1st bhangra performance...ever!

Yay! I survived my first bhangra experience!! And I'm still in one piece! Phew, two official practices, and one frantic pre-performance practice, and we were pretty decent! Beginning was a bit rough (aka, nobody started at the same time), but once we got it going, we were shakin'! (Literally) The first time I saw some of the moves, I was thinking: "my hips do not do that." I don't think I really realized the insanity of what I was doing. hehehe. There was one "deer-in-the-headlights" moment, but thankfully, i still kept my hands and feet moving, so it all turned out a-okay.

Hooray! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Wow, I think last time I performed something was 5th grade in Midsummer's Night Dream. I was a pink fairy.

Anatomy: Head

Dissecting the human head!

Except right now, our's looks like Nearly-Headless Nick from Harry Potter with the face bisected in half. So cool!

Top medical student pick up lines

Some funny pick up lines that a classmate found. Warning, some are pretty bad...

My sudden protracted cardiac arrhythmia makes me think I'm falling for you.

(Hold out a stethoscope) Why don’t you listen to your heart and go out with me?

My adductor isn't the only thing that's longus.

I wish I was your coronary artery, so that I could be wrapped around your heart.

Trust me, this is how they did Mammograms back in the old days.

Is your name Flecainide? Because I think you just made my heart skip a beat.

(Look for any small skin imperfection) Has anyone ever looked at that? Why don’t we go back to my place so I can give you a full exam?

When you walked in the door your beauty hit me so hard that I have a priapism from all the trauma.

How about we ditch this joint and go study some anatomy?

Baby, you make me vasodilate!

No that's not an epi-pen in my pants, I'm just happy to see you.

Hey baby, wanna play with my corpus cavernosum?

That pulsation in my femoral sheath isn't coming from an artery.

I am an organ donor, need anything?

Come into my office and take off your pants.

1st B-Ball Game

Oh boy. For some unknown reason, I decided to join the IM co-ed b-ball team. It was pretty amusing. I need to learn how to dribble. And shoot. And pivot. And contact other people. Oh boy. Tennis is very different. You're not even ALLOWED to cross to the other side of the net, much less stick your butt into somebody's stomach (boxing someone out?). haha. I've learned to be more ferocious. But then that resulted in this 6 inch long, half inch thick bloody mark on a teammate - inflicted by my razor sharp nails during practice. Oops! I apologized profusely, but I still felt horrible. :(
So last Wed. was my first bball game ever!!! Sadly, we lost by 2 points (21 to 23). :'( I got to play in two quarters, which kinda made me feel bad, because the only contribution I was making was pretty much running around and making the other team- and my team - confused. I guess it wasn't soooo terrible. I did manage to defend a decent amount. I didn't even know how to signal that I wanted a sub, so I had to stay in for all of 1st quarter even though I managed to lose the ball to the other team while I was just holding it. ah..need to be more aggressive. Well, I guess first things first...learn to dribble, shoot, and pivot. The really sad thing was that we were playing against first year MBA students and we lost. ah......

Exploring Bhangra and Bollywood and Short Hair

Diwali - never head of it till med school:
Apparently it's a really big thing at my current undergrad and med school. Bhangra was such a big deal at MIT, and they were AMAZING! So I checked it out today. It was so much fun! Although I'm pretty uncoordinated. Oh well, I got matched up with someone equally uncoordinated. Awesome. Haha...and then some people were from yesterday's Bollywood dancing team. And so I tried the dude's part. That was funny and involved a lot of hip/shoulder movement that I don't think I have the nerves/muscles for (although anatomy proves me wrong). It was hilarious!! Ahh!! I didn't sign up for it at first b/c I know I'm stretching myself too thin...but then a classmate asked me to sign up, and I have this terrible habit of not being able to say no. ah...i failed DARE.

Short Hair:
Ah!! Hair barely touches my shoulders! So short!! Man, the only haircutter person I knew of growing up was my mom, so this was probably my second time ever getting a haircut at a professional place. I think I made the lady very frustrated because I kept on being unhappy with the result and refused to use her hair products. Well, there's really no point for her to blow dry and put cream in my hair because I would never do that. She probably thought I was crazy. Oh well, I guess it didn't turn out as bad as I thought!

Baking and Cooking List

Since I'm in the list-making mode...Things I want to try baking/cook (key word: try):
Baked goods:

• Best chocolate ice cream, without an ice cream machine!
• meringue
• buche de noel
• pound cake
• lemon thumbprint cookies
• maple donuts
• blueberry cheesecake
• Raspberry Creme Fraiche Tart - raspberries are so awesome, but so expensive!
• Valentine's Heart Cake (MNZ)
• Twice baked sweet potato walnut streusel
• Lime sorbet
• Mascarpone Cheesecake Ice cream
• Lemon meringue cupcake
• Creamy lemon crumb bars
• Summertime strawberry pie
• Strawberry lemonade scones
• The Sweet Art: Matcha Black Sesame Cheesecake & Ramen
• ...
• I'll take suggestions!

Other:

• Short ribs Mark style: red wine and coffee
• Chocolate pudding ...with tofu
• Home made pizza
• Radish Cakes
• wow: home-made mascarpone cheese
• Mashed potato puffs

The AMAZING Minimalist videos (with parmesan chicken): http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/01/26/dining/20110126-bittman.html?ref=dining#Parmesan_Chicken_With_Jamie_Oliver_(2009) (Thanks MNZ!)

Baked from scratch:

• Pie
• Banana Cream pie (or butterscotch) - my specialty, easy and delicious (need less sugar and salt)
• Blueberry pie -  made a cake version for AL, but it was odd...
• Key lime pie (with and without egg yolks)
• Apple pie (Grandma Opple's) - awesome
• Pumpkin pie from real pumpkins - very pumpkiny flavor, good without too many spices
• Frozen pineapple pie - so easy and good for hot weather
• Chocolate pie
• Cobbler:
• Strawberry rhubarb cobbler
• Peach cobbler
• Peach cream pie (or pear) - nice and creamy, pretty easy.
• Macarons with Amrita (The Sweet Art)
• Strawberry shortcake (kind of disastrous...)
• Pear shortcake - much better, looked like mini-burgers
• Tiramisu - Done! delicious! Lady fingers got too soggy, so need less coffee
• Banana bread - I got a recipe from AS's sister. It was soooo banana-y, moist, and yummy!
• Pineapple crisp -okay
• Cheesecake (plain, pumpkin)
• Raspberry white chocolate cheesecake - AMAZING, from fresh raspberries took a long time.
• Plain
• Pumpkin from real pumpkins
• Caramel macchiato (Helen's b-day) - pretty darn amazing.
• Chocolate scones (KP's recipe)
• Corn bread (real corn! need jalapenos next time)
• Eclaires
• Cookies: chocolate chip, sugar, lime, coconut
• Tagalons (took 4 ppl, but was delicious!)
• Macaroons -really soft and fluffy
• Butter gooey cake - alas, not as good as GA's
• Bars:
• Lemon bar - yum! I love tart things!
• Raspberry oatmeal bar - pretty healthy, need more raspberry next time.
• Molten chocolate cakes - really good with ice cream
• Jelly rolls - one of my first baked goods ever
• Frozen:
• Blackberry Sorbet - so good, esp w/home picked blackberries! One of my fav "ice cream" flavors
• ...

