i can't believe i just joined facebook.

i saw benjamin button yesterday. i heart.

so, i have been radio-silent for quite some time now.. only really posting comments or the rare once (maybe twice) yearly entry.
few reasons for this including lack of energy. things have been quite hectic over these last couple of years (as they have ben with most people). i've been conserving energy (emotional and physical), and posting to lj just fell to the side.
i have been keeping up with my lj crew by reading entries. glad to see that 2008 wrapped up with at last some amount of resolve and upswing.
work has been taxing, to say the least. i've been on daytime emergency for the last 5 weeks. the holidays are generally a rough time, but especially during economic struggles. emergency care has increased significantly. people are letting things go with their animals way longer than normal, due to not having the funds to take care of things as soon as they occur. they get to me days to weeks beyond any resonable amount of care and require extensive diagnostics and treatment (and money) to care for. so that, coupled with animals who have been sick for most of the year- i have been doing a lot of euthanasias as well (at least 2-3 or more per day for the last 3 weeks).
needless to say, it takes a toll on you. as you have read through jasmine's lj entries, our father has not had the best year concerning his health. i have take 2 weeks off (starting yesterday) as personal leave to go home and spend some time with my family.
on friday (this last friday) the nurses in the surgical service came to me and asked for my help in stopping the euthanasia of a little 5 month old pomeranian who was hit by a car. the owner was 70 years old and had been given the dog by his son because his son was having another baby with his family and basically didn't want to have to take care of the two. mind you, the old man was on a fixed income and could barely even keep up with the puppy. the puppy had gotten out of the house and was hit. a neighbor found the dog in shock in the street. the old man didn't even know the dog got out. anyway, he was going to euthanize because he could't afford the surgery. luxated hip on one side and broken pelvis in 3 places on the other. being sick of "killing" things, i knew i could at least do something for this pup- young, otherwise health. made a few calls and got a rescue organization to pay for the surgery and foster him until he could be adopted out. the owner had already signed the euthanasia form and left the hospital (he didn't want to be present for it), but we called when i received confirmation and explained what we could offer as an alternative. the owner authorized the surrender of the dog to us and everyone was happy.... the son of the old man got wind of what was going on late that night and started to call the hospital saying he wanted the dog and at least wanted to bring his son by and say goodbye. i must say (even though i was not involved with things at this point- i had only gotten the dog a stay of life) i was pissed at the son. now he wants to step up. makes you wonder what goes on in that family that the father couldn't tell his son through all of this what was going on with the dog. the pupy had presented to us the night before and he signed the euth form in the late afternoon the next day. for all intent, the dog was euthanized to them. who the fuck was he to pull some sympathy for them card?!? just pissed.
anyway, the puppy got the surgery and all went well. the surgery was done on a saturday with donated serviced by the nurses. it was a good feeling to have been able to positively impact a young dogs life by giving him a chance, especially after being surrounded by soo much illness.
late that night, while i was finishing up my charts, a 3 month old pit bull puppy came in. it was hit by a car and the owners had absolutely no money. in fact they came with like 6-7 people and no one had a dime or a credit card or a check or even credit to apply for assistance. the owner was pissed at the puppy- a little puppy without a collar or a leash or a name or a fucking vaccine to his name. mad at the puppy for getting out into the street- like he wanted to get hit. the owner (and the entourage) couldn't even pay for the exam fee. the puppy had obviously broken his arm and had bunch of road rash over his head and arms as well. they're yelling at the front staff, they're demanding free care.. it was a mess. the owners ended up calling animal care and control saying they'd rather have the animal be euthanized. after they signed the surrender form that the acc officer handed them, i called another rescue organization. the puppy received care from a hospital contracted with the acc. he received the surgery to correct his shattered elbow yesterday at our hospital. he will be fostered by a loving family until he has finished healing, then adopted out.
i'm hoping that 2009 is a year of hope and good things.




UPDATE- the little puppy (seen above) was adopted by one of our technicians today... which is great because his elbow was broken in a few places, he will need ongoing joint supportive care to keep any development of arthritis to a minimum. ya!

