Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year!

Happy new year's eve. I'm officially addicted to this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43kfWAmVDEk

I commented on it using my youtube account, and someone sent me a message pretending to be one of the band members. I thought it was weird. The message said "I love you bb!!!!!!!!!.adrian"

Adrian Claudiu Sana is the cute one who sings the first verse. I found out on the band's website (which I found on wikipedia). They're a good lookin' bunch of guys, but I mean, that one in the beginning? His voice and everything... just so cute. Maybe it's just because they're Romanian and the accent is hott. But honestly, there is something about that accent that gives me butterflies all over.

I responded to the message by telling them I had no clue who bb was, and that they must have the wrong person. I only realized afterward that it might've been someone trying to be that guy. It could've even been that guy, I'll never know. And I'm too gullible to erase that possibility from my mind.

Went with Big Brother to a New Years thing tonight, but we quickly left. There were too many little kids there. We thought it was something different. Now onto a tournament between my three brothers and I to see who does the dishes tonight. I won't lose. I think one of the little brothers will.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Best Med School Ever?

I was rounding on my usual blogs, when I noticed that UT Southwestern was called (by someone who went there, of course) the Best Med School Ever. I don't know which one is actually The BMS.

I mean, I'm sure alot of people will agree with whatever list is out there of the top 50. University of Washington is top in Primary Care according to U.S.News and World Report.

Harvard is the best for Research, apparently. But which one really is The BMS? I mean, in the House of God, BMS was probably HMS, but that's only because Shem graduated from there. And on that note, who really knows how to judge whether a medical school is the best or not? I mean, is it just opinion, or is there really a way to determine which one is the best one to graduate from? Which one looks best on a resume? Which one will get you a good residency, a good fellowship, and a good position in a good hospital? I mean, there has to be one that looks better on resumes than all the rest!

I honestly do wonder which one it is...

And on that note, there has to be a college that looks better on Med School applications than all of the other ones! I mean, if I could just get a list of which one is the best of everything, that'd be nice.

I wonder which one is the best in South Carolina?

I mean, I heard that USC was the best. But that's only from those who aren't Tigers from birth.

I hate that stupid college rivalry thing. It gets on my nerves. I have little kids running around and murmering about "lamecocks" or old people who yell about who won the Clemson VS USC game. It's kind of annoying. Really. I can't stand it.

Anyway, I've been wearing my Stethescope nonstop since christmas. I don't take it out or anything like to the post office, because I would hate to have to explain myself to someone who is having a heartattack.


Me: "Oh, me? I'm not a doctor!"
"Oh..."
"The Stethescope?"
"............."
"well you see......"
Try having fun at a new years eve party after that.
The stethescope is under house arrest until Med School. I hope I can find a good one...
After a quick look at grades, I got a C in Sociology, and a D in Public Speaking.
D's don't transfer anywhere.
It stinks.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

My Personal Statement First Draft

Medical School requires what?!?

A Personal Statement.

That's like "tell me about yourself" but worse! I don't know anything about myself if anyone asks me! I mean, sure, I know why I want to go to medical school. I know my own reasons for wanting to be a doctor. I'm just going to have one heck of a hard time writing it all down in one page.

Why did I want to be a doctor in the first place? What made me want to go into medicine?

Let me try to answer that question now.


Personal Statement. (at least a practice version)

I do alot of service activities for other people with my church. I have been doing these "service projects" since I was 12. Sometimes they would involve getting together toys and blankets and other miscellaneous presents for unfortunate people who would have no christmas otherwise. Sometimes, we would make baby blankets and toys for hospitals. My favorite ones were the ones where we actually got to go to people's homes and help them in a way that no one else could.

I remember one time specifically. I was 17, and I had gone to a conference with other youth in my church, and we were staying at Southern Wesleyan University's campus. We were using their dorms, their lecture halls and their library for miscellaneous classes and activities.

We left campus one time during our stay there. The reason we left was for a sort of scavenger hunt. We went to a neighborhood nearby, and split into teams. Each team had a grown up in it, and about 4-6 kids ranging in age from 12 to 18. I remember the objective of this game was to see which team could do the most chores in the set amount of time. It was a Service Scavenger Hunt, and we had five hours to convince as many people as possible that we were going to do their dishes, or take out their trash for free.

