Doctor808 Plastic Surgeon Honolulu Hawaii

What do you think?

A few weeks ago  friend of mine was expressing to me the concern they seemed to note at a cosmetic surgery meeting. They said to me “these cosmetic surgeons all they care about is money” in a holier than thou attitude.  The attitude reflected the attitude of others I have heard before, who either do not think cosmetic surgery is needed or see the money some of these surgeons make. Well since this was a friend I asked candidly ” do you think that is all I care about ?” My friend said “no”. Well this bothered me to some degree for two reasons. First what is wrong with making money for ones labors ? I mean rewarding people in a competitive fashion with money,  for doing good work —-it actually does work. We have seen this propel society to grow more food for its people. We have seen such a formula of    reward the individual = better production and achievement tried many times and we can observe the failures and the successes of this. Like wise we have seen the formula   reward everyone equally =  less production and achievement proven as well.

In agriculture,  farms that made good production of food  made the most money, the farms that did not produce much food efficiently  lost money and failed. The Soviet economic system completely crumbled due to the lack of incentives other than a banner or badge from the state which said “good job”. Seemed it was not enough to keep things going. More food is a good thing, less food is a bad thing. I think I have made my point here.

So if we apply these principles to cosmetic surgery, what we have is people competing for more money. This means those that do better at cosmetic surgery, produce better results will earn more money than those who produce less results. Although,  in general I think this may be true but  not 100% of the time. People who want cosmetic surgery will want the best I believe. So it follows they will try to find the best for their budget.

So when someone tells my like my friend, Cosmetic Surgeons are only interested in money. In one way –I think that is good thing because of what I said in the above paragraph.  It will produce the best results. A poorly performing cosmetic surgeon will not earn much money and if they are really bad will hopefully go out of business. So in this way, greed is a good thing I think. This is because people have FREE WILL. That is to say,  they can choose this cosmetic surgeon or that one,  depending on what they think is the best. Cosmetic Surgery is unregulated to some degree.

The same applies to many aspects of society. When people are given a choice to work hard and earn more money and if they want more money they work harder, then there are those who try to slide by , talking  a lot or pretending to do a lot,  but do not. The latter typically get rewarded the least with money. That seems fair to me. So I disagree with the notion that cosmetic surgeons greed is 100% a bad thing. It produces the best cosmetic surgeons,  as societies based on a reward system for work performed,  should win. Again we have seen this over and over again,  so I cannot say why people fail to see this.

Now all  rewards are not money. Yet there is a system of rewards which works for some people. Maybe its prestige as seen in academic life such as a promotion to tenure as a professor or a missionary who gives health care free to the poor in some out of the way place like Cambodia. Well they have there rewards as well. They good from their works. I do not think one is worse than the other money verses a good feeling. Both are rewards.

So back to greedy cosmetic surgeons.  Well greed can be good if greed is simply the desire to get some reward such as  money , good feeling or whatever system of values are in place. This is greed? If that is what my friend meant then I think this is a a wrong opinion. What I think is greed in a bad way is when someone wants something through trickery or doing nothing. This means for example a cosmetic surgeon gives Botox charges the patient  for a certain amount then does not give that amount. Like the doctor who went to jail for telling patients he was giving them a cancer drug but sold then water instead which an actual case, That is what I call bad greed. Like wise are people who expect the society to give them something for nothing. We all must contribute.

Contribute is what most cosmetic surgeons have done especially the traditionalist such as myself who were plastic surgeons. Plastic Surgeons are called all the time to emergency rooms to take care of people. Most who have no money and thus the doctor does not get paid. Would you do work for free ? Well I am sure some of you will , but would you do work for free and then risk getting sued? Well most plastic surgeons will and do.

So I have no problem with a cosmetic surgeon who cares about money if that is type of greed. In most ways I think that is good. This is why I am a libertarian and subscribe to some of the philosophies of Ayn Rand.  Please try and understand the difference.

doctor808

Lifguard Va Beach

I have been in practice for many years as Plastic Surgeon in Hawaii, I think,  I lost count. As I become older I realize it has been a very interesting career for me. I am not like many Plastic Surgeons . I have been told I do not have a “Plastic Surgeons Personality” by a peer many years ago. I was taken back , at the time because I was not sure what he meant. I still till this day am unsure what it meant unless he meant high brow or snobby or maybe he meant eloquent with grace and class.

