Cortisol trending downwards

I finally feel like the stress level has come down a little bit. I seriously think I might have developed an ulcer during my month on OB. Actually, I heard last week that one of the OB interns actually decided to leave the program (leaving us with 6, including me, until the spot gets filled-- I think we're interviewing already). Anyway, the first two days at the VA were a bit nerve-wracking, but once I figured out the computer system, everything became very fast and I feel that I can actually get things done quite efficiently. I have felt like saying, to my pseudo-adrenally-insufficient hospitalized medicine patients, "TAKE sOME OF MY CORTISOL!" When I can joke about stress, I know that things are headed in the right direction.

Maybe I'm much happier because I ACTUALLY GET HOURS OFF FROM WORK!

Let me tell you, there is a BIG, BIG, BIG difference between working 80+ hours per week without full 24-hour periods off and working 70. A HUMONGOUS difference. I feel like I have so much free time to myself when it's only seventy!! He he. How crazy is that?!

Yesterday, my day off for the first week, I took off and headed out to Lake Berryessa, a reservoir lake about 25 mi. in length, which is located west of here towards Napa Valley. The drive, through the "Golden Valley" that is the area surrounding Sac, was really pretty-- with golden fields and orchards, as well as ridges once I got closer to the lake. I just brought some magazines, and camped out by the lakeside reading and napping in the sun for a while, before I turned around and came back. It was a really nice escape :) There were a bunch of people swimming in it-- I forget that, unlike MN, it is so warm here that lakes are actually swimmable (I have to admit, MN has some beautiful lakes, but they are frigid!). I stepped in, and it was like bathwater. Now that's my kind of lake even though I hate bathing wear! Unfortunately, I had some camera battery issues, so don't have personal photos to share, but here are some I found online:

Last night, some of us got together for Thai food in Natomas. The pics ended up being more candid than I intended. "Why are you always taking pictures, Tara?!" people complained. "Why do we have to pose?!" "You better get used to it, folks," I replied. The blog must stay alive.

Noelle and Phi Alvin (head down in the Pad Thai) and Brenden (chewing), my fellow VA residents for this past week. Notice they're in scrubs b/c they had to work yesterday and came straight to the restaurant from the VA :(

At the VA, you never get a weekend (i.e. Sat. or Sun.) day off, but one day is your "good day" (where you don't admit-- a respite from every other day, when admits are fair game!), and the other is your "bad." Today was our team's "good day." Although I had discharge stuff to take care of and lots of notes to write (and Alvin was off today, leaving us senior-less and to fend for our own when our attending left after a.m. rounds), I was out by 5 p.m., which was unbelievable (nevermind that it was still a 10.5-hour day!)! I can't believe how much time that gives me in the evening (for an idea of how it might affect a significant other, check out Wendi's post 6 p.m. vs. 8 p.m.)! You actually come home when it's light out. I almost didn't know what to do with myself... I had a choice of how I wanted to spend my evening!

What did I do? I decided I would veg in my bed, read magazines, and do Sudoku. And now I'm blogging. And it's only 8:30. Awesome :)

I suppose that, now that I have time to actually sit down, breathe, relax, and think, I should respond to Wen's tag challenge. I don't think I'll be tagging anyone else (in fact, I'm not sure I have 8 friends to tag, it's been so long since I really connected with anyone!), but here are some random things I could share which you may or may not know.

1. I eat just about anything. At the moment, I can only think of two things I won't eat: 1) Vegemite, and 2) goat head (recall that this was tried earlier this year in Nigeria--see picture below). However, until I was about 21 years old, I boycotted green beans. Absolutely would not touch them. I think this might have been because we had mushy canned green beans at some point in my childhood and I thought all green beans tasted that way. Yech. Well, glad that misconception is fixed!

I love this picture! Wendi's expression says it all (Rebekah is dishing it up). It tasted equally as bad as (if not worse than!) it smelled!

1. I have no trouble falling asleep.... anytime, anywhere (and particularly at movies that start after 7 p.m.). And that's not just while in residency and from being constantly sleep-deprived. I feel bad for people who struggle with insomnia, because I think I just take sleep for granted. I slept through a 7.4 earthquake in San Diego about 15 years ago-- does that tell you something?!


2. I was a marching band nerd in HS. It might surprise you that klutzy me could actually play an instrument and walk (sometimes even backwards!!) at the same time, but (ask my family), it was somehow done.


3. Also back in the day of HS, I was a big tennis player. My senior year, I was the top seed on a team that went to the Virginia state semis (but then, unfortunately, lost). So much for my pre-Wimbledon days :) Now I just enjoy watching tennis (when I have days off, that is :)).


4. My absolute least favorite chore is unloading the dishwasher. For some reason, I just HATE this task. As a child, I was actually quite obsessive about cleaning things, at times running around the house in a little apron pretending I was Cinderella. That has since changed... a lot. However, I don't mind cleaning kitchens, bathrooms, doing laundry, doing dishes by hand, or any of that. Nor do I currently have a dishwasher or have I recently. But anytime I go home, to my parents' house, and have to do this, I hate, hate, hate it! Weird, huh?


5. I used to throw temper tantrums when I had to practice the piano. There. I'm kind of embarrased about that, but it's over with. Can you picture me with my face purple, screaming at my parents that they were so mean to make me practice?! They were right, after all-- I am glad that I took lessons for as long as I did.


6. Forget being a doctor... when I was younger, I thought the best job ever would be to be a data-entry clerk. My parents still laugh about this. I'd go through security or immigration lines at airports and tell them, "That would be so awesome-- to be that person who scans the passports and then types in all that information!". Maybe if I drop out of residency I can go back and train for that.


7. (really #8... somehow the #s got messed up when I inserted that pic) My stalwart Halloween costumes as a child were either... a bag of grapes, or a bag o' jellybeans (leotard plus a big clear plastic bag filled with either a) purple balloons or b) multicolored ones, respectively, depending on what was on hand!). I wonder what I can come up with this year... that is, if I have any time off to attend a frivolous party of sorts! I already know that Alex, one of my OB co-interns, is obsessed with Halloween, so I'll leave it up to her to plan the party.

Ok, that's enough weirdness and revelation for one post. Back to the vegging...