I am woman - watch me shine!

One of my favorite things in the world is being a woman. I have spent the past year and a half being the only woman in whatever place I've lived. I think that this has had an effect on the amount of appreciation I have for womanly things. I definitely appreciate, more than I had in the past, things that emphasize my femininity!! I have made a list of some of my favorite things that maybe my ladies out there can appreciate with me!

First of all, I love doing my hair. Curly, straight, up, down, no matter what style I go with, I love that my hair looks amazing! Yeah, every once in awhile, I have a bad hair day, but they are few and far between!

I love doing my nails! Making sure they are shiny and polished and the perfect shape may take time, but the effort is worth it! Being able to look down at my hand and look at my lovely nails that I work to maintain makes me smile!

I absolutely love keeping my legs smooth! I have said time and time again that the best feeling in the world is freshly shaven legs and clean bedsheets! And they look so good!

The next thing I love doing is moisturizing! Lotion on my legs, my feet, my arms and shoulders! The one thing better than having soft hair is having soft skin! Not only does moisturized skin look healthier, but it feels better! I hate the feeling of dry skin!

Last but not least, one of the best things ever about being a woman is smelling pretty! From hair products to lotions to body sprays to perfumes to soaps and conditioners!! Mixing and matching scents is one of the more enjoyable steps to getting ready!

Everyone out there has their list of favorite things to do and every girl has a reason that they love being a woman!! This is my list for today, but what's on yours? Come on, amigas, what is on your list of favorite things about being a beautiful woman?

Learning is fun!

Even though I am taking this spring semester off to work and just live, I still like to learn new things. I stopped by the library today and picked up a couple of books on Sign Language! I have always wanted to learn it, but have never really felt that I had time to spare! But now, I think I'm ready to try it out! So I'll immerse myself in non-verbal communication for the next few days and see how it works out!

I wish I had a friend close by who could help me learn, because it's always more fun to learn something new if you have a friend backing you up. But I think I'll have fun anyway. I've learnt songs and the alphabet before in sign language, so I hope it'll be easier than not.

Anyway, wish me luck in my new endeavor! Hopefully, I'll expand my horizons and gain new confidence in my learning abilities! Yay!

100 things?

What 100 things do you want to do with the life you have to live?

I've made a list of 50 so far.

I've been thinking more about doing things lately.

Maybe it has to do with this being a brand new decade, full of possibilities and opportunities.

There is a new show coming to MTV* called The Buried Life. You might've seen the commercials for it. It follows 4 guys with a list of 100 things to do. They want to prove that anything is possible if you go after it.

I also had a lesson recently in Sunday School about doing things. I was handed a list that counted to 100 and asked to fill in at least the first five things. That was hard. But the other night, things just started coming to me.

Looking at the list on theburiedlife.com now, I can see that, surprisingly, a lot of the same things are on both my half-list and their whole one. Trust me when I say I never intended for that to happen. I swear I'm not copying. But I see a good 25 or so that I had on my list that they've written on theirs. I also see a few that I'll be adding when I finish up the second half of my list. I've always wanted to take a kid on a shopping spree for toys, but I've never put it in words.

A good number of the things on my list have to do with learning. I want to learn an instrument, I want to learn different languages, and I would love to learn the names of ALL of my cousins. Another majority of things have to do with doing physical things. I want to learn how to surf. Which, weirdly enough, is the exact thing (Out of all the extreme sports, what a coincidence!) on their list. I also want to climb a mountian. I'm not surprised at all that it's on their list as well. I think some of these things are ones that a lot of people would put on their list.

I find it interesting that certain things are different goals, but accomplished through the same means. For example, on their list, they have put "ride a rollar coaster". On my list, I have "conquer my fear of rollar coasters". Different goals, but they will both be checked off through riding rollar coasters.

