Room to Breathe

Wow, it's been almost 2 months since I posted. And I was on such a tear for a bit! This photography business, along with some time commitments at my day-job really pounded me for a bit. Well, I feel like I've got some room to breathe and so hopefully I'll be around here more often.

That's assuming I can think of anything to write about. I'm still sort of in a daze simply because my mind is still recovering. And did I say my body is not cooperating? First it was a wicked cough that kept me up at night, now it's my aching back which has flared into a debilitating sciatica

Did I say I turned 30 last year? I think my body believes I'm 60. At least I walk like I'm 60. Anyways...

Just to get this out of the way and to ensure that you all are forever wasting your entire day, here's a link to an incredibly addictive, yet stupid game called Pya!. I don't know what all the other crap on the page is, but I warn you, once you start to play this game, you'll begin losing sleep over how to conquer the green droplets. I've gotten to level 24 (or something in the low 20s). Tell me when you've lost more than 1 hr of sleep playing this damn thing.

Okay, so onto a more interesting, and much less addictive topic: Music.

You can always rely on my to steer you away from bad stuff and push you until you trip over good stuff, so here's the current wave of goodness: The Pharcyde and Dave Chappelle's Block Party.

Nothing new here, but it's definitely music which should be heard by all. My wife and I caught Block Party last weekend (what with all the free time I have now) and we both had a good time. Luckily, my wife's into this music and even though she doesn't always know the artist names or where she heard a certain song before, she's into this whole sub-genre of music. I call it Real Hip Hop. Obviously, there's a lot of great hip hop out there and I'm no expert to say that something else isn't real hip hop. Actually, the reason I refer to this as real hip hop is not because it somehow is better musically (although I think it is) or that the lyrics are more classy (they're not always better). It's the attitude behind the music that gets to me, makes me smile, and sometimes even sends shivers down my spine. I feel like I've written about this before, but I can't seem to find a specific post. In any case, Block Party spends some time on this matter. Just the fact that Chappelle and friends had this free party in ghetto Brooklyn goes to show the kind of love they have for their community. It also shows the love and respect they have for their craft. Sure the musical line-up for the party was amazing, but the best thing wasn't the music, it was the love that was brought to stage for the art.

If you just happen to like Chappelle Show and the skits, you will probably be disappointed by this documentary. There are definitely some good jokes in there, but the focus of this flick is the party itself and the interaction betwen all of these artists. If you love Mos Def, Talib Kweli or any of the other acts, you will likely see a new side to them and you'll like them even more. If you've never heard of these artists, then you should get to know them as they are what hip-hop is (or should be) about.

And now onto to another form of real hip-hop. The Pharcyde. You've probably heard a famous song of their's called Passin' Me By. The funny thing is that I used to hate this type of music. Not sure why, but I just wasn't into the music when they first came out. I started to like them, but not enough to attend a free outdoor concert of their's which was held on the UCLA campus while I was going there. They are essentially a one-hit wonder, but I'm finding their albums are great all around. So now here I am listening to Bizarre Ride II over and over. The lyrics are definitely not the community changing or activist type of lines that some hip-hoppers are all about. Neither is/was their music on the cutting edge. But as a friend of mine said, they've got an East Coast sensibility to their music, while still having a West Coast laid back style to their rhymes. And that's a perfect way to describe this bunch. They're a local SoCal group that came with a very different type of sound that hasn't been too common on the West Coast. But their albums are perfect for a backyard barbecue on a relaxing, sunny afternoon. They're also perfect on a gloomy Monday morning to get your week started off right. While listening to the album, you can't help but crack a wide grin. There's just so much fun in the songs regardless of simple the lyrics actually are.

If you can imagine, one of their tracks is built off the following chorus:
"Please, Don't Pull Me Over, Mr. Officer, Don't Pull Me Over Mr. Officer, Please."

Repeat 4 times. That's the ENTIRE chorus. Very earth shattering huh? But you know what, I'm making a fool of myself in the car while driving along listening to these songs. Every track from beginning to end has a groove to it that can't be matched by anything on the radio today. It's not about being rich or making a statement. It's just about expressing oneself through music. And that's something which hip-hop is based on.