I am more down to earth easy to talk to I think than what the public perceives a plastic surgeon should be. Is this a weakness or a strength?  I think it has to do with ones upbringing and life experience. From high school surfer and life guard to soldier, to good college student to physician to surgeon then plastic surgeon was my path. I forgot to mention I was a bar tender, a short term as policeman and even a paramedic. That a lot of different experiences for one guy over the years and has led to some personality factors. Many plastic surgeons were genetically bred to be plastic surgeons since being an egg in their mothers wound. I on the other hand was not, I made my way through lower middle class with no educational history in my family, in fact I was the only who made it to college not to mention medical school etc.

So does that mean my blue collar roots made me what I am, a dash of various experiences , oh I forgot to mention carpenter when in high school for a few years we had our own after school and summer framing crew. I don’t know although I have tried to analyze that. Maybe that is why I do not have a plastic surgeons personality.

Plastic Surgeon Thinking

What I do have is the energy to pursue what I want till the very end. No silver spoon here only a strong persistence. That is how I completed medical school. We called it “a grind’ because you “grind” and persist your way through mountains of memorization. I have “grind” tendency meaning I usually never give up. This was required when I went through a tough microsurgery fellowship and would be in the operating room for 18 to 34 hours at times (with bathroom breaks and some food). We had a team so we would allow each other short if lucky an hour or two break while the rest of the team operated. Rewarding it was to perform microsurgery yet after a few years I found it tedious and somewhat boring. Cosmetic surgery was more of a challenge for me as it allowed expression artistically and the end result is not easy to define. So in Hawaii I have been a cosmetic plastic surgeon.

Laser Plastic Surgery

Many many years ago I started on the Big Island primarily doing hand surgery because of my microsurgery training. That ended for  reasons and I moved to Honolulu where I developed a large cosmetic surgery practice. Its been that way since. Its been good.  I have met a lot of people and very interesting people. Some I have described in my blog others I do not mention. Some I want to forget.

Where my life will end up I am not sure. Lately I have thought about many things.  I will be in cosmetic surgery practice for a while. Maybe I will be lucky and can retire early and walk the earth like a monk from place to place. It will all depend on what I want in the end, as mentioned  I am a grind. The only issue for me is if I decide that I want something or not. If its obtainable and that is the key to success if I want it of not its formula for failure. I could come to Hawaii from the east coast and it was obtainable and I did it. Yet other things are not so I gave up. I could not on the Big Island have a big cosmetic practice as the market was not there. I could only have a small cosmetic practice and perform some hand surgery so I gave up there.No matter how much I wanted a Big Island large cosmetic practice it was not possible so I moved.

Reality is however what you make it as well. When I first moved to Hawaii,  a neurosurgeon friend told me “you can have anything you want here this is paradise” I did not believe him. Yet I realize that you can have what you want if 1. if its obtainable 2. If you put our the effort and become a grind about it.

Well I wrote too much about me tonight. I promise i will write about others next post but this is my blog.

Doctor808

AiMiYo in Tokyo Meeting

Well I had a big meeting last week again in Tokyo and did not attend as a Doctor,  but as CEO of web site development firm. My interest in the Internet as anyone who reads this blog knows is very strong. So this year we formally launched a web development firm called AiMiYo International which is based out of Hong Kong and is LTD Hong Kong Company. One of our areas of special interest is developing a web presence for the Cosmetic Surgery Industry. We market, perfrom SEO function and in nut shell have it all covered in a boutique high end firm with me as CEO.

Well my this meeting was at the Tokyo Dome Hotel in downtown Tokyo baseball place. Baseball as you may know is huge sport in Japan but we can tall about that later. The conference was the Aesthetic Surgery Society of Japan and was well attended.

So my firm has a booth. We presented our talents and what we had to offer. We met a lot of good doctors and staff and other companies. One of the companies is interested in a surgical instrument I invented call the “boob-a-rang” –yes I know kinda funny name but if you check it out you will see why its named that way. You can see that instrument I use at www.boob-a-rang.com and I hold the patent and its FDA approved–pretty neat eh?

