The days are long, but the years are short. I was just here three years ago; thought I was going to be around for a few more years, yet life has other plans for me. In less than a month, I’ll be moving on to a different city, for a different job. Honestly didn’t expect to be leaving this place so soon. A part of me feels a little wistful; another part of me needs to get out to save myself. I’ve tried to talk myself out of it, telling myself that I need to stick to what I initially…
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Sometimes life has a way of surprising you, throwing you rotten lemons at the speed of light, that you don’t even realize you got hit. This one hit me hard. For a while, the pain was so intense I almost lost sight of the big picture. I thought about whether to write about it here, but decided now is not the time to share. Perhaps one day, when the pain and trauma has subsided enough for me to talk and joke about it, I will write more. What is the big picture, though? We, mere humans, Homo sapiens, this insignificant…
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It’s been more than year since I last wrote anything here. If this was a room, it’d be full of dust and cobweb right now. An abandoned space. Makes me a little sad when I think about all the lost time that I could’ve shared something with you. Whoever ‘you’ are. How did everyone else live their last year and a half? I’ve been thinking a lot, doing a lot of growing. My cactus has grown big enough to be cut off into a few segments and transplanted into other pots. For a while they looked like they weren’t going…
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You don’t realize how time swooshed by until you look back, weeks or months later. In this case, about a year and a few months later. Where did time go? As we’ve all learned during this pandemic, time felt as stagnant as the murky water in the back alley, but also as if we time-traveled into the future with only a few wrinkles, lots of gray hair, and a muffin top to remind us of the lost time. Last year I completed chief residency, moved from Maryland to Maine, survived my first winter in the cold frigid Maine, and learned…
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This space that has once given me solace, suddenly feels so foreign. It’s been too long since I wrote here. As the year comes to an end, I thought I’d drop by. (Even my choice of words reflect that- I’m ‘dropping by’ to this virtual space that once felt like home to me. Leave a place long enough, and it stops feeling like home… at least initially.) Anyway, I found a number of drafts that were never seen to completion. They were mostly stories about work, emotions that ICU patients and incidences stirred up. Stories of dissatisfaction and disappointment. Angst,…
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It’s true what they say- the days are long but the years are short. I vaguely remember posting about the start of residency, promising myself I will write more (but I never did), and now, three years later, I’m done with residency! Where did time go?! It’s a strange year to be in medical training, and to graduate in. The pandemic, and more recently a string of unfortunate events that led to the resurgence of BLM movement, have impacted every aspect of our lives. Our graduation ceremony was held via Zoom, which was weird in some ways, but fun in…
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2020 has been a roller-coaster so far. I remember back in January, when a group of us were sitting around enjoying our scrumptious meal, we briefly discussed the Covid situation in Wuhan. How terrible it must have been to be on a lockdown and not get to celebrate Chinese New Year with family and friends. We lamented and pitied, as if it were a tragedy happening to other people; as if we would never have to worry about the same affliction affecting us. How wrong were we! Who would have thought? In hindsight, we should’ve known better, seeing that we…
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Through the sliding door of my balcony, I could vaguely make up the few buildings and the street lights lighting up the streets. A thick dense layer of fog blanket the surrounding, it reminds me of the English weather. It is the end of another year, and whilst many cringe on the year-end reflection and new year resolution bull****, I welcome them. I tell myself this is so that I have a better sense of what went well and what went wrong, how I can do better next year, what mistakes to avoid. You see, if I don’t write them…
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Hello. I’m back. Long hiatus. A friend said I shouldn’t ever promise to write sooner, because I never do, and it would just seem like yet another broken promise. Which is bad form. So, no more. I shall write whenever I fancy. I had a mini panic attack the other day knowing that I’m running out of Marmite soon. Thankfully that problem was solved by my bestie who visited the UK, procured them, and mailed two jars to me. Trust your bestie to know what you want and need most. For those who don’t know what Marmite is, it’s a…
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I lied. I said I’ll write more, but so many things happened since my last post, and I couldn’t muster enough energy to put my thoughts and emotions into words. Or maybe I just didn’t want to. Words elude me when sadness overwhelms, and all I want to do is just to run and hide. I dreamed of a 20-foot Sandman who was chasing me everywhere. No matter how far I run, he’d still get to me. Friends and family tried to protect me by allowing me to build secret passageways underneath their living quarters, and eventually I managed to…
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The past year has somewhat gone by in a haze. Bits and pieces surfaced as I tried to recall how I made it through the year. Lots of stress eating, some heartaches, and definitely a lot of repressed memories. It’s not all that bad: there were lots of booze, plenty of laughter, too much ice cream and duck fat fries than I cared to remember, and tears, the latter of which I hate to admit. It’s the Asian culture that I grew up in that I can’t yet shake away, that taught me- tears are for weaklings. And a weakling…
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Baltimore, on a beautiful autumn day. It’s been more than a year since I last posted anything, not because I didn’t want to, but I find myself losing the reason to do so. Some time ago, though, I got a random message from a stranger encouraging me to continue writing because he thought my thoughts were thoughtful and mature, and I thought that was very sweet of him to say so. Truth is, I’ve been meaning to write, and have actually gone as far as creating drafts, but never got around to finishing them up for a myriad of reasons,…