I think, I’m pretty positive, that I have figured out my trip to Ireland!!! And I’ll get my sister’s wedding as well! Whee!

I’ll be flying out to Ireland late, late Friday night (late enough that I won’t be missing more than an hour at most of work) and will arrive mid afternoon, Chris will be flying in from someplace in Africa (he still hasn’t gotten that figured out) and meet me there. We’ll spend the rest of the day in Dublin, and the next day take a tour bus up to Belfast (I’m hoping to convince him to go cheap here and just take a train up ourselves and wander around) for the day. Then, we’ll leave the next day for a 6 day jaunt across the Southern Isle, before coming back to Dublin and I’ll fly out the next morning.

Then it’ll be work for a bit, and finally flying out to SLC on Thursday for the wedding weekend.

See! A little planning, a lot of nagging, a dash of begging, and it all comes out in the end. And Ellie, it just hit me…. I’m going to be at the places where our little letter game took place! I’m going to be coming home with so much info, maybe we’ll be able to resurrect it!

Whee!

For those who have been to Ireland, tell me how you travelled. Bus? Train? Rented a car? Tour? And any must see destinations? The trip looks like it might actually fall into place after all (YAY!), so I’ve been trying to figure out logistics. There’s a awesome touring group, called Shamrockers, for pretty cheap, but unfortunately, the tour starts before I could actually get into the country, so I’ve been scrounging the internet looking for alternatives.

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For the other Dr. Who fans on my list, watcher_junior has made these awesome animated icons, just because I asked her to. *hugs the Ali* They can be found here.

Next up. Changing my mood theme. Obsessed? Just slightly. 😀

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Post call today (only one more call night this month!). For most of the month, I have had very sweet call nights… gotten 1-2 patients early in the evening and slept 6-8 hours with only a few cross cover issues. Last night was a different story. My team admitted 10 patients yesterday, four of those patients were mine, two came in at the same time, two hours *before* I was suppose to start call, and the night just continued from there. DId manage to grab about 2 or so hours of sleep, but I’ve been very spoiled and it wasn’t enough. I came home and just crashed, and didn’t wake up until Chris called me with the good news about Ireland.

I go back on medicine wards at the Big Hospital again in February, where I’ll be lucky to get 15 minutes of sleep…. so I guess I’d better get used to the sleep deprivation again.

I’ve been (somewhat) working on creating some tables of drugs for a neurology book that one of my attendings is publishing, on treatments for insomnia, sleep apnea, etc. Part of it is the Epworth sleepiness scale (found here), which btw, I fail. I especially like the “Fit for Duty” scale. I don’t think I’ve been awake for an entire noon conference or Grand Rounds yet…

I love days off. More than that, I love call nights where I get almost 8 hours of (uninterrupted, but still restful) sleep and then have 2 days off back to back after that. That’s virtually 3 days off people. 3!

I spent most of yesterday trying to figure out how to do Laura’s wedding and Ireland in 1 week. I have a feeling that Ireland isn’t going to happen. 🙁 It’ll be okay. I’ve been fretting about the cost anyhow–while the tickets are supercheap (as in $500 dollars. Yes, you read that right.) and never will be so again, I’m in tons of debt still from moving and all of my travels last year. So being a little more frugal isn’t a bad thing. A boring thing, when I was so yearning to be a world traveler again and see the Cliffs of Moor and the Blarney stone and practice my grotesque Irish accent.

I’m still mulling over her engagement. I’ve always known that Laura would be the first of the D****** sisters to get married. She’s always been the athletic, pretty, popular one, whereas Karin and I have been much more plain. In high school, where I struggled to make friends (and fared a little better than Karin did, which is saying something), Laura was the queen as she was funny, smart and friendly. She’s had dozen of boyfriends (not that she’s introduced any of them to the family) and I figured she’s be married by the time she was 21, so I’m really happy that Laura’s undergone a few more years of maturity.

I just wish I wasn’t such a failure, a nonstarter in the relationship department. I think it comes down to jealousy. That even though I knew that Laura’s much more dateable and marriageable, I still had hoped that somehow it would be me first.

Enough with that.

