Monday, December 13, 2010

And so anatomy ends (sortof)

Tomorrow - Monday 12/13 - is my last official day of anatomy lab.  It's been a very long and winding road (for the second exam we had to know 99 muscles, their innervations and blood supplies... good times!)  The exam a week from Tuesday will be by far the hardest of the 3 anatomy exams.

I've truly come to believe the Head and Neck regions (and I'm not even counting the brain...) were designed by God (or evolution, or whatever) for one purpose only: to drive medical students crazy.  I mean... seriously.  Some of the wiring makes no sense.  Why exit the skull (jugular foramen), enter it again (around the ear), and then exit it again (via foramen ovale) to innervate the Parotid gland?! (thank you lesser petrosal nerve... yay for the damn glossopharyngeal cranial nerve).  And on that note... who knew the skull had so many holes in it?!

I know this is more appropriate for the last exam (the Brachial Plexus was part of the second exam - the limbs exam), but the general feeling this picture illustrates is still appropriate:




Having said all that, I don't think I'll ever have another class as amazing as Gross Anatomy.  I'm extremely humbled that people have donated their bodies to science so we can train to become the best doctors we can be.  I wanted to take a moment to thank the people and the families who help make Gross Anatomy possible.  Thank you all so much.  Be assured that our class (and medical school classes around the world) have learned an immense amount from cadaver dissections.  Lessons we couldn't have learned any other way.  Know that any lives we improve and/or save in the future is possible because of the willingness of these selfless people and their families.

Thank you.

As always, I'm writing a blog entry instead of going to sleep.  I need to figure out a better way to fit this into my schedule...

Monday, December 6, 2010

Time marches on

There were a lot of people (that I know) with birthdays this week.  There were 5 within our medical school class!  The older I grow, the more I understand that the passage of time isn't really dictated by the rate at which sand falls through an hour glass.  It's really more about how many great / memorable events happen between t = 0 and t = x.

Better yet, it seems to have a paradoxical effect: on the one hand, when a lot of events are happening (preferably good ones), time seems to speed ahead.  Like the three parties I went to this weekend - I felt like they just started, and every time I looked at the clock, at least a half hour had inexplicably disappeared into the ether.  On the other hand, I look back at all the crazy things that've happened in the past few months, all the new friends I've made, all the new experiences I've... experienced (hey I never said I was a wordsmith) and it's a bit shocking to realize it's been just that - a few months.  I guess I'm not used to having so many events occur so quickly: I feel like a year has passed - but nope; less than 6 months have passed.

I'm not sure I like either effect events have on the passage of time.  But then again, it's not like I can argue with time (I've tried, time is very stubborn).  And I definitely don't have anything to complain about. So I'll just sit back and watch the grains of sand fall.

On a side note (you didn't think I'd end without one of these did you?) - thinking about events that've passed made me reminisce about my undergrad institution.  Mainly, I just think back to the 2 am Mario Kart sessions.  My next thought?  Well, an xkcd cartoon best explains it.  To anyone out there who knows about / plays Mario Kart... you'll definitely understand this one.  For those that don't - drop what you are doing and go play Mario Kart.



Damn blue shells.

Words of wisdom from a friend of mine:"Karma is when you drop a banana peel [in Mario Kart] and slip on it yourself"

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Positive attitude

So I should be going to sleep right now (yes, I have a self imposed curfew - when you're done laughing read on!), but I saw this xkcd comic and I just had to post it.


For anyone who knows me - I'm a fountain of positiveness (and hyperness).  I really loved the reverse psychology stick figure #2 uses in the comic.  If only it were this easy to instill positive attitudes in everyone.  There's also the slight issue that this method is probably not too ethical.

We are ramping up material in our Microbiology / Infections Diseases class.  Although all of our classes are useful - they tend to form a foundation that is probably not directly used.  Microbio's different - we actually learn about the various antibiotics used in hospitals and which microorganisms they work well against!  It's a lot to memorize - but it is definitely very cool.  I mean - this is the real stuff - the stuff we'll probably use most frequently!  And it'll probably help us save lives!

Bring on the tables upon tables of antibiotics crossed with microbes they work/don't work against!  Although, I'm told they already "brought it"; I'm just behind in keeping up with lectures.  Doh.

In other news: partying thursday night, friday night and saturday night.  I wonder why I'm behind?