I like how different people care about accomplishing different goals. For instance, I don't suppose the guys on The Buried Life would care to hug a penguin (#42, I think, on my list), but would love to get into the Guiness Book of World Records; something that I really don't care about doing.

So what crazy, random, or completely normal things are on your list?


*side note on MTV- Why don't they show Music Videos anymore? Why has the Music TeleVision channel turned into reality tv central? I wish they would to back to how they were back in the day. I still remember my first MTV video. Do you remember yours? I hate what MTV has allowed itself to become. It tries making new channels devoted to music, but ends up turning them into the same ridiculous circus act that the other channels have become. PLAY MORE MUSIC VIDEOS!! I think the last time I saw a music video on MTV was like, three years ago? Geez. Do yourself a favor, MTV, and get back to the basics!

Medical *S-coooool!

So I though I'd share with you all today my new favorite series. It is actually one of my old favorites as well, but with a new twist.

"Scrubs" has just kicked off their new season and has made it into a sort of spinoff. The new season, Season 9, has been dubbed "Scrubs: Med School". Now, I felt while watching the original "Scrubs" seasons, that it borrowed a lot of elements from Samuel Shem's classic "The House Of God" . I think that this, among other reasons, is why most people claim that "Scrubs" is the most accurate TV portrayal of hospital life out there. I love the show because there aren't one-in-a-million super rare diseases that have to be found every episode, or diseases that get mis-diagnosed five times before the real cause of the problem is found thanks to an epiphany by the main character. I also love it because of moments like these:

Priceless, no?

Now, the new season is just as hilarious and has many of the same hilarious stars as the original seasons! The new stars who play the first year medical students are amazing. Kerry Bishe's character is brilliant! There's no way to describe how funny this season is so far. You'll just have to follow this link to watch for yourself.

But I have a question. Is the new season as true in it's representation of medical school as the past seasons have been in their representation of life in a hospital? I'd like to think they're still trying to be as accurate as possible in their portrayal of these sorts of things, but I'm not the best judge, seeing as I am still trudging through undergrad as if it were molasses.

So to those of you who have both seen the new season's premire episodes and have been through medical school, I'd love to know how they're doing! Are they as accurate as they were with the original seasons or are they slipping? Are they doing a horrible job in their interpretation or are they pretty spot on? Any and all opinions are welcome. Especially if you are of the opinion that my hair is pretty much amazing today, because I would totally have to agree.



*Juuuuust a quick little side-note here, I've known how to spell "School" since 1st grade. The title is supposed to represent how the show "Scrubs" is putting the "cool" back in "school". It's a little pronunciation joke. Nothing to do with spelling. Which I am awesome at. Just ask my 4th and 5th grade spelling bee 1st place ribbons. They have the number 1 and bees on them, so they're pretty much as legit as it gets.

School! So stay in it!

Unless you are one of those kids from that movie The Faculty. Then you can run away from your school as fast as your legs will take you.

But if you're in a normal school, then by all means, stay there! And I don't mean in the same way Ryan Reynolds did in Van Wilder, but in the way that all the students did in that movie Lean on Me with Morgan Freeman.

Stay in school to get an education and a diploma and degree, so you can keep yourself from being a hobo.

Side story, I fed a hobo the other day at the hospital. I gave him most of the fries from my chick-fil-a meal, and half of my chicken sandwitch. That counts as a good deed, right?

Does it still count as a good deed if the hobo is my brother-in-law? I'm sure it probably does.

Anyway, back to the subject of school.

Book learnin' is good for ya. So keep at it. If you're thinking "I can't do this, I should just drop out!" , then DON'T! Think positive thoughts! If Doogie Howser could handle it at the young age of 10, then you can do it at the not so young age of however old you are. I know you aren't ten. Ten year olds don't read blogs! The thought alone is ridiculous.

Education will serve you throughout your life. Education is the one thing you can take with you wherever you go. Education is the one thing that you cannot get too much of.

