Wall of Shame

Today's afternoon activity was rock climbing at Rocky Top. I've never been to a rock climbing gym before, but after watching Heiby and Josh tackle the walls, it seemed like it would be a piece of cake. They made it look so easy!


Turns out I lack their experience and innate ability to climb like a monkey. The same 5.8 course that Josh scrambled up took me much longer. I took several breaks along the way, and I'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't even make it to the top without cheating at the end and grasping a few unmarked handholds along the way.


It turns out that indoor rock climbing is really cool, and I can't believe I'd never done it before. I also can't believe how sore my forearms are going to be tomorrow when I wake up. It's not gonna be pretty, I tell ya.

Where Am I?

The fun continues! This morning our Wilderness Medicine class headed over to the Charlottesville Airport to learn about air rescue, landing zones, and the UVA Pegasus team. At the end of class, we all received badges with "LZ COORDINATOR" stitched in. Sunny and I joked that we should add "LU" to the beginning of it to make it "LULZ COORDINATOR." We are much better at creating lulz than we are at creating landing zones, after all. For example, this lul:


HA! Sam and Sunny flying a helicopter? Let's all hope we never live to see the day.

Air rescue was followed by orienteering, where we learned how to use a map and a compass to get us out of the woods if we get lost. Ideally, of course, we wouldn't get lost in the first place. We put our newfound skills to the test this afternoon when we had to hike around an area of the Rivanna Trail in teams of three or four looking for markers that had been placed in advance. At the end of the excursion, we were all tired, hungry, and ready for some Ben & Jerry's. Kyle, Lee, and I set out to consume a Mini-Vermonster in the most tender way possible.


After that first bite, we proceeded to finish the remainder of the four scoops of ice cream topped with fresh baked brownie, chocolate chip cookie, banana, hot fudge, whipped cream, Reese's Pieces, and sprinkles in the next five minutes. Best.

Promised Land

Is this the great fourth year that I kept hearing about all throughout medical school? Why, yes, it must be. This morning we went to Dr. Burt's farm to learn about topics like animal trapping, how to treat fish hook injuries, and gun safety. The best part? We got to spend all day outside, even during the lecture portions of the class.


No, I'm sorry, let me correct myself. The best part? Getting out of class early and then finding out that a new winery, Pippin Hill Farm, had recently opened nearby. It only made sense that we should make the most of our free afternoon and stop by for a quick wine tasting before heading home.


I am sad to say that their wine was, frankly, pretty terrible. Half of us tasted the white wines and the other half tasted the red wines, but I'm not sure any of us enjoyed what they had to offer. Ah well, at least we got to enjoy their beautiful view. Maybe their wines will improve as they age... at least, they'd better hope that they do, or I don't think they'll be in business for very long.

Rescue Me

What better way to end medical school than on a rotation like Wilderness Medicine? We had our first class today, which started with lectures this morning and ended with a trip to Ragged Mountain Natural Area this afternoon. We practiced how to secure a patient who may have a spinal injury, worked on some knots and harnesses, and even practiced rescuing Josh off of the side of a mountain. And all of this in balmy, 70 degree weather. What else could go right!?


In other news, I just finished watching the first season of Downton Abbey. It... is... so... good!

Curtain Call

It's been said that all good things must come to an end, and so must this weekend's run of H2$. I'm happy to say that we put on three great performances. And, as with the close of every show or concert I've done, I have mixed feelings of relief and remorse. Relief that I once again have my evenings back, and remorse that I will likely never perform that music again.

It almost makes me wish I could fulfill my lifelong dream. No, not the one where I become a pediatric cardiologist; that one's still going strong. The other one, where I play piano for a hit Broadway production. It would be great to play the same wonderful music over and over, and not just for a weekend or two, but for months at a time. I don't know, maybe the thrill of being onstage (or under it, as the case may be) would eventually wear off... but man, I'd love to see what would happen if it didn't.

But that's the life for another Sam to lead. I don't know of any residents with side jobs in a major theater company. No, this Sam will just have to be content with community productions from now on.

Today's shout-outs go to Josh, Neil, and Nosheen, who came to last night's performance and then subsequently kept me up till up until 5am. I honestly don't know whether to thank you for a fun night or to curse you for a terrible morning.

Opening Night

After three weeks of rehearsal (on my part, anyway), Charlottesville High School's production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying finally opened last night. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results. I may have messed up a few notes, but nothing was show-stoppingly egregious, which is always a good thing. Unfortunately, I can't see the stage from where I am in the pit, but from what I hear, the kids did a fantastic job. And now that the opening night nerves are out of the way, the show will just get better and better with each performance!

