Happy Halloween! And General Updates!

Happy Halloween!

So wow, it's really been yet another 2 years since my last post. Where does the time go? It's truly been a whirlwind of events and sometimes, I really can't believe how many years have gone by. Sign of old age, I know.

I've graduated from residency and am now a full fledged board certified pediatrician in a private clinic in the city that primarily takes care of a lot of the underserved population. It can be pretty hectic at times since we accept same day walk ins, but so far, I've been adapting to the new schedule. It's wayyy better than residency hours, for sure. Been quite a long road to get to this point and I'm so grateful I've made it to this stage of my life with all the support of my family and friends.

I got engaged on New Year's Eve 2016 and we got married recently this May! The weather forecast had been threatening rain storms up until the very night before, but we lucked out with cloudy but relatively dry weather. It was an incredible day spent with our loved ones and it feels like it was just yesterday ... perhaps because I'm still in the process of finalizing photos for the albums.

We had an awesome honeymoon in Japan (hitting up Tokyo, Kyoto and Okinawa), ate a whole lot, flew back to reality and we moved into our new house. Attended some of our friends' weddings in the following months. We've since also flew back to Asia and visited Taiwan and Korea for yet another friend's wedding. (It's a big year for getting married!)

Now that we have finally settled back into somewhat of daily routine life, my mind has been turning toward writing again. It's something I can't believe I've had the stamina to power through during my younger years and would love to work on again. Been reading more for pleasure since residency has ended and I remember my adoration for a well written tale of great characters and worlds. (Speaking of worlds, the husband took me to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for my birthday and it was incredible. J.K. Rowling has truly created an endless realm of stories and I can't wait for the new Fantastic Beasts movie to come out!)

So I'm considering giving Nanowrimo a go and perhaps posting fiction online again to keep me on track. Have you guys moved onto any writing platforms besides fictionpress? Let me know how things have fared for you guys in the past few years. Hope life has been treating you all well!

... Residency

So the last time I updated this blog was when I matched into my residency program.

Annnnd now, I'm in my final year of residency.

So, as per norm for my usual updating speed. 

Haha. Sorry. Residency is indeed a time suck. It's hard to believe I'm the senior on the floors, let alone I'll soon be graduating and going off into the real world as a "real" pediatrician (who still needs to pass the boards - I've signed up for a lifetime of exams apparently). Where exactly has the time gone?

It's been long hours and a lot of work, but there have been some great times in the past 2 years: I've managed to squeeze in two cruise vacations to Bahamas and Bermuda, went to Disney World and Wizarding World of Harry Potter!, hung out with friends, family and the boyfriend, was the maid of honor for my cousin (said cousin had a baby who just turned 1!), tried Paint Nite, escaped two Escape the Room games, explored the city, studied some, worked a ton, but overall, not a whole lot of change. Still the same dorky self (my newest app is Pokemon Go - Team Mystic!).

What I haven't been able to do unfortunately is any real writing. :( Can't quite get past that rut beyond a few pages of a new story before scrapping it and restarting. Argh. 

But anyway, I hope any readers who still checks in on this blog are doing great! I haven't checked fictionpress in forever, but I hope there have been nice updates to the site and excellent stories published. 

Past two years' travel highlights:

Crystal Caves, Bermuda

Unfinished Church, St. George, Bermuda

Cancun

I'm back! My trip went well - there were a few wacky moments, some drama, but on the whole, it was a pretty good trip.

But our flights ... insanity.

Our flight to Miami, where we made the connecting flight to Cancun, was at 6 am. We had to get to the airport two hours in advance for check in which basically meant no sleep for the night. I met up with a friend to go together and we spent the night chatting and painting my nails with one of her nail polish.

Except her nail polish is lacquer and needs like a month to dry because even several hours later, the paint didn't really settle in and by the time we reached the airport, one of my toe nails had a chip in it already.

Of course, I couldn't stop staring at it - which was dorky because I would be walking and peering at my toes at the same time. So genius me decided that maybe I could fill in the chipped part with some color so it wouldn't be as apparent. Unfortunately, only one other girl brought nail polish and it was a light pink color - completely different from my dark brown red.

Still. Stubborn idiot as I am, I forged on in hopes that the light pink could somehow build up at the chipped part while being sheer enough to keep the rest of the red color.

So yup, I got what I deserved: something that looked, in the words of a guy friend, "like a diseased toe".



Lesson learned.

But that wasn't the end of mishaps for my feet.

When we arrived in Cancun, we stood around in a circle - a group of 8 or so - waiting for our transportation shuttle. All of a sudden, the guy next to me backed away swiftly and muttered something almost underneath his breath at our other friend, V, across from me. "Hey, hey, you might want to move away because there's a bird ..."

A gust of wind wafted through, messing up our hair. And splat! Something plopped down on my right foot.

It was red.

At first glance, it looked like tomato paste and I was like "WHAT CLUMSY FOOL IS EATING PIZZA OVER MY HEAD??"

Then we all looked up, saw this black bird perched on the roof, and EVERYONE around me took a few steps back in unison and went "EWWW!"

I realized there is no loyalty in this world.

For some reason, the bird's shit was red - maybe it was menstruating, TMI? - and while I desperately searched for napkins, I turned my fury to the guy next to me. "WHY DIDN'T YOU PULL ME BACK WHEN YOU MADE YOUR ESCAPE!"

The guy spluttered: "The bird was over V! I didn't think it was going to crap on you!"

The others started to double over, laughing. V grinned like a fool. "The wind blew it to you!" he chortled. "It saved me."

