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Friday, November 20th, 2009
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November 20th, 2009 | 4:03pm - Mr. Bowie
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Last night, I dreamed that I was in a combination of high school/college, and I was sitting down for my first period class, English. Guess who my instructor was?
David Bowie.
XD No one was surprised; he had been a teacher for a long time now. That’s what David Bowie had been doing after Ziggy Stardust--teaching English. Duh. He showed us a new music video of his though, which was similar to Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, and I recall the whole class laughing uproariously.
current mood:  working
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| Friday, October 23rd, 2009
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October 23rd, 2009 | 9:34pm - Explodey on the Interstate and Wicked Cool Movies
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So...THIS happened in Indy. If you look at the album, it looks like we got bombed! Amazingly, there were fewer people injured than one would expect from such a catastrophic event! This is the sort of thing I have OCD fears about when driving around tanker trunks!
Joey and I watched this AMAZING movie (if you like surrealism and laughing your arse off), Survive Style 5+. It's definitely hard to predict...beautiful set designs, costumes, and cinematography...and it's now one of my favorite Japanese movies ever.
current mood:  peaceful
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| Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
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September 29th, 2009 | 9:26am - I just walked past a sniper on the way to the lab...
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No shit. I had no idea that this was going on until I left my front door and saw SWAT vehicles parked all over place, and police standing sternly on every sidewalk. Me, clueless as I am without TV in our apartment, concluded that this was just a campus drill and asked them if I could drop off my trash on my way to one of the mandated civilian passing zones. (They let me *sweatdrop*) Then I saw a man laying on the ground, covered with a dark cloth, with a rifle pointed at the doorway of the apartment building, and realized that this is the real deal...
The dude that they have cornered (in the building immediately adjacent to mine, no less) is apparently a young Iraq War vet...he has a stockpile of weapons, body armor, a gas mask...something tells me this isn't going to end quickly. I hope that he calms down and that they're able to get him help (and don't take him out).
Edit: He finally surrendered himself. I'm glad that no one was hurt.
current mood:  freaked out
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| Sunday, September 27th, 2009
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September 27th, 2009 | 11:15am
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I’m home for the weekend because late this week my grandmother’s partner for about the last two decades, Benny, passed away. ;_; He was like a grandfather to me…
Even though Benny and my grandmother didn’t become really close until they were both widowed in their late 60s, they actually knew each other from the tiny elementary school in the farming village from which they both hailed. Interestingly, they weren’t exactly on friendly terms back then. Benny used to pick on my grandma…she’s part Ojibwe, and back then, her mom would plait her hair into long black braids, so Benny would tug on them and call her “injun” and “red skin” and the like. ^^;; Then, one day, he gave her a “Benny Bob”—he actually cut off her braids and tried to keep them for souvenirs! Maybe he had a crush on her at the time? He kind of hinted that he did.
Despite his penchant for youthful mischief, Benny was a very kind and gentle man who never stopped smiling, and he NEVER lost his temper. He was an extremely successful farmer/businessman, and took my family camping on several occasions in his RV. He was also a veteran with a purple heart…I remember that he had very poor hearing, which many would attribute to his age, but he actually got shrapnel lodged in his right temporal lobe during the Normandy Invasion in WWII. In fact, Saving Private Ryan features the Normandy Invasion in (I think) the opening scene, and I first saw that movie in theaters with Grandma and Benny. Benny had tears streaming down his face, but said that it was a very accurate movie.
After he and my grandma started seeing each other, he shared with her his love of traveling which he had gained from his adventures in the military, and took her to Australia/NZ, France, the UK…and he was going to take her to visit me in Tokyo back in 2002, but that was when she had her stroke (and he was by her side when it happened, and was the one who rushed her to the hospital). Until his own health started to deteriorate over the past year from silicosis, he would still come to visit her and sit by her, holding her hand…In fact, that’s what he was doing the last time that I saw him, which was last summer at a family picnic.
I’m going to miss you, Benny.
current mood:  sad
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| Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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September 15th, 2009 | 5:58pm - Crazy parents
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My mom posted a whole album of a hiking trip with Dad, including the following pics with captions, on her Facebook</a>. I lol'ed since I grew up with these people. No wonder I turned out the way that I did. (These are my mom's captions btw, not mine!)
( Mom's Hiking Album )
current mood:  amused
current music: washing machine
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| Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
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September 9th, 2009 | 6:10pm - Sleepy am I
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I am currently post-call with some bowel distress (sorry, TMI) from an extra large mango smoothie. I love fruit, but too much fruit loosens me up too much. D8 Now I fear going to sleep...