When I was tired of manipulating days and http://www.sidestep.com (the best website for travel. It looks at every site and you can find really good deals), I found myself on YouTube watching episodes of Dr. Who. Yay! Finally! I’ve wanted to watch this show for absolutely forever, ever since eponine119 started posting about it on her LJ and wrote this awesome Sawyer/Dr. Who crossover which I adored even though I had never seen the show. Then all of my flist seemed to be going Dr. Who fanatic and David Tennant was that nerdy cute that makes my heart go thud, but I didn’t have cable to watch it and the Blockbusters down the road didn’t carry it, so I thought I was never going to get to watch it.

And then, behold the power of YouTube.

So far I’ve seen The Girl in the Fireplace, Christmas Invasion, Doomsday, The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, The Idiot’s Lantern, part of The Parting of the Ways, and The Runaway Bride. It’s cheesy, but a good cheesy. 🙂 And David Tennant is just lovely. Which others do you recommend and which should I stay away from?

Other browsing squees of the day:

I haven’t been the biggest fan of the Harry Potter movies as they always seem to let me down, but I do like the previews and the behind the scenes look and the next one at least looks amazing so far. Helen Bonham Carter looks absolutely perfect for Bellatrix, as does the young Evanna Lynch as Luna. I’m so so on Umbridge.

Anyway, behind the scenes clips of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix .

Two Phillip Pullman books are being made into movies. One, The Ruby in the Smoke, is a BBC production and stars Billie Piper for the Dr. Who fans (see, everything comes back to that show!), and will be playing on Masterpiece Theater on Feb. 4. Between that and Jane Erye playing this weekend, it’s almost enough to entice me to get cable again.

The Golden Compass is also coming to the big screen and it looks fabulous. So excited and can’t wait for the trailer!

Huh.

My little sister (four years younger than me) just called me to tell me that she’s “almost” engaged (he’s asking my father this weekend and he’ll propose after that) and wants to get married in May. Smack dab in the middle of my vacation to Ireland.

Never mind that I didn’t know his name until this morning. Yep. It’s not like I haven’t talked to her several times these past couple of months, I guess he just never came up.

Instead of me being happy about it, all I can think is how it’s made a mess out of plans that were tenuous as it was. If I still go to Ireland, it’ll mean only 5 days there, instead of the 8 like I was planning.

You know your life is pretty pathetic when the thought that you have to get up a half hour early to shower is making you want to cry.

I fell asleep at 6 pm last night and woke up at 6. I didn’t even hear my phone ring (Chris, but I’m kinda mad at him right now, since he’s taken bloody forever to figure out his Africa trip, meaning that I have no idea when the Ireland meet up is going to take place, and tickets are dirt cheap now. A couple more days and they’ll be gone and then I’ll be royally pissed.) My body apparently needed the sleep. So why am I denying it now to write this, hmmm?

Grumpy. Very very grumpy. Day started off bad with weekend attending acting like we were all idiots… and has gotten progressively worse, with attending not only thinking we were idiots, but not telling me what’s going on in that ever-so-smart head of hers. Now, I’m sitting in the ICU, waiting to make sure that my patient doesn’t go into funky heart rhythms that I would have to get him out of (funky means deadly, btw), and I’m bored. And cranky. Not a good combination.

Flist, get me out of my funk. Tell me funny stories. Tell me about your boring life. What did you do today, the day that normal people don’t have to work? Ask me probing questions. Or the meme that was floating around a few days ago: ‘Ask me my “Top 5” of anything – “real”-life related, tv-related, movie-related, whatever. You can ask for either my Top 5 Favorite or Least Favorite. Whatever you desire.’

I await your entertainment. 🙂

The year of 2006 is now dead, settled into his grave, as the New Year now takes over reign. But, as is my nature, I could hardly let him go without a eulogy.

Highlights, month by month (with pictures! Lots and lots and lots of pictures)

I posted an end of the year reflection thing…. but the pictures were ginormous. So it’s privatized now and as soon as I can I’ll edit them smaller.

In the meantime, Happy New Year! I hope yours is filled with peace, love and joy.

*HUGS*