New Hôm Nay

Pictures of family fun on Alex's arrival day...

This week and next are really busy because I'm working full time and am on call for 16 days straight, plus we have Buzz's medical school graduation this Saturday. Bryan's mom is here helping with the kids, my parents are here too (helping Buzz pack and move), and Pete and Grace are also visiting. Last night we had dinner with Pete and Grace, without kids - SO nice to see them and catch up. Peter and I found we have independently each developed similar interests in food, nutrition, and Macs :-) (we each bought our first one about 6 weeks ago) , despite not communicating regularly. I felt like I'd found my long-lost twin. :-) That has happened before with other siblings. We don't live in the same state and don't keep up as well as we would like, but when we visit we find we have been doing the same things, unknowingly. Once I visited Laura and saw we had bought the same coat - she in LA and I in SLC.

As if things weren't hectic enough, Wednesday Sam got into Mom's suitcase and took an estimated 600 mg of Tegretol and some adult multivitamins. We spent 6 hours in the ER under observation, and he surprisingly drank up all his activated charcoal with the promise of a popsicle reward. He got a little sleepy but did not slow down much. The nurse said his blood pressure was a little low for a while but it normalized over several hours. Thank goodness that was all there was to it. As I was driving him home from the ER, Cameo called and reminded me (thank goodness!) that I was supposed to take Alex to a birthday party that I had completely forgotten about. I dropped off Sam, put Alex in the car (in her pajamas, since that is what she was wearing), grabbed a gift bag after discovering that we had used all our birthday wrap and had only Christmas wrap, and made it to the party. After that we all had a picnic in the park.

Tomorrow morning, Buzz graduates and I will be the honored one to do the "hooding." I need to iron my old gown, figure out a way to attach the too-large cap to my head long enough to last through the ceremony, and find an outfit that can double for VA neurology rounds and graduation. I'm just hoping there will be no neurologic emergencies between 10 a.m. and noon tomorrow.

Mother's Day ramble - thinking about all the significant moms in my life...

For my own mom, especially for all the ways she taught me how to love.

For my mother-in-law, who has "adopted" me and mothered me for nearly 18 years (!)

For each of my children's birth mothers, who gave them life and had to let them go. Without them, I wouldn't be a mother. Tears, when I think about that.

For their foster mothers, who gave from their hearts and asked nothing in return.


Finally, to Alex and Sam:

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone
Yet nevertheless
Still my own.

Never forget for a single minute
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.

-Author Unknown

Major changes have recently occured in my life, both personally and professionally. We're approaching five years since the inception of this blog, and going back to read the posts from May '04 is quite the experience. I suppose its what diaries and journals are for, the chance to go back and read out your thoughts and ideas from another time. Kind of like mental time travel.

One thing is for sure, I am not who I was then. In fact, I am not who I was last year or the year before that. I may have some (we shed and create a lot of cells frequently) of the bodily composition of that person but we are definitely on different wavelengths.

This whole blogging business started off as a documentation of odd and quirky ideas I might have. I had a lot of time on my hands back then, hence the frequency of the posts. With time, the posts have decreased in number but have also slightly sharpened in focus. They may still be random and don't generally adhere to one unified theme, but this thing was meant to be disjointed and arbitrary anyway.

I know blogging has pretty much gone out of style these days, but I never meant for this to be stylish. The more I read my old posts, the more I believe that continuing to write here if only to be able to re-read it later is worthwhile. These next few lines (in no particular order) are for future perusing:

- United are in the Champions league final against Barcelona for a shot at retaining the cup. I believe we are going to win. Did we? I hope it was a good game.

- You've just moved out of home and are currently adjusting to having your own family. Its terrifying and exciting all at once. Having more or less settled now, you have found that through all of this you've discovered that you have an affinity for furniture shopping. Who would've thunk it.

- You're starting studying for your MRCS part B soon. The plan is to pass it first time. I hope that reading this in the future, you remember how it felt to be looking ahead to that. I also hope that you passed.

- You have accumulated a bit of debt, but are confident of repaying it all very soon. I hope that when you re-read this, it will have been replaced by a good amount of savings.

- You are still basking in the glory of having had the best wedding of all time.

- One and a half years in your current job and counting. Still on track with the initial estimate of two to three years in Bahrain followed by training abroad. So, how did that work out then?

- 1st on call, sleepless nights at the hospital working a 1 in 4 rota. Not so bad, considering what you've been through. I hope that when you read this you have had a hell of a lot more experience in operating and are no longer at junior level.

A few more personal things I could've documented here, but I'd rather leave them out of the public arena. Have to run now, but I hope that list makes for interesting reading at some point down the line.

Alex and Sam made me a sweet collection of things for Mother's Day at preschool. There were drawings, handprints, cards, and an adorable little picture frame. The best, though, was Alex's creation called "My Mom." On the front is a picture she drew of me, complete with long, stick-thin legs :-) and hands with about 15 fingers on them. Then, on the second page, is some information about me. According to Alex:

My mom is "75 years" old.

My mom has "blonde brown" colored hair.

My mom's favorite thing to do is: "painting"

My Mom likes to eat: "snow peas"

My favorite dinner that my mom makes me is: "cereal"

THis is how my Mom makes it: "She gets it from the cabinet. I eat it. My tummy gets so full and I can't eat it anymore."

I like to help my Mom: "do everything"

My mom is the best mom in the whole world because: "she's the boss!"

I am sooooooooooo thankful to have such a funny little girl who makes me laugh!

I am feeling discouraged after an extra long battle of wills with Alex tonight. Ugh. :-(

She is a tough kid sometimes. Today she told me, "I need help calming down because I don't calm down very well by myself." I think she's heard us talking about her! At least she's aware of her issues. :-) I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows how to teach a 4-year-old to calm herself down.

Hace unos días estuve en la puerta del "cuartel general de Jackie Chan" en Hong Kong.
Tras buscar la dirección en Internet me puse manos a la obra y me dirigí para allá.
No tiene pérdida, es el 145 de Waterloo Road.
La parada de MTR es Kwoloon Tong, pero también se puede coger el bus 271.






Decidí quedarme un ratito sentado leyendo y escuchándo música por si tenía la suerte de que el mismísimo Jackie apareciese. No hubo suerte.

Hace algún tiempo esto estaba abierto al público, hasta que una fan Japonesa de Jackie decidió quitarse la visa dentro del HQ, desde entonces permanece cerrado a los curiosos.

Se puede ver una rueda gigante en la fachada que sospecho pertenecerá a su película de 1998 "Mr. Nice Guy" en la que al final arrasa la mansión de un narcotraficante conduciendo un camión gigante de obras.

El resto de la fachada luce cientos de baldosines decorados a manos por fans de todo el mundo.