So, I sent my applications out to residencies last week, and I've already scheduled three interviews, all in October during Radiology before the time I set aside for interviewing (Nov. and Dec.) begins! So, I'm ahead of the game. One of the interviews is for my TOP CHOICE, Indiana, so I'm bursting with happiness to not have to wait for them to contact me! So, I'm going to be more leisurely in scheduling the rest of my interviews as the invites come through. :)
I go home to Indy on Sunday, and have 2.5 more shifts left here at the hospital. I'll probably see my aunt and uncle (more about my visit with them last weekend later) one more time before I go. I'll miss Miami, but I'll be happy to be back home so I can snuggle my Emmy and hang out with Mike and my friends. :)
current mood:  sleepy
current music: Edith Piaf
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| Monday, August 31st, 2009
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August 31st, 2009 | 7:41pm - OMG
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I got nominated for Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical school equivalent of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society (of which I'm also a member)! Holy shit! Only the top of the class gets elected...I thought that having to repeat Biochem totally screwed me out of consideration, but I guess not! I won't find out if I'm officially elected until I submit a summary of my volunteer, research, and extracurricular activities and they do some sort of secret election later in September.
This definitely beats meeting "Keith Richards."
current mood:  ecstatic
current music: patsy cline
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| Sunday, August 30th, 2009
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August 30th, 2009 | 2:38pm - Holy Shit
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I went out with a bunch of Neurosurgery residents (me and 12 guys) last night to a pub in Miami Beach and got hit on by Keith Richards (either that or a very convincing facsimile).
I have an album started on Facebook if you wanna look. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2307628&id=20710666&saved#/album.php?aid=2307628&id=20710666
current mood:  shocked
current music: The Rolling Stones
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| Friday, August 28th, 2009
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August 28th, 2009 | 8:45pm - the most awful thing that I've ever seen
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( Cut for disturbing content, but no images )
current mood:  morose
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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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July 2nd, 2009 | 1:17pm - Apartment Pictures
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My friend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rheymoon just said today in a post that she wishes that she had taken pics of all the places in which she lived...well, coincidentally, just yesterday I happened to do just that of my current dwelling, inspired by the meme I just finished. ^^
( Pictures )
current mood:  calm
current music: laughter of the researchers
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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June 25th, 2009 | 9:11pm - ...!!
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I was really sad about Farrah Fawcett dying, but now Michael Jackson is gone, too!? WTH!?
current mood:  depressed
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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June 23rd, 2009 | 9:52pm - WANT TO SEE
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Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton Style!
*dies*
Luckily, I'll be doing a Forensic Pathology rotation when it comes out, so I'll definitely have time to go <3
current mood:  bouncy
current music: Gilmore Girls Season 6
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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June 19th, 2009 | 1:58pm - Gaijin Smash
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While waiting for DNA bonds to break in the research lab, I've been catching up on Gaijin Smash, a blog I used to read that is written by a large African-American man who lives near Kyoto, Japan. It is epic. I just read this one, "Japanese People Say The Darndest Things - Version XP", and it reminded me of a my very first conversation that my partner and I came up with last night in Medical Spanish. XD Me duele la cabeza! Ah, to learn a new language...
current mood:  silly
current music: Bach
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| Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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May 20th, 2009 | 7:58pm - Wee!
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My long-time pen pal and friend, so_low, did this great anime-style pic of me! (She was taking commissions and I wanted new icons, so it was the perfect deal)! I have to show it off now. :3
Oh, and since I uploaded it to the same photobucket album, a replay of this illustration of Dr. Zelda and Nurse Link by my friend om_nom_berries, who I will be meeting for the first time IRL on Friday! :D
Today my classmates/friends Bethany and Tiffany and I gave a group presentation to the psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and nurses about one of the sickest patients in Larue Carter hospital, and it went fabulously. (I'll talk more about the case later) The presentation was not something that we had to do for our grade or anything...we three just happened to be asked if we'd be interested in participating in a case presentation, and since we just couldn't say no, we wound up coming up with the whole thing. We learned a lot by researching this patient's past history and all the different behavioral therapies and medications that have been tried, so it was interesting. Because we put in all that extra work, our preceptors each told us that we'd be getting Honors and that we should all consider teaching in our future medical careers, so yay! (And actually, we all three ARE considering teaching someday, even if it is to residents and medical students. We also worked really well as a group on this presentation. It helps working with friends!) My preceptor also offered me a rec letter if I decide to go into Psychiatry, and she's the hospital administrator so she's kind of a big name. :) So...it's a door that is still open to me, if I change my mind about neurosurgery over the next few months.
