Perfection!

I finally finally finally found what I have always been looking for! Knee-high black boots! (that hug my calfs) And I finally found it at the DSW! Hurray for me Hurray for me! Hurry for the new and improved sexxxy me! ;) I have them on right now with a jean skirt, and boy do I look hot.. These boot automatically add sex appeal, international flair, and style.. although I was given "new york" fashion advice that cowboy boots are in, and that tight boots are out.. I said poo to that! I want these boots damn it.. and now I need a real sexy wool skirt, and I will finally have the winter outfit of my dreams! I also know a special someone who has been waiting a loong time to see me in black tall boots... ;)

Cheers to Persistence

I recently had a near perfect weekend. Complete with a super expensive hotel room, tickets to the Blue Man Group, and dinner at a Sea Food Restaurant. The hotel room was really such an incredible part of the deal. Because of the wonderful resilience of my boyfriend, we were able to stay at a hotel downtown that's normally $450 a night, but we got it for $115!! Compliments to hotels.com! The sea food restaurant was nice too.. we had po-boys! Blackened catfish.. I guess I truly am developing a liking to seafood.. And then the Blue Man Group. I had gone about ten years ago to see it... and unbelievably, it was the same exact show! I honestly am a little shocked that they hadn't changed it, not even the jokes after all these years. What is the incentive for people to keep going? And yet, there they were! Laughing to all the jokes.. cheering on the Blue Men! Obsessively.. crazy people! But it was a great night, only made better by the wonderful date with me.. and the down pillows at the hotel room!

Five Star McDonald's

Last Friday night I went out with a few people, had some drinks, some laughs.. did I mention drinks.. of course when you have open bar you really have to get your money's worth. :) But afterwards we went to a McDonald's that's was pure luxury! Complete with an escalator, glass tables, leather chairs.. and between the three of us, we managed to spend thirty five dollars. Oh my god, we ate and ate! We even had apple pie, milk shakes, lots of nuggets, tons of chicken sandwiches.. talk about grubbing on food! The next day I felt so fat! And in fact for the next few days I felt fat.. ate too much. But my God.. that was the best milk shake I had ever had while drunk!

Sequel: Another CRAZY Med School Party

...I wasn't at this party.. but after finding out what happened, I am kind of glad! Apparently some guy got hit in the head with a pint glass and was bleeding over the bar unconscious. He had to get 38 stitches, a blood transfusion, and a CT scan to make sure he was ok! He apparently pushed a girl and she got mad and smashed the glass on his head. Whoaa!!! Crazy and unnecessary reaction! These med school people party waaay too hard for me!

Mary J. Blige

I am watching a new video of Mary J. Blige's on MTV right now... and I can't help but to think back to last fall when I saw her at a Vote or Die Rally... and how incredibly stupid she sounded at that rally! Almost incoherent. She could barely make it through her speech.. at the same time managing to say that women are reproductive machines. (In an apparently positive tone). Oh man. She really shows that even after fame and money, you really can't undo the affect of not have education. It was awful to have to see her go through that speech.. I almost wanted to get up on stage and do it for her! And now, I can't even look at her on the same on tv.. I always think about how awful the speech was that she delivered!

An Eventful Test

I was taking my histology practical test earlier this week and I kept getting electrically shocked by the stupid microscopes! We only have 1 minute per station to try and identify the tissue/cells on the slides, but I was too afraid to even look into the microscope. Every time I went close to them with my face, I was afraid! It happened at least 5 times, and man! They were painful! Worse of all, the first time it happened, I said ow really loud! Because it surprised me. And everyone looked at me like I was crazy. But I got the best of them.. the girl next to me also started getting shocked. So that will be the last time I wear a wool sweater when looking into microscopes. But the good news is that I am officially done with histology! Thank God... and now on to my anatomy final.. but what sucks is that my winter break is not much of a break.. I start classes again Jan 3rd. And then I have MIDTERMS the last week of January!!!!!! Holy shit..

Wacky Yoga Move

I went to a crazy yoga class this week.. this is the type of center that is all religious and everything. They make you take your shoes off when you get there.... have scents going off everywhere. Hindu images everywhere.. interesting. Anyway, so I went to this class and they did these really funky stomach moves. The instructor showed me: first you exhale all of the air in your lungs, then you suck up your stomach so that you can see your ribs. Then you some how make your stomach "bulge" towards the middle. Then you rotate your stomach bulge in a circular motion.... got that? No. I am not surprised. And believe me, when he showed me, I was like whoa! That's some crazy shit... but I somehow managed to do it last night when I was trying!!!!! Yea me! I am crazy yoga girl... but that class really did mess up my back for a while!

Back to finals studying... If anyone ever wanted to know what the seminal vesicles look like under a microscope, just ask.

That Comfy Spot! ;)

I found a REAL nice spot today in dissection. We were dissecting the urogenital triangle today.. for all you non-med people, basically it's all the area near the ass crack.. so we turned over the guy on his stomach, but it was hard for me to get access to the area in order to dissect it. So I got a stool and was kneeling on my knees on it.. and then I realized that I could sit on the table with the cadaver.. lean against him, and have a perfect dissecting view! It was wonderful, and so much nicer than having to stand the entire time... of course leaning against the body wasn't great, but after a while, you don't even notice!

Tales from the Medical School Crypt

I gave my first shot today! I went to my preceptor's office and was walking around with him.. seeing his patients, and one of the patients needed a shot! So the doc walks out of the room, and comes back with a needle and straight hands it to me! Holy Shit! He's like, just gather a bunch of skin together and poke her... oh man! I went so slow though, that i think I really hurt her. Oh well.. that's what happens when you get a shot from a first year med school. But she'll always be in my memory as my "first"! :) How romantic..

I also got accepted into the steering committee that I applied for. Yea me! So now I am going to be helping to organize health fairs and all that good stuff.. come by for a free health screening! I promise I won't givce you a shot...

I also spent the entire morning making up a song to remember the branches of the internal iliac artery. Thank God my roommate is not here, because she would straight up think that I was crazy! Oh well.. now I know the branches.. so if you ever want to hear my song, just say the magic words! ;)

Words I Hate

1. Frolic
2. Prance
3. Chocolate/Cookies/Ice Cream
4. Harry Potter
5. Tortuous - but that's because they use it WAY too much in medical school...

...wishing for something, but I don't know what..

An "ah ha!" Moment

I just had the best idea of a project that I will propose for the Schweitzer Fellowship program for next year. Good job for me! All thanks to Toastmasters! ;)

Never Thought This Would Happen to Me!

Last night there was a huge social at the Rock Bottom Restaurant downtown for all of the medical school students around the city. That would include 5 schools!! So I went there with a few people from my class and it was a pretty good time. Of course, free food and drinks is always an excellent incentive.. can you believe that? An open bar for all those people? Crazy. Along the way, on the train station I ran into a girl I went to high school with (actually elementary, junior high, AND high school).. and who lived one block away from me. At the train station, she was also going to this party. All in all, there were about 4 people there that I knew from my high school! So the party's fun. But the silly thing was that it went from only 7-9.. now that doesn't quite work out, especially if you are going to have an open bar. Of course people are going to drink and get drunk.. and wasted! And obviously no one is going to leave at 9, the designated closing time... But we sure as hell got out of there at around 9:15... why you ask? BECAUSE SOME IDIOT SPRAYED PEPPER SPRAY INTO THE CROWD!!!!!!! I am still in shock over this one. Why why why why I kept wondering. It was so fucking ridiculous, that even now I wonder if that even could be. When I tell others the story, it is so unbelievable, that it's funny! Someone for some crazy ass reason felt the need to spray pepper spray in a crowded room.. why? Were they being raped? I don't know.. Did they feel unsafe with all those future doctors around? Apparently so.. so ridiculous!

Medical School Nerd

http://www.geocities.com/abhinith/medical_school_nerd_scale.htm

Take this and see if you're a med school nerd like me.. and surprisingly, in the month and a half that I have been in school, I actually fortunately, or not already know the answers to a lot of these questions!! So take the quiz and find out if you should be my classmate!

Shout Out to 8th Grade

My roommate is also a friend of mine from junior high.. waaaay back like 10 years ago. So yeah, we've been friends for quite a long time now. Tonight, I get back from studying and I take off the sweatshirt that I was wearing, and lo and behold! We were BOTH wearing the same t-shirt that the sold as a memorabilia from 8th grade.. at the same time! Can you belive how random and crazy that is. First of all, that we both still managed to have those shirts.. and second that we would both put it on at the same time. And mind you, these shirts are ugly too.. and way too big for us. (They were too big in 8th grade, and they still are too big ten years later!) So crazy!

grossness!

In anatomy lab today, my right glove just simply fell apart! Yes.. can you believe that? It was disgusting.. not to mention after 4 hours of dissecting the insides of "Buddy", the gloves were quite covered in yucky gooey guts.. and then to have your glove fall apart.. Oh believe me, I washed up pretty good after that one.. Also, on a side note.. my cadaver isn't all fat on the inside! Apparently all that fat that we were seeing in the abdominal cavity is actually something that I forgot the name of, attachment on the large intestine.. so not fat after all!

My form of Therapy

Also.. I've been having a few bad days for all sorts of reasons.. and so I am going to go downtown this evening for a little bit of therapeutic shopping.. just the thing I need to pick myself up!

My synapes are constantly firing!

I can't stand how creaky my apartment is. All day and all night long, I hear the people on the 3rd floor walking around. They sound like fucking elephants! Stooping around, oh my goodness.. I know when they go to bed, I know when they wake up (6:30 am).. which is really no fun when I want to sleep in. Because my nervous system is constantly registering the noises! It is really irritating to me to keep having to hear these people. The other day, it sounded like they were rubbing some rubber material all over the floors.. driving me crazy And then, even worse than the people upstairs is my bathroom. Lately, over the last few weeks my bathroom is constantly making noises. Little creaks, constantly! And for some reason my ANS keeps wanting to register the noise, trying to make my brain and body react to it.. but there's nothing to react to, there is nothing that I can do about this awful annoying noise! Except spend as little time as possible in the bathroom.. and to try and calm my ANS down.