So go check these guys out too. I guarantee you'll have a fun time with this one.

First Class

I've got a few things to blog about, but let me just blog this: Unfortunately we didn't get upgraded to first class on our most recent trip to Singapore (last year we got business all the way which spoiled us), but this guy did: The New Digital Life

People are leaving comments and blogging about the totally digital nature of things and that's why he got upgraded. While his ability to be online made things easier for him since he could watch HBO and determine exactly when his flight would arrive, I don't believe that's why he got upgraded. Forget about the digital life, it's simply because he was nice.

It's amazing what being kind and appreciative will get you in this world. I actually had a similar experience a few years ago at San Jose airport where our plane had mechanical difficulties and we got delayed. We were stuck in SJC for hours, but we were nice enough to the gate agents. They had given everyone meal vouchers. Since we had been chit chatting with the gate agents for a while, we got them some food, drinks, and ice cream in addition to what we got ourselves. Lo and behold, when we were finally able to leave, those same agents gave us first class.

So I'd love to be able to surf the web wherever I am and use vital information like this person got about his next flight, but I guarantee you that it wasn't the flight info that got him his flight...it was the fact that he was nice enough to buy the gate agent a burger.

Nuff said.

Double Shot

So before my decision to cut out sodas, I was drinking quite a bit while in Singapore. The heat and all the walking around just makes one thirsty. Usually, I love all the local juices there, but on this trip, for some reason I was drinking of a lot of soda.

So when we headed off to Malaysia for a day trip, I found this interesting drink. Now, I'm not a Pepsi lover. In fact, I wasn't even in the mood to drink anything, but this can caught my attention. What kind of Pepsi is this?!

Obviously, the bottom of the can tells you that it's a coffee flavored cola. The main reason this got me interested is because in addition to soda, while in Singapore, I had been drinking a lot of the local hot coffee and teas. The word "tarik" actually means "Pull" in Malay and is used to refer to local tea: Teh Tarik. It actually means "Pulled Tea" since the person who makes it pours it from one jug to another several times and it actually looks like he's pulling the tea from one to the other.

Anyways, I guess Pepsi decided to use this local term with their brand-name. Thus this strange brew of Pepsi and Coffee. How did it taste? Like old cola. Actually, it tasted like this local India cola called Sosyo which has a slightly spicy flavor to. It didn't actually taste bad or anything, but it didn't taste like cola or coffee. Just something wierd.

So the further reason I just had to drink this (besides the name) is that while on the plan over to Singapore I actually read that Coke is going to be releasing a coffee flavored cola in France, called Blak. Anyone who knows me, knows I loves me some strong coffee so I figured the Pepsi Tarik could serve as a substitute for the Coke version.

Anyways, don't waste your time with this stuff. Sometimes, things just shouldn't be mixed. Coffee and Cola may sound nasty, it may good. But for the most part, it tastes blah.

Transit Visa This!

Aah, Singapore, such great shopping to be had in such a compact place. Usually the shopping is reserved for my wife, but on this trip I actually spent a little money on myself. Shoes, shirts, and one really expensive thing.

So what could I have needed so much that I just had to get it while in Singapore? What else but a transit visa, of course! Not for Singapore or Malaysia; American citizens, along with citizens of most countries are given short visit visas on the spot while entering the country. But little did I know, my layover in Beijing would require a Chinese transit visa. How Stupid!

I actually didn't even know about the visa requirement until a very nice Singapore Airlines employees wondered aloud whether I would need a visa. She spent about 15 minutes looking it up but could find nothing specific to Beijing. She could find an exception for Shanghai, but nothing for Beijing. So she recommended I check with the Chinese embassy just to be sure. So I checked both the Chinese & US Embassy websites along with some other travel sites. All of them stated that American citizens need visas. On top of the that, the Chinese Embassy website went to the lengths to specifically state that citizens of every country EXCEPT the USA and UK are not required to have transit visas, but that Americans and Britons are required to obtain visas even when just transitting through the airport, EVEN when not leaving the plane!!!

