True Story(?): Mother Knows Best

My 12 year old sister and mom went to battle today about what she should wear to the Hannah Montana concert tonight. My mom asked how dressed up she should be. To be quite honest, I don't think it makes a damn difference. I remember being young and having my mom over dress me for some Nickelodeon concert/game show thing when I was younger. And even when I was 9 I knew I was over dressed. My uncle then interjected telling us to "take it easy" and "mother knows best." I bit my tongue from saying anything, although I resented being spoken down to like that when I'm almost 22 years old.

Two minutes later what do my mom and uncle start talking about? How "crazy" their mother is, and how she has "no idea what she's talking about."

It's funny how my mom is constantly mad at me about how I treat her, but at the same time she's still doing the same thing with her parents. It would seem that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Snobby Geckos

First let's start with one of my favorite Geico Commercials:


Yesterday was the annual family Christmas Party, where the 17 cousins exchange their Secret Santa Gifts. I also exchanged gifts with my aunt. I don't really know how we came about exchanging gifts, as opposed to me giving gifts to any other aunt or uncle, but it came to be. It turned out to be Snob-a-riffic. I got The Film Snob's Dictionary. And I gave her this great Threadless tee.

The snobbery didn't end there though. Today I was reunited with my Literature and Music Snob counterpart. We went to Borders, because Barnes and Noble is far too mainstream with their Starbucks and all. I was looking for Paste magazine for my dad, since he seemed to enjoy the free ones that magically started coming to our house. He's getting a subscription to it. I also got him a subscription for The Economist. So that filled my Music and World Affairs snobs quota of the day. I also got myself some magazines; GQ, Men's Health and Skeptic, which helped fill my Health, Hygiene, Style and General Intellectual quota in one great sneer. (And consequentially my Gay quota too)

We then decided to head over to Blockbusters to make fun of the movies for rental, and possibility get one if by some slim chance we saw something we liked. While there I proved that my "gay-movie-dar" is significantly stronger than my normal gaydar. At the sight of the cover of Amnesia: The James Brighton Enigma I can be quoted saying, "What, he woke up and had to come out of the closet all over again?" My friend then looked at the back cover and told me it was about someone who wakes up remembering only that he's gay. I'm truly amazing. This can be added to my list of super powers. My other one is being able to convince others that I'm right, even when I insist to them that I'm not sure and could be totally wrong. Unfortunately for those people, I'm normally right, in the sense that I'm wrong...

We ended up renting Spider-Man3. You may think that this goes against my movie snob senses - another power on the list - but really it didn't. The reasons I chose this were multi-fold. 1. I hadn't seen it yet, and had to finally know if MJ died. *CROSS FINGERS* 2. I heard it was terrible and thought it would be fun to make fun of it throughout the entire thing. 3. My friend is in love with Spider-Man and cried at how bad it was after seeing it in theaters. I thought this posed a great chance to get back at him for harassing me at how bad the third X-Men (my love) was.

Blockbuster fucked with me though. When I opened the DVD case I was shocked to see that no, not Spider-Man3 was there, but something equally terrible. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Enraged, I did my best Tina Fey impersonation as described by my friend. Fuming in the car I thought of what I would say to the obviously self-loathing Blockbuster employee. "How did you not notice the wrong movie in the case when you opened it to put my receipt in there? Were you angry at me because I was renting that movie? Cause I'll have you know that I'm 5x's the movie snob you are, regardless of your girth. Did you think it would be funny? Cause there is NOTHING funny about I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry!" But instead I continued with the Tina Fey impersonation and stood in line waiting to get a substitute copy, swearing under my breath.

The outcome? Yes, it was indeed one of the stupidest movies of all time, and regret picking it over Ocean's 13 - prime chance for some eye candy. Firstly, Thomas Hayden Church is a terrible, terrible actor. Every scene he seemed to grow increasingly more confused as to what he was suppose to do. How about this idea: act. I now understand why he was casted for the role of the failed actor in Sideways, because it didn't require acting.

