Metabolizing

I am a lecture and a half behind. Forget even thinking about reviewing! My current enemy: metabolic pathways of amino acids. Seriously. There's a different pathway for each one, and they all have synthesis, degradation, interconversion, transamination, and a large pool of products they can make. It's enough to make your brain explode.

So, even though class was blissfully over at noon today, I'm in the library with my notes and every color highlighter I could find, and I'm not leaving until I've absorbed this week's material. And maybe reviewed a little. This is no time to be distracted by Jon Stewart. Or by blogging.

Tonight would be good for scary movie night.. If no one in the class is interested, I'll do it myself :)

Looking Ahead (and behind)

Final exam in two weeks. Time has a way of creeping up on me. Feeling very behind. The librarian (he's ultra-cool) told me, when he saw me in the library on one of our days off a week ago: there is no getting ahead in med school. I told him, I'm aware of that; I'm just trying to get as little behind as possible.

Long day today. It's going to be an 8 to 5:30. (Approximately two hours of that time will not be taken up by class.) And this is an extra awesome design for a Monday, because it means I get to deal with horrible traffic both ways.

I've had very bad motivation lately; I'm not sure why. I've been incredibly tired, too. I slept a lot over the weekend, had really strange, vivid dreams. Had trouble making myself get out of bed (although if I'd had a commitment to get to, I'm sure I could have). Haven't treadmilled for about a week. Having trouble making myself focus when I study; it's very in-one-ear-and-out-the-other, which is very daunting when dealing with so much information. Not sure what's wrong with me. I don't think it's depression; I'm pretty good at identifying that. Don't feel like I'm getting sick, either. (This occurred to me at the Franklin, about halfway through my shift: a lot of people have been touching those plastinated organs . . . I'll be amazed if I don't get the flu!) Maybe it's just a minor burn-out. Maybe it's a matter of inertia.

Wanting to come home for Thanksgiving -- but do I fly or drive? (If the latter, I should be booking it soon. You know, the whole time-creeping-up-on-me thing.) And what do I do with Kitty for four days? (That litter box would get reeeaaallly full.) More things to think about . . .

Eat Fish, Live Longer

. . . . . . . Maybe.

Good News!!

I finally have internet in my apartment! (Just in time, too, because suddenly the lectures can only be viewed while online.) We got the modem connected on Saturday, and I spent most of the afternoon being angry because I couldn't get the wireless router to work. Yesterday, I enlisted a male classmate to fix it, luring him in with the promise of taco salad. (It's really good taco salad! I've been pretty proud of my culinary skills lately...) It actually took him a good while to figure it out -- which made me feel a bit better about my futile struggle... So now maybe I'll get more studying done while at school, now that I don't have to use my internet time for my essential crosswords and facebooking... Or maybe I'll just blog much more often. Or I'll end up skipping class because I get to bed way way later due to streaming cartoons in my bedroom. We'll see.

To sweeten the deal, we got the first six months for $20, instead of the regular $45 or so that was quoted on their pricing pamphlet. And the cable guy gave Mr. Kitty a new name: King Julian. (Madagascar, anyone?) It's actually very appropriate: he believes he's king, and acts like it, despite what anyone tells him or whatever might happen that proves otherwise.

SEPTA -- the Philly public transit system -- is on strike, starting at 3 AM today. This is sort of what we get for living in a pro-union city. SEPTA went on strike in 2005, lasting 7 days. Before that, there was a strike in the '90s that lasted 40 days... (It was, quite literally, of biblical proportions.) Times like this, I'm glad to live in the suburbs & drive!

trick or treat, smell my feet, give me pumpkin pie to eat

I sort of jumped right from Halloween into the Thanksgiving season. Allow me to explain . . . It was really Jess who sent me over the edge. Yesterday I received an extremely heartfelt package from her. I knew she was sending pics of the kids -- which I really wanted -- but she also sent chocolove bars, Bolivian alpaca wool mittens, and a warm, supportive card. I nearly cried. Then I thought about the hand-knit microbes Mom sent earlier last week. And I thought about the blissfully honest communication between me and Niles. And Jenni texting me just to ask how I'm doing. And Alisha's free hugs-on-demand. Thinking about all this last night, I just felt so incredibly lucky. Literally, it's incredible. It's beyond belief that I have all these people who not only think about me, care about me, love me, and support me, but who also will not rest until they're sure that I know it. Seriously-- what did I do to deserve this?

Lots of little things still anger me. It's getting too cold outside. Biochem is hard. We finally got internet set up in our apartment, but I can't get it to work. Internet Explorer mysteriously died on my computer. I stayed home all night and only got one trick-or-treater. But it's really all small stuff; I have to keep reminding myself of that.

On to less sappy events . . . . Apologies to anyone currently gagging.

So-- white coat ceremony was this Friday. When I was little, I honestly believed that conventions, ceremonies, and speeches would become less boring when I was older and actually cared about the subject. Now I think maybe we just get better at hiding the boredom. Anyhow, it was all a great success. Lots of clapping and cheering.

Bioscience midterm was Monday. WOW that made a rough start to the week. I still maintain that a good amount of questions on that exam were never, ever discussed in lectures. But I passed. The answer key was posted within a few hours, so no one had to sweat for too long. Still made for a stressful week. Had to recuperate on Tuesday, which automatically put me behind in the material for the final exam. I'm nearly caught up now.

