Do You Have a Double?

I've heard theories that say somewhere in the world there is someone who looks exactly like you. But what about people who don't look like you, but are exactly like you?

When I say exactly alike I mean, mannerisms, interests, views, processes of thinking, tastes in everything. Everything is the same.

Generally, you can find people who will have a shared sense of humor, interests or affiliations. I on the other hand have found two people who are identical to each other.

Friend #1, we'll call Lee, because that's a nice stereotypical Asian affiliated name. Friend #2, we'll call Mike, cause that's a nice typical Caucasian name.

I've known Lee since high school. We're nothing alike but we get along surprisingly well. To get an idea of what he's like here are some of his interests: elitist underground indie rock, elitist (but not necessarily good) indie movies, vegetarianism, English/Philosophy major, music journalism, social liberalism, smart comedy (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, The Office). You get the picture.

Mike became my former roommate's new roommate when I left him last semester. It was about 30 minutes into meeting to him that I realized he's nothing but a Caucasian version of Lee. The first thing that gave it away was the fact he was talking about music artists that I had only heard of from Lee. I told Mike to check out Lee's Last.FM playlist and they both listen to the same exact music.

Okay, big deal they listen to the same music. If you're into one type of band, you're probably into most of the other ones in the same genre. We shall continue.

Lee started out as a computer science major, but quit because at his school it's part of the engineering school, which required him to take too many classes that had nothing to do with what he likes. He is now an English and Philosophy major. Mike is a computer science major, but is very into philosophy, especially existentialism, which is exactly what Lee is into. Mike is currently reading a book on World Religions, which is not required for a class.

Mike has gotten me to watch movies that Lee has been meaning to make me watch for a while.

Mike is a vegetarian. Lee has given up meat for the past few Lents and is now planning on giving it up for good, without knowing that Mike is a vegetarian.

They both have the same exact sarcastic humor that many don't appreciate, but I'm very keen to.

Both of them love to piss me off at any chance they get. And they do it in the same exact way. Mainly by taking anything I say and twisting it into something else, or proving me to be a hypocrite at any chance. (Oh wait, everyone does that.)

When I was food shopping with Mike he told me how he use to love New England Clam Chowder, but, alas, he can eat it no longer. The next day I'm on the phone with Lee telling him how I'm thinking about having NE Clam Chowder and he responds with, "Yeah, I'm going to miss that when I stop eating meat."

When I visited Lee while he studied in London I unknowingly met his twin Mike BECAUSE HE WAS STUDYING IN LONDON AT THE SAME TIME WITH OTHER FRIENDS OF MINE!!!!

Is this enough?!?!?!?

The two of them readily acknowledge the fact that they are the same person and plan on meeting over the summer. It's really really really weird. (REALLY!)

I haven't known Mike for very long but I seem to "get him" very quickly, which is saying something because he has some very... ummm... interesting idiosyncrasies. I chalk this up to being friends with Lee for so long. Being with Mike is exactly like being with Lee. I'm at the point where I predict what he's about to say/do/think (wait isn't that almost the name of a band they both like?) based off of what Lee would do. I'm almost always right. I wish that I could better explain this, but it's something that you really only notice when you know both people personally. Unfortunately, I'm the only person that knows both of them.

I wonder if there is another Dr. Wannabe out there. Maybe he goes by the name Dr. Want2B. You guys have to make sure to tells us about each other. Wait, none of you know me well enough to make that connection. Damn it!

I Called It

You know how I said that I wasn't going to be able to recognize my psychology group partners? Well one of them started a sheet for us to to write our names and e-mail addresses on so that we can begin to meet together and when I passed the sheet to the one guy I could definitely recognize I handed it past one of the other guys in the group before he had written his name on it. He was probably wondering what the fuck was the matter with me. It's okay though cause I recognize him sitting across from me in the SciBld. Comp. Lab. But only because I remember the coat he was wearing and book he was reading....

Sick of the Speculation

Today my friend sent me a CNN article about what may happen because of Global Warming and all of you will pay for it.

I'm sorry, but speculation is cheap. I want to see scientists do some research on proving that it is in fact greenhouse gases that cause Global Warming, instead of treating it like fact. I heard that in the 70's there was a scare that Global Cooling was occurring because they saw a dip in the average temperature for that decade. Well they saw that dip go away and now everyone believes in Global Warming.

All I see are studies after studies about what Global Warming may do, but nothing showing that it's due to us. Uggggggh. You know people, the Earth temperature has fluctuated by much more than a few degrees in the past, long before the car was invented and cows were farting. What do you think was doing it then??? What about that thing called the Ice Age? Human were around during that. How'd it happen? (Because humans killed the mastodons which were a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Duhhh.) How many times did you hear that Global Warming would increase the number of hurricanes. Well when the Atlantic had more than average the Pacific had less than average. The only reason people were making a big deal about them was because they kept hitting the Gulf Coast over and over again. PS - last hurricane season the Atlanic had like what... 3 storms reach hurricane status. Don't quote me on these numbers because they're not accurate, but the general idea is.

I'm not saying that a couple degrees change wouldn't be significant, and I'm not denying that it may be getting warmer. I'm calling into question what causes it. Generally in science before things are considered true predictions must be made and seen to occur according to the mechanism proposed. Well I haven't heard of any experiments done that show any accurate results. From what I can see there is way too little known about the complexities of the climate to make any accurate predictions about it. Hence why meteorologist only make 10-day forecasts and are still only right something on the lines of 60% of the time.

This post, as one of my friends would say, is nothing but "shambles." I'm aware that I made no arguments to disprove traditional global warming theories. That's because I honestly don't want to spend the time to do that right now. Maybe another time. I think if you go through my old posts though you'll find one that touches on some studies that suggests greenhouse gases aren't the cause of global warming.