Ha ha, and with nearing the end of my psychiatric rotation, I find several disorders that I think I have, just like I do with every other rotation that I've ever been on. A mild case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (different from the first one), and Bipolar II. I can't take St. John's Wort because it makes me hypomanic and I drive my friends crazy (ask cielopollo). I also have to be careful when I pull all-nighters for the same reason...man, being on call leaves me wired for days. At least I don't get wild enough to get myself into trouble...at least, not yet. I keep my eye on it. My mom does the same thing when she gets really into her sewing or beading...and she's the least impulsive person I know. :x
current mood:  chipper
current music: Oasis
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| Sunday, May 17th, 2009
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May 17th, 2009 | 7:27pm - Mini Update: Psychiatry and Obama
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Obama at Notre Dame University
It would have been a good time to still be in South Bend...missed him by a year! Oh, well.
Today I went in for a 5 hour mini-shift for psychiatry call at the Wiz, where we saw a few emergent patients who came in this afternoon at the Veteran's Hospital (aka VA). The first patient was a 33-year-old man who looked older than his stated age, who came in to the VA hospital because he claimed that he was scheduled to have brain surgery to remove "Electrostatic electrodes" that were implanted into his 'equilibrium' by the government, and that they were expecting him there. He would start rhyming when he talked (clang association), and using lots of malapropisms with the utmost confidence that he knew what he was talking about regarding his "past" brain surgeries (he had a shaved head and had absolutely NO scars on his scalp). He also claimed to be George Bush (and tried to show a secret message that only he could understand that he found in the phone book to prove it to us), and after he had his operation, "they" (the government) were flying him back to Washington DC so he could continue with his presidency. He also said that he was a CIA agent with a license to kill, but he wouldn't harm us because he wanted to protect "innocent" people. He laughed when he found out we were with psychiatry, and kept checking his watch. Well, he wasn't even a veteran, so we had to transfer him to another hospital, and conveniently, the neurosurgeons don't do BRAIN surgery at the VA (only spine and peripheral nerve), and they're the same surgeons who operate at the other hospitals, so being quite vague as to not deceive him, we got him to agree to the transfer by explaining that fact to him. I wonder if he'll eventually be transferred to the psychiatric hospital where I'm rotating at right now...
Another was an elderly man who was having a COPD exacerbation and felt panicked, so he put a loaded gun to his head and pulled the trigger, but somehow the gun didn't go off. He had his larynx removed because of cancer, and he didn't have his talking device with him so he had to write all the answers to my questions down on a pad of paper. He lives all by himself with his dog, who is 13-years-old and nearing the end of his life. Sick old men who live alone are at very high risk of committing suicide, especially if they have access to weapons, which he does. He wanted to know if I'd come back to visit him in his hospital room, which just broke my heart. T_T Gargh, I can't do psychiatry...I'd want to take these people home with me, which is just a horrible, horrible idea. The kids I see everyday on the Child Psychiatry unit especially get to me at times...until they start throwing their epic temper tantrums, which reminds me why they're there...
current mood:  blank
current music: Stereolab
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| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
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May 16th, 2009 | 10:21am - *Dies of cuteness*
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Nine-year-old Japanese Guitar Prodigy on Ellen
One more week left to go of my final clerkship of 3rd year, Psychiatry! Then I'm off to Toronto for 5 days!
current mood:  impressed
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| Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
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May 6th, 2009 | 7:00pm - Meme
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From sobloodycute
1. Comment and I will give you 3 people from a fandom I have some idea you are interested in.
2. Post this meme with your answers.
3. Provide pictures and the names of the three people.
4. Label which you would marry, shag, or throw off a cliff.
She gave me Youko Kurama, Vincent Valentine, and Trent Reznor.
( Meme )
current mood:  ditzy
current music: Bats for Lashes
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| Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
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April 22nd, 2009 | 6:02am - Progression of Clinical Skills
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Here's a cute comic from yuki_snowcraft about the progress of a medical student from 1st year to 4th year. I can't believe that in a month's time, I'll be a 4th year, and then a year after that, a "doctor." Weeeeeiiiiiiird. I've already gotten used to being called "doctor" by patients (and sometimes "Nurse! Hey Nurse!" too), but soon it will be for reals. Meep.