Cooked:

• 10 min pancakes from Minimalist: 1 C flour, 1tbsp sugar, 1tsp baking powder, 1egg, 1 C milk
• Crapes (good recipe from RS)
• 
  

Movie List

Since I'm constantly behind in terms of watching movies:

Small font = watched

More recent:

• 12 Years a Slave
• 50/50: fun to watch from a med student's perspective.
• 127 Hours - not sure I want to sit through 3hrs of torture.
• 1917: really cool cinematography, 2 continuous shots.
• 500 Days of Summer - good movie! highly recommend it! so cute! love joseph gordon-levitt!
• The amazing Spiderman 2: don't remember much 
• American Hustle: AB liked this movie a lot, and it was interesting, but I think the accents and weird clothing distracted me a bit.
• Amour (foreign): elderly couple
• Ant man: well, I like super hero movies, so of course I liked this. It was an interesting perspective
• Argo: American political parties trapped in Iran. Pretty intense, makes me like Canadians more
• The Artist - Despite no sound, it was funny and charming.  Tugs on the heart strings a bit.
• Birdman: strange, didn't appreciate it. One shot.
• Black Swan - Very good! Really expresses the emotions/thoughts/effort required to be a ballet dancer
• Blue Jasmine
• Bohemian Rhapsody: pretty good movie about leader of Queen. 
• Boyhood: great movie. One of the best I've seen. Amazing execution and interesting to see from the respective of a boy. How kids get bits of info, and often times not the whole story. 
• Brave: cute cartoon, although not that memorable.
• Captain America 2: entertaining superhero movie
• Catch and Release
• Clash of the Titans - I like Greek mythology, so I had to like this one.  Stories are just so elaborate and creative.
• CODA: very good movie about child of death adults. Made me cry. Weight and responsibility. 
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons - i like it! sad though
• Dallas Buyer's Club: well deserved best actor academy award, heavy material - interesting beginning to AIDS
• The Dark Knight Rises: Marion Cotillard is a wonderful actress, so I like everything she's in.  This film is a bit long though, and medically impossible (breaking back and healing from that??)
• The Dark Knight: Joker was AMAZING, the atrocity/wit/cruelty is otherworldly
• Date Night - it's funny, but I don't think I really ever appreciated Steve Carell's humor
• Dealt: about one of the best card magicians in the world...and he is Blind! So inspiring and bittersweet!: https://youtu.be/F__DQ1ruYck
• Definitely, Maybe - very cute story and unique style - kind of like a mystery and HIMYM
• The Descendants - a nice reevaluation of the important things in life as a father deals with raising his daughters while mother is in a coma.  
• The Departed: double spies, confusing. Gory.
• Django Unchained
• Don't look up: funny satire about global warming.
• Dune: mandalorian + game of thrones. 
• Dunkirk: good war movie. Planes.
• Ford vs farari: fun movie.
• Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer - i like explosions
• Flipped - cute, kidsy typical movie about a boy and a girl
• Frozen: great movie about love, but not the typical kind.  And the music, wow - really gives me the chills.
• The Grand Beauty (italian)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel: quirky and Johnny Depp always entertaining.
• Gravity: waaaaay too intense. Man, held my breath the whole time. Not good for late night movie before bedtime.
• The Great Gatsby: Beautiful film, but book is better of course.  Some inner thoughts and feelings are more poignant by book.
• The Guardians of the Galaxy: liked it a lot - esp Groot. Superhero movies are awesome.
• Harry Potter 6 - I seem to like all movies. Harry Potter is always amusing to watch because it's putting things I even have a hard time imagining into solid form. ugh, i get scared easily. those dead people really made me jump.
• The Help
• The Hunger Games - while fun to watch, the whole idea of kids killing kids just doesn't flow well with me.
• The Hurt Locker - interesting perspective of bomb detonator squad during Iraq war. 
• Her: unique concept of having a relationship with an operating system, oddly sentimental and questions the basis of love
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -this is such a weird movie, but weird in an entertaining way.
• Hobbit 1: Enjoy another adventure, but not much happens here.
• Hobbit 2 (Desolation of Smaug): great effects, strange talking dragon, brave Bard, strange to see Orlando Bloom overlooked by a dwarf.
• Hobbit 3 (Battle of Five Armies): A lot of special effects, seeing the different kingdoms' greed, and how ultimate badness allows everyone to regain alliance and fight for greater good.
• Hugo- Little boy and his automaton.  It wasn't brilliant, but sweet and artsy
• I, Robot
• The Iron Lady (Meryl streep)
• It's Complicated: Cute movie, loved the girl, and unique story telling.
• John Carter - pretty creative, kind of outrageous, and left questions unanswered.
• Jojo Rabbit: I liked it. Sad. Holocaust. 
• Joker: the joker was very well creepily done. 
• The Kids Are All Right
• King's Speech - I love colin firth! he's so good in this! - really feel his struggle
• La La Land: too sad. Bawling. Ab doesn't think it's so sad. But beautiful story still. 
• Life of Pi: loved the book, the movie was pretty interesting too.  I'll always remember the beginning of the book: "a story that will make you believe in God" - the symbolism is chilling.
• Lincoln
• Little Women: I had mixed feelings about the original. This is ok too. Didn't like ultimate marriage decision, but understand now. 
• The Lives of Others - heavy, but good
• London Boulevard - Kind of boring. Pretty actors, ugly language. Left me feeling confused and unsatisfied.
• Marriage story: sad. It's a divorce story.
• The Martian: awesome. Great imagining of what mars might be like.
• Midnight in Paris: didn't really like it so much.  I think I just don't get Woody Allen, and I'm not familiar with literary references.
• Memento: Oh man...messes with me, unique way of filming...confabulation
• Monsters, Inc. - the cutest, most imaginative, best mixture of stupid/intelligent humor ever! Boo! Kitty!
• My Sister's Keeper - Very good!! Sad though :(
• Nomadland: pretty good, interesting look at that lifestyle. Hard to imagine loneliness.
• Non-Stop: plane hijacker, interesting how anyone could have been a suspect, and not obvious conclusion, although few possible holes like why somethings didn't happen earlier.
• Once Upon a time in Hollywood: about random murder and how it came to be. Strange. 
• Parasite: best per AB. Commentary on society. All think others are parasites.
• Paris Je t'aime - interesting - very European
• Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2: very cute and funny. 2nd one was very entertaining.
• Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Dead Man's Chest - strange, but can't miss Johnny Depp in eyeliner.  Enjoyed the creativity.
• The Power of the Dog: dramatic, dark, Cumberbatch.
• The Prestige: Won't see magic the same way now, kind of creepy.
• The Princess and the Frog - very cute, good wholesome movie, no real surprises, but still good plot.
• Prince of Persia - fun graphics, don't remember much.
• A Royal Night Out: about queen elizabeth and how she spends one night as a civilian. It's got a nostalgic feel, old style, but not that great.
• Silver Linings Playbook: saw bits and pieces
• Sin City - Wouldn't say this was my favorite movie (lots of gore), but definitely a very interesting format/style.
• Social Network - It was very interesting. Makes me like nerdy people more and hate money/business more. hahaha
• The Spectacular Now: a young man's coming of age story, but not the typical cheesy one, especially the last 5 minutes.
• Spirited Away - although it's animated, it's a pretty heavy movie, and very strange - typical Japanese animation
• Spy: most hilarious movie ever. Oh man, Melissa McCarthy is so hilarious. Highly recommended. It's just the contrast to other male-dominated super hero movies
• Superman - Man of Steel: yay, superhero movie.
• Sunshine Cleaners: kind of twisted, but also sweet in a strange way.
• Temple Grandin - not a movie I would've picked up and watch on my own, but I just happened to see it on the airplane, and it was AWESOME - very inspiring, moving, and intriguing
• Thor 2: really like the Loki character, but the "scientific instrument" part was a little disappointing and doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense...
• Three Billboards: very sad. Can't imagine losing your daughter. But touching. 
• Time Traveler's Wife: strange that it's called time traveler's wife when it's not that focused on the wife.
• Top Gun: Maverick: fun movie, interesting to see what navy pilot school like
• True Grit - western movie of girl who avenges her father. Very ambitious/headstrong girl - somewhat inspiring as well as saddening. Leaves an unsettled filling, in a good way?
• UP- Awesome!! It's so cute and so funny! I loved the little people! :)
• Up in the Air: never thought firing people is a job, and makes me feel bad about the main character.
• Watchmen - can't help enjoying superhero movies. Weird ending though.
• West Side Story: forgettable. But good music. 
• Wolf of Wallstreet: very interesting view into the lives of multibillionaires. Although quite crude.
• World War Z: intriguing pandemic film, similar to I Am Legend. zombie movie, interesting twist.
• War of the Worlds
• X-Men: Days of Future Past: Interesting concept.  It was a nice combo of old and young characters and very nice computer graphics
• X-Men: First Class: Great movie! Very interesting to see where the current x-men characters came from. Love the various backstories/explanations.
• X-Men: Wolverine
• 
  
