Starting out the week with smiles

- Hugs on a stairway

- Snacks with co-interns, getting all your work done in a timely manner

- Chats with friendly librarians, and books sweet books

- Phone calls from the best friend and stories of internship shared

Sunday morning - my favourite time of day

- Discovering new places for brunch Birdman Eating in Fitzroy has to be the best breakfast place not tried yet for 2009. Can't wait to try the baked eggs next time around. Good conversation and laughs with a lovely friend don't hurt either.

- Phone catch ups with an original Cambridge girl

- Fresh dinners cooked by Mum

- Impossibly sunny Sunday afternoons

- Knowing, KNOWING, that everything is going to be okay.

Words of wisdom

"Life will break you.Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either. For solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love.You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."

Workday Wednesday

- Cover shifts spent practicing USMLE questions and realising that we got most of them right

- Teasing a fellow intern in the corridors and making him blush

- Hope from an email from CE hospitals re: critc care years.

- Hearing the gleeful rendition of 'Don't stop believing' on the way back home. Perhaps a message?

Tuesdays to be thankful

- Hanging out with the mother and realising just how funny, cool, smart, awesome and cheeky she really is

- The fact that living proof has FINALLY come to Australia. Goodbye frizzy hair, goodbye! And it is not an unreasonable price either

- Gormann, Totem, Alannah Hill on sale. Swoon.

- For warm cozy nights courtesy of central heating.

Just another Manic Monday

- Mondays spent not at work. Bliss. Mondays spent with little miss sunshine and laughter - even more blissfull.

- Going to the library and finding all of your books being available even though it is school holidays.

- Notes from a beautiful woman who is fast becoming a close friend. Headband parties to come!

500 days of gratitude

- Family traditions and sacred holidays of an epic culture

- Days spent laughing with chocolate with a lovely friend who calls you her button

- The most beautifully crafted movie that tells a story about a boy and a girl. "It's love, it's not Santa Claus". Amazing.

Thankfullness - two for one ed

- ED reunions with two great people

- Stories shared of scary/funny regs and other medical mishaps

- The richest, most delicious chocolate cake

- The peace of mind achieved by sitting in the temple

- Afternoons with Gossip Girl and Glee "Don't stop believing"

- Making plans to see movies and indulge in chocolate and learning to love straightforwardly

Thursday tid bits

- Carrot cake and coffee with my favourite girls. Plans of egg nights, memories of dinners past. Bliss.

- Looking forward to dear friends returning back home

- Glee-ful new obsessions.

Workday reflections

- Getting all your scans approved and completing you jobs before the other team completes ward round

- Tarrantino quirkiness and our own witty comments

- Notes of love and gratitude. Making a lonely boy smile just that little bit.

Good time reflections

- Laughing for two hours with a new friend who you are becoming closer with

- Flirty text messages from a cute boy

- Making grand plans for the future

Love in the time of today

- Amazing surgical tutorials from registrars who have an amazing knowledge base

- Massages from cute interns

- "Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth "you owe me". Look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky"

Sunday thoughs

- Watching spontaneously purchased white flowers bloom in front of your own eyes

- Afternoon naps and general laziness

- Having a good time with your resident and discovering the doctor version of facebook. Gold.

Saturday Smiles

- For phonecalls from far away friends, musing about jobs, love, friends and dogs

- For Irish cardiothoracic residents with fiery eyes and wild hair

- For lazy afternoons spent at home with DVDs that make you laugh and naps in between

Bliss.

'Without challenge, there is no adventure."

More wonderful things

- Not having to turn the alarm clock in and having a restful snooze followed by Gossip Girl

- Making friends with nurses who are traditionally supposed to hate you

- Ruling the hospital with your very own co-intern. Cover shifts are far more fun when done together. Brilliant

The little things

- For chocolate brownies that taste of love

- For women with enthusiasm and amazing knowledge of haematology. She also looked like the Desh. I think I have a girl crush.

- For bonding with your registrar and red shoes

Life's little events (ed: yesterday)

- Pretending to be a critical care doctor and saving the dummy. Definitely ignites my passion for crit care every time.

