Med school now taking over dreams?

So i was taking a power nap today....and then all of a sudden i'm driving my car and an 18 wheeler is on my tail, and then it taps me, and in the dream, i think to myself "oh man, here come my sympathetics" and without a doubt (in real life) my heart rate started increasing. I then started to have some flashing anime in my head (yeah, i know that's weird, i'm not into anime, and i'm not asian or anything, really just weird) and then i forced myself up. I was actually conscious at the time that if i opened my eyes it would all be over, otherwise it would likely continue with flashes of anime.

I'm thinking subconsciously my body told me to wake up so that I could study (It was only 7 PM), so now I think about med school stuff, such as sympathetics, even in my dreams. I wonder if I will be like this when I'm in a real life situation where something similar happens.

Anyways, I was reenergized though right afterwards. I then went for a run and am now at Beaner's coffee shop getting a decent bit of studying done. Maybe one day this respiratory physiology will make sense.

Been a long time

So I realize that it's been many months since my last post. I guess its a good thing I didn't have too many regular readers, otherwise people may have gotten pissed.

Well, what has happened over the past few months? Well, I finished semester one of med school, came back to school, and the economy has been a little rocky. Every day that I go to class I keep on thinking how good its gonna be when we get to go to the hospital and aren't in class all day long.

This semester has been different for sure. We seem to spend less time in actual class, usually start around 10, but everything just seems either more difficult to understand or is taught less effectively. But whatever, I will get through it because I have to.

In other news, I am trying to wrap up my summer plans which will hopefully consist of India, Europe, and a project in New York or Michigan. Everyone seems to put a lot of emphasis on these "experiences" for CV's and residencies, I guess I will try to get them.

And that's the Gulati Opinion...

Trying to Get r' dun

Well test block 2 is over and we are done with test 3 for Devo as well. I haven't been a huge fan of the whole Jeff Foxworthy type Get R' Dun, but right now I am just trying to Get R' Dun. Now what exactly is that saying, I mean, I think if I grew up anywhere other than the south, I would have no idea what the heck that was talking about and would probably also think that the South is full of country hicks. BUT I am glad that I am a Southern Boy. Its an easier transition from Indian culture to Alabama than it would have been to New York, even though there would have been more indians around. I guess I am just thinking about family life and southern culture/traditions etc.

I am going to Tuscaloosa this weekend for the Alabama Tennessee game and am pretty excited to be back in town and also to get to visit my friends. I don't know how it happened but at some point I fell in love with that place. I didn't think I'd be one of those alums who would follow our football team or even want to go back and visit. But its like once you go there for school, you love the place.

My next set of tests don't start for 2 weeks but I am trying to stay motivated right now so that I can be ready for the next set of tests since it will kind of be clutch time. Its definitely hard to keep writing on the blog. Its really exciting and stuff at first but I just start getting tired of having to type everything. If only I had someone transcribe it for me. I'm sounding like a doctor already....

And that's the Gulati Opinion...

Down Time

I am not sure if down time is really good for me right now. Since I got finished with my first round of tests, I don't think I am studying that hard. I just feel that I am going through the motions and information isn't sticking as well. I actually thought it would be the other way around. I figured that once I got through one test, I would have a better idea on how we are tested and so I would be able to perform better on future tests. However, that doesn't appear to be the case right now because I feel even more lost than I did the first time around. I'm not sure if everyone else is going through similar stuff in my class, but i'm going to make the assumption that they are.

On another note, I have found out that my OCD is going insanely crazy now that I am fed lots of information in a short period of time. Sometimes I will just be sleeping or about to sleep and then think of what structures are in a certain triangle or what a specific nerve innervates, and I can't fall asleep until I get up and actually find out the answer. I am thinking that the next step of this will be dreams where somehow I get quizzed, freak out, wake up and then look up information about my dream. This does not sound like something fun to do for the next 4 years, but i can't really get around it. Once again, I am assuming other people in my class are going through similar situations.

Thinking outside of medicine, the Fed lowered interest rates, the market went back up, it is close to 14,000 again (I love how people have internal points on where they think the economy should be. some people think things couldn't get much better, and others think it couldn't be much worse. It really is all subjective). I'm not sure what I think about that move right now, I sometimes wish I could talk to some leading economists to figure out how they think certain moves will impact the US and the rest of the world. Its just so hard to be involved with it since at this moment I feel that any federal policies will have a minimal impact on me personally since I am not really in the right state (e.g., I have no money) to invest.

So basically, down time has the possibility of hurting you, med school makes you go crazy (or at least seem it), and the stock market remains confusing.

And that's the Gulati Opinion...

Nap Time

I just woke up from maybe on the of the greatest naps of all time. We finished Test Block 1 yesterday so a lot of people celebrated (including yours truly - see the picture below where we are discussing flip cup strategies at around 2:30 in the morning on a Monday).


And for the record, Yes, I did end my night at Waffle House, and I have to say that Bridgette was one of the finest waitresses the company has and the food was ridiculously good and definitely needed. HOWEVER, I have to say that being hungover during med school classes is a little worse than undergrad classes and here's why:

1.) Classes start at 8:30 every day
2.) Classes last longer. The 50 minute MWF class is no longer a luxury that I have.
3.) Pertinent information is covered every day giving an individual very little downtime

So basically this morning was spent with me having the most stupid look on my face and being unable to understand any of the concepts that were being taught. When we got out of class, I took the much needed nap. I woke up a few minutes ago and now i feel rejuvenated and refreshed. I actually may be able to even study a little bit tonight, which is amazing. So, in conclusion, be careful when you are partying during the week when you're in med school but if you do, please make sure that you take some sort of nap so that you can be ready for the rest of the atrocious week of school coming up.

And that's the Gulati Opinion....

Vacation Nation

So today is Labor Day, which means we have no class! I have been trying to study all day and also got some laundry done. I am about to go to the gross lab to look over some of the stuff so that way i will be better prepared for the test.

i talked to a friend of mine yesterday, and he was telling me about his labor day plans (which included beer and poker...and i was envious) and then i told him about how I basically had to make sure some studying got done. he proceeded to laugh in my face, which i would have also done if i was in his situation. Vacation in the Nation (the US) is in full force.

So, that is Vacation Nation, and different people spend it doing different things...I know some people may be out barbecuing right now, but they should remember the students who are unfortunately spending even their vacation preparing for school....


p.s. The Nick Saban Era began, and Alabama beat Western Carolina 52-6, yes Bama fans, this is not an error, we actually did manage to put up 50 points in a FOOTBALL game.

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.

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.