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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 23 to 47 of 47. Go back in thread:
Posted by Atticus on January 5, 2005, at 8:32:37
In reply to Re: Actually, what I'd really like to do is... » Fallen4MyT, posted by Fallen4MyT on January 2, 2005, at 20:16:00
Actually, after my home turf of Manhattan, I'd highly recommend New Orleans (most European of all American cities, I feel), San Francisco (most extraterrestrial of all Earth cities), Austin, TX (most intergalactic of all Earth college cities -- wonderfully off-the-wall), Chapel Hill, NC (like Austin, but much smaller. Best, Atticus ;)
Posted by alexandra_k on January 5, 2005, at 18:08:06
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ..., posted by Atticus on January 5, 2005, at 8:32:37
Thanks Atticus. I can put them all on my one day list... What do you think of Boston? Honestly.
Posted by Atticus on January 5, 2005, at 19:40:13
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Atticus, posted by alexandra_k on January 5, 2005, at 18:08:06
Hi Alex,
Boston has its moments -- especially with so many universities lying about in town and in nearby suburbs -- but there's a certain stuffiness about the place that sometimes gets on my nerves. I guess I'd describe it as a sort of deliberate effort to be as "quaint" and steeped in colonial era Massachusetts as is possible. For instance, I'm surprised the city council hasn't ruled that McDonald's fast-food joints are required to be called Ye Olde MacDonalde's.
Also, be forewarned: The traffic is murder during rush hour (not to mention the parking, which is a nightmare in perpetuity) -- mass transit is your best bet. I think in Boston what you have is a place with sites of real historic and cultural interest that have been repackaged as though Disney ran the place. It has the same plastic feel that Times Square now does in my neck of the woods, Manhatttan. It IS real, but it "feels" like Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyworld in Orlando, Fla., like a big simulacrum, like it's peculiarly unreal. I don't know if that makes sense to you -- or makes sense at all period, for that matter. But I guess that would be my main beef with Boston. All part of the "Starbuck"ing of America, I suppose. So it goes. Ta. ;) Atticus
Posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 3:10:17
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » alexandra_k, posted by Atticus on January 5, 2005, at 19:40:13
>All part of the "Starbuck"ing of America, I suppose.
Oh, its not just America NZ and Australia have Starbucks as well (can I have some coffee in my coffee please??).
I think I do get you.
Was worried it might be 'old money' or kind of the Cambridge of the USA if you get me..Thank you.
Posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 17:05:29
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Atticus, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 3:10:17
I love Boston. It's true that the parking is really awful, but the city itself is a wonderful place to be a student- (I'm including Cambridge here). It's still very real and intellectually stimulating, in my opinion, and is also near to sea and mountains- lots of beaches, sailing, hiking, skiing. I don't live there now, but have very happy memories of my 11 years there as a student.
Posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 17:51:50
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » alexandra_k, posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 17:05:29
Cool. I don't care about parking and rush hour because I don't drive. Though I probably will one day probably not until I get a job and by the time I get a job I probably won't be there anymore.
By Cambridge I was kind of thinking of the stuffy image of Cambridge UK. But yes, ha! There is a Cambridge Massachusetts too.
I have heard mixed things and mixed impressions... I guess I was worried that I might not fit in too well, but then I don't really seem to fit in too well here or anywhere else I have been either and so that probably does not matter too much. Besides which, while I suppose we can talk about the 'character' of cities there are many many individuals who comprise the city and you can't get from the nature of the city to the nature of the individuals who comprise it...
Thanks for your thoughts :-)
Posted by Atticus on January 6, 2005, at 20:19:39
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Atticus, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 3:10:17
Well, actually, Alex, you've pretty much nailed the issued. Boston wants so desperately to be thought of as the American version of a venerable, cosmopolitan, and learned European city that it ends up trying too hard, and the seams end up showing. Even the snobbery (of which there is plenty) has always struck me as new money playing at being old money but not quite bringing it off. But they do have a splendid ballpark (Fenway), even if the team that plays there is PURRRRE EEEEVIL. Just don't go into the Combat Zone after the sun goes down. That's when the Southies go out looking for over-educated Ivy League truffles to stamp on. Ta. Atti. ;)
Posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 20:39:04
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » alexandra_k, posted by Atticus on January 6, 2005, at 20:19:39
Thats right, you guys have funny sports too...