Chilled Sake

I recently have become a sushi lover.. and I mean a full blown out convert. Never really liked it before, although I have to admit I never gave sushi a real try. Just the idea of raw fish kind of grossed me out... and it didn't really look like it would be enough food.. but in the last month or so, oh baby! I think what really got me was the philadelphia sushi. The creamcheese, cucumber combo was such a perfect mix of tastes.. it just danced in my mouth! And there are so many different types to try out there!! All I want nowadays is sushi.. I swear, I've gone out to like 3 japanese places ever since. Talk about a life changing experience! This last weekend, I went to Sushi Rock, and I ordered sake. At first I was extremely skeptical because the menu had only one type of warm sake, and like fifteen chilled sake, and I always thought that sake came warm, always.. so I was a bit skeptical about the authenticity of it all. But I asked the waiter his opinion and he suggested plum chilled sake.. oh my goodness. heaven in my mouth. swear to god.. all I wanted was to savor that drink all meal long!!! I only ordered one glass, but I sure made that bad boy last the whole time! Totally awesomely amazing.. I highly recommend it to anyone that wants to try any type of chilled sake. Unfortunately, it made me sleepy for the rest of the day, but consequences! You can't avoid them!

That was seriously the only highlight after my week of hell... aka midterms. which sucked ass.. med school is HARD! But sushi is good! ;)

My worst nightmare has come true....

I am so sad today. I just realized today that I am developing teeth sensitivity on the right side (anatomical left side) of my mouth!! Horrible. I already was sensitive on the left side of my mouth, and now this shit. It was so bad that I couldn't eat hot food last night, this morning I couldn't even drink lukewarm tap water. I actually have to start drinking hot water now! Damn it.. on top of that, when I go to brush my teeth, it irritates me because the toothpaste is cool against my gums. This is just great.. I already can't drink water with ice in it because of my sensitive mouth.. what am I going to do now at restaurants? Order boiling water.. damn.???

motivation?

I am sitting at my computer, around 11 at night.. after wasting two hours watching both Sex and the City and Law and Order SVU (best show on earth)... and then another hour wasted by being mad at myself for wasting time.. all the while not studying for midterms. But now I am realizing that I don't really care all that much.. I know tomorrow morning I will be pissed at myself for doing this, but for now I don't care too much.. I was a little pissed though. Law and Order was kind of shitty tonight.. all dramatic and emotional. Not really much happened in terms of an interesting case.. just Stabler going cookoo again.. this time he almost beat the shit out of a father.. not like last week's episode. That was one awesome episode. Kept me gripping the edge of my seat. And sex and the city is always great. And surprising thought provoking. I initially dismissed the show as a load of crap. But it really is pretty deep.. either way, both shows can't tell me a damn thing about the splanic nerve.. or where the fucking coronary sinus is located within the right atrium.. let alone unlock the mysteries that the nervous system anatomy, all that pre and post ganglionic shit, and white/gray matter, is.. nope, no tv show can tell me that... but entertain me, that's a guarantee..

Just to Feel Like I am Learning!

I had a revelation today.. while I was at the gym (working out after 5 hours of anatomy lab!) Anyways, I realized that I was just like Edward Norton's character in Fight Club. At the beginning of the movie where he and that other suicidal guy realize that they are junkies for these groups that deal with death, cancer, addiction, etc.. they NEED to do those things and experience other people's intense emotions just to feel alive. How incredible. And yet, I realized that similar thought process today while I was in my anatomy tutoring group. I NEED to be in the tutoring groups, even attending those that I don't even sign up for... just to feel like I am studying and learning something! I am a junkie for medical school tutoring groups. Histology, Anatomy, Physiology.. whatever.. give it to me, satisfy my urges!!! Oh my.. obvious example of what formaldhyde can do to the brain after prolonged exposure.... going to bed hopefully soon..

CHC!

Wow! I volunteered today to translate spanish at a local clinic that the medical school students work at. And oh my god!! The things that the medical school students knew! The lady would say that her stomach hurts, and they would take that to mean gastritis.. or pancreatis.. or all these other ungodly things that I don't know how to spell! On top of that, they would know what the acronims (sp?) of meds actually meant.. and they would guess all of the underlying causes for taking those meds!!! And the way they could spit out SOAP notes.. and lets not even talk about the way that they knew how to do physical examinations!! Holy shit.. I was amazed to see how they would take the same things that I was translating to them and spit out a diagnosis!!! On top of that, the M3 student working with us has got to be the smartest guy ever.. and I mean ever! But it was super super cool to think that one day, after all this awful studying I will be like that.. what a great motivator! But the best part was that I didn't choke under pressure!! I was able to translate majority of what was being said! Go me!!! WHoooo hooo! Now back to studying!

Side Note for Tonight

I went to a baseball game tonight.. first game I have ever gone to that I actually had fun.. and was not painfully pretending! Yea! And they won the game, even more exciting!

Revelation

I went out tonight with the people from school.. and I realized, you know what.. these people are just as lonely and alone as I am!! Oh my god.. this poor girl. I thought she was so outgoing and friendly.. it turns out that today was her birthday and she was feeling particularly lonely because her friends from home went and had sex with other people... and she only happened to run into medical school people at the bar.. so she was feeling alone and vulnerable. It made me realize that you know what.. other people acutally feel the same way that I do.. they may do better socially, but they feel the same exact way. It was incredibly exhilirating to feel that way, knowing that I wasn't some sort of psycho loser, but just like every one else. So unfortunately for this girl, she feels like a loser tonight, I feel like I am walking on the clouds.. and connected to all the other clouds around me.. ;)

Lord of War

Yet again, another fantastic movie. This one is of the little known black/gray market of arms dealing. Basically Nicholas Cage (who was excellent for once!) plays an arms dealer who gets caught up in the mess of lies and deceit that he creates. It is a fabulous film about the politics surrounding the whole isssue. Particularly the ethics about dealing to third world countries and the basic nature of "taking advantage" of war in order to create larger profit margins for yourself. Although the most telling part of the movie is near the end when it is stated that the biggest arms dealers are not private dealers. They are (in decending order) the US, UK, Russia, China, and Australia.. (I think Australia was it, I can't remember)... Seriously, as much as they denouce the movie industry as of late, there are still fantastic movies out there, you just have to go and see the right ones.

Atrium Wanna-Be

Today I studied at the student lounge that is open 24 hours with a few friends.. and all of a sudden came all these memories of studying at the Atrium during the undergrad! Not to mention, I was studying Action Potentials.. and we all know how much we all LOVED action potentials. In fact, everything in the entire world at one point could be summarized with a quick lesson in action potentials.. but then I got sad. I missed my atrium.. I missed the weird plants, the fountain (that no longer exists), the cafeteria.. but most of all I miss my study partners! And you know who you are.. In fact, I have forever associated you guys with action potentials, particularly cardiac action potentials. I even made janitor friends at the student lounge like I had at the Atrium.. except these are a little bit cooler friends because they talk to me in Spanish ;).. but I tell ya, this will be a LONG two years of school without my atrium study buddies... sigh..

Oh, on a super funny side note.. so this guy who I studied with today has a friend who is a DJ in medical school out of state. And this guy made up an entire rap about the anatomy of the upper body.. and this in incredible! It even has awesome music to go along with it! I swear, if this were a study tool, I would totally learn the material.

Blast from the Past

Man, yesterday I ran into a girl I was friends with in 8th at the grocery store.. not to mention the guy I keep running into everywhere from my high school.. and then today I ran into another girl I was friends with in 8th grade... as well as the two girls who I used to take dance lessons with the same teacher. Man blast from the past. And the craziest thing is that none of them actually go to my school.. they go to surrounding school. Talk about the fact that geography determines destiny! Hardly any of these people have left their home towns, nor does it seem like they ever will.. but then again, we are in a great city after all. Wonder who I will run into tomorrow!

George Foreman Grill

When I moved into my new apartment, one of the first things that I bought was a George Foreman Grill! And I finally used it today.. and how exciting was it! I sliced up a green pepper, an onion, tomato, and even diced up tofu! All I did was sprinkle some all-purpose seasoning on it and plop it onto the grill.. so so cool. In about 20 minutes (only because I cook slow, and cut real slow) I had a nice little meal.. that was healthy! Well, maybe healthy, I think I put too much seasoning and it tasted a little salty. But not bad especially because there wasn't any oil in the meal at all! I am a George Foreman believer now!

Jimmy Buffet Concert

We are on the train yesterday and the train was PACKED with about 20ish 40-50 year olds.. all wearing hawaiian shirts, and drunk! We were so confused and amused by the sight.. and they were singing and talking so loudly.. it turned out that they were coming back from a Jimmy Buffet concert .. man, Jimmy Buffet concerts are wild! I really wished I would have gone to it.. it would have been worth the concert ticket just to see the adults acting wild.. and they weren't just in my compartment. The entire train station, multiple train stations were crawling with these drunk hawaiian dressed adults.. everyone on the trains were looking and laughing at them like they were crazy. But the funnier people were the ones that were trying to ignore the outrageous people on the train. Jimmy Buffet is a wild man!

Crazy crazy Pat Robertson

So the head of the Christian Coalition (that already sounds crazy) urged the United States to "assasinate" the president of Venezuela on Monday... he claimed that it would be an easy way to get rid of a guy promoting terrorism, communism, and islamic terrorists... sounds like a terrorist to me! In fact, doesn't Osama Bin Ladin come out with these periodic tapes that urge others to kill their enemies.. hmmm.. of course Bush denounced it, as he should.. but how the hell is that supposed to look to the rest of the world.. someone on CNN put it in interesting terms.. he said how does it look that we claim we are promoting democracy in other parts of the world, and at the same time we have leaders in the US urging people to assasinate other leaders that we don't "like". And then the moron goes further the next day to apologize, while actually denying that he used teh actual term "assasinate".. but instead he says that there are other things a country could do to get rid of leaders... such as kidnapping them...!!! YES, it's true... he actually used the word "kidnap" the Venezuelan guy.. what a fucking moron! I wonder if he has any remote idea of what went on in south american during the 70's and 80's... when people were constantly being kidnapped in the middle of the night, and killed for political reasons... hmmm... I tell you, there are fundamental idiots from all religions, and all parts of the world.. someone please shut up this one... oh, by the way.. he also claims some responsibility in helping to elect Bush in 2000 and 2004.. now I feel much better living in this country!

