moonflowerthings

[moonflowerthings]

Getting weirder..?

Is that even a word? Well, at long last I got my book of preference and a few online sources to commit myself fully to Step 2 CK. The weird thing here though is that only now (after almost 2 months break) I feel fully functional and purposeful and composed etc. So apparently studying is addictive and there is no rehab (not that I want any) and no way back. I find this somewhat peculiar in an interesting way. Is it all about getting one’s frontal cortex finally fully developed and all?

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Not really sure why flying makes me want to write. Here we go again - on our way to Manila, as if we hadn't had enough first few times. However, noblesse oblige or something. This time we'll stay for two weeks and I can but hope that he won't hate it as much as previous visits. Apparently, there is more fun in it for me.

On our first visit we'b been asked did we liked city or not. As polite and well-behaved adults we answered that of course we did to which the asker replied "No worries, soon enough you'll hate it" and lo and behold next month he was loathing the place.

Weirdo auto-correction tried to replace lo with lol... o tempora!

[moonflowerthings]

How it went

TL;DR - I have passed USMLE step 1,     - there are at least three more tests.

So, I finally had taken and, in three weeks, got the results of USMLE Step 1 (that thing that I had been studying for a while now). The pre-test prep took me a few years of look through four years of med school and upgrading the language proficiency and almost two years of hard work to settle all that in. The test day wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was rather nice day and it went as it should - by the schedule. The test itself was 7 blocks of 40 questions each and 45 minutes of break time, making it overall almost 8 hours. First 3 blocks were reasonably familiar, the other 4 got me stressed out but still they weren’t fiendishly hard. Although I must admit that memories are already quite vague on that point. As many before me, I left the testing facility pretty sure I’ve failed. I’d say however that only about 10 questions of 280 were amusingly unrelated to anything I have seen. Long story short: I’ve passed and unlocked the next task - Step 2.

In my Step 1 prep I went more or less minimalistic way - First Aid, Firecraker cards, WebPath, UWorld and a bit of Kaplan Q bank at the end. Oh, and good old Google Images as well.

I wanted to thank all the amazing people of medblr for tips, amazing tables and charts, and overall for being such an amazingly inspirational bunch.

[moonflowerthings]

Some belated thoughts on test taking

So here I am: sitting on a plane from the capital back to beloved CM, probably had failed the test dismally, even though spent quite a lot of time in preparation, had to spent almost four hours in airport, and now we have weather issues. By we I mean the plane, of course. It's still a rainy season right, so we got turbulence and flew through the thunderstorm enjoying some good shake. Well, it's a pity to die and never to find out how the test went, and never to see people I rather like. Although not having to announce to everyone (my proud over the top better half seemed to share his joy and excitement with a lot of people) how and why exactly I haven't passed... Ha-ha, passed. However, I have my music and the pre-ordered fruit platter - get served first and a bit of extra attention - and there is no reason not to enjoy and parish hungry. I like flying anyway.

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White Temple of Chiang Rai looks fabulous as it always does.

First time we took a bike trip (Honda 500X it was, as I recall) from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to see The Wonder of The North we got there at the exact same time that is pictured above – just before sunset and may I tell you that it is probably the best time to visit.

Unfortunately, this time we were not able to get inside the temple itself but it is forbidden to take photos inside anyway. Still it is a nice artwork and it looks wonderful from the outside.

[moonflowerthings]

Medical humor time!

Weirdest ER Story; Disclaimer: Might Make You Cringe

So, I’m always asked about the weirdest thing I’ve seen since I work in the ER (well here it goes.)

One night I saw the next patient up had the chief complaint of toe amputation. To me, that could mean many things. Does he need his toe amputated? Did his toe get amputated by something and he needs it sewn back on? Let the investigation proceed!

Upon walking into the room with the physician, the patient has a bloody bandage wrapped around his foot. Upon questioning the patient, we come to find he has diabetic neuropathy (which results in basically no feeling in your lower extremities.) He states he recently had a toe nail removed and that the area was draining. This is where it gets weird.

The patient states he woke up in the morning and his big toe was GONE. Kapoof! The area that used to be his big toe was nothing but a nub? But where did his toe go!? It turns out while he was sleeping, the patient’s dog smelled the draining area, thought it was a snack, and chewed away. Because of the patient’s neuropathy, he didn’t feel a thing.

And there you have it. The weirdest ER story (to date.)

[moonflowerthings]

Well, when I say that I finally nailed lysosomal storage diseases, I actually mean that I stuck it onto the wall with scotch tape.

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This is Librarista, from now on one of my favorite places on Nimman.

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This is a cat sleeping in cat cafe in Chiang Rai. It is here to signify that I totally failed my "writing everyday" resolution in less that a fortnight. Thus getting more realistic I will try tow rite at least once a week, but we'll see how it goes from here.

[moonflowerthings]

Have finally visited Baan Dum in Chiang Rai. Lots of folks call it a Black Temple as opposed to the White Temple but in fact it is not a temple at all. It is kind of an exposition of another Thai designer and artist. Though it looks quite different of everything I've seen so far in Northern Thailand. Anyway, I now consider it an interesting and worth visiting. The main building had an elderly gentleman inside, sitting on a stool and singing a song and accompanying himself on a guitar and harmonica.

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On our way home

Early on Monday morning we had a very modest breakfast at the hotel we stayed in (Kesorn Boutique Resort - not a resort per se, but a decent hotel for one or two days) and made our plans for the day.

This time we boldly decided to take another route: first get to highway #1, then follow it up to Lampang, and from there it is only 100 km to Chiang Mai; and to do all that (~900 km) in a day. Here I have to note that we almost did it, failing only the last 100 km part due to darkness (almost no street lights) and curvy and dangerous nature of the road.

