Saturday, January 31, 2004

Hey, everybody. This week is gonna be totally crammed with three tests and two papers, plus lab reports and reading assignments. I'm hoping to get an extension on a paper due next week, so we'll see how that goes.

The last couple of days have been really busy, too. Thursday, the doctor I work for called me a failure, while one of the patients called me "pretty" three times. Then I had to give her a rectal exam. Maybe I should change my name to prettyfailure. I couldn't find a parking space when I got to school, so I went to Central Market and got a lasagne and Greek pasta salad, then went to Krispy Kreme and got a Lemon-filled doughnut (they didn't have the hot glazed at the time). When I got back to school, I was exhausted, delirious, and starving. When I walked into the lounge, I was surprised to find my arch nemesis from TA last semester, the student I talked about a while ago who would hit on me in class and hassle me. Well, he was there and hopped up on energy drinks. Of course, Will was there and ready to tell me that buying one doughnut was "a crime against humanity." I couldn't think of a witty comeback so I told him to shut up (clever, huh?). When I opened my lasagne, it came tumbling out onto the floor. I dove and grabbed it and decided to take of the layer that touched the floor when Will advised me that "nuking it kills germs." I hit rock bottom and proceeded to have a mini-breakdown as I told the gang how I had been up since 5:30, working since 6:30, called a failure, given a rectal, couldn't find parking, and couldn't get a hot glazed doughnut. The girls gave me a pep talk that boosted my spirits enough to microwave the lasagne, and Daphne handed me a Pepsi (in my haze, I had neglected to get a drink). Finally I sat down and engulfed the feast before me, yet did not have room for the doughnut, before I had to go to lab. Will prompted me to eat it, yet I would not give in. I saved it for after lab while I hung around waiting for the Organic Chemistry help session to start and left school at six, getting home at 6:45. My 13 hr day had finally come to an end.

Comments


On : 2/2/2004 1:42:21 PM gp (www) said:

sounds like you need a new doc. why did he call you a failure? that doesnt seem very helpful.

On : 2/2/2004 5:33:55 PM prettydoc (www) said:

See, one of the numbers (if you imagine a list bulleted with numbers) was in bold, and I was in the process of correcting it. He told me it was bold to begin with because I have bad habits, and that if I don't correct my bad habits I will continue to be a failure in life.

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

I actually got to do some real TAing today as it was the first lab of the new term. There's this Persian guy in the class who kind of hassled me a bit. I was like, great, a term full of being disrespected by yet another boy. He got a 0 on his quiz, though. It was weird cuz this Iranian guy was trying to get me to eat lunch with him when I went to the caf to get lunch and last semester one of my students was an Iranian guy who was rude to me. It seems like they just won't leave me alone. I never approach them, they just come to me.

Comments

On : 1/27/2004 6:42:40 PM persianguy (www) said:
alot of people don't like you




On : 1/27/2004 10:36:28 PM will (www) said:
Are you using Persian and Iranian interchangeably?


On : 1/28/2004 4:47:43 PM prettydoc (www) said:
Persianguy -- I am almost too well aware of that.
Will -- In my post, I am referring to people who are both Iranian and Persian. Therefore, I may use those adjectives interchangeably in reference to them.

Sunday, January 25, 2004

I just watched the Golden Globes tonight. It was pretty boring, and I wasn't a big fan of the winners. I only liked Charlize Theron and Renee Zellweger. Hopefully the Oscars will be more entertaining. The Oscar noms come out on Tuesday, the same day as the New Hampshire primary. Hmmm, I know that's supposed to be deep on some level...

Saturday, January 24, 2004

My sister took her SAT today and thinks she did pretty well. She already knows what college she wants to go to, and she actually took the SAT there today. While she was taking the test, my mom and I had breakfast at Denny's where I surprisingly found hairs in my paincakes. They were actually baked into the batter. It was so disgusting that I lost my appetite. I have a lot of things due the first week of February, so I'm trying to get as much done now as I can. I've completed my lab report and hopefully I'll finish my English paraphrase and paper before Friday. I want to devote the weekend of 01/31-02/01 to studying for the O Chem test that Wednesday and the Cell Bio and Psyc tests that Friday. That means staying on top of things now so that I don't get overwhelmed.

Comments

On : 1/25/2004 11:06:02 AM gp (www) said:
thats what you get for going to denny's
This is cool. Read it.

