Obama speech in Denver

An historic speech from the mile high city:

Not so lazy Sunday

Song of the Day: When Doves Cry - Prince

Quote of the Day: "If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up some place else." --Yogi Berra

Thought of the Day: We've added some links at the bottom of the page to some great nonprofits: The Hunger Site, The Breast Cancer Site, The Child Health Site, and The Animal Rescue Site. These all represent an extremely EASY way to do a little good work each day. Simply visit the sites, click on the "Click Here to Give" button and you're making a difference. It helps if you're so inclined to also occasionally visit the sponsors of the site so that they stay encouraged to continue their sponsorship (but this is not required). So please visit these every day! Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Labor Day weekend

Song of the Day: Misty - Sarah Vaughan -- this was one of one of my favorite tunes to play back when I used to do a weekly Jazz guitar duo in Charlottesville, VA. Sarah Vaughan's voice is floating.

Quote of the Day: "Treat the patient, not the Xray." --James M. Hunter

Thought of the Day: Yesterday we went to Belle Isle and walked along the James River. The river level was up a bit following all the rain we've had lately. The view of the river from the suspended footbridge is not unlike the Chinese brush painting displayed in the previous post. And we also had the good fortune to see blue herons relaxing in the river flow. Below is a picture I found online that adequately captures the feel.

Lord Li's Lyrical Poems, #4

The Fisherman


1.

Thousands of rumpus waves azure

on the deck become a snow shower.

Yet down by the river a row of peach and bay

allege Spring in their tranquil way.


Wine in the jar,

line on the reel,

to trade this for anything else in the world,

would be an unsound deal.


2.

Like a leaf the boat drifts,

on a breeze the oar rests.

And the barely visible line,

through a puny hook it threads.


Flowers spread on the shore afar,

Wine joggles in the bottomless jar.

The path of freedom is hereby paved,

miles and miles on the endless waves.




In the collection of historic biographies written in the Song Dynasty (~ 1200 A.D), Lord Li’s life started as follows:

Lord Li, the sixth son of King Li Jing, was born dubbed dikoros. Handsome and talented, he was favored by his father from an early age. His extraordinary gift in literature extended itself into the fields of painting, calligraphy and music as well.

The young prince was born dubbed dikoros —— two pupils in one iris. This was the very first legend about him among many that were to follow in his short and mysterious life. Dubbed dikoros may be due to a normal variant that is extremely uncommon in human beings. One of the first Emperors in Chinese history, Shun, was said to be dubbed dikoros. Interestingly, Alexandre the Great and Anastasios the First from the Byzantine Empire were believed to be dubbed dikoros as well. Dubbed dikoros in more than one culture, because of its rareness and mystery, had long been viewed as an omen for Kingship.

What’s more, at the age of 18, Lord Li was engaged to the Prime Minister’s elder daughter, Zhou (later on referred to as Empress Zhou). Zhou’s nickname, Er Huang, happened to be the same as the name of Shun’s legendary wife.

Every omen seemed to be hinting that Lord Li, the sixth prince, was the one chosen by God for the Crown. Yet the truth was, the Royal Crown was one of the last things Lord Li had ever wanted.

For various reasons, King Li Jing appointed his younger brother, instead of his oldest son Prince Hong Ji as the crown prince. This aroused deep grudge between the two Princes.

Prince Hong Ji was a war hero and had served in the army for more than 20 years. The four younger princes after him all died of illnesses during their early childhood, and Lord Li was the very next one in line. Because of his born extraordinary look —— dubbed dikoros, and the excessive fondness he received from their Emperor father, Lord Li lived in the shadow of jealousy and suspicion from his older brother throughout his teenage life.

The young prince’s devotion to art and poetry might not have been completely voluntary. While he was, by nature, predisposed to art, Lord Li’s dream of being a hermit (as he referred himself as the ‘hermit in the palace’ in many of his works) and his deep resentment towards Politics was very likely due to the hardship he had to go through as a member of the royal family.

