Life Experiences

Today my friend (female) made me get my eye brows waxed after a year of complaining about them. They don't look that much different, just slightly thinner. But man she had to use a lot of strips. I must say though, I took it like a champ and didn't move a muscle. The nice Asian lady was impressed. I think I'm suppose to go again before going back to school to get them shaped or something...

Let's Help Me Out Again

I have the last two questions of my Premedical Committee Autobiography for everyone to look at.

A career in the medical profession requires a commitment to learning throughout one's career. Please comment, in-depth, on an academic experience that has fostered this commitment in you.

I realized early on in my undergraduate career that my interest for medicine could and did go above and beyond what was required in my classes. In my Human Biology class the basics of the organ systems were presented to us and also common disorders associated with them. Since this was a non-major course the professor would spare the other students from over-burdening them with the more in depth processes of the body. But what I was presented with in class would often leave me with many questions. I would often either ask plenty of follow-up questions in class, or more often I would research these topics independently. This interest was not limited to just the classroom. It is now a regular behavior for me to research any new medical condition that I come across. Whenever my friends are sick I immediately ask them what their symptoms are and what diagnosis and treatment their physician prescribed for them. This is why going to medical school is so important to me, because I see it as a way to finally answer all the questions I have. But even after medical school I cannot see myself without always looking to further my knowledge in order to better my patients.

What factors do you think should be stressed in supporting your application? Are there any weaknesses or gaps in your preparation that concern you? If you have withdrawals or contrasting grades on your transcript that require explanation, take the opportunity to do so at this time.

I think the strongest part of my application is the dedication I’ve put into researching what is required of me to get through medical school. I’m completely aware of the work that needs to be done in order to succeed in medical school and I also have a good understanding of life during residency. I am also confident in my ability to be a physician after my numerous shadowing opportunities. I feel that I’m very capable of developing the clinical skills required to be a competent practitioner. My one withdrawal I may have is what my performance on medical exams may be, since I have never been a traditionally excellent academic student. But one-way I see bettering myself in medical school is by taking part in a Problem Based Learning program. I think that I would excel at this type of learning method above the traditional lecturing method because it is centered around case studies. This is extremely complementary to what I look to get out of a career in medicine. Being approached by daily problems that need to be solved through logical thinking and testing.

7th Wheel?

You know what the only thing more awkward than watching Love Actually with two couples?

Watching it with three.

I Have a Man Crush on Eric Mangini

"The Jets continued their climb up the rankings, moving just outside the top 10 to No. 11. Apparently we were a little off when we put them at No. 31 to open the season."

-ESPN.com, NFL Power Rankings

Okay, it's official. The Jets have officially gotten me excited for football. I swore to myself that there was no way I was going to get worked up about football this season, and I tried to fight it, but by George they did it. Ugh... I'm going to regret this.

Someone Out There Must Like Their Job

Today I was interning in the ER and one of the physicians asked me what my major was and what I wanted to do after graduation. I told him that I wanted to go to medical school and right away he gave me the sign to stop in my tracks. Like many others he told me to be a dentist. What the hell?!?

I know there aren't many of you reading this, but would someone please tell me that you enjoy your job! (Non-medical personnel need not apply) I need a little reassurance. Granted I don't think I'm anything like these people, but how could so many people be wrong? (All 3 of them...) The only thing these people ever mention is how the job isn't worth the money, but I'm not even worried about the money. Well, I guess that's a naive lie. But I'm perfectly happy making the average physician salary of $150K a year. And I think I know what I'm getting myself into after hearing all these horror stories. It's also not like I plan on going into a crazy soul sucking specialty like one of the surgeries. I just want to be your typical hospitalist at a non-academic hospital and see a good variety of pathology.

So com'on. Who likes their job? Who is happy that they went into medicine?

I'm totally not going to get any responses...

My First Tag!

Big thanks to Dr. K for making my initiation into the blogsphere official!

It seems I have to list my top 5 Christmas songs. This is appropriate since I just started playing my Christmas playlist recently.

*In no particular order*

1. Oh, Holy Night
2. Winter Wonderland
3. All I Want For Christmas Is You
4. The Christmas Song
5. Carol of the Bells

This list isn't really fair because I like a ton equally as much. They kind of all just blend together in my head.

