Motivational speaker...not quite

So we had our standardized patient lab for the first time today. What it entails is we get to play doctor with patient actors in a staged doctor's office. Normally we get videotaped so that we can assess our performance, but since we're newbies, they let us off the hook this time. Needless to say, it was still a little nerve-racking once you get into the thick of things...it's not so much as approaching the patient, it's the "knowing your lines" part that got to me. I studied, I read the articles, I memorized the steps...to no avail. Under the militant resolve of a 17-year-old girl, my approach to getting a person to quit smoking folded like a cheap suit. I mean, this girl just won't budge! I don't know if she knew I was nervous or if she was just playing hardball, or maybe both, but I was at a loss for words when she told me that she enjoyed smoking...I had no comeback for it. I told her all the good things that come with quitting and all the bad things that can happen with continued smoking...with no effect. I tried to justify it to myself, "she's an adult, almost...she has a mind of her own...," but somehow it's not good enough. I didn't convince her. And it's pissing me off that I couldn't even do that...

Down to business

OK, Anatomy Memorial and Cultural fair are done. I did the choir thing and the Filipino dance thing as well and now it's down to business...dirty, dirty business. God help me if I should survive this week of Micro, Neuro, and Anatomy...oh don't forget Prevention for 3 more weeks...1st year is almost over, and yet it's not. So close...

Requiem Aeternam

So this semester has been one big blur and a ginormous pain in the tuchus. As if I don't have enough to do, I decided to add one more dish on my plate. There is going to be an anatomy memorial for our cadavers sometime either @ the end of April or beginning of May and I thought it would be nice to do something special. In light of many special people that I've known who had gone before me, I felt compelled to perform such a task to honor their memory alongside our gracious cadavers. And so, I picked a doozey. For the next month or so, I will attempt to get a bunch of first year med school students to sing a requiem song called "Lux Aeterna" by John Rutter. "How" you say? Good question...I've been asking myself that for a while now. I hope I'm not in over my head. Questions, comments, snide remarks...prayers...send them my way.

Here's what I'm up against...

2008

New Year. Let's make it better than the last one.
"Surprise yourself..."

Time off for good behavior

OK! 1st semester is OVER! I am officially 1/8th of a doctor. I'm so happy that I don't have to remediate any of my classes. Did well in some, did adequately on the others, but overall, I made it through and now it's on to the next hoop. That being said, the professors for next semester are clogging my school inbox with suggested reading material. The biggest worry so far is anatomy. We start on the dorsal section and already, the dissection is scheduled the first day we get to class. Nothing like starting the new year with cutting into an ex-person's back. Yum.

For now, I have the apartment to myself. Claudio's back @ Weehawken and I'm still dawdling around here in South Jersey. The solitude is kinda nice, especially if you don't have to study. I've been an absolute slug as of last Friday, after all the exams were taken. Sleep has never been more glorious, after I fixed the heating grate in my room. Now everything is toasty comfy! I have been catching up on a ton of non-medical reading like the last HP book. I bought a couple of DVD's on sale at Amazon and I got a free ticket for "The Golden Compass" which was very cool. Saw it tonight and I was impressed. Now I want to get the books as well. I brought my guitar from home so I've also been rocking out (badly) but that's ok. The neighbors don't mind. The chore of having to clean the apartment has fallen unto me since I was the last person out. And I intend to put it off some more...procrastination is a drug really...

And Christmas approaches. Things are looking light for this season. My work study program that I'm working for (Julia, you'll be happy to know that I am a librarian's assistant) has not paid me yet. BOOO! BOO-ERNS! Needless to say, I have put my shopping list aside. I'm praying my loan check comes soon...Presents will be forthcoming, just a tad late... =)

OK, off to make some food. Ciao.

December, almost.

Can't believe that the months just passed by. Almost done w/ the semester. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped but I didn't completely suck either...not yet, anyway. 2 finals down, 3 more to go. Thanksgiving was a blessing, but it was too short. Looking forward to the winter break and give my broken brain a rest.

What I've learned this year:
-A whole lot of biochem...and I hope it sticks this time, after the endless hours of tortured studying.
-A whole lot of Physio...Must really make an effort to make all of this stick. Why must god make the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, GI, etc. so complicated?
-A whole lot of OMM...do you HVLA?
-Med School is like a gym. You either love it or you hate it. And you can tone your arms w/ the heavy books you carry all the time.
-Gray's Anatomy is LIES!
-Coffee is a necessary evil.
-Sleep whenever you can. If you're not studying or having sex, or both, then get your ass to bed.
-I need a Mac.
-Girls are still evil.
-I can make sushi.

That's all I got. I gotta study now. Peace.

I'll take the whole week to block

IT IS OVER! Exam block 1 is dun! Yesterday, after biochem (btw, that exam did me dirty, bent me over and just went to town w/out KY), I went to lunch with my Roommate and my brother. It was so nice not having to think about any of my subjects for a while. It made the sushi taste better. Went home, crashed and got up at about 8pm. That was probably one of the most satisfying sleeps I've ever had. After holing myself in the den for about 2 weeks studying everything from histo to biochem, I was finally able to cut my hair and do some actual grooming. I got dressed, put smelly stuff on, then picked up my friends to go to Philly for some well-deserved Hookah and Salsa! Got back @ about 3am, went to the diner for some buffalo wings (so good and so cheap!), then back to the apartment to finish off the night/day with some TMNT action. Sleep was @ 6 in the mo'nin! That's right, we party gangsta style. So for today, relax, do a little food shopping, a little house cleaning, a little laundry, and reset for the next onslaught that is Cardiophysiology. Exam's on October 1st. Bring it...

