The big storm

Last Friday I had lunch with the two Des's in my life. One is Desmond, my Asian brother who's in my medical class and the other is MerceDes, one of my best friends I used to go to York with. Ah, what a great afternoon it was... everyone got the token "I'm-meeting-Betty-downtown-for lunch-because-either-she-or-I-works-on-University-Avenue-and-thus-we're-cool" experience. This usually entails lunch on Baldwin Street which is a quaint little strip just behind all the major Toronto hospitals with a multitude of outdoor cafés and patios. This time we went to my fave Japanese place Fujiyama because it's so yummy and so cheap, with the best chicken teriyaki and two sides with soups and salad for $6.95! Then as usual, any lunch with Betty downtown must always be finished off with gelato at the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) if time permits. Who knew TGH could be such a happy place... it is blessed with not just one, but two gelato stands and the most comfortable leather seating in front of Starbucks. Let's just say that if I ever had to end up at the University of Toronto (U of T) for residency or something, TGH would be my heaven in the midst of hell.

After lunch I dragged Mercedes to the U of T bookstore so I could get my NMS Clinical Manual of Anesthesia. Then we headed down to Queen Street to do some "window shopping". At this time the sky was grey and covered by a huge, dark and menacing cloud. Honestly, it looked like the apocalypse was just upon us but somehow we shopped for about two hours outside without feeling a single raindrop. Then after we both did some damage to our Visa cards (and got new bikinis!) we started walking over to her new apartment at Dundas and Bay when we heard thunderous bursts of lightning and we ran underground and took the Path to her place. We took maybe twenty minutes to change into our new swimwear so that we could use her condo's pool and sauna and mix some drinks (lychee liquer and OJ... sooooo yummy) and when we emerged on the rooftop patio it was nothing but sunshine! It was really awesome... we completely missed the storm and I distinctly remember looking at Sick Kids Hospital from the rooftop and thinking to myself, while I'm up here having the time of my life in a New-York-city-moment, some poor resident is probably on-call, tired and being worked to death because some disturbed higher-ups decided sleep deprivation and malnourishment make for good training of doctors.

Meanwhile much to my ignorance, uptown there was apparently there was mad torrential rain wreaking havoc in the city and causing floods everywhere. I think it's funny that I could have so easily been stuck in a flood and having a horrible day versus lounging the day away on a rooftop and in a sauna. It just goes to show that we're often always only thinking of ourselves and so certain of our own world view when somebody next door or a few kilometers away could be living a completely different life with a different outlook. Anyways that's as deep as I'm gonna get, but the day showed me that maybe shopping can be a good thing - because of it, I missed the storm!

***

On a lighter note, my little sister Rose returned from Texas on Sunday! Incidentally, she had a great time shopping amongst other things, such as eating 20 chicken nuggets in the span of 24 hours. I think it's kinda gross that kids are so obsessed with McDonald's, but I must admit I probably would have done the same thing in my pre-Super Size Me era.

Rose got me the funniest gift from Texas. It's made especially for hypochondriacs - a little plastic doctor that can grow 600% of its size in a mere 72 hours! This little guy is so great:

• He won't weigh you


• You won't have to get referrals or deal with HMOs


• No matter how embarrassing your symptoms are, he'll always keep a straight face


• He's on call day and night - even on weekends and holidays


• He takes your aches and pains seriously


• He makes house calls


• He'll let you rant on endlessly about your symptoms

... and last but not least,

• You won't have to wear a backless paper gown

This gift is great - I just wonder why there isn't a female version of grow-a-doctor? I feel slightly miffed.