At the very end of July, I was commissioned by the Army in Kansas City. I joined the Health Professional Scholarship Program (HPSP) so that I could do the psych residency in Hawaii. The only other place I could end up would be Washington DC so... think Hawaiian thoughts!!
The first weekend in August, we went back to visit Dad. I had missed Father's Day so I got my Dad some authentic Hawaiian shirts while in Honolulu. But when I returned, I went straight from the airport to Kirksville, so I needed to go back to give him his gifts. It was alot of travelling but thats OK, BB drove most of the way this time.
For the month of August, I was on a Family Practice rotation here in Kirksville. At the end of my 1st week, the hospital held a luau by the local pool. Oh such cruelty to tease someone who is missing Hawaii with a luau that consists hamburgers, hotdogs and giant pineapple decorations. I think that reads pretty well on my face here, that Josh felt the dying need to capture. We had a nice day though. I got to wear my new sarong and we chilled at the pool.
So for most of the month I didn't do much else interesting. Josh and I redecorated a bit. I kept chugging along in the FP rotation. Did my first night of real call. No big whoop. I did however, find out my friend and other previous OMM fellow Bethany is pregnant, and my friend and previous OMM secretary Richelle had this little guy: Jacob Preston. I went to visit him at 3 weeks. He is much more handsome than the picture implies but I was very pleased with how the bunny on my shirt is staring at him ominously and he's totally trying to avoid eye contact. Great, give him a complex about the pink bunny with evil red eyes.
I didn't do much exciting this month because I was very stressed out (and poor!). Hawaii was expensive and the Army was less than quick about paying me, so I spent alot of nights sitting in a corner, rocking. Not really, but I was stressed! And I missed Hawaii! What helped was meditation, just picturing me sitting atop Koko Head, calm, everything having worked out. Which I did. I eventually got paid, finished with FP and moved onto Pulmonology & Pathology in September. Doesn't that sound more exciting already?
Because my father relies on me for such advice….
I have to say Inglourious Basterds was a big disappointment. Everyone else seemed to love it, including Rotten Tomatoes, but hoorah! I found a handful of people who are not unconditionally enamored with Quentin as the rest of the world seems to be. Don’t get me wrong. I have LOVED his work up until Death Proof. That movie marked his decent into becoming Grandpa Simpson…
“We can’t scalp NATzis* like we used to, but we have our ways. One trick is to tell ‘em stories that don’t go anywhere—like the time I caught the ferry over to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on ‘em. ‘Give me five bees for a quarter,’ you’d say. Now where were we? Oh yeah—the important thing was that I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones…”
This critic explained it perfectly…
“So why is “Basterds’’ such a colossal disappointment? It’s mostly because Tarantino indulges all of his worst impulses as a filmmaker and ignores what he does best. The film, clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, moves at the pace of a snail, has way too much talk and not nearly enough action, and spends the bulk of its running time building towards payoffs that either never come or disappoint when they do.
But perhaps worst of all is that we’ve been sold a false bill of goods. The film’s ad campaign makes it look like a breezy, super-violent, anti-Nazi revenge fantasy for Jews — call it “Munich,” without the guilt. We’re led to believe that Brad Pitt leads a colorful team of Jewish characters in a violent rampage across Europe, sort of the climactic “House of Blue Leaves” segment in “Kill Bill Vol. 1” spread out to feature length. But that’s not “Inglourious Basterds,” except for one 15-minute scene early on. Instead, most of it consists of long, long scenes in which people sit around and talk, sometimes building up to something worthwhile but usually not. Especially in his recent work, Tarantino has become addicted to dialogue scenes that seem to last forever.”
Or maybe my expectations are too high. But when a movie steals 3 hours of my time and $25 (tickets & popcorn)… I expect it to be damn entertaining.
*Brad Pitt (and his accent!) was the shining glory of the film. Wish Quentin had just stuck to the Basterd storyline and done hacked him up some NATTzis, Kill Bill style.
I know its a pretty nice day in Missouri actually, but my spirit is low. I know exactly what would make me feel better. I need a run around Koko Marina, a spicy ahi bowl, and a couple hours chillin’ at Waimanalo.
Instead, I will lounge on the deck and listen to this:
PS I posted more Hawaii pics on Flickr
So for the rest of the month in Hawaii, I stayed with a Navy spouse I met on Craigslist, Nicole. She lived in Hawaii Kai, on the eastern side of the island, only half an hour from work. This was the view from the yard of Koko Head!
I did my psychiatry rotation here, at Tripler AMC, a big pink hospital set atop a mountain.
The first weekend of my rotation was a 4 day weekend due to 4th of July! I went to Nicole's friend Kai's house for their luau. See their cute little BBQ with a view! There was teriyaki chicken, short ribs, poke (raw fish) and lots of salad and fresh fruit. SO YUMMY! I made a strawberry shortcake, they had loved it, but had never seen such a thing! Afterward, we went to another friends house in the mountains to watch the fireworks, then back to Kai's to set off fireworks in the streets. Drunken fireworks? I felt at home!!