Hmmm, I shall tag...

1. Proudly Penniless
2. Kungfukitten
3. Irish Doc
4. The Angry Medic
5. Doctor Mama

Ugh, I felt so dirty doing that and hold none of you accountable to actually doing this, except Proudly Penniless.

I Miss the Rain and Buses!

Let's try a more general overview of my trip this time.

Some things that I got around to seeing after the Museum of Natural History (maybe in order of actual occurrence)

Institute of Contemporary Art: Only went to because that's where Highbrow's writing group decided to hold their meeting. It was interesting what the christianites wrote, and especially what they think racy and angry writing sounds like. Highbrow didn't give me the props that I rightfully deserved when he told his story. (It was inspired by a long conversation that we had with one of our mutual friends)

Covent Garden: Nothing much to say. Cool market area. I just wanted to see it because I'm really obsessed with My Fair Lady. I looked everywhere for someone selling leaves of lettuce, but to no avail.

Piccadilly Circus, Oxford St., Regent St., Leicester Square: All of them were really cool and decked out for the holidays. There is a reason they are all listed together, which I will get to later.

British Museum: Wow, I had no idea Great Britain stole so much stuff from other countries. Hehe I kid, I kid. I wouldn't want to piss the majority of my readers. But seriously, some very impressive stuff. There are probably very few, if any, museums that come close.

St. Paul's: This was probably my favorite stop. I originally wanted to see it because it's a Mary Poppins locale, but it really took me away. I had no idea how huge the place was. Probably the most impressive church I've ever been in, second only to St. Peter's Basilica. I found it a little weird that the entire crypt was dedicated to explorers and war heroes of England though. I generally like a little more separation of church and state, but I guess it's to be expected when it's the Church of England...

Imperial War Museum: I finally made it across the Thames. I liked this museum as well. I wasn't really into the artifacts all that much, even though the original letters were cool. And I liked the layout of the museum. It always kept you on your toes and made looking for your friend an adventure. A 15-minute adventure. What I enjoyed the most was reading about the different conflicts and how they resolved, or lack thereof. I think British history should be a required separate class in high school just so everyone can see that America is not the only country that goes into other people's countries and starts shit.

Parliament, Big Ben, West Minster Abby: I just walked past these and took pictures. Highbrow wouldn't pay to go into West Minster so I didn't go in. I'm sure it couldn't compare to St. Paul's anyway.


Now, while I was walking (and walking, and walking...) throughout London I noticed that there were a couple of American things that are extremely popular and they really shouldn't be. Specifically I'm talking about Pizza Hut and KFC. There are THREE Pizza Huts in Leister Square. For those of you who do not know what Leister Square is, just imagine a big square made of movie theatres, cafes, stores and fast food joints. If you stood in the middle of the green you could easily see three Pizza Huts completely packed with people.

Note to the British: PIZZA HUT SUCKS. STOP EATING THERE AND INSTEAD STEAL SOME ITALIANS (along with all your Greek and Egyptian artifacts) TO OPEN UP A REAL PIZZA PLACE!

As for the KFCs, I learned that some things that I thought were cultural tendencies might actually be ethnically linked. I'll leave it at that.

Some of the good things that you've made popular in England: Starbucks (up for debate) and jeans.

I also now know where Mean Girls, Nip/Tuck and Final Destination got their inspiration for killing people with buses. Straight from the street of London. You guys make New York City streets look tame.

Surprisingly, the rain was never really an issue. The only time it really down poured was when I had to walk to the Tube with my luggage when going home. Great timing...

All in all, I had an amazing time. It really was everything I hoped it would be and worth every cent.

Day One: The Arrival

Departure Day, started with leaving Po-Town (home of my school; short for poor town) and traveling to the airport. My roommate drove and we were planning on stopping by his home town before going to the airport. But because a certain state in the union has the most horrendous traffic known to man (and a delightful smell to get to be stuck in along with it) I decided it would be better if he just dropped me off at the airport 3 hours early than to risk missing my plane while coming back.