• Nine Lives
• Man on Fire
• Youth in Revolt
• Leap Year
• Perfume
• Where the Wild Things Are
• District 9
• Gran Torino
• Lust, Caution
• House of Flying Daggers
• Curse of the Golden Flower
• The Pianist
• City of God
• Shrek 3
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - love the action!
• The Hangover: clever, and funny
• Monsters vs. Aliens
• Toy Story 3 - way better than 2 or 1!
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Alexander
• Chicago: saw the musical, KD as backstage person.  Best song was Cell Block Tango
• Hannibal
• The Proposal - typical chick flick - but I like Sandra Bullock, so it was good.
• Die Hard (all: Die Another Day, Live Free or Die Hard...) - Explosions/special effects/hardcoreness!
  
• Sex and the City
• Mama Mia - Brings back good memories of undergrad
• Chronicles of Narnia - yet to see anything other than the first one
  
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle - entertaining
  
• The Secret Life of Bees - it's a historical movie about civil rights, death, abuse- so somewhat heavy

Classics/Old Movies

• Life is beautiful: amazing amazing movie. One of my favorites. Very sad. But teaches to make the best of what you have. 
• When Harry Met Sally - so cute! Such a good plot, and interesting characters
• Sleepless in Seattle - kind of strange and not totally believable, but a girl can dream
• You've got Mail: I really like this, interesting noting change in technology.
• L.A. Story: hilarious satire on L.A.
• The American President
• Rear Window
• White Christmas
• Forest Gump - LOVE forest gump!
• Patch Adams - haha, waaaaaaaay too happy for a med student
• I am Sam
• The Addams Family
• A Few Good Men
• Se7en
• 12 Angry Men
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones is amusing - like them all
• Sunset Blvd
• Sixth Sense - so good! I like it - gives me chills
• The Patriot
• To Catch a Thief
• The Color Purple
  
• The Professional
  
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail - i like this kind of humor.
• Independence Day
• Jerry Maguire
  
• Men in Black II - Entertaining as usual with Will Smith in it.
  
• Matrix - nice graphics and cool fighting scenes
• Kill Bill 2 - very entertaining, good fight scenes
• Bourne Identity; Ultimatum - yay, action movie, and Matt Damon!
  
• Fatal Attraction
• American Beauty
• Taxi Driver
• A Clockwork Orange
• Chinatown
• Edward Scissorhands
• Snatch
• Gone with the Wind - I really disliked Scarlet, but maybe later on, I'll appreciate it more despite it being LONG
• Good Will Hunting: good movie. 
• Farewell My Concubine
• Magnolia
• Hulk: finally saw the more recent version - I like the hulk
• City of Gods
• Schindler's List
• Drunken Master II - Jackie Chan never fails to be amusing
• Mona Lisa Smile - very sweet film
• Sense and Sensibility - i love the bbc version - something about austen movies, makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside
• Persuasion - Jane Austen is awesome.  It was lovely
• Emma - the older longer PBS version with Romola Garai (not Gweneth Paltrow) is better
• Sister Act I/II - Whoopi!
  
• The Truman Show - I love Jim Carrey! Even though I tend to not like stupid-funny movies, he's always fun to watch. The plot is also very intriguing.
  
• The Usual Suspects - didn't know what I was watching, very intriguing, very well thought out plot
• Gran Torino
• The Godfather: very interesting perspective, portrays complexity of mobster life. Good.
• The Terminator: totally not what I thought, but it got some interesting plot and action.
• 
  

Really old

• It's a Wonderful Life
• Chungking Express
• Citizen Kane
• City Lights
• Pink Panther (original): slapstick humor. Not funny nowadays.
• Talk to her
• Sherlock, Jr. - no sound, but still just as funny
• Singing in the Rain - lovely
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Prob my fav TV show: Ted lasso. Such an uplifting show. Wish there was more of these around. Good, honest, heartfelt, and not forced. People making good/ok/reasonable decisions. Complex characters.

Breast Exam Training

Breast exams are more than meets the eye. Not only did we learn the proper technique (all women should learn! Women: 1/8 chance of breast cancer in life time, 1/8 die of breast cancer), but I also realized what a mammogram consisted of. Wow, did not know that they squish you vertically! In the words of the doctor, they "crank it down!" Oh boy.

Well, during the training session, they had model breasts to try on. Apparently, you're supposed to go up and down the breast from the center of chest to the arm pit like you're "mowing the lawn" - another direct quote. You're supposed to use the pads of your fingers and move in dime-sized circles first lightly, and gradually deeper, then continue mowing. Man, those little nodules are sneaky little buggers! At our table, we managed to feel one, but missed three in the model breast! Got to work on our techniques more.

Of course, after getting home, I had to try it out for real. Hm, it was very difficult, and even scary. I just find bumps everywhere. Ugh. I guess a real nodule is supposed to be harder or more of a concentrated spot? ...I guess I'll learn more later.

Halloween MedSchool Treat & Cute Things/YouTube!

Meatloaf hand

Can't get enough of anatomy? Stuffed Organs! I love the descriptions! (courtesy of MNZ)

Cuteness! And completely unrelated to Halloween Treat!: I wish I had a twin just so I can wear this.

Kitties are so cute!

Amazing kid playing "I'm Yours" with a ukulele, courtesy of KP! I laughed sooooo hard!

I <3 this: 

Kitties are adorable!  http://www.rofldepot.com/got-it_2125.html

Wanted: Places

I decided I should make a list of places I need to go before I die:

1. Egypt
2. Greece (Corfu, Santorini)
3. Nepal (Himalayas)
4. Argentina Patagonia
5. India (Taj Mahal)
   
6. Japan (Mt. Fuji)
7. Etosha Ntnl Pk, Namibia
8. France (Mont Saint Michel- Normandy)
9. Brazil (Amazons)
10. Tanzania: Mt. Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar
11. Southern Italy: Amalfi coast (Ravello hotel), Naples, Pompe
12. El Nido, Philipines
13. Khao Yai National Park, Thailand
14. Oman
15. These places:  http://www.wenxuecity.com/news/2012/08/29/gossip-76317.html
16. Some of these crazy places, probably in the "safer mode" - like by foot on the Ireland cliffs or with chains/hooks on Hua Shan, China.  Definitely want to go volcano boarding some day - whether it's in Nigeria or Nicaragua...
17. Ireland
18. Iceland
19. Australia: Great barrier reef
20. Easter Island
21. Israel, dead sea
22. Cambodia: Angkor Wat
23. Jordan: Petra and Wadi Rum
24. Marrakech Morocco
25. 
    

