My Birthday and the Rest of January

Life has been good up here in the Pacific Northwest, and I can't believe that I am now 24! Even though I'm still in my twenties, I'm aware of my increasing age. Let me tell you about the last weeks of being 23 and the first weeks of being 24.



 With the Christmas money that Mom and Dad so generously give us every year, I decided to buy a pair of shoes that I have long wanted--the Vibram Five Fingers minimalist running shoes. Yes, they are ugly and bizarre. But after reading about them in different magazine clippings, journal articles, and blogs, I decided that they were the way to go for improved running form and general body posture. I had to go to a couple of different running shoe stores before I found the right pair--the perfect size, the right model, and conveniently in my favorite color (a nice shade of teal-like blue). Enjoy this photo (and laugh to your heart's content about how ridiculous they are aesthetically if you need to). I had promised Laura that I would show her this picture, and I thought Mom and Dad might like to see their son's appreciation for their hard-earned money in photo form! Thank you both.

Lady Gaga decided to grace Portland with her presence on January 15, 2013. Because of the almost prohibitive price of her tickets, I had decided awhile ago not to go. However, when the executive director of Outside In told us that Lady Gaga had chosen Outside In as the non-profit organization that she would donate money and free tickets to, I felt like I should purchase one to support her in supporting our organization. (I also love lots of her music and heard that she was a great performer, so it's not like this required someone to really twist my arm.) I bought the cheapest tickets available, which still totaled around $100 after fees and taxes were added, and showed up to the show after work. Upon scanning my ticket to check-in, I was told that I would need to wait in another line in order to be "reassigned." "Oh great," I thought. "Maybe the ticket I bought online is counterfeit." However, the "reassignment" ended up involving moving me from the horrible nosebleeds into what were arguably the best seats in the house after the standing-only general admission right around her stage. I literally had no seats in front of me with a perfectly centered view of her stage! It was incredible. The show was also spectacular--Gaga wore many different outfits and used so many effects, not a few of which I found unsettling or controversial (like women's legs coming out of meat grinders). She had a group of lithe, talented back-up dancers that she used strategically in many ways to enhance the show, once to make a horse that she entered the stage riding, in another song to represent gay rights and equality by having pairs of men dance together, carry each other, or hold hands and circle her stage. She made multiple announcements about being courageous, being yourself, and about how LGBTQ issues are a leading cause of homelessness amongst youth. It was a phenomenal show of great music, all live singing, and social justice shout-outs, and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Though a bad photo, you can dimly make out the funeral
procession to the left with Gaga on the black horse
 whose limbs were back-up dancers.

The little flame in the cupcake at my desk on the 18th.

I was also privileged to celebrate my birthday on the 19th of the month of January. Many people showered me with love, and it was a beautiful weekend. On Friday at work on the 18th, the people with whom I share an office purchased a decked-out cupcake and lit a candle while I was away from our office on an errand. I work in an office with some amazing people, one of whom coordinates a tattoo removal program, another who runs the lab at the clinic. I'm lucky to have such interesting, nice co-workers. That night, I came home to the delicious smells of Italian food, and Margaret, one of my roommates, had made a dish of perhaps the tastiest lasagna I've ever eaten. We enjoyed that with a fresh salad and then some brownies and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. It was amazing!

My two beautiful roommates, Susannah and Margaret,
and some tasty grub on the birthday table!

The following day was a Saturday and my actual birthday. I celebrated it with a delicious French brunch that Susannah bought for me at a restaurant we both enjoy called La Petite Provence. Instead of ordering the healthy option with vegetables and salmon, I went for the caramel-syrup-covered banana brioche French toast, and my, was it scrumptious! Susannah and I then went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) at my request since I really wanted to see the Grossology exhibit they had been advertising, explaining the science of boogers, feces, and the like. (Yes, very 12-year-old-boy of me, but hey, it's interesting, isn't it?) Unfortunately, Grossology had already left, but there were other great exhibits, including one that showed real preserved fetuses who had died of natural causes during all different stages of prenatal gestation. It was truly mind-blowing to see how a spermatazoon and an oocyte form and slowly become a zygote, fetus, and then a sex-differentiated child that can then be birthed and survive without the placenta and uterine protections. Life is such a miracle! This exhibit was so fascinating and made me so excited to (I hope!) one day get to study medicine and maybe even specialize in obstetrics and gynecology and be a part of helping women bring new human life into the world everyday. Human biology is incredible and life is such a precious gift.