But don't take my word for it! Listen to "Swingin' on a star" by Bing Crosby, as sung by Bruce Willis in this classic clip from the 1991 movie "Hudson Hawk"-





I really only made this post for the references I wanted to make, links I wanted to share, and video I wanted to post. I had no real point other than to be. But stay in school kids! School is cool!

If I were a TV exec*. . .

Coming this fall to the new primetime lineup! A sitcom about a demoralized governer and his newly adopted illigitimate offspring from Argentina!

Introducing: Mark Sanford and Son!

Now that they're together, but on their own, they decide to start a family business of selling junk to people in a lower middle class neighborhood!

The theme song will sound something like this, but will be played by a mariachi band.

This odd coupling will have your family rolling as they try to figure out what life is all about!


_______
*I wish I could make this be real.

Going to go have fun!

I'm going to go out tonight with my friends to a Halloween Themed YSA dance! I think it's going to be fun. It's a dress-up thing, so I'm going as a cowgirl. I can't get enough of being around people I love. It feels so awesome to get out and be around people who have my back. I won't be home until around 2am, but I honestly don't care because I'll be in good company!

UPDATE:

Had a pretty awesome time! I met my "little brother"'s new gf, and shall report back to my "other mother" as soon as possible. Also, I almost entered the costume contest, but when I was informed that the prize would be a date with the host of the party, I decided it wasn't all that worth it. Hahaha! I think that guy likes himself too much.

Anyway, my favorite costume was some girl who was dressed up as Flo, the progressive insurance lady from the commercials! (linkage to my favorite commercial with her)

Anyway, I had a pretty awesome time, but was up super late! Got to bed around 2pm! Holy cow! But then I slept for ten hours, and now I'm all better.

Upbeat Post

My big bro just texted me, and shared a hilarious story, and I thought I'd share it with you!

His text said "So theatre nerds just mobbed the crap out of me."

I texted back "Freak, man. For real?" ("freak was said because my phone can't spell "frick")

He texted "Yeah, there's a regional high school competition, so they're roaming the streets in hoards"

I texted him "I hope you are planning to elaborate"

Then he called me and explained that he was on his way to The Grind to get some hot chocolate, and when he walked in, a group of theatre students at a table looked at him. One of the students, a girl, said "That's him!!!" and they all rushed toward him.

My brother, of course, asked them what they were talking about.

Apparently, they said, they had a friend in the hospital with a broken knee.

At this point, he panicked, thinking that they were trying to blame him for the mishap.

But they went on to explain that she had one request before she went into surgery.

She said that the last thing she wanted to see before surgery, (in case she didn't make it through) was a hot guy with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Apparently, this describes my brother. I personally have no idea if he's hot or not, so I have to rely on outside sources, which confirm that he is a looker. All this means to me is that I have to help him beat off the crazies with a stick. But other than that, good for him.

So they took his picture, sent it to their hospitalized friend, thanked him and left.

My poor big brother. I hope he can learn to avoid situations like this in the future. I'm not out there at school with him (He's in Utah!) so therefore can't defend him from the evils of girls and theatre kids.

Watch out Bro! Keep an eye on those ladies! They're tricky!

Checkup from the Neck-up.

That was a line from Fern Gully. Such a good movie.

Anyway, so I've been collecting quotes from my American Government teacher for quite some time now (as I did with my Anatomy and Physiology teacher) and I don't care if this means I have one less quote to include in a future blog for fear of being too repetitious. It went a little something like this. . .

"When a government fails, who's fault is it? It's your fault. It's your neighbor's fault. It's your mother's fault. It's always been your mother's fault. Always."

. . . My first thought? Don't you be talkin' bout my momma like that.

My second thought? He is out of his mind.

Yay!

My adorable nephew came by today and we had fun playing video games! I'm glad he's around to help make it look like I'm awesome at them. And make it look like I'm taller than I am.




This is us being very very serious. See our serious faces? Nothing silly or funny going on at all in this picture!

