darn you, global economic crisis!

As a student with absolutely no money and just mounting debt with each year that passes, all this talk of failing economies and possible recessions hasn't seemed to affect me all too much; even as a consumer to be perfectly honest it's gone largely unnoticed. That is, until last night.

In between dinner and a movie with a friend we stopped by Starbucks where, much to my dismay, my trusty Cafe Americano was no longer $3.60! Apparently they raised the prices just that afternoon, reflecting, in particular, the current demise of the US dollar. I know monetarily it's "just" 20cents, but it goes a huge way psychologically: $3.60 would round down in my head to $3.50 which would round down even further to $3.00, and $3.00 for a coffee isn't that bad; unfortunately, there's no way of rounding $3.80 any way but up, and well, $4.00 for a coffee seems to make me feel somewhat guilty.

Shoot. I knew I had some sort of backwards investment in the US Economy, postgraduate study plans aside.

The frustrating thing about it is that I know when the US economy eventually does turn around Starbucks won't be lowering prices accordingly. Darn you, places that sell deliciously addictive stimulants for outrageously high prices! Darn you, American upbringing that got me hooked to said addictive stimulants! Darn you, global economic crisis for making me think about all this waaaaaaay too much!

Darien, you'll always have my heart

Rachel, my trainer, took me for a 6km+ run today along this absolutely gorgeous running track following the Peninsula (in the direction toward Port Chalmers). It was already 15C (59F) at 8am when we started, which is pretty freakin' warm for Dunedin! I love the idea of running outside but because of all the extra variables that factor in, it's so much harder for me than running on a treadmill indoors where the environment, the speed, the slope, etc remain perfectly constant. Rachel's great though, just who I need; I'm excited to go back to the track tomorrow (if it's not raining that is). Next on the to-do list: find a running buddy!

On another completely different note, because I'm still waiting for my first chunk of research money to come through and thus literally only have $40 in my bank account right now, I've been seriously economizing for the first time... ever? and I'm in awe of some of the cheaper alternatives I've started to utilise in place of my usual spending++. For example, making lunch everyday with whatever is in the fridge instead of not planning ahead and just buying something while I'm in town. Cooking at lunchtime is actually quite satisfying and fun because what I end up making is totally mood-dependent. Also, I have discovered -- drumroll please! --YouTube in lieu of my traditional TV-series-on-dvd "habit." It's surprising how many full-length episodes of my favourite TV shows are actually on there, legality arguments aside, some of which aren't even out here in NZ yet. And on a whim/for old times sake I looked up SailorMoon, the cartoon of my childhood, through which I not only learned the essential life lessons of right vs wrong, good vs evil, studying hard vs not studying hard (SailorMercury was my role model, sassy and smart), but most of all, MOST OF ALL, the TV show which introduced me to my first love-of-my-life: Tuxedo Mask.

I can't believe my heart still skips a beat when I see him: gloriously tall, dark hair, dark eyes, kind face, sarcastic humour, smart and protective... *sigh*

Please Universe, no knight in shining amour for me -- just Tuxedo Mask, cape and all.

something HAS to change...

NZPA Thursday, 31 January 2008

300 doctors leave for Aussie each year

Nearly 300 New Zealand doctors a year move to Australia, the New Zealand Resident Doctors' Association (NZRDA) says. NZRDA general secretary Deborah Powell said 279 doctors left in 2006 and 253 in 2005 and those figures did not include New Zealand doctors working temporarily in Australia so was "the tip of the iceberg".

"Because New Zealand graduates approximately 300 doctors a year, these statistics suggest that we are exporting as many as we are qualifying," Dr Powell said. "We are obviously not offering suitable remuneration to keep doctors here and what is being offered in Australia is too attractive for our young doctors, with big student debts, to ignore."

Dr Powell said a fifth year registrar in New South Wales earned around $NZ102,800 a year, while the same registrar would earn just $66,200 in New Zealand. She said New Zealand needed to offer better pay and conditions to ensure doctors who were trained and registered in New Zealand stayed here. "Otherwise all we are doing is funding our university system for no net gain to anyone but the Australian health system.... It has become glaringly obvious that we are training our doctors for the Australian market and that's not right for kiwi hospitals, patients and the economy."

"oh, the places you'll go!"

