nu-gin and carlton go to europe!

the journey begins. will this be a true-life sequel of "harold and kumar go to white castle?"...

instead of white castle, our intoxicated state will probably lead us on a hunt for weiner schnitzel, gyros, or kabobs. almost as good as a crave case (p.y.)!

i'm anxious to see how this trip will unfold. i haven't backpacked this extensively, hitting three countries (germany, greece, and turkey) in a little over three weeks. siva (my med school buddy) hasn't backpacked ever. neither of us know any of the native languages. i guess the uncertainties make it that much more exciting.

many questions remain:

-will this trip just be a full out party, an actual cultural experience, or both?
-what crazy characters will we encounter?
-how many street food vendors can we endure until one of us has to bolt to the nearest stall?

but the biggest question still remains:

-will siva get euro-booty?!?

by the end of this trip, the carlton you know and love will never be the same again!

thankfully, siva will be without his cell phone and texting capabilities. when i post a story, you will know that we are truly having a good time, not the "if siva is really having such a good time, how does he have time to text everyone that he is having such a good time?" thought that runs through my mind every time i get a text from him at 2am.

so check back every so often for a good laugh...

i (heart) craigslist

how craigslist has influenced my entire summer (in one longwinded, run-on sentence):

while i wait for my mountain bike to get fixed up by Mike who posted about tune-ups for $30, i buy shot glasses at his advertised yard sale for the new house my friends and i are renting from Leann the realtor whom we befriended searching through "for rent" posts, using the money i earned working my job as a foreign exchange student greeter and airport shuttler that i applied for from a job posting; but i better hurry back home, because Sumit, my new roomate/subletter, who responded to my post about living in my apartment while i'm away in europe, is moving in sooner than expected (i wonder if i should invite him to this music festival that Bloc Party is headlining...there are a lot of cheap ticket postings...or maybe i should reply to that "i love asian guys" post in the personals section-ha!?).

the end.

pink/orange dilemma

there is a new "el" commuter train route called the pink line in downtown chicago that started this week. and man, this could be problematic.

today, i was late for work because of this new pink line. if you don't know how the "el" system works, i was trying to hop on the orange line that connects with the blue line that takes me to o'hare airport (where i'm working this summer). at the train stop i was at, the orange, pink, green and brown lines run throughout the day.

already running late, i waited impaitiently for an orange train to come. first came a green, then a brown...and then a lighter, brighter color appeared in the distance...it had to be an "orange"! i hopped on immediately. then i hear the automatic intercom system say "this is a pink line train to 54th and cermak" SHHHAAAAT!

this train was taking me due west out of the loop, when I was supposed to go north and east on the loop. to say the least, it took a couple more transfers to finally get to the airport that morning.

funny thing is, this wasn't my first battle with the colors pink and orange. my first "B" in school was caused by these two colors. i remember it well.

first grade. eastbrook elementary. mrs. plankenhorn. she handed out a blank picture of a teddy bear. our goal was to listen to her directions and color in the bear according to what she said.

-"color the bear's body brown." i dutifully color him brown.
-"color the bear's bow tie blue." check. blue.
-"color the bear's nose pink."

OH NO! i don't have pink. i only have the basic box of 8 crayons. i didn't have it, so i used orange instead to color in the nose. i was distraught. i didn't know what to do.

i remember getting back my picture the next day with a big, red "x" on the nose. i came home crying to my mom. it wasn't fair. i knew she said pink. i knew she said pink. but i didn't have pink, mom! my mom laughed.

from then on, i got the kick ass box of 64 crayons with the built-sharpener and 4 different shades of pink. boo-yah.

i swear i'm a legit writer

before i forget, i know i told some of you that i was a journalism minor in college and that while interning at the pittsburgh post-gazette, i wrote this opinion piece on my experiences of traveling to Vietnam (my parents' homeland) and being a first-generation American. a little more serious than what you'll find here. really cool to see my name in actual print and getting paid for it though. so yeah, i really can write. at least that's what my diploma says. as always, comment away.

"all american, after all"

(siva and i are happy that i'm having a good hair day)

*shaaat!*

first year of med school. done. to be honest, i'm not really sure how much i've learned.

here's what i know so far:
- diabetes. apparently everyone has it.
- "flung to the breeze." 1874.
- all. physicians. take. money.
- frotterism.

i 've filled my brain with rote memorization and have very little knowledge to show for it. surge and purge. surge and purge. am i worried? a little. will i do anything about it this summer? probably not. will the boards kick my ass? definitely.

i am burnt out. not just from the academic side of med school, but from the toll it took on my life in general. or lack of it.

i can't believe it's been one year since i've come back from teaching in the marshall islands. my life, my world flipped dramatically. i remember how slowly days went by in the middle of the pacific ocean. besides teaching lice-infected, raging pink-eyed kids, i would alternate my time laying on the beach, snorkeling/spearfishing, and throwing rocks at coconut trees in hopes of scoring a nice, juicy coconut to quench my thirst. you know, the important stuff.

recently, i didn't alternate anything at all...i studied (ie crammed). period. most of the time, alone. my thrill of the day would be checking my email eight times a day, thinking about where i'd eat for dinner, and getting five hours of sleep. unbelieveably depressing and lonely.

i don't regret going to med school though. when i finally piece everything together, it will be amazing to have the knowledge and power to heal someone. cheesy, but true.

in my last summer vacation ever, i'm taking back the lust for life that med school slowly drained away from me. i'm exploring parts of the world that i haven't reached yet. i'm eating at every tamale and gyro stand in chicago. i'm connecting with the great people in my class that i somehow blew off during the year. i'm playing music. i'm free reading. i'm spending an entire afternoon in bed. making out. amen, brotha. amen. it's going to be a good summer.

jumping on the bandwagon...

oh man, i'm blogging...wha' happened?

while i've straight diyasssed blogging in the past, i've realized that it is a good way to collect my thoughts. and i've had a lot of thoughts this past year...