Packing

Today was my last session with my psychiatrist as a medical student, and he said goodbye using "Dr. [Lastname]." !!! I graduate in two days and move in five days, and the whirlwind of packing has begun.

My Busy Life

Back from five days at the beach with my family. It was great, with time for my nephews, game time with my brothers and sister-in-law, wine and crackers and cheese time with my parents, and me time (to walk on the boardwalk with a foofy dessert latte). Below is a random pic I took while I was fooling around with the Logitech camera my brother set up so we can talk via Skype; I like this one because it looks like I'm a marionette.

Little Boxes Made of Ticky-Tacky

I've spent the weekend mostly with my family, and man has it been great. Games out the wazoo. When will my friends realize that all I really want to do is play board games? Cheez. Yesterday was Ticket to Ride (Rog won), today was Cities and Knights of Catan (Maggie won).

I realize I kind of suck at these games. I love them, and I'm not noticeably bad at them, but I just never think far enough ahead, I think. I think I don't really strategize very much. Like in Weeds when Mary Louise Parker says, "I'm out of moves," and Romany Malco says "'Moves' means you think things through. You have been reacting... You dug a bed a mile deep and a foot wide and you're looking back up at a pinhole." I guess I don't do that badly, but I definitely react more than thinking things through.

After my brother and sister-in-law left, I went for a long walk with Rog around the hometown, which was great, and then I went for a medium-length, faster-than-was-comfortable run around the hometown. I'd like to run a 5K on June 6th and a 5-mile run July 3rd. Watch this space for fascinating updates on my training progress.

Another %$#*ing Hurricane Day

Today, amidst high winds and rain, I had lunch with Mom at Jones, and went to see "Iron Man" with Amy. Around 9:30 tonight I realized it had finally stopped rain, so I went for a walk around my neighborhood, and now I'm playing online poker. I love vacation.

Cloudy

Today is cloudy and cold. I would have liked to take a walk, maybe even go up to Fairmount Park and hike around a little, but that'll have to wait for a nicer day. Instead, I'm posting my favorite picture of our Rhodes trip. This is the town of Lindos, with the acropolis/citadel on the top of the cliff, the town's buildings clustered below, and us relaxing on the beach in the foreground, reading for pleasure.

One of the best vacations of my life, honestly.

The Greek Way of Life

Our first meal in Greece (after a late breakfast of yogurt and cereal) was in Embonas, and we had souvlaki and "furnace feta" (baked feta with tomatos and hot peppers). While we were there, it began pouring rain, and we had to linger over tea and coffee and some strange little dessert rolls that I eschewed because of a coconut coating. But that meal was an introduction to the Greek tradition of meals lasting at least 2 hours, and by the end of the week in Rhodes my friends and I were full-on devotees of the extended meal. Here's a picture of a typical dinner:

Rhodes Rhodes Rhodes

Well, I thought this had posted last week, but it didn't, apparently. Here it is, and pretend it's last Thursday...

I'm in Greece!

I actually only have two more days left before I come home. I'll post some pictures once I get home and can sync my Treo (which has all my photos on it). It's been really wonderful, one of the best vacations I've ever taken. I'm uploading a picture of the Colossus, which is the model for a million tacky tchotchkes my friends and I have come across.

All the postcards and so on have the same ship with the pointy mast sailing right between the Colossus's legs.

Ack. I just wrote a whole bunch more about our trip today to Marmaris, Turkey, but the free Internet I'd been using abruptly logged me off. Now I'm using the Internet I actually paid for. Anyway, watch this space for more Greece and Turkey stories after I get back on Sunday.