If a vacation is judged by the quality of its meals, then our trip to Japan is probably our best by far. We arrived Thursday evening, and had our first bowl of steaming ramen before settling into our hotel. We awoke the next morning to mouth-watering fatty toro at Daiwa Sushi before walking over to the Tsukiji Market. After wading through the bustling aisles of fish stands and watching mammoth hunks of tuna finely carved with samurai swords, we walked through the Hama Rikyu gardens to board the boat cruise to Asakusa. There, we munched on warm red-bean cakes and browsed colorful souvenir stands along Nakamise dori before reaching Sensoji Temple, where we joined the crowds to wash our hands and bathe in incense smoke. In the afternoon, we watched a Kabuki play in Ginza, then checked out the new toys at the Sony building. Saturday morning was spent in Kamakura, where we visted the Daibutsu, braved the caverns at Hasedera, and even watched a Shinto wedding ceremony at the Tsurugaoka Hachimingu. Lunch took place at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen museum with a family friend. To our dismay, we only managed to eat at one of the eight ramen stands there, not realizing that smaller “tasting” portions were also available. For dinner, we met with an old lab-mate for more noodles at Santouka, a ramen chain specializing in tender pork cheek char-shiu, of which only 200g can be obtained from a single hog. On Sunday, we went to Harajuku to gawk at the crazy fashions of Tokyo teens, shop for souvenirs, and eat the famed black pork tonkatsu at Maisen for lunch. Since tickets were sold out for the sumo finals, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Japan’s largest electronics store, Yodobashi Akiba, where I perused the myriad gadgets that lined the store shelves. We met my lab-mate again for dinner, this time for tasty beef tongue and kalbi at a Korean BBQ joint. Yet, our adoration of Japanese beef was pushed even higher the next day. After immersing ourselves in Miyazaki’s enchanted sanctum at the Ghibli Museum, we had our first taste of Matsusaka beef at Satou Steakhouse, where the grilled steaks were so well-marbled they literally melted in our mouths. Rain clouds were setting in by then, so we spent the afternoon with an indoor tea ceremony, then after a brisk walk through Roppongi, caught an evening shot of the Tokyo Tower. Before leaving Tokyo the next morning, we returned to Tsukiji one more time for sushi. Life has never been better.

I was looking at the back of my shoes today, and thought that the logos were printed at an angle … until I realized that my SHOES were at an angle! Looks like internship has taken quite a toll on my soles. My first rotation on a ward service has taught me the importance of having a pair of comfortable shoes that will allow me to run between 8 different floors of the hospital building and still go reasonably well with a pair of slacks. The other thing I’ve learned on general medicine is how much I can hate my pager. As a med student, we wore our pagers like a sheriff’s badge, a symbol of responsibility. Of course, back then, we were just paging each other about what to order for take-out on call nights. But now, with pages ranging from ICU call-outs with acute shortness-of-breath to cross-covers threatening to leave AMA because we won’t feed their narc addiction, the buzz of the pager has come to evoke both a sense of fear and aggravation. I can hardly wait until my upcoming vacation, when I’ll be pager-free for two full weeks.

My elective in medical management has been quite a change of pace from intensive care medicine. Last week, I left the confines of the medical ICU and stepped onto the 11th floor of Prudential Tower, the headquarers of Partners Healthcare Systems. Formed in 1994 by the Brigham and MGH, Partners has become the dominant operator of hospitals and other healthcare facilities in this region with a revenue of $6.5 billion. The reason for its success stems from the ability of organized providers not only to negotiate with payers, but also to provide better and more efficient medical care. Of course, this requires a think tank of businessmen and lawyers whom I got to interact with. From boardroom meetings on public relations strategies to contract negotiations with insurance companies, the experience opened my eyes to the world of corporate medicine. But more importantly, the rotation also gave me my weekends back – allowing me to revisit MGS4 and also check out the new game Spore. From the creator of the Sims, the game encompasses all of evolution. Playing a clearly non-Christian god, you control the fate of an organism from a single-cell stage swimming around in primordial soup to their future as a civilization exploring other worlds in space. So far the game shows some potential, but I’ll have to see if it has good enough replay value for my vacation later this month.