Facial Memory

This sucks. I have a terrible memory for faces, but I myself am very memorable. No, no, I'm not saying that to sound cocky. I'm 6'4'' and have a huge head with a prominent forehead. Actually, I look like Peyton Manning and have been told this since I was in 7th grade. Just he's 220lbs of muscle, and I'm 200lbs of anything but. Hmm, I guess if I hit the gym and put some weight on I have a better idea of what I would look like... ANYWAY...

So I'm in the Science Building Computer Lab and I'm printing something out and this girl moves around her screen so I can see her face, waves and says "Hi." I wave back and say hello, but I have zeroooo idea who she is. This happens all the time. I actually read an article about people with terrible memories for faces. It sucks. I'm totally "that guy" who everyone knows even if you haven't actually had a conversation with that person. Someone told me once when meeting them that they had seen me all over campus but never knew my name. I, on the other hand, didn't recognize him at all.

I don't even know if I could pick out three guys in my project group in my psychology class. One of them I definitely can. The other two I'm not so confident with. Hopefully we'll have to meet in groups again once more in class so we can setup a meeting outside of class. The same thing goes for my group in my abroad class. Two of the girls I would definitely recognize but the other two I'm not so sure about. And I'll be damned if I know any of these people's names.

Time to go back to studying. Got a 25 on an old MCAT today. Ehhh, not really what I want it to be, but I can't complain since I haven't actually studied outside of taking tests. And I had a ton of time left over for each section so maybe I would have scored higher if I spent that time going over it... :-/

This Shit is BANANASSSS

Seriously, yall need to start watching Battlestar Galactica.

That was the most intense piece of TV I have ever watched in my life.

Not So Witty

A conversation that I thought was a lot funnier than the other person did:

Friend: She was telling me how when she was in Japan they were landing planes without wheels.
Dr W: Yeah, they're good at that. They've been doing it since WW2.

Well, I laughed...

Wow

Yeah, so you know how I estimated my score on Test #3 to be a 27? Well, I actually got a 27 on Test #4, w00t! And now that I have some tests to get a good idea of what areas I'm weak in I know what to concentrate my studies on. Oh man if I start breaking 30's then I might do something crazy like apply to in-state MD schools. (I'm such a sellout as my friend tells me)

While I was in the library I noticed the person next to me studying from a USMLE and I asked him if he was a medical student, knowing damn well that he was. He had just finished his 2nd year at St. George's in Granada. He said that he liked it down there, but was doing all of his rotations locally. He didn't apply to any DO schools and says that he doesn't regret going to school abroad, but that he also knows that he's "one notch below DOs when applying to residency." He also was filling me in on how much work the first two years are. He said that biochem was rough and that I should probably take it, but at the same time he told me that the people who already took it only "kind of had a head start." Once again, I'm left in limbo on the situation. Still leaning towards no though.

Well, tomorrow starts three days of heavy drinking at night. It's going to be sweet. 5 of my friends and I are visiting a friend at his school and going to a bar for a Beer Pong Tourney. Then Friday is my friend's 21st and his family is supplying all the alcohol and food. It's going to be amazing because price is never a question with them. And then Saturday is St. Patrick's and I claim my birthright as a 100% IRISH 21 year old. SPRING BREAK!!!!!

Fluke?

Well, my MCAT practice tests have been going pretty well so far. I got a 22 on my first practice test, a 25 on my second, and the third one was a little weird. When I was taking it somehow I wasn't given the verbal section so I got a zero there, but I got a 9 and 10 in physical science and biological science, respectively. And I got a 7 and 10 in verbal on test 1+2, so I'm scoring test three as a 27. Holy shit, could I be knocking on 30's door?!?!?!

Today I shall shower, eat, get a haircut, go to Jiffy Lube and take test 4. I'll update you on how I do. I have a feeling I'm going to go down back to around 23.

TV, never leave me

You know I started the day maybe a little stressed out because of housing issues again and midterms and scheduling and blah blah blah. But a good healthy dose of The Amazing Race and The Real World: Denver just gave me a smile from ear to ear. They were both just absolute hilarious shit shows that I couldn't help laughing constantly throughout. The Amazing Race is made up of dwarves, gay cubans, gay old people, straight old people, boston accents, blondes and male nipple piercings just running around Chile speaking English with Spanish accents thinking that people understand them. There is nothing in the world like it. And then The Real World is just a bunch of my drunk peers having alcohol induced heart-to-hearts. Oh, and p.s., they're all super horny. Especially the girl who keep flirting with her gay roommate, who has admitted that he's never been as turned on by a girl as her. Oh, and his boyfriend is visiting and they're always talking about three ways. It's just too funny.

Well I'm going to sleep. Tomorrow I have my Psych of Sleep midterm and then a Chem Lab lecture. Then I'm studying Organic all day. Life is good. And I'm not even being sarcastic. I think I'm tired-drunk, and high off this delllllllicious Tropicana Orange Juice. NOT FROM CONCENTRATE!!!!

What's worse than taking biochem?

The answer: Taking biochem twice.

So I spoke with my advisor today to see if he thought I should take biochem or not. He basically told me that if I'm a "chem person" to go for it. And he said he basically leaves it up to the student. He told me that he loved organic and biochem, which means I don't think I'm going to take it. It's not that I don't like organic, cause I kind of do. But I'm not the heavy details type of person that's required for chemistry, whereas he's the type of person that likes to memorize the S-values for different types of white blood cells.

Not heavy on details? That came out wrong. Do you need to be that kind of person to be a competent physician, cause you basically need to be in order to be a successful science major? I hope not. I like to think that clinical skills are separate from being able to understand the placement of substituents on aromatic benzene.