Well the booth we had was modest but we were able to show off my web development teams skills and talent. All in all it was a great meeting and we made a lot of good contacts.  I will show some photos.

Next week we will be attending the Facial Plastic Surgery Meeting in Las Vegas and this will be a much bigger meeting. I will be going         both as CEO of AiMiYo and as Plastic Surgeon as there are several lectures I want to attend to learn more for my patients.    There are         going to be some good speakers there and some I am particularly interested in.

I do quite a bit of facial plastic surgery and though I do teach some face lift courses I always want to hear new ideas and if better will incorporate them in my practice.

As some of my readers may know I have been to China several times giving lectures on face lift , as well as on breast implants surgery. China has only been in the cosmetic surgery game for about 8 years. After the old politics went away to some degree and the true opening up of China to profit making- cosmetic surgery took off. Recently , on my last trip to Tokyo last week my friend Taka Kuvo a well known Ginza Cosmetic Surgeon introduced me to a Chinese entrepreneur. She apparently wants to open up a cosmetic surgery clinic. We may become involved although I am not sure yet.

The meeting was held in one of Tokyo’s famous sushi places where exotic Japanese dishes are served. Not to my taste but very edible and different. I was with Taka and not really involved in the discussion but allow me to say I would love to help out a upstart cosmetic surgery clinic in China.

Meeting with Chinese Taka Cuvo

The meeting may or may not bear fruit but good ideas were kicked around so stay tuned about this. I love working with the Chinese and every visit has been a pleasure.

The interesting thing for Americans to note is that its almost like celebrity status to be a white guy in China.  The media seems to love to show a Caucasian face. its as if they are saying “Look at us we have western people here so we are coming on strong–look out world here we come!

This is not my idea but has been written about in the press the idea of having a white face in their corporate media–Chinese Multiculturalism ?

In fact I had my Chinese administrative assistant search the Chinese internet for anything about our visits there. I though maybe I would be lucky if one picture or statement was found. Yet I was very surprised.

My photo was all over the internet , web sites looking important and shown on not only news media but hospital web sites. I must say I was entertained by this. I was touted as an western expert which I suppose I am. Yet if you know me you will also know I do not particularly have a high brow demeanor and more or less casual in approach to my practice. I prefer to really get know my patients as opposed to come on too “doctorly”.

I have enclosed some of these photos below which I thought the poses and the lightening etc was actually pretty good. I almost believe looking at these photos that its not me but some very important guy !!

Well what else can I say about this international cosmetic surgery business? All in all I say its fun I learn a lot from my peers abroad and I hope they learn from me as well. The point is to me its all how can we be the very best we can to our patients? That is what I try to do I hope.

Its easy to get caught up in the glamor of cosmetic surgery field but we always must keep in mind that our patients place their trust in us which is a humble experience.

Well my dear readers until next time and please enjoy the photos.

doctor808

Dr Pasquale examines a burn patient in China

Group Photo In China--mandatory white guy in middle

Plastic Surgeon From 9th Miltary Hospital China discusses case

I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to write much. Yet I will try to get back to it now. One reason is my web company AiMiYo International have been finishing up a huge project. This is Japanese Cosmetic Surgeons web site  —-Ginza Tokoyo Cosmetic Surgeon. This has kept me and the team busy for about month and I had to Travel to Japan to teach. There I conducted a l”live surgery ” work shop on neck lifting.  This was for a course held in which I taught a lecture and we actually performed a surgery to teach other surgeons in Tokyo in a section called Akhihabara. The course was for about 100 surgeons I gave all interested in learning to improve there neck lifting techniques. Surgeons were from mainly Korea, Japan and some from China . Again they were good students.

Akhihabara also known as Electric City or Otaku town is famous because of the electronic industry and animae (animated characters like sailor moon) that fills the town. An Otaku used to be a derogatory word which was a negative description for some weird computer geek. These Otaku were famous for anti -social behavior and living in computer world. A entire section of Tokyo has developed about this. Most famous is the maids cafe s in the area. To understand this you really have to see that. I have been and what it basically is cute very young japanese girls dressed as 19th century maids or some modification of that who greet you as “Master” and serve you in such a way. They have coffee cake and play games like rock -paper -scissors. They also get on the stage and sing songs laugh etc with all the Otaku’s in the crowd.