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Will got a haircut today, or rather I saw his haircut for the first time today. That's all I have to say about that (j/k). In other news, I was the last person to leave lab today because I messed up multiple times, but I aced the quiz and totally rocked at work in the morning. I'd write more, but I'm really sleepy and want to gather enough strength to get through Friday so I relax this weekend.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Will's blog entry for today "weighs in" (HAHA!) on the whole diet thing. It's nice to know that for once I'm influencing him instead of the other way around. And he says girls are stupid... I had my New Majors meeting yesterday, which was a complete waste of time. Basically I was given my Degree Progress Report and told what an advisor was and how many credits are needed to graduate, etc. I already knew those things before I matriculated, yet somehow it got stretched into an hour lecture. I went to an Organic Chemistry help session, which was great! I really want to make a point of going to as many as I can. I met with my study group today, but only 2 of us (me included!) had done the homework so we disbanded and agreed to meet at Starbucks on Sunday. Well, I'm off to prelab for the first O Chem lab of 2004.

Comments

On : 1/21/2004 11:43:47 PM Will (www) said:
Its true, blog on sister.


On : 1/22/2004 5:50:09 PM prettydoc (www) said:
I love how your ambiguity allows me to insert whatever antecedent for your pronoun that I want. Blog on, bro.

Monday, January 19, 2004

"Don't you think I'm so sexy, I'm just so fresh and...so fresh and so clean, clean." That song's always in my head after I take a shower. Anyway, Happy Martin Luther King day everyone. I hope you're all enjoying your day off. I worked Saturday and Sunday, so today was my first day to sleep in and actually have a weekend. For the first time all year I'm actually ahead in my studies, including Organic Chemistry. I'm being a good girl, I really am. American Idol starts tonight; that should be fun to watch. Also, tonight on Average Joe 2 Hawaii the hunks arrive to spice things up. Does anyone else think it's weird that there are more hunks than Joes? Based on numbers alone, it seems likely that she would pick the hunks. Watching today's Oprah further motivated me on my new path to fitness. I've been doing Pilates everyday since the New Year and am on the Chick-fil-a diet on school days. It includes alternating each day between the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, Chargrilled Chicken Cool Wrap, Spicy Chicken Cool Wrap, and the Chargrilled Chicken Salad, with Fat Free Honey Mustard Dressing on all of them and lemonade instead of soft drinks. That's less than 7 grams of fat each! I think it's a good plan. I chose Chick-fil-a because at my school we only have Chick-fil-a, Bene's Pizza, and Montague's Deli, so I don't have that many options. I would eat a turkey sandwich everyday, but turkey makes me sleepy. I'm very sensitive to chemicals. If I have a Coke at lunch, I can't sleep at night. And that's it for Diet Tips from Prettydoc!

Comments


On : 1/19/2004 8:53:20 PM persianguy (www) said:
lol...you sound big ahaha. like a wittle fatty ahah. goto the god damn gym, and work it mammiiiii


On : 1/20/2004 4:28:23 PM gp (www) said:
im pretty sure the lemonade there has just as many calories and the same sugar content as a soft drink. unless its 100% juice, its likely the same thing as a coke.

drink water. pilates are good.


On : 1/20/2004 6:17:04 PM prettydoc (www) said:
They do have diet lemonade, but I cheat and go for the regular stuff. Diet just doesn't taste as good, although I must admit that it is an acquired taste.


On : 1/20/2004 8:40:32 PM gp (www) said:
what are your thoughts on artificial sugars? i have my own reservations about them, but id like to hear your thoughts. As an aspiring medical student, they might be useful/interesting. i personally think they're poison and im trying to get my dad to stop eating them. oh yeh, and they taste awful. =)


On : 1/20/2004 8:46:49 PM gp (www) said:
oh also.. what do you think about this new chicken scare? i think its hippies trying to come up with new reasons to bring down the meat industry. it doesnt bother me one way or the other since im basically a vegeterian now anyway. its not that i dont like meat or that i personally have qualms with the meat industry. its just that i like other things better, for the most part.

here's a link if you're unfamiliar with the chicken stuff: http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/foos/516998.html
there's also this:
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=4171287§ion=news

straight from the people that gave us madcow disease.


