Tuesday, February 13, 2007

my cup runneth over with honey lager



no the NHS didn't finally kill me.

i've been on holiday for 3 weeks.

Ms D&C and i returned to my spiritual home, vancouver, with a view to collect rent from all the canadians who've been staying at my flat over the past three years.

it was fantastic. with each visit i struggle to answer why i don't move over there. my friend Broseph (who with his lovely wife let us stay for 2 of the 3 weeks) said that if i did go and did a masters degree he'd jack in his job in music production to do one with me. i did remind him that we would probably spend most of the time looking up stuff on youtube and flunk badly. he agreed.

highlights, apart from the copious amounts of red meat and pale ale consumed, were far too many to list.

we visited MsD&C's great aunt and uncle on vancouver island, caught up with Roger Dean Young and the new Tin Cup who played a gig in town, bid farewell to a friend and Tin Cup member moving to Toronto, stayed with another of the Tin Cup in his log cabin on the sunshine coast and gushed at a new baby arrival for two other friends. much of it involved hanging out with people but we were quite outdoorsy too: hiking, cycling around stanley park and finally snowboarding for a week in Whistler with Gnarls Barkley (whose MSF trip appears to have gone tits up) and his latest and greatest girlfriend. he'd come over from Edmonton, Alberta for a "conference" and managed to divert to spend some time imbibing with us.

i think i managed to see pretty much every canadian i know. i've also got a real bug again for snowboarding and am trying to get away again this season. any ideas of good destinations? anyone got a 150 burton board for sale?

i've come back in holiday mode to a much less stressful job and am floating on with memories of good times and fresh air.

i realised when i got back that everyone was incredibly stressed out about MTAS. for the non-medics this is an online application process which (nearly) every doctor who wants to work in august has to complete. it is analysed, processed and then refined into energon fuel which powers a huge robot who then allocates jobs. there has been a lot of worry because it's been poorly implemented, not carefully thought through and there hasn't been much information regarding how many jobs are available and how people will be selected blah blah blah

in short nothing that should surprise you about the NHS.

i did my form when on holiday. very much less worrying when you complete it after spending a day boarding. i also submitted it from the sleepy town of Squamish, British Columbia whilst waiting for a bus. very relaxing as it happens. probably fucked it up anyway.

anyways life is still uncertain, frightening and depressing. at least i know for the next few weeks, until the holiday feeling wears off, i can close my eyes, let all the stress wash around me and daydream of snow and mountains.

[i am listening to Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois by Sufjan Stevens]

7 comments:

Kate Mc said...

Glad you had a good time on my side of the world. It's a good side to be on, in spite of the -20 weather and such. =)

Anonymous said...

Welcome back. I thought you'd died! Am assuming you're not doing the exams this month?

Calavera said...

YOU'RE BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!

*dances around*

It's so good to see you posting again, I was on the verge of writing a post on my own blog asking if anyone knew what had happened to you!

It's awesome you chilled in Canada (eh?) and you had a good time.

Now it's time for you to blog some more. :)

Anonymous said...

good to see you posting again. don't leave it so long next time!!
glad to hear you had a great time over the pond.

Dazed And Confused said...

kate: actually vancouver was the worst i'd seen it the first few days. everyone was really surprised. "it never snows and settles here."
anonymous1: hell no. got back the day after the exam session started. taking it easy. plus no hurry now as it doesn't affect applications for next year at this stage.
calavera: wow! dancing! thanks! hope your cat comes back soon
anonymous2: sorry... meant to sign out before i left but never got round to it. had loads of shifts to cover as i'd swapped them so i coudl go on holiday.

Dr Vegas said...

Wicked! Did you zoom past Jip on the slopes? He's been there since 2003 working on some tricks. Come on, come on!

Dr No No said...

welcome back...Canada sounds like the ideal place...canadian medics i worked with on my elective assured me its the best environment!