It seems many of these true Otaku’s do not have much human interaction,  so when they come to the maid cafe’s its a real treat. I noted some very very strange people there and not just young men or older men but some woman. One in fact was talking to herself an obvious mentally ill individual and another male had pictures of all the maids on his hat and seemed to be a regular. Very strange indeed. Well the maid cafe is I believe is an out growth of this entire virtual world of computers. In this world you can be somewhat anything you want and I have spent some time reading blogs and other venues and actually myself developed an entire virtual world “plastic surgery isle” a few years ago as part of a project and fun too. I owened a cafe called Hell’s cafe and had a staff of 14 Japanese Waitresses all virtual in a 3 d world. It was quite fascinating actually and I think the internet will advance to that more later. I stopped the project as it was clear we it would show not profit as an advertising venue just yet. I believe it will later.

Virtual Plastic Surgery World Created by me 2007

Sometimes I see things on the internet which are rather sad and I see people who are escape and live so much in the internet they loose touch with normal values and etiquette. Its easy to do because of what may be perceived as a shield of anonymity.

The use of such shield brings out certain characteristics I believe which are somewhere in core. The bad side of this is there is no true anonymity on the internet and all information can and at times is found. Employers such as myself will many times look up information on people who apply for a job on the internet and we are not just talking about a google search, there are very sophisticated programs which will search and find out much what appears to be hidden information.

Well that aside there is so much to come in the future of virtual worlds and Akehabara , Japan is one place it will be seen to grow,

The meaning for plastic surgery is yet to be seen but my early experiment was enlightening. I will eventually start again into this venue but for now we need to stick to more traditional web marketing.

As soon as I can will be bringing you more information about vairous meetings we have planned both for the Web Development Firm and Plastic Surgery Practice. As example we have another meeting in Tokyo next week for cosmetic surgery where we will be launching a new web based product one of AiMiYo’s programmers has recently finished. We have two more meetings plannned this summer primarily for the web company but in the fall its back to China for a cosmetic surgery conference.

Seems my name has become some what known in China as a teacher of cosmetic surgery. This picture of a chinese web site below has me featured but as far as what it says I have no idea.

Dr Pasquale Featured In China

Speaking of China there simply is not enough time to write about that place in my schedule yet I have so many photos and events there to discuss.

I promise in the future I will write more detail , yet for now I will simply say as far as cosmetic surgery goes—-look east its going to be a huge wave coming. As this society grows more affluent consumer demand is growing for such services.

Our plastic surgery chinese web is developed and completed.

Well that is all I have time for now. I have to get ready for the Japanese conference next week.

Until next time

Doctor808

Well my Dear readers, it has been a few weeks since I have had a chance to make a new entry. The reason is that I was swamped with surgical cases, web projects and then getting ready for my trip to give lectures in Korea and China. Now I have a day to catch my breath and I am Bangkok Thailand. Here is Me , the Red Shirts,  as well as 11 million other assorted Thais and Foreigners. All one big happy Bangkok family.

For you with lack of initiative, the red shirts are the other party opposed to the yellow shirts in Thailand and and its a mess. It is not bad at all for tourist as long as you use common sense and stay away from protest areas. In these places  as our beloved embassy advises , a peaceful crowd can turn into an angry mob so as long as you stay away from these areas which are small compared to the country and city your fine. Problem is my condo is 1 block away from the action and 32 stories up,  so I can see and hear and be above it all.

Well I am only here for a few days so it really does not matter to me what takes place as long as it ends rather quickly and peacefully. I will be off to China in 24 hours. There I have been invited by the head plastic surgeon in China to lecture at one of their hugh conferences which my talk will be on Breast Augmentations. What I am talking about is the “Tips and Tricks in Breast Augmentation. Well let me say I have a few after 20 years of doing that so I might as well share it with Chinese eh?

Oh no !!!! Not another breast augmentation lecture !!!

Well like I said I should be able to have something to say about Breast Augmentation after 20 years of doing them.  When you do something that long you learn all the mistakes and more importantly how to fix them. In fact we devoted and entire web site to that topic called  FixYourBreast.com . I mean can you imagine such as name for a web site. Well all I can say about that is — we design web sites so why not.