Check-in went smoothly, except for the fact that I thought they were going to lose my luggage because I never saw them put a sticker on it before I left. Security had no line and no fuss. It was just a matter of sitting and waiting to board my plane.

When I got on the plane I thought that I was going to have a window seat with no one sitting between me and aisle seat, since that's the seat a specifically picked the night before. But it wasn't meant to be. Instead I sat with a delightful, older British couple that was going home from Cancun. They had mistakenly thought that I too was going home to England, which pleased me because it proved to me that I was going to look like a complete tourist on sight alone. Although, I never really thought I would stick out since I am a typical WASP, as Highbrow likes to call me, and also because he knows I despise it. (PS-only one of those things accurately describes me. Another two are only close, but my last name sounds sooo British (although, at the same time you know it's a made up name) that I just assume the role of a WASP)

The flight went by very quickly and I was surprised that I was given two meals on the flight. Mmm, I actually enjoy airplane food and thought it died out along with the birth of Jet Blue. Unfortunately though, my iPod crapped out on my after only being played for a total of 4 hours after being fully charged. I think it's time that I get a new one. (hellooo, Christmas and birthday) Mine is that second generation one that has the four buttons at the top, as opposed to the click wheel.

Day 1:
At customs I got grilled like you couldn't imagine. First I was asked the typical questions: how long will you be here, for what purpose. But then she saw my index card with the cell numbers of some of my friends. So she asked what it was as if they were access numbers to a nuclear weapon. Then she asked a series of questions that I thought were really over the top like: why my friends were in London, for how long, when they were leaving, where they were staying, (how the hell do I know) where I was staying, how much money I had on me, if I had credit cards, when I was leaving, proof of when I was leaving. (thankfully I had a confirmation e-mail on me that had my return flight on it) My friends here agreed that the women was a little nuts and were never grilled like that whenever they returned to the UK.

I then proceeded to get my money exchanged, which made me cry. ($370 = 170GBP) Then I hopped on the Gatwick Express and got to the Tube, where I had a little trouble with someone going through on my swipe, and then needing to buy another, but not knowing how to use the machine, so instead waiting on the painfully long time again.

When I got to my hotel the room wasn't ready yet. I was suppose to meet Highbrow at Piccadilly Circus at 12PM, which was about 1.5 hours away. I asked the receptionist how long it would take to walk and he said about and hour, but thought I was crazy for walking that far. Well, I did it, and it wasn't that bad at all. It helped me get situated with the city quickly. But I still am having issues crossing streets. :-/

I hung out with Highbrow for the afternoon and went to the V&A museum. Then I went back to my room and slept for a couple of hours. Afterwards I walked to my other friends flat (but not after mistakenly going into the Dutch Embassy's backwater entrance) and hung out there for the night. I then proceeded to walk home in the rain since the Tube was closed. It rains too much, but I don't mind it as long as I have my hooded sweatshirt, which I guess I'll be wearing everyday here.

This morning (I'd like to stress the fact that it was the morning but for some reason the Bold and Italics option aren't available) I went to the Natural History Museum. It was pretty awesome. The building itself is breath taking alone, And it's not close to as kiddy as the one in New York City. I heard that the Science Museum here is, so I think I'll skip that one.

Now I'm here in Highbrow Hopefull's classroom building in London. We met up for lunch and now we're waiting for his writing group and then I'm going to drag him to some tourist thing that he'll claim to not be able to afford.

This post was much longer than expected but I wanted to get everything down. You're going to have to excuse me though because I don't plan on editing it beyond spell check.

Cheers!

WHOOOAAAAA

Yo everyone, I actually made it to London. Don't really know how I did it.

Stories to follow when I get back!

How does this sound?

3. How and when did you become interested in medicine or the health profession to which you are applying? (“Why do you want to be a _____?” Go beyond “because I want to help people and like science”). Which branch of medicine are you currently interested in practicing? In what setting do you anticipate practicing?

When I started college I was undecided between psychology and biology with no real aspirations of medical school. I considered it above my academic ability and wrote it off. Fortunately though, one of the first classes I took freshman year was Human Biology and it really sparked my interest. When taking it I knew that I was only being taught the basics of human body and I found myself wanting to know more and more about its complexities. This by no means meant that I planning on applying to medical school. I had simply decided that I wanted to center my studies on human biology.

