evening project

I turned a baggy pair of pants, kind of like these, into a skirt! Ignore the mess behind me - I'm 'cleaning'.


It was surprisingly simple, although the results are imperfect. Just pick apart the inseam on the legs, cut to length, figure out where the new middle seam is, pin, sew, trim.

new favorite terms: upcycling and refashioning.

ah, summer

I think I've found (or rediscovered?) a new love -- sewing! But fancier this time :)

like this flower:


and this shirt - from this:


to this:


I could definitely use some more practice but I think it's wearable? Shouldn't have made it a v-neck, and I wish the top ruffle didn't have to go all the way across, but it's hiding blue letters.

yaay sewing :)

GPI = life.

And I am screwed for my 7.20 test.

John McArthur and Anita Sharma are coming to MIT for Poverty Action Week
(10/13). This year should be the best ever. Go to gpi.mit.edu to learn more about GPI and Poverty Action Week 2009.

That is all.

Goodbye, summer.

The last month of summer has just flown by. Some highlights:

- Date night at Bistro N + Harry Potter 6

- Finally learning something about sales and the restaurant business. I think as a result I'll tip more for good service, even if it's just a bowl of soup. But I'll also be more picky about the quality of my food. And goat cheese = yum.

- Alaska. What a beautiful place, with so much untouched open space. Flightseeing + kayaking among icebergs = totally worth the $7k my family spent on that trip.

- Dinner at Maggiano's. Surprisingly affordable, although the salad was slightly disappointing compared to Nordstrom's. The Lobster Linguini was delicious, as were the sampler-size desserts we got. Macaroni Grill bread is better though.

- Medical school applications. So many essays it's unbelievable. UCSD wants an autobiography.

- GPI has already taken over my life, but this year will (hopefully) rock. I <3 my directors.

Taking a break from rafting on the Klutina River.

My dad practicing qi gong on the glacier.

Larry showing off.

Yoga in the snow!

The view from the airplane window.

Inside an iceberg tunnel. Beat that, National Geographic.

Unlazy summer days.

So my dad thinks i've just been chillin for the past like...7 months since I went to India and while i've definitely been a LOT more relaxed and i've been sleeping a lot, I think i've still been relatively productive?

For instance, med school apps aren't exactly a walk in the park. I haven't been super on top of them because the secondary essays are a drag, but I am still...on time. I'm working like 20 hours/week at nordrstrom and doing a decent amount of reading as well. I've only seen a few movies and a shockingly low amount of scrubs and other tv shows.

It's hard to keep track of where exactly my time goes, though. 20 hours/week isn't exactly a lot, and GPI hasn't really taken over my life yet. I read a lot more news and current events, but it's not like that takes a ton of time. Somehow the hours just don't seem to add up.

9am wake up for work

10am-4pm work

4-4:30 drive home

4:30-5 read/snack/chill

5-6 email/read news

6-7 nap?

7-8 dinner

8-8:45 walk the dog

8:45pm -12:30am randomness/gpi/apps/phone

12:30-12:45 shower

12:45-2:00 read

2am sleep.

not a bad summer vacation. i just wish my job were a little less mind-numbing.

Dear 3rd-year-medical-student-Kathleen-of-the-future,

I just finished reading What I Learned in Medical School, and one of the stories that really stuck out to me was about slowly getting the humanity and sense of self beaten out of you once clinical years start. So I just want to remind you not to let that happen.

You're becoming a doctor to help PEOPLE. Don't forget that. Don't get so caught up in treatments or diagnoses (although those are pretty cool) that you forget there's a patient behind that chart. And I don't know what health care will be like in 3 years, and I know you don't have to worry about who has insurance, etc, as a student, but remember what Nordstrom said during training - treat everyone the same, and don't make assumptions. I think that might apply to patients as well as customers.

More importantly though, don't forget to take time out for yourself. If staying longer at the hospital is "optional", go home at least some of the time. Catch up with old friends, get out of the medical mindset for a bit. Try to maintain some sort of balance, and retain your personal identity. Don't go crazy. Go to a yoga class. Catch up on the news. Watch a movie. Sleep. You can never have too much sleep.

That's it for now. I hope you're having a good time :). Medical school can't be all that bad if you don't let it be, right?

Cheers,

Kathy-as-I'm-applying-to-med-school

Celebrating the Fourth with Lemon Cookies!

Things at work are improving (not that they were ever bad, aside from a sometimes-grumpy coworker). I'm getting the hang of the register and working efficiently. I used to be really impressed by the speed and skill with which tailors and cloth-sellers in india handled cloth, but now I realize that it takes about a week to get pretty good at doing just one thing, and a few weeks to get really fast. I don't really need to think when I work, I just need to pay attention. I guess (and hope) that that's the difference between a real expert like a doctor and a tailor. Although there's not as much of a difference as I once thought - depending on how you look at it, one is just a more complicated skill than the other.

But a good thing that's come out of work is that i now possess the recipe to the amazing lemon cookies we sell. I tried my hand at making them, and they're good, but still not as loose/light as the ones we sell. I have some more dough that I'll bake from frozen (rather than from room temperature) tomorrow for our family bbq. I followed the recipe otherwise, so hopefully that'll make the difference. Pictures from tomorrow...today's are all gone :)

Pulkit's coming to a family event tomorrow for the first time! Took 4 years but we're making progress :)