My vid for Annie, Kimmeh, and whoever else.

Already showed them, but I figured I'd put it up here for y'all to check out.

Back-story!!

I was sittin there, at the Annie and Burl show last Wednesday, and the topic of conversation was Pickup Lines. So I have a pretty good one that I've learnt and it helps me pick up spanish speaking hotties. But that is a lie. So I shared it with the chat room, and Annie tried to pronounce it. Which turned out to be hilarious. But at least she was braver than kimmeh and burl! Who both dismissed even attempting to say it.

So during the show, I figured I'd make a quick little vid about how to actually say it! So here is the video for you guys to check out. Enjoy!

My awesome week!

So last year around November, I got a letter from the clerk of court calling me to serve JURY DUTY!!! Super awesome, right? Wrong! They then, a couple weeks later after I responded with the thing they asked me to fill out, postponed my Jury Duty until May '09! What?! I was so mad! I wanna be a jury person!

So May rolls around, and the first day I'm supposed to be in court, I am late for forgetting all about it! How horrible is that? But at least I showed up, so they moved me back a week.

So I go in on time the next week, I go through security, I go sit in a big room with about 150 other potential jurors, and I wait.

Eventually, the judge comes in and starts his spiel on how he knows we don't want to be here and have so many better things to do, but that he hopes that we will take advantage of the opportunity that has been forced upon us.

He then went through the list of exemptions that almost no one met. We were then split up into groups of 30 and sent to random courtrooms to be chosen or not for a certain case.

I was in the first group, and so I went up the stairs to the courtroom and sat waiting for some Jury action!

The judge explained the case and told us that we would then be called by name and either dismissed or called by the court to serve. Now, this process is pretty nerve-wracking. You stand up when they call your name, and if either the defense or the prosecution objects to your being a juror, you're out! How uncool!

But I guess fair is fair. So I watched, as one by one, my fellow jury duty people got called and then dismissed. It was intense. By the time I stood up, there were 7 people left who hadn't been addressed and only 3 spots on the jury.

They asked the state about me. The state said YES! (Well, they used alot of technical court jargon to say it, but basically, they said yes) They then asked the defense what it thought. I didn't think I was getting it. The defense had rejected so many girl jurors that I figured I was just one more, but I crossed my fingers and waited.

And finally, the defense attorney (in her equally fancy court jargon) said YES!! I quietly "whooped" to myself, and high fived people on my way out. "Cuz I'm a winner!" I whispered to them. That caused some giggling. But I really was excited to be on a Jury!

From then on, Jury escapades ensued left and right! I absolutely loved listening to the opening and closing statements. And we got our own little Jury room, and it was adorable hearing the D.A. yell "Objection!" left and right. I think that was her favorite word.

And it was also fun watching the State's attorney trying to win us (the jury) over with his shiney smiles. It was as if he had a checklist in his head:

Smile at the Jury to show them I'm on their side. . *flash a smile* And Check!
Stand next to the Jury in order to better relate to them . . . *move to the jury box* And Check!

He even brought a cute little posterboard of the crime scene! It was adorable! Like it was a show and tell he had worked on for a week with his mom.

I was kind of sad when the Defense didn't even present a case. That meant no more witnesses or evidence. Both of which I enjoyed very much! How cool!

So in the end, we deliberated. That was my favorite part. And we decided Guilty or Not Guilty. And then we watched as the decisions were presented.

If it didn't pay only $10 per day, I think I would want a job as a professional juror. How fun would that be? Only, of course, until I finished college and moved on to medical school.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time, and I hope to do it again sometime, but they said that the cycle only allowed for you to be called once every three years! How uncool!

Anybody got any jury duty I can take off their hands? I'll trade ya!

My birthday!

My birthday was Wednesday. I am now 21. I don't feel any older. I guess 21 is something you have to grow into.