Naturally, I was on a performance high immediately after the show. It's probably my favorite feeling in the world: the bows are over, the curtains are closed, and I'm just hamming it up on the exit music. And while I'm not the world's best pianist, I'm definitely one of the greatest hams alive. I can make you think I'm playing a piano concerto when I'm really just playing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

And, like all musicians, I judge the quality of my friends on whether or not they come see me perform. So here's a shout-out to Chrissy and Paul, who came to the show last night. Thanks for your support, guys!

The Best Things In Life

...are free, I'm told. Well, I can't say whether or not that's true, but the free concert that Sons of Bill put on last night at the Paramount was pretty darn good. It's been a while since I've heard them play live, so I was glad when Josh and Neil told me they wanted to come, too. It was a great set: they played a good mix of old songs that I recognized and new songs off of Sirens, which comes out in stores next week.

I could go on and on about Sam's outrageous skills on the guitar, Abe's bluesy flat threes on the keyboard, and their lush harmonies (first inversion over the melody? how do they know I'm a sucker that kind of stuff??), amongst other things. But it's easier for me to say that you should go check out their music for yourself.

Special thanks to Lisa, who had an extra voucher with her and let me have it so that I could get a free copy of Sirens after the concert. Also, special eye roll to Paul, who randomly showed up halfway through the concert. What the heck, dude??

High School Diary

Yesterday's rehearsal went much more smoothly than the one from the day before. In fact, so did dinner. This time, I wasn't regarded as a social pariah and people actually sat and ate with me! One of the pit members even got up and brought me some french fries when he overheard me say that I wanted some. I felt so cool!

Of course, having seeing all of those movies about high schoolers while I was growing up, I kept waiting for someone to slip up and accidentally reveal that everyone was just being nice to me as part of a bet. Luckily, that never happened.

Instead, rejection came later in the night in the form of trivia at McGrady's. When I showed up, they were announcing scores from the second round, at which point our team was tied for first. After the third round, we were in a three-way tie for first. And then, after the fourth and final round, during which we only missed one question, we came in second. HOW DEVASTATING!

And, in case you're wondering, the largest country by land area in the European Union is France (674,843 km2), not Poland (312,685 km2). I will never forget.

Tech Week

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done one of these. Between now and opening night, we're rehearsing from 4pm until 9pm every evening. It's a good way to really solidify all of the scene changes and figure out what the heck we're doing with the underscoring, but I won't lie and say it's not tiring.

At least in the middle of rehearsal we get a break when the parents come and feed us dinner. Tonight we had some chili, some salad, some pasta, and even some pizza. Not bad for a free meal! Although a bit of a lonely one... for some strange reason none of the high schoolers wanted to share a cafeteria table with the weird old guy who forgot to shave this morning. As Paul pointed out, at least I wasn't wearing my lime green shorts from The Legwarmers concert. Things could always be worse/I could always be creepier.

Only four more days until we go in front of an audience. So little time, so much music left to learn!

Long Live the '80s

Last night The Legwarmers came to play a concert at The Jefferson. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they are an '80s cover band, and it's customary for people to dress the part when they go to their shows. And that, my friends, is exactly what we did.


Although apparently Jim was a very fashion-forward guy from the '80s who already dressed like someone in the 2010s. Way to go, Jim.

I'm particularly proud of my costume, which once again, was created with the help of Chrissy. I had bought a puffy pink jacket from Goodwill and Chrissy helped me cut the sleeves off and sew it back together to make a vest that will now be the staple of any future '80s party I go to. I heard those are very popular in Washington Heights... am I right??

Gross Factor

I just took Titan and Bam Bam outside to play for a little bit. Titan was squatting like a girl to pee like he always does when Bam Bam crouched down under him and drank the pee as it was coming out.

Dogs are disgusting.

Prophecy Fulfilled

I once told Grace this story and promised her that I would share it after Match Day.

After interview season ended, I had a pretty difficult time figuring out how I wanted to rank my programs. I thought Columbia would be my top choice, but I liked so many other places for so many different reasons that I just couldn't be sure.

That was about the time when the Giants played the Patriots in Superbowl XLVI. Right before the game started, I said a brief prayer to God that if the Giants won, then I would put my faith in New York City and trust that I should rank them #1 and that it would be a sign that I would match there. I know, you're not supposed to make bets with or place stipulations upon God, but I just didn't trust my own instinct enough and I wanted some sort of "proof" (however trivially related to medicine it may be) that I belonged at Columbia.

