距離上次update已經久到我沒臉回去看過去的文章了。各位就假裝我沒有荒廢這個網誌吧，這樣我也不用解釋/探討為什麼我這麼久沒寫文章。一直想找機會寫點東西來貼貼，讓大家知道我還活著，還記得曾經有這麼一片小空間，還有哪麼些讀者會關心。就今天吧。

我剛從加華醫學會 (CCMSBC) 的mentorship dinner回來，學到很多有關未來的工作、生活、家庭，等等的。

我的mentor是小兒過敏科的陳醫師，人很年輕，又非常健談。他告訴我和Jennifer另一個二年級的學生他的求學過程，我們問了些有關選修和畢業後考專科醫師資格的事情（四年級的時候我們要一邊選選修課，一邊準備申請書，四年級畢業前就要投出所有的申請，然後他們會給我們一個 “match“。一個match。他們要我們去Manitoba我們就要去Manitoba… 如果心儀的專科很難進，一般人都會到處申請，像陳醫師就是在Manitoba讀小兒科的。）

Jennifer 的男朋友剛好也是醫學生，所以她就問了有關 “couple matching” 的事情。基本上就是他們會想辦法讓兩個人到一樣的地方唸專科，雖然那個地方有可能不是他們的第一首選。

「但是如果我們到那時候還沒結婚，那這樣做就有比較多風險… 萬一我們犧牲自己的第一選擇，之後才發現兩人在一起不適合而分開，那不是賠了夫人又折兵？」

我們繞著結婚的話題聊了許久，最後的結論是：there is no set formula… XD

早結婚有早結婚的好處。像如果在一起的兩人分隔兩地攻讀專科，有結婚和沒結婚就有很大的不同。結婚了以後雖然不能說一定沒有變數，但那一定比男女朋友的關係還要穩固，隔著遙遠的距離心裡也會比較踏實。

但是到畢業之後，甚至專科都唸完了之後，才真的有能力開始控制自己的時間和維持一個新的家庭。

另一個重要的問題，是醫生什麼時候生小孩最好？求學時期，忙著讀書、社交、拓展視野和人脈。當住院醫師的時後又忙得亂七八糟，睡覺都沒時間了怎麼照顧小孩？到所有的訓練都結束之後，又都逼近35歲高齡產婦的關卡了。

我們就在醫師生涯規劃、學術研究和clinical work的平衡、和大家母語保持多好（「有看過金庸嗎？」「有!!! XD 」）的種種話題間跳著聊，席間氣氛輕鬆又不隨便，很像跟一群友善的叔叔伯伯一起出來吃飯一樣。

陳醫師約我和Jennifer明年到他的門診見習，我欣然答應。

1. You get less and less afraid of the cadaver when you learn to name more structures, but you get more and more scared of the anatomy exam.
2. You reach a point when you say to yourself: “Ok, that’s enough med school events for me.” and then it  becomes very hard to get you out of your bedroom.
3. Self-identity becomes less important than self-identifying as med students by wearing the same red backpacks as 200 other people.
4. Study groups actually work when you can easily find half a dozen people as keen as you are.
5. I can sing acappella. Or they haven’t found out I couldn’t yet.
6. You can get away with asking the patients anything, as long as you are serious and write their answers on your clipboard.
7. Everyone thinks doctors have horrible handwriting. Some actually think there’s a class in med school for horrible handwriting that everyone has to pass.
8. I will ace that class.
9. The real reason that med students are so busy is because they have 50+ pseudo-spam emails to read everyday.
10. 150 keenest nerds of the year + reaching goals of med school + island weekend retreat = AWKWARD MONDAY!

If I were to list the milestones of my life – points on my timeline that gets a huge star that marks the beginning or ending of huge events – today would be well on top of it.

Orientation to UBC med school took place over a 3-day period that ended this Friday. I met dozens of amazing people that I couldn’t wait to get to know better, saw hundreds more whom I haven’t even talked to yet, heard from faculty, staff, and senior students and tried to picture what my next four years would look like, went into the anatomy lab with dozens of cadavers in body bags and got excited for next Friday’s real anatomy lab, but today, the feeling of a new beginning finally set in.