Baseball and American Football...
We are a Rugby and Cricket nation really. Netball and Soccer too I suppose..
Didn't get to see a game of Aussie Rules Football in Australia when I went over. Most disapointed.
Still, I'm not too much into sports anyways.
Posted by Atticus on January 6, 2005, at 20:49:16
In reply to Ballparks » Atticus, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 20:39:04
Actually, I played ice hockey in high school and college and was a member of the saber squad on my high school fencing team. I did play (non-American) football as a youngster. Life seemed to be one yellowcard after another, which, in retrospect I suppose, shouldn't surprise me. I still have my saber and fencing gear from high school. If we ever have a PB gathering, I shall have no choice but to challenge Dr. B to a deul. "There can be only one!" Atticus
Posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 22:02:57
In reply to Re: Ballparks » alexandra_k, posted by Atticus on January 6, 2005, at 20:49:16
Atticus you jock you :-)
You are talking about European Football (otherwise known as Soccer) - right?
Over here our main sport is Rugby Football. Same ball as Grid iron but the aim is to get the ball rather than taking out players and so you can only tackle the guy with the ball. So if you have the ball everyone tries to jump on you at the same time. No passing fowards either, and no standing in front of the ball. Run foward, pass backwards. Also nobody wears helmets so it pays to tape up your ears and nobody wears huge sholder pads or anything like that either.
It is pretty much a yearly sport now with Super 12 (NZ Australia and SA), NPC (NZ regions), World Cup etc.
Our local NPC chant goes like this:
'mooloo
oh-lay oh-lay oh-lay
mooloo
oh-lay'
To be followed by the frantic ringing of oversized cow bells.We are a farming community I bet you can tell and 'Mooloo' is the name of the mascot (a cow) which was sponsored by the mooloo brand of ice cream.
Fencing sounds cool. I would have liked to have done that! Or whatever it is called when you are on horses and try to knock the other guy off.
Me, I used to play hockey. Everything was fine until they built the turf. The first time out I had a bad fall and skinned my legs / arms / face pretty badly and didn't want to play anymore after that. I liked hooking peoples ankles :-)
Isn't culture (in general) just too funny when you really think about it.
Posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 22:16:07
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Pfinstegg, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 17:51:50
Just a guess - I think you would really feel at home in
Boston, because it is really a student city. Cambridge, right across the river, has Harvard and MIT, and is even more so. There's a lot of intellectual excitement, hundreds of great lectures and seminars, very high standards for learning - a place you should consider for your graduate studies! There's also excellent mental health care, both for students, and for people who want to go to one of the three analytic institutes. Your chances of finding just the right therapist for you are very high in Boston. (they are also high in New York, Chicago and San Francisco).
Posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 22:44:50
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » alexandra_k, posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 22:16:07
> Your chances of finding just the right therapist for you are very high in Boston. (they are also high in New York, Chicago and San Francisco).
Hmm, what about my chances under Extended Student Health Coverage? That would be my form of insurance. Do you know anything about this? In terms of providers, number of sessions per year, part charges etc etc???
Posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 23:24:57
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Pfinstegg, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 22:44:50
I think what happens here is that you subscribe to the Student Health Service of the University you are studying at. If, for example, you're at Harvard, you would be under their health plan, which would probably offer somewhat different benefits, in terms of the frequency of psychiatric visits, than the health plan which MIT, or some other school, has. If you apply anywhere in the US, you will automatically receive this information; if it's not sufficiently detailed, you can inquire further. I don't know, for sure, whether the university health services would be able to provide adequate care for a person with a dissociative disorder. But, if they could not, the universities would have close connections to the psychoanalytic institutes, which could offer you really good care at very nominal cost. That care is essentially paid for by the Institutes themselves. You would get an analyst in training, but, if it turns out to be a good "fit', you would get excellent care, as they are already highly qualified therapists, and have some of the best analysts in the country as their teachers and supervisors. I'm sure you could work it out well here.
Posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 0:07:49
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » alexandra_k, posted by Pfinstegg on January 6, 2005, at 23:24:57
> I think what happens here is that you subscribe to the Student Health Service of the University you are studying at.