Alas, I had to get a Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Singapore. But I mentioned how I spent a ton of money on the visa right? Well, in addition to sticking it to Americans and Britons, China shoves that stick further up our asses by requiring Americans to pay waaaay more for all visas than citizens of any other country in the world! There's no special transit visa, just a general visa. And the cost? 140 Singapore dollars! Now, being nice, the Chinese government would have let me stay in the country up to 90 days, but what the hell am I going to do with that? My layover is 7 hours and I just want to get home! So not only do I have to go the damned embassy at the last minute, I have to wait in line (thankfully not very long), come back again to pick up my updated passport. So with the S$140 visa, plus cab fares (since the Embassy isn't easily reachable from our place), I'm out almost US$100!

And here's proof of all this:

A receipt

A cool looking Visa sticker, which is completely useless now since my one entry was used when I transited through the Beijing.

So anyways, I hoped to at least have a chance to take a quick touristy tour of Beijing while stuck there. Afterall, many countries understand the huge influx of cash that tourists can bring into the country even if they're just there for a few hours. Heck, that's one of the reasons Singapore is such a huge airline hub. The country wants every tourist dollar it can get. It's basically free money. But nope, not China. There's nothing like a tour offered. Besides, it was foggy beyond belief while we were there, so a tour would have been useless. We couldn't even see the 747 outside of the gate window, I doubt we could have seen anything of interest on a tour bus.

So we made the best of it and walked around the airport terminal a few times. And here's what I came away with:

Some really real looking, yet fake terra cotta warriors.

Apparently colorful cigarettes are popular in China.

And so are orange flavored cigarettes. Of course, both of these types of cigs look to be foreign, so I'm guessing that some other country besides China likes such cigarettes.

Typos occur often enough, but here's a case where the typo got through after 2 layers of checks while the t-shirt was made and while the ice cream poster wad made. So anyways, here's an ice cream freezer with a very happy chick wearing an Abercrombie and TITCH t-shirt.

And yes, there's even Starbucks in China. Of course, it's been in the news lately since they won a lawsuit against a local coffee brewer. I didn't know about the case at the time, so finding a Starbucks in the airport was sort of surprising, but not really. Anyways, we got some sleep at the gate for a while, but got tired of it all so we hung out in Starbucks for a couple of hours. BTW, the Starbucks was the only place where all of the employees spoke pretty good english.

Oh, I should mention that I don't expect everyone in the world to speak Englsh, just the typical languages they would expect to hear. So in the US, English is a must. In Singapore, at least 2 of the 4 official languages should be a must. In India, Hindi (in the north), Tamil (in the south), and English (in the major cities) is a must.

Anyways, my useless "trip" to China yielded a few photos and one long blog posting. Hope you enjoyed.

Happy New Year!

Let's all welcome 2006 with a nice cheer. Okay, okay, I know I'm a bit late on this. I've been busy getting back to humdrum life after returning from Singapore. I've also been busy rehabilitating my dog.

Seen here in his apparently happier days. Oh don't worry, there's nothing physically wrong with him, he's just depressed. We left him with a friend while we were away and he loved staying there since he had three other dogs to play with all day. On top of that he got lots of treats and juicy meat every day. Alas, Junior has left his vacation and must return to his hum drum life of being a loyal, yet lonely dog. So my wife and I have been slowly getting him back to his normal self.

Ahh yes, the question you're asking yourself (out loud by now, I'm sure): What's my resolution?

Well, the continuing resolution is to start a family.

And remember this photo? I'm swearing off it this year. Well, not just Coke, but soda in general along with fake juices. I don't exactly drink tons of soda, but I figure it's something good to cut out since I usually drink it when water would suffice just fine.

So there you go. My belated New Year's post. Oh and don't worry, I'm still going to inflict the general public with more Singaporean musings. I've yet to go through all of my photos and there are certainly some interesting and humourous photos you'll want to see. I'll try to limit the number of posts, but don't think you can get away without hearing more about Singapore!

Downpour!

I'll be playing a little catch-up with my posts since I haven't had a chance to post in a few days. I've become accustomed to unexpected rain while in Singapore, but the other day was ridiculous!