Since Charlie got a year-round residence and he finished his NSERC last Friday, and my residence in Marine Drive doesn’t open until this Saturday, I generously invited myself into his room and moved in today. As I usually do at the start of the school year, I try to set up a healthy exercise routine and mentality, so I headed out for a run.

But this run brought with it more significance than I expected. Just for fun, I ran around campus in a “flash back of undergrad” style. Starting with Totem Park, I ran past the roads where I first tasted independence and university life, and remembered walking with roommate David on Lower Mall to LSK early in the morning, chasing the ever-faster Carolyn and May. I also remembered Shad Valley and the alumni bbq, and realized I probably won’t have a chance to work in a summer camp again.

I went to Vanier, where I spent a spectacular 2nd year. I was on top of my game in many respects, but one thing I remembered most vividly was playing pingpong in KU with my closest friends, listtening to David Tao’s then newest album. I went to Rose Garden, went to Gage towers and thought about my one crazy year with RC, and skipped Fair View where I spent my dark 3rd year.

It felt like a quick, 30-minute review of how I spent my undergrad and how I got to where I am. I thought about the people I met, fading in and out of my life, each making their own marks. For each person, I felt grateful for their playing a part in my growth. Without any of them, I wouldn’t be the same. And since I wouldn’t trade anything for what I have right now, I wouldn’t trade anything for what I had in the past either.

Tina just came back from a retreat and was about to meet me for dinner. So at the end, I wasn’t just running back to my temporary residence; I was running to see her. I will share with her stories of my orientation, my new friends, and I will learn from her what she did at the retreat.

Tomorrow, my first class for med school starts at 8am. Today, I’m ready for it.

After dozens of creative (and sometimes borderline appropriate) submissions and a staggering 8… votes, the winner of the first random Write a Caption contest is:

“什麼原來這不是抹茶冰淇淋而是wasabi嗎哦嗚啊啊啊啊啊！ (嗆死淚目貌)”

(What!? This is not Macha but WASABI!!?? owaejifa;owiejfaig)

By our one and only 小N~~~~ XD

Please come to the backstage to pick up your prize.

The real story behind this random picture is really not very exciting, much less so than any of the submissions. But heck, I think you all deserve to know it.

****** sitting comfortably ready for a story *******

I went to study with Tina in the library after work.

and then we headed out for dinner at Lok’s restaurant in Kerrisdale. Tina must have thought the occasion was very exciting because she whipped out her camera:

I was cold first but the corn soup warmed me up, so I took off my sweater:

I thought it was impolite to not take pictures of people who takes pictures of me.

I also took one of Tina with flash on and I asked her to make a “I’m so full” expression, and it turned out to be the most hallirious picture of her that none of you is allowed to see. I laughed so loud I probably confused some of the waitresses.

So Tina said: “Well, if I take a picture of you with flash on, you will look funny too!”

********* end of story *********

Hello good sirs and ladies. Here we are, at the exciting voting phase of the random Write a Caption contest. Kinda like the talent shows on TV like So you think you can dance but with 1,000,000 times fewer audience.

Anyway, thanks to input from Erica, Lynn, Amah, 小N, Charlie and Joanne, we were able to gather the following candidate captions (in no particular order):

1. E: “哇!點套餐就會送Hello Kitty! 賺到了賺到了!!!ㄎㄎㄎ.” (Wow, a set meal comes with Hello Kitty! Yes!! Hehehe…)
2. E: “唉呦~人家素顏, 不要拍我啦~” (Aiyo~ no make up, no picture)
3. L: “不要打我! 不要打我! I’m too smart to die!” (Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! I’m too smart to die!)
4. L: “好人總是被毆!!!” (Why do the good guys always get hit!!)
5. L: “不要這樣啦!! 我好害羞!!” (Please don’t!! I’m shy!)
6. E: “嗯~炒麵太辣了, 我不敢吃啦” (Hm… fried noodles too spicy, I can’t do this!)
7. L: “BBBBRAIINNNN FREEEEEEZE!!!”
8. E: “這不是肯德基!! 這不是肯德基!!” (This is not KFC!! This is not KFC!!)
9. N: 什麼原來這不是抹茶冰淇淋而是wasabi嗎哦嗚啊啊啊啊啊！ (嗆死淚目貌) (What!? This is not Macha but WASABI!!?? owaejifa;owiejfaig)
10. N: 前面那一對好閃啊~ (*To the couple across the table* Dude, get a room!)
11. N: 才吃一頓竟然也要 $3,000 CAD，這家好黑心 (哭哭)  (One dinner = $3000… *sobs*)
12. A:阿你不是說不會開閃光燈,還給倫家打開 (Hey, you said you turned the flash off!)
13. A: 這個罐頭好頑固,打不開打不開!!! (F-ing can… must… open…)
14. L: 哇!! 這wasabi真嗆!!! 嗆到大腦啦!!! (This wasabi is this shit! Straight to the brain!!!)
15. L: I finally conquered the WORLD!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! *playing Risk*
16. J: “Oh great! You made me say ‘cheese’!”
17. C: “Warning! Unexpected Flash May Cause Severe Seizure”
18. A: ”poor Billy is dealing with severe constipation”