Well, the Giants beat the Patriots 21-17, and in three months, I'll have started my new job at the New York Presbyterian Hospital. So what did I learn from this experience?

Eli Manning holds the key to my futures.

I'M GOING TO COLUMBIA!

In case the title of this post isn't clear enough, I matched to my top choice of residency programs at Columbia University. Dare I say that this is the best day of my life? After being waitlisted at Columbia for undergrad and waitlisted at Columbia for med school, I'm finally going to move to the Big Apple for my general pediatrics training at the Children's Hospital of New York. Looks like third time's the charm!

Not everyone is quite as excited as me, though. Right after I found where I was going, I screamed for a while, hugged people for a while, blabbered to the NBC29 reporter who tried to interview me for a while, and then finally got away long enough to call my parents. This is how the phone conversation went [translated]:

Mom: Hello?
Sam: Mom, it's me! I matched into my number one choice at Columbia! I'm so excited!
[five second pause]
Sam: Mom, did you hear me?
Mom: So... does that mean you aren't going to Harvard?

All's well that ends well, though. Fifteen minutes later she called me back to tell me that she had been on the phone with all of her friends telling them the good news, and that she was really happy for me.

But seriously... so Asian.

Sleep Deprivation

For some reason, I haven't slept more than five hours any night of this week. It's not that I have important things to do: I've just either been going out or, I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit, reading A Dance with Dragons. I'm so nervous! What will happen when I finish this novel and I have to wait for George R. R. Martin to finish the last two books in the series? I'm afraid I'll start feeling like I did when I caught up on the Harry Potter books or on the LOST seasons: empty and alone.

Mkay, naptime.

O-Hill Yeah!

What better way to spend Hump Day than having dinner at Observatory Hill? A bunch of us celebrated our undergrad roots tonight by heading back to the fondly-loved dining hall of our youths.

We found a few changes: the stir fry station is no longer self-serve; you have to tell the chefs what vegetables you want in your dish and they add them in for you. There's also a new machine that you can use to grind up peanuts to make peanut butter.

But for the most part, everything was the same. I was excited to use the waffle maker again, although my technique seems to have declined in quality over the past few years. Um, by the way, that's apple butter on my waffle, not diarrhea.


At least my ice milk dispensing skills are still intact!


As you can tell, I'm wearing my old Lefevre Dorm t-shirt from third year. You know, the one that I got before anyone else in the dining hall had even graduated from high school. GAH I AM SO OLD!!

Ten Pin

Let the Match Week festivities continue! Last night we drove to Waynesboro to enjoy the legendary Wayne Lanes (surprisingly, it's not called Waynes Lanes, as we had all believed). I'd heard about it so much over the years, it was nice to finally go enjoy it.

I loved that the shoe rentals were only $3 and the games were only $1 each, but for some reason, the drop in price corresponded to a drop in my performance. I've never been a good bowler, but I only got 75 and 66 points on my two games last night, which might be the lowest scores I've ever received in my entire life. In fact, the best part of my game was probably my funky yellow and orange shoes.


I also decided to try the Bud Light Platinum, which has been so heavily advertised on TV, while I was at the bowling alley. It actually tastes really good, and it has 6% ABV (compared to 5% ABV for Budweiser) but contains eight less calories per 12-ounce bottle. I'm sold!

Power Up

I got my laptop charger back! Amanda was kind enough to bring it back from the hostel in Guatemala City where I had stayed the night before my flight, and Lis brought it to class with her today. No more stealing power from Lee and Bassem, like I had been doing.

But a laptop charger is not all that I received. Apparently the hostel just gave Amanda every piece of electronic connecting device that anyone had ever left there, including an iPod charger and a telephone line. Uh, what? Does anybody under the age of 30 still use a landline? And who travels with one internationally??

I Have a Job!

Today is the Monday of Match Week, which means that we found out whether or not we matched into a program on our rank list. The news came in the form of an e-mail at noon bearing the subject line, "Did I Match?" Kind of a jerkish title, don't you think? I mean, it would have been nice to see something come into my inbox simply saying, "You Matched!" Why drag out the anticipation any longer?

To kick off the Match Week celebrations, we had a class-wide cookout this afternoon featuring Kyle's own venison burgers. It also featured dogs. Like, a lot of dogs. Apparently everyone who didn't already own a dog got one during their fourth year, because at one point I counted fourteen: Titan, Maizy, Huey, Baker, Alfie, Basil, Madison, Maggie, Pebble, Mason, Shiloh, Rugby, Youk, and Charlie. Liz had the foresight to bring treats with her, which pretty much made her the most popular person at the party.