After all, it might have been his very disinterest in the crown that made him the only survivor during the merciless power struggles in Li’s family.

The two poems on the fisherman were written by Lord Li on a famous piece of painting, “Fisherman by the river in Spring” at the age of 20, when he was still a prince. The painting was brought to Lord Li for entitlement by the artist. Tradition had been that the person asked to entitle an artwork would usually leave a few lines in the corner. Thus came these two short poems.

In Chinese history, many a famous hermit made their living by fishing. Thus the image of a fisherman strongly suggests a hermitic lifestyle in literature works. There has not been a single word left by Lord Li that expressed his disapproval on his brother and uncle’s way of living openly. Yet the deep and eager craving for escaping from the Palace into a carefree world that leaked out from most of his early works betrayed him. A sensitive and innocent soul by nature, he was stifled almost to death in the palace, a place to which he did not belong.

Lord Li’s resentment towards Politics reached its peak at the age of 22, when his uncle, the crown prince of Nan Tang was poisoned to death by his elder brother, Prince Hong Ji. Prince Hong Ji himself died in that same year of a “sudden illness” as put by the history writers.

In 961, King Li Jing passed away. Lord Li, the 24 year old prince ascended to his enthronement. The mysterious omen of Kingship from his dubbed dikoros in early childhood eventually turned itself into reality. The responsibility of a King fell upon his shoulders —— the shoulders of the one whose only dream was to be a hermetic poet, with wine in the jar, line on the reel, idling his way in a long Spring day.


(The painting on top of the page was done by one of my favourite artists, Ni Zan, in Yuan Dynasty. I used it as an illustration for the one Lord Li signed on, as the two pieces belong to the same style and had a common theme. The original painting, 'Fisherman by the River in Spring' with Lord Li's handwriting on the top was among one of the numerous precious art pieces in his Royal Art Gallery that was burnt into ashes during the fall of the Kingdom of Nan Tang.)

Plato on Veins

Song of the Day: Vein Melter - Herbie Hancock

Quote of the Day: "Now after the superior powers had created all these natures to be food for us who are of the inferior nature, they cut various channels through the body as through a garden, that it might be watered as from a running stream. In the first place, they cut two hidden channels or veins down the back where the skin and the flesh join, which answered severally to the right and left side of the body. These they let down along the backbone, so as to have the marrow of generation between them, where it was most likely to flourish, and in order that the stream coming down from above might flow freely to the other parts, and equalize the irrigation." Plato, Timaeus 77.d

Thought of the Day: Today had a very fulfilling time working with the non-Invasive Cardiovascular Radiology team. We encountered a patient who was a renal donor candidate, and found some (asymptomatic) anomalous venous vasculature on doing Magnetic Resonance and CT studies. I plan to do a presentation on the findings for the team, and found the above quote from Plato quite relevant for the project.

Lord Li's Lyrical Poem, #3

This is a poem on Autumn. Some say that Lord Li wrote this for his first queen, Empress Zhou. The lines follow her from early in the morning, as she did her hair, to late at night that day, as she sleeplessly sat by the window making sighs.

Empress Zhou was a famous beauty at her time. She was engaged to Lord Li when they were both at the age of 18, she died at the age of 28. She was an extraordinarily good Pipa player and dancer, an expert on perfume making and was very interested in poetry as well. Their 10 years of marriage left us many a uniquely touching love poem. This is believed to be one of them.

But some commentators claim, that by describing the sleepless beauty, the poet was actually expressing his own worry and upset. The poem was written shortly after his enthronement in 962, when Southern China under his reign was facing severe military threats from the north, as well as numerous economic and political problems from within.

There had been a long tradition of using the image of a beauty to express the writer's own feelings and thoughts in Chinese literature. It is highly likely that Lord Li here did the same thing. He was an unmatchably talented poet and musician, yet he was barely competent as a politician, let alone a ruler. The passive attitude of avoiding the troubles and hiding into his own creative world comes up again and again in his works.