We had a party Sunday. The whole family was there. I got some cool presents and some not so cool presents. The coolest of which included:

-A Flight of the Conchords CD!!!
-A The Fray CD!!
-Toy Night Vision Goggles!!!

And

- Bagles! I love bagles!

The worst present I got, I won't mention, but the person who gave it knows who they are. And to them I have this to say:

Despite the ridiculous lack of effort on your part, I still love you and I know that you love me. I know that you were probably too busy or something like that. So even though the gift I received was something I saw the next day on a mcdonalds commercial as the give-away toy, forget about it. I know I'll try to as well.

Now! I think I'll kick back and watch the old version of Escape to Witch Mountain. You know the one. The two kids and one plays a harmonica and there are flashbacks to a tragic accident. . . etc. Anyway, I hope I'll get to see the other one sometime in the future.

La Pelota

So a year ago, FIFA released a video displaying amazing soccer tricks. Look up Fifa Street 3 anywhere and chances are, you'll happen upon this video:



Now, I don't know how much (if any) of this is photoshopped or fake or whatever. I do know it looks flipping cool!

When I first saw this video, I really dug the sound. That song playing in the background sounds awesome! So I tried to find an actual mp3. But they didn't actually record a track or release an mp3! They made it just for the video! So I went on for months searching for the mp3, eventually giving up.

But I was looking it up today, the first time since last november, and I discovered THIS! The song wasn't La Pelota by Alejandro Londono- it was La Pelota by Massive Music feat. Alejandro Londono! AND! They provide links to download the mp3 for free! How amazing! So now, I have a brand new song on my zune and I love it!

Happy early birthday to me! :)

P.S.- I've posted this on facebook, but I wanted to say it here as well. My birthday is in 26 days. You all have until the 29th to find Patrick Dempsey, put him in a really big, really pretty gift box, and send him to me. Get going! What are you still doing here, reading my blog? GO!

Sleep

I have a skill. It's a super-secret skill. And I would like to discuss the unique aspects of my "talent".

I'd probably better start by telling you what it is.

I can sleep anywhere, anytime and on virtually anything.

Let me just say here, that no, I'm not narcoleptic. I am just skilled at sleeping. I think it comes from my high school years. But I think my mom would say it comes from years of practicing and staying up late.

But high school is boring. The classes weren't too terribly hard, the work load was light, and there wasn't alot going on. The teachers weren't engaging or interesting, and some classes, even the people around me were boring.

So, like most young high school students, I developed the ability to sleep in one of those desks that has the chair and desk attatched by a metal bar.

Sometimes, when the class was emptier and the day was slower and the teacher was lazy and didn't want to teach, we would have a lazy mess around day. On one of these occassions, I slept in three desks at a time. You just have to arrange them the right way!

So while I was remembering this, and recalling all of the things I've slept on, I came up with a pretty big and quite impressive list!

I've slept :

• On School Desks
• In a movie theater stretched across several seats
• Sitting back to back with a friend one morning in high school
• In a tent with a sleeping bag out camping (several times)
• On a rock. It was a big rock.
• In a tree. Just find a couple of branches close together or one big branch and drape yourself across them! Many an afternoon were napped away in the branches of the big tree in the backyard in Atlanta.
• On a picnic table in an adarondac.
• On a hammock (not that hard)
• In a bed (easiest place for falling asleep)
• On neumerous floors. Carpeted, hardwood, you name it.
• On the ground. Concrete ground, outside of school.
• On the grass, outside
• On the dirt, with lots of rocks and pebbles around.
• Backstage on misc. props whilst waiting for curtain call.
• On a ladder. It's quite easy if it's a stepladder.
• Chairs. Wooden chairs, plastic chairs, even metal folding chairs.
• Stairs. Actually quite relaxing.
• In the pool. This requires a floatation device.
• On a boat.
• On a plane.
• On a countertop.
• On our back porch.
• In a car. (Backseat, front seat, truck bed, even the trunk! Cars are one of the easiest places to fall asleep)
• Couches (any couch can be easily converted into a bed by laying lengthwise on the couch.)
• In a closet
• In a bathroom (oh like you haven't! And it was whilst taking a bath, weirdos)
• On bleachers. While they are, at first, kind of cold, it's do-able.
• On top of cardboard boxes. They're warm and soft and comfy.
• On a car. I already said in, but I've fallen asleep on top of a car before.
• On a beach, lying on a towel. Again, not difficult to do.
• Leaning against a wall.
• Sitting in an empty kitchen cupboard. There are pictures.
• And last but not least- in the middle of a road. On the warm asphault. Soaking wet.

