Wednesday, September 21, 2005

*I'm so excited.. oh I just can't hide it..

It is officially a fact that alcohol has been a stimulant rather than a deppressant for me. I hear people tell stories that after they drink two or three bottles of beer, they instantly falter to their beds once they get home. But me, I am wide awake and wonky and hyper. Last night, I was REAALLLLYY hyper because one, I had a lot of caffeine (eating chocolates before playing bowling) and then into the midnight, I had alcohol. O good GOSH. I feel so bad for the person who had to suffer last night with me. LOL. I remember that person saying that I'm fun to be with when I'm drunk, and yet at the same time it's embarassing (if you're reading this, correct me if I'm wrong, I have a mild case of forgetfulness in my hands as you well know).

Macie May
Macie May: Just randomly placed it in here.

So now that I got all that facts out of my head. I'm going to move on and talk about more not-so shallow stuff. I've been putting off going to the U for a while now. I am suppose to go there to apply for a job that's conjuncted with my work study award. I was suppose to go today, but due to the brain malfunction that happened to me last night, I just couldn't force myself to get off from bed at 11 in the morning. So anyway, with hopes that the greater good will work it's magic on me tomorrow, I just might be able to get my butt on a bus and head for that school (well, I really have to go tomorrow because if I don't take care of that by the end of this week, my award will be cancelled)

On to the more interesting and yet exciting stuff --- I recently began to take interest in getting into medical school again. I haven't been really looking at any medical facts and figures for the past year or so because of the confusion that I'm feeling towards getting into it. Then, the curious bug hit me again a week ago and now once again, I'm thumbing through the medical websites that the net could offer. So, if you're a med or a premed student reading this blog right now, do you have any sites to recommend for me to sift through? I've already gone through the Princeton Review site and I also know the AAMC and the AMA website as well. What I'm trying to look for now are sites that discuss or rather tell stories or experiences of people that are trying to get into med school, the highs and lows of being a med student, and the crazy life of a resident. So please, give me some. I need a lot of perspective right now because frankly, time is ticking away so fast these days that I feel like I just need to make a decision about these kind of things right now. I'm gonna stop myself right now before I jump onto any medical school pep talk on whether or not I will go and apply to it in the future, I shall go on and talk about the present tense, since I feel that talking about the future will just lead me to become even more anxious about what I will do with my life.

Some bench

Anyway, I have 6 more days left till I'm officially back to school. I'm really excited because for one, I get to be busy again. YES!! No more bumming around the house, no more not being useless during the day. I'm finally going to be able to label myself as being insane in the sense that "I'm insane because of a good cause" and not because of "I'm insane because I'm not doing anything at all".

As of last Monday of this week, I'm in the process contemplating on whether or not I should have a life at the U. You see, I'm kinda setting a goal for myself, I want to at least 3.0s and above in all the classes that I will take in that school. I'm really not up for seeing any Cs and Ds in my record and I kinda have to get Bs and As or else it's bye bye degree for me. So for me to be able to attempt the possible, I have to have no life in that school. But thinking about it right now, it's easy to accomplish having no life in that school since it's a pretty big school and it's easy to just cramp up into one space and pretend to be interested in whatever you are reading than just walking around and getting lost in a big campus like that. It's a pretty big school, it's a city within the city and there's 20000+ students that go to that school and I'm pretty sure I will have a hard time finding friends that will be my "friends for life" kinda thing. Hmm.. am I shallow or am I shallow?

The intersection that leads to the ARTS buildings

On to my next dilemma, I talked about joining the Filipino American Student Association in that school and right now, I'm kind of thinking of not joining it because well, it's part of my having no life thing. But then again, if I do decide to join that group, I will have the chance to meet friends (if I don't get too snobby or suplada) and there's a big chance that these friends might be able to help me cope up living in a big city like U and another bigger chance that these friends might be my "friends for life".

