bet your bottom dollar

Well, just after I finished whining about the persistent gloom of the sky in Port McNeill, it got sunny. And, I got to go for a helicopter ride in the clear skies to boot.

I have been away from blogging longer than I wanted to, in part due another internet activity that rhymes with, "blogging," but is not nearly as much fun. Logging my patient experiences and finishing off the paper work that I needed to do to officially finish my second year of medicine and start my third has taken up a fair amount of my screen time lately. There is not much screen time in my future either, as I am heading to Camp Winfield for nine days in about five and a half hours.

In brief: My last week in Port McNeill was fairly uneventful, and I returned to the big city on Saturday afternoon. I have spent the last few days doing various life maintenance activities, and visiting before I take off for camp, as I am only going to be back in Vancouver for one day in between camp and New York/Boston where I will be visiting my mom and Alex in New York, and Leisha in Boston. It seems when I was planning my summer the fear of not ever being able to take a vacation again surpassed my fear of wearing myself out before the start of my clinical clerkship. I will be able to re-assess which I should have been more afraid of at the end of August.

Below is a picture of me with Ahmad and Nicole, on our hike of the (very) Beautiful Bay Trail, on Malcolm Island.

the weather fovercast

Today was a 5/10 on the grey-scale. 10/10 being, "as grey as you could imagine" and 1/10 being "just barely grey." I know I shouldn't make a general statement about the place after living here for only three weeks, so I'm not, I am simply saying that in the 21 days I have been here, we have had the following weather breakdown: 9 days of overcast, 4 days of overcast with rain, 3 days of overcast with wind and rain, 2 days of overcast with wind, 1.5 days of overcast with sunny periods, and 1.5 days of sun (with periods of overcast).

Anyway, that isn't really why I am posting tonight. I wanted to write the first of possibly many, "Nuggets that I have Learned/Confirmed for Myself in the Recent Past."

1. I really don't like television. I still watch it sometimes, but I am never in a better mood after watching t.v., than I was before I started. Usually I end up feeling cranky because it has been too loud, or stupid, or full of commercials, or some combination. If I ask myself, "what will I be missing if I stop watching this right now" I can stop watching 99.9% of the time. Even if it is Trading Spaces.

2. It is really great to be outdoors. I usually feel better when I am/have been outside. Especially if my jaunt has included some sort of exercise. I am lucky that lately my outdoors has always included minimal pollution, and a magnificent view of the pacific ocean, the b.c. coastal mountains, and beautiful west coast forests. It makes me happy (even when it is overcast).

two green shirts

It turns you inward. It makes you introspective. And there's something very cozy and romantic about it, I find. People all around me in the middle of winter are threatening suicide because the rain falls day after day after day and I just get happier and happier.

-Tom Robbins commenting on rain

I am pretty sure it doesn't make me happier and happier, and living on the West Coast, sometimes I get pretty tired of it, but I have to agree that rain can be cozy and romantic, and it certainly does make me introspective. On a day like today, when I don't have any real plans it is kind of nice to sit inside and watch the storm. I even talked myself into going out for a refreshing run in it.

Only four days of medicine for me this past week - nothing too exciting. I am not too excited with medicine in general these days, which is slightly concerning considering what I have invested in it, and the intensity of my training yet to come. I'm not going to go running away from med school or anything (right now anyway), but I do have some serious thinking about what is important to me on my thinking-agenda.

Kyle was here for Friday and Saturday, which was nice. He was able to come with me to the big pig roast hosted by one of the doctors in town Saturday night - excited carnivores were all about. Lucky for me there was also delicious salmon. I spent Canada Day on a whale watching boat with some of the other students here. Saw a couple of humpback whales, some pacific white-sided dolphins, tons of eagles, and some sea lions. Alas, we did not manage to spot the elusive orca.