the guild. san diego.

This weekend we visited our dear friend Mike M.’s restaurant on his last weekend. Incredible space, incredible food. Kudos to you, Michael, and your culinary skills, and best wishes for your future endeavors.

the space.

Chairs were made in the studio attached to the back of the restaurant. Cool, well thought out designs, with lots of specifics kept in mind, like a free-standing DJ “balcony.”

the cuisine.

yellow peppercorn soup
(I might have gotten this totally wrong…but it was totally delicious).

cheese stuffed bell pepper.
I might have this totally wrong again – it was definitely cheese stuffed in something. I really had no idea what we were eating at times – Mike just kept the food rolling out, and we just kept gorging ourselves. With class, of course.

grilled artichoke topped with goat cheese.

kobe beef sliders topped with humboldt fog (!!!) and frites. homemade ketchup.
paired with some argentinean malbec.

scallops on scalloped potatoes.

laotian pork chop.

land and sea. mouthwatering filet mignon and lobster ravioli.

i missed the grilled salmon, as well as our dessert plate (coconut flan, butterscotch pot d’ creme, chocolate coconut cake) paired with some porto.

The Guild / newton & beardsley, east downtown, san diego.

water pressure.

might be missing Berkeley already…

definitely missing the shower in my old apartment… it hasn’t quite hit me yet that I’ll probably never return to Berkeley as a student again. I left really soon after graduation so I haven’t had a lot of time for it to sink in just yet. I’m sort of waiting for that sudden realization but it’s probably never going to happen, and I don’t see the point in waxing sentimental over these kind of things. It was bittersweet though – I finally crawled out of my hermit shell this semester and made a lot of new friends, especially in the last four weeks or so. But better late than never, yes?

I’ve mostly been bumming around since last weekend after my last final and grading for 3A (last grading session ever!) – cleaned up around the apartment, hit up the bars with friends, graduated on Thursday, then packed up and left Saturday morning. I’m seriously amazed at the amount of crap that I’ve accumulated over the last four years, but thankfully I’ve gotten over being such a packrat and managed throw out or give away most of my stuff. And the less that I can bring to Houston in July, the better. So yeah… right now I’ve transformed my brother’s old room into some sort of interim living situation – it’s slightly lame that I’m back at my parents, especially since I’m without a car too, but it’s very homey as well. And hey, SoCal means lots and lots of beaches – time to get my tan on.

Our (highly efficient) 130L lab group – Daniel H., Cyrus W., me, and Jared H.

winding down…sort of.

…been feeling uninspired lately. I don’t feel like I’ve got anything interesting to report. My body has been beating me up the past few days – tetanus booster rendered my left arm unusable, did a long run yesterday that was supposed to make me feel refreshed, but ended up catching a stomach bug that left me stuck in the fetal position for most of last night, and given the loss of fluids and inability to put down food, I feel like my body is eating itself from inside out.

So unfortunate too…today was our last day in 130L, and our GSI brought us beer (it was newcastle too!), wine, and lots of munchies. It was difficult turning down free drinks…but then again, it was 2pm and I probably would’ve regretted it for the rest of the day/night. So I settled for strawberries, carrots, cheese, and baguette… yum! I will miss this class…

And continuing with the food theme… Kevin P. and I hit up Fatapples Friday morning, a little breakfast/brunch place on Rose/MLK. Very cutesy, very Berkeley, very delicious.

Shortstack of pumpkin pancakes.

Pumpkin is good anytime..not just the fall season. It was great with the homemade olallieberry jam they had…speaking of which, ligonberry sauce from Ikea? AMAZING. Especially with the swedish meatballs… who would’ve thought?

And not continuing with the food theme… you know those Call Box signs on the freeway? The small, inconspicuous blue rectangular things? …THEY’RE HUGE.

This is up in Miss Helen W.’s apartment, reigning champ of the SLC =p

I don’t think the picture really does justice as to how large that sign actually is…trust me, it’s just waaaay bigger than you would think. What I’d like to know is how they got the sign in the first place… =)

—-

Update on the deferral issue (see: Nomad.):

After researching different programs and talking to friends and family, I’ve opted to not defer next year. Most of the programs that I’m interested in last for only 3-4 months, and I could do a few of these, but it would get really expensive really quick, and I’m not sure how I’d fill up my time otherwise. I know I’m the type of person that gets really frustrated when I’m not busy, or at least working towards something, so the last thing I want to do is to be sitting around at home twiddling my thumbs. I thought about just moving to Houston in the meantime and finding some work, but I’m not sure if I’ll survive in a new city without school to provide me a social base. In any case, after discussing it on the forums, it turns out Baylor’s clinical curriculum allows 28 months to do 22 months worth of clinicals, so I’ll have lots of free time during MS3 and MS4. Current students have told me that they’ve taken a couple months off at a time to study for boards, to do residency interviews, and to travel. So spending 3 months overseas at a later time is definitely feasible and likely a good idea.

So my plans remain the same… and my parents can stop panicking (hello Dad, I know you’re reading this) =)

Girlicious.

Totally shameless, this is my new favorite guilty pleasure:

Girlicious – Like Me

You know you love it too.

nomad.

I discovered this morning that my life essentially fits in one backpack and one tote bag. And if it weren’t for the fact that I’m still in school and constantly glued to my laptop (as I am now), the backpack probably wouldn’t be necessary at all. I can’t decide whether this revelation is alarming or exciting.

Alarming in that I may not have a true home at all, location wise - I certainly feel no special attachment to Berkeley, even after four years here. And given that I’ve spent the majority of my last four years in Berkeley, I certainly feel just as detached from Southern California and anywhere else I may have yearned to call home in the past (New York City).

Exciting in the idea that I could pick up and go, anywhere, anytime (given the means to do so). I’m at a point in my life where nothing pressing is keeping me grounded to one spot – granted I’m still in school for another month, but other than the formality of graduation, nothing keeps me here after May 22. Just as well, I am ready to pick up and move to Texas, nothing keeping me in Irvine. It feels strangely amazing to be so unburdened…and well, at the risk of sounding cliche, to be so….free.

And then it struck me that it might be in my best interest to take advantage of this limbo in my life right now. Once I move to Houston in July, I’m almost certainly going to be there for 4+ years, at least as long as it takes for me to finish school, and by the time I get out, I certainly should not be in limbo anymore. So in my sleep-deprived, hazy morning, I suddenly had the urge to defer school for a year.

For too long I’ve been too excited to start “real life” and settle down – and given that medical school seems to just be “real life – version lite”, I haven’t really wanted to delay starting and finishing school. But lately it’s occurred to me that a year, or even two, really isn’t all that much time. I’ve been considering the research track at Baylor, which would tack on an extra year, putting me at 27 years old when I get out. If I defer for a year and do research, that puts me at 28. 26, 27, 28… does it really make a difference anymore? And especially when I’m 35, I can’t imagine that it will matter anymore – only the regrets that I didn’t do something when I still had the time.

I know I should give it some time, think about it, and I will – I hate doing anything without the utmost planning behind it – but, I feel like some of my best decisions have been made on impulse, and I’m afraid if I let this simmer, I’ll convince myself to do otherwise.

I do like the idea that my life, as of now, fits so easily into a tote bag – it just freaks me out a little that I nearly left that entire life behind this morning, hanging on the back of a chair in a Starbucks.

6.5 miles, woot.

trading in some of my fast twitch muscles for slow oxidative ones…