Having a poll with 18 items is just crazy, so here’s a short list, created arbitrarily according to my amusement. Please give yourself a big pad on the back for every entry you submitted. You can also continue to create new captions, although they won’t be entered into the poll.

Winner will be announced next Monday

Happy voting!

Hello everyone,

This is a(n):

1. test to see if I can still log onto my WordPress account after 1+month of inactivity;
2. confirmation that I am still alive;
3. apology to those who checked this blog and found it becoming further and further out of date.

I could try to explain why, given the amount of free time I have every night after work, I failed to blog about such interesting things as:

1. Kelowna road trip,
2. Garibaldi hiking trips,
3. My awesome kickass birthday presents,
4. Losing my cell phone,
5. Celebration of lights,
6. Camping trip with Tina and David,
7. Taking the CanadaLine on Day 1, etc…

But instead, I’ll just pretend I am not the laziest blogger who just let his life slip by without record, and bring your attention to a random “Write a Caption” game that got started on facebook. More specifically, on my current profile picture:

So far, the only submissions come from only two friends:

E: “哇!點套餐就會送Hello Kitty! 賺到了賺到了!!!ㄎㄎㄎ.” (Wow, a set meal comes with Hello Kitty! Yes!! Hehehe…)

E: “唉呦~人家素顏, 不要拍我啦~” (Aiyo~ no make up, no picture)

L: “不要打我! 不要打我! I’m too smart to die!” (Don’t hit me! Don’t hit me! I’m too smart to die!)

L: “好人總是被毆!!!” (Why do the good guys always get hit!!)

L: “不要這樣啦!! 我好害羞!!” (Please don’t!! I’m shy!)

E: “嗯~炒麵太辣了, 我不敢吃啦” (Hm… fried noodles too spicy, I can’t do this!)

L: “BBBBRAIINNNN FREEEEEEZE!!!”

E: “這不是肯德基!! 這不是肯德基!!” (This is not KFC!! This is not KFC!!)

Yeah they are two prolific friends. I hope more of you can join in though, otherwise a contest of 2 contestants is just a bit sad. We can have a short list and a web poll later, so that ppl can vote for the best caption.

So! Please contribute!

So, many of my friends got their degrees a couple of months ago, and I attended their commencement to congratulate them. Many of them were surprised that I wasn’t graduating with them (although I did steal Odin’s grad regalia and posed), and today is a good day to write down the unusual story of my $_GET[B.Sc.] story.

So, the story can date back to my first year, when I realized just how much fun being a full time student was. All I had to do was learning and hanging out with smart people and talking about interesting smart things. I thought to myself: man, if there is any way I can spend an extra year as a university student, I’ll do it!

And there was a way. Actually, there are more than one ways (co-op, exchange, etc), but, after a few tries, I decided on my way: double major in pharmacology and computer science. (I wrote about how I reached that in this post.) A double major would take my 5 years to finish, so my official graduation date was set to 2010.

After all the trouble I went through to get this to work, I was happily on my way to getting a loaded degree.

Now, on another tangent, I knew that med school is my goal. Sometimes I thought of the comp sci branch of my education as my backup plan, sometimes I thought of it as an escape from all the memorizations in life sciences. In any case, I knew that it’s best to apply to med school 2 summers before you graduate, so that if you failed, you have another chance at it comfortably. For example, if you plan to finish undergrad in 4 years, it’s best to apply after 2nd year so that if you failed, you can try again after 3rd year without worrying about wasting a year of your time. Whereas if you apply after 3rd year and found out you didn’t get in after 4th year, you need to figure out what you would do with the year’s time before the next application cycle.