My day ended with two films. The first was an IMAX film at OMSI with Susannah about the deep sea, and it was amazing. I am always amazed by how life has evolved for deep sea animals whose living conditions are so remarkably different than those of humans. My favorite was an enormous octopus who ingests an entire live crab, cracks him open to suck out his flesh, and then expels his tough shell through a small, tunnel-like valve that opens on the top of his head! Sheer craziness. Susannah left me at this point in my day for other plans of hers, and I took myself to Les Miserables, which was beautiful. I sat alone, ate my small bag of popcorn, and was all tears by the end of this movie about unbelievable pain and hardship and the redemption of a man who continually chooses compassion and honesty even in the direst of circumstances. After coming home from that movie, I opened up all of the letters, gifts, and voicemails that my family members had sent me, and I was yet again awash in tears of joy for the bounty of my family's love. I have the best family in the entire world, and there is nothing I cherish more. I love you guys! Thanks for making my birthday so special.

The house cat, despite my allergies to her, has taken to
sleeping on my lap at times, like when I read my family's
birthday letters.

The car of my wildest dreams since childhood, though
if I ever had $500,000 of disposable income, there are
at least 100 things I'd do with it before I'd buy this car. It's
fun to take pictures of, though. :)

I'll frame these last paragraphs and my last stories in terms of the men associated with them. The first stories are about a man that I met through another guy I met on a blind date. Because this guy is high profile, I'll keep him anonymous and call him Bernard. Bernard is the executive director of the Legacy Health Foundation, and Legacy Health is the largest system of hospitals and healthcare clinics in Oregon after the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). Bernard is 39, rich, and very powerful in the world of medicine, so when he asked me on a date, I said yes just because I thought it would be fascinating to hear about how he got into his line of work. Our date took place at a private club called the University Club. I had to dress up formally for the date and could only be admitted into the stylish Tudor-style building since Bernard had pre-approved me. While there, I spoke with the wife of the CEO of Tazo and Stash Teas, a woman so pretentious that, before knowing I lived on the east side of Portland, said that she crossed the bridge over to the east "as infrequently as possible." The whole thing was almost surreal. Bernard is an interesting guy, but I'm certain that there is no relationship future for us. We hung out one other time and went to the Portland International Auto Show where I saw some of the hottest cars in my life. It reminded me of when Dad and I used to assemble model cars together on Saturday mornings. My favorite was always my Ferrari F50 hardtop, and there was a red Ferrari F50 at the exhibit! I also saw cars worth more than $600,000, including this sexy Lambourghini.

The last stories are about a man with whom I have a much more natural, organic connection. His name is Aaron, and I was introduced to him through one of my co-workers who met him at a medically-related function. Aaron is this brilliant, quirky guy who towers over me at 6 foot 4 inches. He did his undergraduate at Berkeley, his Masters at Yale in Public Health, and is now a first-year medical student at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU). He is one of the wittiest, funniest people I've ever met, and our connection was instantaneous. Ever since we met, we can't stop hanging out, and we've seen each other every couple of days for the past two and a half weeks or so. Last week we went rock-climbing together at a gym that he frequents, and tomorrow we're hoping to go cross-country skiing (if he finishes studying for his cell structure and function test, the poor guy). There's no photo of him yet, but there may be if he and I keep spending time together. I will include a photo I took of Portland while on the tram that takes you up the hill to the beautiful OHSU campus. I visited it before I even knew that Aaron existed just for my own fun and benefit since I'm considering medical school, and it's a gorgeous medical school campus with a neat program emphasizing primary care. It's fun to dream!

A view of some of the south waterfront towers and the
OHSU tram.