Random Stuff

The Office is one of the best shows ever. One of my all-time favorites, for shizzle. Yes. I watched every episode, EVER, during the Holiday break. That translates into: I was a lazy fat ass during the whole break.
Anyway, the show is good comedy, with a little bit of romance here and there. Steve Carell's character, Michael Scott, is so obnoxious that he's loveable. He constantly makes pop culture references in an attempt to be funny and cool. He's really really really abrasive sometimes. It's too funny. Dwight is my absolute favorite, though! He's an Uber-Dork. I could go on and on and on about this show, but I shouldn't. Just watch it!!!

During the Holiday Break, I went to the BODIES exhibition (second time) with my buddies Monica and Randi. It is incredible!!! Super cool! Totally Rad! (there you go, Joe!) There's a lot of controversy surrounding the exhibit because the bodies are those of Chinese prisoners and it is questionable whether or not the individuals on display consented to have their bodies preserved and put out there for the world to see. Yada yada yada, it's a really cool exhibition! You get to see lots of bodies with different sections cut, giving a very good idea of the orientation of the organs, etc. Also there are glass cases with clinical examples, such as a smoker's lung and the brain of a stroke patient. Very interesting!!! The pic on the right is an example of what we saw. Disclaimer: This exhibit, though tastefully done, is not for the squeamish or easily freaked out.

Moving right along, today was day 2 of the new semester. Yikes! We are currently only taking one class, Neuroanatomy. It is just a preparation course for the real deal: Neurophysiology. We will be tested on the material, but the class is pass/fail which takes a lot of the motivation out of it (but makes me a little happy). This is my first pass/fail class. Oh, how I hope to end up at a medical school which uses the pass/fail system!!!
Anyway, the neuroanatomy professor is pretty silly sometimes which makes the class slightly more bearable. We are in there for 3 hours each day, looking at images of the brain and spinal cord and learning about every freaking nerve ever! (Trochlear, hypoglossal, accessory, oh my!)
I like it but I am easily distracted. I zone out once every fifteen minutes. That's 12 times a day! This semester is gonna be tough! But a life with no challenges is no fun, I must say.

Speaking of challenging myself, my newest "thing" is to walk. A lot. Today I walked from school to Chipotle to Dupont Metro station to my house. Total distance: 5.4 miles. The weather is absolutely sexy and I need the exercise. Yesterday I walked a total of about 4 miles (not all at once). Why spend money on metro fares and bus fares when I have my Chevrolegs? Plus, like I said, I need the exercise. Really.

Back to the weather, it's unusually warm! In Miami the weather was reminiscent of a normal day in June. Here in DC, the weather is like a normal cool winter day in Miami should be. Global warming is breathing down our necks. But heyyyy, let's keep buying SUVs. Let's keep contributing to the hole in the ozone layer. Why the hell not?!?!?

Grrr.

Enough environmentalism.

Today I went to a Mexican restaurant, Lauriol Plaza, with my buddies Jose and Arjun. We then proceeded to a Hookah bar, where we enjoyed wonderful, delicious apple-flavored shisha. Yummmm. Smoking Hookah (aka "arguileh" in arabic) always reminds me of my spectacularrific summer in Lebanon. *sigh* It was my first time going out since getting back to DC (I've only been here since Wednesday, give me a break!!!) I guess I'm kind of glad to be back. Sort of. Maybe. Ok not really!!! Maybe it's the fact that classes started and I'm still recovering from last semester. Maybe it's the fact that I miss my homies in Miami. Whatever it is, I've got to just suck it up and deal with it!!! Walking around DC for an hour today at least helped me remember that I'm in a pretty nice place, with lots of stuff to do. My next adventure: the National Zoo.

Okay, time to hit the hay!

Christmas in Miami : Pictures

Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas tree...Yes, that's our tree. It's fake. I know, I know...a fake tree seems tacky, but it's actually a lot easier to manage. Plus it's environment-friendly. HAH!



Said Fake Chimney from last post. No one really has a real chimney in Miami. For crying out loud, the temperature was like 90 degrees today. Anyway, I think this is so dorky, but my mother enjoys putting it up so whatever. It's kinda cute I guess...



Baby Jesus and his whole crew.