So I applied to UBC in 2008.

Now, here’s the interesting thing: for my double major, I had to finish pharmacology courses in the first 4 years, and use the 5th year to finish my comp sci courses. I noticed this interesting fact, and made sure that I really could graduate in 4th year if I wanted to, by taking all the art requirements, etc., and deferring some comp sci courses to 5th year.

In other words, my degree was like the rod in a toilet paper holder:

It can be shorter or longer, depending on what I want.

It can be a 4-year degree in Pharmacology, or it can be a 5-year double major degree!

If I didn’t get into med school, I can finish my double degree as planned. If I did, I still get a B.Sc. anyway!

All throughout 4th year, I have no idea whether I’ll be graduating or not this year. This created some interesting decisions: do I take the grad photos with my pharmacology class? Do I tell med school I plan to graduate in 2010 or 2009? Is there a way to tell them “your admission decision is deciding when I graduate”?

Eventually, I decided to go ahead with the graduation photos (I wasn’t even sure whether it’s allowed to be in the grad photos without actually graduating), and pretended there is no confusion. In reality, my program advisor was confused and asked me why I wasn’t on the grad list; my friends were confused and asked me where my gawn was; everyone who I’m introduced to was confused because my answer to “what program are you in” is about twenty times  more than the average length; etc. I wasn’t even sure if switching my program after being accepted to med school is allowed.

Thanfully the case is closed today. I more than satisfied the degree and program requirements for B.Sc. and major in pharmacology (required total credits = 125; my total credits = 147), and will get my B.Sc. degree this November.

Why bother, you ask, since I’m getting an M.D. anyway?

Well, firstly there’s the sentimental value. The past 4 years of UBC undergrad was more than life-changing, and having an official medal to mark it off is sweet. Second there’s the practical considerations: I’m working in a research lab right now, and since I haven’t officially gotten my B.Sc. degree, I’m paid as an undergrad. I don’t know how much money I lost this summer, but hey, having toilet-paper-holder flexibility is well worth the price.

Went to see Up with Tina in 3D last weekend, and, oh man, it did not disappoint. Once again, IMDb has been right; this exuberating film deserves every decimal point of the staggering 8.9 rating.

A few simple nodes and cartoon scenes were touching enough they almost made me cry, and the jokes were so dramatic and cute the whole theater was uproaring in unison. What’s more, when the film finished, the whole audience was clapping their hands in applause. I stayed till the end of the credits, which I’ve never done before.

It was simply a great adventure. Highly recommended for everyone.

Just finished with the Twilight Saga. I’m really impressed with Stephanie Meyer’s ability to construct a magical but convincingly logical world. It’s not easy to include so much magic and still avoid major plotholes (I can’t say the same for Harry Potter; the time travelling device in the Prisoner of Azkaban is clearly one of the most powerful weapon that either side of the battle should give more thought to).

Even more impressive is her skills in constructing some powerful emotions around her characters. Love, sacrifice, inescapable pain, tragedy, despair, agony, ecstacy. Although the story seemed very childish at the beginning, very high-school, when a guy’s car and insociability define his coolness, it evolved into something epic and grand towards the end.

But sometimes there are things so obvious to the readers but the supposedly smart characters just don’t get, that frustrated me. As if Meyer thought the readers were very slow, or she was very deliberate in her attempt to drag on the suspense.

All things considered, this was a very enjoyable read that kept me mesmerized (to use Meyer’s vocab) for many weeks.

I do, however, have one big problem with the whole story: the vampire guy, Edward, is around 80 years old, and he falling in love with a 17 year old is just absurd. It’s like a grandpa finding a teenage girl rediculously attractive… absurd. Maybe we are to believe that as vampirism halts Edward’s physical growth in his teenage years, it also preserves his horniness. But I’d think that after 80 years of abstinence, one would be more like a saint than a horny teenager.

I’ll let that one pass.

But, on a much earthier level, I have another question. If vampires don’t have blood, such that they can’t blush or have a heartbeat, how does Edward have a boner? (Oh believe me, Stephanie more than hinted that Edward had boners. Any further information would be a serious spoiler for anyone who hasn’t finished all 4 books. Yeah, the read towards the end got steamier and steamier.)