Was ecstatic at the opportunity to talk with Mahlon. Jess had him call to say "happy white coat day," which was of course adorable. He speed-dialed me a little later (I don't think he knew it was me) to ask if I could go trick-or-treating, then told me he loved me. It's been a heart-warming sort of weekend . . .

And on that note, I should probably "for real" study, instead of pretend-study like I've mostly been doing today. We're deep in the belly of metabolism. It seems like I must be one of very, very few people in this world concerned about phosphorylases...

Am I an Owl or a Bee?

It's been a busy sort of week, complete with full sorts of days. Monday and Tuesday were both eight-to-fives (or would have been, had I attended the 8 AM lecture)... Knowing I can watch the lecture online makes it somewhat more difficult to motivate myself in the morning. Today is a bit better; I have the afternoon free (besides catching up on lectures and studying, of course). The midterm is closing in too quickly....

Luckily, everything in this block is already familiar, thanks to the Molecular Biology and Cell Biology courses I took last year at IU. But having four lecture hours worth of material each day builds up quickly -- really quickly.

Monday afternoon, I met with my randomly assigned physician mentor, who is a pediatrician at a nearby children's hospital. I enjoyed meeting her, but she wasn't able to take me around to patients due to my lack of white coat. So it felt kind of useless staying there for two hours when I wasn't doing anything or learning much. Went home exhausted.

Tuesday afternoon, I had my first assigned session for a program called Big Friends, which puts med students in charge of a small group of elementary kids (this year, they're nine-year-olds) to engage them in activities after school. WOW those kids had energy... Some of them, anyway, and that was enough. It was still a generally good time, aside from the screaming and the jumping and the whining about homework.

Tomorrow, I begin learning how to give physical exams. The first step is HEENT (head/eyes/ears/nose/throat). I'm rather excited to see a retina.... I've been practicing listening to Kitty's lungs so I'll be ready for the next step: pulmonary. On a side note, his heart beats incredibly fast!

Friday, I'm skipping class -- at least, the first part of it. Body Worlds opens at the museum on Saturday, and the staff and volunteers get to preview the exhibit Friday morning. I'm pretty excited about it. I hear they plastinated a camel... which honestly raises all kinds of questions for me...

All for now, I think. I should get back to the clinical and diagnostic applications of recombinant DNA. Or I may end up taking a quick library nap... That delicious [yet overprised] asiago bagel isn't sitting quite right.... I suddenly miss BBC.

Emergence

OK, so I disappeared there for a little while. Things got a little crazy. Well-- even more so than usual, that is.

Survived the Anatomy final exam. Didn't ace it, but I passed it. That one guy in my lab group -- the one who did sports medicine in undergrad and already knew the entire course before it was taught -- he was the first to finish his written exam. I was so irritated with him.... I wish I had that weird weapon from No Country for Old Men... Or maybe I was just in another angry mood that day. Then during the practical, he walked through the lab with this air of confidence while every other student was squirming and struggling... I'm hoping he knows nothing about biochemistry... It'd really make me feel better.

So our second block -- Elements of Bioscience -- hasn't been too intense just yet. Honestly, a good bit of it is review from undergrad classes. (I'm really glad I took Cell Biology last year -- even if I've already forgotten a lot of it!) And it's really good that it's mostly review, because it's been a little disorienting... The difference in class structure, going from Anatomy to this, has been rather jolting. I'd just figured out productive ways to take notes and study for Anatomy; now I've got to rethink my study plan. And the fact that this switch happened in the middle of the week didn't help things either.

Also this past week, I had my first videotaped one-on-one interview with a standardized patient. For anyone who doesn't know-- standardized patients are basically actors who play the part of a specific patient who has come into the clinic for one reason or another. They represent actual cases (though I don't know where they get them). So far we've just taken histories, but later on we'll be starting physical exams. They're actually a lot more than actors, though; they're really professional patients. They can tell you your strengths and weaknesses, and whether you're doing a procedure correctly.

This session was actually really useful. (I haven't seen the video yet... I hate watching myself on tape. Then again, I think most people probably do.) My biggest problem was forgetting to ask certain questions during the history-taking. I completely neglected to ask about alcohol/tobacco/drug use. But my standardized patient (who has been doing this for a long, long time) gave me a pretty positive review, so that was really encouraging. Apparently, I'm pretty good at putting forward a comfortable yet professional demeanor.

The weekend has been fairly busy, too. Saturday, Alisha & I went shopping for decor to fill our all-too-bare walls. The adventure was incredibly successful, minus a small scuffle with IKEA. (On a side note -- that store is MASSIVE!) I found I'm really drawn to funky metal works for some reason. Today, I had my orientation/training session at the Franklin Institute for the Body Worlds 2 exhibit. I will actually probably skip class the day before the exhibit opens so I can tour it before having to answer questions about it. (It's okay -- the lectures are taped and posted online so I can listen later.) There are going to be some definite benefits to this volunteer gig.... I get free admission to the museum (and I've got to admit -- that giant heart is pretty darn cool) and IMAX every so often.

So the busy weekend has left very little time for studying. Was going to read over some notes once I'd laid in bed last night, but Kitty obviously disagreed, since he made himself comfortable right across my chest. I gave in and turned out the light. There will always be more time to study....