The people I met on this first leg of the trip were a lot of fun and I will be telling you some interesting stories in a later post. Korea always fascinates me, as it reminds me of my own Italian culture somewhat. Contrast that to the  easy going , no tempered Japanese colleagues of mine there such as Dr. Cuvo , Dr. Ashida and Dr. Kure all mild mannered and polite.  Well at least to you get to know them anyway and then they may change ?  The Koreans like me can be loud , determined and a lot of fun. One of my Korean friends told me the reason for this was that Italians like Koreans live on a peninsula. So that means we are always attacked from many sides. Seems like an interesting theory.

The meeting went well in Korea and I will come back to this topic in later post. I need to go see my business partner here now and get back to work. I just felt guilty for not writing for a while. Till next time.

doctor808

from wilkipedia First World Trade Center Bombinh

As many of my readers may know I trained in New York City , Manhattan in fact, capital of cosmetic surgery for most of the century ( other then LA and even earlier Switzerland ) to some degree. I was in that town, for approximately 8 years. There before I did plastic surgery I completed a general surgery residency. What you may be surprised to hear was that I was actually the Chief Trauma Resident in general surgery at New York University Downtown Hospital the day that they attempted to blow up the world trade center the first time. I will never forget that day.

In those days the general surgery residents and interns were at the Hospital 36 hours at time. As chief I would come in at 6am and get off the next day typically at 6pm. then I would sleep till the next morning and then do it again in a never ending cycle. One thing you learned in New York  was how to get things done, sometimes in what appeared to be impossible circumstances. As example we would see 40 patients in less than in hour  because the trauma team would be so much like a finely tuned instrument that it was possible because each team member would do their job OR they would be kicked out of the program. It was called a pyramid program in general surgery there. The reason is there would be I think 12 interns starting and as each year of training progressed they would eliminate based on host of factors a few until the final 5th year and ou became chief resident there were only 3 as I recall. What happen to the others , well many never became surgeons. It was hard work and you had to have certain instincts to survive. Same when I was with 20th special forces group , US Army you learned how to survive or you were out.

Sorry about the side track but I was concentrating on “getting the job done”. So many times I see people who cannot seem to get the job done. They say this and that and live in a dream world. I am sure you have seen them. “I will go to gym and lose ten lbs” of course the next day they are Baskin Robins eating ice creme. Yet that only hurts themselves. What really gets me are those who make promises to others and never do what they say. In my surgery residency that was what usually why people were eliminated in the program and never advanced. It was usually nothing to do with being a “bad surgeon” it had to do with reliability. As example , if an intern told you he would have the lab result on certain patient when the team made rounds on the 40 patients the team better have those results when the team saw the patient.  So picture this, 20 doctors and medical students rapidly going from room to room and standing out side the door. The interns would read the results of the test to rest of the team. The chief resident would make some teaching point to the others about the patient and they would then enter the room. Once inside the Chief resident and others examine the patient. Then the Chief or senior resident would tell the team the plan—Get a Upper GI scope today and we will see the results by tomorrow and decide this or that. Understand this process would take less than a minute. Yet it all depended on the one intern who would tell the team what the results were of the test he was suppose to get. If he or she failed at that job the process stopped and the team become a fumbling side show. Instead of one minute, it became a distaster. The chief would not say “ok bring me that later”. He had no time for that. He needed the results then to make the plan for the day. The team had 39 patients more to see in an hour. So as you can see after a few times like that it became evident who should stay and go to top of the pyramid and who should leave the program.

So that is how a pyramid works for surgeons, its not the brightest or smartest or the best surgical hands who wins. Its the man or woman who is reliable because every one is smart , everyone can handle suturing and cutting. It boils down to one thing. The ones who do what they say are of value and the ones who do not are eliminated. Cruel but true. It also produces the best people to be your surgeon. After last weeks blog I started thinking about this. I met and had a great time with a Nobel Laureate. He was a down to earth guy, very smart, and educated but there are many people who are like him I know in terms of intelligence. In fact I can think of two people in my life that very well may be smarter than him and I know they are smarter than me. Yet they do not win a Noble prize. In fact they are both relatively unaccomplished individuals , and the reason is they do not do what they say they will do. So I think that must be the key more so than intelligence.