On : 1/20/2004 10:35:07 PM prettydoc (www) said:
I was always raised to stay away from sugar substitutes and still have my mother's mantra (Nutrasweet causes cancer!) drumming in my head. Although the saccharine tests done on mice may seem nonvalid today, I have spoken to people who ran similar experiments and indeed felt that it causes cancer. They stopped using sugar subs and warned their friends not to use them. I have a feeling that Splenda may not be as bad as aspartame or saccharine because it's made from sugar, but I really don't know much about it. I think the chicken scare is rediculous. At the hospital, I saw a patient that died last month from arsenic poisoning, and the doctors said that it is a very rare thing. So rare, that the only way you could get arsenic poisoing if you were deliberately poisoned, as the police suspect she was. The iron thing is also lame. Too much iron is only harmful to children under 6. It's great for everybody else. Something to watch out for, however, is mercury from fish. There are certain kinds of fish (swordfish, trout, shark) that have high levels of mercury. They are the kinds of fish that are predators when they are alive. Don't eat these kinds of fish more than once a month for women or twice a month for men. Hope that helps.


On : 1/20/2004 10:47:52 PM persianguy (www) said:
Trout?
Swordfish?


Dear God...what predators! Also, remember not to get more than an hour of sun light every day...just enough for vitamin D, but good enough not to get skin cancer!


On : 1/21/2004 4:38:31 PM prettydoc (www) said:
The sun one is a good tip; I saw it on the news the other day.


On : 1/23/2004 1:38:34 AM persianguy (www) said:
Everything in U.S.A. runs off fear....from commerce to politics.


On : 1/23/2004 6:18:18 PM gp (www) said:
agreed.

Saturday, January 17, 2004

Yea, Will's blog is back online! Only now I can't leave comments. Oh, the frustration! Moving right along, I'm really liking school this semester, especially my Cell Biology teacher. He's so awesome! He's really making me like biology all over again, which is great because my Genetics teachers made me sort of hate it. It's not good to hate your major. I got to work 1/2 hr. early this morning without even knowing it. I got there at 6:30 am, and the doctor showed up at 7 am surprised to see me there so early. He told me how weekends have later hours. So now I know to give myself an extra 1/2 hr of sleep tonight.

Comments

On : 1/17/2004 5:04:35 PM will (www) said:
Oh really? Everything works fine over here.


On : 1/17/2004 10:11:51 PM prettydoc (www) said:
All right! Now we're back on track.

Thursday, January 15, 2004

I went to work this morning, then headed for school. I got there at 12:30 pm and didn't have class (Organic Chemistry Lab) until 2 pm. I got the Chick-fil-a Chargrilled Chicken Salad, which is now in a small round container instead of the old long rectangular one. It took me an hour to eat because it was so hard to mix and get to anything. Everybody was either laughing at me or trying to defend me by saying that I'm a neat eater. Then they gave me tips on how to eat a fast food salad the right way. I don't get why I can't do things girls are supposed to be able to do. I can eat a 1 lb. burger and fries without breaking a sweat, but I can't eat a salad in under an hour?! In other news, the lounge was pretty empty today. What happened to the crazy college Thursdays filled with random, witty banter? Oh yeah, Will wasn't there. :p So my inability to eat salads and speeding were the main topics of discussion. Pretty boring stuff. Plus I had to sit through it for 1 1/2 hours and then my lab was only 10 min. long! It was such a waste of time. I could have been studying or something. The salad didn't fill me up, so when I picked up my sister from school I swung by McDonald's and got a McChicken sandwich. It totally went against my Chick-fil-a diet, but who cares. I'm hungry dammit!

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Will, get your site back up. I need your blog fix! Anyway, I completed by first assignment of the term today. It was a Commentary about William Blake's "The Lamb." Blake is my favorite poet, and I've already studied this poem in two classes before. It makes writing about it much easier than if it was new to me, that's for sure. One of the girls from work called because she didn't realize she had a class Thursday mornings. That means that now I have to work every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I'm giving her my weekends though, but I still have to work this one. That means I'm working 4 days this week and going to school. Ahh, a premed's work is never done...

Comments

On : 1/14/2004 10:18:35 PM gp (www) said:
my roomate is premed.. hes one of the most boring people ive ever met


On : 1/14/2004 11:14:00 PM Will (www) said:
sites fixed. kinda.


On : 1/15/2004 2:42:15 PM prettydoc (www) said:
gp, I hope I'm not boring. I like to think my randomness prevents that from happening. Will, I still can't connect to your site. Are you blocking me or something? I hope not.