Hooked on Harry

I spent a lot of the weekend talking about Harry Potter rumors for the next and final book of the series. So much fun.. so interesting.. who is RLB?? And I can't believe that Dumbledore died.. by Snape no less! And so I now spend many more months waiting until the next book finally comes.. so sad.

Financial Aid Crisis

So I recently found out, two weeks prior to starting my medical school that my financial aid stuff is not complete!!! Oh my god... and this I found out after calling and confirming twice with Rush that I had indeed completed all of the work required for my financial aid.. apparently I had never filled out a Stafford Loan application.. and that loan is for living expenses, ie my apartment rent, groceries, etc! This is a big deal.. The lady at Rush told me that apparently some computer screens show my paper work as complete whereas others don't show it as complete.. how fucking annoying. So I had to spend all my time on the phone with Rush financial aid office and Sallie Mae trying to figure out what the hell happened and how to correct the situation.. Honestly, I feel that financial aid is this crazy complicated vague concept, kind of like some metaphysics concept that can never be deciphered and understood.. I really don't think there is any person out there in the entire world who actually understands financial aid and what the hell is going on!!! AHHH!!!

Cleaning!

I spent my afternoon yesterday cleaning my apartment, that I thought was clean... amazing how deceiving walls and bathrooms can be! ;) Not to mention, having already lived here for about a week, my hair is already all over the place.. so cleaned I did.. swiftered to be more precise. And then Susan and I started hanging up decorations on the walls.. mirrors and the such.. when we realized that there is dust on the walls!!!! How the hell does dust settle on vertical walls?!! So Susan and I swiftered all of the walls. Afterwards we looked at the dust rag and it was disgusting dirty! Yuck yuck yuck!

"Girl" Crushes

I read an interesting article in the NY Times last week about something called "girl" crushes. It's not a sexual/lesbian thing. But instead when women admire other women so much that is beyond normal fascination. The article described some women who feel flushed and sweat when they get in teh presence of other women whom they admire extremely.. interseting article! Apparently they have a deep admiration for each other.. personally it sounds a little creepy, and lesbian like.. but could make sense every now and then. After all, there are some girls who do gush over other girls.. it sure does explain a lot! Especially with regard to popular girls and those who fawn all over them, imitate their clothes and all that stuff.. a good example could be in the movie Mean Girls when the popular girl accuses the goth girl of being a dike in the 8th grade.. :) I can't believe I am referencing Mean Girls! But, an even better reference: you know that this phenomen is legit because even Cosmo referred to it in the magazine for this month!

Four Brothers

Pretty good film over all.. Mark Wahlberg looked pretty good in it as well. He's real believable as a kid from the hood, but thats because he is a kid from the hood :) It has been real nice the last few days spending time with my bf.. lots of fun. Especially being back with him! It's like nothing has changed at all... I am still at Case, and we're just having a jolly good time.. tonight we're even going to go to Golden Corral for some dinner.. gotta love those buffets! Perfect day, hanging around, video games, movie, and now some good ol' dinner.. couldn't ask for more!

Go see Four Brothers.. great flick.. super super funny too! ;)

Another Corporate Experience

Last night I had another encounter with teh corporate world. I went out on a celebratory dinner for the end of bf's internship.. at this super hardcore expensive seafood restaurant! You couldn't even believe how nice and luxurious of a place this was.. best of all, it was all expensed to the company! Score! And we did the full course, wine and dine experience.. (I even had wine the whole night! ;) We started with this appetizer platter that was a meal in and of itself... it was this huge steel thing of ice filled wiht a whole lobster, humungous shrimp, mussels, oysters... you name it.. it was called the shellfish appetizer.. I was already full after that! and then we got our meals.. which was very good. I had a grilled mahi mahi. And we shared the sides of creamed corn, mashed potatos, asparagus.. etc.. yummmy! and then we got these desserts! there was this crazy cake.. I really would hate to see the bills..

But the whole night really was a testament to how well his experience was with the company. they don't take every intern out like this, let alone her girlfriend! They were even trying ot feel me out and to get a sense of how I liked Minneapolis and St. Paul. Very cool.. I was stuffed by the end of the night. But I didn't make a fool of myself, and definitely acted my age. looks like I am ready for the corporate world! ;)

Maybe it's Me....

I don't know what it is.. but trying to become an "adult" is the most frustrating experience I am having! Everywhere I turn, every move I try to make, I am thwarted in my attempts by all parties.. my parents, brother, and even friends. A great example is the apartment stuff... Everyone has to have their own input into the apartment.. my roommate's parents think my curtain/drape idea is too much, we don't need to have it... my mom wants to have a say in every single aspect and decision I make... and worse of all, my roommate's parents said it quite well, "this is not your home"... well if it's not my home then what the hell is it??? A temporary home, sure... after all, medical school isn't for the rest of my life.. but believe me, I have moved out of my parents house and I have no intention of coming back... and yet they just don't seem to get it.. so fucking annoying. I really really wish now that I would have either been accepted into a medical school in another state, or else an MPH program, where I would be in Tulane now.. I Just want to scream and tell them to get out of my hair.. get out of my way.. this is MY apartment, MY home.. and I will do with it what I please.. in fact! I will spend MY money to make it look the way I want it to look... I mean, the trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics with my mom and roommate was priceless.. they are standing around looking at me like I am crazy all the while asking me what exactly I plan to do with the fabric.. please! I am old enough to want a place that doesn't look like a random assortment of crap put together. But maybe it's me. Maybe I don't communicate my wishes very well.. I can't deny, I am not the most patient person dealing with my parents. It's got to be me, because I don't know how many different way I can tell them to leave my decisions alone.. they just don't get it!

An Ode to Bonzo

Well.. unfortunately as is apparent from the date of this post, I am back in the states. In fact, I have been back since Thursday night... but Thursday's travel back to the states is a blog in and of itself.. what a nightmare.. but that is for another blog! This blog shall be dedicated to an interesting guy we met on the Eurorail on the way to Florence.. Bonzo..

Bonzo was such an interesting guy.. looking at him, you would think he was such a dopey, fun loving... benign type of guy. But man, talk about depth to a person! He was so friendly, we talked to him for about 2 and a half hours on the train. He was really into heavy metal music, used to have a real real long goatee, is part of the Italian Tolkein society, and used to do the scary devil sounding voice in a heavy metal band... oh, and he wears a necklace with celtic symbols on it.. interesting! What a crazy combination of things. At one point he even demonstrated his devil voice.. oh my God it was so scary to hear such an inhuman sound come from him! It was so funny listening to him talk about his life in his broken italian/english.. he even offered us some gum!

We met a ton of really interesting peopole in Europe, including a woman who had been backpacking for the last 20 years.. but Bonzo was definitely one of the coolest!

And now, back in the states.. the next project is getting the apartment set up.. making impromptu trips to visit the bf.. (yesterday I drove 6 hours to see him in MN, and then drove 6 hours back in the morning... for a culminated stay of about 12 hours... but it was fun!)

And soon medical school!

quick update!

only have 2minutes on card left.. firenze was grat. walked around a lot! feet hurt still. going to rome via eurorail in the morning.. did TONS of shopping.. more than I can cmment on .. italy is fantastic for leather.. beautiful piazzas... greatbridge.. cool gelato, everywhere!!!! Almostdone.

Florence... or Firenze!

Well... Susan and I had actually missed the night train to Firenze last night because stupid me can not read military time! Soo frustrating. But it worked out better I think. We took a 6am train and transfered a couple of times and finally arrived at around 3pm... Whew! Along the way, this random guy told Susan that he loved her! We also met this cool italian guy who is into heavy metal and is part of the Italian Tolkien Society... interesting combo!

When we got to Firenze we realized the hotel was in the middle of nowhre! So far,but located in a beautiful old villa.. it is amazingly gorgeous.. Then we saw Michangeloàs David.. it was a beautiful sculpture, so full of life and detail.

Ok, this computer sucks! BYEEE!

Old Nice

We went to the Mediterrean Sea this morning and Old Nice in the afternoon. The sea was magnificent. I hve never been to a beach that had pebbles, huge pebbles rather than sand! It made the water become so incredibly clear. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. Better than Hawaii... Myrtle Beach.. whatever. Nice had the best beach. One day I hope to take my bf there.. he would love it. After we baked in teh sun for a good time, and saw lots of topless women (how strange!) we went back to the hotel. Later that day we walked about 20 minutes to old Nice. Such a beautiful part of Nice! There were lots and lots of tiny streets, like a maze. And all we did was shop and look around. I bought a beautiful mozaic flower vase from the very same woman who made them.. I even used some bartering skills.. that are basically normally non-existent.. afterwards Susan got tired so she took a nap, while I had wine at a bar near the hotel. I had 3 whole glasses of wine for under 5 euros!! How cheap.. g ood wine too. I read my book at the time, so much fun.

Now we catch the night train to Florence!

Beautiful Exotic Nice

Susan and I arrived in Nice this morning around 8:15am via Eurorail's night train.. what an experience. I met an amazing woman from Argentina who has been backpacking for over 20 years... isn't that amazing??!! But, another story for another night. Today Susan adn I walked around the main shopping district in Nice France. Which is an absolutely beautiful and untouched by tourism city. I love it here. The way the buildings are so close together, the way the streets are narrow.. the people (although rude at times).. the wine.. (especially cheap house wine!!) It's all gorgeous. And Nice is set between mountains and the sea, making it have spectacular landscapes, and get photo opportunities! We bought a lot of jewelry from this boutique that had about a 2 hour wait!! Can you believe that?? To pass the time we walked around and mixed with the locals and ate good oranges and listened to street music.

I bet Americans would be so much more happier if we stepped outside of our houses and air conditioned cars and just simply interacted with each other.. tha'ts all!! Said hi every now and then and bumped and touched and sweated a bit! That's not too much to ask for...

But most of all, I truly miss my wonderful man...

Day 2 in Barcelona

Susan and I had our bike tour of Barcelona today. It was really nice and actually awesoe to be on a bike again! Afterwards we walked around teh Las Ramblas area and Plaza de Catalunya... we did an amazing amount of walking, considering we were wasted and hungover from teh night before.. gratis is NOT always so great! Especially if they don´t stop! Susan and I will go back to La Sagrada Familia tomorrow and check out more Gaudi sites along the way.. it was great

Oh! Today there was this HUGe crowd gathered in one area of Las Ramblas.. so we elbow our way to teh frnt and it turns out these two women were fighting because one of them broke the other´s eyeglasses.. how funny! There were SO many people gathered, all to see that..