About the seventh or eighth house my group came to contained a widow who was around 94 years old. Her dished hadn't been done in days, and her trash can was overflowing. Her yard wasn't about to win any prizes either. There was an old clothes line that was made of an old telephone pole and a splintery old used-to-be 4x4, and there was a huge bush that had been strangled to death by large, thorny weeds. We told her that we'd do her dishes, and take out her trash for her. We kept on having to tell her that we didn't accept money. Everyone got started on something. Two girls in my group started doing dishes and working in the house, and my friend and I started working out in the yard. We tackled the pole, literally, and had to dig the clothesline out of the ground. We swept the roof, which was covered with pine needles and mold, and we cut down the monstrosity that was the bush. Other teams arrived and urged us to find a stopping point because the time was up. We got them to help as well. The old lady's daughter arrived, she was about 70 something, and was updated on what we were doing. There were about 45-50 teenagers raking the leaves, cleaning the house, and clearing her driveway. There were about three people on the roof sweeping at the same time. We had to go to the neighbor's house to borrow brooms, rakes, and shovels to work with.

By the time we were done, the old woman was crying with joy at the condition of her house, and my group and I were crying right along with her. We were so happy to see the joy that we brought to her and her daughter and we loved that old woman then. There wasn't a happier bunch of teenagers in the world at that moment. We had transformed her yard and house into a liveable, comfortable home. She kept thanking us and offering us money, but we insisted that we didn't need it. She settled for giving us each a hug. The other groups had gone to the cars once the work was done, and my group left after we had each embraced the old woman.

Thus was born my need to help people. I wished to be able to do that my whole life. I wanted to help people like that all the time. I considered several careers besides medicine. I had at that time already considered medicine and then abandoned it, because all of my desires were based on watching the show Diagnosis Murder when I was 13. It wasn't until later, during a week at a camp for girls where we learned (among other things) proper first aid, did I realize that I wanted to help people through medicine. Medicine, I realized, would give me the opportunity to help people in and out of the hospital. I would be able to aid a friend or family member when they needed it. I'd be able to help people with medicine. I have wanted to be a doctor since I was 13 and didn't realize it until I was 19. But now that I do, and now that I know, I'll do anything that it takes to be a doctor.


(this may require some editing for length)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas Presents

I got a whole lot of cool stuff

Wanna know what it all is? Too bad, I'm telling you anyway.

  • A Gigantic anatomy book. With posters.
  • Mr. Bean's Holiday
  • Hope Floats
  • A Harmonica
  • Die Hard (every movie so far except for Live Free and Die Hard)
  • Cookies (my favorite ones)
  • Pixar collection of Short Films.
  • Card Trick book.

Finally, a stethescope and a cell phone. The stethescope works fine, and it's pretty nice. I've been listening to everything I can find (and everyone). And the cell phone started ringing inside the box. It was sorta creepy. All of the sudden, this box next to me starts ringing like that cell phone that the t-rex thing ate in Jurrassic Park III. Anyway, it was pretty neat. Now I have all of the stuff that will keep me busy for the next few weeks.

Also, I got a book in the mail that I ordered on How to get Into Medical School. It has common questions that could be asked of you from interviewers. I hate interviews, so I honestly think that this will help me to be prepared when people ask me my least favorite question: Tell me about yourself.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Apple Pie

I'm in the process of making apple pie. I have one in the oven and another in the making. I have to find some other pie pan to put this other one in, because all we have left now are old aluminum ones that I might have to use pretty soon. I would put a recipie up here, but I dunno. Nothing very interesting about it. And there is a Stargate Atlantis marathon on today. It makes pie making better.

This christmas eve, we get to open a present. One present each. I don't know which one I want to open. I wish I had some sort of "awesome present" radar or something. I dunno. It seems like a cool thing to do.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Nice break

I just got done watching one of my favorite movies. Indiana Jones . I love the Indiana Jones movies almost as much as the Die Hard ones.

It's the holiday season, and I already had to run some gift intervention. My sister got something for my mom that my brother had already gotten for her. So, I had to tell sis to get something different.

On a school related note, I haven't gotten all of my final grades yet. It scares me. I found out a couple of them, but I'm worried that I'll fail the other two classes that I know I have hanging around.

Math, as you already know was a 77 final grade. And after turning in that research paper, my grade for English was an 86. So, I figure I don't have to do either of those anymore. But Public Speaking and Sociology are still out there. I mean, I should've gotten the grades by now! And when I log into my school account, the transcript page won't show up! So I can't figure out if I pass or fail!

Honestly, I've never been so freaked out in my life.

