Today was pretty crazy.

• Away clinic at Monroeville (aka EastJesusNowhere). Saw a healthy amount of weird rashes, a ridiculous metacarpal fracture, and your run of the mill shortness of breath patients.
• On my way home, I got rear ended on the highway :( Luckily it's just a small dent on my bumper.

But then my day got better! Because when I was eating dinner at the Bigelow Grille, I met SNL alum Chris Kattan!



IT'S THE MANGO!

"Do you think it's infected? Do you think this is Hodgkin's? Man I like carrots" - Diana

Haha sorry about how depressing my last entry was. Happy to report that I feel much better now. After "conferencing" with one of my best friends, Laura, she pointed out to me that if I was in art right now, I'd probably be bored and feel sad that I'm not exercising my brain lol.

Anyhoo, this is the LAST WEEK OF CLASS OF MEDICAL SCHOOL for me. Next week is our final, then I become a hermit in York to study for the USMLE for about a month. Second year went by soooooooo fast. It honestly didn't feel like I've spent two years in Philly, and I can still remember 1st year orientation very well. Meeting all these interesting people that I'm going to miss lots after I move to Pittsburgh. Ahhhhh.



Stole this from Amanda's album after the AMSA kids came back from the Houston conference. I WANT A PIZZA ON A STICK TOO

"One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a woman that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a 'massive internal fart.'" - Susan Steinberg, M.D., Manitoba, Canada

I really don't have much to say for this entry. I just wanted to share the picture below, which was taken quite recently at a birthday party. The picture is important to me because it's a collection of my old friends from high school, most of them I've known since middle school, maybe even before. I met some other kids at the party who, like Emily, Greg, and Chelsea, are all art majors in one form or another. And my meeting these people, seeing what my old friends are doing now... photo exhibits, designing fashion, creating art, makes me kinda sad and regret going to medical school. As early as I can remember I've loved to draw and sketch, and my very first career-oriented ambitious thought was to become an artist. Specifically, a cartoonist/illustrator. And all throughout K12 I kept drawing, creating art, enjoying what I am able to imagine and create with my hands.

Somewhere along the line, it died. I think this thought has always lived in the back of my head, but it wasn't until I saw my old friends who I had Art Expressions with in middle school, who I used to sit next to in art class and just draw, the thought resurfaced and really hit me hard. A part of me just wants to pick up a sketch book, and just spend the whole day sketching. Draw comics. Something.

The good news is I'm 2 tests away from fulfilling my time at Temple, then I take my boards in May, then I finally get out of the lecture halls and start working in the hospital. I think then my feelings of regret of probably subside, as I will no longer feel suffocated by lectures and notes and start to actually be active. To do something. It's kinda like the movie Patch Adams, where Robin Williams was unhappy in the first half of the movie as he was also sitting in medical school lectures but in the 2nd hour of the movie, when he finally hit the hospital floors, he was able to use his creativity in, oh, just about everything.

Ok, so I did have something to say/ramble, haha.



My own feelings of envy aside, I was incredibly happy to see these people again. In a way, they're all just as I remembered them, yet completely different.

"We make art because life isn't perfect" ~ Tarkovsky

This past weekend my friend Michael Jan threw a movie party. The movie we watched was this Canadian B-movie titled Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter. I wish I was making that up. Basically, vampires are attacking lesbians (for some reason that was probably explained but I was distracted by the horribleness of the rest of the movie), turning them into more homicidal vampires, so the priests call on Jesus to fight the vampires. So Jesus gets a haircut, his ears pierced (this I don't think was explained), and with the help of famed Mexican luchador/movie star Santos, set out to wage war against the vampires. Forced jokes/bible references/horrendous choreography ensue. Yes, I like my B-movies as much as the next guy (Attack of the Gasoline Station anyone?), but there's a limit on just how "B" a B-movie can be. This movie was....blaaargh. And for some reason the city of Ottawa paid for this movie @_@ Oh, and the title for this entry? That's the ending theme song for this movie.