As for me, I really try to do what I say I am going to do. Sometimes it impossible but in general I really do my best and most of the time I am able. I hope I do not dissapoint to many people. Although it happens I am sure at least I was able to be a surgeon.

Until next time

doctor808

Excellent Italian Food was made by Miguel

Well tonight I went to a very interesting dinner party. It was with regard to the Cancer Center at the University of Hawaii held at one the Black Point homes of one of the leading cancer center researchers. My good friend and fellow Italian Miguel and his wife Elizabeth. It was a very nice party for me because it had authentic Italian food cooked by Miguel !

This was only part of the treats of the evening, we had fine wine and great conversations with some of the University guest either Doctors, organizers , bankers and significant others. All brought together to honor one of the men of science who contributed greatly to world health and people associated with an institution who shows great potential to contribute to the health of mankind.

What we have is the potential , that is what will be the future-cancer cures and proof in the flesh that science can and has made our world significantly better.

On the one hand the University of Hawaii Cancer Center may be on the verge of the next great breakthrough to cure cancer and on the other we have the Man who won a Nobel prize for his contribution to science. The one I am speaking about is Dr. Blumberg who won a Nobel prize for both discovery of the virus and the cure which we call Hepatitis B. You can read about this mans remarkable achievement at the Nobel’w web site.,

I was very greedy at this party and after the speech by our host and the president of the University of Hawaii I stole him and occupied all his time. It was a fascinating talk about his discovery , his life and he gave me very good advice on life. He said that I should be more of an optimist about the future as I admittedly am somewhat of a cynic. We spoke of Jefferson, Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin for some hours along with to my surprise Ayn Rand author of the Virtue of Selfishness and Atlas Shrugged.  This talk went on for a while and it was unusual in that he spoke as knowledgeable about Ayn Rand as anyone I have ever spoke with before. Most people I know have no idea who she was or the philosophy she put forth. Ah then I discovered he is not only a scientist but a philosopher in the official club for philosopher.  I was impressed with this amazing man.

Yet what thought humbled me the most was something Miguel said in his introduction of him. This man has saved at least a million lives a year since his discovery. I as a surgeon and as a surgeon in the past at war time could not have saved a million lives a year even if I operated 100 times a day and each operation was life saving. Yet Dr. Blumberg did and is still saving lives when his vaccine is administered to people who would other wise one day die of hepatitis or liver cancer. I am truly humbled.

Here is is picture and he is the gentleman to the left of me–truly amazing evening !!!

Myself and Dr. Blumberg Nobel Prize Winner

Well until next time

Doctor808

Dailin University President last trip to China

Last time I went to China I gave a lecture on Face Lifting, this time I have a world wide lecture circuit on Breast Augmentation. This will be a three country tour starting in Korea , this stop will be for my lecture called  ” A simple technique for breast axillary breast augmentation with a new surgical instrument the “boob-a-rang”. Although this may sound like a joke for name of an instrument its not. Many years ago I invented a instrument to perform the axillary dissection for breast implants. This device works well and is shaped some what like a boom-a-rang thus the name. I have had great success without complication compared to other instruments I have used. I manufacture, designed and sell this to other surgeons and it is FDA approved.

Well that is the first leg of the tour, then next its on to China City of Fuzhou. There will be a huge meeting where I will again to present several lectures on my breast augmentation technique.  I was invited by the head Plastic Surgeon personally for all of China. That is huge as in country like China so large but only one Chief. Well I am very excited  about this invitation and I will let my readers know about this at progresses.

Finally I will end up in Bangkok Thailand at my safe zone where I will relax a few days and check on my other business interest there. Then back to Hawaii home sweet home.

Well thats all for now and I will let you know what is next.

Doctor808

Cynthia, Kiyoko, me and Rire

Well its been a while since I have been writing on my blog because I have been insanely busy! With plastic surgery–unfortunately NO –February is the worse month for Plastic Surgeons in Hawaii. For plastic surgery its a slow month !

Maybe elsewhere I do not know. I have been busy with my web company. I have received more request for work than I thought possible for web sites and the like. Looks like AiMiYo LTd will be a success. In fact its overwhelming as we get our staff built up. As for me,  I over see the company and make sure its on the right track, that people are doing their jobs and every customer is happy.  Its creative and we try to maintain the highest standards, believe me when I say there are some shadowy companies out there. We are preparing report to place on our company web site  comparing what we have found.