We were at the Jurong Bird Park here and were getting set to head home when it started to a rain a bit. No worries since we were done with the whole park. As our monorail came to the main station we realized it was raining really hard. Again, not too bad since it always rains like this in Singapore. It rains really really heavy for 10 minutes then it dries up.

Little did we know that this rain would not let up for hours! Now this again isn't a huge problem, but we were in a unique situation of having just two small umbrellas between the 10 of us. We had to get from the monorail station to the bus stand somehow.

We made it to the entrance of the park okay since there were many covered walkways. But then we were stuck at the taxi stand near the entrance. The bus stand is on the main road more than 500 feet of heavy down pour away. So my wife and I shuttled everyone two by two to the bus shelter. The whole time, walking through ankle-deep flows of rain water. Forget about getting a little wet, we were soaked head to toe after five trips each!

After the second or third trip we could get any wetter so we just kept the rest of our party dry while we took the soaking of our lives. We dripped all the way home on the 45 minute train ride home. My shoes took 2 days to dry properly and will never be the same. Fun fun fun!

Remembrance

It's been a busy few days over here so I haven't had the chance to post. Rather than use this post to mention the goings-on over here, I'd like to take some space and remember the victims of last year's tsunami. It's been one year since we all bore witness the biggest devastation any of us have seen. Being so close to where this all happened, there are many commemorations going on in this area.

Rather than give a few links to stories about these ceremonies, let me comment about the recent South Asian earthquake. While I've been here, I've seen a lot more of the suffering the people affected by the earthquake have been through. It's amazing how little attention the earthquake has gotten considering that just as many people have been devastated by the quake as by the tsunami. Not only are these people out of home, they are facing the bitter cold besetting the region now. BBC has provided good coverage of this while I've been here, noting how many villages have seen no aid since the first few days and weeks right after the quake. Just as with the tsunami victims, these quake survivors are going to need years of help to get back on their feet.

So if you haven't done so already, please spend a moment of your time and a few of your dollars to donate to some worthy causes:
International Red Cross/Red Crescent: http://donate.ifrc.org/

UN High Commission for Refugees: http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/earthquake

Tropical Bruin

One of the recurring mysteries for me every time I visit Singapore is the UCLA line of clothing.

I've seen this line of clothing in the same section of the same department store every year I come to Singapore! I haven't seen this stuff any where else in the world, but here it is to perplex me every year. And it's definitely not the stuff you find in Ackerman on campus. This stuff is "fashion" as opposed to college memorabilia. My first question is: Why UCLA? It's not a historically world famous school like Harvard or Cambridge. As far as I know, there is no Singaporean extension campus. So what's the deal? I guess I should be proud to see the UCLA logo half way across the world, but seriously, the clothing kinda sucks. I wouldn't buy it. Is this just some way for the UC Regents to make a little extra money by licensing school names? If so, where's the Cal clothing line? How about a little Banana Slug or Anteater action? Knowing the odd clothing some people wear here, I'd expect a UC Santa Cruz or Irvine line to sell well. But the odd thing is that the UCLA logo appears no where on the outside of this clothing...it's just on the labels inside the clothes. So it's not like the school name spreads worldwide. Do Singaporeans even know that this UCLA refers to a college? The way it's labeled and marketed within the store, it's treated just like some other fashion line, like Polo, Calvin Klein, or somesuch. Very odd. Very odd indeed.

I need to solve this mystery!

No English, Lah

Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin. You hear these four languages every day in both official and non-official capacities.

The other day we were going to a friend's new house for a pooja. They offered to pick us up since it was on the way from picking up the priest who would conduct the prayer. So we're sitting in the back next to the priest and he and the uncle up front start speaking in a language I couldn't recognize.

It didn't sound like Tamil since I figured that might be a common language. It also didn't sound like anything else. So I asked my wife what language they were speaking. Turns out they were speaking in Malay. I had to ask a follow-up question to my wife: Why?

So here's the kicker: The priest is Tamil and his native tongue is obviously Tamil, but he also speaks Malay. The uncle is Gujarati, but grew up in Singapore. He's fluent in Gujarati, English, and Malay. The only common language between the two was Malay so they conversed in Malay.

Amazing.

In all my life, English tends to be common language between random Indians.