Legendary drummer Max Roach dies at 83



NEW YORK (AP) -- Max Roach, the master percussionist whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations defined bebop jazz during a wide-ranging career where he collaborated with artists from Duke Ellington to rapper Fab Five Freddy, has died after a long illness. He was 83.
Max Roach raises his drumsticks at the 1978 Newport Jazz Festival.
The self-taught musical prodigy died Wednesday night at an undisclosed hospital in Manhattan, said Cem Kurosman, spokesman for Blue Note Records, one of Roach's labels. No additional details were available, he said Thursday.
Roach received his first musical break at age 16, filling in for three nights in 1940 when Ellington's drummer fell ill.
Roach's performance led him to the legendary Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where he joined luminaries Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in the burgeoning bebop movement. In 1944, Roach joined Gillespie and Coleman Hawkins in one of the first bebop recording sessions.
What distinguished Roach from other drummers were his fast hands and ability to simultaneously maintain several rhythms. By layering different beats and varying the meter, Roach pushed jazz beyond the boundaries of standard 4/4 time. His dislocated beats helped define bebop.
Roach's innovative use of cymbals for melodic lines, and tom-toms and bass drums for accents, helped elevate the percussionist from mere timekeeper to featured performer -- on a par with the trumpeter and saxophonist.
"One of the grand masters of our music," Gillespie once observed.
In a 1988 essay in The New York Times, Wynton Marsalis wrote of Roach: "All great instrumentalists have a superior quality of sound, and his is one of the marvels of contemporary music. ... The roundness and nobility of sound on the drums and the clarity and precision of the cymbals distinguishes Max Roach as a peerless master."
Throughout the jazz upheaval of the 1940s and '50s, Roach played bebop with the Charlie Parker Quintet and cool bop with the Miles Davis Capitol Orchestra. He joined trumpeter Clifford Brown in playing hard bop, a jazz form that maintained bebop's rhythmic drive while incorporating the blues and gospel.
In 1952, Roach and bassist-composer Charles Mingus founded Debut Records. Among the short-lived label's releases was a famed 1953 Toronto performance in Massey Hall, featuring Roach, Mingus, Parker, Gillespie and pianist Bud Powell.
But by the mid-1950s, Roach had watched several of his friends -- including Parker -- die from heroin addiction. In 1956, Roach was further devastated when Brown died in a car accident.
After his own struggle with drugs and alcohol, Roach rebounded with the help of his first wife, singer Abbey Lincoln. Married in 1962, they divorced eight years later.
Roach re-emerged in the 1960s free jazz era with a new political consciousness. Albums like "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite" reflected his support of black activism.
Over the next decades, Roach expanded his repertoire and explored new challenges. He taught at the University of Massachusetts, traveled to Ghana in search of new music, and performed with groups from Japan and Cuba.
He also formed an all-percussion ensemble known as M'Boom, a quartet and a double quartet that included Roach's daughter Maxine Roach on viola.
Roach even worked with rapper Fab Five Freddy in the early 1980s. Ignoring critics, Roach insisted rap had a place on music's "boundless palette."
Roach, who in 1988 became the first jazz musician to receive a MacArthur Fellowship "genius award," said his curiosity reflected his sense of obligation to music. He was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1995.
Max Roach was born in New Land, North Carolina, on January 10, 1924. His family moved four years later to a Brooklyn apartment, where a player piano left by the previous tenants gave Roach his musical introduction.
Using player piano rolls of Jelly Roll Morton and Albert Ammons, Roach played along by putting his fingers on the keys and pedals as they rose and fell. But he was looking for another instrument to play when he began singing with the children's choir at the Concord Baptist Church.
Roach found a snare drum, and was hooked. His father gave the eighth-grader his first set of drums, and Roach was drumming professionally while still in high school.
He was survived by five children: sons Daryl and Raoul, and daughters Maxine, Ayl and Dara.

i will be raceful and wrong for this entry.

i spent the afternoon and evening in downtown san fran this sat. the weather (despite the reports that we are washing out into the pacific), was pretty nice and warm. i was shopping (window for myself and helping my friend katie prepare for her wedding in a couple of months). because it was a holiday weekend and spring break, the city was packed with people. not horrible, but more than the usual.

being an international city with quite the cultural flare, we have and attract a wide range of cultures... it's one of the many things i love about being here.

i witnessed something that i've come to notice randomly, but have never really paid much attention to until this weekend.......

why is it that japanese male youth possess the most tragically over-processed, under-conditioned, mullet-esque yet spiked hair on the planet?
why?

ok- so i'm reading the featured articles on aol before i go to bed, and under the entertainment section, they have a segment called 'guess who's grill it is.' 
at first i was like ".", but then i decided to play. 
here is a link: Think you know your mouth bling? Take our Grillz Quiz and test your oral fixation.  
http://music.aol.com/photo_galleries/grillz-quiz?deeplink_level0=0&content_index=0&outlet_xmlLoc=http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlrepository/fetch.adp?id=2430%26pid=2299%26option=expand_relative_urls 


i know- least true.

i'm in study mode, and have been for a couple of weeks now. boards are looming in about 2.5 weeks and i want to make sure i have a total grasp on everything i learned in the last 4 years of veterinary school. 
a little daunting. 
there are still subjects that i come across and am like- "did i ever know this condition existed?" at that point i feel like i'm in the middle of some uphill battle with the info and contemplate stabbing myself in the eye. moving on.. cause i really have nothing to be upset about. i have things arranged in such a way in my life right now that all i have to worry about is studying. it's actually a relief.

i've had 3 fortune cookies in the last 2 days that have read:
soon you will be sitting on top of the world. 
i actually liked this fortune (though i am afraid of heights :P)

follow your intuition in love matters.  
i replied 'fuck you' to the fortune and threw it on the table. i kept it anyway.

never deny yourself the pleasure helping others.
besides forgetting the 'of', i shrugged, grumbled 'fuck you too', and kept the fortune.

i can definitely feel things changing. i just hope it's in a positive direction.


back to the notes. 

love this city. love being back. one of the best things, besides my wonderful friends, the weather and the general feeling i get when i'm in northern california, is the food and drinks.

my weeks are spent studying for upcoming board exams. my weekends are for remembering the tastes of san francisco. few of the favorites:

the slanted door (vietnamese fusion)- i have never had a bad dish there EVER! each thing from the veggie dishes to the meat and seafood are delicious. all of the spices and flavors compliment eachother.. and they make one tasty mojito. best little thing about this place happens to be the iced tea. not only do you get a large glass, but they also give you an individual carafe so you don't have to wait for refills. brilliant! the dinner menu is on the pricey side, so i recommend going at lunch. you also get to enjoy the view over the water if you go during the day.

made it to cali. will update as soon as i get my shit together.