Sadly, I had to leave the cookout early in order to go to H2$ rehearsals. And so returns my college motto: I can't... I have rehearsal.

Spring Forward

Daylight Savings Time began today, which was highly unfortunate because it meant that waking up at 8am was the same as waking up at 7am, which was hard to do following the four-way birthday celebration last night in honor of Nosheen, Coop, Liz, and Randy. But it was not for a lost cause: I made my way bright and early over to Spotsylvania, where a bunch of my college friends had rented a lake house for the weekend. It was nice to catch up with them and just spend a day hanging out by the lake. The house conveniently had a lot of outdoor seating, and we took full advantage of the two docks on the property. If only a boat was included in the rental...


I spent the evening at my parents' house, partly to pick up my luggage that had finally arrived during the week, partly to enjoy mom nomz, and partly to make some recordings of me playing accompaniment for the Chinese Chorus of Richmond, which my mom directs. As always, recording required several takes and ended up going for much longer than I had anticipated. I didn't get home until 1am, and now I need to get to bed because I have to wake up for class at 8am.

What? I haven't sat in a classroom in over a year. This is gonna be strange!

Flags and Founding Fathers

Many moons ago, my friends and I purchased a LivingSocial deal for playing paintball. Half of us went during interview season, and the other half went this morning. It was my first time ever playing paintball, and when I knew what was going on (which was about 50% of the time), it was a lot of fun. The range of skill level was wide: there were a few younger kids there who seemed afraid to even advance on the field, and there were a few older kids there who brought their own paintball gear and were experienced almost to a frightening degree.

Best of all, even with the extra paintballs we ended up buying, the total cost came out to about $30/person. That's a great deal for getting to play all day!

No, I'm sorry, best of all, Lindsay brought her camera and took a ton of pictures of us decked out in Troy's camouflage gear. It was kind of nice having someone else willing to take care of all the photos. All I had to do was look up every now and then and make funny faces. Virtually no pressure on me!

On the way back, PaulSunny, and I drove by Montpelier. Since Sunny had visited it before, we took a brief detour to explore James Madison's old estate. I hadn't been there myself since the Montpelier Races over a year ago, and the grounds looked even more magnificent without all of the cars and foot traffic.


Fun Fact of the Day (thanks to Paul): When James Madison lived at Montpelier, he was living on the westernmost frontier of the United States.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

When I lived in Xela, my host family wasn't nearly feeding me enough. My host mom simply didn't cook the way my own mom cooks (i.e., meals sufficient for an entire village). At the same time, I was working out every day, whether it be running with Steph, yoga with Emi, or hiking with Kevin.

Then I moved to San Lucas Tolimán, where the women at the parish prepared buffet-style meals every single day for the volunteers. I made up for all of my lost meals in Xela and then some. Unfortunately, I also became really busy with work, and it wasn't exactly safe to run around the lake by myself, so I stopped working out altogether.

Now I'm back in Charlottesville, and as of yesterday, Sunny has forced inspired me to start doing P90X with her again. ZOMG! After taking the last month off of any physical activity outside of paddling a kayak a few hours every weekend, I feel incredibly weak. I was exhausted halfway through the workout yesterday, and I woke up sore as all get-out this morning. I mean, I kind of enjoy feeling sore, because it makes me feel accomplished. But feeling handicapped by my soreness is a completely different situation.

And just to think... it's always the worst two days later.

Bad Dream

Last night, I dreamed that I matched into my top residency choice. All was good and well until I showed up to my first day of work to discover that I had actually ended up at the worst program of all time. I hated my upper-level, I hated my attending, and I even hated my co-tern (interestingly, played by someone I know in real life who isn't even a fourth year medical student and thus has no chance of being my co-tern). By the end of the nightmare, I was regretting my choice in training program, in specialty, and in my entire career as a physician.

I'M JUST A LITTLE STRESSED ABOUT MATCH, OKAY??

Healthy as a Horse

I had my PPD read today, a graduation requirement. And you know what? It was definitely, undoubtedly, certainly, 100% negative. Whew! I mean, I've already had experience with bedbugs and amebiasis. If I had contracted tuberculosis while I was in Guatemala too, well, that might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Thank the good Lord that I didn't.

I'd write more, but I think it's time for me to start watching the pilot episode of The Wire. Because what better way to spend the rest of my fourth year than diving headfirst into cultish TV shows?