***it's nice to be home for Christmas***

Christmas and stuff.

And so, this is Christmas.

Psychotic shopping. Traffic. Decisions. Jingling Bells and Decked Halls. Wrapping paper. Decorations. Credit Card swiping. Holiday parties. Nice lights. Neighbors one-upping neighbors with bigger, more ridiculous inflatable lawn ornaments (it's quite amusing, actually). Wrapping paper. Traffic.

Christmas seems to lose its luster a little more each year. I didn't even bother reading the labels on the presents in front of the fake chimney my mother puts up (it's quite cheesy, really). In my youth, I used to spend hours searching the house for presents. When they were wrapped and placed under the tree, or, in front of the fake chimney, I would carefully peel off one specific piece of tape which would allow for just enough lifting of the wrapping paper to see what I was getting. I somehow got caught and the maternal unit adapted through several different strategies:

-wrapping the presents such that pulling off one piece of tape wouldn't reveal their contents

-no more labels on the presents (meaning that peeking would just give me a 1 in 4 chance, at best, at figuring out what was going on in there)

-mislabelling the presents and/or claiming that my presents belong to another individual

-extremely careful hiding of presents (ie aunt's house or somewhere we couldn't reach)

That mom of mine, she's sneaky. Despite her measures to keep things a surprise, I still found ways to figure out what my presents would be. One year she got really crappy wrapping paper that was see-through. HA! Victory!

...and now? I'm not even excited. My mom still gets us lots of stuff. Nowadays, it's usually stuff we need (ie socks) and lots of clothing, which is great.

Although the excitement for presents on Christmas morning has subsided, I still appreciate Christmas. It's a nice time of year and it's all family lovey-dovey and the decorations and lights are always pleasing.

I must say, although we didn't have much money when I was growing up, my mom always got us tons of stuff on Christmas. Nice memories.

One more irrelevant thing: I cried when I found out Santa wasn't for real. I dread breaking this news to my child one day, although it'll probably be easier on the wallet.

So yes, Christmas is great and all. But the holiday season is really hectic. It's what America's all about. Buy stuff buy stuff buy stuff! Work your ass off all year, and spend your hard-earned money on stuff! Your credit sucks! But you have awesome designer sunglasses! RUN RUN RUN SHOP SHOP SHOP.

This rant. It's going nowhere.

I haven't blogged in a while.... I've been too busy doing... oh, NOTHING AT ALL! I kept the present giving simple this year. 3 people. 3 gift certificates. DONE. My love is all they should need.

Anyway, this break has proven to be quite unproductive. I've watched nearly every episode of The Office. What a great show!!! I heart it!

Speaking of which, I want to watch an episode or two before I go to sleep. It's 3 AM. December 24, 2006. 3 AM.

Oh!

Happy Birthday to my brother Christopher (codename: Christina). He is 20. Born on Christmas Eve. He is a victim of the gift-and-a-half phenomenon, where someone buys you something slightly better and claims it is "for both your birthday and Christmas." I've always felt as though it is like getting 1.5 gifts instead of 2. He makes me appreciate having an August birthday. There aren't even any major holidays in August. Except my birthday, of course.

Irrelevant Sidenote: A lot of people say that they "don't believe in blogs." Ummm... I don't know how to break this to you, buddy, but.... blogs do actually exist.

No, no. They usually mean that they think blogging is dumb and they'd never do it (the number one reason: "why should I write about myself and put that stuff out there for anyone to see?").

Maybe these people aren't blogging cause they have not mastered the English language such that they can tell the difference between saying "I don't agree with blogging" versus "I don't believe in blogs." Hmmm??? Ok, I'm being nitpicky cause I get a little defensive.

It makes me think.... "Why do I blog? Do I think I'm so interesting? Do I totally put myself out there?" and after thinking a little I get kind of tired and take a break, have a little snack... then I start thinking again. I blog cause I like to blog. I don't think I really get very personal in the posts. One on one, in real life, I'm usually a pretty candid person. I'm an oversharer.... and it makes people uncomfortable sometimes. Pretty amusing, I must say. ANYWAY, back to the point.

I blog cause I like it. I don't think I'm particularly interesting, but it's a way of sharing stuff with friends, like embarassing stories and my latest theory on something unimportant.