It wasn't all his fault, though. His character Sandman is innately stupid. A guy falls into a pit of sand, where what can only be assumed to be radioactive beams are spun around him, the actual target being the sand. Through some nice graphics the nucleotides which previously constructed his DNA are replaced with sand. Why the models of DNA that I've made with sand have never become sub-par acting villains I'll never understand. Another thing, WTF was the point of that experiment. What were those scientists hoping to gain from shooting radioactive beams at sand? Radioactive sand? WTF is radioactive sand good for? Okay, I'll stop trying to make sense of a comic book plot.

Another thing to note: People with high self-esteem, and have a way with the ladies do know look like this. Peter Parker is by no means an exception.

However, I was successful in keeping myself amused by mocking the movie throughout its duration, and consequently making my friend miserable.

That's all for now. I hope everyone has some very festive Politically Correct Days!

Dear State DMV

Thank you for making it absurdly easy to change my address. You were faster, and saved me more than calling Geico! I'll work on getting you a funny British reptile. You deserve it.

-DW

Developments

Evidently my family was dropped from our auto insurance company. How did this happen? Through sheer team effort.

1. I was in a car accident almost two(?) years ago. I wanted to link to that post, but for some reason I can't find it... Let me jog your memory. They turned across two lanes, hit me, didn't speak english, and of course wasn't licensed.

2. My dad was recently in a car accident (and I suspect more on record...)

3. My brother has been pulled over twice and has points on his license (I suspect more. And he's only been legal to drive for 1 year 3 months)

So now I'm getting my own plan cause it's cheaper, and I'm lucky enough to have my brothers on on it under me. Super. There goes that driving record.

This has helped me plan to get a job as soon as I can, so I can become totally independent from my family. It's just a matter of deciding which grandparents to live with. :-/

Observations from the Library

Girls, don't take this the wrong way. This is not me judging you as a slut, or trashy, or what not based off your clothing.

But...

Wearing just an Under Armour top without a sports bra makes you look like a hoozy. And if you people out there are saying, "But what if she went for a run!?" That's fine. But you're obviously not going for any run in HIKING BOOTS.

Finals Week

Tomorrow I'm taking my Vertebrate Physiology test. Thank God it's not cumulative. I can't even imagine what that test would be like. Oh wait, exactly like any standardized test taken in medical school, except a 1000x's harder. I'm basically destined to get a B in that class. Not the end of the world, but not that extra boast needed to make a case to get off the wait list at that one school. I'm a B student, always have been, always will be, regardless of what it is I'm doing.

I have my Bioethics final on Friday. Haven't really studied for that yet, and I'm kind of behind on my reading. Should make cramming tomorrow interesting. Again, I'm destined for a B in that class. Which is kind of ridiculous because I'm really very good when it comes to applying ethical theories and critical thinking. I really am so much smarter than my grades show, but no one knows that unless they know me. Everyone in my classes comes to me for the answers like I'm the genius, but they all get better grades than me.

For instance, this girl was asking me to explain the trans-pulmonary pressure difference caused during inhalation. So I'm explaining what the pressure difference really means in terms of (force from particles)/(unit space). As you increase the volume of the inter-pleural space, you decrease the pressure, thus the force on the walls of the membrane. This then allows for the pressure (force) in the alveoli to have a greater effect against the membrane, aka stretch it until the force on both sides is equal. By increasing this volume of the avleovi you decrease the pressure, which allows air from outside to move down the pressure gradient from outside, blah, blah, blah. She still doesn't understand this and says, "I'll just memorize it." She will. And she'll get a better grade than me. Memorizing will get you anywhere in school. Sucks for me! When it comes to applying the information to practical use I would put money down that I would be the best of my year. Have I convinced you that I smart year? No? That's okay, none of the med schools believe me either. Fucking Grades.

Rant over.

So anyway, that's basically why I have a hard time getting into medical school. Cause I'm the shittiest memorizer ever. Comparative Anatomy is going to be a BLAST next semester.