Soon.. NICE!

First Day

I came here in Barcelone the first day... and the hostel was acutally amazing.. it was right on the mediterraean seas... amaziung.. s san and ùi walked up and day the club district, kept getting free drinks.. meanwhile.. meaning weirdos and getting free drinks.. gratis anyone.. over here!!! it was fantastic.. tomorrow is our bike tour of barcelona.. I love traveling!

All set and ready to go!

I am all packed... this morning was pretty hectic because I had to run around and do a lot of last minute errands. In fact I was so hasseled that I forgot my ATM card in the machine at the bank! Thank God that I remembered to get it, and thank God even more that the bank had it... whew! I am going to blame it on the horrible thunderstorms earlier today. Either way I am all set to go.. complete with my neck tie thingy to store my passport in so that it never gets lost... or stolen! Off to Barcelona, Nice, Florence, and Rome. Can't wait! But I will miss those special people back here in the states! ;) See ya August 4th!

Europe...Tomorrow!

Leaving tomorrow!

Broken Woman

I have felt awful the last two days. In fact, I have felt so bad that my head feels like it's split into two.. I guess it can be summarized best as that both sides are absolutely frustrated wtih me and angry.. both want two completely different things... I know what I want and I know why I want it... Both say they love me.. but what the fuck.

Values

Values is such a bullshit concept. Who's to say that your values are "better" or more right than someone else's.. for that matter, religion is bullshit too.. people are what matter. Not abstract concepts, but real people.. and it's as simple as that. Don't hurt people, consider everyone as equal and love them all.. there.. but people can't accept that.. they would rather have it so that their values impose on mine.. fuckers

3rd Toastmaster's Speech: Civic Duties

Uncle Sam wants you. No, Uncle Sam needs you. Not to fight a war in Iraq. Not to fight for freedom in Afghanistan. Uncle Sam needs to you fight to maintain voters’ rights in the United States. I myself heard the message last fall. The political atmosphere was fully charged at Case because we were hosting the VP debates. Everyone was motivated, myself included. Thus, Nov 2nd 2004, I got out of bed around 5:30 in the morning. Pulled on my bright orange sweater and stepped out into the chilly rainy morning. I was on my way to become a poll worker for the presidential elections. Although I was apprehensive throughout the day, I was also filled with other emotions such as fatigue, boredom, and excitement. I left the polling location around 8 after the polls closed, exhausted and yet thoroughly amazed at the election process and the people I had met during the day. And now I am bringing the message to you of the immense need of qualified people to become poll workers.

Who here was satisfied with the last election? Whether you are democrat or republican, many would argue that the elections were not nearly as smooth as the elections of the past. Part of the reason why I decided to become a poll worker was the disgust I felt regarding the media circus and joke our election process had become in 2000. Words such as butterfly ballot and hanging-chads became every day language. Some states were red, others were blue! I was shocked to learn that some of Florida’s predominantly black counties even were accused of throwing away thousands of ballots! Trucks vanished instantly on highways. It was utter madness. Although, the situation did not better itself during the 2004 elections. In fact, it was a huge disappointment to me that 4 years after the 2000 embarrassment, we still could not get it right.

So what is the problem here? Some argue a conspiracy theory with corrupt voting systems that provide the results that the corporate executives want. Some point fingers towards the ancient Electoral College, (that no one apparently knew existed until the 2000 election). One huge source of the problem is the dire state of poll workers. Who are poll workers? Majority of the time, they are the grandfathers and grandmothers that greet you when you enter a polling location. They kindly ask you for your name; gently verify your mailing address; pleasantly ask you to sign by your name. What could be so dire about such a seemingly affable system? Well, according to USA Today, prior to the 2004 elections, there was a 1.5 million poll worker shortage! The average age of a poll worker was 72, plus the ability for majority of them to grasp new and developing polling technology was questionable. Not to mention the simple question of efficiency. During my poll working experience, we were held up two extra hours because of errors that arose when we were accounting for all of the ballots. In fact, one of the poll workers refused to help count after a while because he only wanted to go home. The situation was further compounded by bossy attitudes and frustrations. It may sound funny in hindsight, but these are the people in charge of making sure your vote counts. This is a major crisis. In fact, slowly but surely our voting rights are being challenged and undermined. Uncle Sam needs more people to become poll workers. Uncle Sam needs more people like us.

What is a poll worker? A poll worker can be anybody that is a registered voter who attends a 90 minute training session to go over the basic process and a 30 minute orientation the Monday before elections. And of course attendance the day of the polling event is mandatory. In fact, majority of us qualify in this room to be a poll worker! To provide further incentive, poll workers are compensated for their time. In Cuyahoga County we received $102.10 for our troubles. There are approximately 4 poll workers are each polling location (2 democrats and 2 republicans). They each are in charge of maintaining a station during the day to process the voters as they arrive to vote.

A person who is interested in becoming a poll worker can contact the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. They can work during any and all elections, if they desire once they fill out the application forms. I myself had organized a core group of case students who were interested in becoming poll workers. I had a large enough group that the Board of Elections agreed to have a training session for us on campus. It truly is that easy to become a poll worker. In fact, everything is arranged for you! They just need you to sign up.

To further illustrate the dire need of poll workers, I will tell you a little more about my experience. We opened our doors around 6:30, by 9 am, the regular poll workers told me they had already processed more voters than the amount of voters that usually vote for elections. We were so filled to capacity that many were waiting in rain soaked lines up to 3 hours to vote. During that day, we processed approximately 500 provincial ballots. The ladies told me that there are usually only a small handful of those ballots. (on a side note, it was decided that all of Ohio’s provincial ballots were disqualified from counting) Later in the day we ran out of change of address forms, and the list of grievances continues long after that. Although Ohio still turned out to be a mess, I put my efforts in. I was frustrated with what I saw of the system, and saddened to think of all the ballots that were cast away. Although I was encouraged to know that perhaps my involvement help give more efficiency. Clearly the system needs reformation. Part of the change comes from media awareness and recognition of the problem. However, it is not enough to simply discuss the inefficiencies of the voting system as if some unfortunate part of our society. We all must become involved and use our civic duty to defend all of our rights’ to vote. Uncle Sam needs us here and now.

Reflecting on London Attacks

Although it is true that the third world is attacked virtually every hour.. and that some areas live in constant crisis, ie Kashmir, Israel...etc.. and although it is true that many genocides are largely over looked, particularly when they concern minorities or those of color.. it is also true that the symbolic nature of attacks on the industrial world like the US and UK shock the world even more and captivate international attention quicker.

Although inherently an attack is an attack... regardless of where it occurs.. perhaps the US and UK attacks strike a deeper cord within us because it suggests that regardless of where you live in the world, no one is safe from terrorism. Prior 9/11, people knew Israel wasn't safe, but every one assumed that the US was safe.. and now there is virtually no corner in the world left for people to hope and aspire to feel safe.. People need that assurance that there is better out there. For example, many of the Holocaust victims hoped and prayed for the Allied Forces to save them.. and they came.. but now even that little bit of assurance is chipped away with every terrorist attack on the industrial world.

So, while it is easy to scoff at the international display of saddness over the London bombings, it is important to remember the symbolic nature of the tragedy and that the attacks not only took away lives, but is instilling a deeper level of fear and mania within us all.

Me?? America's Next Top Model...?

Yesterday when I was walking to work, a man stopped me and asked if I had ever considered being a model... and I replied, yeah right, no! And he said that I should, especially because America's Next Top Model would be having auditions in town pretty soon.. and I told him, no.. they wouldn't take me, I am too short!

Little does that guy know, a few years ago, I went on their website and looked at the requirements to being a model. Tyra "claims" that she wants to extend the competition for anyone that may represent America... no weight restrictions, etc.. oh yeah, except for the side note that the girls should at least be 5'11''.... whoa baby! Guess I missed that boat... Tyra, you have false advertisement on your show! You don't want to open opportunities for ethnic minorities to become models! You just want tall skinny girls (with a tad more color than you can get tanning).. that's unfair discrimination against tiny indian girls! Shame on you!

Interesting Phenomenon

I observed an interesting phenomenon when I was visiting St. Paul.. at the amusement park I realized that the ugliest guys were dating regular/hot girls. I couldn't understand it.. these guys were hideous, buck teeth, fat, hairy... etc! And they were all with every day looking girls.. skinny, atheletic... blonde.. so strange! Must be something in the water that makes the girls blind.. or else, there just isn't any better..

WILD Night!

Last night was ridiculous here at the apartment building. First of all, it's so important to keep in mind that the place is sooo nice. You would look at it and think high society, I mean the building is amazing. You walk inside and it looks like a 5 star hotel! With pool tables, leather sofas, kitchen.. all in the lobby. Then of course is the awesome outdoor pool and hot tub.. you wouldn't think the residents would be wild or anything. Just rich conservative people...

But last night around 2 in the morning, I wake up hearing gun shots!! At least that's what I thought it was... I was about to run to the window to go and look, and my boyfriend's like, "You dummy! Don't run to the window if you hear gun shots!".. so I was like, good point.. and I went back to bed...

Then around 4 in the morning, I hear shouts and that wakes me up. This time I go look at the window, and there are 5 people (drunk as hell) sitting in the hot tub. 2 guys and 3 girls... drunk drunk drunk... they were yelling and shouting.. It was so funny to see them there, especially because the hot tub is supposed to be closed at night... but obviously they didn't care! We kept watching, and all of a sudden we realized that they were NAKED in the hot tub... nasty! One of the guys was even running around the pool deck and you could see his penis (tiny).. on top of that, he later put on one of the girl's bikini bottom.. I COULDN"T BELIEVE THIS! And I know that if they had woke me up, that I wasn't the only person. And there are a lot of families that live here with little kids, they could not have been happy about this... but where were the cops??!!!

So they were out there until about 5 am... and we're just hanging out, trying to go back to bed.. when we hear shouts and running down his hall way... a girl and guy were running down the hallway... naked.. chasing each other.. RIDICULOUS!!!