That's all I can think of at the moment. The list includes dangerous places where I don't suggest you attempt sleeping in. And some were for as little a time as 1 minute and as few times as one. But sleep is sleep.

I must say that there are some instances mentioned that happened when I was little, and haven't been tried since I was 12.

So there you have it! Proof, no doubt of my amazing sleep-tastic talent! No matter where I am or what I'm doing, I can best the beast of tiredness using sheer willpower and thinking happy thoughts.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, just leave a comment! I'll be glad to give you the story behind any of these. I'll respond in the comment section as soon as I can, so go ahead and ask about any you feel weren't accurate or weren't safe or just sound like they have an interesting back-story!

My first (kinda) Video Post. . .

. . . In which I make a fool of myself.

Ummm. . . alright, so. . . . . . . . .

I was bored. . . it was late. . . my camera was, like, right there waiting to be used. . .

Sooooooooo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . yeah.

I pretty much started off by saying hi and about two seconds into it, I thought that I was starting off my video the way that Doc A usually does. So I got a little carried away pretending to be everyone's favorite medblogger/podcaster. But it was fun. You have no idea how hard it was keeping a straight face.

Also- sorry but it's kinda sideways. I would've fixed it, but I honestly didn't want to spend that much time on it. I'm lazy. (Ask my mom- she'll tell ya all about it.)

So learn to deal. And just so you don't have to look sideways to see me right side up, I'll even put up a picture!

Awesome Hat was made by my friend Lisa's Mom! Thanks Lisa's Mom!! How awesome! I love it and I'll probably be wearing it nonstop for a while. I love it!

Awesome Polka-Dot Long Johns were bought for me by momma

Awesome Pink Tank-top was bought by me from some store down in Myrtle Beach this summer.

The vid is kinda dark, so I don't know if you'll be able to see that well. It was lighter on my camera . . .

Don't forget to check out the REAL Doc A show! Show number 67 this Thursday, January 15th, at 9pm Eastern time! It's gonna be gooood!

Ninja Ropes

Ninja Ropes. It's a game of skill, intuition, luck and a bit of hand eye coordination. And it only works on. . . firefox. Well, at least for me. It's the only thing I use firefox for.

The Game:
Ninja Ropes Extreme

I have that open at the same time as I have youtube open. Because for some odd reason, Ninja Ropes only lets me get a super high score when I'm listening to the Ninja Ropes song. Here it is for you all to enjoy!

The Song:


The song came from "Commentary- The Musical!" which is a musical commentary that came with the DVD version of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". It's a pretty awesome movie. When you have 42 spare minutes, go check it out for free on hulu.com !

The Movie:
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I've never been the biggest fan of the director (Joss Whedon) before. I'm just not into the whole vampires, sci-fi, etc thing. I mean, it's not like they weren't good shows- I've seen an episode or two, they're just not my bag.

But this was fun. Dr. Horrible was brilliant. The songs are addicting and the acting is hilariously well done. I think I'm actually a huge fan of Neil Patrick Harris now. I had no idea he could sing that well and his acting was superb. I even went back and watched a few episodes of his early series Doogie Howser, MD (also on hulu) and am now a fan!

So play the game, listen to the song, check out the movie, and have fun!

