new year’s resolutions February 4, 2011
i stopped writing down new year’s resolutions many years ago because they were mostly wishful thinking. but since one of my resolutions was to blog a bit more regularly, i figured i might as well record them officially on the blog. also now it’s lunar new year so can’t put this off any more….
in no particular order
1. collect less plastic bags, ie use my reusable bags
this has actually gone fairly well, i’m happy to say. i just make sure to keep my Envirosax in my purse, and bust it out when i’m at the grocery store or Target checkout line.
2. cook more often
notice i didn’t say every day, or even twice a week. based on all my past failures, i think creating realistic, manageable goals is the key to actually achieving a change. maybe next year, i’ll up the ante to twice a week
also, next year i will hopefully have a less time-intensive, draining schedule so that it’ll definitely be a realistic goal.
3. blog more often
i pretty much stopped blogging once i started residency, but when i look back at older entries, i realize how useful this blog was in terms of journalling my life and helping me process everything. in medicine, our hectic daily schedules don’t always afford us the time to process our experiences, the good or the bad. when i’m at the hospital, i’m usually doing two things at once, and then immediately moving on to something else. and now i have 3 years worth of experiences that i’ve been meaning to blog about.
4. be more active
ok, i am definitely not going to the gym or running on a treadmill. but i used to go jogging at the park or rollerblading at the beach every now and then, and i miss it. so far, josh and i managed to do a walk along the beach at crystal cove the first weekend of the new year. so hopefully we’ll do something again in the next few weeks… i do want to do some indoor rock climbing or ballroom dancing in 2011.
5. be more positive
residency, mostly because of sleep deprivation, can make a person quite bitter and cynical. i’m not trying to be miss sunshine, i just don’t want to weigh myself down with more negativity
plus there are a zillion things on my “to-do” list, but hopefully these 5 goals will help me a better me in 2011
music wishlist November 27, 2010
other than listening to my she&him pandora music station i haven’t been nearly as active a music listener as i used to be.
there are, however, a few songs that i would love to own, but don’t seem to available for purchase as either an mp3 or CD. if anyone out there has these songs, or knows where i can get them, please let me know!
arctic monkeys :: only you know
(apparently i love arctic monkeys covers of oldies)
teddy thompson :: take care of yourself
heard today on KCRW
currently listening: Fiona Apple covers Cy Coleman April 4, 2009
Fiona Apple :: Why Try to Change Me Now
from
Then was Then and Now is Now: A Tribute to Cy Coleman
still trying to find a copy of this CD for sale…
surprise September 7, 2008
this was a golden weekend for me, meaning a weekend with TWO whole days off. in a row. these only come once a month during our inpatient rotations, and i usually spend mine: 1) catching up on sleep, 2) catching up on dictations, and 3) catching up on errands.
i was post-call Friday, and basically slept all afternoon, woke up and ate dinner and tried to do some work, and then back to sleep til Saturday. did a little bit of work on Sat before heading out to the parents’ house in Cerritos. i had plans to go shopping at the mall with my brother, so when I got to Cerritos, my brother and i headed to the mall almost immediately.
unbeknownst to me, something (by the name of Josh) was afoot.
my brother and i spent a couple hours at the mall; i returned a few things, bought a few more. at one point, we passed by a jewelry store going out of business and i joked to my brother that i should tell josh to look for rings there. my brother spent a lot of time on the phone, talking to someone i thought was one of his friends.
though Josh had told me he was visiting his family in Atwater, he had apparently driven down from Norcal on Sat morning, and had reached Socal by the afternoon. after my brother and i left for the mall, Josh went to my parents’ house to formally ask them for permission to marry me.
my brother and i returned from the mall, and had dinner with my parents (josh had left because he was planning to surprise me at my apt). i did some laundry, and was hanging out, waiting for my clothes to dry. the entire time, no one let on that anything was going on. in retrospect, the only thing that seemed unusual was that my mom kept telling me to call her the next day. (i thought it was just my mom being her normally weird self.)
by the time i got back to my apt, it was past midnight. i called josh for our nightly phone conversation but he didn’t answer. (he’d gotten tired of waiting for me, and had decided to go to 24 hr finess, since he had nowhere else to go). i was awoken by my cell phone ringing at 2 am, and was surprised to find that it was josh calling me in the middle of the night.
“do you know what time it is?! why are you calling me?!” i sleepily answered.
the next thing i know, someone is knocking on the door at 2 in the morning. very confused as to why Josh was calling so late, and now why someone would be knocking on the door so late, i stumbled out of bed and opened the door to find Josh standing on my doorstep with a bouquet of roses.
“what are you doing here?! i’m sooo confused,” i said, still half-asleep. I couldn’t quite believe everything that was happening, it was like a strange dream.