Though my busy schedule this month will preclude our participation in Boston’s Restaurant Week this year, we nevertheless decided to treat ourselves last night to dinner at Chef Gordon Hamersley’s restaurant in the South End, Hamersley’s Bistro. We started with braised mushrooms on top of smooth, creamy polenta with just the right touch of crispiness on the outside. Our other appetizer was a crispy duck confit with peaches and onions that was so tender it fell apart at the touch of our forks. For entrees, we had a creamy monkfish and mussel bourride with saffron, potatoes, and leeks, and a spicy halibut and clam roast with bacon braised greens cooked to a resilient and tender perfection. We finished off by sharing an almond cake with sweet cherry compote and vanilla ice-cream based on our waiter’s advice. Along with switft and friendly service, the meal was hands down our most solid dining experience in Boston, bringing a moment of sweet satisfaction amidst the craziness of the MICU rotation I started last week. By the way, if you haven’t already seen The Dark Knight, I strongly recommend it. I’m just sad that we will not be seeing more of the talented Mr. Ledger who embodied the psychopathic Joker with pinpoint

After months of waiting, we finally got our hands (and feet) on the Wii Fit balance board! Though originally conceptualized as little more than a bathroom scale, it also does a surprisingly good job at tracking your center of gravity, allowing a myriad of activities like yoga, hula hoops, and skiing. In fact, although my weight is in the normal range, my calculated “Wii Fit Age” was higher than my chronological one – likely resulting from my proficiency as a couch potato. Fortunately, the toy has gotten us both on a regular exercise regimen, at least for the first 3 days out of the box. I just hope it won’t become one of those weight-loss fads we’ll forget about in a month. Since this is my last golden weekend before my MICU month, we also returned for the Boston summer tradition of Shakespeare on the Common, with an entertaining and well-acted rendition of “As You Like It.” This year, we showed up early enough to grab dinner in Chinatown and even enjoyed a game of Scrabble and Killer Bunnies on the lawn before the show began.

Today is the holiday celebrating the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (or as monosyllabic people like the Chinese call her, Guan Yin). Since I was visiting New York this weekend for my mom’s birthday, we went temple-hopping to pay our respects. Now unlike Buddhist temples in Asia with their exotic and very ethnic architecture, those in the city are often converted row houses or apartments with scant interior furnishings, a few bronze statues for worship, and billions of incense sticks spewing near-asphixiating plumes of smoke into the air. But to my surprise, the dingy basement of the two temples I went to also served up some of the best vegetarian dishes I’ve encountered. At both the Chua Thap Phuong and Chieu Kien Buddhist centers in the Bronx, we chowed down on bowls of vegetarian pho (yes, no beef), bun bo hue (again, no beef), and at least 5 different types of xoi (sticky rice desserts). Good vegetarian food is hard to come by, and good Vietnamese vegetarian food is even harder to find – and for free? To round out my fobby weekend, I also learned to play MJ for the first time. And by MJ I’m not alluding to the Sweet Mary Jane. MJ is for Mahjong – not the computer game for loners who have graduated from solitaire, but the 4-player gambling addiction enjoyed by Chinese housewives worldwide. After blowing 3 hours with my parents at the blink of an eye, I now know why devotees are so drawn to it. Apparently, the Japanese have designed a mahjong table that automatically shuffles the tiles so you can lose your money twice as fast! Watch the video – I especially enjoyed the part where the Cantonese people all go “wah!” at the same time.