Later on in my freshman year I realized that I loved applying what I knew to problem solving situations. I guess it gives me a sense of satisfaction taking what I learned in the classroom and using it to answer someone’s questions or explain to someone what’s going on in their own body. It then occurred to me that I could actually make a living doing this. Medicine started to seem like the perfect fit for my interest since I could get paid for learning about what I liked and applying it to real life situations and seeing actual results from my treatment plan.

The summer following my freshman year I started getting some clinical experience to see if medicine is what I envisioned. My Physician Assistant Dermatologist offered the opportunity to shadow her in the practice to see what a typical day is like. After the first day I was hooked. Although I did not find dermatology all that exciting I still loved going into seeing patients hearing about their problems and trying to figure out in my head what was going one and what treatment would be right for them. That summer I learned a couple of important things. One, medicine was definitely the field I wanted to pursue. Two, I most likely wanted to go into a primary care field because they would see a wider variety of pathology, as opposed to specializing. Three, I wanted to become a physician as opposed to a physician assistant because physician assistants mainly see the same easier to treat problems.

Ever since that summer I’ve been doing my research on what to expect in medical school, residency and beyond. I’ve read all the horror stories and have had more than a couple of physicians try to talk me out of pursuing this career. But I’ve already accepted these hardships and feel like as long as I go into this field with the right reasons and mindset, then it is still all worth the effort. I feel that even with the long hours, incompliant patients and years of training this is still a field that I would really enjoy and do well in.

After doing some research and interning in a variety of different field I can see myself happiest in a primary care field, more specifically Internal Medicine. I think this is the area that best fits what I’m looking to get out of a career. I also can see myself working in a hospital setting as opposed to a private practice. A hospital would allow me more tools to do my job and also give me a better sense of continuity of care. Taking all of these things into consideration I see the job of being a Hospitalist (general medicine in-patient care specialist) to be the most appealing.

Note: I think I'm suppose to keep this to around 500. It's for my Pre-Health Professions Committee.

Make Note of the Time

Right now I'm taking a break from doing my MCAT HW.

Tonight we're having fun with Kinectics, Force, and some other topic that I haven't gotten to yet. I've completed 1 out of 3 chapters due by tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to manage getting chapter 3 done since I'm anticipating chapter 2 taking longer thatn chapter 1.

Because my housemates were having a bit of a get together at our house I decided to do my work at a quieter environment. Unfortunatly, at our school the library closes at 9:30PM on Friday. I guess there isn't much of a student demand for it at that time. I wonder why...

Instead I'm utilizing my Microbiology lab pass, which allows me access to the lab 24/7, and studying in there. (I'm sooo cool) Well actually I got into that lab and walked into the ajacent Botany lab because it has larger tables. I guess plant bio is good for something after all.

I suppose I should go back to my work. Good thing the class is at 3PM. Well, it might be at 2PM, but Kaplan sucks at communicating with us and hasn't told us what time the instructor is going to arrive. Oh, listen to me complain. I sound as if I've paid them $1300 (about 700 GBP - shout out to my British followers) for this torture. Freaking Kaplan...

More like, Kraplan. (ha. ha. ha...)

[edit: since my blog records my entries in PST I'll just tell you that it's curretnly 1AM]

My First Meme

I don't despise meme's the same way some people do. I just ignore the ones I don't find entertaining. This one I do.

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next four sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.

5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest!

Here's mine:

With my money and his cleverness, we could make the house talk of Paris.

I didn't answer right away. It took me more than a moment to realize that I could own a theatre just like that. Own it like the gems in the chest, or the clothes I wore, or the dollhouse I'd sent ot my nieces.
--The Vampire Lestat; Anne Rice

PS - does anyone know how to tab in blogger?

Me Amo Azul

There was something really bugging me about my old template, so I decided to change.

I'm not sure if I'm that crazy about this one either, but we'll try it out for now.