And there, in my living room with boxes still unpacked, and me in my PJs and half-asleep, Josh proposed. I cried, of course. And somewhere along the way, I said yes.
we're engaged!
the ring
and so it begins June 26, 2008
day 2 on the NICU and i *just* got home. yes, that is a 13 hr day. and yes, i still have work (prep for tomorrow) to do from home (not sure if computerized records is a + or - here).
the funny thing is, i quite like being in the hospital, and as crazy as today was, it’s not like i didn’t like what i was doing (checking on kiddos, ordering meds, calling consultants, discharging pts, answering nurses’ questions…). i just hate being so inefficient. hopefully i’ll get the swing of things soon so that i can have a lot more fun on this rotation.
ps being able to write orders without needing someone to cosign is awesome
pps i still need to get used to being called “dr”
the real world June 17, 2008
For those of us who have been in school way too long, and are just beginning to step into the real world with our first *real* jobs (with salaries and benefits and all that extra paperwork jazz)…
What employee manuals on health insurance, taxes and retirement plans should say, but don’t.
time capsule June 9, 2008
Saturday, I graduated from medical school. Sunday, I moved 400 miles. Today, I showed up at my new residency for my employee health screening/physical. There’s been so much craziness over the last few days, that I’ve barely had a moment to process all these big changes in my life.
When I returned my gown after the grad ceremony, I was handed a manila envelope. “Health clearance records and stuff,” the staffperson said. That’s nice of them, I thought, knowing that we all had so much else on our minds besides digging up records for our residency programs. I tossed it in the back of the car with my graduation cap, and immediately forgot about it as I reverted to stressing about coordinating lunch and family and finishing my packing.
I brought the manila envelope with me to the hospital today for my physical, and pulled out copies of my diploma, health clearance records from four years ago when I entered medical school, a reminder about the medical school alumni association, etc. It wasn’t until later, as I was putting these papers back into the manila envelope that I realized there was something else in the envelope, something smaller that had escaped my notice. I pulled out a small note-card sized envelope and thought, oh it must be a congratulations or goodbye card from the school staff… I then realized that it was MY handwriting on the front that had addressed it to ”Sharon Pham, c/o 2008″.
I opened it up to find a note written to me, by me, four years ago:
Oct 2, 2004
You’re an MD! As a premed in college the road seemed endless, but now you’re there. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the journey and retained the idealism and passion that motivated you to take this path. When you started med school you had a number of interests – peds hem/onc, health policy, underserved communities, teaching – and these may have changed or strengthened. You also had (or have) a boyfriend of 2 yrs who you could see yourself growing old with. Hopefully you’ll continue to have wonderful people in your life and enjoy a good balance of professional and personal lives. Never forget where you’ve been as you head into new and exciting parts of your life.
<3, SP
I nearly cried when I read this (and am in fact crying right now as I copy my note for this post). When we were given 10 minutes at our first-year retreat to do this exercise, I had no idea what to write and no clue what the next four years would hold for me. And yet, I managed to write the perfect note for me. For future med school graduate me who has survived four years of some of the highest highs and some of the lowest lows, and has questioned her career choice a hundred or so times (and questioned her sanity a million times), and has met some amazing people along the way (patients, attendings, classmates), and and who, by the way, still has that boyfriend (now 6 yrs and counting).
At our retreat four years ago, I had no idea how valuable this exercise would turn out to be, and now I’m so thankful that someone told me to write this letter to myself. I hope the rest of my classmates find their notes an equally pleasant (and poignant) surprise.
budapest observations April 10, 2008
- everyone here is very friendly
- lots of old, beautiful buildings
- also lots of graffiti
- pool = billiards and pinball = flipper
- order of items on a menu: drinks, soups, main courses, salads, desserts
- cost of a glass of water: 250 forint (roughly $1.50)
- cost of a glass of wine: 300 forint (roughly $2.00)
- cost of a glass of juice: 300 forint
- bars are coffeehouses and restaurants as well
- coffee is usually an espresso with milk or cream or both, to be enjoyed at the cafe, not in paper cups to go
- i have not yet seen a sugar substitute (ie equal or splenda)
- vegetables are not a regular part of dishes or sandwiches
- salad seems to be a foreign concept. the only raw vegetables eaten are tomatoes and cucumbers.
- cream and/or cheese is found in nearly all dishes – there is no shortage of calcium here.
- the cheapest opera tickets are 1000 forint (roughly $6.00)
…to be continued
so SF February 24, 2008
it’s 2 am, and we’re driving my friend back to his hotel in Union Square. we’re stopped at a red light and the guys in the cab next to us motion for josh to roll down his window.
they playfully yell, “we’re going to the Hilton! where are you going?”
josh rolls the window back up immediately, his face turning bright red.
