This is incredibly petty of me, but I have to admit, after my last blog that was actually about what has been going on in my life went over like a rock, with only one comment (thanks Maso!!! You da man!), I have been somewhat sapped of my desire to blog. It is a silly reason, but I am the first to admit that one of my impetuses for blogging is the comments. So, being summarily ignored was a bit of a let down. Oh well, I can't say I have been great about commenting on other's blogs either, so I shouldn't expect more I suppose.
I am finally done down in Concord. It is bittersweet. On the one hand, I won't miss being on call every 2.7 days (the rules are no more than every 3), I won't miss sleeping on that little, hard bed, I won't miss eating the crap that you eat when you are pretty much pooped all the time and you drag yourself home to a little, tiny dorm fridge, an old stove and no decent pots or pans to cook in. Most of all, I won't miss only seeing my family once a week. On the other hand, I will miss the incredibly cool attendings, getting to operate as much as I did, and just generally the comfort of having been in one place for a while, knowing the system, etc. Overall, the being home is the best part, and outweighs everything else (but not being on call three times a week is pretty huge as well).
I'm back at the VA, and I think I had forgotten just how miserable of a place it can be. It smells, the patients are sick, with lots and lots of problems, and the amount of crap consults you get is impressive. I think I will end up enjoying it hear, but I do recall not really liking it at first last year. It will probably just take some time to get used to it again.
The quest for new and fascinating music continues. Lately I have been most impressed by a bunch of bands that I would be willing to be a lot of money that no one here has heard of, let alone actually heard (with the obvious exception being my bro, San Cho, who introduced me to some of these bands). Topping the list these days are the following, all of whom I highly recommend: Gojira, Nahemah, Kongh, The Pax Cecilia, Russian Circles, and Quo Vadis. Good stuff, good stuff.
Haven't been playing much in terms of games. I did pick up Marvel: Ultimate Alliance a month or so ago. Fun game, pretty simple and much more of an action game, with next to no RPG elements. That is what I have really been wanting, a good RPG. Sadly, the XBox 360 has a shortage of them (as did its predecessor). I am holding out until Mass Effect hits in early December. Bioshock looks interesting, and now that I am home I will have to check out the demo. Halo 3 is, of course, only a month away. That ought to be fun as well.
Finally, last night, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was a very satisfying end to a fabulous series. Some people like to rag on Harry Potter, but I think that JK Rowling did a marvelous job creating characters you really empathized with, and a world that was rich and fascinating, without delving into the tedium that is often the side effect of serious "world building". There were some things I would have liked to see differently: less camping, a bit more time to resolve at the end, and a couple of others. But it was satisfying. Of course, it was also very sad. I always feel sad when I get to the end of a series of books I have really connected with. I want to know more about the characters, more of their lives. But alas, it is not to be.
Well, not much more to say, so I will wrap it up here. Let's see if I can attract more than one dear reader this time around. Maybe I should go and post a comment or two. . .