This romantic detour from reality inspired many of his famous poems, while leading to the fall of his Kingdom in the end.


Through your thick hair a jade pin goes by,

like a spindle,

weaving together the dark clouds in the sky.

You put on a light colored shirt,

and a thin silk skirt.

You paint your eyebrows dusky brown,

those gentle curves,

for some reason they always frown.


Across the thin bamboo curtain,

whistles the Autumn wind,

on the wide banana leaves,

echoes the Autumn rain.

And the raindrops trickle on,

throughout the sleepless night.

While all you can do my love,

is sitting by the cold window,

with a long and faint sigh.

Lord Li's Lyrical Poem, #2

:), Thanks, Dr. Kowawa:)

Here comes another one——


Fair as snow right after their evening makeup,

The court ladies swirl in and line up.

Flute’s melody echoes afar,

through clouds and wind it travels with ease,

Pipa sings tirelessly,

stanza after stanza with unprecedented beats.


Who is standing by the wind,

scattering the fragrant powder?

Tipsy with endless moods,

your finger taps gently on the baluster.

As the horse shoes step into the bottomless night,

the moon unveils her luminous mirror.

So put away the the candles with golden stands,

'tis the quiet moonlight

what I truly want to treasure.

Radiology beginning

Since I've last written we travelled to Atlanta, GA and I took the Step 2 CS. Quite a challenging exam! It was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience taking this from 3-11 PM doing 12 simulated patient encounters with standardized patients! After the exam we went to Charleston, SC where we had a wonderful time hitting the beach (despite foul weather) and roaming the streets of historic Charleston. Now it's back to the grind, have just started my first month of Radiology. I'm starting with Non-invasive Cardiovascular Imaging, which is a blast.

Song of the Day: Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon

Quote of the Day: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." John Lennon, from "Beautiful Boy" . . . philosophy and poetry weaved seamlessly into this wonderful tune

Thought of the Day: Love the Lord Li poem and the concept of Sweewawa's project. This last poem dances around the subject matter without making direct statements. I found that it takes a couple of reads before it makes sense, but I think that's part of the beauty of the piece.

Lord Li's collection of poems

Today Ms. Kowawa decided to take on a new task: to translate Lord Li's poems one by one in a chronological order into English.

Lord Li (Li Yu), 937-978, was one of the greatest poets in Chinese history. I wrote an introductory essay about his life a couple weeks ago. The essay can be found in the blog.

Lord Li's works were closely tied to his life, which can be seperated into mainly 3 parts: birth-age 25, Prince; Age 25-40, King; and age 40-41, prisoner.

This poem was written before his enthronement. Vividly describing a morning dance party , it casts a light on his earlier life as a worry-free young prince.



While the sun rises high above,

aroma from incense cones slowly wakes up.

The carpet of red silk wrinkles,

as she walks up step by step.


The gold hairpin slips in a swirl dance,

The scent of flower buds drives away the tipsiness.

Flute and drum’s fainting sound,

from other palaces it echoes around.

John Hartford

The song of the day comes from an album my sister recommended -- John Hartford's Aero-Plain. Love this instrumental track, and the whole album is making my Step 2 CS studying a little more tolerable . . .

Song of the Day: Presbyterian Guitar - John Hartford

Quote of the Day:

There's music in the sighing of a reed,
There's music in the gushing of a rill,
There's music in all things, if men had ears,
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.

-- Lord Byron

Thought of the Day: It's cool that China and the USA are both in a way winning the Olympics right now. China counts # of golds, and it is the clear winner in that respect, whereas US pays more attention to # of medals, of which it has more. It's good for this multi-national household which is cheering for both nations!

Still studying . . .

Still studying for Step 2 CS. Will take the 8 hour exam from 3-11 PM on Thursday in Atlanta, GA. Then we'll take a couple day vacation to Charleston, SC. Looking forward to a little R&R following this intense summer of study!

