The First Test!

So today was the first medical school test in Developmental Anatomy. A little background: it was 100 questions and covered 6 lectures, yes, I said only 6 lectures. I would have to say it was a pretty fair test though. The questions definitely progressively got harder, but maybe my brain cells got weaker as I progressed thus making it more difficult?!?!

The teacher posted the answers outside his office, and most smart people (not including myself) had the time to write down their answers so they could figure out what they made. I will just have to wait until the wonderful computer department posts it online. I think I did okay though...I am at least confident that they cannot throw me out after this test, which is a good thing.

What is different about med school as opposed to any other type of school (maybe not law) after a test is that you still have to learn a lot of information after taking a test. For example, we had a long and strenuous biochem lecture right after the test, and to say that i could not focus, would be a stretch. I don't even think I understood any scientific words during that time. Then to further compound my insult to injury, anatomy lab covered the nerves and muscles of the hand. Now those of you that don't know, the hand has WAY TOO MANY muscles and nerves and other stupid things that we have to remember. It was insane. So basically, I am now back at step 1. I have a biochem test on thursday which i must incessantly study for (don't know if that's the right usage of the word incessantly, but english is not my first language), and we have a gross test coming to.

so the studying continues....as does school.....and lack of enjoyment and no ARSENAL, at least not in the near future

Taste of Nations Continues

The Taste of Nations resume again after a 1 year absence since I finished my MBA. It involved Thai food and it was basically pretty awesome. I think the people I went with got hype about it too and it appears that it may be an ongoing tradition (lets hope they don't back out).

Speaking of people backing out, what is up with people saying that they want to do stuff and then don't show up...This actually happened with the taste of nations today. I talked to a bunch of people in between classes and like 15 said they wanted to go, and I said to meet up after class. Right after class though, they dashed for the exits. I don't know if they just didn't want to come or forgot about it. At this point since I don't know everyone that well, I will have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Man, I definitely just complained on my blog. What else is going one....well, I am learning a whole lot of hand muscles. I am also staying up later at night, which seems to be a direct result of getting more coffee in me during the day. I just started getting Americano's and they are basically like regular coffee but smoother. That is somewhat similar to good whiskey and bad whiskey. Sure the bad whiskey will get the job done....but sometimes you want some better flavor.

Lately I have been opting for that better flavor with the Americano...and lets just say that extra 40 cents isn't putting a dent in my wallet yet. But that credit card statement hasn't arrived yet.

In other news, Tom Brady just had a baby with the Whitney girl from the show "Six Degrees". Not really important, but something that I read in the past couple of days!

10%

I realized I am insanely obsessed with numbers today when I had calculated that 10% of the semester was finished today. You ask, how did I do this? Well, there's 16 weeks in the semester so 1.6 weeks would mean Wednesday of the second week. So that's how you get it.....In case you were wondering (and i don't know who you is, it may be me reading my blog a few years down the line).

Today was also filled with a decent bit of studying. I definitely avoided it earlier in the day and went and played basketball for a couple of hours. Then I basically fell asleep at the library for like 30 minutes, went to a meeting, but then somehow I was able to stay up and get some stuff done.

I am now watching some Team USA basketball. They are killing Venezuela, but hey, they are supposed to be the best in the world right, even though Olympic results don't indicate that.

Its hard to believe that I have only been in school for less than 2 weeks, I feel like I have been taught so much stuff in that time.

Also, the stock market is going back up, what's up with this. Its like one day everyone in America is selling their stocks because of credit problems, and the next day they just buy like crazy. It really makes you wonder how much of the stock market is driven by emotions and how much is driven by earnings and financial information like it is supposed to be. I also wonder what investment bankers do working so many hours. I mean, anyone can research a whole lot of companies, but surely they are getting something else done in that time too I would think. Maybe they are getting insider information which basically gives them the edge and that's why most of them think they are kind of a big deal. I am definitely glad I'm not out doing that.

And that's my opinion for the day...

The Essential Weekend

Now Many of you may think the essential weekend would include this:











However, when you are in Med School, for the most part, its more like this:










Now why is it that you think the weekend is so essential during medical school? From what I have learned so far, I am convinced that you are given an insane amount of information during each class period, and most days are from around 8am-4 or 5 pm.

During the week you do attempt to study but most of the information seems to not make much sense. I think that has to do somewhat with being overloaded with information and so your brain does not have the capacity to process any concepts, i guess it only knows to store them. Then on the weekend, these thoughts can actually formulate into concepts that you can use.

You ask how do I know this? The first week of school was like culture shock to me. Even after going through graduate school, I never thought or imagined that we would be given so much information to learn, but we were, and if you want to stay here, you better learn that information. During the week I was super frustrated with stuff about the nervous system, but when i studied it on the weekend it made a lot more sense and I can say that I understand it now.

And REPETITION is necessary to succeed, I cannot say enough about that. To conclude, I would like to say that its not like you are spending your entire weekend studying, but I would get used to spending several hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons studying, which may create a problem during Football season which is coming up on us very soon.

Well, one week down, only 15 more till Xmas.

It Is What It Is

I have to say that being in med school really takes you out of the loop of current events. I can't believe that I cannot check the news very often or look at how the market is doing or even do my daily login to facebook 25 times. Basically, it engrosses you and before you know it you are talking medical mumbo jumbo and not making sense to a normal individual...I guess I am learning that i have to prioritize.

I guess i would rather write on my blog and check facebook periodically than know what celebrity ended up in rehab today. I haven't even had a chance to keep up with college football even though the season is coming up soon. I have heard that LSU is supposed to be amazing, but I sure do hope we beat them.

Oh, and I found out, some more people tried to break into my grandma's house again. Its like the 3rd time we think its happened. The first time we weren't sure anything was taken and not even sure if someone broke in. The second time it looked like the robbers spent like 3-4 hours in there, which triggered us to get a security system put in place. This time they broke the screen door and i guess saw the sticker for her alarm and ran away. She was luckily not home. I would hate for her to be there when these jerks try to get in there. I wish there was a way we could hurt them when they tried to enter her yard. It basically gives me another reason to worry about someone which I don't think we should have to do in today's world. I think we've got enough problems as it is.

But, in the end the only way to describe all the events going on in my life is with the statement:

"It is what it is"

p.s. I stole it from SNAKES ON A PLANE, and if you haven't seen the movie, i highly recommend it.

Day 2

So I am sitting in class today and I think about this...

About 2 months ago, I was sitting at Forbes Magazine in New York City and thinking to myself, "man this job is not awesome, I can't wait for med school." Then, today i realized that for the next few years I will be challenged like I have never been challenged before. This came to my mind when I got through the first day of classes and instead of relaxing like I had been used to doing after the first day, I had to get myself ready to study. The one thing I know about med school already is that they can keep piling it on and there is enough information to keep me entertained for a lifetime.

Now that job in the cubicle doesn't seem all that bad.

I am currently just in the library and decided to start a blog. I don't know if I will really have any regular readers, but I think it is good for me to have an online space where I can just enter my thoughts, and it doesn't really matter to me if anyone reads them. I think they will be cool to read in the future.

On another note, the stock market is going crazy. I have been thinking that a recession was coming for a while now but while i was thinking it, the DOW went to 14,000 and I thought just investor sentiment would allow it to go even higher before it dropped, but then people got worried about the subprime mortgages. I think its really crazy how investor psychology works, it really does make you sell too soon and buy too late. I have been a victim of this in the past, so i know what its like...


And to end, all of my blogs are kinda random and i think they will be that way because that's just the way i am.