And Jen T. - I don't know what the snow belt even refers to. The lake effect area around the great lakes? Needless to say, no, I'm not from around there.

Soon grades will be coming. I will send my updated transcript to whoever cares to see it, and the final real plans will be made. No more of this impulsive speculation bullshit. I think I'll be most likely spending the summer taking biochem and venepuncture/EKG certification programs. And then afterwards getting a job as a medical assistant and doing that for the year, while applying to PA school. I'm starting to think being a PA would be better for me. Medical school just sounds sooo miserable. And I could easily live the lifestyle I want on a PA income, and I could move on with my life soooo much faster, since PA school is two years and NO RESIDENCY!!!!

Peace.

Snooooooow

Dear Dr. Wannabe's Academic Institute,

20 minutes notice is NOT sufficient heads up time that classes are cancelled, since some people leave MORE than 20 minutes before class starts when there is inclement weather. Get your head in the game, so that next time this is avoided.

Yours truly,
DW

PS - Thank you for the snow day.

Family History Catching Up

Last Friday I went out to the local watering hole with a few of my fellow academic colleagues. At the end of the night we proceeded to go outside and catch a cab to our respective homes. Unfortunately, there wasn't a cab in sight. In hindsight I'm SURE there would have been another one had we waited, oh, 2 minutes. But alas, I was out with people on the track team. And since I don't live more than a mile from the bar they decided we would run home because it was like 20 degrees outside. I was totally against running because 1. I can easily handle the cold (no, not because of my beer over coat), 2. I didn't feel like making a scene by having 5 white preppy guys running through the ghetto, 3. running without arch supports is a bad idea for someone with terribly flat feet.

Needless to say, we ran. Within the first 10 steps I immediately regretted this. But I toughed it out. I generally have a pretty high tolerance for pain, and lets not forget that my pain threshold was most likely elevated due to the nights activities. By the time we got to my apartment I could barely stand. My left knee (lateral) was killing me.

The next couple of days were pretty rough. I wore my arch supports everywhere I went - including my Science Prom which was the next day. Boy were those dress shoes snug. By Monday or Tuesday I wasn't having that much pain anymore, and today I had absolutely no pain at any point of the day. Last night I even did some weightless weight-training (that's not a typo) and there was no problem at all. Today I hit the gym and started doing my typical running routine. If I had to sum that up in one word, I would choose, "ouch." If I had 4 words at my disposal I would say, "THAT MOTHER FUCKING SMARTS!!!" I decided to nix the running and instead did a painless granny power walk for double the amount of time.

I decided to look up some possible diagnoses for my problem. I came to two likely problems. The better of the two is an IT-band irritation. The worse of the two a torn meniscus. There didn't seem to be any home tests to do to diagnosis an IT-band problem. But for the meniscus they said if you hold your hand against the sides of the knee and feel a "popping," it could be a meniscus problem. So I did such, and felt a definitive protrusion, which may be considered a "popping." To double check I did the same thing to my other knee, which doesn't hurt. Nothing. There is a definite difference between the knees.

This sucks.

My plan of action is to give it a full week of no high impact exercise, which is going to really piss me off, since I just got into this running thing. If the "popping" doesn't seem to improve, and/or running still hurts I guess I'll have to schedule an orthopedist appointment. But my school also has an athletic training program, and I know that there is a class in the Vertebrate Physiology lab tomorrow. I plan on going there after class pretending to do work in the lab and in passing ask them for their insight. I'm sure glad I struck up conversation with the instructor earlier in the semester.

As for the title of the post, my family on my dad's side has notoriously horrible knees and I very much take after my dad's side. Until now I never had any problems, which is probably due to the fact that I was all that much into sports when I was younger. Regardless, I guarantee the first words out of my mom's mouth is, "Yep, those are father's family's genes for you." She blames all biological problems on them. Personally I'd rather their issues than her side's.