Places I've been:

• Amsterdam: Van Gogh museum, Ann Frank House, Red light district
• Australia: Sydney (Opera house, bridge, Bondi to Coogee beach hike)
• Bahamas
• Botswana: Chobe
• Canada: Vancouver, Banf ntnl pk; Jasper ntnl pk
• Montreal: botanical barden, Mont Royal, St. Joseph Oratory, Notre-Dame Basilica, Old Montreal
• Moraine Lake (Banff ntnl park Canada)
• China: Guiling, Yangshuo, Kunming, Lijiang, Dali, Xi'an (Terracotta soldiers), Chengdu, Qinghai, Shangri-La, Xishuangbanna, Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden Palace, Summer Palace)
• England (layover)
• France: Paris, Lyon, Nice, Avignon, Marseilles, Chamonix, Mont Blanc
• Haiti: Port-au-Prince
• Italy
• Lake Como, Bellagio
• Venice: St. Mark's Basilica, Doge's palace
• Rome: Colosseum, Palatine Hills, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Vatican, St. Peter's Basilica
• Florence: Uffizi, Galleria d'Accademia (David)
• Pisa
• Milan: Duomo
• Korea: Seoul, Bukhansan ntnl pk
• Lesotho: Semongkong, Malealea, Thaba bosiu, sehlabathebe national park
• Mexico:
• Cozumel
• Cancun, Chichen'itza (Mayan ruins, El Castillo pyramid, ball court)
• Puerto Vallerta: Marietas Islands National Park (hidden beach)
• Monaco
• New Zealand: Auckland, Waitomo glow worms, Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, Roy's Peak, Wanaka Lake, Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo, Christchurch
• Nicaragua: Managua, Granada, Esteli, Matagalpa
• Peru (Machu Picchu)
• Sierra Leone: Freetown, Lunsar, Segbwema
• South Africa: Kruger ntnl park safari, Sentinel peak (Natal national park), Golden Gate ntnl park
• Switzerland: Chateau de Chillon, Geneva
• UAE: Dubai (4 hr layover): fountain, mall, Burj khalifa
• USA:
• Hawaii (Maui): Haleakala crater, Ka'anapali beach, Napili beach, Road to Hana, Big beach, Polo beach
• Grand Canyon (only hiked 3/4 way down), Havasu falls
• US: Yosemite (half-dome!)
• Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls
• 
  

Only for a short while:

• London
• Nairobi
• Mexico

Need Haircut Suggestions!

I need haircut suggestions! Note, I'll be donating my hair, so I won't have much left! Well, hopefully at least shoulder length is do-able. Ah...getting haircut is always a hassle because I have so much hair and it is so poofy.

Here's TL's suggestion of a haircut: mushroom head
More of an edgy look
Or maybe an emo look
This is actually more emo
On second thought, it might require too much hair products to keep it that way. otherwise, it might look like this
Lastly, there's always this option. It'll be a good balding surprise.

I really hope someone has a better suggestion.

Post 1st Exam Week Fun

Yay!!! Done with first exam week! Three exams: Biochem, Histology, and Physiology. I'm actually pretty worried about the practical part of histo - not sure if I passed. eek! But what can I do now but have fun?

Biking to Downtown St. Louis and Arch:
Don't recall how long the ride was, but in total, it took about 2 hrs maybe? We rode on a bike path on the road, and it was so much fun! We ended up stopping at the City Garden for a long time and taking random pictures and climbing on the statues. It was also my first time to the Arch!!! So excited!

Elephant Rock State Park:
It was so much fun!!!! It consisted of HUGE rocks that you can climb or have to squeeze between. And the view of the changing colors of leaves was gorgeous! It took us 1.5 hrs to get there, but it was totally worth it! Next time, I'll bring a rope so we can climb to the top of some of those rocks. Hehehe. On the way back, I also had my first Steak N' Shake steakburger and shake! Yummmmm....fat.....!

House, MD:
Watched two full episodes of House, MD. Man, it's so interesting. I should watch more. hehe.

Health Screening:
Yay! I was actually useful today and acted as a translator in my selective!

7 Acre Haunted Corn Maze:
I don't know why I put myself through that torture. I knew I hated scary movies, so it was probably not the smartest thing for me to go to this thing. Well, the haunted part wasn't actually much of a maze. It was one path, but people dressed up would jump out. At one section, we had to go through almost this tunnel that had a whole bunch of "goons" that scared people. Ah....I'm such a wimp for such things! I totally forced a friend to go first, and grabbed on so tight that I probably choked him. oops! Man, I haven't been so scared for a very long time.
The actual maze part was pretty confusing and still pretty fun. The bad part was that we were all frozen to the point of hypothermia.

Apples to Apples:
Played apples to apples for the first time (essentially)! Ah, it was totally a laughterfest. Hehehe...I'm totally not going to be awake for church tomorrow...

Running 12 miles

Most I've ever ran was 6 miles:
So recently, due to lack of really intense tennis players, I've decided to take on running. I've been consistently running about 6 miles, which is about one lap around Forest Park. But about a week ago, I decided to go running because I had finished class or something. After 6 miles, I still felt I had energy, so I just continued running. By the time I got a little tired in the legs, I was already to the other side of the park, so I decided what the heck, I might as well go around the whole park. Then leg kind of started hurting a little while later, I kind of wanted to walk, but decided if I walked, it'd probably get dark before i got back, so I just continued running until I ran 12 miles. The next 3 days my legs were soooo sore, and i had problems going into the sitting position (e.g. going to the bathroom). Note to self, don't be stupid again.

Later friend asked why didn't I take the metro. Oops, I had forgotten my metro pass and any form of money. Then he said I should've called and asked to get a ride...but oops, I forgot my phone as well. Lesson learned: Always have phone and money.

First Pelvic Exam!

Well, I didn't get one, but I got to see one at the free Saturday Neighborhood Health Clinic that I volunteered at today! Since I'm interested in OB/GYN (and pediatrics), it was a pretty interesting experience. Wow...it was pretty amazing how big things can stretch. And the tool used was a little scary looking. It's interesting comparing it to a cadaver. It looked pretty similar, except pinker. O_o

Med School Quotes

Lecture on bacterial vaginosis:
There were a group of scientists who got together to decide whether to call it vaginal bacteriosis or bacterial vaginosis, and the people for the later group won out - they thought it rolled off the tongue better.  But now it just sounds like bacteria with a lot of vaginas.  (Dr. L) 


2nd year:
Professor's embarrassing story about male genitourinary exam: One time he was teaching some students how to do the GU exam, and accidentally pocket dialed a friend.  His friend picked up the phone, and all he heard was, "...and now please move your phalynx up..."


Example of what we should say to patient for male genitourinary exam: "Uncover what you need to for us to do what we need to do…" (Dr. G)


What pelvic exam professor said while passing out speculums: "you have to touch them …OOO!"

"I know many of you have undesierable lipids [levels].  you may be careful of what you eat, but the best thing to do is to choose your parents carefully" (Dr. S)

Me (in desperate voice after not talking all night): "Oh no! oh no! I'm so behind in studying!!!!!!!"
ED: That was very urgent sounding...like you had to poop or something.


1st year
After renal professor pulled his pants off: "The AV guys are thinking OMG! - he just pulled his pants off!"
Prof 1: "What?! You mean like the full monty?!!
Prof 2: "No, no, I have shorts underneath"


Pulmonary lecture:
"The average American isn't sedentary; the average American is stationary."


Friend's status:
"My mom: Sweetie, I'm getting very worried about you. 
Me: Why?? 
My mom: Why don't you have a boyfriend? I don't care what you do in med school, take 6 or 7 years if you need but please go to more parties and find a guy!"


Prof: At what level do axons carrying these sensibilities (fine touch and pain/temp) cross to the opposite side?
XW: Oh....Oh crap!
Prof: No, that's lower.


YW: "What drives vergence?" - referring to convergence of eyes
GA: "Not having sex?"


"Ahhh, I love how the sun is warming up my butt" - MW referring to the first sign of spring in 40 degree weather


"Nasal Rape" - BK's take on getting swabbed in the nose for H1N1


Regarding telling secrets:
Me: "You're not leaky are you?"
MW: "No. I'm a tight junction!"


