Although my obsession with Warcraft hasn't exactly died down, I've found a new - perhaps healthier - addiction: books! This isn't exactly something new, but I've noticed as of late, that more and more of my budget is devoted into purchasing books from Chapters online.
The biggest problem that I have is that I enjoy such a wide range of genres: anything from Margaret Atwood to historical fiction to Fantasy to comic books. While this means that there's always new books coming out to keep me preoccupied, it has taken its toll on my wallet. My biggest purchase so far was getting the Calvin and Hobbes anthology, but it's only a matter of time before I exceed that amount. >.<
In the meantime, I'm waiting for my latest order: two fantasy novels by Christopher Paolini, and the newest Peanuts anthology (for those of you that think that Peanuts is boring, you obviously haven't read the older comics - if I'm energetic, I may post a few online so that you can appreciate Snoopy et al in its glory). And because I've now spent way too much for this month, I'll spend the next little while - at least until my purchases come in - listening to some NEW cds that I won from a raffle: High School Crush (aka best hits when my dad was young) and Shakira, while I study for my exam. Woot! Oh yeah, I sure know how to live a good life.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
learning from a TRUE master
I love my free food. Free pizza, free cookies, free drinks, I love it all. I consider myself pretty good at acquiring the food and then sneaking off so that I don't have to listen to the talk providing the food; but today, I witnessed the work of a true master.
After my classes ended today, I passed by a classroom, where a talk was being held. Outside the room, there were trays of leftover cookies. The only problem was that these trays were being hounded by two ladies, who obviously were making sure that individuals like me didn't come along to take food and then avoid going to the talk.
So, while some of my friends and I were pondering how to get the food without getting reprimanded by these ladies, in comes the EX-DEAN of Medicine. He walks past the tray of food and looks into the room to see what the talk is about. THEN, in one smooth gesture, he moves to the food, grabs a cookie, waves to the ladies, smiles and says, "Thank you," and walks away! It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time.
Needless to say, after this occurred, the ladies wrapped up the trays and hid them from the rest of us, but I learned two valuable lessons from today: (1) that I have much to learn before I develop the same finesse as the Ex-dean of Medicine in acquiring free food, and (2) that you are never too old (in spite what my parents say) to take free food from others.
After my classes ended today, I passed by a classroom, where a talk was being held. Outside the room, there were trays of leftover cookies. The only problem was that these trays were being hounded by two ladies, who obviously were making sure that individuals like me didn't come along to take food and then avoid going to the talk.
So, while some of my friends and I were pondering how to get the food without getting reprimanded by these ladies, in comes the EX-DEAN of Medicine. He walks past the tray of food and looks into the room to see what the talk is about. THEN, in one smooth gesture, he moves to the food, grabs a cookie, waves to the ladies, smiles and says, "Thank you," and walks away! It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time.
Needless to say, after this occurred, the ladies wrapped up the trays and hid them from the rest of us, but I learned two valuable lessons from today: (1) that I have much to learn before I develop the same finesse as the Ex-dean of Medicine in acquiring free food, and (2) that you are never too old (in spite what my parents say) to take free food from others.
the ironies of being nice
With the crappy weather happening in Edmonton, it's inevitable that people are going to get stuck on the roads (22 cm of soft snow + most cars = disaster). So, this morning, on the way to picking up my cousin to go to school, we passed one of these cars - a nice Lexus, I should add. Of course, since the car was blocking the whole street, we had three options: (1) help out, (2) wait until the car got unstuck, meanwhile honking at them to hurry it up, or (3) turn around and drive via another road. Being that two of those options were too rude so early in the morning, my dad and I decided to be the good samaritans and help out.
BIG mistake.
Not only did it take about 10 attempts to get the car to safety - who would have thought that the Lexus would have NO power to get out of the snow?!? - but in the process, my dad had to move his van back to clear room for the other car, getting HIS vehicle stuck in the process. Thankfully, because of my *cough* physical prowess, we were able to finally get both vehicles un-stuck, but what a way to start the morning! I blame the extra physical exertion for why I ended up sleeping for most of the lectures in the afternoon. ;)
On another note, I just checked my mastercard bill, and I got a 23 cent credit for some sort of correction made to my bill. I guess I should be overjoyed with this newfound cash, but I'm not feeling the love.