- Making new friends, especially when they are cheeky, funny, good looking Eastern European friends with the best stories

- Seeing the ex and not pining for him afterwards. Time and perspective are wonderful things.

Things that make me smile

- Realising how much truth is in this statement - "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen"

- That 2.5 years of not catching up has no impact on the fun and silliness that can be had over dumplings

- Radiology registrars who are nice. The ones that are happy to do scans for a reasonable reason without you having to sell your soul. As opposed to the ones on power trips who are crazy.

Daily dose of gratitude

- Mondays where I do not have to work. They simply seem far more decadent than having a normal weekend off

- Friends made this year and becoming closer them. Had the most wonderful afternoon getting some grooming done and laughing my little lungs out

- The genius of Pixar and how a movie primarily aimed at children can teach you important life lessons in just 90 minutes. From director Peter Docter;

"Basically, the message of the film is that the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people, and it's so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they're gone. More often than not I don't really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they're either moved or passed away. So if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, "Wow, I've got some really cool stuff around me every day", then that's what the movie's about."

Things I am thankful for

- Spending time with the smartest person I know over a brunch of smoked salmon, spinach and poached eggs whilst solving the world's problems

- Taking steps forward to owning a golden retriever

- Laughing until my lungs were out of breath and my stomach's muscles sore with some of the funniest, smartest and bestest women out there.

There are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices and everything is possible.

More words of wisdom

Love now, because you may not be able to tomorrow.

Moonriver

Love.

For eternal hope - then, now and forever.

Feeling Safe In A Warming Bath of Sunshine

What does it take to make a perfect evening?

Perhaps a grand friend, one who has laughed with you since the days of sweet sixteen, one that has been with you through thick and thin philosophical times, one that you love as you very own sister.

Perhaps a brand new outfit, a colour blocking dress that the likes of Balmain and Lanvin would be proud of. One that you didn't pay a cent for as it belonged to the grand friend.

Perhaps Ben Gibbard, the soul melting genius of Death Cab for Cutie. The now leaner, Deschanel engaged, alcohol free and dare-I-say better looking Ben Gibbard.

Or perhaps it takes a combination of all three.

The first song, the first melted heart

Youth Group (the one hit wonders, who refused to play their one hit)


An artistic shot of the band - playing 'No Sunshine'




It's hard to look unattractive when you can play the guitar/keyboard, are singing songs about love and heart break - even if you are wearing plaid.


Highlight of the night: Ben playing 'I will follow you into the dark' by himself on the guitar.

Overall, the gig was amazing. Death Cab rocked it out a lot more than expected from their mellow album sounds, but it really got the crowd going and the music simply flowed through your body. They played all of their big hits - most of 'Narrow Stairs', the big hits from 'Plans' and even one song from 'You can play these songs with chords'. I love it when a band respects their fans and plays their biggest hits even if they are sick of playing them, because as much as it is about their music and their talents there are just some songs that are every fan's favourite and when you are paying ~3 hours of your work to see a ~1 hour concert then you deserve to hear the best.

However, there were a few things that could be improved. The crowd interaction was awful, most of it ranged from "Thank you" to "We're Death Cab for Cutie" (oh crap, I thought I was going to Britney Spears). There are so many acts that are so below Death Cab in terms of talent and yet make you fall in love with them through their charm and interaction with the fans (hello Jason Mraz). Also, the sound wasn't the best, often the musicians seemed to drown out Ben's voice, which although sensational wasn't powerful enough to overcome the background music. And there were these two girls, who were squealing (I'm sorry there is no other word for it) at the top of their drunken (after 2 beers) lungs. Idiots, I mean if you're paying $68, you come to listen, especially if it is a small Indie band and not an arena event. If you want to get drunk and sing at the top of your lungs - STAY AT HOME.

Overall, a pleasant experience, made all the better by the company that was with me. Carried largely by Ben's talent. But boy-oh-boy how attractive is talent?

For A Dear Friend

Love of mine some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark

No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
'cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs

If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark

You will be missed.