PS - the blogroll was greatly updated

Party Pooper

I often wonder what possesses people to drink so heavily that they achieve a BAC of .39 and wind up in the hospital. (Let alone the infinite other BACs below that, which are equally as stupid)

Now don't be under the assumption that I'm against drinking. I drink from time to time, but probably considerably less than that of my peers. To put it quite frankly, I think alcohol is extremely overrated. Sure it's nice to get loosen up from time to time, and it can be helpful during certain situations, but I often I think I have just as much fun (if not more) when sober and with friends, than when I'm drunk.

Why don't I like to drink? No, it's not because I do/say less embarrassing things without alcohol, cause I can honestly say that I only regret one alcohol related incident that I caused. Actually, outside of that incident I’ve yet to do/say anything really regretful. I don't spill my heart, (trick question: Dr. House is heartless) I don’t have unfortunate hookups (or fortunate ones for that matter) and I don’t put my friends in any situations that I would be pissed that they put me in. (Like the way I worded that one?) All things considered, I keep a very strong grasp on my better judgment. I can't really explain it, but I like being more aware and competent than being under the influence. Although, it would seem that I’ve missed out on a number of life experiences because of it. I wonder if it’s for the better.

Does that make me a prude/kill joy? Possibly, but I never ever get on anyone's case about drinking. God knows I’ve gone plenty out of my way to supply my friends with their fuel, and places to burn their fuel, and rides to and from these locations for that matter. (Yeah, I’m a huge tool) So, don’t even start accusing me of thinking that I’m holier-than-thou for avoiding the bottle, because I approve of its consumption fully when it’s in responsible moderation. (I’m holier-than-thou because I’m completely self-sacrificing to my friends! (Heh, that’s a joke.)) When it comes down to it I probably don’t drink that much because I’m more useful to my friends when sober and God knows that I like to feel needed. That’s an entirely different self-psychoanalysis entry though.

What I don’t understand though is how people get to the point of near (and actual) death. Do they drink that much to prove something? Is it because they can’t get the same sensation that they use to be able to with a lesser amount? Can a bad situation really drive someone to the bottle that hard? What’s the deal? I have a very hard time ever feeling bad for these people and I wish I could better understand how they get to that point. Does this make me a judgmental asshole? Yes, but I’m sorry if I hold the human race to a higher standard. I think people should be able to take bad situations and deal with them without the bottle.

Tonight, Roommate texted me that he was at the hospital with his friend who managed the feat of getting a .39 BAC. He concluded the text with his friend being “lucky to be alive.” Like the jerk I am, I responded with, “But he’s not so lucky to be stupid enough to get like that.” To be honest, I don’t regret saying that in the least. He did that to himself and he’s dealing with the consequences of his actions. I’m willing to alter my opinion of the situation with more information, but as of now I think the guys is a jerk.

Disclaimer: I have drunk to the point of blacking out, passing out, puking (not always where I want to) and taking naps with my head on toilet seats. I tell you this not to impress you in anyway. (I don’t know why it would) But to just put it out there that I too have gotten completely smashed and all the steps in between.

Dr. Wannabe going soft

I swear to God I think I'm growing a uterus.

Ever since I saw this family at the dermatologist's office the other day I've had kids on the brain. The kids were soooo happy to see daddy come out of the office, and he was equally as happy. It's really quite disgusting. And I just read some retarded article from CNN.com on tactics to getting your kid to go to sleep for no reason. The only people I ever hear randomly say, "Ohhhhh, I want a baby..." are my girl friends, and I'm pretty sure it's when they're ovulating.

Ugh, I don't think I want to be 30+ when I start a family. I think I want to spend my 50's with older children, unlike my own parents whose youngest will turn 20 when they're 60. They're currently 52 and I'm 20, and the oldest. And since I also think I would want like 4 kids I would have to get the last one in by the time I'm 35ish at the latest...

Oh, and then there's the whole meeting the person I want to spend the rest of my life with...

Dr. Wannabe, just stop right now. This whole looking to the future has to stop now.

WTF, why am I even telling you people (read as: c-wod/imquietchris) this.


I'm going to go listen to my most guilty pleasure song ever now.
Later.

Count It!

Dr. Wannabe just got accepted into the short term abroad program to Italy next semester!

I will be traveling throughout Italy for three weeks between the end of May and early June!!!!!

