Two weeks into Toronto

Some photo highlights:

How kind. A handmade cardboard cut out for my room for the next month.

Chicken pre-roasting. Purchased at St Lawrence Market. 

Vegetables pre-roasting. Great pre-concert meal.

Passion Pit @ Koolhaus. Third time I've seen them.
Great show by them as usual and the crowd blew up during "Sleepyhead",
but I was surprisingly impressed by Matt & Kim.
One of the most energetic acts I've seen in a while (The Hives come to mind).
I'd like to see them on their own some day. 

Josh and Qassim in the moooooorning!

Swedish House Mafia @ Roger's Centre. Unreal show.
Played their laptops for a solid two hours ;)
... but seriously, I had a blast 

Dance party at... Wayne Gretzky's sports bar? :)

Happy Friday

TGIF. Post-call today, so it was obviously a great one. Some great tunes for you to turn on before you go out for dinner, drinks or if you just want to stay in. Maybe I'll make this a weekly thing? Not sure what I'm gonna be up to, but it's time to cook. Anyways, here's the music. Something soft, something dreamy, something crisp and something that will get you dancing a bit:

Giselle Rosselli - "Carnivore"


James Blake - "Retrograde"


Bobby Womack - "California Dreaming (A-maze winter edit)



Flight Facilities - A Fifth of Beethoven (Flight Facilities edit)
When is Giselle going to come out with an album already?

Happy Friday :-)

London wrap-up, !UPDATED - with photos

Boy that was a nice vacation. I didn't get to do all that I wanted, but London is a marvelous city. At times it can feel overwhelming, but it's also one of those places where if you just wandered about for a day, chances are you'd come across stuff by accident and have a good time. I didn't get to see Tate Modern. Somehow I forgot all about it until it was the evening before I had to leave. Oh well, till next time.

Highlights, all of which I would recommend for anyone going to London whether it's their first or fifth time:
- running in Hyde Park
- walking down Portobello Road in Notting Hill and checking out its shops, but also going a few blocks off the path to really take a good look at some very affluent property... not to mention that Bentleys, Aston Martins and Jaguars are relatively commonplace.
- The sticky toffee pudding at Holly Street Pub. Worth every calorie, goodness. And a wonderful pub atmosphere
- Daytrip to Bath. DO pay the museum admission fee, and DO utilize the free audio tour. Walking up Alexandra Park provides a great view of the city on the rolling hills.
- the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit at the Natural History Museum was breathtaking. It's amazing the dedication many photographers put in their work, and it shows nature at its finest, but of course also some heartbreak with mankind's influence as plain as day. If you're ever in London when it's on display, it's a must-see in my opinion.

Maybe next time I will invest in an Arsenal match. I should also remember to make sure my next trip includes a weekend while in London. A lot of galleries and museums offer after hours admission with DJs and somew interesting looking events on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Bath

This is why the walk up the steep hill to Alexandra Park was worth it.

Blink, and it's off to the center of Canada's universe

It's funny looking back to six months ago how terrified I was at the prospect of this rotation. I don't know what it is or was that caused obstetrics to give me so much anxiety. Now I face obstetrics call as almost like any other day, but with it just being a tad longer. As I increase the number of deliveries, perineal repairs and "exams" under my belt, the more it becomes something I look forward to doing. Muscle memory. Myelination. But you'll never corner me to say this type of work will be a focus of mine in the future!

The other day I delivered my first baby "independently". I use that word loosely because there is always a ton of nurses around, and an obstetrician peeked in to make sure everything was going ok, but it was the first time I didn't have the most responsible physician right over my shoulder until the placenta was on its way out and the hard part was over. She was in her third pregnancy, and this baby came out fast. I think there were... two pushes. Probably could have sneezed him out if she wanted. Anyways, it was a scary rush, like being let go on that two wheeled bike for the first time, and I felt great about it afterwards. The safety net was there of course, but it sure felt a lot farther away.

In a few days I'm off to Toronto for a month-long ICU elective. I've always had a great time in that city, but we'll see how it goes working there for a month. I'm staying with two good friends where I will be resuming my role as "Dupri", or Ted to Lily and Marshall, or the Phoebe/Joey to everybody else. It's an odd but familiar and comfortable role :-)

Don't know what to expect! Onward, ho!