For the song of the day today I include a link to one of the songs from my old band from Charlottesville. The band was called The Belding Principle, a play on words and reference to the cheesy 80's sitcom starring PrinciPAL Belding and the gang. I miss those days of fun music!

Song of the Day: The Belding Principle -- Permanent Fixture

Quote of the Day: "The fool doth think he is wise. But the wise man knows himself to be a fool." --William Shakespeare (the great playwright who spelled his name 8 different ways!)

Thought of the Day: Some of the best advice every given to me (from a family friend) is to be true to your word. If you say you're going to do something, do it. Even if it ends up being a real inconvenience, your word and character are more important than convenience.

Sketches of Spain

I absolutely love the Miles Davis / Gil Evans work Sketches of Spain. Just recently found a version of the work by the Norwegian Wind Ensemble. It's breathtakingly beautiful as well.

Sketches of Spain

This is the track list:

1. Concierto De Aranjuez (Adagio) - Norwegian Wind Ensemble
2. Will O' The Wisp - Norwegian Wind Ensemble
3. The Pan Piper - Norwegian Wind Ensemble
4. Saeta - Norwegian Wind Ensemble
5. Solea - Norwegian Wind Ensemble

Olympic Soccer Goals

Exclusive Summer Olympics news & widgets at NBC Olympics.com!

Fitter Happier

Most of today spent on studying for the USMLE Step 2 CS (the clinical skills portion of the exam). Uggh, am pretty tired from just having completed the CK. Got back a little while ago from a nice run in Deep Run Park, a park near our apartment. Did my hard run while listening to Radiohead's OK Computer on the iPod. Quite an album. Two songs from it I'll single out for songs of the day:

Songs of the Day:

Let Down - Radiohead

Fitter Happier - Radiohead

Quote of the Day: "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body." --Oliver Wendell Holmes

Thought of the day: Just a comment on the quote above -- typically I really geek out while exercising and listening to audio lectures about different medical topics on my iPod -- I know, GEEKY! But today I listened to the whole of OK Computer while running, and it was quite a refreshing experience. My mind whisked away from the stresses of medical school and was left only to enjoy the sounds of Thom's floating lyricism over seas of guitar and keyboard melodies while watching the ponds, branches, leaves and bugs fly by. This really helps to "reset the clock" and make me feel nice and relaxed. Unfortunately, now it's back to the books . . .

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

p.s. lyrics for Let Down:

Transport, motorways and tramlines,
starting and then stopping,
taking off and landing,
the emptiest of feelings,
disappointed people, clinging on to bottles,
and when it comes it's so, so, disappointing.

Let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

Shell smashed, juices flowing
wings twitch, legs are going,
don't get sentimental,
it always ends up drivel.
One day, I am gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction,
hysterical and useless
hysterical and

let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

Let down,
Let down,
Let down.

You know, you know where you are with,
you know where you are with,
floor collapsing, falling, bouncing back
and one day, I am gonna grow wings,
a chemical reaction, [You know where you are,]
hysterical and useless [you know where you are,]
hysterical and [you know where you are,]

let down and hanging around,
crushed like a bug in the ground.
Let down and hanging around.

8 for 8 in 2008

Just watched Michael Phelps win his 8th gold in this 2008 Olympics. Go USA!

Song of the Day: Hoe-Down - Aaron Copland

Quote of the Day: "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." --Thomas H. Huxley

Thought of the Day: Cats are like dogs except smarter and less friendly.

So What?

Finished my 9 hour grueling Step 2 CK exam today. Whew! It was harder than the practice exams I did, hope my guesses were on target. For some reason, during the exam, this song popped in my head and stuck:

Song of the Day: So What - Miles Davis

Quote of the Day: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." --Friedrich Nietzsche

Thought of the Day: Wish I could say I were the Michael Phelps of USMLE, but I'm not so sure ;)

This is it!