Recap: CNN/You Tube Republican Debate

After watching the CNN/You Tube debate I'm now actually a Giuliani fan, instead of just picking him cause I agree with him the most. Also I realize that I despise Romney. I called him out on being the Kerry of the Republican Party. He didn't answer any of the questions definitively, which leads me to believe that he only says what people like to hear. I was also surprised that I didn't dislike Huckabee as much as I thought I would, but that's because he's a charming guy and didn't take a stance on anything either. I thought McCain did a good job of making/defending his points, but at the same time I don't think he ever talked about non-Iraq topics. Everything always seemed to come back to some war with him. Ron Paul I thought came off as a crazy, and he seems to think that everything in the world works out for the best when you have no laws, taxes, regulations or pose any external influence on anyone. Some of that I like in theory, but he's not practical. Thompson I didn't feel made a case for himself. He was just there, speaking occasionally, but I got no sense of who he was.

PS - Anderson Cooper is the man, and I thought he did a great job moderating, and calling candidates out when they weren't answering the questions.

I'm Crazy

I'm reconsidering getting some lame job after school, and now looking into MPH - Epidemiology.

I like the city selection that the schools are in (Boston, Seattle, NYC, Atlanta, Minnesota); Leaves open the opportunity to reapply (with something added to my application); I could get a job (CDC seems to have lots of openings).

The applications never end.

The effect of an 80 on a VP test

I'm accepting the fact that I'm a B student, and an overall only mediocre science student on the basis of grades. Where does this leave me?

I feel like there is something else that I'm suppose to do, simply because there must be something I excel at. I know I'm brighter than most (ha, right. keeping telling yourself that), but science is obviously not something that I'm exceptional at, relative to the other students.

Am I ignoring other possibilities because of the pressure I feel from the success of my friends?

Use Your Words

As I expected last night I had one of my crazy anxiety-induced dreams, where I have a hard time separating dream world from reality. I went to bed freaking out, worrying about how I was going to get certified in venipuncture. I then spent my night dreaming that I didn't know how to do it, couldn't learn to do it, had a hard time finding a job with the skill at hand. It was a bad night's sleep. I wish I were so crazy.

My final Add/Drop period started today. I was unsure whether I was going to be adding any classes because my advisor never told me whether First Aid/CPR was going to count towards my major electives. I finally had enough of his lack of communication and called him today asking. Evidently it was no problem and the chair of the department and told the registrar to allow it. Couldn't someone have notified me that the problem had be rectified? Whateves.

Spring 2008 - The End
Genetics w/ Lab
Comparative Anatomy w/ Lab
Animal Behavior
First Aid/CPR
Internship - Hospital Rotations
Karate

I'm Useless

I'm qualified for NOTHING.

My backup plan for next year when I reapply is to get a job as a medical assistant somewhere. Criagslist has a plethora of listings, but they almost all require experience in venipuncture, something I will not have learned in school. How do I go about it.?I found a school that has a 90 hour certification program. Does that cut it?

MO: Not living at home next year.

Rockstar Awesome

Some people claim to get signs from the universe that it's time to do something. Others think you're just more selectively sensitive to your environment to things that are on your mind. Regardless, this played after Battlestar Galactica: Razor made me happy. (something that has been happening more often)

Patting Myself on the Back

I'm going to talk about how great I think I am, because I'm sick of only thinking about how terrible I am at school.

I've recently realized that I'm a fairly well adapted person. I'm pretty good at keeping things in perspective and staying objective. I'm good at analyzing myself and calling myself out on certain things. This came up because I was counseling one of my friends - something I seem to do a lot. People come to me to talk, and I'm there to talk. I like talking to people and helping them gain some objective perspective on the issues in their lives. Some people are a little more resistant to acknowledging reality than others, but I normally come out making my point.

Another thing that seems to help is that I come off very non-judgmental, which isn't to say that deep down I am. I normally don't judge people by their interest or activities, or at least I don't make a moral judgment... I think this is why I get away with saying whatever comes to mind. People know that I say it not in a judging way. I'm just telling it like it is.