This place turns out to be a pretty wild place.....!

Irony

Yesterday, London's subway system was bombed 4 times in a terrorist attack. Although only 50 people died, it still shocked the world just as much as the Madrid bombings, and served as a reminder that terrorism is alive and well... but that didn't stop the people of the Twin Cities from hanging out at a bar called Brit's!!! How ironic is it that London can get bombed, but people will still find the time to go to a British themed bar that same night.. and it was PACKED!! No walking room anywhere.. I bet that 9/11, there wasn't any American themed bar world-wide that had a steady stream of customers that day..

The bar was very cool though, I have to admit :) It was pompous and ritzy, just like you would imagine Britain to be.. just kidding! They even had a second floor that had a lawn where you could play Cricket! That's even more funny, watching Americans try to play Cricket! ;) It was packed though with older people, about 25-40 years old. I guess I fit in with the corporate interns, because most of the people seemed to be there with their co-workers. Although, it is always funny to see older women try to dress a little hoochie and start to flirt people. I don't think it's always becoming of their age to do so! :)

Caught 2 Fish!

Hey hey hey... look who's the champion now! I was a bit discouraged after my first fishing endeavor, after all I spent about 4 hours trying to catch anything, but this time around I caught two fish! Granted, they were both small fish, but that's ok. Now I feel like a real outdoors person catching all of the fish! I even know the lingo..

Yesterday I went for a walk and I passed by a placed called the Cupcake Cafe.. and I figured with a name like that, they would HAVE to have cupcakes.. and so I stepped inside, and sure enough! cupcakes! I had a Mad Cow, which was a little too rich for me actually.. it was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla cream cheese frosting.. a little too sweet. I should have cut it in half. After all, I am eating for half the normal size of people!

Stupid Me!

Yesterday I was on the plane going to Minneapolis and I looked out the window and I swear to God, I thought I saw a fighter jet outside of the window. It looked like one of those F-16s (something like that).. FLYING RIGHT NEXT TO THE WINDOW! It even looked like it was camoflagued. Oh my god! I was so freaked out. I even tapped the person next to me and showed her, and she was like, what is that thing??!!! And the closer and closer I looked, it started to resemble more a land mass.. and I said that the plane kind of looks like a land mass.. and then I realized I was looking at a small island in the middle of the Great Lakes.. stupid ass me!! Man did I feel like a fucking moron! Not only that, but I told the person sitting next to me.. she must have thought I was some kind of an idiot...

Kite Runner

I just finished reading Kite Runner.. it was pretty good, although definitely not the best book I've ever read. In fact, I think the only reason it's been on the NY Best Seller's list for as long as it has been is because the plot is bit of a historical account of Afghanistan, from the monarchy, to Russian rule, to the Taliban, and even a little bit of post-9/11. The book is basically split into two parts, which I also feel reflects poor writing on behalf of the author. The segmentation is very sharp because of the lack of a smooth transition.

The first half of the book was wonderful and enjoyable to read. However, the second part was too dramatic. I didn't think that the main character had the guts within him to do some of the things he did. Other parts were equally hard to believe, especially when he runs into childhood enemies.. a little too "convenient" way to teach moral lessons..

Overall, it was a fascinating story and really showed the plight of the Afghan people; but I wouldn't recommend it as a serious read.

Pizza for Lunch

The last 2 times I have wanted to get cheese pizza from the MetroHealth Cafe, there has been a 10 minute wait for it.. ridiculous! I want a cheese pizza today, and there better be one there waiting for me, otherwise I will be an angry little person! I am going to wait to go to the cafeteria around 1. Hopefully by that time a lot of the lunchtime crowd will have dissipated a little bit and I will have my cheese pizza waiting for me!

What Should I Do?

If someone wants to be my facebook friend, but I don't know them.. what should I do? Should I go ahead and confirm their friendship? What if they are freaks... and why did they facebook me in the first place? Maybe it was an accident, like they thought they knew me.. I accidentally did that the other day! ;)

An Answer for my Shivering!

So it finally all makes sense! Restaurants and work places are kept at frigid temperatures so that the people feel that the places are luxurious and sophisciated. The NY Times has this funny article about why it's so goddamn cold everywhere:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/fashion/sundaystyles/26air.html?pagewanted=2

It's titled Shivering for Luxury... how appropriate!

But what's the point of feeling luxurious when you're too busy shaking from the cold??!!!

Soups Galore!

I have started learning how to cook soups.. and it is so damn easy! I even made one out of my own stuff yesterday. I cooked onions and garlic in oil in a sauce pan, then add some water, then the chicken. Then I added chicken broth, and broccoli, zucchini, tomatos, and spinich and my favorite lemon pepper seasoning. And boy was it good! It had a yummy taste to it.. delicious! And so easy to make!

My Fishing Adventure

Last weekend, the BF and I drove straight into Bush/Cheney country. We started from St. Paul and drove straight northwest for a good 4 and a half hours.. (it was supposed to be less than that, but there was god awful traffic). After a while, all of the cities and development dropped away, and soon we were in the country... and I mean country. Where it looked like the Dairy Queen was the most happenin place around! Where the number of trucks far outnumbered the number of cars. And there we were (the only color in the town!) in his black mustang! :) We went to Breezy Point Resort which was very relaxing. Back to nature for sure! We would have to drive about 30 minutes to get back to the nearest town!

But we had a great time. I learned how to fish. It was pretty exciting, and I learned how to cast out a reel pretty wel by the end of it. I learned about all the different types of lures, the difference between deep fishing and surface fishing, etc.. I never knew the fishing world could be so complicated! Unfortunately I didn't catch anything, not even a bite.. although at one point when I was reeling back in, I saw a fish kind of look at the lure.. and I tried to nudge it closer to the fish.. but he didn't want to bite! Booo... Doug caught a real pretty bass though. It was very nice looking.

The next day we rented a canoe and rowed around the lake. It was such a pretty place out there. I really enjoyed myself. It was also great to spend a relaxing time with him.

When we got back to the city, he took me to this real cool bar called Chico Latino.. something along those lines. But it was kind of one of those "electic" places where they try to be cool.. and have real neat stuff on the menu, but you have to pay like a fucking arm and a leg to get any of it. A tiny little taco was $3.50! (Although the taco was very tasty!) One top of that, on the same street was thus HUGE bead store! Oh I am in heaven.. when I go back, I am going straight back there!

"You Know"

One of the great things about Toastmasters is that there is a person who is always counting how many times you say "um, uh, so..but," etc.. it's fantastic because it really makes you aware of what you're doing while you're talking. I actually am pretty good for the most part. I do have my fair share of "ands" that connect to a billion sentences.. but I am getting better. However! I cannot get over saying "you know"! I feel like such a stupid valley girl. But for some reason I am constantly throwing that phase into my every day talk. I really have to work on that... !


Damn! This post only took me 3 minutes to write.. I need to think of more time killers at work!

Harry Potter Mania

Today at my Toastmaster's Meeting I am doing my 2nd speech. This speech is about organization, intro, body, and conclusion. I originally was going to write about my opinions about the Runaway Bride (stupid ass woman).. however apparently I didn't have enough opinions for a 5-7 minute speech.. plus it was pretty offensive against her.. and I don't want to alienate people in Toastmasters who may actually sympathesize with her... so! I decided to write a speech about my theories on the Harry Potter mania.. and so I've posted my written out speech:

Harry Potter Mania-

The dictionary defines mania as: An excessively intense enthusiasm, interest, or desire; a craze. Does this describe the Harry Potter phenomena? Lets see.. people are willing to wait hours in line midnight before book releases, it’s spawned merchandise, movie tickets, and even large scale protest. All this for a children’s book. But what’s so special about Harry Potter??? I myself was a skeptic back in 2001 when I heard the preliminary hoopla surrounding Harry Potter. As an avid book reader, I was well aware of the rave reviews the book was receiving. However, I was not sure that these critics were truly onto something. However, soon the reviews were hard to ignore and Harry Potter could no longer be avoided. Because I was reluctant to pay the huge prices for the hardback covers of the book, I began to read them at the local Barnes and Noble near my house. (A tip I would widely recommend to anyone who wants to “preview” a book before buying.) Soon I was hooked. I couldn’t stop reading it! By the time I had finally joined the bandwagon, Harry Potter, books 1-3 had already been released and I consumed them whole. Then the media circus really became overwhelming. Soon after 2001, Harry Potter gained world wide acclaim as children and adults alike all seemed to hunger for their Harry Potter fixes. Release of the 4th Harry Potter book (a personal favorite of mine) created much publicity. For example, midnight parties at the book store to celebrate the release. And it was during the 4th book’s release that the marketing world became hip to the idea and really began to sell Harry Potter to the public. Everything from fake eye glasses, candy, and clothing was sold in the name of Potter. Even I bought a coffee mug! Finally, the inevitable movies began to be released. Presently, Harry Potter mania is at full blast and is about to go through the roof with the July 17th release of the 6th book titled Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
When looking at this mania, many of you may be wondering what exactly is so appealing about Harry Potter? What could possess children and adults alike to lug around 4-5 inch thick books? On top of that, what is so unique about Harry Potter as to conjure controversy against it in the past regarding paganism. On the surface, I’ll agree with anyone. Harry Potter is merely a book about witches and wizards. Mixed in the brew are giants, spells, and the occasional elf. Many books have the same elements. However, that doesn’t explain why both adults and children are so fascinated with these books. In my opinion, Harry Potter, although not exemplary literature by any means embodies good storytelling at the deepest level. The appeal of Harry Potter is first, in the complex world Rawling has created; second, is the creation of a hero with loyal best friends; finally, the media and controversy that surrounds it.
Similar to the cult like appeal that the Lord of the Rings books and even the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe books has, the Harry Potter books are immersed in an entire universe. The magic world is complete with its own monetary system, government, geography, food, you name it! There are even names (Muggles) for us regular non-magic people. Not only can you enjoy Harry Potter from the story plot, but you envision Harry Potter. Even without the aid of the merchandise, it is easy for the reader to close their eyes and see the landscape. They can imagine walking through the halls of Hogwarts School and feel the breeze of the air while playing Quidditch on the brooms. Rawling has created stories with such illustrious descriptions that the readers are automatically drawn in. She even supplemented the Harry Potter series with two additional books, one of which describes the strange animals and beasts in Harry Potter universe. The reader is completely engulfed in Harry Potter. I personally believe that there is always a part of everyone that craves to be a part of another world that is much more extraordinary than their own lives.
Next, the appeal of Harry Potter has to do with peoples’ love of the underdog story. Great examples include the Rocky series, Little Timmy from the Christmas Story, and our favorite reality tv shows! Who can’t sympathize with an orphan child who is rescued from awful adoptive parents to find that he actually is revered in another world! Harry Potter is the perfect hero. Not only is he fiercely loyal to his friends, but he always fights for the good in society. He never hesitates in any situation to fight against evil and to save his friends from tragedy. In fact he’s done this 5 times so far! Despite his fame and successes in fighting evil, Harry Potter remains humble. In fact, despite being a wizard, Harry Potter is above all else a regular boy. Children with vivid imaginations and adults stuck in boring jobs all can envision themselves as Harry Potter living extraordinary lives.
However it can also be stated that Harry Potter appeal can be contributed to the constant media attention and controversy that surrounds it. Americans are always drawn to bizarre stories and attempt to find out more. Perhaps some of the appeal of other books such as The Davinci Code can also be contributed to media and controversy. Some of the attention on Harry Potter was due to some parental groups’ reactions against Harry Potter as advocating paganism and rebellion in children. They were reacting against many schools placing Harry Potter on their curriculums. Perhaps many wondered what could be so controversial about Harry Potter that would mobilize people to protest it.
Despite all of the analysis and opinions, the appeal of Harry Potter can only be described as mania. Perhaps it will never truly be understood why the entire world is so wrapped up in the series. Walk into any bookstore and I guarantee there will be a poster with the official countdown to Book 6’s release. Even I cannot explain why the 6th Harry Potter book has been on the New York Best Sellers List for months.. before it has even come out. I can’t explain why people spend HOURS on chat rooms, creating identities for themselves as if they really lived in the Harry Potter world. However, I can’t deny that July 17th, I will be at my home reading Harry Potter nonstop! I am truly hooked for life.