The holiday weekend I was able to do a little exploring. I made it out to Halona Blowhole Lookout. It looks like these dudes need to lookout, bc people would walk out on the jagged rock right in front of where the blowhole goes off. Unfortunately I didn't get a very good shot of it going off, or anyone eating it.
Josh and I wandered along this coast line when we went to Sea Life Park. See the black rocks on the little peninsula? That's where I took Josh's pic before. We had noticed a lighthouse on top of a mountain, but didn't have time to make the trek up. I decided in my 2nd weekend to try to climb up to it. I got attacked by cacti so I couldn't go that way, but I made it up the mountain pretty damn high.
I knew my last weekend would be short so I had to get in as much exploring as possible on my 3rd weekend. My first stop was Hanauma Bay! I didn't pay to get in but the park area was beautiful and I got a nice view of the beach. Plus I saw a mongoose!
After Hanauma Bay, I took the actual trail up to the top of the mountain from the previous week. I know why I didn't do it last time, it added like an extra 2 miles onto the hike! But wow, you could really see down the coast line from the top!!
I finished off the my 3rd weekend with my favorite food, Spicy Ahi, at the lookout point above Hawaii Kai. You could see the whole town surrounded by the ocean and mountains!
I took this on my last day of my rotation, which was mostly spent doing outprocessing. Its the view from the hospital's lanai. Them were some tall palm trees! And it was such a gorgeous view of the ocean. I was so sad to leave!
I spent Friday afternoon of my last day off buying souvenirs at Hilo Hatties, having dinner with Nicole at the Kona Brewery, and relaxing on my favorite beach, Waimanalo. It was so peaceful there! I spent Saturday with my favorite newlyweds, Bethany and Brandon, taking the long drive through the center of the island. The roads were lined with giant, ancient looking trees. We then skirted the eastern coast, where the road is one foot off the water practically, stopping in at Chinaman's Hat before making our way to the North Shore. I wish I had pictures, but I honestly forgot my camera. DOH! I'll post some once Bethany sends me some of hers. It was such a lovely yet sad day... fun with my friends in Hawaii, but I was heartbroken having to leave!
The plane took off at 9pm in Hawaii and landed at noon in STL. OY! Upon landing in STL, totally sleep deprived and desheveled, who do I run into? Cora and Mr. Brown!! I didn't want my pic taken, I knew I looked terrible, but they kept saying, little white girl, why are your hands shaking? So yay! Embarassed myself in front of the Browns. OMG... at least it wasn't in front of TYLER!
Josh surprised me by picking me up at the airport! He drove all the way down, took me to lunch at Olive Garden, then drove all the way back, with me napping the WHOLE way. What a trooper! When I got back, I was surprised again with a super clean house, and cake and ice cream! I guess someone missed me\
I missed him too... and even these knuckleheads. Can you believe how big BB got while I was gone?!
They’ll either…
1) Say “Thank God! Here, you can take all my crayzee patients!”
(Translate: take ALL of their patients)
OR
2) Start talking very slowly and question whether you can do the most basic of skills-
“Are you… ok… talking… to the… patient… alone?”
Apparently psychiatrists are the blondes of medicine.
1) Smoking is never the cause of their bad lungs-
“I know I’ve smoked 2 packs a day for 60 years but that has nothing to do with my bad lungs… I was a farmer!”
2) If they don’t have a cigarette in their mouth, then they have quit-
Do you smoke? “No I quit!” When? “2 hours ago!”
3) Anything less than 1/2 a pack a day doesn’t count as smoking-
Do you smoke? “No I quit… I only smoke like 4 a day now!”
4) They are not addicted, they smoke “just cuz”-
“Doc, it is the darndest thing! I can go 3 weeks without a cigarette, no problem at all, then I just decide, hey, a cigarette sure sounds good… and I pick it up again!”
5) Their meds are too expensive, they can’t hardly afford their cigarettes!
In the weekends counting down to our trip to Hawaii (and me being going for a month!), Josh and I tried to have special weekends before that. One weekend we had a BBQ at Thousand Hills Park with Eoin, Eppie, & Tess... who we should have left home b/c 5 min after getting there she rolled on dead fish
I also finished up the fellowship the 2nd week of June! Zach finished the week before that, then moved to Springfield MO, but came by with the fam to say goodbye
We headed for Hawaii... Honolulu specifically for a much needed vacation and to check out the area. I'm thinking of doing my residency here, so we gotta make sure we both like the city. Here we are just about to land on Oahu.
We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach. It had its own lagoon! We spent a lot of time chilling right here
One night we went to Hilton's Starlight Luau. It was an impressive hula and firedancing display, with awesome food... though a little tacky being on top if a parking garage
Wednesday we hopped the Surf Bus to the North Shore. We snorkeled at Shark's Cove, then took a bike ride to Waimea Beach for cliff-diving and Haleiwa Town for kayaking!
