Following my surgery, I’ve been chained to a hospital bed for a week. I thought there was nothing that would make me feel worse than the pain in my belly, the constant nausea, and the feeling of the catheter moving as I move, uhh, down there. I was wrong.

I don’t know how I feel about my friends dropping by to see me for about five minutes before they all troop down to the hospital lobby to sit and chat at a Seattle’s Best because they think staying in my room is depressing.

You read that right. Seattle’s Best in a hospital lobby! More specifically, the Metropolitan Hospital lobby. If you’ve ever been treated at the hospital earlier than last year and haven’t visited ever since, you’d be shocked at the change after the massive renovation. It feels like a shopping mall when I enter the building. The smell of antiseptic is almost undetectable. On the ground floor, if you don’t like trendy coffeeshops, you can eat at the Goldilocks right across Seattle’s Best or that dimsum place beside it. You choose doctors on the second floor. On the fifth, you have your choice of suites. To complete the scene, students from neighboring schools such as Shinhwa, Chianghai, Hope, UNO, etc. are strolling around, basking in the airconditioned coolness since the summer heat is brutal.

I almost want to get sick again. Almost.