meanwhile Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates lately, but my internet connection has been down, owing to some network changeover snafu on the campus level that I am unable (and unwilling) to understand. Here is, in a nutshell, what's been going on over the past few days: 1.) I finished taking my oral and written exams, thus marking the end of my brief and tumultuous affair with General Surgery. And now, I never want to see the inside of an OR again. Well, unless I'm getting surgery myself. Wait, not even then. 2.) I completed my third year of medical school. I'm 3/4ths of a doctor, people. Actually, Guillem is convinced that we should be considered full doctors already, since, "We're 75% of the way done, and 75% is a passing grade, right?" Man, third year. It flies by. As best summed up by a quote from the early 90's Seattle Gen-X movie "Singles" (viewed over and over again during that span in my college career I now refer to as "The Coleen Era"): We had good times, and we had bad times...but we had TIMES. 3.) I turned 24 this Friday. It was uneventful. There were some presents and drinks, but that's pretty much it. Birthdays in adolescence were always really exciting, I felt. Turning thirteen, you're a teenager. Turning fourteen, you can get a job. Turning fifteen, you can learn to drive (if you're that type). Turning sixteen, some hunky crush-boy shows up on your doorstep the evening after your sister's wedding, a day after a determined nerd squad tried to steal your underwear. Every year was a big event. Now birthdays are just...there. "Welcome to the mid-20's" Joe told me Friday morning. I always thought that my life would be much more exciting by this point. 4.) I started studying for Step II of the Boards--for real this time. It's strange how your whole perspective about studying can change. Last year at this time, I had spent so much time sitting at my desk poring over textbooks and notes that the very site of my tabletop nauseated me. It was as though my entire world had compressed down to those six square feet, and by the end, I couldn't wait to break out of it. Nowadays, however, it feels like unspeakable luxury to spend a day studying. I wake up at whatever time I want in the morning, sit in my comfortable chair in my air-conditioned room, where I can be alone without getting paged or ordered around to do meaningless petty tasks, and read whatever I want for hours on end with the sole purpose of getting smarter. It's so geeky, but really, it's great. I'm going through the academic equivalent of binge eating these days, just grabbing books off the shelf and diving right into them, poring over the pages, studying everything in sight. So in sum, it took third year to turn me from a nerd to even more of a nerd. 5.) I saw "Minority Report" last night. I'm not a lover of The Cruise, but I thought that the movie was extremely thought provoking and absorbing. Samantha Morton's performance as Bald-o ESP chick was particularly affecting--she's my new Girl Crush. I won't go through my usual movie review routine, since the movie has kind of a chewy plot that I don't want to ruin for anyone, but I highly recommend that you go check it out if you're looking for a summer movie a little deeper than your standard popcorn fare. ("Spiderman," I'm looking at you.) So see? You miss me for a couple of crucial days, but in the end, nothing much really happened anyway. Welcome to my life. xo Michelle Countdown to the Boards: 5 days |
Sunday . June 23 . 2002 . 9:00pm |
meanwhile Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates lately, but my internet connection has been down, owing to some network changeover snafu on the campus level that I am unable (and unwilling) to understand. Here is, in a nutshell, what's been going on over the past few days: 1.) I finished taking my oral and written exams, thus marking the end of my brief and tumultuous affair with General Surgery. And now, I never want to see the inside of an OR again. Well, unless I'm getting surgery myself. Wait, not even then. 2.) I completed my third year of medical school. I'm 3/4ths of a doctor, people. Actually, Guillem is convinced that we should be considered full doctors already, since, "We're 75% of the way done, and 75% is a passing grade, right?" Man, third year. It flies by. As best summed up by a quote from the early 90's Seattle Gen-X movie "Singles" (viewed over and over again during that span in my college career I now refer to as "The Coleen Era"): We had good times, and we had bad times...but we had TIMES. 3.) I turned 24 this Friday. It was uneventful. There were some presents and drinks, but that's pretty much it. Birthdays in adolescence were always really exciting, I felt. Turning thirteen, you're a teenager. Turning fourteen, you can get a job. Turning fifteen, you can learn to drive (if you're that type). Turning sixteen, some hunky crush-boy shows up on your doorstep the evening after your sister's wedding, a day after a determined nerd squad tried to steal your underwear. Every year was a big event. Now birthdays are just...there. "Welcome to the mid-20's" Joe told me Friday morning. I always thought that my life would be much more exciting by this point. 4.) I started studying for Step II of the Boards--for real this time. It's strange how your whole perspective about studying can change. Last year at this time, I had spent so much time sitting at my desk poring over textbooks and notes that the very site of my tabletop nauseated me. It was as though my entire world had compressed down to those six square feet, and by the end, I couldn't wait to break out of it. Nowadays, however, it feels like unspeakable luxury to spend a day studying. I wake up at whatever time I want in the morning, sit in my comfortable chair in my air-conditioned room, where I can be alone without getting paged or ordered around to do meaningless petty tasks, and read whatever I want for hours on end with the sole purpose of getting smarter. It's so geeky, but really, it's great. I'm going through the academic equivalent of binge eating these days, just grabbing books off the shelf and diving right into them, poring over the pages, studying everything in sight. So in sum, it took third year to turn me from a nerd to even more of a nerd. 5.) I saw "Minority Report" last night. I'm not a lover of The Cruise, but I thought that the movie was extremely thought provoking and absorbing. Samantha Morton's performance as Bald-o ESP chick was particularly affecting--she's my new Girl Crush. I won't go through my usual movie review routine, since the movie has kind of a chewy plot that I don't want to ruin for anyone, but I highly recommend that you go check it out if you're looking for a summer movie a little deeper than your standard popcorn fare. ("Spiderman," I'm looking at you.) So see? You miss me for a couple of crucial days, but in the end, nothing much really happened anyway. Welcome to my life. xo Michelle Countdown to the Boards: 5 days |
