This is Chandra, the Transplant fellow, getting whatever sleep he can on a short flight to an organ procurement.

Transplant has thus far been a whirlwind. On my first day, we did an AV graft, then a liver, a pancreas, and a kidney, back-to-back-to-back-to-back, while I squeezed in an appendectomy because I was also on call for general surgery. Since then, we've had four more kidneys and two liver procurements that weren't viable. I have no idea what day of the week it is.

I got a letter in the mail informing me that I was officially being offered one of the positions in Northwestern's Vascular surgery research program. So I guess things are set for the next two years. And then ... retirement! Or not. But all this won't start until the summer. And I have miles to go before I sleep.

I'm back home for a few days during my week off from work to see the folks. Now that my sister is off living her married life, the house feels a little empty. There's still plenty of things packed away, though - bits and pieces here and there of things I'd long since forgotten.



My parents have little in the way of entertainment. The cable TV doesn't work particularly well and there's no internet, so I've been rummaging through the piles to see if I can find anything interesting.

In a green box in the corner of my room was a barely-used stationery set. I'd bought it during my sophomore year of college to write to a friend of mine at a different school. We knew of each other from high school, but didn't become friends until I visited her with another buddy during one of my breaks. She was working at a Japanese restaurant on campus, so she ended up buying us a huge plateful of sushi, then we went over to her apartment and helped blow up an inflatable Bears chair that someone had given her. I think I really liked her. We ended up exchanging a few letters, but just sort of lost touch after that. I don't know where she is now, and, I know, I know, I could join Facebook and write on her wall and all that, but that was over a decade ago, and I think that's where it should stay.



I've been trying to use my time to study, but it's hard to be efficient when, for once, all I have is time. I've been spending some time at the Barnes by Myung's house. It's not particularly busy, there are available wall outlets, and there's a cute barista at the cafe. That last part is probably more detrimental to my focus than anything, but it's cold outside, the days are short, and I am okay with it.



Time, won't you slow your pace, just a bit? You're leaving me behind.

Myung loves Peanuts. I think one of the reasons may be because Charlie Brown suffers so much indignity and yet finds hope in the end. Well, he decided that it was time to stop playing Wham! and start looking for the bright side. So he went and bought himself a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.



He was so happy about it. It was a reminder of the lessons of the Christmas spirit against rampant commercialism.

But the thing is, it wasn't. The tree was made of plastic, which, of course it wasn't in the TV special. And it was stamped at the base with the Peanuts logo - a mockery of the idea behind the original. The final insult came when I saw this at the local Walgreens.



Where have you gone, Charlie Brown? A blogger turns his lonely eyes to you.

It's not unusual for me to be up at this hour. Sometimes it's because I'm on call at the hospital, and sometimes it's because I have to round early in the morning. Today it's because I just finished playing basketball. Yes, just now.

Since finishing work yesterday and starting my one week of vacation/cram-for-the-ABSITE, I've gotten in about an hour or so of studying and probably close to five hours of basketball. Great start to the week. Unlikely as it is, we found enough guys tonight to start playing basketball at around midnight. Everyone either had a work schedule that started later in the day or didn't have a work schedule at all. It's probably not a good idea to keep this up, if only for the purpose of not seriously injuring myself.

I just turned thirty-three. I'm not sure when I'm supposed to grow up.

After three-and-a-half months at the VA, I'm starting to lose it. Not that I'm necessarily looking forward to Transplant, but I could really use a change of scenery.

Befitting the real arrival of winter with its combination of bitter cold and first snowfall, I have decided that I'm going to keep growing out my Asian fro. Well, at least for another week or until it starts annoying me. It'll be like my playoff beard, except on my head, and there's no playoff. So, not like a playoff beard at all.

But it's disheveled hair! And, like the fat pony, that's good enough.