In other news, 2 weeks ago I got my 3rd year clerkship schedule!!!

2008

5/19 ~ 7/11 - Medicine
7/14 ~ 9/5 - Med/Neurology
9/15 ~ 11/7 - Surgery
11/10 ~ 12/19 - Family medicine

2009

1/5 ~ 2/13 - Ob/Gyn
2/16 ~ 3/27 - Pediatrics
3/30 - 5/8 - Psychiatry (yup, I saved my favorite for last :D)

My hours at the hospital aren't as bad as I thought they'd be, and I'll only be on call every 10th day. Yay!



Happy MLK day!

"Nothing in this world worth having comes easy." ~ Dr. Bob Kelso (for you, Laura ^__^)

So.

I now officially know how to perform both a pelvic exam and a male genital exam!

Last night was the infamous META session where we were taught how to perform the reproductive exams. Our patient instructors who let us perform the exams on them included nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and middle school teachers.

Now I'm all set for my 6 week OB-GYN rotation next year in Pittsburgh! :D



"Besides the metal speculums, there are also plastic speculums. Unfortunately plastic speculums only come in 3 sizes: Large, Very Large, and Come on Who are We Kidding." - Mary Conway, RN

So I just saw the movie Juno with Oregon, and oh my goodness, what a great movie. Superbad may have redefined the teen comedy, but Juno redefines it again in it's own spunky style. First off, the casting director needs a medal, because everyone was amazing. I was both excited and unsure about 2 Arrested Development alums in the same movie in fears of type-casting (especially a on-screen father-son duo), but I seriously can't think of anyone to replace Michael Cera and Jason Bateman in this movie. And don't think this is a Knocked Up rehash when you see the previews... Diablo Cody's script gives Judd Apatow a serious run for his money. Yeah it's a boy meets girl, boy knocks up girl movie again, but Juno wisely avoids all the tired cliches and easy jokes to give us a movie that's a fun ride from beginning to end. A fun, well-paced Belle and Sebastian acoustic filled ride. Seriously, go see this movie if you haven't already.

School officially started up again this week, with our fun-filled neuro path block. Second year is going much faster than first year though, because everything was so new back then. Now everyone's has fallen into a (dull) pattern, and everything's flying by, and soon the boards will be here before we know it to smack us. Pow! Right in the kisser.

Trying to find a nice girl's name that begins with L. So far I have:

Lorelai
Laney
Lillith
Latia

And for funsies, some let's trend watch

What's In
- Ellen Page
- Clubs that spin indie-rock techno
- Project RUNWAY

What's Out
- Dave Letterman ridiculous beard
- Britney Spears (seriously, why is there STILL news about her?)
- Cold weather



Shmanet got me these delicious chocos from Japan :D

"There's going to be some geriatric nudity, and for that, I apologize." - Dr. Lamdan during lecture today

"Doctors are sadists who like to think of themselves of God and laugh at the lesser people." - Allison Janney as Bren in Juno

Just saw the movie Y tu mamá también. Truly a great movie, check it out when you have the chance.

The concert was a great success! My friend Enoch filmed most of the acts, so here's the dance I did with Lydia, Jen, and Andrew:


You can find the rest on Enoch's youtube account :D

"La vida tiene sus maneras de enseñarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de confundirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de cambiarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de asombrarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de herirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de curarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de inspirarnos." ~ tagline of Y tu mamá también

Someone please explain to me why the Project Runway judges decided to go on crack tonight, kicked Chris, and kept Ricky. At least Chris's dress was presentable, ridiculous shoulder-pads or not. Ricky's dress looked like someone was trying to make a middle school musical costume and messed up horribly.



The upside is, my favorite designer Kit is still going strong! :D

Hyde: "Despite our best efforts, some of the bastards still made it. Well we'll get them tonight!"
Fez: "Die brain cells die! You're next liver!"