Renal exam questions:
"Your life is a mess.  Your significant other has called you a loser and broken off the engagement.  Your dog poops in your shoes and your cat urinates on your bed pillow. However, always the optimist, and inspired by our new president, you are hoping for a change.  You decide to start dating again. Based on your past failures you have decided to utilize a new, innovative strategy. For some unknown reason you decide to pick your next partner based on their renal function.  After weeks of meaningless, encounters and several restraining orders against you, you have found a potential partner.  The prospective partner agrees to a complete blood work up...What is the prognosis?"
"Rob Bilkinson (name changed to protect his identity) decides to “run” in a marathon race.  Immediately before the race Rob carbohydrate loads his body by eating 1 pound of his favorite food, Vinegar & Salt potato chips. One pound of potato chips contains 100 mmoles of NaCl.  After one hour of “running” approximately 0.5 miles, Rob collapses in exhaustion.  His official Richard Simmons™ jumpsuit is covered in 2 liters of sweat (Assume Rob’s sweat consists of only water).  Immediately,  Rob is transported to the hospital.  Assume that Rob weighs 200 kg (440 lbs), that his plasma osmolarity was initially 290 mosmol/liter, and that Rob’s total body water is 60% of his body weight (gross over estimate)." 


“Uh..It's not really trauma, but it's traumatic? Uh... roller coaster rides?” -Me, regarding trauma that cause vomiting

"Oh ya, i've been poked a lot. and i've poked other ppl a lot." -Me, regarding glucose tests

Renal: "What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?" Isak Dinesen, Seven Gothic Tales

HK talking to AL (both guys): "You must have really big lactiferous glands!"

(Actually referring to AL's staring contest ability, but mistook lactiferous glands for lacrimal glands)

Physiology: "You'll stop speaking English. It'll be medspeak."

"You'll replace your aunt's phone number with Mrs. Jone's blood gas numbers." - Dr. Brody

MFM: Glycolysis is like the business plan of the Underpants Gnomes in Family Guy:
Phase 1: Collect Underpants
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!

Urology lecture on Viagra: Some people might think having an erection for 4 hours is great. But it's kind of like having a charley horse...but on your penis.

Nurse: I won't let certain doctors touch me, and there are certain doctors I won't let within 5 ft of my plants.

If a man says something while in a forest, with no women around, is he still wrong? If a heart tells you its job is to keep pressurized blood in the arteries, but the arteries keep leaking it away into the veins, so it has to keep pumping, could this be right?

Maybe I'll remember to add on to this...

Anatomy: Sawing

It's been more than a week of some awkward dissections of the pudendal (aka, "area of shame"). Part of it involved putting the legs in stirrups, and standing between the legs to identify certain structures. At one point, I was standing between the legs, the stirrups weren't positioned properly, and all of a sudden, they closed on me! ack! That was a scary. Well, we got to move on to the next part...

I sawed off a leg:
So in a group of 3 girls and 1 guy, I ended up being the person to saw through the pubic symphysis (anterior part of the pelvis) and the sacrum up to the L3 vertebrae. I think that was my exercise for the day. It was a really messy process that involved going through the rectum that still contained feces that spread all over the place: on the organs, the saw, the scalpel, our gloves...almost everywhere. Man, dissection is such a mess!

Passed My First Medical School Exam!

Yay!! I'm officially a medical student! - or at least now I feel like one?
Well, for the first many weeks, I almost felt like I was kind of hanging around, playing doctor. Of course, I'd study, but mainly because I had no idea what to expect. Now that the one exam that probably defines medical school (Anatomy) has come and gone, I feel a little bit more at home.

Don't let people tell you it's easy:
Every time I get caught studying in my room by a 2nd year, they tell me, "It's pass/fail! Why are you studying? Enjoy! Have fun!" It's not that I don't like having fun with other people (tennis, frisbee, ballroom dancing, musical, and a bijillion interest groups), I just actually want to know these things. And I mean, how often will you get a chance to cut open a cadaver? This is only something that's gonna happen this first year. I might as well make all the mistakes now so that I don't do it so often on a real person.

The Anatomy Exam:
I'd say that the exam was pretty hard, but they graded pretty easily. The format of this exam was unlike anything I've had before. Since there are about 30 tables, each with a cadaver on it, all the students were split into 4 groups (each group, about 30 students). Then, each person goes to a table, and had 2 minutes to answer the question(s) at that table. Then you rotate. Wow, I didn't know what to expect. I guess I should've known from the practice exams, but I didn't realize how QUICKLY 2 minutes passed. I was especially lulled into a sense of security with my 1st question. It was really easy and I stood there doing nothing for nearly 2 minutes. But then my 3rd question had parts a-j! Ack! I think I only got to d, and put random structures down for the rest of them! There was another question about the heart, I got flustered, and pretty much ran out of time before i answered anything. Another time, I accidentally labeled my answer sheet a, b, c, b, c, d, e....and I got so confused when I answered all the questions and realized questions went to f and my answer sheet went to e.
But despite all these unexpected little details, I did fine. :)

Old roommate = CEO of Braille Labeler Company!!

My old roommate/CEO is so awesome!!! Featured on homepage of MIT and in an article about her 6Dot Braille Labeler! "A device that started out as a class project last fall is moving rapidly toward becoming a commercial product that could make the lives of millions of visually impaired people a bit easier..." I need to remember this when I feel incompetent. :D Go roommate!

They won the MIT IDEAS Competition!

"Oh, no! I'm the first patient these 23 medical students have ever examined."

Ahhahahahaha!!! This is the best article ever!!! It's about this standardized patient who got to be the guinea pig for 23 medical students! MNZ: you HAVE to read this! It's hilarious!

Playing Doctor by Emily Yoffe
Just the picture on the first page makes me laugh. Hehe.
Compliments of SP

And here's a difficult to diagnose tumor: X-Ray

Confused about what area of medicine to go into? This might help you! hehehe... Student Types

Screening Asian Peeps

Today, instead of studying for my anatomy test that's tomorrow, I decided to spend 5 hours doing a health screening at a Chinese school. Yes! My slight ability to speak in Chinese came in handy! In fact, I asked where this one lady was from in China, she answered my question, and continued talking for at least half an hour about her son who got 3 degrees from SLU, got a law degree, really smart...etc. Oh man, at least it was good practice!

Man, Please Be Okay!:
Holy cow, we were screening for diabetes (blood glucose) and hypertension (blood pressure), and the 4th guy I tested had a blood glucose of 501 mg/dl! Normal fasted level is less than 100 mg/dl, and not fasted is less than 140! Wow. I was getting 104, 120, etc... And then all of a sudden, boom! There was 501 on the glucometer! At first I thought I was reading the glucometer upside down - perhaps it was 105...but no! We tested it again, and it was 498, or something like that... Wow, he didn't seem to show any abnormal symptoms at all either. I'm just afraid I didn't express to him exactly how urgent it was that he sees a doctor right away. Ah...I hope he'll be okay!

MIT Tennis - nerds will always be nerds

Hahaha...surprise, surprise...MIT won 20 Scholar-Athlete awards for tennis: Tennis Tabbed for ITA Honors Tied for most in country!
But what's cool is that both roommate/doubles partner and I were first to get 4 at MIT! How exciting!

I'm gonna be a lady! + hot air balloon and gut

Hahaha, apparently I'm going to be a lady in "Once Upon a Mattress" - a musical if you haven't figured that out yet. Yup, last time I auditioned for something was...2nd grade for Nutcracker. And I'm pretty surprised they let me finish singing during the audition. But I guess they had to keep their word and give everyone who auditioned a place in the musical. I really hope this isn't too much of a time commitment!
Trailer

Hot Air Balloon Festival:
In St. Louis, there's an annual hot air balloon festival where many (as in 70+) hot air balloons are lit, inflated, and raced! There were balloons shaped like a birthday cake, a pepsi can, and even an energizer rabbit (it's on the left of the pic).


Dissecting the Gut:
So we have a female body, and because there's always a lot of fascia around everything, things are really, really difficult to find. So we have this ongoing joke where if we have a really difficult time finding something, we say, "I can't find the penis!" Well, so we were looking into the gut region to search for the uterus. And it turns out that we can't find a uterus either because our body had a hysterectomy. Well...most likely.

First Patient Interview!!!

Ah yes! I had my first interview with a patient today! OH BOY! I thought they were going to be standardized patients, but no! I talked to a real patient! Eeek...did not think I prepared that much. But thankfully, I had a talkative patient. Most of the time I was just saying, "oh really?" and she would keep on talking. Then I'd say "oh wow..."...and she would keep on talking. She was a patient with a whole bunch of history. Hehe, it was kind of fun! Someone else did the physical, and the lady looked very concerned like she didn't think we knew what we were doing (which was kind of true). hahaha....