I often keep thinking that I should be going into psychology. Psychology was the major I was debating going into college, but it seemed to theoretical for me. I liked the harder science of biology. But when I look at what I'm naturally better at, it's always psych. I very easily relate myself to other people and help them interpret their thoughts or feelings. I'm very good at helping people communicate to themselves what they're feeling, or why they are. This isn't meant to make it sound like I tell them what they're feeling. I help them collect their thoughts and see what's really going on. I'm extremely introspective, but with an extrospective view point. Does that even make sense? I think I mean I'm good at organizing my (and others') thoughts and looking at them from an outside point of reference. Obviously, this doesn't apply to my written skills. To bad I don't think I have the interest to sit through a ton of psychology classes.

On a totally different note - I kind of wish I was more of a bitch when it came to money. I don't ask people for money if I know they're going to complain about it. I never have a problem tipping more than my fair share, and I in general don't get that worked up over the possession of my capital. Some people may say that I have no appreciation for money and take it for granted, since I was fortunate enough to never have to worry about it. But I honestly think that I just don't allow money to become that important to me. A career in medicine was never about the money for me. I just wanted to do something with my time that I didn't hate.

It's funny when my brother and I compare career goals. He's all about going into business and making money by schmoozing with people. I, on the other hand, refuse to schmooze. I abhor it. He would be disappointed with himself if he was making less than 500k by the time he's in his 30's. I on the other hand think I would be perfectly comfortable with making just around 80-100k. I might be fooling myself when I make this comment though, since I wasn't raised with this kind of total income. To be quite honest I have no idea how much money my family makes. We don't buy flashy cars, TVs or vacations, but at the same time I don't hear anything about financial woes. That's all I'm looking for. Enough to have a home with the basic amenities, and the occasional budget vacation. Expensive cars and meals are nice, but to be quite honest driving my car isn't something I really look to for enjoyment and my self-esteem doesn't need to be boasted by a status symbol car. Tons of money just seems to bring problems than it's worth.

???

I wish I had something new and exciting to post about, but I do not.

How about a Question and Answer session? Not like there are really all that many of you that read this, but whateves.

Ha ha. Watch this not get any responses.

Disclaimer: don't bother asking any identifying questions


Oh, and as for the new banner: Every political compass test I've ever taken has without fail said I was an absolute moderate. I'm against socialized health care, for civil unions, against social security, for gun laws, against tax increases, for reformed immigration laws, against current welfare system, for school vouchers, indifferent to Iraq. In the end I think I'm always just slightly more conservative.

This makes it particularly hard to pick a person whose views I agree with, but after thorough consideration I've come to support Rudy. I was actually very surprised when I came to the conclusion, but our views align the best.

Want to know where I stand on certain issues? ASK AWAY!

Poor and Fat

Lately, I never seem to be able to allow myself the time to go to the gym or food shopping. WTF

Oh wait, I just went to Boston for 48 hours last weekend. I guess the above statement is a bit of an exaggeration.

Freaking Macy's Family....

Today blows...

Last night I was up until 4AM editing my research paper on embryonic stem cell research ethics. I then proceeded to NOT set my alarm resulting in me NOT waking up for the class is was due for. I then run over to campus to give my paper to the professor, but like every professor when you need them he wasn't there. So I slipped it under his door and also e-mailed it to him. I then get home and find out that friend A is going to be much later arriving to my school than I thought. This causes friend B to be pissed that me for having to wait around even longer to go to Boston to visit friend C. While waiting for friend A I decide to go check my mail because I'm expecting the Popcorn Facotry gift from my grandma (love you gma!). It was there alright, right next to a rejection letter. Oh well, I'm not really expecting to get in anywhere anyway. Plus that school was my least favorite non-option.

With my luck I'm going to hit massive traffic on the way to Boston and my friends are going to banish me from their presence should I decided to tell them my latest news.

TTYL

Wish I Had a Drinking Habit

My mother is driving me to drink.

I don't even have enough time to elaborate. Freaking science...

Sidenote

I'm gay. Finally told people. Just thought I would share.

I'm still neurotic.