January 2009

Now that it's the end of January, I decided to look back on my "new year's resolutions" and see how things were going.  

1.  4.0 for spring semester.  Well, in histology I have made 40, 60, and 60 on our 3 quizzes, and an 82 on the first test.  This is not conducive to making an A.  I would have to make A's on all the rest of the tests and bring my quiz average up to an A.  But luckily, I don't really care.  (is that bad?)  A B sounds just fine to me.  If halfway through school I decide I want to be an orthopedic surgeon or a dermatologist, I may regret this nonchalant outlook (that's one of my favorite smart sounding words to use by the way). What I do care about is Physiology, which I just had a test in on Friday.  I will have to report back on its outcome, but I feel pretty good about it.  OH!  And the way I hoped to achieve this goal? By paying attention in class? Not happening.  I think I have decided to just not go to histology anymore, and then I actually do make an effort to pay attention in phys.  But gchat is just too hard to pass up when a teacher is droning on about mitochondria and endothelial cells.  BOOOR-ING.   

2.  Healthy eating.  There have been good days and bad days.  Probably more bad then good.  I'm gonna get back on that TODAY.  Yeah... I'm going to Cracker Barrel for lunch and having duck a l'orange for dinner.  maybe tomorrow then.  

3.  Exercising regularly, even worse.  I'm not entirely sure I've exercised at all.  Unless walking up the stairs at school counts, because it takes about 2 minutes for my heart rate to subside after that.  Good cardio workout.  BUT today I am going to print off the entry form for the triathlon I want to do and send it in.  Then I am forced to exercise, lest I want to die halfway through the swim part of the race.   

4.  I just realized there wasn't a #4 in my previous list.  YEY, I've been successful in sticking with #4.

5.  More responsible with money?  Well, I've bought a lot of food.  Too much food.  Just checked my statement for Panera transactions for the month of January... 7.  Ridiculous.  But I have branched out too- mexican, seafood, greek, british? (a pizza named for the Beatles from mellow mushroom) New plan, when I go get groceries today I am going to take out $100.  That is what I will use for food for the month of February.  Once I run out, I can no longer eat!  It's shorter, I should be able to do that right?  

6.  Avoiding boys... well this one is just difficult.  They are too plentiful.  I am going to med school prom solo, when I could have had a date, so maybe I'm halfway successful here.   

7.  Find something exciting to do this summer, nothing new here.  The thought of lying around doing nothing, taking occasional road trips and other mini vacation things sounds quite enjoyable though.  

A bit of inspiration for your day

Is it Christmas yet?

So I have made it through close to 2 weeks of my 2nd semester of med school, and so far, I am only failing one class!  Technically, I have 100s in everything except Histology, because I've made a 6/10 on our only quiz so far. [UPDATE: I just took another quiz and made a 4/10 bringing my average to a 50%]  I despise this class.  If someone has some inspirational thoughts as to why the cell and all its organelles are worth sitting in class for 2 hours and learning about, please let me know.  

But these 2 weeks have not been all bad.  

Creepy moment of the week:

A group of us went to a Mexican restaurant on Saturday night.  Not that memorable, the food wasn't amazzing.  But the moment that sticks out in my mind was when this old lady (when I say old, she was probably 50 but looked about 92 because she's probably been smoking 5 packs a day for the past 35 years) came over and asked Jenny is she was Kate's mom.  When Jenny said yes, the lady replied "You better be glad I'm not a thief because that baby is precious!" Check, please?  Luckily, we made it out all right, with everyone accounted for.   

Depressing moment of the week:

About 11 o'clock Thursday night, Florida (and TIM TEBOW) become national champions (not depressing at all),but this marked the end of college football.  Until September.  There's still several weeks of pro football left, but that doesn't fill the hole in my heart that is present in the months from January-August when I'm awaiting the start of college football.  

"This is so amazing I want to cry" moment of the week:

This Sunday I went to "From the Top" which is an NPR show that happened to be filming in Mobile.  They bring on kids that play classical music, interview them, and they play a song.  The first guy that walks out was a sight: 18 years old, dreads down to his waist, and he played the.... drums? electric guitar? maybe even the saxophone? No, he played the flute.  Next was a 12 year old who played Clare de Lune on the piano which was easily one of the most beautiful things I have heard in my life.  And she was so incredibly graceful doing it.  I did tune out for about 30 seconds trying to figure out the movie that they play this song in.  Ocean's 11.  At the end when they are are standing by the fountain.  Next was a guy that played the bassoon and then a 13 year old that played the violin.  

Inspiring moment of the week:

Last night I went to a pediatric interest group, which is always great because they always have amazing food.  A pediatric cardiologist came and talked to us, and she was just really cool to hear from because she LOVES her job.  Gets me excited going to things like this, because a lot of the times I forget why I'm here, focusing on the troubles of the day whether than looking ahead to the end result.  School sucks but I am here for a reason.  

Reality check moment of the week:

I want to go to Europe this summer.  But I also want to go to Honduras, Puerto Rico, and New York.  I realize I cannot do all these things.  Europe would be great, but I don't have plans, I don't have anyone to go with, and I would cost a lot.  I could theoretically do all three of the other things, probably for the same cost as going to Europe.  Honduras is a medical mission trips, hopefully can raise money for that.  Puerto Rico only involves buying a plane ticket.  New York, well Madeline wants to look at schools so thats a good excuse to take a major road trip and visit lots of places. 

"I judge myself and my whole family" moment of the week:

I'm not sure this even deserves words.  Promise this is the first time this has happened... at least I hope.  

a new year

Last night I was honored enough to be present for a first annual Mobile tradition.  Much like the Times Square Ball drop of NYC or the Peach drop in Atlanta, Mobile wanted such an event to bring in the new year.  So Mobilians began to think, what are we most proud of?  What do we want to be remembered by?  That's when City Councilman Fred Richardson came up with it- the moonpie. 

"It cuts across

 economic status.  It cuts across race. 

 The Moon Pie brings people together.  If I had picked some other object, it could have divided the community.  But the Moon Pie, nobody has anything against the Moon Pie... They [the critics] see it, and many of them don't like it, but they can't stop it.  It's coming whether they like it or not!"

Fred Richardson

 So the planning was underway.  Richardson contributed $9,000 from the city's discretionary fund for the construction of a 12-ft tall, 600-lb electric pie.  Makes sense.  Why not spend taxpayer's money on something completely pointless when our economy is in the hole and our kids don't get to go to music class because there's no funding for our public schools?

 And not that that wouldn't have been PLENTY, but Chattanooga Bakery, the inventor of the Moon Pie in 1917, concocted the world's largest, 55-lb, 45,000 calorie pie for the event.  Look at the beauty.  

So how was my experience?

We got there around 11:30, and unfortunately the edible moonpie was gone.  We did scrape some remains from the bottom, but determined it wasn't safe to eat.  

 See that itty bitty yellow dot in the background? That would be our grand electronic moonpie high in the sky.  And its not that small because I was at the back of a huge crowd, or because my camera can't zoom.  They had it so far away, it just looked that tiny.  You couldn't even read what it said, and it did NOT look like a moonpie.

I'm so proud to call Mobile my home.