Oh ya, we also did lymph node checks on each other. It felt like I was given a message. ah....more lymph node checks please!

Oooo...here's my anatomy group!:


Unfortunately, we're not allowed to take a picture of our cadaver or any body parts. Oh well, you can see us in our lovely, formaldehyde scented attire.

Things I wish I had brought/I did bring/I got for free/I bought

Some random...

Things I wish I had brought to med school:
Goggles for anatomy
Stolen extra gloves from lab for anatomy
Lodish (Biochem) book
Neuroscience book by Bear
Sponge
...I'll run into more for sure.

Things I'm glad I brought to med school:
Locks
Bike lock
Rice cooker
Blanket, bedding, pillow
Umbrella
Screwdrivers, tape measure, pocket knife
...

Things I'm glad I acquired for free:
Various books that were left on a bench outside the elevator of my dorm
Hot plate
Small carpet
Cup/Mug
Highlighter
Big bag
Measuring cups
Printer (well..it's on loan)
Webcam (same)

...

Things I had to buy:
Dishwashing soap
Knife
Cutting board
Measuring spoons, baking pan
Nail clipper
Conditioner

Medical School: Not Awkward At All

Dissected Thorax, Now the Inguinal Region:
If you aren't aware, the inguinal region is essentially your groin area. Well, so one night, I was studying anatomy with some friends, and I realized that I knew the names of the things going through that region, but had no idea what they did. So starting with the question: "What does the spermatic cord consist of/do?" it ended in a conversion with two guys about how the design of it allows guys to walk uninhibited (had no idea what the hand/arm gestures meant), how the cremaster muscle pulls the gonads in for temperature homeostasis, details about circumcision, and other anatomical enlightening topics. Haha...not awkward at all.

First preceptorship:
First shadowing primary care physician experience! I actually got to use my stethoscope and listen to a heart murmur and gurgling indigestion. But I couldn't really hear the murmur. All I could hear was the lub dub of a normal heart. :(

Sports and Activity Dilemma, Being a Windshield

During undergrad, pretty much the thing i played was tennis. Two hours a day, 5 days a week + sometimes having matches, and two seasons (fall and spring). It was a lot of fun and a lot of time commitment. So I thought I'd continue with tennis in med school...

Well, then I realized it was difficult to find people to play with. Sure, there are people to play with, but it's still not the same. No more consistent time to play everyday for a long period of time. I almost miss being emotionally and physically tortured. haha...okay, not really tortured. So things I tried to do...

Tennis with the undergrad:
I contacted undergrad coach to see if I can hit with them. Hm...although the players are no doubt good and have awesome form, practice isn't really as much of a workout as I want it to be. I also feel kind of weird being a hitter and using so much effort that I grunt. Yes, I admit, I grunt.

I'm now trying Ultimate Frizbee (club):
Well, so frisbee seems like something that you can go to a park, find some random people, and just start up (unlike tennis - unless you have skills to pave a court and build a net). So I got convinced by a good friend to go to their practice today. Holy Cow, there must have been 50 people there! Granted it was first day, I did not expect that many people! Well, it was nice finally learning the proper way to throw a frisbee. All my life I have been deceived! Since there were so many people, I didn't really get to play that much...we'll see. Thing is...it conflicts with...

Ballroom dancing:
Oh boy, I signed up for ballroom dancing. But I figured it's also a random skill that might be useful. Who knows when I might be in need of some happy feet. Then I won't need to hesitate, and I can just pull out some swing or salsa skills. Ah...but it conflicts with ultimate practice. What to do, what to do?

Being a Windshield:
I had my first windshield experience. Now I understand the pain of that glass in front of your car. I went running this other day through Forest Park (park near med school). It was nice! I've been running for a total of 3 times so far! Better than when I was at Boston. haha. Well, this time, for some reason, the bugs were extremely excited. The run included a beautiful scenery of Boat House, the Muny (a stadium for the 1904 World Fair), and the Jewel Box (green house), but at the end of our run, I was completely covered with bugs that drowned/died in my sweat or knocked out by the impact of my 130 lb body. It was gross.

I tried to play some basketball and soccer, but I think i suck too much. Ah...why didn't I develop these skills earlier?!!

Job:
Ah, I should get into that soon and earn some money. The reality of being a student...

And of course, there are a whole bunch of volunteering opportunities going on:
STATS: teaching high school kids about HIV/sexual diseases
SPOTS: " " " " " issues of sun/UV/skin cancer
Food Outreach: something I found on my own where you cook for HIV/Cancer patients
CHIPS: I think this is a free clinic?
Saturday something something: another free clinic?
And more...

Still harboring innate premed symptoms, I signed up for a giggilion things and probably spread myself too thin again. Well, exams haven't started yet, so I'm still feeling happy. But then again, I have my first quiz on Thursday. Yikes!

Awesome/Funny/Cute videos

1. Hahaha...this was a video made by 1st years some year back. It's brilliant!



2. Really, really cute bulldog videos: Tilt heads and Can't get up

3. I found someone hadn't seen this yet - it should be a sin: Best Wedding Entrance Ever

Awkward Family Photos

Hahaha...I was reading "cup of jo" blog, and I came upon a website that featured awkward family photos. Haha...I've attached a few of my fav's:
Oh...grannys...Spic and Span
This is just awkward: Watchmen
I think this is something that I would do: Awkward Family Story: Double Take
Haha...cute kid: "Bookend"

And finally...my favorite: Playtex

Medical School Procrastination

Awesome youtube video, compliment of mnz!:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Yo, so you know the "I'm on a boat" song right?

Here it is on youtube in case you don't:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvaCV6uQp8

Well here's the med version: "I wear a coat"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfoR96w41wk
------------

Hilarious article, compliment of JS:
"One of those things you feel bad for laughing at...

http://imgur.com/ORogZ.jpg"

------------

Funny moments, compliment of EK:

"In honor of yesterday's POM...

1.. A man comes into the ER and yells, "My wife's going to have her baby in the cab." I grabbed my stuff, rushed out to the cab, lifted the lady's dress and began to take off her underwear.
Suddenly I noticed that there were several cabs - - - and I was in the wrong one.

Submitted by Dr. Mark MacDonald,
San Francisco

2. At the beginning of my shift I placed a stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf female patient's anterior chest wall. "Big breaths,". . .... I instructed.
"Yes, they used to be,". . . replied the patient.

Submitted by Dr. Richard Byrnes,
Seattle , WA

3. One day I had to be the bearer of bad news when I told a wife that her husband had died of a massive myocardial infarct. Not more than five minutes later, I heard her reporting to the rest of the family that he had died of a "massive internal fart."

Submitted by Dr. Susan Steinberg

4.. During a patient's two week follow-up appointment with his cardiologist, he informed me, his doctor, that he was having trouble with one of his medications. "Which one ?". . .. I asked.
"The patch ......the Nurse told me to put on a new one every six hours and now I'm running out of places to put it!" I had him quickly undress and discovered what I hoped I wouldn't see. Yes, the man had over fifty patches on his body!Now, the instructions include removal of the old patch before applying a new one.

Submitted by Dr Rebecca St. Clair,
Norfolk , VA

5. While acquainting myself with a new elderly patient, I asked, "How long have you been bedridden?" After a look of complete confusion she answered . . "Why, not for about twenty years - when my husband was alive."

Submitted by Dr. Steven Swanson,
Corvallis , OR

6. I was performing rounds at the hospital one morning and while checking up on a man I asked .. . . "So how's your breakfast this morning?" "It's very good except for the Kentucky Jelly. I can't seem to get used to the taste" . . Bob replied. I then asked to see the jelly and Bob produced a foil packet labeled "KY Jelly."