BIG mistake.
Not only did it take about 10 attempts to get the car to safety - who would have thought that the Lexus would have NO power to get out of the snow?!? - but in the process, my dad had to move his van back to clear room for the other car, getting HIS vehicle stuck in the process. Thankfully, because of my *cough* physical prowess, we were able to finally get both vehicles un-stuck, but what a way to start the morning! I blame the extra physical exertion for why I ended up sleeping for most of the lectures in the afternoon. ;)
On another note, I just checked my mastercard bill, and I got a 23 cent credit for some sort of correction made to my bill. I guess I should be overjoyed with this newfound cash, but I'm not feeling the love.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
shadowing on the wards
Shadowed for Internal Medicine this evening, which turned out to be a lot more interesting than my other classmates let on. The last patient that I saw kept losing consciousness every five minutes, which was really freaky. I didn't get to follow through the whole case, so I hope her outcome is good.
The highlight of my evening: as I pushed my way out of an elevator on my way out, a person motioned his friend to move out of my way, saying, "he's a doctor!" The tone of respect in his voice was quite laughable, considering that just five minutes prior, a nurse had come up to me and when I couldn't understand any of the stuff that she was telling me, I ended up saying, "Sorry, I'm just a first year med student."
The highlight of my evening: as I pushed my way out of an elevator on my way out, a person motioned his friend to move out of my way, saying, "he's a doctor!" The tone of respect in his voice was quite laughable, considering that just five minutes prior, a nurse had come up to me and when I couldn't understand any of the stuff that she was telling me, I ended up saying, "Sorry, I'm just a first year med student."
Thursday, March 09, 2006
I guess I wasn't a complete embarrassment
So my presentation at my old high school has gone and passed by; and all in all, I was pleased with how it went. I was worried that because of who I am, everything that would come out of my mouth would sound like "I'm a dork, I'm a dork, I'm a dork"...and that I would make a fool out of myself. And I did sound like that; but what I forgot was that at my high school, that's the sort of stuff that those kids and their parents eat up, and I think it turned out quite well.
I ended up talking a lot more than I thought I would - mostly mundane things such as life in university, how I found high school useful, the IB program (I almost forgot about that program!), yada yada - and I found that it really wasn't that bad talking in front of that many people. Whether or not they found my talk useful is another story; but at least from my perspective, it was a good sign that I didn't crumble under the pressure and crawl into a ball to cry like a baby. Plus, I got a free pen and mug out of it; AND the school dedicated a book to their library on my behalf (Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson). Free stuff is always a good thing in my books. =)
I still don't believe that this presentation was necessary for these students. They should be enjoying their lives right now and worry about getting into the medical program later on, but at the same time, I can see where they're coming from. So, I hope my talk inspired them (or discouraged them - whichever makes them better people) into taking a genuine interest in the program so that they go into it for their own reasons rather than for the sake of their parents or for money, and hopefully something stuck. If not, at least I have the benefit of experiencing that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get when you help others.
On another note, I was quite pleased to get a thank you card from one of the individuals that I interviewed over Reading Week. We unfortunately do not give bonus marks for people thanking us, but it's always nice to know that some of the individuals will spend the extra effort to try everything they can to get into the program.
I ended up talking a lot more than I thought I would - mostly mundane things such as life in university, how I found high school useful, the IB program (I almost forgot about that program!), yada yada - and I found that it really wasn't that bad talking in front of that many people. Whether or not they found my talk useful is another story; but at least from my perspective, it was a good sign that I didn't crumble under the pressure and crawl into a ball to cry like a baby. Plus, I got a free pen and mug out of it; AND the school dedicated a book to their library on my behalf (Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson). Free stuff is always a good thing in my books. =)
I still don't believe that this presentation was necessary for these students. They should be enjoying their lives right now and worry about getting into the medical program later on, but at the same time, I can see where they're coming from. So, I hope my talk inspired them (or discouraged them - whichever makes them better people) into taking a genuine interest in the program so that they go into it for their own reasons rather than for the sake of their parents or for money, and hopefully something stuck. If not, at least I have the benefit of experiencing that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get when you help others.
