To Maui and beyond

Free at last!

WORK

I've also been thinking a lot about my work and how coming to Boston has changed my habits. Silicon Valley is creative, innovative, cutting edge. Boston, on the other hand,is academic, scholarly, heavily invested in research and teaching. I've never been so academically-minded in my life until I came to Boston. That's good, if anyone is keeping track. It has come naturally to me, as everyone around me seems to be busy, working. Even my 38-week pregnant housemate occupies her free time with watercolor and sewing up things to welcome our newest house member. Meetings are on-time and always scheduled in advanced. They usually don't run long. There's almost no late-night hanging out. In Silicon Valley, it seemed like every other person was working on some kind of startup. Here, it seems like everyone I meet is doing some kind of research project. Research, work, meetings. In the Boston culture, it's cool to be focused, dedicated, enthusiastic to learn. It's not as cool to be laid-back, chill, goofy, like I typically am in California. Or even a rebellious, hot-headed, passionate, thinker-organizer.

Well, I speak in generalizations, if not hyperbole. But that's how Boston has seemed to this former "Most Stressed Out"-turned laid back West-coaster. That's okay. Although the culture is unfamiliar, it's uniquely valuable in its own right. But I do confess my left-coast leanings.

DRESSING FOR THE WEATHER

I've also been thinking about the weather. Bostonis cold. Summer was too short, fall was an overcast/pouring 1-weeker, and we've been stuck in winter for the past 3 months now. Suffice to say, I am overjoyed every time the thermometer hits 40 and when there's blue in the sky. I guess the rainbow in the gloom is how much more friends in Boston do appreciate the weather than Californians. On a sunny, warm day, the whole city seems to be outside.

I still don't know how to dress for the weather and so I wear the same jeans-sneakers-blue sweatshirt-black jacket outfit every day, regardless if it's 50 or negative 10. Maybe I'm morphing into Alienate. Except when I go into the hospital. On Tuesdays, I wear scrubs and stand for 4 hours in the OR as a neurosurgeon does amazing things for children who have flown in from all over the world. One of the most delightful things I've experienced in medicine so far is talking with patients' families after the surgeries. I've never seen so much smiling and appreciation and warmth in a hospital room as then. I like Tuesdays.

On Wednesdays, I grudgingly dress up as doctor and pretend I know something about medicine as I go to talk with patients and practice my physical exam and history-taking skills. Wednesdays are the days that stretch me. But I'm starting to like Wednesdays too. In fact, I like most days here in Boston.

HOUSES

I've also been thinking a lot about houses recently as the one I inhabit doesn't work too well. Boston is old. There's so much history behind these old houses that I walk by every day to school, but the rich heritage is mystery to me because I didn't pay enough attention in AP History 12 years ago. I inhabit a house that was built on a foundation over 150 years ago, when my ancestors in China were still probably living in mud huts and working in rice paddies. All the floors are hardwood. The stairwell is fit only for hobbits and when my roommates tentatively walk up and down, the creakiness wakes me up. My room is heated by an antique radiator that befuddles me -- it turns on and off in the middle of the night. Finally, I cornered an energy conservation inspector last week, sat him down for ten minutes and had him explain to me how we could run up a $550 heating bill and how these darn things of yore worked. Gas and steam. Yikes.