Submitted by Dr.. Leonard Kransdorf,
Detroit

7.. A nurse was on duty in the Emergency Room when a young woman with purple hair styled into a punk rocker Mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered . . ..

It was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery.. When she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green and above it there was a tattoo that read . . . "Keep off the grass."

Once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient's dressing, which said, "Sorry . . . had to mow the lawn."

Submitted by RN no name

AND FINALLY!! ! ... . . . ... . . . . ... . . ...

8. As a new, young MD doing his residency in OB. I was quite embarrassed when performing female pelvic exams... To cover my embarrassment I had unconsciously formed a habit of whistling softly.
The middle-aged lady upon whom I was performing this exam suddenly burst out laughing and further embarrassing me.
I looked up from my work and sheepishly said, "I'm sorry. Was I tickling you?"
She replied with tears running down her cheeks from laughing so hard ... .... ... "No doctor, but the song you were whistling was . . . 'I wish I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener..'"

Dr. wouldn't submit his name . ."

Non-computer savvy

So far the most confusing thing about med school is its web interface. First they send us a whole bunch of usernames and passwords. Yes, they tell us what it's for, but we haven't even heard of these websites/accounts/whatever before, so by the time we get to med school orientation, we've pretty much all lost our passwords or usernames or whatever.

Then, to make our lives easier, we have MedPortal, My CoursePlaces, WUMSweb (or something like that), WebSTAC, and a separate MFM (molecular foundations of medicine, aka biochem) website that doesn't appear to connect to the other websites. So I am guessing that MedPortal seems to be the main place for lectures...but then some (not all?) schedules, handouts, etc. seem to be posted on My Course Places, and then WUMSweb is a website for stuff that med students have posted. WebSTAC, I guess, is the equivalent of the more administrative stuff like grades, financial stuff, you-are-failing notes, etc.

And then for each class, the material and places we are supposed to go on the website varies so much! Some classes have course notes, some have homework in the course notes, some have hw on some website, some require it to be posted, sometimes we get into groups, sometimes the groups change, sometimes they stay the same, and then there are times when they give us notes so late we have to pick them up from our mailbox right before lecture. Other times they forget to give us notes, or give us websites to go to, but forget to tell us the password or username (or maybe i forgot them?). Some have study questions - i just found out yesterday that my MFM class has study questions. Anatomy has questions of the week that need to be answered on Fridays, and also there are a bijillion ppts sent out from that class for what day, I am not even sure. There are mysterious videos we have to scavenge for (just realized where to find dissection videos for anatomy - horray!). For POM (practice of medicine) they gave us not one, but THREE course notes, and I would not know which day to use what without MedPortal. ugh...so confusing!

And then what is up with all the interest groups and their incessant use of acronyms? AMWA, AMA, AMSA, APAMSA, PHIG, SPOTS, STATS, IMIG... Sure, use your acronyms, but we are first years and have no idea what they mean (okay, by now I kind of do, but I dont want to remember more things than what I absolutely have to remember).

Swing dancing, blood pressure, and random other things

Med school has been a lot of fun, and I think one of the major contributions to that fun is being able to try new things. Just yesterday, I check out ballroom dancing. That day's lesson was swing. Although I've done some swing dancing in undergrad, it was still amusing, and fun to dancing with different people and hear different ways people teach it. 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, slow, slow - haha, like what the instructor said, all I need to do is brush my teeth and say that rhythm each morning/night. haha. Of course, I'm still as awkward, stiff and floppy at the same time as ever. I think my shoe kept on slipping off as well. It's nice being a girl - whatever goes wrong, it's always the guy's fault. hehe. Anyhow, it was a fun experience, and I'm looking forward to another night of it some other week.

Other fun experiences, I guess I'm getting into frisbee too. Although my only ability is to run a bit (or a lot), I fail at the upper body part of it all - catching and throwing. But maybe by joining the undergrad club team, I'll get better. Like ballroom dancing, I think it's a nice skill to have - I'm hoping it'll come in handy someday.

My heart rate is 49?!!
Wow, when I got my physical and they said my heart rate was 49, I thought something was wrong. Yesterday we got to go around and checkout our classmate's heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Wow, I almost feel like a real doctor! The person checking me reported that I had a rate of 48, but then realized she multiplied by 3 instead of 4 (15 sec check) - so it was actually about 64. But strangely, when my neighbor checked it out again, and I did a double check, we both got 48. haha...strange.

We also practiced introducing ourselves to a patient as we entered the room. haha, it's a lot more complicated then I expected. I forgot to ask for permission to enter the room, it's awkward having to wait to purell your hands before you shake the patient's hand, and I got waaaaaay too much purell on my hand so I had to just stand there awkwardly for a long time before I could shake their hand. This other guy got way too much on his hand, and accidentally clapped - so purell foam flew all over the place! That was awesome! Oh ya, I also forgot to say who I was. I'm glad I make things awkward.

Chinese censorship

2009 Summer Korea/China/CETI trip journal

Chinese Censorship

Wow, even though this is not the first time i've experienced the censorship in China, I still find it pretty insane. I can't seem to access anything with remotely linked to www.blogger.com. Come on - this is a blog! How else am I going to record every minute detail of my wonderful experience here? Everything is so systematic and follow-the-rule style (said nicely) such that it appears people are just robots. Ugh...okay, fine, i'm just angry I can go on blogger.

Man, I even tried asking a computer savvy friend if there's some way I can bypass this - but it seems very very formidable. I think anything with the word "blogger," and there's an automatic error message on my computer screen. Of course, it's in Chinese, and I can't really understand what it's saying, but the message is loud and clear.

But it's not just www.blogger, so far, I can't access YouTube either! ah....how can watch mindless television now? Thank goodness for google docs.

Friends have said that I can add new entries, but I can't see my own blog - but I still haven't figured out how to do that - anyone know? Someone else suggested MIT vpn - great! but...it's so slooooooooow to download. At least I managed to figure out how to get a certificate and all with a bunch of Chinese.




Swine Flu Epidemic - or at least it appears this way for the Chinese

For some reason the government has decided that SARS was something it was going to keep under the cover and pretend nothing happened, but when Swine Flu came about (something that has a cure and can be cured if caught relatively early), is something that requires heavy quarantine, airplane checks, and essentially use of civilian scare tactics. Note the following:
"WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a
reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness
caused by the virus."

Yet, when I entered China - well, not even entered, because I was still sitting on the plane - people in white coats, face masks, and gloves come on the plane and measure each person with a thermometer to the forehead. When I accidentally noted that I had lived in Seattle in the past 7 days though I was in Korea for the past 6 days, the quarantine officer asked a lot of questions and sounded concerned. oh dear... i passed.

From Travel Alert:
"In some instances, children have been separated from their parents
because either the parent or the child tested positive for 2009-H1N1
and was placed in quarantine for treatment. This situation presents
the possibility of Chinese medical personnel administering medications
to minors without first having consulted their parents.



The Department of State has received reports about unsuitable
quarantine conditions, including the unavailability of suitable
drinking water and food, unsanitary conditions, and the inability to
communicate with others."


Relatives won't see me because of Swine Flu

I found my grandfather and aunt had called my other aunt (where I'm staying) and asked if it was really necessary that I visit them. Come on! I'm your freakin' granddaughter and neice! Are you REALLY not going to see me because of swine flu? Okay...maybe there's a chance I have it if there were NO quarantine officers checking each plane - but I got checked, AND I had lived outside the states for a couple of days.

Somehow, they decided I could visit them, but uh oh... I got a cold from the AC being turned too low the previous night. I told them I might have a cold from the AC (how stupid was that?), and they freaked out. Said I should go to the hospital, eat medication - I really thought they were going to quarantine me. Maybe that's why there was a big rush to get me out of their house when my aunt came to pick me and my cousin up.

I was still forced to take my temperature - i really feel fine! - and it appears I have a temperature of 37.3 (normal is 37) - Well, now I'm really scared they might lock me in and not let me go on my CETI trip around China to spread around my deadly disease.

