While cleaning up this blog, I realized that:

• I don't get to blog as much as I would like -- which is pretty much a given, considering the 20,000 things that I have to do in 24 hours each day.

This thought brings me to my second point,

• Most of my blog posts (the very few that I've managed to write) are mostly about stress. Gasp! H-h-how could this be??? (The preceding sentence was infused with sarcasm).

Which brings me to my next point -- that this is starting to sound like the beginning of another stress-laden post. So, let me start over.

I read Pollyanna in my freshman year in high school (it was in our required reading list), and in case you don't remember, it's a book about a young orphan who was sent to live with her stern aunt somewhere in Vermont (I can't believe I actually remembered that), and who is very optimistic despite everything, that she plays what she calls "The Glad Game."

The object of the game is to find something to be happy about in any situation. Simply put, the crappier the situation, the more difficult it is to find something to be happy about...and if you still find something to be happy about despite the awful circumstances, then you're an awesome player (and a VERY OPTIMISTIC PERSON).

To put a positive spin on things, I've decided to play "The Glad Game" but modify it a little bit...and instead list down five things I've been happy about lately:

1. Passing my clinical boards -- this is a definite happy thought.
2. Hershey (Lea's dog) - she's always happy to see me when I get home (no matter how late it is), and she would run to me and get her pats and hugs
3. E-mails from my family, whom I miss very much, and conversations with my sister Chaui
   
4. Cheesecake recipe from Dorie, one of our assistants, which I will try to make this weekend :)
5. Having installed the A/C unit in my room all by myself! Granted, the unit weighed as much as I do, and I had to carry the darn thing from our basement all the way to my room's window, and I was sweating like a pig after all that effort, but all of that went away as soon as the first blast of cold air escaped from the vents and cooled down the summer heat.

Okay, that wasn't so bad. I guess I could write about hapy thoughts as well. :p

My happy thought:


Hershey makes going home from a long work day worth it. :) Don't worry Baby Fish/my Nisca (yes, she's a dog, too), I'm not cheating on you. I love you both equally. :p

Today, I woke up very grumpy and running very late. While I would normally have time to get to class if I leave the house 10 minutes before it starts, walking on snow had made everything very challenging. I got grumpier with every step.

I was also very sleepy (I slept at 4:00am the previous night/morning, finishing a presentation that I'm due to give in a week -- ah, the price of procrastination). I needed to finish it early so I could show it around for feedbacks (yes, it's that big a deal).

Everytime I'm in class, I get stressed out by the fact that I have three extra (grad school) classes this semester, on top of one regular class (not to mention the one class that I am missing due to a conflict in schedule -- I'm crossing my fingers that Dr. Malmstrom won't keep me here to make up for it), and a fellowship, plus an upcoming exam to get ready for (the biggest exam I'll ever take in my life), plus an upcoming wedding...all of which require/demand brain power.

The stress of thinking about it all (hence using up more brain power that I could have saved for all of the above tasks) drove me to drinking coffee. Darn Stephanie for introducing me to Arctic Mocha. So it's a coffee/dessert/frozen drink and not the true-blue "coffee" that most people drink. It has caffeine and it jump-starts my system, so it counts. And I now count as a coffee junkie.

I used to only drink Tim Horton's Iced Cappuccino, but this is not Canada, and so the nearest Tim Horton's is a five-minute drive away. My laziness to drive (and dig up the car from the snow so it can warm up and thaw) chases away the craving.

Finger Lakes Coffee (who sells Arctic Mocha) has carts all over the hospital though, so I have no problems giving in to that "craving" (read: need).

And then I saw the cutest little boy wearing a blue sweater, walking around with his dad with an IV drip and stand. He didn't have any hair left on him, and he was talking like everything is right in the world.

His dad caught me staring and gave me a small smile.

I wish all sick little kids will get better and live full healthy lives. Please, God?

So I like to don't like to do things in order. I think it makes it more interesting that way. :) The truth is, I couldn't find the darn tab/button on the Friendster blog to export my blog here.

Besides, this is such an emotional moment, when you have formed an attachment to your old blog, and then you realized that it is time to move on. It's almost like breaking up with someone, only there's no horrible/bad/awful incident associated with it. And there's more fondness associated with my Friendster blog.

And then your thoughts become murderous when you realize that you CAN'T export your old posts into your new blog. What the --? Sure I cannot have the best of everything, but surely I can figure this out. So two episodes of "CSI:Miami" plus half-way into a "Without a Trace" rerun later, and I'm still stuck.

I want my "Celle-chair" post! I want my "Starter Wife" post. I still hate "DriveShield." I want a lot of other things from my Friendster blog, but most of all, I want the comments that people left on my blog, flattery for my ego, knowing that my words are read by people (never mind that most of my posts are ramblings). :p

So, please do me a favor, everyone. Char, Jill T., everyone who posted on my Friendster blog...will you PLEASE read this blog, too? I promise it will be better. Lol.

In the meantime, for everyone who missed the old blog, you can read it here.