Coming down to the wire

Took a break from reading (my eyes are really starting to tear) and decided to update this piece.

The first exam block week is coming up and I'm starting to lose sleep. That being said, distractions are flying left and right. Friends from all points of life are coming out of the woodwork and sending me all sorts of invites to parties, swarees, schindigs and whatnot. It seems like they always know just when to needle me.

I'm trying to put the girl situation behind. So far, everything I've done about this issue has been more trouble than its worth. So I'm putting this thing to rest. Let's hope it stays that way because I'm just tired of it all. I was listening to Jeff this evening and he said "Maybe I'm too young to keep good love from going wrong..." Perhaps it's good advice. Perhaps I'm not that prepared for this as originally thought. Blame it on movies, love songs, stupid cheezy commercials...point is, I'm hyperbolizing love and its many affects and that's not good. I'm trying to make my life into a freakin' Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan flick (No offense to you folks of course) and it's just not gonna happen. Time to wake up and smell the instant coffee...

And speaking of coffee, I need a cup, but it's a quarter to 2 in the am already and I must get my shuteye. Big day tomorrow. More Histo on the way. Head in the game, head in the game...

BTW, to those who actually read my poor excuse for a blog, thanks. Just want to let you know that your comments are appreciated big time.

One month down

Greetings from biochem/physio/histo/OMM/genetics land...

Ok. It's been over a month since I last set finger to keyboard on this biznach. So let me recap what's happened so far...

August was a whirl. Literally. First week of med school was all about being social, i.e. know your classmates and know your upperclassmen, which was great! Lots of parties, food, and new people, seksi people as one of my good buddies would say. It was information overload. But it was fun. After the honeymoon, the real thing begins...classes at 8/9am and it feels like we never get out because it's a constant study thing lest ye be left back. We had our first quizzes in biochem and physio which was ridunculous...they counted as much 20% of our whole grade, so everybody and their mother was scrambling and bogarting every nook and cranny of the library. I finally got fed up and holed up in my living room. Needless to say I passed both quizzes. Used to be that I'd settle for nothing short of an "A." Shows you how much I've changed my standards...it's like what they say here... pass = Doctor. I'll take that to the bank.

Ok, now for the juicy tidbits. Well, it turns out that the girl I liked during the summer was already spoken for...so that was done and over with quickly. Moving on. This time, another girl has made it to my radar and I was locked in like a missile...ok, bad weapon analogy. For a while I thought that I had a good read on her, then all of the sudden, she was beginning to gravitate towards another person I know (let us call him Mr. A). I thought, "no big deal." But now she seems to be more interested in him. And now I'm left twiddling my thumbs...did I miss something here? Here I am trying to build something w/ her and all of the sudden she's going to him. And to top it off, my efforts at getting her attention are going unnoticed (not even a thank you instant message for my good deeds). Perhaps I'm trying too much. Perhaps she's just a thankless person and not at all interested. It would do me a world of good if I could just forget about her and move on, but like Big Pun said "I'm not a player, I just crush a lot." And it's hard to get over this one.

So that's all for now. Sorry about the generalities. Hopefully things turn up and I'll have more interesting stuff to write.

August

Started medical school today. Yesterday was the white coat ceremony and we were ushered into a new life of lengthy and voluminous medical learning. Yayyy! Been waiting for this for a very long time now.

I know, I'm a dork.

Was just in California a week ago. Left after the Prematric program and I must say that I really needed that break. It was just so nice to be doing nothing and not worrying about school things for a while. That and I don't think I've been on a real vacation in a long time. So I drove around all over Southern California, from LA, to Pasadena, to Long Beach, Santa Barbara, and back. Didn't do a lot of touristy stuff. Mostly was just trying to know the local attractions. Went with my cousin, Chris to an Angels game which was absolutely awesome since I've never been to an MLB game in my life (I was hoping that it would've been a Yankees game for my first one, but at this point, I wasn't going to be picky. Plus I got to go for free!) The Angels lost and I was completely thrown by the fact that it's not like TV where you get to hear the commentators over the background. Went to a few wineries but got skunked most of the time cuz I got there past 5pm. I did buy a very tasty chard so it wasn't a complete loss. Spent time with my cousins and other relatives whom I haven't seen in a while. On the way back home, I got laid over in Harrisburg, PA because of bad weather over Philly. It wasn't completely bad tho. I met this very beautiful, very charming girl, Alejandra. We talked and I gave her an empanada because she was starving and the plane wasn't giving us any more sustenance unless we shell out extra money. Then I helped her get a connecting flight to Boston since she missed her other flight. The rub...she's already spoken for. Such is my luck, right? Well, hopefully Karma was watching.

Anyways, I'm back and energized and ready to go. Wish me luck.