Just Bored..

I spent like last ... I don't know, 5 hours on facebook. I went through most of the people already on my list and went through their friends list to try and add more people to my list.. pathetic? maybe.. But I seem to have an odd fascination with finding out what people from my high school are up to, even more so than the people from Case. In fact, I really don't care what a lot of people from Case are up to, but that may simply be because they haven't had much time out of my mind yet.. who knows, in 5 years I may again be fascinated with case's people's lives..

But I think a lot of the fascination with high school people is more than the physical.. although one girl definitely got FAT... and I mean hippo-like.. But it's also interesting to see that many of them will be teachers. And many will be nurses.. I am interested in how their high school personas are so different from their college personas. At the end of the day, regardless of how dorky or prude you were in high school, it seems that everyone turns into a drunkerd in college! As well as a player.. ;)

But on the flip side, there's always the multitude of people who didnt' graduate college this year.. nor does it look like they will anytime in the near future. They are busy unfortunately working dead-end jobs, for the money. Or because they haven't figured out what they want to do yet in life. I wish all those people luck..

But I tell you one thing, facebook is definitely a black hole that drags my life away!.. or is it the dead-end job that I am at right now?... hmmm...

Averting Near Disaster!

Man! Airport Security would have had a field day if I hadn't caught this major mistake! The BF and I are both at Minneapolis's airport yesterday morning. I was going to catch a plane to go back to Cleveland and he was going to catch a group flight with his fellow interns to go to Santa Clara. Everything is going fine, I am at the security check point, and he's downstairs somewhere meeting up with his group. And all of a sudden I look down at my bag and realize with horror that I have his bag and he has mine! Damn these black bags that everyone has!!!!!!! It was awful! I had to get him on the cell phone as quickly as possible, tell him to get up to where I was and switch bags with me...

The whole time I am hoping that security won't realize and say.. why did you just switch bags with a stranger?? Then they would strip search me and interrogate me! But thank God that didn't happen..

On the flip side of things... BF was supposed to go and meet the CEO of Guidant in Santa Clara! What was he supposed to do with a bag full of girl clothes, makeup, and lotion???!!! What would security think of him when they scan his bag and see girly items?

That was one disaster that could have been awful!

Uplifting Movie: Mad Hot Ballroom

I saw a fantastic movie last night called Mad Hot Ballroom. It was a documentary that depicted a school program in New York that teaches 5th graders how to ballroom dance. Everything from tango, swing, to the merenge.. it was so so cute to watch these kids learn to dance! The movie is hilarious, and widely recommend it to people. It also really brought back memories from back in the day Square Dancing! Seriously, I would have loved gym class if we had learned practical things like the tango rather than stupid ass Square Dancing.. what a freakin waste of time!

The movie was also particularly powerful because it showed how you can take inner city urban kids and really instill in them a sense of identity and hope. Really, what the dancing did was bring a sense of identity and pride to these kids who live on streets with crack dealers, come from broken homes, and could possibly have no future. They talked many times about how kids who were about to really become street kids changed and gained a better sense of self esteem, had goals that they were striving for. You could see in the movie the difference it would make in the kids to be called "lady" and "gentlemen".. that extra measure that the teachers went through to attempt to show how to be a respectful person created amazing results in the kids.. I would LOVE to create a program like this later for school systems to teach kids to be more engaged in their health. It's funny... all those safe sex programs can't generate nearly the same amount of interest in the kids to be healthy with their bodies.. However, learning to ballroom dance engaged them to a real deep level. If somehow that enthusiasm could be shifted to prevent teen pregnany.. that would be amazing.

The movie was also just plain funny. To see the way the kids interacted with each other, the way that some would try SO SO hard to get the dances... but were so damn uncoordinated! I loved it.

Arachnaphobia

At BF's apartment, 3 out of the 4 windows are not functionable because spiders have taken over them, both this summer and last summer. And it's disgusting.. nasty nasty nasty! I have spent countless hours watching them making their webs, catching equally disgusting flies. I have really become observant of the regular spider habits. I have watched them even wrap up a poor unsuspecting victim and then consume it... Last night I must have spent a good hour watching 3 real huge ones spin their webs. It was pretty disgusting and somehow fascinating to watch them.. and they were really going at it! Eager little beavers! But now the windows are entirely covered with webs.. and I refuse to open them for the life of me!

Excited!

Going to see BF in two days!!

Court Cases of the Centuries

It's interesting that people from the 60's know exactly where they were they the first heard that JFK had been assasinated. Similarly, I know exactly where I was when the OJ Simpson verdict was read and he was found not guilty. I was in my 6th grade social studies classroom. As soon as the verdict was read, cheers and boos went up in the air.
.....And now I will always know where I was when the Michael Jackson verdict was read and he was found not guilty. :) I was driving back from Chicago today in the car, back to Cleveland and I was listening to the radio. For about 30 minutes, the radio stations were saying that the verdict was about to be read.. and the funny thing was that I noticed that they were playing all Michael songs from the 80's.. Billy Jean, etc.. sooo funny. And people were calling into the stations and saying that whether or not they thought he was guilty or innocent. And this woman called in and was angry that the stations were "promoting" Michael Jackson by playing his songs... So the DJ started asking her if she would prefer that he play a Janet Jackson song.. and she was like, "anything is better than Michael".. so later on he ends up playing Janet Jackson "Nasty Boys"... SSOOOOO funny! I would have given anything to see that woman's reaaction to Nasty Boys. People are so silly.. another person said that although Michael was found innocent, he will "meet his maker soon enough".. how funny.. I have to admit though.. I tried calling the radio stations like a billion times to get on and say my opinion, unfortunately it never went through!

Honestly, America made Michael Jackson into what he is today... and the psycho parents that continue to let their kids be around him.... Although it was an entertaining drive back to Cleveland because of the radio stations, MJ songs, and crazy fanatical people!

Mr. and Mrs. Smith... god awful movie!

I had such high hopes for Mr. and Mrs. Smith... back when I thought it was supposed to come out in May.. and then all of the gossip happened, Brad Pitt divorced Jennifer... blah blah blah and the movie got pushed back further and further... and it made me think that perhaps the movie won't be as good as I think it will be... I was wrong.. it was even worse than I thought it could be! Soosoo boring! It dragged for eons... the plot sucked, in fact the plot was idiotic. There was hardly an action.. maybe 2 minutes in addition to what we saw in the trailers.. Plus it was PG 13, so it could only get as sexual and violent as those crazy parent groups will let them...
But the worst part was the woman talking on her cell phone 3 times during the movie. I thought that only happened at Tower City, but I was wrong.. it even happens in surburbia.. three LONG conversations.. But you know, I can't get that mad.. the movie was so boring, that was probably the only way she could sit through it!

Attack of Beetlejuice Jr.

At BW3 last night there was this creepy little man.. not quite short enough to be called a midget, but definitely troll-like enough to be called Beetlejuice Jr.! Oh he was gross! And everytime the Spurs would score a point, he would look at me to try and strike up a conversation... no thank you! I am sorry, I am compassionate towards the vertically challenged people of the world.. but if you're a male, not even 5 foot... and you look like you crawled out of a cave, please refrain from trying to flirt with me! Compassion can be extended only so far.

Test to See if it's too cold...

So I am sitting at my desk, doing my mindless work... of course the air conditioning is blasting, making the office a ridiculously LOW temperature! No one should have to work in these conditions... all of a sudden I have to pee. So I am walking to the bathroom, I enter the bathroom and look in the mirror... HOLY SHIT!! You can see my nipples through my shirt and bra CLEAR AS DAY!!! I mean, I have never seen my nipples so sharp against my shirt before.. and come on now.. am I supposed to believe that whenever one of my co-workers tries to talk to me that they dont notice it either?!!! This is a pretty serious wardrobe malfunction!! For god's sake, turn the AC down!