Yeah, thats what I do here and that enables me to use the services that the university offers. But as an International Student you also have to have 'Extended Student Health Coverage' for hospital cover, optometrist, dentist etc. I think it is a requirement for entry into the country and the department covers the cost of that (at over $1,000 US per year). They pay out a certain ammount for mental health (thinking here of medication and therapy) and that is in addition to the student health services which I was kind of thinking as a first port of call.
This was actually the question that got me looking for an online support board. I tried emailing (anonomously) a certain person in a psychiatry department in the area to try and find out what may be available to me and all she did was (fairly nastily) try to dissuade me from even applying. She said I would not be offered adequate services and the message was fairly clearly 'someone with a diagnosis of BPD should not be applying'. I chose to email her because she was supposed to be a specialist in BPD but there was no lack of judgement there.
>which could offer you really good care at very nominal cost.
Hmm. It would indeed have to be 'minimal' cost as living stipends are pretty stingey. In fact I have no idea how stingey because I have no idea of the cost of living, but I was told that 'most' students manage to cope, which probably is some indication. Also I have not figured out what you are supposed to do for the other three months when the living stipend is for nine months of the year. Don't tell me I am actually going to have to get a JOB. I mean really, I have been on the sickness benefit all my life except when I have been studying / tutoring...
I figured that things would be better for me somewhere like that...
Now it is just a matter of just wait and see and lets not hold our breath :-)
Posted by Pfinstegg on January 7, 2005, at 0:45:32
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Pfinstegg, posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 0:07:49
Oh, I see. So you would have your International Coverage, plus the regular US University Health Service, I hope I'm wrong, but I feel the therapists might not be good enough, or be able to see you often enough, at our university health services. they are not very well funded, and tend to concentrate more on medication.
I do think the analytic institutes are a very good bet. I think it's truly nominal- even as little as a dollar or two per session. The cost is covered by the Institutes, and patients are only required to pay *something* to demonstrate their seriousness and commitment.
We have thousands and thousands of foreign students here, and they seem to manage in all sorts of ways. Many grad students become teaching assistants or tutors in the summer schools which all the universities have. People share low-cost housing with quite a few other people- perhaps more people than they'd like, but it does keep the cost down. You'll have advisors who can help you solve these sorts of problems- finding university housing, getting jobs that you can do comfortably.
How awful to call a BPD specialist and get such rude, rejecting treatment! That may not be the right diagnosis for you, either- not that diagnoses have much value, but I think a dissociatiive disorder fits a lot better from what you have posted here. Even with BPD, the prognosis is getting better all the time, as therapists learn how to treat it; it also has the very nice feature that people tend to grow out of it in their thirties as they mature! But DID has an even better prognosis with the right treatment. You know, it's just a pathological way of dealing with unbearable stress and trauma- besides that, there is a whole lot of healthy personality- which tends to get high-jacked by the different ego and feeling states.
Posted by morning*bell on January 7, 2005, at 11:59:22
In reply to Actually, what I'd really like to do is..., posted by alexandra_k on January 2, 2005, at 2:01:00
> ...to be able to walk around a busy city and not bump into people I know. No chances of that here.
I live in Manhattan and STILL bump into people I know all the time. Shrink included..(yikes!)
Posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 15:26:13
In reply to Re: Ballparks, posted by alexandra_k on January 6, 2005, at 22:02:57
What a coincidence! I also enjoyed hooking an opponent's ice skate when I thought none of the refs were looking and yanking back sharply, sending him *ss of teakettle. But I usually only resorted to this if a) he'd done me wrong with a dirty play first like high-sticking or a nasty cross-check across my ribs, or b) I felt like it. Fencing WAS a lot of fun. What about curling? Now that strikes me as a sport that would put the ice in a rink to sleep. Course, I could be wrong. But, let's face it: it's not too bloody likely. So are Kiwis like Aussies, tying up crocs all hours of the day or night? What does a Kiwi do for fun? At-tat-tat-tat-tat-ticus.
Posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 15:31:53
In reply to Re: Actually, what I'd really like to do is..., posted by morning*bell on January 7, 2005, at 11:59:22
Manhattan? Really? Me too. I've already met another Babbler for coffee. Lived here all my life. How about you? Atticus
Posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 16:38:07
In reply to Re: Ballparks » alexandra_k, posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 15:26:13
>So are Kiwis like Aussies, tying up crocs all hours of the day or night? What does a Kiwi do for fun?