Here in Singapore, it's just as likely for the two to end up speaking in Malay or Mandarin!

Makes me feel inadquete with my grasp of just two languages. When we first got married, I asked my wife to teach me Malay (she knows enough of it along with Mandarin to get by), but here I am still dealing with my dual-language life. I think it's time she starts teaching me the basics.

BTW, the title has the word "Lah" in it. It's the most common word spoken here in Singapore. It's a Singlish word used at the end of sentences for various reasons. I just think Singaporeans like the word so much they need to use it as much as possible.

Botanic Gardens

A quick with a few photos from our walk through the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I think my first impression about SGP on my first trip here was that it's a lot more green than I thought it would be. I always thought of the country as this totally industrialized place with hardly any room for nature. In fact, SGP is more lush than just about anywhere I've seen. Granted, this lushness is by design, it's still very inviting. The Botanic Gardens is one of those spots. It's actually just around the corner from a very busy shopping district, but you wouldn't know it while there.

On to the photos!

The first thing I thought of when I saw this fern frond (it'll open up soon to develop into a fern leaf) was high school bio class. We learned so much about the lifecycle of various living things that I immediately knew what this was. Can I just say that I'm glad I brought a good lens with me??

You'd think I was hunting down that boy under the peepal tree I wrote about a week back. I just love the way the branches of this tree have taken root and intertwined with each other. Tropical plants just have a certain quality to them that can't be matched elsewere. BTW, apparently Singapore is not in a tropical climate. They fooled me. I'll have to look up the definition of tropical since in my book it says hot, rainy, humid.


The Botanic Gardens have an Orchid Garden inside which has an amazng array of orchids. This is one of the more simply ones.


These may look like bamboo shoots, but they're actually tree branches which have grown down into the ground. I suppose they'll eventually thicken up and start to look like the shot you saw earlier.

Okay, this actually is a bamboo shoot and not a tree trunk. I love the bright orange/red of this shoot. And don't think I've boosted the color...this is actually how it looked! So this type of bamboo has part red shoot, part green shoot. Really striking against the green leaves.


Just to remind you that I wasn't walking in some jungle...evidence that this is all a planned garden with lights strategically placed to look nice in the background.


Given how small this garden was, there was a large number of waterfalls here. I'm not complaining since I love to take time lapse shots of waterfalls. This was taken with a 1/4 second exposure to blur out the water.

Master Planning

My last post may have seemed like I'm very down on Singapore. I should clarify, I actually think the SGP government has done an amazing job with the infrastructure - both physical and economic.

I must say, the country is not for everyone, especially those looking for true free speech, but in terms of the average family living a suburban life, it's not bad. In fact, my mom loves the place since it's so orderly and clean and friendly for families. Isn't that why the American suburbs developed in the first place?

The physical infrastucture really is amazing. The train system, called the MRT, is extensive, on-time, and very convenient. Not to mention cheap. Same goes for the bus lines. This is clearly by master plan. The SGP has made it so exceedingly expensive to own a car in this country, that most people really don't have any choice but to take public transport. And with the critical mass that results because of this, the SGP public transport system is heavily used and the resulting funds and pumped back into the system to make it better and extend lines, etc. It seems like there's a debate about BART every year. I'm sure if it cost $50000 to own a Honda Civic and thousands in annual registration fees, more people would take BART and the local governments would be left no choice but to expand and improve the system. Instead, we've got a shitty excuse for a train system that's too expensive to use and very inconvienent unless you live in very specific spots.

Anyways, more later...

Diversity and Singapore

I've written about this before, but somehow, I always come back to the subject when I visit Singapore. This morning's Straits Times has an editorial imploring Singaporeans to Embrace Otherhood and the diverse population which lives in SGP. There's always this pseudo-propagandist type of stuff in the paper. I say "pseudo" since I believe there's a portion of the population which really wants to live a more liberal, PC lifestyle. I also think the SGP government would love nothing more than if its citizens embraced each other in brother & sisterhood.

The thing is though, this ain't happening in the everyday SGP I see. While there is certainly mixing of races, it's hardly commonplace. Not to say the Bay Area is the bastion of racial mixing either. But then again, we don't have the daily paper asking us to shake hands with the person sitting next to us on the train.

