Big, Bad Post #1

I did it. I have created a blog. While I feel obliged to fill this post with the necessary first-post nonsense, I promise that my next post will concern an event in my life that is actually significant: my first week at med school.

Obligatory Stuff:

The opinions I express on this blog are my own, are quite subject to the winds of change, and in no way represent the opinions of any organizations or educational institutions with which I am associated.

On occasion I may feel led to tell a story about clinical experiences...the operative word here is Story, and it will be fictional. Another blogger's disclaimer writes "Any and all names in my writings have been changed. The ... clinical stories have been altered substantially to the point of fictionalization in order to protect both my colleagues' and my own privacy, and most importantly the confidentiality of my patients. Characters, events, and stories depicted here are composites of many occurrences, patients, and conversations..." (drcharles), and I can't really improve on that. While I will do my best to make these stories as emotionally accurate as possible, I'm still writing fiction (lies).

Lastly, everyone always feels the need to explain why they started the blog. I have been kicking around the idea for a couple of months because a) I find myself checking blogs of friends and family members every time I get on the internet, and it has been a really good way to keep in touch, and b) it turns out I am terrible at sending email updates to those who are dear to me, mostly because I get frustrated with saying the same thing twice (ie how my 1st week was). The punchline to why I didn't just fire up a new blog 2 months ago is that I couldn't think of a snappy name!


Every blogger must have a smart, pithy blog name. Your blog name is to blogging as your lunchbox is to the first day of kindergarten. If you had the brand new He-Man lunchbox that day, you were the most popular kid in school for the next 6 years. Remember that kid who brought his lunch in a paper bag the first day?? Of course you don't, and that's my point exactly.

So, in the interest of my blog name being somewhat honest while also working in that oh-so-satisfying pun, I chose the one you see. Medically, the phrase Visceral Articulations is absurd. It means nothing. I warmed to it immediately though, because I believe that many of the ideas I express here and elsewhere are much less cerebral (logical, well thought out) and much more visceral (impulsive, total crap).

This is my blog. I hope it helps all of my friends and family stay abreast of my life. I'm sorry I'm not better about emailing, but hopefully I'll be able to escape the class-study-sleep-study routine often enough to write about the experience.