Wow, nothing's gone wrong yet.

Passport has arrived at home fully renewed.
Plane tickets have been bought.
Hotel reservations have been made.

Looks like it's gonna happen.
w00t!

Little Old Women Are Funny

Today, I went in to intern today in the ER. I don't know when I first noticed her, but there was a little old woman, maybe about 80, all by herself in Isolation Room #2. At first I wasn't sure whether they gave her that room because she was old, or if they were using for what it's intended, crazy people.

Later on, I heard one of the nurses remind the PA that the woman was still in there waiting to been seen. I had seen her sleeping just before and figured there was no huge rush to see her.

In the last 15 minutes of my 3 hours we finally got around to seeing her. When we walked in we were first greeted by the patient's daughter. The PA started asking the patient where she was from and what was the matter, to which she snapped, "You know where I'm from and why I'm here." The daughter was a little taken aback and then whispered to us, not all that discreetly, that her mother has some dementia. The patient was not deaf, nor dumb, and quickly said, "I'm not what she says I am." I liked her already cause she didn't take shit.

We went along with the history and learned that she was visiting us because she had slipped out of her wheelchair somehow. It was a very non-descriptive story. The patient kept insisting that it was a very gentle fall and that she had no pain, thanks to her "big fanny." Everyone chuckled and the PA said, yeah I have a big fanny too. She then gave him a look over and said, "That's not all you've got," while staring right at his gut. The daughter was completely horrified at what her mother had just said, but the patient fought saying she had the right to say whatever she wanted because she had been there for 5 hours. (And no, I don't think she was at all exaggerating) The PA just chuckled and said that was fine. I think I was the only person in the room that she liked. At one point she had asked for a tissue, which I went searching around the ER for, and when I came back she was very thankful, something she did not at all feel towards the people who were keeping her where she was.


Ugh. I hope I never get to the point where I can't make my own decisions. It's completely degrading, especially when you are capable of making your own choices.

Cheers

I want to blog, but I don't have a topic. I hate blogging without a topic because it makes me feel like a n00b. Oh well.

Oh, oh, oh, I know what I can write about...
I'M GOING TO LONDON FOR THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!!!
(If you can't tell I'm very excited about this.)

When I was home last weekend for Mom's birthday I was talking to 3 of my friends who are currently studying in London and it was driving me insane. Ever since I was in high school I've wanted to study abroad for a semester. Back then I wanted Australia, but once I got to school I changed my mind to London because it gave me greater access to other countries I wanted to visit. Plus, I'm not much of a beach person since 1. No one wants to see this with a shirt off, and 2. I'll die of skin cancer, which is actually kind of unfortunate cause I actually do love the beach, but no one really knows that. But when I talked to the abroad people and told them I was a science major they more-or-less said, "Ewww, ewww, ewww, get out of here!"

Okay, you got me. I'm a little bitter towards them. Really they just told me that it's very hard for science majors to go abroad and get any of their science requirements accomplished. But they didn't even try to find a way to make it work out. Bastards...

Anyway.........
There and then I decided that I was going to figure out a way to go visit my friends in London this semester. I pulled up the old events calendar on the school's website and realized that my only real break was Thanksgiving. A couple of months ago I was hesitant at the idea of going away for Thanksgiving, but something changed and I didn't care anymore.

I marched up to talk to my Dad about the idea of me going away and he was surprisingly supporting. Like, was on Continental Airlines' website looking at how many reward miles he had that second, supportive. It was weird, but I think it has something to do that my entire family vacationed overseas without me last summer since I had damn, damn, damn, Physics. I wasn't even really looking for him to take care of the airfare, but I guess he felt he owed it too me.

The next day I went to the post office and had my passport expedited. I thought it was going to be a real pain in the ass, but it was surprisingly hassle free. I wasn't too crazy about my picture and also realized my friend was right about pale people not being meant to wear yellow. Whateves. Such a non-issue.

Everything going so smoothly started making me very, very weary that something terrible was going to happen to prevent this trip from happening. Things never work out for me this well. Something was bound to go completely wrong and really have the potential of ruining everything. Then, it happened. I was in the kitchen emptying out my pockets and I found the shipping receipt from the post office. I had never really looked at it when I was at the post office, but the words on it hit me like a train and made my heart stop dead.

