Please call me DOCTOR Takagi

TRUST ME, I'M A DOCTOR...

As of May 16th, 2008 at approximately 5 pm I am a doctor. It hasn't really sunk in yet. I haven't had to see any patients. I don't have my new long white coat with my name embroidered on it(med students where short white coats that extend to the upper thigh, but once you have the MD you where a long white coat that extends to the calf). I haven't been in any situations where someone asks with panic in their voice, "Is there a doctor in the house?" I haven't really introduced myself to anyone new necessitating the use of my new title. I let you know when I feel more doctor like.

Just the same, graduation was very nice. It was a relatively short ceremony -- lasting only 90 minutes or so. The talks were relevant and short. There were only 91 in my graduating class, so we walked across the stage pretty swiftly.

My parents and Kenta's mom got into town the night before. Kenta went to work like normal in the morning, and I went to work with my parents in returning my much loved vegetable garden back into sod - truly a tragedy. The afternoon came quickly. We showered and had some Thai food for lunch. Then we jumped on the shuttle bus and hit the road. Before I knew it, graduation was over, I was a doctor, I turned in my enormous graduation robes (I could have weighed an extra 200 lbs and not looked any different in my robes except for some extra chub around my face), puffy hat, and forest green hood, and took the shuttle bus home. It's strange to me that when it's your own life moment things move relatively quickly, but when you're attending someone else's life moment (graduation, baptism, wedding, performance, etc.) it drags on forever. Such is life.

Here's my name being called. The dean calling our names obviously didn't do much practicing of mine because instead of ta-ka-gi it came out ka-tan-ji. Very disappointing.

Receiving my diploma

Hooding

I felt like my puffy hat was falling off all day, so I bent my knees a bit in hope of avoiding the hood knocking the hat off. The ceiling at Eastman Theater -- gorgeous

Byron and Marilyn Dangerfield (my parents) with K&V

Dr. Alan Sears and family with Dr. Virginia Takagi and family (just Kenta)

Mr and Dr Takagi

As a side note, it has been my dream since I was 12 years old not only to be a doctor but to be the "Dr" of Mr and Dr , as opposed to seeing my parents get things in the mail addressed to Dr and Mrs. I always wanted to be the doctor of the couple. I suppose I could deal with Dr and Dr, but Mr and Mrs was not and is not for me. I have never liked the title of Mrs, and I have avoided it whenever possible. Now, I can comfortably avoid it for the rest of my life. Just that makes the $175,000 of student loans worth it -- almost. :)

Our Cruise to Baja

From May 3- May 8 Kenta and I joined my younger sister Rachel and her new husband Vince on a cruise from San Diego to Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas. We had a fantastic time. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

I'm sorry for the discontinuity of the pictures. For some reason blogspot won't let me change the order of them at all.

A whale of a tale...

Rachel and Virginia

Shopping in Ensenada

Snorkeling off of Cabo

(Kenta opted to be the photographer instead of swim)

A colony of sea lions

Another whale pic

Lathering up with sunscreen

As a side note, Rachel and I still got some pretty bad burns that made the next day a bit uncomfortable.

Leaving the San Diego port

Lounging on the upper deck

Coincidentally, Rachel was frequently found examining herself and Vince with a strange look on his face whenever Kenta took a picture. Go figure.

Rachel & Vince in front the Arch of Cabo

Rach and Vince in front of a giant Mexican flag in Ensenada

Arch of Cabo San Lucas

Our ship Carnival Elation

K&V in front of the Arch of Cabo

Proof that we've been to Mexico

K&V leaving San Diego


Please enjoy the short clip of our accidental whale encounter

On the way to Indy

On our way to Indianapolis last month (early April) we stopped by Cincinnati to catch a game. I'm sorry I haven't blogged this earlier, but things have been busy. We had a fantastic time. I especially enjoyed that the Reds' ball park is called the Great American Ball Park. I can't think of a better name for a baseball park. Incidentally I later learned that the Cincinnati Reds can thank Great American Insurance for that name; that burst my bubble a bit.

K&V at Great American Ball Park

Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Reds line-up April 5, 2008

Since my youth in beautiful Washington and my father's enthusiasm for baseball I have had a special admiration for Ken Griffey, Jr. I remember when he came to the Seattle Mariners as a rookie while his father was there as a veteran player. I remember watching them take the field together and always walk off the field together. I, with many others in the Pacific Northwest, was deeply disappointed when Griffey left Seattle for Cincinnati. I was especially chagrined because the only Mariners game I saw in person during Griffey's career was one in which he sat on the bench for a day off. As far as I knew I would never see him play in person. Many years later I met and married my baseball-crazed husband, and over the past three years we have seen many baseball games. However, most of these games (as you might notice from my 2007 review) were Braves 'away' games closer to our home in Rochester, such as Philadelphia). Since Cincinnati is a good 8 hours away from Rochester the chance that I would ever see Griffey play was slim. Also, Griffey, like many other players as they age, has had many injuries in the past few years, so I had all but ruled out the possibility of seeing him play. All this said, if you had asked me two months ago who my favorite player was or who I most wanted to see, I would have had to ponder this for quite some time. Even after seeing him I would have to ponder a bit. Just the same, when I saw him take the field during batting practice and then in the game, it felt as though some part of my life had come full circle -- like some task was completed. Well, this is all a bit too philosophical for me and probably for you too, but I have enjoyed rattling on for a minute.

Ken Griffey, Jr

This is his classic stance. It often follows a home run, but this time it followed a foul ball on the third base side of the field. Tough luck.

As a side note, don't you think my husband is amazing at catching these moments on camera? Just perfect.