My elective block this month has been a welcomed change from the intensity of the CCU. With no patient responsibilities and clinics running only Mondays to Fridays (just like regular folks!), I’ve had time to catch up on reading, re-grout the bathroom tiles, and even finish the short but oh-so-sweet single-player campaign from Call of Duty 4. From aerial assaults with an IR camera to sniper missions in a ghillie suit, the gaming experience was almost reminiscent of a Michael Bay action flick. In the meantime, while the summer sizzle is keeping me cooped up in my air-conditioned room, I’ve started another game called Assassin’s Creed, where you play an assassin from a secret brotherhood in late 12th century Jerusalem whose objective is to knock off nine baddies involved in propagating the Crusades. It’s fun leaping across rooftops and kicking it Wuxia-style, but the most satisfying (and stress-relieving) part is sneaking up to the enemy and pouncing onto them with your hidden blade. Hehehe, so awesome. Anyway, this should keep me occupied until I get my copy of MGS4, the final chapter of the defining series in the stealth action genre. I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that not too many sick people show up in the MICU next month.

Starting internship in the cardiac intensive care unit meant that I didn’t get to wear my shiny new white coat or carry the stacks of handbooks they handed us at orientation. Instead, I had my scrubs, my ID, my stethoscope, and my pager – and I was prepared for anything. Yet, there is no experience more harrowing than taking care of ten very sick patients in the unit during my first overnight call, and having my first admitted patient die the very next morning. His demise was not completely unexpected. He was a 400lb man transferred to us from an outside hospital on pressors and ventilator support with a 2-page poorly-handwritten note that might as well have been a big question mark sign. But it certainly didn’t do much for my morale walking home post-call that day, drenched in sweat after an hour of doing chest compressions, and having only eaten a slice of cold pizza over the prior 24hr period. After that first night, my diet has improved, though I still act like a fish out of water at times. My first 2 weeks of internship has certainly taught me tons, and I look forward to what lies in store in the months ahead.

With only days to go before internship starts, I spent much of the past week basking in my air-conditioned room to escape the sweltering heat wave. This was perfect, as it gave me the opportunity to set up and enjoy another new toy – my PS3. Considering that I never grew up with consoles like the NES, I don’t think I could ever have imagined having TWO gaming systems in my household. I don’t have any games yet, but the plan is to replace my multimedia PC for streaming music and movies. Speaking of games, we also finally finished Super Mario Galaxy this weekend, after many adrenaline-filled hours of dodging fireballs, collecting star bits, and jumping onto moving platforms. Meanwhile, I also did some reading to pass my certification for ACLS last week. Now I’ll know how to properly yell “I’m clear, you’re clear, everyone CLEAR!” before shocking the unfortunate soul who goes into cardiac arrest during intern start week. Trust me, you don’t want to have to go to the hospital around this time of the year.

After 8 long years, my journey as a med student has finally come to an end. Now, when people approach me in the hospital, I can no longer say “I’m just a medical student,” which for me was like a level 5 circle of protection spell. Heheh. But in all seriousness, this transition is a big step in responsibility. And with great responsibility comes great anxiety. But until then, we enjoyed a double celebration today since Melody got her MPH as well. In other words, while I’m now a doctor doctor, she’ll be a master doctor – not bad for spending just one year for three additional letters in your degree. Actually, this graduation was a 3-day event, with an MD-PhD dinner, an HST graduation, and the Class Day ceremony, giving us plenty of opportunities to take photos, eat free food, and maximize the mileage from our overpriced gown rentals. My parents even took us out to No. 9 Park for Chef Barbara Lynch’s tasting menu (we swear this will be the LAST one this year). The 8-course dinner featured several highlights, including a savory seared foie gras with duck, a well-executed hangar steak, and a light pana cotta with pistachio ice-cream. Other dishes, like the over-salted skate wing and over-crisped pork belly, left more to be desired. Now, as my final days of freedom draw to a close, I’ll have to start reviewing all that medicine stuff I learned. Or else I’ll have to resort to saying “I’m just an intern.” 🙂