Musical Theater

Today marks my return to the world of musical theater. I spent my first afternoon of many working with the students of Charlottesville High School on H2$, which goes up in less than three weeks. It's crazy; the last show I played was The Light in the Piazza, which was almost four years ago. I still remember it like it was yesterday, but I was a different person then. I had just graduated college, and at the time, eight hours of rehearsal a day seemed like nothing to me. Sadly, I'm no longer the pianist I once was, and even just playing for three hours today was both physically and mentally exhausting.

To complement my experience, I also watched the first five episodes of Smash in the past 24 hours. Don't look at me like that! Matty made me do it, I swear.

It's a show about creating a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, and the original music in it is very captivating. I'm not a big a fan of the random covers that they do of pop songs; it reminds me too much of Glee (I hate Glee), and I think it's better as a show about a musical than it is as a musical itself. Does that make sense?

I think part of why I like the show is that the characters are, for the most part, believable. For better or for worse, I've actually worked with a lot of people who have personalities exactly like the stars of Smash. My favorite character, though? Larry, the rehearsal pianist. That guy is a darn good one... so good, in fact, that somehow while he's playing you'll also hear a drumset, bass, trumpet, and violin, amongst other instruments. I wish it sounded like that when I played piano!

Snow Day

It snowed this morning!

Like, quite a bit. Enough so that local schools were closed. I was supposed to start rehearsals with the Charlottesville High School Drama Department for their upcoming production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, but no classes means no after-school activities, so I had the day off.

I spent the afternoon playing on the Lawn with Titan and Coop. When we tired of that, we decided to go for a walk around grounds. Coop and I visited our first-year dorms, although mine has been torn down and replaced with a behemoth by the name of Watson-Webb. It's huge! One of the workers was outside taking a smoking break and we chatted her up. She informed us that not only are the new dorms air-conditioned, but they also have flat-screen TVs in the lounges and kitchens for the residents to use. I feel gypped!

Sadly, I didn't bring my camera with me and thus have no pictures to share of our awesome adventure. I know, it's very uncharacteristic of me. Perhaps the 'meebs have migrated to my brain...

Life Updates

On my luggage:
Still no word of it from Continental. On the one hand, I'm really sad about losing some of my favorite clothes and especially my brand new Vibram FiveFingers. On the other hand, I haven't had to worry about eliminating bed bugs from my suitcase and its contents.

On my intestinal parasites:
I've finished my course of nitazoxanide, but that is not to say that my symptoms have let up. We'll see how the next few days go. If I continue to feel bad, then it's probably time for a trip to Student Health to give another stool sample.

On my laptop charger:
Did you know that a brand new power adapter from Apple costs $79?? I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous. Luckily the hostel still has mine, so Amanda and Lis are going to bring it back for me when they return from Guatemala this week. In the meantime, I've stolen Lee's charger from his room to use as my own. What? It's not like he needs it while he's in Ghana!

On re-assimilating into life in the United States:
As easy as pie. I may have been born in a developing country, but that doesn't mean I'm made for living in one. Heated showers, potable tap water, and my own car to get me from Point A to Point B? Why yes, I believe that will be just fine, sir.

Pwned by Guatemala

First blog post ever from my iPod! And you know why? Because I left my laptop charger at my hostel in Guatemala City, and I need to buy a new one tomorrow. At least I still have my laptop itself, which was in my carry-on luggage.

My check-in bags didn't show up at Dulles when I did, and the folks at Continental are still looking for it. Here's to hoping that my clothes show up soon!

On the bright side, I'm reunited with Titan, who was so excited to see me that he kept alternating between trying to jump into my arms and running to the corner of the room and crying. What a confused dog I have.

La Muerte

I rarely get sick, so when I do, my body doesn't know how to deal with it.

I'm glad to say that I felt fine during my kayak and horseback riding trips yesterday, but as soon as I got back to San Lucas, I knew that something was wrong.  I ended up calling it an early night and going to bed by 9pm.

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I was running a high fever.  I was so dehydrated that my tongue felt like sandpaper in my mouth.  I was nauseous, but I couldn't bring myself to vomit.  I was curled up under several layers but still shivering and producing night sweats.

"What if I feel like this tomorrow?" I thought to myself.  "There's no way I can travel feeling like this.  Will I be forced to stay in Guatemala until I recover?  Do I need to call the airline company and postpone my return?  How would I pay for healthcare in a foreign country?"

As I lay in bed last night, I was seconds away from calling a tuk-tuk to be taken to the clinic so I could get IV fluids and ondansetron.  I don't recall every being so uncomfortable in my entire life.  Luckily I feel better this morning, but I pray that the fever doesn't return tonight.  I'm really not in the mood to be tested for malaria when I get back.