In comes my MAJOR issues ---- One of my best friends asked me why I just don't major in English instead. She SAYS, that I'm a good writer, no idea how true that statement of hers is. Anyway, I told her that I've already put so much time and effort on finishing up the majors of Biochemistry and putting that into waste by shifting would be a stupid because seriously, who would want to put the knowledge that I've gained from Org Chem to waste? And I seriously don't want to throw that class and my other classes down the drain because they are the most challenging classes that I ever took, but that's beside the point. Although the thought of majoring in English didn't really leave my mind after I talked to that friend of mine. I kind of thought, "well, if I can't major in English, why can't I just do a minor with it?", so I looked at the minor's page of the U and to my dismay, they don't offer any English minor. So sad. I guess I just have to settle for classes that requires a lot of writing.

Mary Gates Hall (or at least one side of it)

And another major issue --- I re-checked the DARS (the auditing system that the U website has that checks the classes that you still need to take in order to graduate with the major that you're in) and to my surprise, the darn system tells me that I still need to take a Biology class. ARRGGH.. What is up with advisors?? I said before that I already checked with my major's department to see if I should still take more bio courses and the adviser that I talked to there said that I didn't have to anymore, but then this system tells me that I still have to. Good gosh, who do I believe?

Ok, my final rave I know probably by now you all are starting to feel a little sleepy since this post is longer than I intended for it to be. But can you blame me? Once the writing bug hits you, it never goes away. Anyway, I realize that since the university is surrounded by coffee shops, coffee shops will probably be my good place to be at. It is where I will find sanity amidst all the projects, the papers, the quizzes and the assignments that my darn good professors will give me. Ahhh.. my future.. it's getting a little brighter now.


[all pictures taken by ME]

6 comments:

Ina said...

Wow, your school sounds great. Shucks, I wish I was in the university. Great pics by the way. I like the way you capture things. Reflects how good your perspective in life is :)

Oh and about alcohol. Hahaha. I love hearing about drunk stories of people.

Gail T. said...

a wow-kind of entry!!! tagal mo na kasing di nag-po-post.

anyhow, try studentdoctor.net's forums. :) i think i even found match lists (for residency programs) and/or figures for some med schools. http://www.studentdoctor.net/

i forgot if i have an account there. i'm too forgetful (haha, even without alcohol)

see you tomorrow!

Gail T. said...

p.s. how does the feedburner works?

Anonymous said...

ina - thanks! well, my drunken story is not really all that, i left some parts out.. hehehe.. kakahiyang magshare e..hehehe..

gail - thanks for the tip! how about books? any medical books you recommend for me? any medical memoirs or biographies? btw, the feedburner acts like a syndication thingie.. syndicates your site all over the net kinda thing..

Gail T. said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Gail T. said...

ok, i had to look in my list of books read (not that long since it's only a year old).

try White Coat: Becoming a Doctor at Harvard Medical School by Ellen Lerner Rothman. Here's my short reflection on it: "it's a very good read. i feel like i glimpsed into harvard med. i still don't think HMS is for me. i feel encouraged to go into med school. and i'm glad i read this book after a&p because i was able to understand and appreciate a lot of the anatomy stuff."

oh, and On Call by Emily R. Transue. Here's my reflection on it: "pretty interesting piece of work. it is so encouraging while terrifying. and it makes me want to be an internist. i found myself reminding myself that this took place in seattle. it's great. great stories about people and being a people's doctor; this is really something i want to do."

and Complications by Atul Gawande. review: "a thrilling and informative read. i realize that there's more to the specialty of surgery than meets my eye. i agree that Dr. Gawande wields his pen as skillfully as he does his scalpel. i can't pick a favorite chapter since almost every one is memorable."

I copy and pasted my mini-review from my list. i have mentioned that i'm reading Intern Blues by Robert Marion. so far, it's really intense. as they say, no one knows what [medical] internship is like unless he/she has lived through it.

you can read all four. each is kinda covering different aspects: med school, internship, residency, being on call... hmmm.

*talks to self* gail, enough already. this is getting very long. :)