Very odd, this type of encouragement coming from seemingly on high. I've written before about how the SGP gov't takes a sort of parental attitude towards its citizens, trying to get people to act a certain way, not just because, but because there's a sense that the entire country will benefit from the various programmes & nationalism being put forth.

Having been here every year for the past five years, I don't think it's just the gov't which wants this, but there's also a small, but visibile portion of the citizenry which wants this. This group of people all seem to be leaders in way or the other: either in some position of political power or something like a writer for the paper. It's sort of like collage campus. The provost wants the student body to better themselves and the people running the college paper have strong opinions about how students could act for the betterment of all.

Now that I think about it, the Daily Bruin was something like that. Not that they always presented a single side of the story, but there was certainly a level of preaching which the editorial staff imparted on us lowly student readers.

Anyways, I might write a bit more later about the two undercurrents which sort of flow in the paper. One is about the rightness of the Singaporean way of government - economics, policy, etc. The other is about how the Singapore way of life is a farce when it comes to multi-culturalism and personal actions. Very odd how these two collide in the paper. It essentially produces a feeling that the govt has the right plan for its citizens, but that people need to better themselves also to lead a more enriched life and take advantage of all the govt has put forth.

Travel Blogging

Hello from Southeast Asia! We just got to Singapore this morning for a little holiday during the holidays. We end up coming here every December to visit my wife's family, so here's the latest installment. Since there's always interesting things I do and see while travelling, this blog will cover that stuff for the next few weeks. Better than doing an extended recap sometime in January, right?


Anyways, we've been here less than 8 hours and I've already had two meals. That's the strategy when here. There's so much good food, you've gotta keep eating. Otherwise there's not enough time to taste everything. And since I've already got favorites, I'm trying to hit those up a few times while here.

And to make this more interesting for all of you, I'm posting photos! What better way to ensure I blog consistently than to take photos of everything I eat and write about it? Well, okay, that doesn't sound too interesting, but I'll try to make it so.

So here goes...

First off, let me say that the best food in Singapore comes from Food Courts. Whether they be the traditinal Hawker Center or food courts in malls, the dishes are really authentic, varied, and quick. I wish American food courts could come even a little close to Singaporean food courts. I've only been to a couple restaurants during the many times I've come here and that only for specific dishes which take extra time to make and are best had in a quieter restaurant (like Pepper Crab)

Carrot Cake
This stuff has neither carrot, nor cake in it, but it's good stuff. It's actually made from daikon which has been congealed/gelatinized into slabs which are then cut up and wok fried with various sauces. I'm guessing the name comes from the fact that daikon is a root vegetable sort of like a white carrot and it's mashed up into cakes of congealed stuff. I first tried this dish with skepticism since the name and visual of the food are miles apart. I ended up liking it so much, I'm up for this item just about any time of the day. This is the "black" style since it uses a sweet soy sauce. Combined with spices, green onions, and the crunchiness of the corners of the diced bits, it's really tasty and satisfying. There's also a white style which is basically the same except without the sweet soy sauce.

This is obviously Diet Coke, but in the rest of the world, it's named Coke Light. I remember reading something a few yrs back about the introduction of Diet food and drink items in India and they didn't sell well. Not because they weren't good, but because of the stigma attached to being on a diet. Whereas Americans always seem to be on a diet, people in the rest of the world don't like to admit they're trying to reduce caloric intake, whether they need to or not. I think they started naming things "light" in India for this reason and I assume they do the same throughout the rest of the world. Anyways, just thought I'd mention it.

Oh, by the way, I had Brazilian Diet Pepsi while on the place (again, named Pepsi Light). I don't generally like Pepsi in either it's full sugar or diet versions, but United Airlines doesn't carry Coke products and I needed a soda (the carbonation is somehow very satisfying sometimes). So this Brazilian version had a distinct mediciny after taste. Quite nasty. Made me wish I had just stuck with water and wine. Even though I don't like Diet Pepsi in the States, it's because it's got a wierd sweetness to it, not because of a medeciny flavor. My conclusion was that the Brazilian Diet Pepsi is tuned to the Brazlian palette and I assume they like the taste of cough syrup. Whenever visiting other countries, I always find it interesting to notice differences in things which are nominally the same on the outside. For example, Coke in India tastes different from American Coke.

