---

time for a blog resurrection?

Maybe I'll try to post something more often than semi-annually. Yeah? 

How about this to start the trend?

Thanks for the reminder, sir.


Cheers, y'all.
M

new year, new you?

I'll keep this Happy New Year post simple and drop here a little line from an old high school pal's online memo pad, filled with musings written incontrovertibly better than anything I could ever come up with. Here's a thought re: the 2014-->2015 transition:

So happy new year out there. We rang ours in with a good friends, a lot of glitter, new rings on hands, and perhaps a little bit of fear in my eyes, a little bit of thrill in his.

Cheers, y'all-- to 2015!
-mca

nostalgia

Missing home, and Oxford, and running, and other stuff lately. Though appreciative, also, of this time in life to map out aspirations and plans and hopes and dreams and world peace. Here's a quote for your Friday:

Deep thoughts from Mad Men. I know.
So here's to that time machine we call nostalgia. Cheers.

-M

kindness.

Like confetti, y'all.

((Happy Monday!))
-M

failures & mosquitoes

Saw an interesting quotation on a tumblr that I visit occasionally, and thought it was fitting for several reasons:

1. The tumblr is called "Medical School," so everything on it is automatically relevant. Obvi.
2. I'm currently completing a crash course in clinical skills before hitting the wards in a week, and we've talked a lot about human error in the medical setting and how to avoid it.
3. Z & I are attempting to revitalize a garden space in our backyard, but have to battle the biggest swarm of mosquitoes every time we open the back door. (Suggestions anyone???! Comment below!)

Anyway, here's a thought to leave you with on this lovely Friday, as penned by an
aptly named James Reason:

So here's to the weekend, and hoping our garden doesn't become an active failure!
-M

snap back to reality

Married! Yay!
(Check out a sneak peak of our photos by the incredible Black & Hue on facebook, and some hilarious shots from our "photobooth" on AndrewsPhotoGallery)

If you can't access either of those, our faves are probably the following:

Then we headed to Charleston/Sullivan's Island for an amazing honeymoon, full of food, laughter, and relaxation. We took about 3 photos total, so...apologies that you can't re-live it with us.

And now back to school for me (!). 1 year down, 3 to go. We're in an intensive clinical skills course for the next 3 weeks, then it's to the wards! I saw this quotation today, from Gawande's Complications, and thought it was an appropriate thought to leave you with:

Cheers to new years!
M

weekend wisdom

T-minus 3 weeks till the big day!
...And t-minus 5 days until my med-school-year-1 final exam...

So how's about a little weekend wisdom? Yes? Okay!

This snippet comes from M.Williamson's A Return to Love (which I have not read, but instead learned from Mr. Internet...). Apparently the quotation's been mis-attributed to Nelson Mandela a whole lot, which I'd definitely take as a compliment!

(Or...fake it till you make it, amirite?)


Three cheers to hopefully passing med school!
-M

ruthless trust

hurry, hurry

Is it worth it? Hurrying, to fit more in?

Air Traffic Controller has put out a good rendition of this paradox. I recently stumbled upon this band (I know, I'm not all that cultured) and they've immediately begun to replenish a sort of upbeatness void that's needed filling lately. The funny thing is that their album I've had on repeat (the cleverly named Nordo) came out just after the time things started getting obscured in my life. Wonder if things woulda been diff. if I uncovered the album then? Or maybe the late find allows for more enlightenment?

San Friendcisco. A rice-a-roni treat.

~~I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and just discovered I never actually posted it....Woops!~~

~~Throwback Thursday!~~

Guys!

Another blog post with an "Oxford" tag on it!

And honestly, if it weren't for a few key faces missing from view—obstructed by a large russet overpass (Golden, some might call it)—then this marvelous, laughter-filled, chilly, overcast week might have made me think I was back in ol' Ox.

In the weeks leading up to this trip, just thinking about the notion of being reunited with these folks made my heart swell with a joy that is tough to verbalize. And they certainly lived up to the hype! Such a great trip. Such a great way to see that coast for the first time. Such a great reminder of why taking that extra moment to send a message to a distant friend is so, so worth it.

Such a great life this is.

Now back to that other coast I call home (for now, hehe), to see even MORE people who make my life such a joy.

