah: Hands off my food!
Simon: You wouldn't? Why thank you, Sarah's subconscious mind.
Sarah: sob
Simon: hmmmm. Delicious! Please thank Sarah for me, Sarah's subconscious mind!

etc, etc, etc.

Of course I don't do this anymore. I'm too mature for that.

Grandma!

2006-08-27T22:09:00.000-04:00

I was on a morning stroll with my grandmother this past weekend. We stopped by the park to look for her friends. I've been hearing accounts of my grandma's ginormous posse of elderly ladies for awhile now, and was somewhat curious to see what large groups of Chinese octogenarians do when they gather in the playgrounds of suburbia.

Unfortunately, the overcast skies proved to be deterrent enough, and we arrived to find the park abondoned. Nonplussed, we continued our walk and soon enough encountered one of my grandma's friends. Together, the three of us stopped by to pick up another of her friends. We walked on for a little while, with three of them engaged in animated conversation and me walking slightly behind them, until the onset of rain drove us to part ways and head home.

I've noticed my Grandmother makes friends wherever she goes. I don't quite know how she does it, especially seeing how most times the people she befriends don't speak her language. She smiles and waves at people, but I think there must be more to it than that. Or maybe not. 'Cause really, how many of us smile and wave at our neighbours?

Census Results!

2006-08-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Remember the infamous Simonscapes Census?

Well, I've finally figured out a way to disseminate the results. I've put it on Google spreadsheets. I can't figure out a way to post it though. It appears that I have to email an invite to you to see it. So for those who are interested, fire me an email!

So far, 20 people have filled out the survey. I think I'll keep the survey open indefinitely, seeing as how I've opened an account with the surveying service for my research anyways.

I will comment on one result. Regarding true love:
4 of you thought it was a myth
10 of you thought it was misunderstood
9 of you thought it was out there for you to find
6 of you thought it was out there looking for you

As it happens, the six people who thought that true love was looking for them all also thought that true love was there for them to find.
That leaves three of you out there who think that you can find love, but it won't find you.

I'm not sure how to interpret that.

On Truth

2006-08-22T21:07:00.000-04:00

I believe in truth.

I don't know how I feel about right. I don't know how I feel about wrong. Context appears to hold ultimate sway over both of these.

But I believe in truth. And I believe in reason.

And I know the frustration I feel when people willingly throw reason to the wind, and with it, any hope or prayer for truth.

The Littlest Chan comes to Town

2006-08-22T18:13:00.000-04:00

At long last, my youngest sister will be joining her siblings in the GTA. As it happens, I know quite a few people who will be starting medical school with her. I was a counsellor at a summer camp a few years back, and some of the kids who went to the camp will be in my sister's class.

This fills me with the usual sense of "my goodness, where has the time gone" etc, etc...

But more than usual, it also makes me very aware that I'm quite a bit older than I used to be.

Simon Guides: How to eat a buffet like Simon

2006-08-20T12:32:00.000-04:00

I've decided to start a new series of posts (tentatively titled the Simon Guides), dedicated to teaching all you aspiring Simon's out there how to be just like me. These articles will be broad in scope, covering everything from the fundamentals of Simonistic behaviour to the finer points of inner Simonism.

A caveat! I cannot guarantee the effectiveness or safety of any of these Simon Guides. Their only objective is to teach you how to walk like a Simon, talk like a Simon and think like a Simon. Your health and sanity are in your own hands.

The first of these Simon Guides covers a topic near and dear to my heart. Without further ado:

How to eat a buffet like Simon
1. Lay a base. A small bowl of soup with a small bread product is best.
2. Take a quick walk around. Find the seafood. Identify other expensive meat products.
3. Eat seafood. Eat expensive meat products. Intersperse with small salads and small cups of soup.
4. Repeat until full.
5. When full, eat mellons.
6. If able, return to main course.
7. Ice cream finale.