Decision 2012

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I recently had a stroke of good luck with the clinical department. After getting a head’s up from a fellow 7th semester that her number had finally come up in the mysterious calculus by which they decide these things, I decided to give them a call and see if maybe I might be able to beg for my last two cores to be put on my schedule. Since I’d been unsuccessful in this endeavor twice before, I didn’t have much hope for this third try but I guess I got an extra blessing that day because not only did they schedule me for surgery in August (I’d have sworn they were going to say that there was no availability until next year) but they also gave me psych at a hospital of my choosing (however, that one will be next year, at the end of January). I almost thought they were going to yell ‘psych!’ at the end of the call but when I checked online, my schedule had indeed been updated. With this unexpected boon, a previously blocked pathway within the realm of possibility began to clear – the road to the 2012 Match.

11 Resolutions for 2011

Happy New Year/明けましておめでとう/¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Apologies for the ridiculously long hiatus to all those have been wondering what has been going on with me. 4Q of 2010 had quite a few challenges – a case of hyperthyroidism that I didn’t pay attention to until I nearly fainted during attending rounds*, some disappointment from Ross, and the start of my Internal Medicine rotation at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (which I am now ⅓ of the way through). Nonetheless, I shouldn’t have left everyone hanging so long. That is why the first of my 11 resolutions for 2011 is as follows:

Christmas Cake

As far as most people are concerned, 26 isn’t one of the big birthdays. There are no milestones attached to becoming one year older than a quarter century – the best you get is maybe some nice cards and money from your parents and less hassle when you try to rent a car. However, there is a sort of significance to turning 26 in Japan – when a woman turns 26, she becomes what is known as a “christmas cake.”

Before I explain exactly what a Christmas cake is, I’ll have to explain a bit about how the Japanese observe “Western” holidays. It’s kinda trendy to celebrate Western holidays in Japan and some of the commercial biggies like Valentine’s Day, Christmas and more recently, Halloween, are pretty popular. The funny thing is, cultural significance sometimes gets lost on the way across the ocean and without the reason for the ritual, the ways in which the holidays are observed can seem a bit strange/wacky/hilarious to expats. One year when I was living in Hyogo prefecture, I saw Lovely Halloween Pocky at my local supermarket and was practically rolling on the floor because on the packaging for the pumpkin-flavored ones, a scary-looking jack-o-lantern was featured (okay) but on the strawberry ones, there was a strawberry with a jack-o-lantern face (um…) and on the melon ones, there was a cantaloupe with a jack-o-lantern face 😀 . They’ve since replaced melon with milk-flavored pocky and the package has a little ghost holding a pitcher of milk, so I guess they’re getting it.

Anyway, Christmas in Japan has absolutely nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with love and romance. Strangely enough, December 25th is one of the most popular days for visiting love hotels. There are even Christmas-themed love hotels – people can enjoy a little holiday spirit when they tryst all year long. For the most part, on Christmas, people generally snuggle up with their sweethearts and eat a delicious Christmas cake. The thing about a Christmas cake is that although it looks great, who wants one on the 26th?

Although antiquated, there still exists the view that a young lady should be married (or at least engaged) by 25 and that once she turns 26, no matter how lovely, successful or intelligent she may be, she’s starting to get stale (if she’s still unmarried and childless at 30, she’s a loser dog). 25 seems a bit young for matrimony to me, but I suppose I have begun to consider getting married and having a family a bit more seriously. I’m a person who likes to make plans and I always planned on being married by 30 and being a mom by 35 (before the maternal and paternal age effect risks spike). Of course now, considering my future medical career, I’ll have to squeeze wedding vows and childbirth in while completing my residency (although according to a pal here who shares the same birthday, the best time to get married and have children for med students is right before the beginning of clinical rotations. It also helps to marry a person whose work will allow him/her to take paternity/maternity leave). While I’m not quite ready to start perusing bridal magazines and picking out floral arrangements (well…the plan is to have white roses and ivy), I suppose I wouldn’t be opposed to an acceptable suit, were one presented by an acceptable young man.

Even though my cake has 26 candles, thanks to my lovely parents, most of the time, people assume that I’m around 19 or 20. If I continue to age so gracefully, when I actually am 30, I’ll still look 25, so I’ll be a loser dog in disguise!