I should hit the sack.

Maybe watch an episode or two of The Office, first!!!!

"The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake
You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor!
Such wonderful things around you, what more is you looking for?"

-Sebastian the Crab, Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid.

*Special thanks to Eyna for getting the song stuck in my head.*

Hi there.

Haven't been frequenting the blogging world as often as I used to, reflecting the ridiculous level of business I've been experiencing. Not business like a corporation, but the state of being busy. Busyness, if you will. I'm starting to think "business" cannot be used that way. Whateva, I do what I want!

Last week, Lourdes, my childhood best friend, left sunny Puerto Rico to come visit me. She and I became friends in sixth grade, and she moved away at the end of ninth grade. We've managed to stay close although we suck at keeping in touch. She's like family.

We had lots of fun! I somehow managed to take her out every night despite it being the coldest weather I've ever lived through and having a massive cold. That's noble, if I must say so myself.

The first night she got here we went to a massively overcrowded club in a not so great neighborhood to see DJ Tiesto. It was a night of crowdedness, waiting in long lines for coat check, and crazy people, but it was definitely fun. The rest of her stay was all bar hopping and pistol popping.

Just kiddin' about the pistol popping, I just get a little tingle when stuff rhymes.

Moving right along, it was a much needed trip for her, to escape her routine and the stress surrounding her. It was also theraputic for me to have a good pal around (she washed the dishes too!)

We visited some monuments, as well as the National Gallery of Art (nice!) and the Holocaust Musuem (sad).

This is the last week of the semester. There is an exam on Thursday. After that, it's off to Miami for two weeks of sloth and gluttony, warm weather and having a car, friends and family. I intend to be slightly productive and complete my application to Georgetown medical school, do some tutoring, and maybe even look over some of the material I'll be learning in the spring.... big maybe there.

My mind is exhausted from last week's exam and my body is exhausted from the virus and nonstop partying. I'm trying to muster up the energy to study for this exam. Instead I'm blogging. It's okay. This exam should be ridiculously easy.

Besides studying, this week's activities include: Tutoring and girl's night (tomorrow), making food and care packages for the homeless and distributing them (Wednesday), taking the exam then working hard to forget everything I learned (Thursday), packing my bags and partying a little more (Friday) and finally, flying to Miami and getting pampered by mommy (Saturday).

I am excited about doing the homeless thing on Wednesday because I think it will be a great learning experience.

I am pretty much excited about everything on the list minus studying. The test will be exciting because it will signal the end. Speaking of signals, there are signal transduction pathways waiting for me to learn about them.

Love, peace, and little geece.

I have class at 1:00 pm today.

It's WAY TOO EARLY FOR ME TO BE AWAKE! (6:40)

I'm having some major insomnia. It's been this way all week, but today's has been, by far, the worst.

We had a ginormous exam in Microscopic Anatomy (histology). This was followed by an evening of partying and actively blocking everything school related through the use of alcohol.

There was a nice holiday potluck tonight at school. There was food, there was wine. It was fun except for the part where I perhaps had more boxed wine than I should have. This SHOULD have allowed me to sleep soundly through the night, but nooooooooooo.

Instead, I had dreams- nightmares, actually- about histology. I'm taking the exam again, not getting all those answers wrong that I got wrong in real life (I know I did miserably on the lab portion). I woke up at 3, 4, and 5. At 5 my body rejected falling asleep and so I watched the last episode of Heroes, which proved to be pretty darn good.

It's interesting, we learned that the Pineal Gland, a tiny part of the brain, is involved in circadian rhythms and the conversion of serotonin to melatonin at night. So, my Pineal Gland is to blame for this!

On Thursday, my sister from another mother is coming to visit me from Puerto Rico. Why she would leave a tropical climate to come to this cold hell hole is beyond me. Just kidding! I'm worth the cold!

It's a therapy trip for her. Sometimes, you just need a vacation, you know? And who better to visit than little ol' me?

Ok although it's been a while since I've blogged, I still don't much to say. I'm gonna try that "sleep" thing one more time. If I can't do it, I guess maybe I can start studying for my next exam. WHOOP-DEE-FREAKING-DOO.