To friends, and family, and travels: Cheers!
-M

africa

Don't let the title of this post fool you. This ain't got no fancy update about world travels, nor any intellectual ramblings about injustice or some such. Nah, just a sweet cover of a sweet song. As B puts it, "Two dudes covered Toto’s “Africa” in a Utah pizza parlor and it is amazing."

Enjoy.



~M

why is place so blank?

Howsabout a bit of randomness for your Tuesday? Yeah? Okay:

HuffPost recently put out a map of the 50 states, with each labeled with the #1 suggestion provided by Google when "why is [state] so" is typed into the search box. The map was interesting enough, but I was curious to see what else the spec-maker had to say about my past and present participles places of habitation. [Super original reaction, I'm sure.]

Starting off with none other than home sweet home:

popcycle

Happy 2014! I'm back in NC and looking forward to what I hope will be a great semester.
What am I not looking forward to? Tomorrow's high of 21F.

No matter how I envision my cycle to class tomorrow morning at 7:30, it doesn't look pretty.

Yay for living north of 30˚N...not.

Hope your day is less glacial!

-M

this too shall pass.

"Oh remember dear, this too shall pass, and it always ends the same."

I think You Won't must have been writing about final exam season. Sigh.

Florida-bound in a week! See you on the sunny side.
-M

quotable quotations

Mface here, checking in for my sporadic update. This one's quick, as another Monday test is calling me back to the books. A dear friend of mine—thoughtful and observant beyond measure—knows me and my love of meaningful quotations well. She pretty much nails it whenever she sends me a sweet note (Quotable, ftw), and this most recent card is no different. Reading the card below should give you a decent rundown of how life is going right now--

Now, don't take that to mean I am falling flat on my face right now. I received my final [passing] transcripts from Oxford, I decided on a wedding dress last weekend, and I'm doing a-okay in my med school classes. I'm doing fine, but always have more to work on (:

I am blessed; I am busy. I strive; I struggle.

Till next time,
M

comparisons.

One year ago, I arrived in Oxford, England.
One month ago, I submitted my dissertation.
One week ago, I finished my first block of medical school.

The various relocations, adjustments, and transitions of the past couple years have been exciting+challenging+fun all wrapped together, and I thought today would be an appropriate day to shed light on this most recent Oxford --> Duke shift. It's been interesting to see the curious ways these two very different places have common threads connecting them. Here are a few I've noticed so far:

time: it flies, it flees.

(photo cred: Charlotte Koldeweij)

If I could tell you one thing I've learned in this year in Oxford, it's that time has an unrelenting, undiscriminating capability to…fly.

I suppose I should be used to it by now—undergrad passed by quickly enough—but there's something about a completely unique experience in a completely new place [which coincidentally happens to also be a very old place…] that really makes it tangible. Even little things are making my impending departure start to sink in. For instance: I wrote this transcribed post aboard a train back to Oxford from a day-trip to London, looking out at landscapes I will fly away from in 3 weeks, using as paper the back of a Tube map I will never need again. 

There have been many aspects of my Oxford journey that have continuously taught me time's fleeting nature:

birthdays!

Today marks Zack's (and Micah's!) entrance into this world, oh-so-many years ago. Woot! 

But since I'm far away [and only put a bday card in the mail yesterday...woops...], I gathered up a few friends after Formal Dinner to send Zack a fun bday message. We had a good time with it.

Here's what resulted:

Mel is my favorite.

And this last one would have been fun, had our photographer not caught me putting away my cardigan. We can just admire(?) my calf:

So happy birthday, Zack! We love and miss you in Oxford!
-M

lyrical poetry. or poetic lyrics? or something like that.

Life...It just keeps movin' right along.


On another note: Dunno if it's coincidence or if I'm going through some sort of phase, but I've noticed a whole lot of suuupa lyrical music coming out of my speakers lately. Two examples that have been cycling through as of late are Passenger [a Brit] and Frontier Ruckus [very American, but I saw them in Ox just a few weeks ago!]


Passenger's songs are full of plays-on-words (a phrase I hate to pluralize almost as much as passersby), rhymes, and quips much more insightful/philosophical than first meets the eye ear.

Take this snippet from Things That Stop You Dreaming, for example: