I Like My Space

Well, it is official, I am feeling suffocated. Well, not literally, but I am definitely not used to people being around the apartment all of the time. Last semester my one roommate didn't like me very much and stayed clear of the apartment as much as possible and my other roommate hung out with her boyfriend 24/7/365.

So I got used to being alone, doing whatever I wanted wherever I wanted and nobody was around. I could burst into song whenever I pleased and do random dances whenever I wanted. Now, things have changed. The new roommate is definitely around more, but I would much rather have somebody who is pleasant and around more than somebody who didn't like me and isn't around at all. And, my other roomate just broke up with her boyfriend so she is around ALL OF THE TIME. Don't get me wrong, she's a great roommate, I am just not used to her being present so much.

I remember when everybody started going other places last semester and I was all alone and it was an adjustment. It taught me that I really do like my own space and not being around people all of the time. Ugh, that sounds anti-social. I am definitely not a hermit, I go to classes, study with my friends, etc., etc., but there is something to be said about being alone in an apartment for a certain amount of time.

Well, I guess that things are always changing, so I must get used to this again. Heck, the majority of last year seemed as if I lived entirely by myself in a beautiful huge apartment!

One Friday Night in the Library

I spent the majority of my Friday evening studying common anorectal problems. After spending a couple of hours I fail to understand why anybody in their right mind would want to be a colorectal surgeon.

ewww!

Feeling Un-Green

Normally I am all for reducing, reusing, and recycling in order to save the environment. To go along with this, I am also all up for conserving energy consumption, but there is one thing I cannot stand: ENERGY SAVING LIGHT BULBS!

I can't stand the things! When I flick the light switch, I would like to have the lights come right on, not having to wait two minute s for them to warm up to give off maximal light.

It is a good thing that my roommate bought them and replaced all of our bathroom lights with them. Even better....they are supposed to last three years!

Snow Day in August

Today was the oddest of days. Despite getting up at 6AM to go to an extra didactic session this morning, our first two lectures where canceled because the clinician could not get to the university to lecture. I am assuming that something came up for the doc and he or she had to deal with that. Additionally, they closed the library mid-morning, then they sounded the fire alarm and evacuated the entire campus. I've never been in a real fire-alarm situation before. We all piled out of the study room we were studying in and stood at the street. The fire department came, so we decided to head to my place to get some studying done. The administration then closed the entire campus and made everybody go home because they had some sort of electrical problem (?) and, to resolve it, they had to shut off the power to the entire campus. So all of our other lectures were canceled too.

This was great for today! But it is going to bite us in the butt when we have to make up the missed lectures at some abscure and inopportune time. It is funny how things change! Before, when we had a closing or class canceled in undergrad, I was happy, but now, I am a bit disappointed because A) they will shove these lectures into our already busy enough schedule and B) I think it is important information we missed out on (i.e. colon cancer and common rectal diseases and injuries).

So I love my First Aid book!

I bought a couple of board review books and I am currently making my way through a tonne of gastrointestinal lectures while using my lecture notes and the First Aid book. The First Aid book, not only helps me know what to place emphasis on in my lectures, but also has wonderful little quirks to help me remember things. For example:

Crohn's Disease:

A fat granny and an old crone skipping down a cobblestone road away from the wreck.

this means: that Crohn's disease has fat wrapping around the intestines, skips segments of the intestines (ie not continuous), has a cobblestone appearance and spares the rectum.

Although this may not mean much to you, I think it is pretty clever and now I remember everything pertinent about Crohn's Disease.

This makes me happy :)

Ah the endless days of studying!

It is so weird because I sat on my butt all day today staring at my computer attempting to learn some biostatistics and other evidence based medicine principles, and didn't enjoy learning the material at all, yet, despite this, I am still happy that I am doing what I am doing. Yes, studying this subject for 12 hours is synonymous with eating sand for half a day, but heck, what else would I rather be doing? Nothing. This is part of the game, I have to suck up the boring stuff so that I can get to the better stuff like studying other systems like GI or cardio. Or, even better, to get to start doing clinical work! Ah will be the day that I don't have to study all day by myself and I can go into the hospitals, see patients, and learn real medicine. This thought frequently motivates me, because one day I will be doing 'doctor-things'. Until that day comes though, I will continue to study.

Tired

I am extremely tired but also very happy. I studied my butt off for my first pathology exam and it paid off. My score was in the top 16% of the class. Wahoo! Mind you, I hope I "learned" some of the drugs rather than simply memorized them!

Other than that happy note, I have actually been quite productive today. I had lab, slept a bit, cleaned, and read three journal articles and answered a quiz on each of the articles for my evidence based medicine class. It was boring but needed to be done. Now I lie in bed with my eye balls all dried up and my eye lids feeling heavier my the second. Which is why I am going to go to bed now.

'night!

Drugs, drugs, why art thou so difficult?

So I am knee deep in studying for my first pharmacology test and I often wonder why drugs have names that don't go along with their form or function. What does Atropine, Hexamethonium, or Trihexyphenidyl really tell me? Not much. Which is why I am feverishly memorizing these and many, many more drugs today, tomorrow, and the next day. At least this feels like stuff a doctor should actually know.

Psychotic Week

Man oh man, I survived my first psychotic week of second year. This explains my lack of posting in the recent days. I was in class for 25 hours this week, then I had two labs, a doctor's appointment and meetings for my little sibling (a program for incoming medical students to contact and gain advice from a second year). Needless to say it has been a long week. To top it all off we had a nutrition exam this morning that, well, lets say that it was difficult to say the least. I really enjoyed going to lecture and learning about nutritional things (although it has made me very aware of my current lack of nutrition in my current diet...but that is another post). But when the exam came it was more difficult than I had anticipated. :( Oh well, I was above the class average but I expected more of myself. I guess that I will just have to kill the second exam.

Well, I can say that one full week is done and look forward to next week because that means that I can be done yet another week. Gosh, that sounds like it is horrible to be here in medical school. Every time I complain I am just venting (we all need to do this once in a while). In all honesty, I LOVE what I am doing and really look forward to what this next semester brings for me (even if it hurts a bit in the process :))