Medical School Anatomy: Another reason to not smoke and to workout

Today was lung dissection, and I discovered another reason why people should not smoke and should workout:
Last session, we took out the saw and bone cutter and cut through the clavicle and the ribs. Sawing was pretty difficult, but it was nice to hear the last crack of the ribs. When we took off the front of the rib cage, we discovered two huge lungs that were black. Ah...smoker? How unfortunate. I also managed to cut the diaphram when I thought it was the parietal pleura.

Our role today was to take out the lungs and check it out. We looked at our lung and wondered why it was so small compared to another table's, which slipped right out. Well, according to our manual, the lung should slip right out if you cut the bronchi and the nerves/arteries/etc. After cutting all the nerves, arteries, nerves, muscles, diaphrams, and whatever...I decided to be careful and use my fingers to pry the lung away from the thoracic cavity. After a little prying, the lung still refused to budge, so we moved to using scissors. Soon, scissors didn't fit into the whole, and we moved to scalpel. Before long, we were digging our fingers as deep as possible (I'm sure I got cadaver juice on my wrists), and we pulled as hard as possible. Actually, SW pulled on the lung in one direction while I pulled the body in the other direction - all to no avail. Stupid lung! Why won't you come out?!!! We decided that after this, we should work out for the sole purpose of pulling out organs during anatomy. With more cutting, and eventually moving to using a chisel, we pulled the lung out - in 3 pieces. oops.

There you have it, another reason not to smoke: make med school student dissection not a test of how fit we are.

Medical School: Oops, I cut another nerve

Anatomy: how the heck are you supposed to tell what's a nerve, an artery, a vein, or just plain ligament?
Dissection is so much fun! I just love the smell of formaldehyde and the large quantities of cadaver juice we recover each day, and most of all - I love the fat that just oozes out of that 2 inch thick fat layer. yum. If it was unclear, that was sarcasm. But truth to be told, various group members keep on associating certain cadaver parts with food items! No!!! I will never be able to eat those things again... :(
The other day we tried to find the various branches off the axillary artery, which includes pectoral, acromial, clavical, and deltoid branches. I also wasn't aware that the arteries were white colored. I thought arteries had blood! Ugh, what makes it worse is that the nerves are about the same, but have different names. Great! And, it's exactly like an artery, but probably a tiny bit more translucent.
Well, to prevent me from cutting things, I decided to use my fingers. But to my dismay, I was pulling at the pectoral minor muscle and accidentally pulled the whole muscle off. oops!

Medical School: Cutting out the breast and skinning a person

Anatomy started before the first day:
As a typical eager medical student, a few of us decided to venture into the morgue (okay, not really the morgue, just the classroom with 30 some cadavers) to check out our bodies. Well, not really OUR bodies, but the bodies of those people who generously donated their body to science. The three of us were at different tables, and we all wanted to see what our cadavers looked like. The first one was pretty small, but distinct breasts revealed it to be a female. Next one was about the same size, and also seemed to be female. Then we got to mine, and I was thinking "Holy moly! It's huge!" We were sure it must have been some man who probably had an unhealthy diet of some sort.

First day of dissection neared, and once again being the eager medical student, I checked out the morgue again and found descriptions of the body. The person wasn't yet 50, had diabetes, and to my astonishment, was female. ah...very sorry body.

Then there was lecture. Oops. He talked about how we should treat the bodies as our first patients, and how we should be respectful. Boy...I felt bad saying my body was huge. :( hm...I wonder if the person wouldn't have minded me making cadaver jokes. Oh boy, what would medical students say when they see my body when I donate it? Smelly? It's interesting that they shave off their head and bloat their face to make them not so recognizable.

It cut like hot knife through butter:
So we put on our stinky scrubs and goggles, and we, once again eager medical students, pulled back the sheets that covered the bodies. There was a huge pool of cadaver juice (not the kind you want to drink). I made the first incision. But b/c the body had such a thick layer of fat, I didn't know where exactly to start or end b/c I really couldn't feel the bone at all. Lab teammate said go kind of deep b/c skin is probably tough. As we peeled back the skin, it turned out to be about 1 mm thick. oops.

But when we had to remove the fat layer, oh boy, that was maybe 1 to 2 inches thick. Imagine squishing this yellow gooey fat btwn your fingers. Message to all: if anything, please don't eat so much so that the medical student who dissects your future donated body wouldn't have to labor through your thick layer of fat. There are no other reasons to eat healthy.

I was so eager to dissect that I decided to dissect myself:
There is a first for everything right? Well, I got to be the first to cut my finger with my scalpel. Great move, huh? It's tiny, but there's nothing worse then feeling a pinch, hoping you didn't cut yourself, then taking off your glove and finding a drop of blood ooze out of the cut. Hopefully I won't get cadaver disease.

Med School: Beginning

Wow, summer came to an end WAAAAAY too quickly:
8/7: fly from Yulin to Beijing (visited Olympic stadiums - so awesome!)
8/8: fly from Beijing to Seattle
8/9: fly from Seattle to St. Louis
8/11: Start medical school orientation

And ...no longer pre-med! woot!

So many people to meet! So many things to buy! Get settled. The dorm I'm living in is called "Olin." So it's pretty nice in general, except for two things:
1) There is wireless everywhere EXCEPT for Olin, which is literally attached to the medical school
2) There are kitchens on every odd floor (yes! I'm on the 7th!), but there is only a refrigerator in the basement and the penthouse (11th floor) - what the heck?!! So there are dish washers in some of the kitchens, but no freakin' fridges? Ahhhhhhh!

Time to get fridge:
Ah...another lesson learned! I found that many students got new fridges from stores that were more than $100, and so I searched on Craig's list. I love Craig's list. I called the number listed, and the first time she said she'd meet me, she turned out to have a doctor's appointment. Next time, she wasn't around. 3rd time, she had lupus, and finally...I managed to get to her on the 4th try.
There were supposed to be fridges that were $50 somewhere nearby, so I asked, and it turned out that those were sold, but there was something for $35 that had a bit of rust on the handle. Being a frugal Chinese, I decided to go for the cheap fridge. And $20 delivery fee wasn't something I wanted to pay, so I asked a friend to help me retrieve the fridge.
Sadly, when we got there, not only did the fridge not fit into the car, but we mistakenly let some rough person try and shove it in the trunk, which was OBVIOUSLY way too small, which ended up scratching the car. And it was a new car. ah!!! Stupidity runs in my blood! Now instead of paying that $20 delivery fee, I get to pay a buttload of money to fix the scratches! Sadness. Lesson learned: don't be a cheap Asian.

WashU is NOT a pedestrian friendly city; conclusion: get a bike:
Craig's list! Yes, I found a bike on Craig's list for $35. Called the guy, said to come right away, and he'd be there for the next 2 hrs. While on the phone, I searched up the bus route, and found it was possible, so I rush out the door to catch the bus, and prepared to ride the bike back. But on the way back, found that the bus stop didn't seem to have the bus number I wanted. Uh oh. I also forgot the directions. So I could only resort to going back to Olin, and attempt to call people who might give me a ride.
On the way back, I saw a car drive out of the Olin parking lot, and saw somebody waving to me. I waved back, not really knowing who it was, and realized he was a first year I had met earlier. Without thinking properly, I thought perhaps they are going my direction! Perhaps they can give me a ride! Being friendly med students, they offered to give me a ride, and as I sat down, I realized I didn't even know the driver. Did an awkward introduction, and they drove me off to get a bike. Very nice people indeed...

My bike is so great that a thief will steal my lock before they steal my bike. Cost of bike: $35; Cost of lock: $30

First time bowling; score: 126

I signed up for a musical: ack!

I played soccer: ball hit me in the face, hard...twice.

I played basketball; I shot at the hoop...zero times.

I went to a bar and had three sips of "Angel on Acid" (tastes like ice cream)...and felt my Asian genes (aka Asian flame) taking over.