My Ninja Ropes record:

83.39 Yards Can ya beat it?

Screenshot Proof:

Extra Credit if you can see whose blogs I have bookmarked up at the top there. Speaks volumes.

Fun times! Fuuuuun times.

As you all may or may not know- I have a life.

I do. Really. I promise.

And as proof of this, I've decided to share with you all the gratuitous amounts of fun I've had this past week.

This past halloween weekend was our annual Young Single Adult Conference. Two dances, three seminars, a hundred or so Young (18-30) Single (not married) Adults (kinda grownups), and TONS of fun!

It started Halloween night with a costume dance. I went as a doctor because I already had the costume from last year, and I really couldn't find anything else. But one of the ideas floating around was that people had to dress up as half of a famous couple so that you could then find your "other half" to dance with them! And while it was a cute idea, it didn't work as well as some had hoped.

The next morning, we got there in time for breakfast. After breakfast, we split into three groups and started rotating through the seminars. All of them were wonderful, and I had a truely wonderful time learning more about life, and hanging out with my friends!

After the seminars, we had lunch (pizza, yum!) and got started on the service project. We made christmas cards to send out to soldiers who would be away from home during the holidays, and that was fun!

After we were done making cards, we changed into more comfortable attire and went on with our activity!! Our wicked awesome fun times activity was making videos! Each team was given a bag of props and assigned a channel to film for. Ours was the weather channel. My favorite videos were the ESPN video, and the CNN video. The rest weren't as hilarious, but still quite creative! (if you can't see the videos in the links, let me know. You might need to sign into facebook to see them.) And yeah, that's my big brother refereeing in the ESPN vid, and my friend Lisa as "svetlanka" the anchor. Hahahaha, fun times!!

We had a few hours free between the activity and dinner that night, so I sat down with my friend (also in the ESPN vid, he was the one in the blue shirt. Cute, no?) And we played all ten phases of Phase 10. Read up on phase ten, because I'll mention it again.

During dinner, we watched the videos and had a fun time chatting about the fun times we had so far.

After dinner was a dance, and I met a lot of new people! One of my favorite new friends was "fred fredburger" (my name for him, I forgot his real name), but maybe that's just because he looks like this guy.

The next morning, we had our church meeting and everyone shared their wonderful experiences. It was a lovely end to a lovely conference. After the church meeting was over, we had lunch and headed home.

Tuesday night, I went over to a friend's apartment and we stayed up late to watch the election! Several people were there including my brother, my friend Lisa, my friend Crystal, the guy I had played all ten phases of phase ten with on saturday, and a few others. We had pizza, microwaved M&Ms (they're gooood!) and soda as we watched, and we also played through phase ten while we were watching the election results.

Tursday night, the same group got together for dinner downtown to celebrate a birthday. It was great fun trying to fit a group of 8 into the small entrance area of Sticky Fingers while people were trying to get in behind us. They sat us, and funnily enough, we ended up with a boy table and a girl table. We didn't even try to sit like that, but that's how it ended up. The four guys at one table and the four girls at the other one. Although the tables were pushed together, so I guess it didn't really matter. After dinner, we went over to the birthday girl's apartment for ice cream and a game of. . you guessed it- phase ten! I did really well, and if we had gone by points, I would've won, but by the fifth hand, we decided it was late and that whoever went out first in that round would win, so Lisa walked away with another victory under her belt.

So that was my exciting week, and with a whole weekend of Dr. A shows going on, I'm exstatic! Will the fun ever end?!? I hope not! Stop by blogtalkradio all weekend for non-stop fun!

Yeah, Acting's My Fallback

So around here, there is a program called the Standardized Patient Program. This is where actors are used to simulate a patient-physician interaction. The actor plays the part of a patient with a certain chief complaint and list of symptoms. A medical student taking their OSCE exams comes in and gets as much information as he or she thinks they need from the patient in order to make a diagnosis.