We don't have crocodiles over here, so there is none of that. As for what kiwi's do for fun, well I have yet to work that out...
I suppose that if you are into outdorsie stuff there are ski mountains a couple hours away. You are never far from the beach because we are a long, narrow island. Surf lifesaving, etc is pretty big. Ironman kinda stuff. Tramping (aka hiking) as there is a lot of native bush. The hunting shooting fishing kinda stuff is all good - But none of that appeals to me.
If you are in Auckland or Wellington there may be a bit more to do if you are into galleries and plays and stuff. We have a couple of amateur theatre companies but the quality varies quite a bit... They are good for a laugh at the very least. We get international shows and stuff at the founders theatre.
The nightclub scene is (IMO) a teenage meat market. Our drinking age was lowered to 18 in the last year or two so people are, quite literally school age. The pervs go out to pick up those who get blind drunk.
Not really any live music. One attempt at a performance cafe. Lots of cafes during the day, places that aren't too bad to eat out.
The standard line therapists try to encourage social networks here is to 'join a club'. But that requires one to have interests...
I almost joined a gaming club at varsity. But then I realised I probably wouldn't fit in too good with the second year comp sci (everyone male but me) nerds. They are all into mac's at any rate...
I dunno. Just moaning I suppose.
Posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 23:00:40
In reply to Re: Ballparks » Atticus, posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 16:38:07
I know the perfect saying for times such as this, luv. Just repeat after me:
Moo-loo,
Ooo-lay, ooo-lay,
Moo-loo,
Ooo-lay, ooo-lay, ooo-lay.I bet if I set out a battered guitar case in a subway station in Midtown and chanted that continuously for about 45 minutes to an hour every morning during rush hour, I'd end up with enough "donations" for lunch money at least five days a week.
But it's not just about about the money for me, luv. It's about the f*ckin' ART. Moo-loo, ooo-lay, rock on.
Atticus, who at last report was still at large, unarmed, and considered a pint short of a six
Posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 23:03:41
In reply to Re: Ballparks, posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 23:00:40
> I bet if I set out a battered guitar case in a subway station in Midtown and chanted that continuously for about 45 minutes to an hour every morning during rush hour, I'd end up with enough "donations" for lunch money at least five days a week.
Ah, so thats how I'll make enough to live for 3 months of the year :-)
Posted by morning*bell on January 8, 2005, at 14:54:46
In reply to Re: Actually, what I'd really like to do is... » morning*bell, posted by Atticus on January 7, 2005, at 15:31:53
Hey Atticus,
Been here about 8 years. Grew up a stone's throw away across the river, so I feel like I grew up here too. There's no city like it :)
Posted by Slavegirl on January 10, 2005, at 12:25:59
In reply to Re: Cool U.S. cities ... » Pfinstegg, posted by alexandra_k on January 7, 2005, at 0:07:49
Love Seattle....it's got basically everything, the people are a bit over the top and totally hyped up, but friendly, excellent service, great stuff for kids to do, amazing restaurants, what about the Market place.....oh yes - SEATTLE IT IS!!!
sg
Posted by alexandra_k on January 10, 2005, at 13:02:24
In reply to WHAT ABOUT SEATTLE PEOPLE???, posted by Slavegirl on January 10, 2005, at 12:25:59
where bouts is that (excuse my ignorance)?
All I know is 'sleepless in ...'
Posted by Atticus on January 11, 2005, at 20:26:44
In reply to Re: WHAT ABOUT SEATTLE PEOPLE??? » Slavegirl, posted by alexandra_k on January 10, 2005, at 13:02:24
I think I did mention Seattle to Alex a few pints back in this thread. Never been there, but I've heard the people are kind of groovy. Got a big metal spiky thing right in the middle of town, like the Eiffel Tower meets "Invasion of the Saucer People" (real movie!). Homeworld of the Evil Starbucks Empire. But you'd need coffee up the wazzoo too if it rained 400 days a year where you lived. Did have an absolutely incredible music scene out there about 11-14 years ago, spearheaded by the legendary SubPop label, which gave the world my favorite group and album, Nirvana and "Nevermind." (The Shins, SubPop's current group du jour, are really enjoyable, too, if you like pop-flavored alternative. They have two songs on the "Garden State" soundtrack.) I'd love to get out there someday to check it out. But I think I need a new umbrella first.
;) Atticus
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