I can’t believe I slept through Christmas Day. I knew how Christmas 2009 would be different since I am very busy with clerkship but never in my life have I thought I would someday spend this very joyous celebration tucked - not even in a posh room in one of those Toronto hotels - but in bed! December 24 was a day of chaos back in East Ave. I was told Christmas Eve/Day is usually benign but the promise of a non-toxic duty went up in smokes. I knew how East Ave meant getting hardly any sleep at all but I never expected I wouldn’t get any wink at all on my last day of duty. Last duty syndrome perhaps? Inasmuch as I don’t want to believe in such, I am forced to believe I was cursed last Christmas Eve. Even if our life was a total mess, my co-duty residents and interns managed to have a fun-filled Christmas Eve celebration complete with martini and some left-over cocktail drinks which we enjoyed over sumptuous dinner (never mind if the spaghetti sauce was destroyed from overheating). What they told me was true. However toxic you are in East Ave, nothing will matter with the happy company you have.

Geez. I’m starting to miss them. =)

I am not yet on vacation mode. I repeat. Not YET on vacation. Notice the emphasis on YET? Uh-huh. In a sheer twist of fate our group manages to get ourselves a week-long break for the holidays. Lucky us! While most of our colleagues back at “home” in St. Luke’s goes on with clerkship life, our group who got to be thrown at East Ave. Medical Center for the OB rotation gets a chance to have our lives back. If only there wasn’t any fighting over who gets what schedule, it would have been nicer. But moving on…

I am looking forward to seeing my friends when I get to have my holiday break from the 26th to the 1st of January. Although I know how hard it’s gonna be not to spend the holidays curled up in bed. I fuckin’ need a social life - and excuse the french for that. Life in East Ave is que horror. I’ve never spent the whole 24 hours awake just monitoring pregnant mommies-to-be ’till I got to East Ave and I’m not talking about just 20 or so patients. I guess I get to encounter almost a hundred of them in one duty day. But you know what they’re telling me is true. Even if a duty day in East Ave beats all other weight loss pills in the world, the experience and fun you’ll have spending with all these friendly faces around is an energizer that could keep you going. So bring it on!

I want you to meet Kaiser, my new love.

Yes. This baby is mine. And the best part of it? I got him for F-R-E-E. I always join raffles but I never expect to win any of those prizes. I am one of those many, many unlucky souls who always end up as “thank you, patrons” because my name always doesn’t land in the winners’ list. But in a sudden twist of fate, my name was handpicked from hundreds of those who contributed for the FRIC (fellows, residents, interns and clerks) Party last weekend. That’s how I got Kaiser. It seemed as if the heaven was listening to me when I told Mela how I wanted an iPod for myself. The next thing I know, I was a giggly girl on stage ready to get precious Kaiser. I haven’t had the chance to tinker with him since I got him. If only I can get hold of the online backup of my MP3s from an old host, then I’d instantly fill up all 2GB-worth of memory that Kaiser has. Too bad some online hard drives aren’t exactly reliable. Sometimes, it pays to pay. =)