Monday, July 5, 2010

5-Day Weekend

I'm now done with primary care pediatrics in the inner city, and I'll be starting pediatric rheumatology tomorrow. No idea what it's going to be like, so this'll be interesting to say the least.

Because the primary care pediatrician I've been with the last 2 weeks only works Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays (albeit, from 8am to 8pm), I got Thursday and Friday off. I also got today - Monday, July 5th - off as well. So all this translated to a 5-day weekend for the 4th of July. :-D

I've been taking it easy the last few days - hanging out, cleaning a little bit, and working out a little. I don't remember if I talked about this, but apparently I lost about 6lbs during my 2 weeks in pediatric infectious disease, and then gained 3lbs in primary care pediatrics, and now lost those 3lbs again (until I gorged myself during lunch today, alas). Curious. Since I'll be in the hospital for 4 weeks, I'll probably lose more weight (here's hoping?).

Anyway, on Saturday, I saw the new The Karate Kid movie with a friend. I actually thought it was a pretty good movie - I thought that the acting was great and the music was good; Jackie Chan did a really good job. It would've made more sense and been more aptly titled The Kung Fu Kid, but I read somewhere they changed it to The Karate Kid later on. According to my friend, they apparently call it The Kung Fu Kid in China, or something like that. And today, I watched the original The Karate Kid with some friends, just for comparison because it's been years since I last saw the original, and didn't remember it well. Honestly, I thought that the new remake wasn't bad and didn't do a disservice to the original - other than karate having absolutely no role in the remake. Ah well. It's still a movie I think that's worth watching.

Later on Saturday, I went to a outdoor live music festival by the lake with a friend to watch the city fire off fireworks. I've rarely been close to seeing fireworks, so it was really nice to see them go off by/on the lake. :-) The local fireworks were today, so a few of us got a good view of them. However, there were also LOTS of mosquitoes out, so we were all pretty much doing our mosquito-be-gone dance. I really like fireworks.

Yesterday, I watched Infernal Affairs and The Departed with a friend at his apartment. The Departed is an American remake of the Chinese Infernal Affairs. There were certain scenes, plot elements, and even lines that were almost verbatim translations. That was amusing. I personally liked Infernal Affairs better because the exposition at the beginning is shorter, the good guy/bad guy distinction is a bit more nebulous at first (adding to the mystery), and the two main characters were easier to sympathize with. Also, in seemingly classic Asian style, the movie was a bit more psychological and there was more display of high-tech/using wit scenes (if that makes sense at all). The movie had English subtitles, and it took me a little while to get used to them while hearing Chinese. I translate Chinese differently in my head, so the English subs messed with my head a little for a few minutes, haha.

Lastly, Jake (my best friend from undergrad), is now in Beijing. I meant to call him before he left, because I needed his counsel. Alas, I missed my window of opportunity. However, he told me that about a week ago he proposed to his girlfriend and now they're engaged!! Their wedding is about 1 year from this Saturday. I'm so happy for them!! And I'm soooo not missing their wedding, even if it means a lower grade on a rotation (though, I "shouldn't" be on service over a weekend . . . maybe on call? I really need to somehow figure all that out . . .).

4 comments:

naturgesetz said...

Glad you had an opportunity to really relax and took full advantage of it.


word verification: uperter — the planet between Ma's and satin

. said...

Hey Aek glad you've had some downtime to relax. I will write more soon!

Aek said...

Ron: Infernal Affairs, while a Hong Kong movie, is in Mandarin (which I thought was a tad odd). I can understand Cantonese but I can't speak it (well). It really is a great movie though. Try harder to find one that's not dubbed in English. :-P

(We'll talk about this later.)

Mike said...

Yay for a 5 day weekend!!! 8-8 does not sound fun. Guess that's why we haven't chatted lately- not holding it against you- I completely understand.

Good luck!