Piano man

More evidence that my friends are so cool and so amazing. I often find myself in their presence with my mouth wide open, speechless and just completely in awe of their talents.

I present to you -- Mike Chan the Pianoman! Who is also a first-year pediatrics resident! I have no idea how he has time to do everything. Again, my friends are amazing.



And just so you know, not only have I performed numerous Disney songs with him, he also wrote me an original composition for my birthday. This will be my claim to fame one day.

I can't wait for him to be discovered. Oh, and hey, Mike? I need to get that thing signed and authenticated.

Skidamarink a dinky dink

There's always been a lot of buzz about the movies coming out of the Sundance Film Festival. Last year, it was all about Blue Valentine. And this year, there are probably some really cute indie romantic dramedies coming our way too (apparently Like Crazy has audiences going, well, like crazy, over it). But the movie that I'm most looking forward to seeing? Being Elmo.

It astounds me that Kevin Clash - a tall, deep-voiced African American man - is the voice of Elmo. He looks like he could belong on the gridiron on Monday nights, yet he's apparently also the voice of our favorite monster on Sesame Street. And he does it so well. I am amazed that he hasn't become a bigger celebrity. After all, Elmo has become the most famous of the Sesame Street gang, but this may be the first time I've ever heard of Kevin Clash. When we think of Elmo, we don't think of Kevin Clash, we think Elmo. Which just goes to show that Mr. Clash has done his puppeteer duties perfectly. Elmo has become his own entity. Even in the video embedded below, where you can clearly see Mr. Clash speaking as Elmo - I still gravitate directly to Elmo.  Elmo is so clearly his own little being. Belief, suspended. A cute little red monster full of love who always speaks in the third person. "Elmo can see her!" Elmo makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

I really do love Elmo. Elmo is love, people, Elmo is love.

And this will always be my most favorite Elmo video ever.

Never say never

So Justin Bieber really is everywhere these days, isn't he? From taking Disney princess Selena Gomez on public dates to IHOP to hawking things like lip gloss, it makes perfect sense that he's on seemingly every billboard, his infectious music playing over every commercial. I mean, he is the person who single-handedly brought back the bowl cut. Stock in blow dryers has skyrocketed thanks to him. For all we know, he is the reason why the economy is slowly getting better.

Then I saw this. Mind you, it was huge so that my eyes really just went to the largest letters on the billboard.

I must admit that I freaked out for about thirty whole seconds, before I read it more carefully and realized it was an ad for PETA.

Because see, on first glance, I mistook U SMILE for USMLE.

Oh man, that cued up some god-awful feelings I have for taking boards. And then I couldn't stop wondering if Justin Beiber was trying to sell some kind of USMLE Qbank, guaranteed to get you high marks on all of your licensing exams.

Seriously, could you imagine?

Heartbreaker, pt 2

Two days old, and still the cutest thing ever.

Heartbreaker

Isn't he the cutest? I guess that's what being half Japanese, a quarter Irish, and a quarter Vietnamese will get you.

JKL. January 21, 2011. 7:01PM, 6lbs, 9oz. Super cute.

Seriously, that smile slays me every time. Happy birthday, Jack! Totally worth the 28+ hours at Prentice.

Busted

I've decided that if I ever do end up writing a book about how the hell I finally made it through medical school and into psychiatry residency, I'd title it Committed. That's all. It's short and pithy, but better yet, it's got that always sought-after double entendre. So I'm just putting that out there, as a sort of placeholder.

Because if you read Michelle Au's blog at all, you'll see that again - terrible things happen to nice people. Someone stole her book cover design. So let's have the nice people finish first for once. Go pre-order her book; her writing is fabulous and funny and insightful, and I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy. And then, if you're a vindictive person like me, go trash the other. Because I read the other person's blog and it is terrible. So terrible that I'm convinced that if that author can get a book deal, anyone can.

Also, will post pictures of the cutest baby ever after the family email has gone out. Because no one should scoop the parents! But trust that he is the most adorable thing in the world.

No good deed goes unpunished

Being nice gets you nowhere.

A couple of days ago, I was fifteen minutes late to a morning conference, because I helped an old lady get to the Emergency Department after I saw her slip on a patch of black ice and fall in the middle of an intersection. So after I helped her limp to the ED, I rushed over to my conference. I sneaked into the back of a very dark room, closing the door behind me so quietly, that I highly doubt anyone even realized I had joined the group. Anyone minus the speaker, whose impeccable night vision immediately saw me and directed everyone's attention to me as I was berated for being late, lecturing me on what the definition of being professional is. (Answer: not being tardy for very important case conferences. His very important case conferences.)

I wanted to talk back and ask if he understood the definition of empathy. Or compassion. And I really wanted to know what exactly was pumping his blood around his body since he so clearly lacked a heart.

Instead, my Amy Chua Tiger Mother upbringing made me bite my tongue, as I stood there and just took it. Yes sir. No sir. Never again, sir. I'm sorry sir. No sir. Yes, I am a piece of scum, sir.

Today I was on breast imaging. And a strange pattern seemed to emerge within a few hours of reading ultrasounds and mammograms. The patients who were mean and nasty to the support staff and techs were the ones who ended up having benign masses. On the other hand, the patients who couldn't have been nicer or more understanding of why we were behind schedule, were always the ones who ended up with the BIRADS score of 5 or 6 - highly suspicious for cancer.

Here's one for the books. Forget smoking. Forget alcohol. Being nice is the worst risk factor for all disease states.