Tomorrow's the big test . . . getting psyched to rockit. Song of the day is a prayer offering to the higher powers:

Song of the Day: For The Love Of God - Steve Vai

Quote of the Day: "Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway." --John Wayne

Thought of the Day: Rah!

Almost there . . .

Two solid days of studying left, then I take the USMLE Step 2 CK exam. Aiming to beat my score on Step 1 by 20 points at least. Am just about to studying a boat load of flashcards while listening to my song of the day and the rest of the album . . .

Song of the Day: Chameleon - Herbie Hancock

Quote of the Day: "If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves." --Thomas Edison

Thought of the Day: It's tough studying so hard for so long, at the expense of fun activities. I wish I could play more guitar, go see live music, hang out at bars on occasion, and do more outdoor activities with my wife. But I guess that sacrifice is in part a necessary element of succeeding in medical school. I must be careful though not to continue putting off living indefinitely . . . life is too short.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Three Days to Go

Three days until my big exam. Getting a little nervous . . . just went for a swim to calm my nerves a little bit. Now back to the books.

Song of the Day: In A Sentimental Mood - John Coltrane

Quote of the Day: "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances." -Thomas Jefferson

Thought of the Day: One thing I've learned over the years is not to underestimate the importance of sleeping well.

The Buddy

Song of the Day: Videotape - Radiohead

Quote of the Day: "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind." -Dr. Seuss

Thought of the Day: Last night we had a scare as our beloved cat "The Buddy" jumped off our 2nd story porch and then was nowhere to be found. After much searching and a mostly sleepless night we still had no The Buddy and were fearing for the worst. Then this afternoon we got a call -- turns out an elderly neighbor had opened the door to his apartment and The Buddy had just run right in. The little furball must have realized his mistake early (that this wasn't the way into our building) and got really scared, and spent the night behind this neigbor's toilet out of his reach. Thankfully this morning the nice fellow was able to get The Buddy free, saw his tags, and gave us a call. What relief!! Definitely was a wake up call for us about (a) how fragile life can be and (b) that you should not take those close to you for granted. One sweet twist to the story -- our other cat Thenie, who acts almost a little autistic (really doesn't meow much or like to be picked up or anything) really surprised us during the whole endeavor. This usually completely silent cat spent the night alternating between meowing loudly off the porch or meowing at our bedroom door. Thenie is usually SO aloof, but this traumatic event really showed how important we are to her. Sometimes we don't give "autistic" Thenie the benefit of the doubt but we certainly should from now on . . .

Go USA!

China and USA are tied for 1st in overall medals, this is good since we're rooting for both nations. Today still studying hard for USMLE Step 2 CK . . .

Song of the Day: Teardrop - Massive Attack



Quote of the Day: "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." --Voltaire

Thought of the Day: If you use a little imagination, Barack Obama looks like a cross between an elephant and a turtle.

Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Step 2 CK studying . . .

Another full day of studying for the Step 2 CK, with only a break in the middle for a walk at Deep Run Park.

Song of the Day: I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen

Quote of the Day: "We aim above the mark to hit the mark." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thought of the Day: John Edwards is a doofus. Delightful article on the subject from Ann Coulter

Pics from Beijing

Find More Olympics Photos at NBC Olympics.com!

Beijing Olympics

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

Year-long Project

Today I'm going to start a year-long project, where each day on the blog I'll post a song of the day, quote of the day, and thought of the day (something I've learned or thought about). Let's see how this turns out . . . Cheers, Dr. Kowawa

Song of the Day: Soul Intro/The Chicken (Live Version) - Jaco Pastorius

Quote of the Day: "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." Albert Einstein

Thought of the Day: A little music during the day is a healthy way to relax and celebrate life.

Ode to Melancholy ----- the Story of Lord Li

Li Yu (936-978), known as the "Lord Li", among the countless number of renowned poets and writers in the 3000 years of Chinese civilization, is my favourite one.

