I just finished watching 2001- a space odyssey. It was less confusing than the last time I watched it ( I was 12) but I was hoping to get more clarity. Good thingthis website was clear.

Well, one week down, um...many years to go. Off to buy textbooks and get my cellphone fixed.
Also, I am moving into my new place on Monday (and it is also my birthday) so I hope everyone will join me for some birthday fun to christen the joint!

I just experienced the worst lecture ever. About using the library. Actually, it was more about why it was important to use the library. It made me very, very angry.

Reasons why med school is like highschool:

1) I am with all of the same people all of the time. In every class.
2) There are little cliques starting to form. Mostly I think this is hillarious
3) We are in CLASS from 9 to 5 every day. 8 hours of class. (With an hour off for lunch.)
4) A lot of the stuff we take seems like mindless busywork.

I have registered with something called the SMALL WORLD PROJECT. It is a study being done by a sociologist in New York, and while it may initially look like a scam to create spam, I heard about it on CBC,so I am giving it a smidgen of credibility. The guy is looking at how connected we all are to eachother- the six degrees of separation. (Remember the Will Smith movie??) The first person is given a target, and must try to reach that person- but only through people they previously know. My target is a woman in her forties who lives in Oregon, so I've emailed Natalie (Matt's girlfriend, who may or may not respond to this sort of thing) because she is living in Seattle and I figure it is geographically close. Anybody have any other connections to Seattle?

Alan and Steve- where were you two last night?? I don't appreciate being stood up!!

I bought my stethescope today!! It was a very exciting purchase.

The thing about my med class- it seems like this whole experience is going to be very high school. A lot of the orientation seemed to be stupid games and being very silly- the whole thing seemed really immature to me. Not that I am trying to be a wet blanket, or that I am the pinnacle of maturity (as we all know) but that's just how I felt about the whole thing.

Okay, I'm in a more creative state, and I have a lot of time to kill, as we are all waiting for the "Hippocratic Oath ceremony" to start. Yesterday was spent reviewing the curriculem, as well as playing some stupid games. We also had the Dean of Admissions come in to give us a talk. Let me set the stage:
They had us take a test the first day of oritentation that was ridiculously hard- all stuff no one would have known . The dean came in the next day and told us that these tests were an indication of how well we would do in school this year, and that based on our scores, some of us would have to come in for mandatory remedial tutoring 5 hours a week. Of course, no one bought it at all- we knew there was some practical joke coming and we basically laughed through his presentation. They could have got us a lot worse- last year they fooled the class into thinking that the government had not given enough money to the school, and that they would have to cut 15 people from the class. Word is that some people broke down into tears.

I'm in the middle of an exhausting orientation for med school. The first day was spent sitting in the theatre listening to people trying to sell us stethescopes (so many features!) opthamoloscopes, and otoscopes. (Eyes and ears) Also Sphyngomanometers, which is just a blood pressure cuff and dial. Many, many banks came in to discuss loans... there was also BBQ and many free prizes. In the evening we went on a car rally, which was fun, and then did karyokee, which was interesting. Bah, I'm too tired to describe this properly; I'll have to do it on the weekend when I'm more rested. The organizers are putting a TON of pressure on us to attend every single function and I need to take a rest.

SChool starts tomorrow- I'm sure all of this is just anxiety.

I also worry that I am going to get typecast into this bitchy arrogant med student who thinks she is fantastic but in reality doesn't have a clue about anything- why doesn't everyone else go to Europe on spring break and Cuba at Christmas? Maybe this has already happened. Man, almost-24 is too old for me to be experiencing social insecurity.

DO you ever get worried that one day you will wake up and have stopped trying to listen to other people and respect them but instead resort to making quiet terrible judgements about their life in one quick glance? I worry about this sometimes.

Oh yeah, supposedly the power is back on out east.

My dreams for the past five days have been about the med school sending me a letter telling me that they made a mistake and are no longer letting me into their school. IN this latest dream, I even got a chance to look at my file, complete with DENIED stamp.

Here are some funny links that I stole from matt. Its hipster bingo" and here is some real life hipster bingo".

Although news of my trip may be not worth noting in the wake of the massive blackout, I thought I would post about it anyway. Alana and I spent 5 days and nights in Minnesota- not exactly the fantasy destination of millionaires and moviestars, but we had a good time anyway. Most of it was spent in Minneapolis, with a day and a half hiking in Itasca state park. Some highlights of the trip:

- the US customs guy asking us if we "had brought anything". Um what??
- seeing Hilary Clinton in the mall of America
- outlet malls, and more outlet malls. (Man, do I hate outlet malls)
- driver: why is it taking so long to get to our freway exit? How long can the 35 be?
map reader: 35?? we're on the 35?
- ordering nachos, discovering they were disgusting, and later burning them ceremoniously in the campfire
- many many hours of driving through small-town America. Obese men in overalls, dairy-queens, and American flags were everwhere.

A quote which sums up the trip: " Minneapolis is really not that interesting." However we made up for it with witty sayings and many inside jokes.

I'm back from the magical wonderland of the American Midwest. Good times were had by all- actually mostly hillarious times. I'm too tired to re-hash it all at the moment- a followup blog explaining the ins and the outs will soon come.

I have a crazy assortment of clothes in my closet. From several sweater vests (???!!) to a long, black, goth, see-through outfit that I cannot remember buying. When was I ever goth??

And something that is really annoying is that I am just realizing that my suit is too big on me now. Well, a small part of me that is told by the media that I should be a size 0 is pleased that I am getting smaller, but a larger portion of me is just pissed that I am going to have to get this suit altered.

Ever get into a mode where you feel like trying on absolutely all of your clothes?? (If you are a guy, probably not.) RIght now I have on my suit jacket, a tiny dress that I wore to Heidi's wedding, and a pair of black lace-up boots that I found in the back of my closet.

Okay, now we may be going to Minneapolis by car. Its all very mixed up. Details to follow.

Next week I'm going to Banff!! Woo hoo!! Lan and I are going to do lots of hiking (perhaps some mountain biking?) and camp out under the stars...too bad we are taking Greyhound to get out there. 17 hours on the bus one way...yikes. I'm going to have to bring along some really trashy Maeve Binchy novels to get me through it.

What is with this year and everyone I know writing the MCAT? I know probably 15 people that are going to write this August, and all of them are getting more freaked out by the day. When I wrote it two years ago, I hardly knew anyone else doing it. And no one understood why I couldn't go out and would lock myself in my room for hours on end. Come on people,we really need to co-ordinate!

I take it back- I'm actually quite enjoying working on this presentation. It feels nice to be submerged in something and completely focused on my task. I almost forgot what that was like- thank goodness school starts in a couple weeks!

I have to give a presentation to the department of immunology on Thursday. This is a huge, scary proposal- I'm talking to a room full of experts about their expertise. And I am a lowely summer student with only one course of honours immunology under her belt. This whole morning I have been panicking upstairs in the library- mostly just pacing through the stacks and muttering "fuck fuck fuck" under my breath.

WE had a discussion this weekend about Tim Hortons and their coffee. It seems some people think the reason it is so good is because they are adding MSG Mmm, delicious addictive coffee. The website I've linked to seems to think it is nonsense, but there has got to be something that keeps me going back.