The story also worked in some very soup-opera-ish drama at the end, and the final climax was a bit anticlimatic (kinda like the first climax… huh, that makes 2 anticlimaxes out of 4…), but the depth of the emotions depicted in the stories was truly monumental.

I’ve been working in a research lab in CMMT, near the Children’s Hospital, for two weeks now. I’ve not seen a lab quite as big as the Goldowitz Lab, nor quite as active and friendly. More than 20 people work for Dr. Goldowitz in one form or another: from volunteers, summer/co-op students, technicians, masters, Ph.D.s, post-docs, to research associates, and for most part of the day, around 15 of us cram into the few spaces at 4 bences.

When I first got to the lab, I was quite unsettled by the utter lack of space. The PhD student I am working with, Peter, told me that: “here usually sits Drew, here is Kevin, then I usually sit here, and then Derek usually uses this computer over here. You can squeeze in here with us I guess.” He was pointing at the same bench, where 5 guys coexist.

I quickly found out that the close proximity of lab members has quite a bit of a plus to it. Most people are very sociable; Drew and Derek are two very energetic twenty-something year olds who wouldn’t stop making jokes. The girls who hangout in the benches next to ours were also in their early twenties, so the youth-ness in this side of the lab was very enjoyable. The other side of the room sits the “big people” – the post-docs and research associates – but they are very much a part of the young gang too.

Drew and Derek brings the guys out for frisbee or basketball during lunch time almost every day, and sometimes Doug, the research associate who is 2nd in command in the Goldo lab, Anna “Poonster” Poon, and Anna S., join the regulars, the D & Ds, Kevin “Eric” Zhou, Peter, and me. I quickly got used to wearing shorts and bringing 2nd t-shirts to work.

Because everyone just chats with everyone else in the lab all day, it’s not hard to get comfortable to make new friends. I learned the tradition of “Tuesday bubble teas” before the lab meetings, the “TGIF presentation series” which stands for “Thank God It’s Friday”, and others. D & D also call out-trips to Wreck Beach and we once moved the lab meeting to lunch time and had buffet Indian food while we discussed mice sacrificing under our breath.

I found out that almost half of the lab members under 30 want to go to med school or are already accepted; Drew and I will start in UBC together in Sept., Gurj is going to England to become a Doc, and many others are taking the MCAT this summer. I also found out that the world is too small; I found out that Annie (yes, we have Anna, Anna, Annie, and Joanna), who is in the biotech program, apparently had the following conversations with Heidi, our new RC President:

Annie: “So many people in the lab are going to med school!”

Heidi: “Really? I know someone who’s going to med school too!”

and

Heidi: “Do you want to be RC’s Secretary?”

Annie: “What is it like?”

Heidi: “I will get info from our past secretary.”

All the while, the “past secretary”, me, had been working with Annie for a week in the lab.

It’s not just our lab that’s super fun and social; the entire CMMT research department promotes inter-lab socializing pretty well. The fore-mentioned TGIF seminars are equipped with $1 beers, for example.

For another example, we have what is called the “CMMT Cup”. Once a month, a lab can challenge the cup holder lab to a team competition, the challenge decided by the challenger. Some past challenges were: soccer, beach volley ball, Wii Sports, and poker.

This past Friday, us Goldos — apparently cup holder for 3 years — were challenged to a dodgeball tournament. And I was pretty psyched.

It was an epic. It was actually such a big deal that Derek had to remind us how much of a big deal it was:

“For the new people, you might not know this is a huge thing. I would be very upset if we don’t win.”

“So I can go all out on this?” I checked.

“Yeah totally. I know I will.”

“So it won’t be weird if I try too hard?” I double checked.

“No, just give it.”

So I went all out whipping the dodgeball at the opponents, guys and girls alike. It was very intense, and it got quite personal as the game hovers between the two labs. Very close games, and very competetive players on both sides.

The tournament was said to finish at 7:30, and we won by 1 game. But the other lab asked to play till 7:45, and at the tie breaker, we lost. And Derek tried to kick a hole in the wall.

But all in all, this was a great event. I’m sure when I go to work on Monday, the lab will feel different still, after being bonded by comradeship after that deathmatch.

photo credit: Annie Chen