Mee Siam
Soupy Rice Noodles seem to be a common item across Asian cultures. This version has a peanutty gravy which is soured up with this local variety of lime which is great in Asian food. The greatest thing about this dish? We get it from this little stall by the subway station down the block from my in-laws house. Isn't great when you can get great food from hole in the wall places? Isn't even better when you don't have to drive forever just to get to the food? Okay, we flew 6000+ miles to get this food, but still...

More later people...

Hullabaloo under the Peepal Tree

There's this very humourous novel called Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard. Great read about the crazy things that happen when people think they're in the presence of religious greatness. In the novel, a guy just decides to chill out in a Guave tree, but people assume he's meditating and is then revered as a holy man. Read it if you have the time. It's old enough that it's pretty easy to find at the library.

Anyways, here's what seems to be a real life example:

Scientists to check Nepal Buddha boy. It would actually be quite amazing and awesome if this boy meditating under a Peepal tree turned out to be the re-incarnation of Buddha. The world could certainly use one. Anyways, I love all the little details about this story, like the villagers figuring out how to enable more people to visit the boy, the scientists checking him to determine how he could live without food or water.

Anyways, I enjoyed Hullabaloo enough that I think I'm going to go to the library and check it out again!

Solitary Profession...How Does One Improve?

I just read this interesting New York Times article titled When the Doctor Is in, but You Wish He Wasn't. It's an article about the problems patients sometimes have with the "bedside manner" of their doctors. It's a pretty short article so you may as well give it a read.

Anyways, the first thing I reflected upon is the relationship I've had with my doctors. To be honest, I haven't really had problems with my docs. That's probably because I rarely have reason to go. The second thought I had was about the method which my health organizations use to determine the quality of bedside manner their doctors are providing. I've always had coverage through large HMOs or networks. Currently, I'm with Kaiser and I'm going to be sure to ask my friend how Kaiser determines such things (or she could leave some commentary here, hint, hint)

And interestingly enough, the final thing I thought about before deciding to blog about this article was the solitary nature of being a doctor and how that compares to the work that I've done in my life.

This thought came to my mind as I read the end of this article where the consultant asks the doctor to change the way he listens to his patients. I immediately thought about a workshop we had at work where we learned some active listening techniques to learn more about the real thoughts that the other person has and what they reall want to say. That lead me to think about how when I'm at work, I tend to rely on the thoughts, advice, and opinions of my colleagues as I work and before I make big decisions. This is the same for my photography work. While it's a very different line of work, I rely on my partner for creative advice as well as her thoughts on how I'm doing with my work. And this is while I'm working, not after. I feel like I improve at my work all the time through this sort of groupthink. It's a circular thing which allows both myself and my partner or colleague to improve how we work and our results.

Given the description of some doctors work, I wonder how they really improve themselves over time? The article notes the doctor who modified the way he listens to patients, but it's not something he can get pointers on while working. Granted, I don't think most of us need busy-bodies telling us how to do things while we're doing them, but there's a difference between getting consultative advice or training and collaborating with someone to improve as you go.

At the very least, I can ask a colleague, "Hey what do you think of this?" before I actually do something egragarious. I'd imagine that it's difficult for a doctor to do something like that. They can certainly bring in a colleague for a consult, but that seems like such a big deal. So big that the doc has to stop what he's doing because he's not sure and then find someone who can tell him how to proceed. I'd guess that the impression that a patient gets when this occurs might deter some doctors from getting just the advice they might need. And moreover, the advice is usually about some sort of fact, not a soft skill like bedside manner.

As such, it seems like that outside of medical conferences, board reviews, and such, doctors lead a very solitary profession. In such cases, how can one really improve? Books, training, and consultations can only take you so far. What other ways could skillsets be improved for the sake of all?

I don't have any close friends who are docs so if anyone reading this is a doctor, is in med-school, or has a close doctor friend, speak up!