Weekend of friends

    I write from the metro, yellow line, on the way to Greenbelt. From Greenbelt I will take the bus to BWI, then the light rail to the convention center, then will finally walk to the Hyatt Regency hotel in Baltimore. Why, you might ask, would I be making the trip to some hotel…in Baltimore? Well, its that time of year, when hundreds of EMT’s from all around the United States (primarily the east coast) congregate for the national EMS conference. We gather to network, to learn, and to party. I’m going there to meet a few good friends of mine who I spent a good amount of time with during my tenure at Santa Clara, as an EMT. The conference brings back nothing but good memories for me, the first and second years, the planner for the trip. This year I am going as a graduate, who just happens to be in the area. I’m so excited to once again see the group that meant so much to me, and still does mean a lot to me. Some of the EMT’s have already joking called me as their ‘bed mate’ but we’ll see how the sleeping arrangements shape up J. I almost feel spoiled for having such a good time these past few weeks, with the trip to Seattle last weekend, the trip to Baltimore to see the EMT’s this weekend, and next weekend I’ll be going to Raleigh for a party (to be following up with a med school interview in NY). This following picture is taken from Agua Verde in Seattle, WA on an uncharacteristically gorgeous day. 

Update: (return from B-More)

Once again, I write from public transit, as I head back to DC after spending the weekend in Baltimore. I had a blast! It was so good to see my friends who I hadn’t seen in ages (well, since last june) and to hang out a bit with them. I did attend a few lectures: Blunt Trauma, Burns, and Shooting Incident Management but did find myself passing out yesterday afternoon for a good 3 hours after taking some meds to help with my mouth pain. Oh ya, I had my wisdom teeth yanked from my mouth on Thursday. All four of them. And yes, I did it without being knocked out. Yes, I was awake for the whole thing. Yes, it sucked. Yes, I saw a lot of my own blood. Yes, I would do it again, 1: because it was cheaper, 2: because I felt like my awareness of the situation made the oral surgeon’s job a lot easier. I still am a bit swollen at this point on my left side, it seems the lower left wisdom tooth extraction was a bit more complicated than the others. For the first two days I only drank protein shakes and took pain meds every four hours, otherwise the real pain that was being masked made life pretty horrible. I hope that all the pain and swelling has resolved by next week so I don’t look like an idiot at my next interview. At least the surgeon said the procedure went well and that I should be up and ready to go in a week or so. I just find it a bit difficult to eat and to fully open my mouth. Also, I’m hesitant to move my tongue around lest it happen to find the sutures that are holding my gums together. My apologies to those of you who are squeamish.

Back to the weekend, I had a great time hanging out at the hotel, going to the aquarium, watching the hilarity of college partying that happens at these conferences, and the drama that goes along with it. I spent Friday and Saturday nights in Baltimore, sleeping on a nice ottoman (I think), it looked like a very long chair. It was actually quite comfortable, maybe I should consider one for my room…

Now as I head back to the house and get ready for the week time just seems to be slipping by so fast, before I know it I’m already doing the next thing. Who knows what the next week will bring, and hopefully I’ll be a bit better about updating. Until next time!