Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Sweet Victory

We won.

For those of you who are not involved in the Ohio State Michigan rivalry, I may have been more obnoxious than usual last week (sorry Grouse) about football. I mean, this was (to me) the event of the century: Ohio State, ranked #1 in college football. Michigan ranked #2. Already greatest rivalry of college football, this game got inflated to "Judgement Day" status. No really, ESPN was using that very title for the game all during the preceding week.

So, Saturday came. Ohio State beat Michigan 42-39 in one of the best games I've ever witnessed. And we won. Oh, and we're going to the National Champ Game!

And that's all...Oh, you want to know what's going on in my life? Well, Katie and I have been splitting time between each other's parents which is fun. Just doing the standard Thanksgiving thing really. Ah, but the game.......

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

What?! Another Post?

I'm binging. I don't want to study for CTS (my last exam), and I feel it's my duty to blog while wasting time. I mean, you know, to make up for all the not-blogging I've done.

There are two kinds of people in the world (okay, there are many more, but let the analogy do its job):
  1. Those who enjoy metering out their gratification over a long time...savoring each little piece. We'll call these the "Steves" of the world.
  2. The boom and busters, who enjoy their gratifaction as it comes to them...savoring the feeling of eating way too much candy on halloween. We'll call these the "Mark and Laras" of the world.
If there was, let's just imagine, a container of cookies in a household, the Steves might have a cookie (as in 1 cookie) a couple times a week; however, the Mark and Laras may just demolish the whole bag in two days (Lara wouldn't, I definitely would).

Why the long-winded analogy? As those of you who know I used to live with Steve and Lara probably guessed, it was just an excuse to relive a fond memory from last year. But I'm also making a point (sort of)!

I am a boombuster, and I am blog-booming.*

All the Steves (putteroffers) in the room have probably resorted to reading one of my posts every four days, to delay the gratification and make it last. Hopefully the boombusters are all just enjoying that I post again. But all of you - putteroffers and boombusters alike - are probably wondering what even compelled me to write this rambling post...have I seriously begun blogging about blogging now (meta-blogging)?

I originally started this post to show you all my really good dinner tonight. Originally performed by my girlfriend Katie, duplicated with variation by yours truly. I give you Peas and Shells, Alfredo.Notice the steam coming off it. Looks pretty tasty doesn't it? Don't you wish your girlfriend was sweet enough to come up with a dish this good that takes like 5 minutes to make? Okay, I'm getting obnoxious so I should go study the CTS.

Two more days!

*honestly, you can't say that aloud without smiling

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Part 2: Bring on the Biochem!

I got up ridiculously late again, but really why not? It's not like I have a job or anything...

Yesterday's anatomy exam was very similar to the previous one, and I feel the same as I did for the first one. But now anatomy is done forever. I got kind of nostalgic about the whole thing last night (thus the sappy haiku writing), and starting running through my mind all of the stuff I will never see or do again.

Anatomy lab was surreal. It flies in the face of social taboos, mostly those related to "don't ever ______ to a dead body". Why are we punk kids so special that society is willing to overlook these offenses? Because we're responsible for the lives of your kids, parents, and loved ones (no pressure).

The lab was in many ways a museum. Not in the way that museums have boring exhibits and smell weird. Rather, the things they hold are irreplaceable. You can't just go out and buy what we were privy to - both the dissecting experience, and all of the skeletons, skulls, and organ models - and in some cases, nobody can.

For instance, our institution owns a human head dissection that is so old it is preserved in motor oil (no embalming back then). "They" removed the brain without damaging any of the inner skull - its hard to explain why this is an important learning tool, but it is. Because of its age and difficulty of dissection, there is probably no other dissection of it's kind, and now that I'm out of anatomy I'll never see it again. That's exactly what I was thinking during my anatomy practical when I was looking into this skull trying to identify what "tag A" was attached to.

I sound like a museum tour guide. Anyway, I was feeling nostalgic about anatomy yesterday. Today is all about biochemistry though. Well that and blogging. Really, this is all I'm doing this week!

Note about the sleeping: I am working on getting up earlier by Friday. CTS exam is at 9am, so I definitely need to be awake before 10 that day!

Monday, November 13, 2006

Anatomy Haiku

Haikus seem to be all the rage here at school. So, I was moved by the spirit to put my feelings about anatomy into 5-7-5.

Cadavers farewell
We will wash away your smell,
but never your gift.

Okay....I'm a big dork.

Part 1: The Beginning of the End (of the Beginning)

I got up at 10:30 am today... for the fourth day in a row. My significant ventures outside the house have been
  1. Drive to an ATM to deposit a check
  2. Drive to Staples (new pencils & eraser) and get my oil changed
I am - by my count at least - the laziest person I know. And I love it. In all honesty, I have been very busy studying for exams. The first one - anatomy - is in an hour. The next two are on Wed and Fri. The nice thing about studying for exams though is that I never have to actually change out of my pajamas!

I feel a small force trying to compel me to freak out about exams, but I just can't do it. I've been trying to reason it out: I'm an anxious person, I'm quite concerned about school performance, I have a history of freaking out about school (see all things quiz-like), now shouldn't I be a horrible mess right now??

My calm is not because of confidence that I'll do really really well on any of the exams. My performance will probably be average, as usual. I think I feel good, because I actually feel proficient in the subjects being taught to me. Its a really good feeling to flip through Netters (anatomy atlas) and say "Hey, I know the human body with all its tuberosities, foramina, and whathaveyou's*" To all the first years who read this (both of you), as we close this chapter of our med school experience, isn't kind of facinating to think we know anatomy now? I mean, we're not experts ... but we pretty much know it now.

* This of course refers to the inferior scaphonavicular whathaveyou, the integral bone of the nervous system. Ironically, it is found at the tip of your nose (rhino-distally).