Anyway, today is Big Brother's B-Day! He'll be 22 I think. Happy Birthday to you Bro! I got him a t-shirt that says "you must've had an extra bowl of stupid this morning" and a six-pack of those huge reeses cups. I think they're like, two or three times the size of regular ones. Anyway, we're having the party tonight.

Tommorrow, we're going to breakfast at our Friends' house, so we'd better not stay up partying all night! (which really, we'd only do if there was a cool movie he got for his birthday.)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Santa in Perspective

And yes, I did spell that right. I spell-checked.

Anyway, I found an interesting piece of paper near the computer this morning. Which isn't that unusual, seeing as about six other people use it. I'm pretty sure the paper is something my little brothers brought home from school. Thankfully, my little brothers are both in High School, so they weren't too heartbroken or disillusioned when reading this.

  • Santa Stats

  • There are currently 78 people named S. Claus living in the US. and one named Kriss Kringle.

  • December is the most popular month for nose jobs.

  • The Weight of Santa's Sleigh if it carried only one beanie baby for every kid on earth would be 333,333 tons

  • The Number of Reindeer required to pull that much weight? 214, 206 (including rudolph)

  • Average Wage of a mall Santa: $11 an hour. With a real beard: $20

  • To deliver his gifts in one night, Santa would have to make 822.6 visits per second, sleighing at 3,000 times the speed of sound.

  • At that speed, Santa and his reindeer would burst into flame instantaneously.

As funny as this is, you have to wonder what kind of Scrooge made up this list. I mean, that last one? Very funny, but very scary thought at the same time. And Santas get paid more if they have a real beard? I guess that's just in case of emergency.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Holiday visitors

My sister is visiting for christmas. We don't know how long she'll be here. My Cousin is also visiting. Cousin is the only cousin of mine that I actually talk to ever. I don't know why. I don't even talk to her that much. Just.. whenever she drops by, which isn't really that often. I hate having company. I give up my room and comfortable bed to accomodate others that I don't even like having over. Can't I love my family from a distance? But no. I have to be sociable. Oh well, at least it's only for the holidays.

But the bad thing about it is that I have to make apple pie for christmas. I like making apple pie. So what's so "bad" about it? Well, mostly it's that I have to share. I don't want to share my apple pie with people who are visiting. And I know my sister and cousin... they can eat alot! I mean, one of them doesn't look like she can, but she can. I know they'll eat all my pie up. I know it. So I'll have to make two to make it last longer. Will it work? No. There will be ELEVEN people in our house for christmas. 11. That's alot. So if I cut each pie into six pieces, everyone can have one at least. But it'll probably be cut by Dad. If there is one super power my dad has, it's cutting huge slices of anything for himself.

I'm starting to not like christmas as much either. I wonder what holiday I do like...

Monday, December 17, 2007

Blogging Friends?

I was at the Friends' home last night, and I showed them GruntDoc's Post with a terrific accapella group singing, when to my surprise, Wife Friend grabbed the link, and posted it on her own blog! Right here on blogger.com! I'd post a link to it, but it's really supposed to be a secret blog or something, just for family. It has pictures up there of Navy Nurse and Best Buddy, and of course the Friends. So I'll keep it under the radar.

And here I was thinking that they weren't computer people.

I'm not going to let her see this blog either for the sake of keeping it on the d-l from r-l.

Anyway, I had to crank out a research paper for english class yesterday so that I'd be able to pass the class. My teacher e-mailed me asking for it and telling me that without it, my grade would be a dissappointing 66. Which is not only failing, it's untransferrable. So I hope I did a good enough job with it, and I really hope that the fact that it was over two weeks late won't have that big of an effect.

I already registered for classes next semester, and I'm taking Medical Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology, College Math, and Biology 102. I had already sat down with my mom to set up the schedule, so I hope it'll work out. But if I get a job between now and then, I'll have to re-work everything. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, but I hope it doesn't come to that. On the bright side, if I pass all of my classes this semester, I'll be able to get half price off of my classes next semester. I need to pass all of them, because the more the classes cost, the more I need to pay back to my parents. If I got good enough grades, I'd be able to get a scholarship. I just don't know how to manage my time right.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

No need for school anymore!

