The Cat Chronicles, a new generation: Tora.

So, since settling down in residency, we felt it was high time to get a pet.  After searching wide and low for a dog, we decided that our schedules were too unfair for an outside-loving run-around kind of pet.  Thus, we stumbled upon Melvin, my new orange cat.  He is most likely 2 years old, a pudgy rescue from Fresno. He's quite playful, with many idiosyncrasies, which is so far making for full-fledged blogging fun.
so without further ado, I hope you will enjoy, the more permanent version of the Cat Chronicles.


(9/4/11) After searching high and low from my temporary hotel in PetSmart, I used my Kitty Jedi powers to lure a suitable couple into buying me... and a laser pointer just for fun. The man is Japanese, which means they will have plenty of fish. I will now work on convincing them to name me something better than "Melvin". 

9/5/11) I think they have named me "Tora". They keep saying it over and over again. They might have named me "Hey Fatty" for all I know since they repeat that one often as well. I'm undecided if this is better than Melvin.

(9/6/11) I wonder where the swirling water goes in that big white bowl. I think a fish will emerge at some point if I check every single time, and thus I am quite sincere in my determination.


(9/6/11) They can wake me from sleep and expect me to play, but I can't do the same to them. I think there's a double standard here.

(9/8/11) Mental testing part 1: Making the humans ignore the obvious... They've become frustrated enough with me periodically walking across their computers that they completely ignore my secret laboratory being set up behind the human-couch. I'm thinking of installing a mini-bar tomorrow.

(9/18/11) Mental testing part 2: I have been attempting to confuse the humans by putting my "cat toys" in the closet when they aren't looking. They caught on fairly quickly - this confirms that they have memory and deductive processes. However, this does not mean they are intelligent. The constant repetition of "fatty kitty" shows a major degeneration of vocal processes that I can only suspect is related to brain damage.

The Fresno Experience - a beginning among many beginnings

     So, little did I know that my job hunt would make me pass over LA entirely and settle in Fresno.  I start my new job tomorrow, happy about my coworkers and teachers, but still scared to put a foot wrong.  I suspect this is the same in every profession.
     I thought moving to the west coast would be a no-brainer.  More sun in fall and winter = less chance of depression and therefore a better work performance and adaptability to whatever is thrown my way, yes?  Very sensible!  I also have family three hours away near LA in case I need a bit more support, or just somewhere to go on a holiday.  Best of all, I have K here 24/7, since he is now working for the same hospital.  We could even car-pool.
     This place is what the big computer in the sky decided, from all my preferences and possibilities.  (the residency match algorithm)  It's also what fate decided, if I believe in fate, which sometimes I do.  So, I moved to a place with palm trees and overall I'm very happy with how things played out.  The apartment is beautiful, my co-residents are wonderful people and I have only to look out the window to get my full dose of vitamin D!
     However, nothing good comes without consequence.  I still paid a price.
     In exchange of eliminating winters, I gave up morning coffee with mom while watching the Berners frolic in the snow.  For the chance to escape possibly malignant residents and attendings, I can't spend a day off casually studying with O, my non-blood-related sister, venting about the above mentioned unmentionables.  Essentially, I gave up one family for another, geographically.
    Still, over my unwise years I have learned that if you want to keep something, you hold onto it, and if you want it to wash away you simply walk along the shore in another direction.  This time, I will not wander in naive complacency as I am ought to do.  Not making a choice to do something or other is, in actuality, indeed making a choice against that thing... only slightly more passively and unconsciously.  If you want something you have to act on it, or it will pass you by as much as you pass it by - and then who is the branch floating out to sea?  In the age of mobile phones, computers, planes and Skype, I'm sure I can create some sort of active communication with those I love and always want to keep near.  I was never a phone person when it came to obligatory calls for the sake of a relationship.  Somehow now, it no longer feels obligatory.  It feels essential.
    So here's to a new beginning, not forgetting the last chapters - only folding them into the new ones and adding to the well worn creases in the pages.

Headache Blahs Begone~!

My Remedy for headache blahs: a creamy cup of strong coffee and two ibuprofen. Brilliant. 
I ain't feelin' no pain!

Musings over breakfast

     There are a few indisputable truths that I have discovered in my quarter of a century of living: Potatoes, when left too long, will sprout and begin to grow despite the unsurmountable darkness of my alley-way type kitchen.  The dishwasher can only truly be fixed by smacking it a couple of times in pure frustration.  Individuality and weirdness invariably have the same meaning when applied to people.  And hot cocoa is the best end to a long day.  However, there is one more indisputable truth that rises above the others and always amazes me.  Love exists, for everyone and everything, even me.
     My years of living with a Japanese man have brought me quite a few new truths that I have adopted into my original list:  Fried eggs taste even better with a little soy sauce.  Hunger is absolutely an emotion in human males.  And geographical distance can always be conquered with enough air-fare.  But most of all, I have learned that everything is better when sitting across the table from someone that loves you despite the sprouting potatoes in the kitchen, the broken dish-washer, and the many other parts of you that make you an "individual".  At the end of the day, to make hot cocoa and green tea with the same hot water and say goodbye to another day, together, this is love.