On Thursday, we explored Waikiki, ending up at Ala Moana, the largest open-air mall in the world! I know its open air b/c I got rained on in the middle of it. Here is Josh at the top level, with a view of the city.
The next day we headed over to Hawaii Kai to visit Sea Life Park. We got to play with dolphins, penguins, sea lions, rays.... and baby turtles! Oh, and Josh even pet a shark.
We loved exploring the beaches! Here we are at Makapuu Beach, where the waves are killer and the volcanic rock is very treacherous and pointy!
At the end of our week together in Honolulu, the Hilton had fireworks on the beach! Sadly, Josh had to leave me the next day. Where did the time go??? We had such a wonderful time!
So… I am back from Hawaii and boy have things taken another turn!
My first big news… I did make the Army Health Professional Scholarship Program! I am being commissioned July 29th in Kansas City.
Second… I fell in love with Hawaii! Well, no duh, right? Specifically, I loved Tripler Army Medical Center and everyone in their psychiatry program. I still have a couple other options as to where I might end up, but it is my goal to be back in Honolulu in a year for my psych residency!
Third… like I said, I have a couple more ‘audition rotations’ for residencies, including some for Family Practice, but they are gonna have to blow my mind to pull me away from psychiatry. Yup I’ve declared my major finally 
Fourth… Josh is NOT joining the military. His entrance date just kept getting pushed back and what was going to be 6 months of us being gone together (him in basic, me in out rotations), turned into me being gone, then him being gone, then deployed, and now there goes like 1 1/2 yrs without seeing eachother. I was the more gung-ho anyway, so don’t worry, I am very happy the way things worked out.
But WordPress hasn’t been. I’m not sure what the problem has been, but it honestly wouldn’t let me post any pictures the handful of times I tried the last 2 weeks. Makes it a little hard to do the whole round-up thing I’ve had going on.
I didn’t mean to leave anyone in suspense, so here’s the updates you were maybe waiting for…which I’m sure will be anti-climactic:
1) Not pregnant…
Not trying. Ok, moving on…
2) The fellowship has WRAPPED and we are gearing up for our Hawaiian vacation at the end of June! We leave Sunday June 21 at 6:04 in the AM! We get in at 3pm Honolulu time and will spend 7 nights at the Hilton Hawaiian village with a planned excursion to the North Shore.
3) I am not only going there bc its Hawaii and we need a vacation… I am applying for an Army scholarship! I’ll be doing a psych rotation at Tripler AMC in Honolulu (it’s pink!) for a month after and if I get the scholarship, then I’ll continue on to do family medicine rotations at Darnell AMC in Ft. Hood TX and Eisenhower AMC in Ft. Gordon GA. I should know the first week of July whether I made it. Its a bit of a gamble, starting an Army rotation before I even make the Army, but its the only time I could do it.. and you can’t win big without betting big, right?!
4) I decided to go for it because Josh is going in, so its the best way for us to stay together. He will be going in as a small arms specialist in August. We both have always wanted to join the military, and with 4th year being so flexible for me, and him having the gunsmithing experience yet not that much opportunity in Kirksville, it is the best time for both of us.
May started out absolutely gorgeous. April had some warm, nice days, but any day when I woke up before sunrise, I had to work up the courage to leave the warm comfy bed and race down the stairs to the ice cold kitchen to let the dogs out. But now that its May, the only reason I don't have to get out of bed is that I just don't wanna.
May 6th was Bethany's birthday, so we went to La Pachanga w/ Richelle for lunch, then to see Ghost of Girlfriend's Past where Richelle's daughter joined us. This is the picture Bethany preferred, saying she intentionally made that face. This kicked off a big month for movies. We saw Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, and Star Trek... twice!
It was also a big month for fishing. Josh caught 15 blue gill one day, then bass, trout, and catfish another day. With all the fish, we had a great big fish fry for my birthday!
Speaking of my birthday... it was my 26th birhday! And this is what happens when you let Katie decorate your cake!
Now you might ask... why was Katie even here to begin with? And why not party on my actual birthday? Well, because Katie is graduating! She got up her the Wed before to watch Star Trek and almost get hit by a tornado. On Thurs the 14th (bday!), we went to the 2009 Graduating Seniors Reception. We remembered why we haven't kept in touch with alot of them, goofed off, had a $5 cup of wine, then bailed. Josh met us at the Dukum where I got my favorite present ever: Tequila shots & Rock Band! And yes Katie approves of the pic, she made it her facebook pic
And oh ya, Katie did go ahead and graduate, y'know... while she was in town and all. Awwww touching moment. And now she's Dr. Katie!
And ooooooh yaaaaa! This little guy stayed with us for a couple days when he followed us home from a walk. He was apparently a a jack russell mix, but how do you explain the ears? The redonkulous EAR! And the curly tail and stubb legs! He was cute on a stick... and his name was Rowdy. But we called him Spike