Because I found THIS! I was looking around Barnes & Noble in my area for awhile, and found this funny little box in the Humor isle. It comes with a book (Med School in 96 pages) and several cards to help you memorize different facts. It also has "Mini-Medical Boards" and a Diploma for you to show all of your friends how lame you are. I love lame stuff. Especially lame jokes and lame pick up lines. So this, for me, is another thing on my christmas list.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Finals

Tommorrow night at 6:00 is my Public Speaking final. It'll be my last one. I haven't done my research papers for English or Sociology, so I'll probably end up having a bad grade on them. I really wish I didn't procrastinate. Geez, I'm horrible with that. Anyway, if I'm late to my Public Speaking final, I have to do fill in the blank. If I'm later than 15 minutes, I fail. I'm fairly confident that I'll pass Public Speaking. And fairly confident that I'll pass Sociology.

I hope I can hurry up on my Public Speaking exam because there's a dance at 9:00. Big Brother's Hott Friend will be there, and so will Best Buddy and Navy Nurse (they'll probably come together like they've been doing lately). Big Brother is away for the week. He and Dad went to visit Vegas for the week. So that means I have the car and the phone.

I hate cell phones. I have never had a cell phone before, so I don't know how to do anything on this new one that Mom got for me and Big Brother to share. I don't like when he hogs the car, but when he hogs the phone? I'm fine with that. I have no clue how to work it anyway. I can barely operate the cordless ones that we've had at home for awhile. I'm best with the regular old fashioned kind. Y'know what's the most confusing of all though? This Kind. The kind where you see people going "please hold!" or "let me put you through to their office". I have no clue how those work.

I'm sure I'd be fine with them if I knew how to work them. While at the store looking at that cool Toy Kit, I took about 15 minutes figuring out how to work the camera that was on the phone. I finally was able to take a few pictures to show my mom when I got home (I have no clue how to send them from phone to phone)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

What I want for Christmas

  • Live Free or Die Hard- This is an awesome movie filled with car chases, explosions, and awesome fight scenes. I love this movie. It is the kind of movie that Dad and I love to sit and watch together. It's better definetly better than the one with Samuel L Jackson. I mean, that one is good, but this one is so much better. Close to the action quality of the first one.
  • This is something I saw while shopping for christmas presents. It's just a little kid med kit, but the things it comes with are hilarious. It has what usual playsets have, like a stethescope that makes a heartbeat sound, blood pressure cuff and gauge, a working flashlight, thermometer, syringe, otoscope, but it also has -get this- an on call beeper! How great is that? And the beeper has flashing lights and sounds so that you can pretend you're a real doctor.
  • MacGyver Final Season. I have all the other ones. MacGyver is amazing. If you have no clue who it is, shame on you.
  • I want some sheet music for my keyboard, and maybe a real piano.
  • I think that everyone needs a pool table, and a hockey dome game, and an air-hockey table, and a dartboard.
  • I've needed a new harmonica since I left mine in my jean pocket and then did laundrey.
  • An iPod... I really do need one. I need a place other than my flashdrive to keep all the songs I like. David Bowie and Queen get lonely in my usb flashdrive.
  • Tic-Tacs are always wonderful to get me. I love them.
  • Girly stuff. I love girly stuff. I do. I pretend I don't, but honestly? I can't get enough body wash, lip gloss, and good smelling stuff like that.

There are more things, but they're things that I know I'm already getting. I'm looking forward to a good christmas.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Time for Another Highlight

If you guys are going to read some of the best medical blogs out there, you'll probably want to take a look at my list over there on the right.

There are some amazing medical blogs out there, and I think I should point out some of the best.

This week, one of my favorites. I get his posts through the mail because I can subscribe to them, and I love it. There's always some cool story or photo from his experiences at work. I mentioned him in the post before this and if you clicked the link to his blog, good job! Bravo for you! You've made a wise decision. Now, I'm going to tell you why he is one of my favorite medical bloggers and why I think that his blog is on my daily list of things to do. (or in this case, blogs to read.)

GruntDoc

For his blog over at gruntdoc.com

This blog is always filled with exciting and interesting news stories, and stories about things that happen when he is at work. You can read about him treating interesting patients, or you can look at crazy unexpected photos of thing he's seen at work and had to treat. This blog is always overflowing with character, and has become one of the blogs on my daily rounds schedule. This is the third blog that I go to every day. I can go there over and over again and even back into the archives and still have new stuff to look at. This is an amazing blog with awesome pictures, stories, and plenty of fun. I always look forward to his posts, and hope that he stays in the medical blogosphere for a long time to come. So go visit him if you haven't already, and take a look around at all the amazing things his site has to offer! Trust me, it's a billion times better than sitting around reading your Merck Manual.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Ahh, the good old days when I wasn't invincible. . .

While on my medblog rounds this morning seeing what's new and what all is happening in medicine, I came across This Post by one of my favorites, Gruntdoc.