Biggest Lessons Ever Learned

... Interesting how junior high taught me so many things, whereas at that moment, I really didn't like all of the experiences! I think I could safely say I was my dorkiest in junior high :) But one of the biggest things I learned that you can't "fix" friendships or rifts between people by brushing over the matter, or buying them things. In junior high at that time, it was considered "cool" to bring people balloons on their birthdays to school. That way everyone would know who's birthday it was by all of the hoopla.. naturally, the more balloons you had, the more popular you were. Because for some twisted reason if people spent $3 on a stupid helium balloon, then your life was automatically validated! (This lame practice continued throughout high school as well).. I had a former friend with whom I had a huge fallout.. well, during that time was her birthday and I felt bad for what was going on. So I proceeded and went to the balloon store and bought her the BIGGEST balloon there was, $10!!! So silly... well at the time she loved the huge ass balloon.. but later when we were fighting again she said that you can't just make things "better" by buying people things... lesson learned finally about 10 years later :) Better late than never I suppose!! Either way, it doesn't matter.. I am going to be in med school, and I doubt she's doing anything with her life..!! JUST KIDDING!!!

Pistons Won!

BEAUTIFUL game tonight.. fabulously executed, highly entertaining. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a Monday night after working on. Oh what a win for Middle America! That'll show Miami! Just becuase you can claim Shaq doesn't mean that you can just win whatever you want!!!! HAHA, should have learned from LA, raw talent and passion will always beat riches and wealth!

Next stop! SACRAMENTO!!! GOOOOO PISTONS!

Interesting Choice of Music

I love the bike classes at the gym I go to, they seriously cause the calories and fat to just literally melt off of my body. (Evidenced by the pool of sweat that is always around by bike!) And I really have to attribute the success of those classes to the kick-ass bike instructors.. however! Lately there has been an interesting choice of music that they have chosen to play during the classes. One time it was BROADWAY music... how the hell are you supposed to be motivated to sprint and go go go when you're listening to some 60's broadway musical??!!! Today it was the Dave Matthew's Band.. definitely not motivating music.. come on people! We need some heavy beats, bad words! Screaming and yelling!!!

Huge Shocker! A bad Law and Order Episode

Last night I actually saw a boring Law and Order episode! I couldn't believe it.. I kept watching it hoping that it would get more exciting, but it never did.... I guess it's ok because it looked like it might have been from the first season. I could tell because hottie O'Reilly was on it (from Oz)... but it was weird.. he was acting all psycho-lover boy like he does on Oz...

Nonetheless.. I watched the whole thing, and it never got better, what a disappointment!

Batman...on IMAX!

Great news! Batman Begins is coming out June 15th, and I will be visiting the BF in St. Paul June 16th... works out perfect! Of course, I am definitely not excited to see Katie Holmes in the movie.. she's so ugly... BUT! the movie should be cool.. especially to see it with him!

Apartment Search

Currently looking for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Chicago near Rush's medical school.. also near the train stop. If you have any suggestions please let me know! Thanks!

Sad

After an absolutly wonderful weekend.. he's leaving again to go back to Minneapolis.. the weekend was fantastic though!

Homecoming!

Guess who's coming home! Guess who's coming home! Somebody's a little excited!!! ;) - no, I am just in love, that's all!

Weirdo Hippie Wants to Tell me About my Roots!

!!!!!!

Oh the insane people that come to the Hessler Street Fair! Liz and I sold out jewelry there over the weekend, not so bad. I sold maybe 18 pieces.. made a fair buck or two.. and the whole event went pretty well.. Trigo even eventually stopped trying to attack and eat me! What an accomplishment!

And out of nowhere... the stupid hippie Hare Krishnas swooped down and rained on my parade! Where the hell do these guys come from???!!! Weirdo ex-hippies! Worse of all, they all kinda would check me out and eyeball me because I am indian.. so! And you can't miss these people.. yelling on the tabla, chanting Krishna's name... and tattoos over all of their body parts! My Gods on their bodies.. I was already semi-irritated.. way to make Hindus look psycho and cult like!
This one guy was the worst. He was trying to give me some flyers about some event they were going to have at Public Square.. and when I said that I wasn't interested.. he kept pressing. And I finally told him that my family and I already go to another hindu organization and that we weren't interested. And after this, the fucking moron flipped on me! He accused me of getting away from my roots.. I was shocked, a white idiot loser was accusing me of getting away from my roots??!!! Sorry buddy, I don't believe hinduism started in Europe.. then he actually had the audacity to ask me if I have ever even been to India... oooooo that made my blood boil! I wanted to hit him so hard. But I refrained and said yes I have. And on top of all that, he accused me of "fleeing" India to come to America!

I was so insulted so so insulted! But I didn't stoop to his level.. I gave back his flyers and cooly told him I was not interested in anything he had to say at this point.. later his friend came back and apologized and told me that the guy was very "fixed".. whatever the hell that's supposed to mean...

I still get pissed off when I think about that fucking asshole ... I hope Shiva strikes him down! Either way, I handled it better than I normally do when people insult me to my core!

Only in Cleveland!

The first time this happened to me, I was laughing so hard.. I couldn't believe it happened.... and then it happened again, and I was thinking, damn! Cleveland is broke!

This guy approached me last weekend when I was walking to Spy Bar and asked me for change, I apologized and told him that I didn't have any... as I was walking away, he yelled out and asked me for my phone number!!??!!! I couldn't believe it, it was so so so funny.. what motivation do I have as a woman to give him my phone number after he's going to ask me for money.. AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN LATER IN THE WEEK!

Harry Pothead... I mean Potter comes out soon!

I can remember so diligently waiting the arrival for Harry Potter book 4 like... god five years ago! And then book 5 in summer of 2001... and I mean anticipating, on the edge of my chair.. I was excited! But then, book 5 was disappointing to me. So disappointing in fact that I only read it one time through.. the others ones I would read and reread... similar to the way I would read and reread books when I was a child. (I don't do them with "adult" books that I read)... however, I decided to start reading book 5 again last week in order to remember and catch up with what's going on in Harry Potter, after all, details are extremely important! And seeing that I hadn't read it in 3 years, I definitely was rusty. Although book 1-4 I remember VERY well, book 5 just didn't stick. I didn't like it the first time through, thought it was stupid and lame...

But ho ho! The difference 3 years make. I can't even put it down anymore! I was waiting for a friend yesterday in the car for about 10 minutes, sure enough I started reading it again... Going to work is agonizing because all I want to do is finish the book....

And so I am proud to say, I am once again wildly antiscipating Harry Potter Book 6!!!

Asshole at the Theater... Cleveland is full of them!

So notice the similarity of titles between this post and the previous one??!! It's becuase Cleveland is full of morons and assholes! I went to see an amazing movie last night, (Crash, you all have to see it). And we're having a jolly good time, laughing at the funny parts, remarking on the silly parts, and getting angry at the rascist parts... naturally... enjoying a movie we ALL payed to see!

And out of nowhere swopps the defender of movie theaters! This self-righteous idiot who works at the theaters walks around to everyone there to tell them to be quiet. This jerk had the audacity to do this, EVEN THOUGH NO ONE HAD COMPLAINED! Oooooo... he made me so mad! Walking around, as if he were the babysitter or the guardian of the golden theater rules!

Funny... because later, it seemed that some of the people were drinking in the back of the theater.. moron!

The movie was FANTASTIC though.. honestly, a great combination of reality, humor, drama.. it was like an independent film that wasn't boring! The movie was essentially about racial tensions, stereotypes and discrimination, set in LA. However, it was deeper than that. It was really about the essence and definition of what it means to be a man, a real man or woman living within the liminations of race. For example, the rich black man who was forced to endure his wife being felt up by a white rascist cop. Did he lose his manhood because he did nothing after that? Is it wrong to not react violently?

Although, I sincerely felt that Sandra Bullock's little silioquoy at the end summarized rascism best. She said, "I wake up angry every morning". I am angry at the gardner, the housekeeper, the mailman... everyone. And that truly is rascism, not being a Klu Klux Klan member, but simply being irrational emotionally, and acting upon that.

GREAT movie, go see it!

Asshole at the Hotel

I went to see a friend at her hotel this morning before I came to work. I drove up to it, and amazingly enough, there were a ton of parking spaces right in front of the hotel! Score! (so I thought..) After I parked and put money in the meter, this hotel attendant comes out and tells me that I need to move my car.. and I ask why. And he says because I am in the middle of two spots, and apparently he sees a lot of people getting tickets that way........ so I move it.

So tell me why 30 minutes later, after meeting my friend, I have a parking ticket??!!! Apparently the street signs prohibit parking there from 7-9:30am... if that asshole went through all that trouble to tell me that I parked in two spots, why couldn't he tell me that I was parked in a restricted area until 9:30???!!!!!

Cleveland sucks, this city is full of complete assholes! And now I have ANOTHER ticket! May has not been a good month for tickets.

Freezing!

It's so so so cold at work today!
I am wearing jeans AND and long sleeved shirt, and I am shaking!!!!

I JUST DON"T GET IT!

So there's this guy, and ALL the girls are friends with him! But he's so crummy, seriously, a pretty crummy guy. And yet, they still flock to him. I don't get it.. and I mean, he's done some seriously shady things... shady like a fuckin forrest. But all the girls still talk to him, hang out with him, drink with him.. man o man.. I learn my lesson, believe me. But no one else does. On top of that.. he's not cute... no way man... I think he uses people.. psychology! Fucks with their minds.. with his money, and chubby belly!

Ethics! Blog vs. Friendship

Last night at the cruise started great... I was wining and dining.. and gambling.. and then chaos!!!!!!! BUT! Writing about it would be wrong, wrong wrong wrong!

So, I'll post another entry about the Good Times Cruise Later... but, this is what Liz had on her profile this morning after the cruise, which summarizes the experience perfectly:

The cruise was cool... except half the people there were acting like high school graduates instead of college graduates... and Case students' obvious lack of style was demonstrated by the significant portion of people who wore tapered jeans and fleece to a dinner cruise. Ah, the legend lives on.

I also won a free senior week shirt! Coolio!

...working...

at work, with nothing to do... been sitting here at my desk since I got here... with nothing to do... already spent an hour and a half reading news on the internet, checking the weather (twice)...emailing... man, what am I going to do??? ... I already read all of the news for today!....

bored

bored

bored

bored enough to write this blog!

...

Stupid Blogger

I wrote a nice post Sunday night... and the stupid blogging people didn't post it... and now it's lost in the internet oblivion!