Recently I keep thinking about the guys and gals I met who were a year ahead of me when I first started med school, and how those people have now entered into their last year of study, preparing for graduation and thinking of applying for jobs... which means very soon it'll be my turn; very, very soon. It's pretty darn exciting when I think about it. Of course, there's the whole issue of passing finals, but that's for Future Anna to deal with. For now I will enjoy anticipating the anticipation that is to come.

you had me at "giant marshmallow"

So I try to make it to the gym at least once or twice a week during the year which sounds pretty pathetic but I tell myself it's better than not going at all. And when I do make it, the main thing I like to do is run for a couple miles. My last year of high school I used to go for a 10-15minute run almost every morning which I loved doing. Since starting med school however that has become almost impossible. Plus, I am no longer close to fit enough to enjoy going for a run around my extensively hill-y neighbourhood. So I've decided to invest the time (and the money) this summer getting to a place where I was physically fit enough to easily be able to go for an hour long run three times a week during the school year. I emphasize "easily" because I know as the year progresses I won't have the mental reserve to push myself to actually do it unless I really enjoy myself.

I met with an endurance-running trainer at my gym last Monday who is a.) awesome and b.) super excited to help me with the whole forming an addiction to running thing which is great! In the very least she's enthusiastic which I always appreciate. The first thing she said to me after I told her I currently can't seem to run for more than 20minutes in my Nikes before my feet start to hurt was INVEST IN A NEW PAIR OF RUNNING SHOES. If I want to be able to run 8kms+ I need the shoes.

So off to Frontrunner I went, not really knowing anything about running shoes except that they were almost always white in colour and pretty pricey. The guy who worked there was really helpful and as soon as I told him my story and showed him my Nikes he asked if I got blisters more on one foot than the other -- yeeeeessssss. He got me to jump on the treadmill and run for half a minute and then I watched the video of my running gait which was incredible! I always knew I had some sort of issue with my gait cos my heels wear out unevenly and I did tend to get blisters more on my right foot than left. And now I know why! On heel-strike, my right foot just completely collapses into the midline so that my ankle is significantly out of alignment with my knee and hip. No wonder! It was crazy watching it and now it all makes sense.

He recommended a pair of shoes by Ascics which did NOT work out at all as both my arches were in serious pain after just five minutes. So I went back to the guy and he thought I should try an pair by Adidas (the AdiStar Cushion 6 W) -- now, I'm not a running-shoe expert, but apparently they do like studies and research into "shoe technology":

"Running shoe built for the neutral to under-pronator who requires an enhanced cushioning and extended durability. If you log serious miles, you ll appreciate this shoe s incredibly smooth ride and ForMotion stability. adiPRENE cushioning in the heel and NoSeam design add to you comfort. Air mesh upper for maximum ventilation. NoSeam-fit technology. GeoFit construction for anatomical fit and comfort. Molded Orthoclase antimicrobial moisture-wicking sockliner. Removable insole. adiPRENE insert in heel for comfort and shock absorption. adiPRENE+ in the forefoot and TORSION SYSTEM bar for midfoot arch protection. ForMotion for enhanced transition and responsiveness. Blown-rubber outsole for lightweight grip and cushion. QuickStrike for best lightweight durability and flexibility. This shoe weighs 10.3 oz."

If I had read this a week ago I would've been pretty darn skeptical and wondered why someone would pay so much money just for a pair of shoes. BUT -- after slipping them on oh-so-smoothly and then actually running in them, holy crap I am a BELIEVER.

It's almost indescribable, how amazing these shoes are. And yes, Kirsty will be shaking her head in disappointment that I am now "one of those" people but you just can't understand till you try. Everything they say about it is true, and then some. The only way to describe what it feels like running in these shoes is, it's like you're running on giant marshmallows that mold to your feet with incredible support.

I just LOVE these shoes... and true love lasts a lifetime.

it's summer vacation? really???

It's been just over a week since my summer vacation officially started and, like the eight weeks preceding it, it has been pretty much crazy. Some, like my sister and various other house surgeons/registras I've talked to, think I take on too much especially given this is our last summer vacation as students EVER. And sure it would have been nice to spend the three months travelling... or, just doing nothing, sitting on my butt at home. But travelling and my version of "doing nothing" both require a substantial amount of money, money I currently do not have. Hence, research, research research.

Surgery finished with a bang with tests up until the very last day of the year. The tests, and surgery run on the whole, went really well. In life, you definitely get out what you put in, and needless to say I worked harder on this run than any other time during my four years of medicine so far, and it was worth it. :) Plus, not to mention it was oodles of fun, albeit exhausting (that's probably why I found it so fun).