In case you are wondering, Gruntdoc is third in my daily trips around the medical blogosphere. Preceded by my first and second stops: PoliteDissent and theunderweardrawer. Links can be found in my list of wonderful blogs over there--->

I digress

The post reminded me of when I first moved here to good ol' SC. I was hanging out at a friend's house and I had brought my skateboard, but no helmet. How stupid of me. We all went out to a good hill that was near their house, and we were looking forward to going down it as fast as we could. There were two rollerbladers, one biker, and me on my skateboard. Everyone else had knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets. They even warned me ahead of time that the hill was very steep and I might not make it down in one piece.

I didn't listen. I was invincible. I couldn't be vinced.

So, I start out at the top, and it's all good, I'm not dead yet, hahaha... but then. . . wait, why am I passing the people who went down the hill first? How fast is this? (about 30mph) Why is my board wobbling under my feet? This is scary, I'm gonna crash. It'll come any minute- and then the board finally shoots off toward the side of the road, and I keep going down the hill, initiating my new recreational pasttime-- face sliding. I fell headfirst into the pavement, and had a huge scrape on my head, elbows, and knees. None were left unscathed. I suffered a slight concussion, and luckily, nothing hurt until the morning after.

I remember everything. I sat up after falling and I remember that my head kind of hurt. My friends came rushing over to me, and asked if I was okay. I asked first for my glasses, which I still have in a drawer in my room. They have a huge scrape on the top of the left lens and metal frame. I wore them for a few years more until I finally needed new ones.

Second, I asked for my skateboard. I didn't know what else to do. I don't think I was trying to be tough or anything, it's just that I honestly didn't know what else to say. I remeber standing up and not knowing where I was for a second after I stood, but then remembering, and telling my friends that I was fine. They questioned me the whole walk home asking if I was fine, and asking if I was sure I didn't want to ride the bike. Blood dripping down my face, I replied that I was fine and don't worry because I really am fine.

When we got back to my friend's house, we joked to her friends about how I got in a fight, and tried to keep my friend's mom from freaking out. My friend's brother, who was with us on the hill, was telling his mom that it was okay and trying to keep her calm. I swear to you she almost cried. I sat there while she disinfected and dressed the wounds. For one, the dad used some spray on bandage. Now that stuff hurt! It was the first thing I had felt since the fall and I was kind of glad to feel the sting. After every scrape was gauzed to death by the very concerned mother, I got into my pj's and went to bed early. The very concerned mother gave me an ice-pack for my achey head, which she wrapped up against the scrape on my head with an ace bandage, so getting to sleep was awkward, but once I got to sleep, I didn't wake up once until morning.

The process of taking off the gauze to freshen up the wounds was murder. The gauze had stuck to the wound with a mix of blood and disinfectant, so when I took off the gauze, everything started bleeding again. I decided it was better to keep a wet washcloth on the wound, and to let it get some air. Eventually, it stopped bleeding.

My forehead now, is thankfully, scarfree. I do have a scar on my eyebrow that makes me look like MacGyver.

Thanks again, GruntDoc, for reminding me of why I don't skateboard anymore.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Ode to English Class

I had too many things to do
I did some of them
I found out I had already had
too many points off to make
anything more than a
zero

Now the most I can do
is to write a research
paper on some author
Langston Hughes I think
and hope to get more than
nothing


Wow! I'm a pretty good writer! Well, that's what my english techer said. She's very nice. Apparently, the only assignments I was able to knock out yesterday were the ones that were so late, all the points had been taken away. I really only need to do a Research paper on langston hughes, and then I'll be done for the year with english.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Still not done

I still haven't done those papers that are due tonight. I seriously hope that I can type as fast as I think I can, because I'm going to try to knock them out before my dentist's appointment at 2:00 pm today. I don't know where the dentist's office is, and I think I'm going to miss getting the mail today. I'll have to get it when I get back from the dentist's office. I'm expecting a package. I ordered Wagons East! on DVD, so I hope that that gets here today. It's the movie that John Candy died while making. They had to reuse scenes at some points because he wasn't around to film them himself. It's a very funny movie. Very funny. I can't wait for it to come.

On another note, I have a new favorite song. It's pretty good. I haven't had a favorite song since I was about 13 years old.

Anyway, I'm off to writing papers. A few of which are late... so I need to do those first. I dread going to class tonight because my English teacher is so nice, and I hate turning in papers late because she is literally the booking agent for guilt trips.