Some pictures from last weekend

View from the 38th floor of East 42nd Street.

Sunflowers on the farm, Tarrytown, NY

Brooklyn Bridge, the waterfall, Manhattan Bridge

Lerner Hall, Columbia University

Sheep's Meadow, Central Park

Waiting for the train at Bleecker Street

New post - I am alive

Sorry for the month-long delay in blog-posting. Life got in the way. You know how it is. :)
So, I wanted to write about an awesome music festival I went to yesterday, on my last (oh, the horror!) weekend in the Berkshires. It's the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, and it's a four-day festival held on a farm in Hillsdale, NY (just across the MA line near Great Barrington). And let's just say the crowd was, um, unique. We were actually keeping a tally of the number of men we saw wearing skirts (and I don't mean kilts). Bras appeared to be optional. There was a woman wearing a flowing skirt, bikini top, and butterfly wings (like from a halloween costume or something), playing with devil sticks all day. There were multiple canoodling same-sex couples (which shouldn't make me, a super-liberal from the most liberal state in the nation, even really notice, but somehow it still did). There was (when the sun when down) a giant peace sign made out of tiny lights hung way high up in a tree casting a nice glow over the audience. I mean, there were adults hula-hooping. Needless to say, it was some of the best people-watching I have ever had the privilege to enjoy. There was also (and this was the main, draw, really), some awesome music. We saw (in one day!): Dar Williams, John Gorka, The Nields, and many other singers who were also great, but who I've never heard of before and I'm now too lazy to look up their names. At one point, Dar Williams sang with John Gorka, and I thought I would die of happiness. (And it goes without saying that she's a pirate's favorite folk singer, right, Hoyt?) And the weather was beautiful, except for about 20 minutes of rain (but it was a serious rain). Normally my days are filled with old sick people and bad cafeteria food, but yesterday it was chock-full of acoustic guitars and peace signs and organic smoothies. I wish I could bottle up that feeling of zen-happiness and unleash just a little bit every day. :)

Spring has Sprung

The grass has riz. I wonder where the birdies is?

So, it's officially spring. I think it took a little longer to arrive in the Berkshires than other places near here (like Tarrytown, NY, where that pic of flowers was taken a couple weeks ago). The trees here have pretty much blossomed, and although the temperature has taken a nose-dive over the past week, the flora have still managed to explode. We (Berkshire friends and I) are spending the day in Lenox, and it's so beautiful here. Some of the houses are crazy huge mansions. And we saw the "house" where Cider House Rules was filmed (well, the outside of it). I am trying to pack in non-medical stuff before I start inpatient medicine tomorrow. When I think about it starting I picture a large black sheet being lowered over my life. I may be fatalistic and pessimistic, but maybe this way there's no way I can be disappointed by the experience. If you expect to stay til 9 every night, when you get home by 7 you're happy, right? Well, I hope everyone is enjoying spring. Go outside and smell the flowers, like this crazy kid. :)

Adventures in the Berkshires

So to continue drinking up the Berkshires experience, last night we took a trip through the woods (literally) to the famous Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA for some dinner and music. According to its website, it's a 200-year-old farmhouse that used to be a brothel and speakeasy. Now it's a restaurant/bar/lounge that appears to have few patrons but many children and dogs roaming about. Although the website says "reservations for dinner are very much in order," we (there were 11 of us) seemed to make up over half of the customers, though there were many other people standing around that appeared to live there (and our waitress took our order while holding her 5-week-old baby, just to give you some idea of the atmosphere). There was also some really good music by Heather Waters, and we ended up getting our own private concert while we lounged on comfy couches. The whole experience was kind of odd but very enjoyable. You seriously think you're in the middle of the woods when you come across the place. (The directions on the website say, "Turn right on Watson Road and proceed slowly for three winding miles through the forest.") I'd definitely recommend going there (but don't get the fixed price menu...the food's not good enough for the high price), and also checking out that singer, cause she was pretty good. (Where else but western MA can you get good music in an old farmhouse that used to be a speakeasy??)

Picture(s) of the day

Wow, this page needs a picture. Words can get boring. These are pics from the Berkshires, where I am currently doing my medicine rotation (fyi: 'medicine' means general adult medicine, as opposed to pediatrics or surgery). Living in the Berkshires for free during spring and summer is quite a sweet deal. Our school likes to call it "required third year clerkship at Berkshire Medical Center." We like to call it "summer camp" (but with sick people during the weekdays, alas). There is lots of fun to be had out here. I'd recommend either taking a trip out here (tanglewood! and hiking!) and/or doing a rotation out here (if you're at UMass). We all live in a giant med student frat house. Tis quite the experience. :) I feel vaguely guilty for not even knowing the Berkshires existed for nearly my entire life up until now (hey, what can you do, I'm from the total opposite end of the state, and my dad calls everything west of route 128 "the midwest"), so now I sort of feel like it's my duty to extoll its virtues to people who remain oblivious to the fact that it even exists. So please enjoy the pics!