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Today was my first day of working at the hospital during this school term and the first Tuesday I've been on campus since last May. I liked seeing the people I missed yesterday and the general lounge talk. We tossed a few pop culture references around the room with a couple "Who/What's that?" that made me cringe. I just don't like explaining that kind of stuff. It's like having someone ask you, "Who's Elvis?". How can you expain that in less than 30 seconds? I expected the class that I TA to be really short today and it was...for the students. The TAs had to stay an extra hour. I spent it writing all the students' names in the grade book. Busywork alert! All I could think about was how my feet and back hurt from working that morning and how I wanted to go home. Well, now I'm here and ready to read some Romantic poetry before Gilmore Girls starts.

Monday, January 12, 2004

Today was my first day of the term. I got up early, took a shower, did my hair, and looked fabulous. I got to school full of confidence, and it felt great to see all my friends again. They've been to so many places during the break, like Macedonia, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. I got show off my phone a little bit. The girls loved my Ashton pic and the guys loved my Shakira pic. I'm an equal opportunity entertainer. My Cell Bio teacher seems really cool; I love him already. My first English class looks laid-back, but my second one has a lot of writing assignments that I'll need to keep up with. I'm going to feel out the Psyc class this week. If it seems like I'll get an A, I'll stick with it otherwise I'll drop it before Friday so it won't show up on my transcript.

Sunday, January 11, 2004

Tomorrow's the big day: the start of the Spring 2004 term, just in case some of you forgot (cough, Will, cough). Today I was in a bit of mood and feeling very insecure about myself and tomorrow. It took some Pilates, hair styling, and motherly advice to snap out of it and see that I'm in control of my destiny (could I be more vague?). I'm excited, but nervous at the same time. There's a lot riding on this semester, gradewise, workwise, and socialwise. So far this is my schedule:

MWF
8 am Organic Chemistry 2
10 am Contemporary Approaches to Literature
11 am Cell Biology
12 pm British Authors 2
2 pm Developmental Psychology

Tuesdays

6:45 am Work at the hospital
1 pm TA for General Chemistry Lab 2

Thursdays

6:45 Work at the hospital (every other Thurs.)
2 pm Organic Chemistry Lab 2

Weekends

6:45 Work at hospital (every third weekend)

Looks pretty busy, huh? I might drop Psyc this week if it turns out to be too much. But I think I can handle it. I have to have as many A's as possible this semester and kick a$$ at work. It's all part of my master plan to become the prettiest doctor in the world. :)

Comments

On : 1/13/2004 1:55:21 AM will (www) said:
If it wasnt for your blog, I would never have known about school. Thanks ... I think.


On : 1/13/2004 5:01:52 PM prettydoc (www) said:
You're sincerely welcome. BTW, I'm having trouble getting on your site. You might want to check it out.

Saturday, January 10, 2004

I went threading today. I had been looking for someone who would thread at a lower price, but so far no luck. So I gave in and went to the same salon as last time. Since my mom did it with me I saved $5. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but it's a start. I wanted to look nice and clean when school starts Monday. I'm excited about seeing all my friends and taking some fun classes. I'm still trying to decide what to wear. I got a letter today from my school about having a New Majors meeting. See, your major is not officially declared until you attend this meeting. I'm scheduling mine January 20th at 2pm. The only reason I can attend is because the class I TA will not be held that week. Talk about luck.

Friday, January 09, 2004

I went to the mall after work today with a friend from school (the one who drove me to that party I mentioned before). OK, never mix being up since 5:30, doing hospital rounds till noon, and walking around the mall till 4:30, especially when there's no caffeine involved, just <5 hrs of sleep. I brought it upon myself; I'm such a people-pleaser. In the end I got nothing, but my friend got a nice pair of boots. School starts Monday, so this is my last weekend of freedom. For the next 4 months, my weekends will leave me occupied with a certain Mr. L.G. Wade. Thank God for the English classes to preserve my sanity and love of culture.


On : 1/9/2004 11:32:14 PM persianguy (www) said:
i sleep like 5 hours a night, and am fine with it. i would assume you'd want to start getting in the habit too (w/o being dependent on caffeine), med school is only around the corner.


On : 1/10/2004 11:27:20 AM prettydoc (www) said:
You have to admit that aimless, brainless wandering around the mall for 4 hours is nothing like the adrenaline rushed excitement of hospital rounds.


On : 1/11/2004 2:47:04 AM will (www) said:
school starts monday? I thought wednesday.


On : 1/11/2004 10:16:51 PM prettydoc (www) said:
You thought wrong, buddy.

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

"She works hard for the money..."

