Ninety, Hot Hot HOT!

Being a medical student, they tell you during second year is when you hit your hypochondriac phase. So far I've been good but I'll admit, looking over last night I could easily freak myself out. The fact that I developed a very strong fever out of nowhere is definitely a concern (don't worry, I'll be finding a licensed doc to get it checked up on) but what is even scarier are all the dozens of different conditions that could mean. A tad sobering if you ask me.

No worries for me today though, the fever departed as fast as it came so today I actually feel decent barring a slight left temporal headache. Nothing a Tylenol can't keep quiet while my body heals from the searing ravages of yesternight.

Eighty-nine, Wunderkind Johnny Lee

Today some of my friends and I perused Johnny Lee's website. Lord Chaos fell in love wished to conquer universes with him his Wii Remote usage. Additionally, he has some neat photography. I'll admit that even I really like a lot of the stuff he does. And he has an uncanny resemblance to Hiro Nakamura (no, I'm not saying that because he's Oriental but because they both have a similar facial build). I admit, if I didn't have school, I'd be somewhat interested in fooling around with his technologies.

Eighty-eight, Metaphysical Medicine

Neo, there's someone who could be a great doctor (Spoiler: he did save Trinity!). Imagine having that power in the real world. Being able to scalpel cut someone open, treat them, and sew the patient shut all in a matter of picoseconds (0.000000000001 seconds). Before a drop of blood spills, you're sewing them shut. In my mind, this works in a similar manner to Fry's 100 cups of coffee. Except normal doses of caffeine have little effect on me so I might have to go even higher to kill myself, achieve a higher state of nirvana, and do super-surgery!

Eighty-seven, A Grand Adventure!

So there I was, a little tired, thinking of going to bed (but realizing I would probably put it off by another 2 hours) when I get a phone call returned. It's Amish Girl and she's on a study-kick like no other. But I talk her into hanging out for a couple minutes. Then I hit a dilemma. [insert dramatic musical splurge, then a pause... continue] I don't want to put on my coat! [insert dramatic musical splurge, then a pause... continue] Idea! [spirally uplifting tone] I grab the chorso/chaddar that I have wrapped around me and walk Boldly out the door. Once I shut the door behind me, I briskly walk over to AG's place. I knock insistently and stand there freezing. Who the heck thought it would be bright not to wear a coat? (goes back, "... continue] Idea! [spirally") Oh, mine... hehe. Thankfully, she opens the door fairly quickly and I enter the warmth of her place. Despite the evil that slowly but surely is permeating the place. Of course I speak of her studiousness and not of the cat dander. Her cat is quite precious and would not wish harm upon me (except perhaps when I intentionally try to startle her--the cat, not AG...I think AG would just spray me with mace if I startled her regularly).

After realizing the faux pas of wearing a long coat (which I still don't know if it's still adhered to or not, so I think I'll ask my mentor!) and figuring out which type I'll need and whatnot, I brace myself and head out. A happier man for the load I now carry: AG returned my balloons to me and of course balloons make me happy. They make everyone happy!

Mmmmm...pie

Eighty-six, Medical-ese

"Morphologically, the major change in HD is loss of medium-sized spiny neurons in the neostriatum, manifested grossly by severe atrophy of the caudate nuclei and, to a lesser degree, the putamen. Cerebral cortical atrophy may also be evident, particularly in the frontal lobes."

The fact that I can read that and--outside of the fact that I read "spiny" and think Mario games--understand what it's saying to me means that all these years of schooling were worth something. As I try to figure that out, I realize that that "something" that I gained is the ability to speak in a new language. I wonder how useful this new language will be for talking to non-medical-ese people... I guess it's similar to being a translator. Except that it's involved translations where you actually describe what the words mean to each new person you meet (very few of whom will speak medical-ese). So yay! I'm learning a new language! Now all I have to do is spend the rest of my life explaining words from that language to people who speak English (and other languages).

Eighty-five, Curt

There's something to be said for your outlook influencing your day. Tomorrow will be very good. I guarantee it.

Eighty-four, Pushing Hard

Every so often, I get these urges to perform well. Which usually means sleep loses. It's 1:03 AM and I'm done with my assigned set of "Learning Objectives" (fancy words for testable material). I'm about to go to bed and sleep (by 1:30 at the latest). I'm going to hope to get up by 5 AM so I can get ready and then start studying for today's quiz. Off I go for a couple hours to nap.

Eighty-three, a Rat , an Airport, and Grandparents

I watched "Ratatouille" with my family today. My grandmother doesn't speak or understand English really at all. I wanted her to enjoy a movie and I feel that Pixar has movies that can accomplish that. But I realized that they too have a lot of dialogue at times so I would at times pause the action and explain stuff if it got hectic. I think she thought it was alright but wasn't really interested in it. My grandfather however watched it avidly! I thought that was interesting :) Granted I did hide the Gujarati newspaper (the Divya Bhaskar) when my dad came in with the mail today.

After dinner (I cooked potatoes and learned a couple things I did wrong last time!), "The Terminal" came on after Jeopardy! and I really liked it so I started talking about it to my grandparents while we were eating. Then after dinner, I kept up the explanations. I personally thought this movie would interest my grandmother more because Viktor Navorski doesn't speak English at the start of it and that's something she can relate to. I was surprised when my grandfather didn't go upstairs until 9:40 PM (normally he is in bed by 9:15). And my grandmother normally goes up as well but she stayed until the movie finished at 11! So I think they did like that one. I learned to follow the meaning of the movies without understanding the language from a young age when we'd watch Hindi films at home. It must be very frustrating to watch a movie where you understand none of the dialogue.

I'll have to see what I can do about the lack of stuff to keep the mind stimulated in the house for my grandparents.

Eighty-two, Life Doesn't Stop

I've been reading a new book I borrowed from a friend.

Soon I Will Be Invincible
by Austin Grossman

An excerpt:
"I'm not a criminal. I didn't steal a car. I didn't sell heroin, or steal an old lady's purse. I built a quantum fusion reactor in 1978, and an orbital plasma gun in 1979, and a giant laser-eyed robot in 1984. I tried to conquer the world and almost succeeded, twelve times and counting."

I read that and see pure comic genius.

Aside from that, I've been keeping busy with school. Big exams coming up this semester ranging from cumulative pathology exams to microbiology exams to the big one: Boards, USLME Step 1. And of course, I do my best to keep up with friends far and near. How about you? Staying sane in this crazy world?

Eighty-one, Fourty-five Minutes Before Class

I slept well last night. I don't usually dream-and-remember. I do dream but usually I have no recollection. Every now and then I do wake up in the middle of a dream remembering specifics clearly. And then, like this morning, I wake up right after I've finished a dream. I think this is the worst because you know there's a magical world just beyond your fingertips and mentally you reach for it, trying to grasp even a single thought inspired from it but to no avail. It is lost forever to the mists. Some people take on a sour grapes attitude, "Well, if you don't remember it, then it wasn't worth remembering." In fact, I say stuff like that a lot. But something within tells me that with dreams that is not so. That what we dream of and forget is of utmost importance to who we are as a person and possibly the world, if only we could recall them.