The road back was not anything interesting in particular, or maybe we were just too concentrated on getting home as soon as possible.

Some random gasoline station with a statue of a lady.

When we finally got to Lampang it was already about 10 p.m. and we just got into hotel that is closest to the road (named Uthong Garden Resort). The room was clean, the linen fresh and even still warm from drier, and water pressure in shower was good as well.

Hotel’s territory.

Finally, we made the last part of a trip and were home at about noon.

Home, sweet home.

[moonflowerthings]

Milling around WSBK 2016

Somehow I lost the post that I had written yesterday, so lets try it again.

WSBK is an important event in a world of motorcycle racing and I had certain expectations about people to attend it. There were some wearing leather and /or textile riding gear in the baking pre-noon sun. Also, I have seen lots of young and old fellows highly interested in the event and advertised stuff, even without obvious biker’s air to them. In fact one could have bought almost everything from fancy t-shirts and other themed clothing to a real bike and any amount of related products. It looked something like this

or this.

Talking about unexpected racing admirers. At the side stand that we were on earlier in the day most of onlookers were families. However not mom-dad-kid kind, but rather mom-dad-granddad-grandma-uncle-auntie-some neighbors-all grandchildren(from a marshmallowy small ones to teenagers)-and-a-beloved hamster kind. It turned out to be a family picnic for most of them! I was amazed how old ladies were excited and interested, such a heartwarming scene. (NB! Call your grandma or write a letter even).

Later in the evening there was a party and some other stuff, but were to exhausted to stay and check it out. We had planned long trip back next day and having a good night’s sleep would be a good idea.

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Finally I think I got the hang of this app, or so I hope.

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If in need of fresh, clean and cool air, go visit Doi Inthanon park. It's 23 Celsius there and the sky is blue.

[moonflowerthings]

In Buriram

So, coming back to our trip from Chiang Mai to Buriram.

The event that we were going to see was the second day of World Super Bike 2016 that was held in the newly built Chang International Circuit close to Buriram city. And let me tell you that even the town is quite small and rather bucolic, the circuit is not. In fact, the place is huge, good looking and well-maintaned. They have a hotel, ten to twenty small cafes and restaurants, and spa as well.

We bought the tickets to the side stand which is pretty far from everything and is rather minimalistic. ( NB! Next time - only main stand tickets).

The building on the horizon is a main stand.

The event had started somewhere between 9 and 10 a.m. and finished sometime in the evening, although the race itself was not as long.

Our friends had visited a similar occasion on the same circuit a year before and told us not to be too excited because when the race is on it is a bit hard to keep watching. First, the speed: as I mentioned before they move very fast. About the same speed as a landing airplane. Second, each race is about 45 minutes - almost an hour to watch one group of guys riding over and over. Third, the heat - as you could see the stand is open and by noon it had reached 38 degrees Celsius. Nevertheless we liked it! I am not a fan of any sports or a team in particular, but being there and then was an amazing experience.

During the last race we somehow moved with the crowds to the main stand and got into a huge fan crowd which only added to our previous positive emotions. 

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll find out how to upload a video, and write some more on what kind of people attend such an entertainment.

[moonflowerthings]

Chiang Mai - Buriram

Sometime about a month ago we took a trip to see for ourselves how does it look like - to ride a motorbike approximately 300 km per hour and not get punished for that. This took us to the unseen part of Thailand and 800 km from our beloved Chiang Mai to the South-East, to Buriram.

On the way there we took the following route: Chiang Mai - Lampang - Phitsanulok - Khon Kaen - Buriram with one overnight stop in the outskirts of Phitsanulok. Naturally, we never even got into Phitsanulok or Khon Kaen to avoid intown traffic as much as we could.

We started just before noon on Friday and left Chiang Mai for a whole week. Considering seasonal weather changes, March is not the best time for traveling or sightseeing for it is very hot and sometimes quite hazy. Nevertheless, I have a few photos to share in this post to illustrate the whole thing.

We got as far as Lampang (~100 km from Chiang Mai) in a fairly small time period. Not much to see, so had to have this picture as a landmark close to the road.

We’ve decided to stop a bit outside from Phitsanulok (about 20 km on the road to Khon Kaen). It was almost a third of the total length of our trip and some rest would be just in time. I have booked a hotel named “Mader-Ur” a week before, a bit worried what it would be like in real life with only two reviews on booking.com. It turned out to be a good choice. 

 The hotel is just of the road, towards a river. Everything in the hotel and surrounding grounds is new or very well-maitained.

Needless to say, the staff was very helpful and welcoming. As for the room - WiFi in the room was of amazing quality and speed which seems to be the most important thing these days. But seriously, bed, linen and bathroom are new and clean and a great deal of comfort after a long ride on a very hot day.

Next day the road we have chosen took us through at least two national parks, but again - hot season is not the best time in South-East Asia. I want to come back during summer or autumn to able to compare the views.

Yeah, there is something burning and pink is not my favorite color, as it may look.

All the way up to Khon Kaen road was pretty good, but from there up to Buriram it was a lot worse with lots of big trucks on their way South. But no time to complain - we were finally in Buriram and had found the next hotel without any difficulties. Whole Chiang Mai - Buriram part of the trip took us two days, as we reached the latter in the evening of Saturday.

[moonflowerthings]

To hell with that!

As of today I decided that I will not put up with such nonsense as being unable to write anything interesting or something from mighty deeps of my soul in here. Basically, I started this blog in order to improve writing skills and use some new vocabulary that I find on everyday basis. But obviously I have failed for quite some time and now I am making a public statement: no more of it! I solemnly swear to write something everyday for the greater good! (or then again, perhaps, evil)

Hurraw!