Ship to:
CITI GROUP
P.O. BOX ######
Philadelphia, PA #####-####

Oh. My. God. Why was my passport mailed to CITI GROUP?!
I started freaking out on spot. I was sure that my passport had been mailed to the wrong place and I was never going to make it to London.

Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.
Okay Dr. Wannabe, let's check things out online and figure out if something really terrible actually occurred.

::Google "passport"::
::click link::
::click link for renewing passports::
::scroll till see an address::
PO BOX #####
Philadelphia, PA #####-####
::anxiety goes down 95%::

I'm feeling okay about this now. My passport is going to an address very similar (if not the actual) to the one it needs to go to. And you know what the worst thing that happens is that it's sent back to the post office and they realize where it really needs to go.

::crosses fingers that they're that smart::

Actually, the worst thing that happens is that it goes to the wrong place and no one does anything with it and I'm out a passport and a trip to London.

I’m going to call my Dad tomorrow to confirm that tickets were bought. He has the exact time, date and flight number so everything should be taken care of. Then we’ll move on to booking a hotel, which is already picked out, but baby steps people, baby steps.


Next time on House, D.O. I think we’ll talk about how I’m less than impressed with emergency medicine and my future predictions for my specialty. (Talk about getting waaaay ahead of yourself)

P.S. – If you read my blog regularly drop a comment so I can check out your blog. My regulars seem to be hitting lulls in entries and I need to make up for it.

(**Anyone else really annoyed by the number of “but’s” I used in this post? I was. But (ugh) it’s blogging and I’m not going to fuss over my writing. Although, I truly feel my blog entries are complete crap compared to my academic writings. I suppose I just feel inferior to all the good blog writers I read.**)

I Just Want to K*** People

You can make up your own mind about which 4 letter K-word that is after you read my entry.

Today I had microlab and we were doing some Grams Stains. I'll quickly sum up what Gram Stains are.
Gram positive basteria: look purple
Gram negative bacteria: look pink

I was making my gram negative slide and everything was going swell. I followed the procedure and life was grand. Then I tried to find the bacteria under the microscope and I was having a hard time focusing on the bacteria. They weren't that colorful and it was hard to get a crisp image of them. My professor told me that they weren't looking right and I should make them again. But he wasn't able to tell me where I went wrong.

OK, fine. I just made another and let the Safarnin sit a little longer. I went through the process again just to realize that I forgot to heat fixate. That basically means that all of my bacteria were in the dye tray after I washed them off the slide 4 different times. Little annoying, whatever. I went and made a third one. They looked exactly the same and the TA and professor still had no idea what was going on. Uggggh.

I do it a fourth time and no dice. The professor then looks at them under a different microscope and what a surprise, they looked perfect. There was no reason to have done it four times. He was just being a jerk and not letting the non-perfect slide.

I moved on to doing a Gram positive. The TA took a look at it and told me that my bacteria weren't distributed well enough. Are you serious?!??!?!?!?!? Well I'm sorry if there mothers didn't teach them how to be more evenly distributed.

By this point I had had it. I declared that I was going home, which wasn't that outrageous since the lab period had been over for ten minutes. (Note: I only got half of my work done, whereas many other were on the verge of being done.) So I'm going to pick up my dye tray which is overly full from having to repeat making a slide 4 times. Guess what happened. Actually, no. I'll just tell you the end result. My shoes and brand new jeans that were amazzzzzing now have crystal blue dye, safaranin, Gram iodine and decolorizer all over them. Yeah, that's never going to come out.

Everyone was on alert not to go anywhere near me. My professor thought it would be a good idea to make small talk by saying, "Hey Dr. Wannabe, wasn't it funny how all those slides you made were fine and just looked lighter under your microscope."

::people running for cover:: ::crickets::

"Yeah, it was really funny."
I don't think I need to tell you that I said that in the most sarcastic asshole voice ever. I was actually quite impressed that I had the balls to speak to a professor that way.

Microbiogy hasn't officially become my least favorite class of the semester.