Well enough about business for now, its my birthday, I am in my  mid fifties  , I did not think I would ever be this old. Yet here I am old guy–except I don’t feel like an old guy. Then I compare my self to other “old guys” my age and I don’t feel so bad. This may be due to a life time of surfing and my kick boxing to some degree. Well what should I do,  re evaluate my life and give a reflection to the past and vision to the future. Ok that took a full 24 seconds to review, now its time for action. I guess I could say there is nothing I would change.

Well what happens in my life today on birthday?  Part of my staff is here around me and they gave me a nice birthday cake , a cheesecake. I had a lot of people on face book wish me a happy birthday from around the world. I was surprised at the number of emails I received from close friends and colleagues. I even received one of those e-cards which are easy to do and require little effort,  but at least it was nice thought.  I enjoy the emails from old friends. I received an email from  a lady I have not spoken to in well over twenty five years. She called me my child hood nickname. She wrote about stories from her memory of those days. Interesting story there were 5 of us who all hung around in high school,  all boys, all surfers and all somewhat trouble makers. Not really bad boys, but borderline. Well this lady was dating one of the gang of 5 and  then married another of the gang of 5 not the original one. It was not a steal your girlfriend thing at all,  it just happened that way  Although stealing girlfriends was a fun sport at one time this was not the case.  I was just suprised and delighted to hear from her and cannot wait  to hear how more than 25 years has passed for her and people we knew then. She has the inside scoop.

My good friends on face book like Guillaume, Nancy Law, Latrenta Barrett, Hyenwon Kang and others all had to weigh in wish me a happy birthday ….or remind me how old I am. It was nice to hear from them and I even received a tweet or two, which is what wired people like me get–tweets as in twitter land, no phone calls –geeks don’t use the phone except for text messages and tweets. This is the law of geeks or otaku’s like myself.

Speaking of birthdays I feel lucky today. In that I did not die last night. My friends next door to where we live had a famous Japanese sushi chef fly in from Tokyo the day before my birthday. He brought with him off the plane a famous delicacy in Japan which many know as the puffer fish and they call” Fugu”. This fish reportedly kills many Japanese each year ( up to 30 some years) when they eat the wrong part which is poison. ” I want to eat Fugu but I dont want to die” is what I say. So the night before my birthday I ate it and did not die so I think this is good sign of my year??

Fugu Poisonous Fish from Japan

The fish plate shown to left is filled with Fugu made by the sushi chef. He has a special license to cut this up and serve it.

We ate this fish and the only American there beside myself first declined,  then he saw that I ate it and he said “Well I will try it’” . He told me since I was a doctor he felt safe eating it. What a joke…if he only knew the things I have eaten in the past and I honestly must say I have no idea what I was doing or who this “famous sushi chef ” was. With my limited knowledge this chef might as well been Jack The Ripper Japanese Version and he was ready to poison us all just for fun.

The other famous guy there was a famous “Japanese Elvis Presely” he was in his later years,  but from what I understood he was very famous in his twenties for his elvis.  He is shown below eating fugu too. Well Elvis lives !! Well he actually in his early years dressed as Elvis and was very famous in Japan apparently.

Elvis Lives After Fugu !!

Pianist/Opera Singer a Fugu Death Party

Well even though I did not die from Fugu poisoning the night before my birthday,  I still could face some bad luck I suppose. Yet the good luck is that my staff remembered my birthday. I am not sure if they did so because they are kind or it was because they want to make me more miserable?

Interesting there was a Japanese Singer and Pianist for entertainment as well. So we ate the death fish and listen to music while sipping saki , not  bad way to go for a neigborhood party ne.

Today I will go surfing as all things start in the water for Pisces such as myself so I will renew my spirit there as I have been overworked lately and then enjoy a nice dinner with my wife who asked me earlier today. I think I will eat some  Italian food which is my favorite. The most deadly thing about Italian food is choking on  a meatball I suppose.

Below is some assorted photos of me and I my staff on my birthday which was we enjoyed and excellent cheese cake !!