 Ah, the importance of the third year question. We were keeping a guy who we did a cervical spinal cord decompression (he had giant blood clot sitting on his cord) in the hospital until he had a bowel movement, and he was on a boatload of stool softeners and suppositories...so when I came in to get his vitals yesterday AM, he passed some gas while I was in the room, which is always an awkward situation between strangers, even in the hospital. I pretended like I didn't hear it and didn't find it amusing, and then nonchalantly asked, "So, have you had a bowel movement yet?" :D He's home now and not quadriplegic, so yay.
current mood: amused
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| Friday, April 3rd, 2009
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April 3rd, 2009 | 10:18am - CSF a pristine bodily fluid that looks like "the essence" from The Dark Crystal
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Quote from one of my neurosurgery attendings: "When thinking about what medical specialty that you'd like to go into, you should always consider the bodily fluids you may come into contact with. ENTs and pediatricians deal with snot, GI docs work with feces on a daily basis, and OB-GYN deal with secretions that I'd rather not even think about. In neurosurgery, you deal with cerebrospinal fluid, which is the only bodily fluid that you'd rather have someone else's on you than your own."
I'm currently doing Neurosurgery for my Neurology clerkship (natch) right now, and loving it, of course. We are supposed to be in the OR right now doing a cervical spine fusion, but the patient didn't show up. He arrived in an inebriated state the last time he came in, so his surgery was already postponed once. So...we're just waiting around in case he decides to show, or if a head trauma comes in we'll be ready for them.
I will update about my experiences on the Liver Service once I get around to typing it up. ^^
current mood:  hopeful
current music: Sounds of construction
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| Thursday, March 19th, 2009
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March 19th, 2009 | 6:33am - Zelda Rap
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So, someone decided that Jay Z/Dr. Dre and others set to soundtrack music from the Legend of Zelda would be awesome...and it is! Check it out. Thanks, Melora!! :)
I had a nice birthday last weekend. I'll post more later when I'm not on my way to the House of Pain.
current mood:  touched
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| Thursday, February 26th, 2009
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February 26th, 2009 | 3:57pm - Tiny Japanese Tupperware
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The two male medical students on my team were admiring my "tiny Japanese tupperwares" that I pack my lunch in everyday and were even inquiring where I acquired them...then one piped up, "You know, this is the most UN-MANLY conversation that I've had in years."
Yay for tiny Japanese tupperware. :D
I need to put my Netflix account on hiatus again...Gilmore Girls is so addicting, I even got my dad and redneck uncle hooked. (On end of Season 3 right now)
current mood:  giddy
current music: Gilmore Girls
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| Thursday, January 29th, 2009
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January 29th, 2009 | 2:58pm - Oh, Pretest...*rolls eyes*
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Today I was given the day off to study for my Surgery shelf exam (big time exam), which is tomorrow. I have a knack for these kinds of exams, and used a question-and-answer book series called Pre-Test to prepare for all my previous exams. The kinds of questions that appear in Pre-Test are usually much harder and nit-picky than what the actual exams are like, which is good on one hand, but they also quite reliably infuse me with an increased amount of anxiety. They also love bizarre cases, like this one:
"A 33-year-old woman presents with coughing and shortness of breath over a 3-month period. More recently, she complains of coughing up hair. Chest x-ray shows an anterior mediastinal (chest) mass."
The answer is a cystic teratoma, which is a kind of usually benign germ cell tumor that can occur in the ovaries, testes, and the thymus gland (and in the brain and other random places). The thymus gland is in the chest anterior and superior to the heart, and it's where your T-cell lymphocytes (type of white blood cell) go to their little military academy to learn how to defend your body (and also not to commit treason, which is a capital offense punishable by death in the thymus gland). Sometimes teratomas can have TEETH and HAIR in them (and even more sophisticated parts), which ups their freakiness factor by 10.
But yeah, having a patient who coughs up hair as an example on an exam would make me giggle in the middle of the test.
current mood: silly
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| Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
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November 5th, 2008 | 3:37am - Sweet
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It's not so terrible to wake up at 3 AM if it's to hear good news!
current mood:  pleased
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| Monday, October 20th, 2008
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October 20th, 2008 | 3:45pm - New Ranma 1/2 OAV!
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It was only a matter of time...12 years, to be exact!
I'm still hunting for the new 30 minute OAV (悪夢！春眠香/Nightmare! The Incense of Spring Slumber), which hasn't been a very fruitful search thus far, but there is a cute short with characters from UY, Inuyasha, and Ranma 1/2! I can't wait to see the full thing, and hope that there are more new episodes in store for the future, since Ranma 1/2 has always been one of my favorite anime!
current mood:  happy
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| Sunday, October 19th, 2008
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October 19th, 2008 | 11:07am - Sally's Song
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I'm not a big Evanescence fan or anything, but this cover by Amy Lee of one of my favorite songs ever, "Sally's Song" from Nightmare Before Christmas, is beautiful.
current mood: impressed
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