On another note, I was quite pleased to get a thank you card from one of the individuals that I interviewed over Reading Week. We unfortunately do not give bonus marks for people thanking us, but it's always nice to know that some of the individuals will spend the extra effort to try everything they can to get into the program.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
I should have seen this coming
I promised to help give a presentation to my old high school about med admissions tomorrow. Supposedly, it was going to be just a harmless talk to the Parents' Association for the couple of keen parents interested in learning more about the program. Since I don't have to give the actual presentation, I'm just there for moral support, and to answer the occasional question about classes, since they asked for an alumnus to be present. Sounds harmless enough, right?
Well, now it turns out that the presentation has opened up to more than the Parents' Association, and I'll be in front of over a hundred people. Now I'm bound to get asked questions, and I haven't planned anything to say!
In retrospect, I guess I should have seen this coming...considering that 95% of the kids that come out of this school want to enter some career in the health sciences, I should have known that this would happen. But these kids still have so many years ahead of them before they can even APPLY to med school, why worry about it now when they're still in high school?!? It's not like this talk will give them any advantage over other students, even though I know that they think it will.
And knowing my old school, the students and parents will expect me to say something insightful, something witty, maybe something intelligent. They'll want me to impart some of my wisdom unto them. And of course, since I have NOTHING to say, they'll be quite disappointed. Add that to my goofy appearance, and we have a recipe for my complete and utter humiliation. I am royally SCREWED.
Man, I try to be nice for once, and look at what happens. I'm not even getting any free food! >.<
Well, now it turns out that the presentation has opened up to more than the Parents' Association, and I'll be in front of over a hundred people. Now I'm bound to get asked questions, and I haven't planned anything to say!
In retrospect, I guess I should have seen this coming...considering that 95% of the kids that come out of this school want to enter some career in the health sciences, I should have known that this would happen. But these kids still have so many years ahead of them before they can even APPLY to med school, why worry about it now when they're still in high school?!? It's not like this talk will give them any advantage over other students, even though I know that they think it will.
And knowing my old school, the students and parents will expect me to say something insightful, something witty, maybe something intelligent. They'll want me to impart some of my wisdom unto them. And of course, since I have NOTHING to say, they'll be quite disappointed. Add that to my goofy appearance, and we have a recipe for my complete and utter humiliation. I am royally SCREWED.
Man, I try to be nice for once, and look at what happens. I'm not even getting any free food! >.<
Sunday, March 05, 2006
blog disclaimer
Because I don't want to suffer any repercussions for what I'm writing on my blog, I've decided to write a disclaimer:
MY DISCLAIMER
This site, although based on true-life events, may or may not be an accurate representation of what actually happens in my life. Morever, any comments written on this site do not necessarily reflect this blogger's true beliefs or feelings. I use this site to vent my frustrations, and possibly to incite a reaction from my reader(s *cough*). Therefore, any individuals who find themselves written about in a negative light SHOULD NOT take my comments personally. If you have a problem with an entry, please bring it up with me before you sue me or before you seek reparations in some other way!
Phew, that should hopefully cover my ass for any future problems I may encounter. Now, I can prepare for my anatomy lab. It's not really something I'm looking forward to (I mean, does anyone actually want to look at dead preserved bodies?), but if I'm lucky, I may be able to use a saw!
MY DISCLAIMER
This site, although based on true-life events, may or may not be an accurate representation of what actually happens in my life. Morever, any comments written on this site do not necessarily reflect this blogger's true beliefs or feelings. I use this site to vent my frustrations, and possibly to incite a reaction from my reader(s *cough*). Therefore, any individuals who find themselves written about in a negative light SHOULD NOT take my comments personally. If you have a problem with an entry, please bring it up with me before you sue me or before you seek reparations in some other way!
Phew, that should hopefully cover my ass for any future problems I may encounter. Now, I can prepare for my anatomy lab. It's not really something I'm looking forward to (I mean, does anyone actually want to look at dead preserved bodies?), but if I'm lucky, I may be able to use a saw!
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