The actor is provided with a checklist of items the young medical student should have covered through the exam. These items include questions the medical student should have asked or behavior the medical student should show.





So Thursday, I had my first job with the SPP. I was playing a patient with shortness of breath in the Internal Medicine OSCEs.





Now, I'm not allowed to disclose any specifics about the case or the patient I play in it just in case there are medical students out there looking for cheat sheets. But what I can do is tell you that this is a fun job.


The training for it is fun, and you learn all sorts of things. The acting part is fun because you get to pretend to be someone else (and sometimes hand out clues) to help a medical student pass their exam.


I get a packet of information during training which includes the page the student will get with your name, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and any other basic stats they should know. Another page gives me the information I need to study about the character I'm playing like medical history, family medical history, review of symptoms, the medications being taken, the family life, amount of children, job of spouse, and age that the character is. Finally, I get a checklist with all of the items the medical student should cover. I review that to make sure I keep an eye out for everything during the exam, and when their exam is over, I go over it with them and give them any information they left out if it's important to the case. I also make sure they know what mistakes they made or what questions they might've left out, and just generally let them know how they did.


All of the students Thursday did wonderful! And I think I did a pretty good job conveying the information without handing it to them on a silver platter. I heard from one of them that a standardized patient at a different station had really let them have it for leaving out a certain question! That surprised me greatly! Our job is not to critisize, it's to help! And I hope that the person who berated the medical student for forgetting to ask about whatever it was comes to see that that's not what we're there for.

Blog Highlights 4

Blog Highlights is a thing I did earlier in my blogging, that I haven't done in a long time. I know both medical and non medical people visit my blog, and also that people my age and "more mature" ( I originally put "Old People, but I know how sensitive some of you are when I go there, so I didn't ;) lol) people as well stop by here every once in awhile. So I figure, why not show each the other side by highlighting the blogs that I find interesting, and kinda giving them a tour around the blogs I like!

This comeback blog highlight will be about...... SCANMAN!!!

Over at catscanman.net!!

Alright, so in case you guys haven't seen it, Vijay has a podcast up. Now, even though he hasn't done an episode since like, February. . .(we want more Scanman!!) It's still wicked awesome!! He tells awesome stories, and with his own time limitations, all three episodes take a little less than 45 minutes to listen to! (I know, because I went through them all last night on my zune!!)

Check it out right HERE!! My favorite one is the one where he talks about meeting his lovely wife for the first time. Very funny story if you haven't heard it, and hilarious story even if you have!!

If you have a zune, like me, just copy/paste this address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/ScanManSpeaks

into your add podcasts section and you'll have instant access to whenever he posts a new one! (Which should be soon! Now that I've found them, I want more scanman podcasts!!)

So check that out, and also check out his blog over at http://www.catscanman.net/blog/

He always has interesting and fun posts like one with a image perception personality test on it. . . (I just had to take it to see how my scores matched up with his!) He got Artist and I got Guru!! We are only one space away! We must be twins or something!!

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NFPS - The Guru

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on what's in front of you (the foreground) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to deal directly with whatever comes your way without dealing with speculating possibilities or outcomes you can't control. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

______END OF BORING QUIZ YOU DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT____

So yeah, go check out his blog, and his podcast and his twitter!! Follow him on Twitter here if you aren't already!! --> http://twitter.com/scanman

He's an awesome medblogger and an even more awesome friend! He was one of my first medblogger friends, and has been an amazing person to know, and I feel privelaged to have met him!

If y'all wanna know exacly how awesome he is, stop by the Dr. A podcast next Thursday night, and he'll probably be in the chatroom ready to greet and befriend any newcomers that stop by! You won't regret it!

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(if any of you care to see the other posts in the Blog Highlight series, just click on the tag, and you'll be whisked away into a land of . . well, you'll be taken to a page with all of the blog highlight posts on there)