I had no words. I was too busy hobbling on one foot, trying to clean up the mess while my friend poured water from a bottle trying to help rinse it out.

Indeed, my feet are cursed.

Those birds are everywhere though. I was always ducking and peering up around me.

I See You, Evil One.

So from the very start of our vacation, I was thus dubbed "Shitfoot" by another guy there for our Cancun "nicknames". Yay.

But otherwise, the trip was fun. We went jet-skiing, snorkeling, exploring. The hotel exceeded my expectations. I had read thousands of awful reviews for Oasis Cancun so I arrived in a dark mood, expecting theft and cockroaches and rude staff. But everyone was really polite and the man who cleaned our room didn't even take the tip I left out for him. He was so sweet and we had to track him down face to face to hand him our tips.

Plus, the Mexican restaurant where we ate at a lot - the waiter was hilarious and on our last day, he just set down a cup of lime slices in the center of our table without a word. We were like OHHHH! when he came over, waving a bottle of tequila. Haha, he usually liked to take my order before the others because I guess over there, it's always ladies first so when he headed over to me to fill my cup, he just kept pouring and pouring into a regular plastic cup and somehow, I ended up with the most alcohol compared to everyone else, including the five huge guys at our table. Way too much for your normal tequila shot and lord knows I can't handle my alcohol. So guy to my left swapped with me, wisely nodding "I know this little Asian girl will die if she guzzled this down."

Still. One shot and I was soon silently weaving through the hotel resort. Followed by laughing. Followed by laughing+crying. Sighs. Also, I learned what bad friends I really have especially when one of them kept encouraging me to skip while a camera was locked to her hand.

Anyway, the ocean was gorgeous.

Except the beach was really more like a strip and the tide came in so close to us, we didn't have to get into the water to get wet. We even saw one girl get swept into the ocean, beach chair and all like a makeshift raft.

Ocean to the left, pool to the right. Hotel grounds were amazing.

Too bad our flights home were horrific. Dallas weather was icky so they kept delaying our flights until it was five hours past our original departure time and we wound up missing our connecting flights back. Much drama ensued and us girls got angry at the guys and we all ended up staying overnight in the Dallas airport, girls fuming in a separate corner while the guys rolled luggage carts around tentatively, and we all got home a day later. We were hungry, cranky, and wanted to punch someone out. But everything's fine and dandy now.

Alrighty, that's it for now. Unfortunately, I have to go back to studying. Again. This course is a killer this time. We have exams every single week from now. I'm not even joking. Weekends are no longer breathers - they're cram sessions.

As for writing ... um, no. What is funny though is that I was recently approached in real life by a classmate for an autograph because he read one of my short stories in last year's school literary magazine. Haha, he even pulled out the issue from this tiny sealed ziploc bag. That was flattering ... and mildly awkward. Especially since I think my so-called autograph is more boring than Evil Bird Splatterings.

For the next chapter of Through Me, I have ... like a page and a half. Which is nothing. Because I want to change them. When I have time.

There truly is never enough time in this world.

Thank you so much for your reviews and adding me and my stories to your favorites list. I'm sorry for not being able to keep up with my responses. I seriously have PMs backed up to January. Ouch. Sorry for the wait and I appreciate your patience and support!

Car Accident

Over the weekend, a friend held a pool party at her vacation home as a gathering/ celebration of another friend's 21st birthday. (There are a lot of birthday celebrations these days - we're all summer babies.) Her place was absolutely mind boggling. It was one of those mansions that had its own pool, a separate pool house (picture to the right), a bbq, a bartender stand, a basketball court, a garden, a gazebo, absolute wilderness surrounding it, and these speakers smuggled all over the place to blare out music, as in they were hidden in what appeared to be "rocks" - like what you'll find in an amusement park or something.

It's also one of those places that are secluded, perfect for relaxation, and yet, at the same time, it could also get a bit creepy especially if you're all alone. It pretty much felt like some prison escapee could just bumble his way through the trees and fall right into the pool at any dark moment.

But before we could get there, we had some ... setbacks.

A bunch of people met up and took the train over while a handful of us ended up in the car (an hour and half's drive, give or take) so that we can get there earlier to set up and pick up the commuters from the station. A friend drove up to pick us up from the hostess' dorm and we were all set.

Ten minutes in, we got into an accident.

We hit a bus. No joke.

Our friend had tried to pull around a parked bus into the left lane, but just as she edged out into the lane, some guy in a black van suddenly sped up and tried to cut her off. That wouldn't have been so bad if he had just drove past really fast but no, he jerked to a stop, literally hitting the brakes right next to the car and she immediately swerved to avoid him, smashing into the rear of the bus with a sickening crunch. She let out a really sharp gasp, yanking at the wheel to pull around and over into the gas station next to the bus to check the situation.

What had happened was that the whole front right part of the car had picked up a nasty crater dent. Her boyfriend couldn't even get the passenger side door open to get out and had to crawl over out of the driver's door.

Of course, the black van just sped off as fast as possible.

Thankfully, none of us were hurt and the bus was at its final stop or something and stationary so there were no passengers on. We were delayed for a while though, baking in the heat (it was like the one place where Starbucks wasn't around in the immediate vicinity) and getting leered at by the men passing by for the car wash while we waited for the police and the authorities to oversee the exchanging of the insurance information between the bus company and my friend.

Needless to say, the rest of the group waiting at the train station weren't too happy. They sat around for nearly two hours.

On another note that actually has some sort of relation to writing, I'm currently working on the next chapters for Through Me and Unfinished Business. Hopefully, I might get them out (both, either/or) by this weekend. Hopefully.

And False Facades revisions are still under construction.