Mother's Day Mayhem

It is interesting to note that my mother's day is always unique compared to other people's calm and serene days :) I always go to Chinmaya Mission for Mother's Day celebration, and this year is no different.. Mother's Day at Chinmaya Mission is like a zoo, there are people and festivities everywhere! From 10-12 they make all of the children and mothers cram into this small hall. For two hours we are subject to have to listen to 5 year olds give speeches about why they love their mothers. It always ends up being a speech about loving a mother who cooks and cleans for you... how sexist :) And then after 12, they start the mother's day picnic! Where the idea is that the fathers cook for the mothers and children in a reversal of roles. And this is where the madness begins.. there are usually TONS of people who come. We always end up having to park in a grassy lot, tons of children running around everywhere. And then the weather doesn't always cooperate. One year it was deadly hot, the other year it wouldn't stop pouring. But that doesn't stop the people coming for free food and really bad speeches!

Happy Mothers Day!

Motocycles and Bartending in my Future??!!

...Hmm... some interesting ideas and prospects for the summer. BF's apartment in Minneapolis is literally a five minute walk from a Bartending School. And in the month of May, you pay $295 (a discount of $200) and can sign up for the course. Best of all, you can take the classes whenever you want, for up to 25-30 hrs... and then you're a real and genuine bartender! How awesome.. I could take the classes when I visit BFin Minneapolis. It would be something fun that we could take together. And then I will make better drinks that people won't hate me for.. maybe they'll actually drink them!

The second cool prospect that has popped up is the idea of taking Motorcycle classes! My boss is totally into them and told me that she would totally support me.. even lend me her helmet! The classes are only $25, and you just take it over a weekend, and you're all set to go. They even lend you bikes to learn off of. That's so cool... and a little scary and thrilling...

In just a span of 2 months, I may be a motorcyclist/bartender/over all, pretty cool girl!... and then in 3 months, I will most likely lock myself into my apartment for the next 4 years... for a period of life called medical school...

The First Day After Parting

Well, yesterday we parted ways at the Minneapolis airport... it was really sad. Having to see his chocolate head turn around the corner, broke my heart. As I was boarding the plane to go to Cleveland (after an annoying lay over in Atlanta), I kept getting visions in my head of yelling, "WAIT! I cannot leave my love!" And then sprinting down the plane aisle, busting through the door, as all the passengers cheer on my love! Yea! You go girl!! And then I would run to his terminal and say, "forget medical school, forget the world, lets run away to Paris!" ...

I wish...

Last night was hard. I slept at BF's apartment, and I woke up around 5:30 in the morning... and was just sad. He's not here, his warm body isn't next to mine.. it's just me and the cold blankets. It was awful..

How do you let go of someone so amazing? we both know that we will make it, but I hope that this time apart doesn't hurt us.. especially him. I've already hurt and disappointed him multiple times, I don't want to keep doing that.

BUT! On a brighter note, he's coming to visit me in Cleveland during Memorial Day Weekend! Whooppiie! That'll be great.. a real nice time together. And then I will book a flight to visit him in early June, and then he can hopefully come in late June, and I will go in July.. etc etc.. hopefully the time will just fly by!

And everyday I will say the same thing, we're one day closer to being together again...

End of a Stage of Life

Well, we are leaving for St. Paul/Minneapolis today... to drop him off and get him settled into his new apartment. Tuesday I will be flying back alone back to Cleveland.. and I am really going to miss him... seriously.. it sucks. This is the start of 4 long years apart. But I am determined to make it work .. he's the man of my dreams.. someone who blows my mind and makes me feel like a precious princess.. I love him and I am not going to let him go, never ever.

First Darling of the Morning

Currently, I am reading the childhood memoirs of my English teacher, Thrity Umrigar. It's a pretty interesting read, and perhaps even more interesting because I've had her as a teacher and I read her other book, Bombay Time. It sort of makes the book more personal to me. Plus, the book is set in India... and somehow, books by indian authors always strike a certain chord in me. For example, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, is an absolutely beautiful book.. love it.

There's a passage in Umrigar's memoirs where she talks about the day that her english teacher assigned the class a writting assignment, but added the stipulation that they use "real" names. Ie, stop using generic american names like Mr. Brown and Mrs. Smith. She also said to stop making all the characters blond haired and blue eyed... and this totally rocked Umrigar's mind set... it was an interesting revelation that the culture you grow up in, despite your family heritage can shape you to such a strong extent. Umrigar's entire world-view was shaped by British england... and not by the every day Bombay that she lived and breathed every single day..

I once had an experience like that, I was playing Sim Tower as a kid, it's a game just like Sim City, only you build a mega-tower rather than a city. You even get to name the sims that move into teh tower and all that... I would name all of them things like "Timmy", "Lilian", etc... and I remember one time my cousin told me that if she played, she would name all of them indian names... and for some reason, that statement resonated within me. I was shocked that I "naturally" gravitated towards naming the sims american names... culture and personality is so intriguing.

Sounds of our Lives

It's amazing how sounds and smells can bring back so many memories. It's almost better than photographs in the sense that it really transports you right back into the essence of that moment. And all of a sudden, all the details are clear, and you are no longer in the present, but instead right back into that moment. Reliving all of it.... I love these types of experiences...

Right now I am listening to the Fable Soundtrack (Fable is an X-Box game). And I am suddenly transported back to BF's fouton in his apartment, eating an everything bagel with cream cheese watching him run around the world killing bad guys, saving damsels.. and doing all that good stuff.

It's perfect.

Chicago - Revisted

Get it? Get the play of words on the title? Haha, just like Matrix Revisted! (The behind-the-scenes DVD on the making of the first Matrix - for all you newbies who aren't hip to Matrix lingo!) How appropriate of a title, after all, this is the first time that I came to Chicago with BF... and hopefully the start of many many more visits. Therefore, Chicago has become infused with his essence... what an interesting idea and thought.

Anyways, it was an interesting time. Not as tragic and dramatic as it could have been. Although, judging from Thursday's events, I really was not in the mood to go. and was seriously considering cancelling. But that's no good.. I am an adult and I have to assert myself and my life plans.

The Northwestern conference was a real cool experience. I am really enjoying seeing all these sides of medicine. I really feel like I am more than just a medical school student, slaving away at the books (although, truth be told, I am actually not yet, will be in the fall though). Plus, I am really learning how to perform and be in an "adult" environment. Just as another other stage and culture in life, there are set rules and expectations. If you fail to adopt them, then you are an outsider. I want an emic point of view! (or is it etic??)

Regardless, it was really nice being there with the boyfriend. Plus, I get to expand my "professional" circle in Chicago....
Watch out world, here I come!

Border Patrol Bitch

When we were trying to cross into Canada yesterday to go gambling in Windsor, we came across the biggest bitch out there! Man, she had a big ass stick shoved up her ass... and believe me, it was causing her some enormous pain that she definitely felt the need to express. Biotch... telling us if we know how to stop at the stop sign, then she's telling us that she has no obligation to let us out of America... ok control freak. Power in the wrong hands... see the damage it causes!

Windsor was pretty fun. Looks like I still have the magic touch when it comes to gambling. So far it's been the last 3 times I've gone gambling, I've come out alright.. and had more to make up for BF's losses.. not a bad streak! So if people ask me what my strategy is, I'll have to tell them it's becuase I am so goddamn sexy.. the machine is intimidated.. haha, sure...

Time to write this stupid paper on ethical HIV clinical trials.. ooo the excitement! ;)

Poetry is best when bored!

Here's a recipe for boredom:

Write poetry with a friend over IM!!! (It's best done when you haven't seen the friend in a few years) Yea A!

The walls are bleak and so was my lunch
i havent had lunch and my chest hurts a bunch
hark! and now I have schizophrenia... thanks you lousy munch!
sukamarket: hahahasukamarket: this poem is dying...sukamarket: or maybe im lyingsukamarket: perhaps even cryingsukamarket: and slowly tryingsukamarket: to make this poem not die.sukamarket: and then i killed it.


A-
it is gloomy outsidemy brain is friedfrom learning too muchoutlining and suchso to gym i goto sweat and sothen eat some lunchbut not a bunchstudy some morethen go to the storeto end my daythe starbucks way =)

Me-
Tick Tock.. Tick Tock,
Time is slow when your boss is a bore
Tick goes the time, and tock goes my car’s engine
Gee, I hope my car is worth its tin.
After work, to class I go
To sit for a lecture that I abhore!
Late at night, snuggle will I,
With my cuddly boyfriend
And his big brown eye!

A-
at 12 im off to lunchto eat a whole bunchat the new craze of the nationsoup plantationthen i will be really fulland may sit like a bullor maybe take a napthough i should do all my crapmaybe i should be doneok yes, but that was fun!

Regarding Interview from Hell

... I can't believe it, but I actually got accepted to the medical school that gave me the interview from hell... life sure is crazy! I guess these are the crazy things that happen when you live life on the liminal edge!!!

Life is about to take some interesting, but really sad turns... May 15th (Apocalys)

Aftermath of the Interview from Hell

Hey,
I had the worst interview experience possible yesterday. the guy was a total dick head, asked me why I was the Mother Theresa Reincarnate... asked me what made me differnt from other asians.. asshole!

Facing your Demons

Ok, so I've decided to finally write about that crush from the 7th grade that made me stop writing in a journal all together in my youth. So I had this HUGE HUGE crush on this guy, so embarassing in retrospect. Nothing real spectacular about him, just had a thing for him I guess. So, then this girl (who is a very bad friend) convinced me to write a note one day during lunch to give to him that would show how much of a crush I had on him... bad bad bad idea. For one thing, my junior high was tiny (300 people) and we all ate lunch at the gym together. So that day, I had the note, but then I chickened out and decided I didn't want to give him the note. All of a sudden, the bitch grabs the note.. RUNS across the gym to where he was eating his lunch and gives him the note in front of EVERYONE.. and I mean everyone. ooooo that one hurt. In a matter of ten minutes, the whole school knew about it.. it spread like wild fire. Worse of all though, he didn't like me at all, and he was real mean to me instead... and everyone knew. So years later when I read the journal entries I had made about him, I was so disgusted that I threw away the journal and promised to never send notes to anyone in a gym, especially in the junior high.

BTW... sucks when friends who are supposed to be your only source of entertainment during work decide to go and eat LUNCH! That means you Susan!