"Do Good"

To yourself, and to others. That was the theme of my Spring break...and really, that needs to be the theme of my life. 

I think I devoted this Spring break to just exploring the things I'd like to do. I finally got a breather. It was much needed, and I thought, much deserved. I had a lot of time to myself to contemplate life. I liked that. It made me realized that I need to get out and do the things I wasn't allowed to do for so long. I am finally free... emphasis on the finally. I think the goal of this quarter is to be healthier. I need to get out and do more things, even if I'm the only one doing it. I went hiking, and biking over the break. It was amazing. I combined all the things I've loved, and haven't gotten around to, and did it during this break. I coupled those excursions with photography. I was getting tired of taking pictures of just foods... I wanted to be outside and enjoy nature! I biked around 9 miles around Golden Gate Park and along Ocean Beach. It was liberating feeling the wind and sand hit my face... and even cruising down hills. They say it's like riding a bike.. you never forget... I didn't. I got on one for the first time in ages... and rode around without much purpose. Those are the moments I love in life... those stress-less moments.

Biking along Ocean beach! I love undisturbed sand :)

At the end of the break, I decided to volunteer at the Remote Area Medical- Oakland (RAM.) I did free fillings for the un(der)insured people of the Bay Area, mostly from Oakland. I just love that feeling. I know that many know about my dreams of being a fabulous domestic diva, but I will, I assure you, have this education to back me up. First and foremost, I am a dental student. That is still my priority in life. I worked too hard to let it all go to waste. I will be a dentist, and I will help out my community as much as possible. I have been trained to do this special skill, this skill to heal, and to take people out of pain, stop the spread of and prevent disease, allow people to eat again, and make people enjoy their smiles more. I did large fillings, and small ones as well, and the small artistic/aesthetic ones, were the ones where the patients seems to be the most appreciative. These were people who camped out over night in the cold and rain, for a simple 30 minute procedure, and they left extremely happy. I love that feeling. I love feeling useful, I love using what I am trained to do, to make that difference, that was why I wanted to go into dentistry. People hate going to the dentist, and I want to change that. There just seems to be a lot of dental neglect, especially for the poor. I can understand, because I never grew up with dental insurance. I don't think I'd even be happy to pay for a crown or a root canal, those things cost more than the car I drive!!! Dentistry is really expensive... I'm still trying to figure out why it costs that much, but some of the fillings that I did would have cost probably 500 dollars in a regular private practice, but at RAM, it was free, all they had to do was have a little patience. What a great deal, and no wonder the patients were all so nice and thankful. I hope to do more of these later, and hopefully by then I can be quicker and more efficient with my skills. All in all, it was a great ending to my Spring break, I'm starting to regain a sense of my old self again... and it feels SO good :)

This was the dental cleaning area that was kept so neat and nice, the area I worked with was controlled chaos with the communal table housing all of the curing lights, random anesthetics, amalgam, titrators,  gloves, gauze, shields... etc..