He was born during the time of civil wars, when China was divided into mainly 3 parts: the North, ruled by the Song Dynasty, the West, ruled by the Shu Dynasty, and the South, which covered the richest provinces both economicwise and culturewise in the country, Tang Dynasty. Li Yu, the prince of Tang Dynasty, ascended to the throne at the age of 22. Both his father and grandfather's royal tombs are still in my hometown, JiangXi, and he himself loved spending summers in Lu Shan, where one of his villas still lies.

Li Yu has been considered as the first true master of Chinese lyrical poems. Before him, lyrical poems existed as a sugary hip-pop form of literature, used mainly as love song lyrics for Geisha's performances. Li Yu was the first one to express his own feelings, thoughts, philosophy, love and pain using the form of lyrical poems, and he did it with words that are so natural, so fluently and effortlessly arranged---as if improsvised on the spot---yet so deeply moving and thought provoking, that he brought this form of literature to life. He single-handedly changed the lyrical poem from being the toy of singsong girls to being a serious art which was to dominate the Chinese literature world for the 800 years that followed.

On the other hand, his poems gave you such a vivid sense of flowing music with melodies and pauses created by his ingenious arrangements of rhymes and structures, that no other poems were preferred over his by the singsong girls as well.

Asides from the talent in literature, he was also a famous brush painter, calligraphor, Gu qin player, and book collector. There were over 20,0000 rare books in the palace of Tang, each one picked by his own eyes and notated with his own handwriting.

Lord Li was also deeply interested in the philosophy of Zen and Buddhism. He spent vast amount of time and money inviting Zen masters from all over the country for talks as well funding their endless tours and temples.

In 977, The Dynasty of Tang was defeated by the North and China was united. Most of Lord Li's collections of books and paintings were burnt down in a fire set by himself---He had planned to die with his works and pride at the news of "enemy at the gates". Before doing so, he sent away all his concubines and servants to run for their own lives, instead of making them his Majesty's sacrificial objects as the tradition at his time suggested. The only person who stayed with him was his beloved queen---Empress Zhou.

Suicide requires enormous courage, a thing this sensitive artist probably lacked. Lord Li, at the age of 39, became the prisoner of the Emperor of Song. He had to move to the North now. He was put on a boat and left his hometown, Nanking, once and for good.

Lord Li quickly received enough pain and humiliation to make one question whether a suicide earlier would have been the wiser choice ---- locked up in a small yard with his wife and a few servants, he had to dress up as a servent to wait on the Song Emperor whenever a banqeut came up, his beautiful queen was often called in by the Song Emperor for "chats" and sent back after midnight, when all he could do was sitting in his small jail-like home, drunk, waiting for her to come back.

It was during this time, when he composed some of his most famous poems. Writing was the only world left for him to hide into. This personal pain of his moved millions of souls to tears in the 1000 years to come. Nietzsche once said: Among all the words, I only love those written in blood.

Lord Li, in this sense, is indeed a lovable writer.

July 7, 978 was Chinese traditional Valentine's day. It was also Lord Li's birthday. He composed a short lyrical poem, which, in a veiled manner, lamented on the loss his country. He was drunk, and asked a singsong girl to sing this poem for him. The music spread to the nearby Palace of Song, and the lyrics offended the Emperor.Lord Li was bestowed a poisonous cup of wine which ended his 41 years of legendary life.

He was posthumously created the Prince of South by the Song Emperor. His queen committed suicide two months afterwards. And that, was the story of Lord Li.

Here comes his last poem, the one for which he unreluctantly paid his life.




Ode to Melancholy


On pedals and leaves the moon gently cast,

her endless calls for the past.

East wind sighs on and on,

alluring you with sweet memories

of the desolate hometown.


Carved balustrates and jade steps

still await thither,

'twas only your own youth

that silently withered.


How long of a way does melancholy go?

Just like a river,

to the east it forever flows.



Sweewawa

Studying . . .

Been studying for the past two weeks for the USMLE Step 2 exam. Radiohead's latest offering has been in the background during a lot of this time. A sublime album.