I had the weekend to recover, then on Monday I was back in my "office" finishing off the research project I've been doing voluntarily (i.e. unpaid grudge work) throughout the year for Prof MS who I worked with last summer. Because I actually got a research scholarship for ANOTHER completely different research project for this summer, I wanted to finish off the project with Prof MS as soon as possible. So for the first three days of summer vacation I was back in that 5x9 windowless room for 10hours a day... sitting in the dark... by myself... photographing cadavaric slices of the anal canal. LoL. But the 10hours a day paid off because I finished everything in three days, and not the eight I had initially set aside. It's kind of sad to be done, completely, because I absolutely love working with Prof MS and I have to admit I'm a little envious of the two summer research students he currently has. I mean, I know if I asked he would have given me preference to work with him again this summer, but I kind of wanted to work in a different area of medicine this time. And I found another incredible doctor (an endocrinologist, Associate Prof PM) who's got me setting up a neat clinical trial which I've never done before, so I'm excited. Yet, I still can't seem to shake this 75%sad-25%envious gut reaction I appear to be having lately. But I know it'll pass with time, especially once my new project gets going. (Yes I went a little insane applying for that ethics application during my last week of Surgery, but I have a bit of a break now before we start recruiting patients.)

So on Thursday (i.e. Day 4 of summer vacation) I flew up to Auckland for a long-weekend holiday to see Kirsty!!! And it was AWESOME. Since the first chunk of my research scholarship money doesn't come through till early December, I'm currently financially challenged so Kirsty just spoilt me throughout the entire weekend, paying for virtually EVERYTHING: shopping, meals out, Phantom of the Opera tickets, even bus tickets! (Kirsty took Thursday and Friday off work to hang out with me). On Thursday we went straight from the airport to one of the biggest malls in Auckland, shopping till about 6pm; dinner out at Wendy's (an Auckland/Queen Street tradition for us, lol); then later that night a friend of ours drove us to Mission Bay where we got gourmet ice-cream from Movenpick. Friday was breakfast on the Auckland Viaduct (another Auckland tradition for us!), followed by shopping on Queen Street which is where I discovered THE BEST STORE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD: Kikki.K Stationary and Gifts. It was HEAVEN. I spent so long in there absorbing it all in, and looking at every single thing they had (and yes, my credit card eventually came out, but it was SO worth it). Dinner Friday night was at a family friend's (basically our surrogate kiwi grandparents), where they always have the most scrumptious home cooked meals. Saturday was breakfast at Cafe Bliss out in Ponsonby where they had the most gorgeous Blueberry Pancakes; then a bit more shopping on Queen Street before heading to the Civic Theatre for an afternoon showing of The Phantom of the Opera. The show was great, the singing much better than the movie, and our Phantom of the Opera cocktails were surprisingly good. LoL THEN, THEN, dinner at hands-down my favourite restaurant of all time, an Italian restaurant called Gina's. Yes, the food was very good, BUT they are unofficially known for their just-as-delicious Italian waiters who were all not only gooooooooooorrrrrgeous, but lovely too. At least, ours was. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say it was a seriously memorable night. I was pretty tired after all that, but some of our friends insisted on going out for the night, and so out we went: John Key won the NZ elections; Jack was there (unfortunately); we made it into The Waterfront, where VIP stamps were inadvertently acquired, and there was a lot of looking silly like a rhythm-less potato on my part; followed by kebabs at 4am... then home. Although I had a great time, I really don't understand how some people can go out like that every week; at the end of the day, it's just not really my thing I think. Given our late "night" on Saturday, Kirsty and I spent all of Sunday in bed. I think we got up around 11am to eat something... then fell back asleep. Eventually I packed, and I was back at the airport by the evening.

It was a great trip -- pretty crazy -- and when I go back at the end of December it'll be a completely different kind of trip as Kirsty will be working, I'll actually have some money, and all the craziness won't be condensed into four short days but rather spread out throughout the two weeks. I love Kirsty's studio apartment, and surprisingly, I am increasingly loving big-city living. I think the combination of visiting Seattle in April, Kirsty moving to Auckland, and this being my sixth year** of living in Dunedin has got me itching to live in a BIG CITY once again. Hence my post-graduation plans are slowly coming together in a very different direction than I initially had, but it's exciting.


Summer's gonna go by so quickly, I just know it. But for now, I'm going to enjoy sleeping in and not worrying about medicine. For now, I'm going to enjoy going for a run everyday, making myself lunch, watching TV whenever, and just... being on vacation.


**To put into context, I've never lived longer than six years in one city in my life; it appears six years is kind of the limit for our family before we start itching to move once again. Funny how that happens. My life seems to be in four to six years chunks: six in Korea, six in Auckland, four in Seattle, and now six in Dunedin -- but it'll be eight by the time I graduate, making it the longest I've ever been in one place... *sigh*... I'm ready for a change.

Afterthought: To make it official (hardly surprisingly) I was stoked at the results of the US Elections. And what was cooler was that I was on the phone with a friend of mine from the States when CNN announced Barack Obama as President-elect. Serious goosebumps (the good kind).