Ah, if only I could have titles on my entrys like my blog buddies. Oh well, I can still dream. I've been working afternoons all week and tomorrow I start my morning shifts again and will continue them for the rest of the school year. I like mornings better. I clearly work from 6:45 am - 12pm and have the sole responsibility of making hospital notes. Afternoons have ambiguous endings (sometime after 5...) and include preops, postops, consults, transcription, and intake. Of course the downside is mornings require running around three buildings of the hospital with a laptop, printer, and a big cart holding it all together. I really need to work out more.

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

OK, the schedule change went through great, but now I'm having problems with the financial aid department. That's what happens when go to the most expensive school in TX; all they care about is money. It's crazy how they have no problem sending you emails and letters about lack of payments, etc. but they don't even leave a phone number where you can contact them in order to make the payments!

Sunday, January 04, 2004

I went to my school bookstore yesterday. When I compared the books for 2 sections of my English class, I realized that none of them matched the ones they put online. I also found that I liked the books from the other teacher's class better than my own, so I decided to change my prof. Luckily she has one seat left in her class. If I change that, then I would change Intro to Cultural Anthropology to Developmental Psychology. There's no way I'm taking classes from 8am to 1 pm w/o a break. So now I'm awaiting my advisor's reply to my email of change.

Comments

On : 1/4/2004 9:17:22 PM gp (www) said:
developmental psychology is the class that changed my major to psychology. hopefully you have half as good a professor as i did. actually, it was child and adolescent psychology... basically the same thing.


On : 1/4/2004 10:09:05 PM prettydoc (www) said:
I'm so glad you said that because I wanted to make sure that I made the right choice.


On : 1/5/2004 8:25:41 PM persianguy (www) said:
psychology is lame. who in the right mind would want to study the way ppl think. ick, that wreaks of lameness. why don't you think about changing your gpa to a hard science like physics or biochem, so if you screw up your BCPM gpa with a hmm...c+ in genetics , you have like tons of other classes to fall back on that are way easier upper-div.


On : 1/5/2004 10:48:18 PM prettydoc (www) said:
Actually, I'm a double major in Biology and English. Next term (Spring 04), I'm taking O Chem 2, Cell Biology, 2 English classes, and Psyc. Plus, over the summer I'm taking some easy Bio classes at a community college to bring up my science GPA.


On : 1/7/2004 5:26:26 PM Will (www) said:
GPA doesnt transfer.


On : 1/7/2004 5:28:20 PM persianguy (www) said:
So? Her gpa at school won't change, but thats only because the class transfers for credit, but on come to application time, she has to put in the grade for the class on amcas...


On : 1/7/2004 9:50:19 PM prettydoc (www) said:
Well said, persianguy. You see, Will, when you apply to med school your application and subsequent GPA includes all college classes regardless of where taken. So even though SMU doesn't recognize them, CC classes will be calculated in my GPA and Science GPA. That's the GPA the med schools use for admissions.

Saturday, January 03, 2004

Last night a dreamt that a certain someone was in my house while I was the only one at home. We spent the afternoon watching TV while I sat anxiously wondering what my mom would say when she got home. When she did get home, I ran up to meet her and the first thing she said was, "Well, is he cute?". I explained to her who he was and that we were only watching TV. Then she said, "That's okay. You're grown up now, but I'd rather you did not bring him in the house until I had met him first." OK, this moment of deep understanding must of shattered my universe because I woke up right when she said that.

The funny thing about my dreams is that I'm just as self-restricting in them as I am in real life. You'd think I would have done more with this guy than watch TV. We could have gone to the movies, had lunch, or even flown around the world (it's a dream, remember). There would have been absolutely no consequences for my actions. Talk about frustration.

Friday, January 02, 2004

OK, I just got back from Houston. The goal of this trip was to the see Heroic Age exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art. It wasn't as great as I had expected. I loved seeing the famous things like Starry Night and the Picassos. A lot of the rest of the art was a little extreme for me. I like Pop Art, Surrealism, and Pointillism, but I'm not much of a fan of American abstract. But after we saw the exhibit, we went to another floor of the museum and saw what it usually houses. The works were beautiful! They were full of religious and mythological imagery from the Renaissance and Middle Ages and tons from the Romantics. As far as Houston, I really liked seeing the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and UT-Houston Med School up close. For some reason, I couldn't find Baylor Med School, which is supposed to be in the same place. Yesterday was the first day of the light rail service, and it looked pretty nice. I always heard that the worst part of TMC was the parking, so if I go to Houston for med school I would love to be able to park and ride.