ACRONYMOUS BLOGGING...

Motivated
Antsy
Rambunctious
Intense
Accomodating
Nifty
Altruistic

I'm just going to start blogging this way. It's less of a waste of time than normal blogging. Or is it?

I just have nothing to say but I feel that blogging urge that pops up whenever I've spent too much time staring at physiology stuff. Ah, physiology. It'll all be over soon!

Pain in my ass
Hard as hell
Yikes
So much to learn
Intense studying
Overflow of information
Lots of memorization
Only 3 days left
God I'm screwed
Yes, I need a miracle.

This is fun!

Fine, I'll stop
Useless waste of time this is
Now I'm talking like Yoda

Majorly stressed
As usual
Really slacked off
I can't believe I did it again
All this material
Not enough time
Amazing

Because I don't want to blog about school (cause honestly, who cares?) and because I don't want to waste tons of time blogging, I made a Mariana acronym thingy. That's all.

I should be resting for my long day of studying tomorrow (and the day after that, and the day after that... until Monday)

BUT... I hit up Stumble-Upon, my one-stop site for unlimited distractions.

I found a site that has all of Aesops fables. Yes there is an apostrophe missing in that last sentence, but for some odd reason, every once in a while the apostrophe key triggers the "Find" dialogue box on the bottom of the screen (you know, the one that pops up when you hit ctrl-F). If you do not know what I am talking about, you need to seriously get with the program. Ctrl-F allows for easy browsing and saves so much time!!!

What the hell was I saying?

Oh. So I found a site with a bunch of the fables of Aesop. Here it is. These are short stories. They're not particularly amazing, but they are special to me because they remind me of childhood. My dad knew a lot of these stories (or some weird Lebanese version of them) so he used to tell us one every night.

Caveat Emptor: The fables aren't particularly well written or deep... and it's weird how every story's title is something like "The Mosquito and the Lion" or "The Ass, the Wolf, and the Anteater."

But hey, apparently they're good for something, if they're sooooo famous and stuff. Know what I mean, Jelly Bean? For example, one of the titles is "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing." We've all heard this saying at one point or another. Yes? No? Maybe so??? If you want to find it on the page, hit CTRL-F and a text box will pop up (usually in the lower left hand corner of the screen). Type in "Sheep" and you will see what I mean.

Good work!

OMG. I just noticed that the apostrophe is back. It's back. I can't believe it. I'm using it in every sentence from now on! I don't want to go back and correct the initial mistake because I already spent so much time writing about it.

Does anyone know why this apostrophe phenomenon occurs???

Anyway, read some of the fables. The site tells you "the moral of the story" next to each title, so if you want to read a short story about some animals who talk to each other and end up teaching you a valuable lesson, this is the site for you.

It is 12:24 AM, way past my bedtime.

Uh oh!!!

Exciting game today between Georgetown and UNC!!! Overtime was amazing! I watched the game at a bar in Georgetown and joined in the rioting on the streets... fun!

BUT...

If it boils down to Florida vs Georgetown, I must be a traitor to my current school and go for the Gators. Why? Because it's a team I respect. Also because it is my dream to go to medical school there, and if Georgetown beats them I don't see that helping me in any way...

Oh, the excitement!

OKAY!

I'm back BEEEETCHES!

But there's no time to blog about my adventures in Miami... mainly because I want to study enough to feel okay about the slacking I'll be doing tonight. Georgetown's playing. NO, I'm not going for Georgetown. I don't bleed HOYA blue. But it's going to be fun.

sidenote: I am a traitor, I am supposed to bleed orange and green (CANES) but thanks to Aldo and one medical school tour, I'm in love with the GATORS! I am hoping to bleed orange and blue!

I had some other stuff to say but I forgot, and there's no time for dilly-dallying. I'll be back of course (impending exam = exponential increase in slackerage, ie blogging)

One more day till I'm in Miami! As a preview, DC weather has been ridiculous (higher than 70 degrees F!!!) People are walking around in shorts and flip flops. YAY!

I'm so excited (and I just can't hide it!)

I already have a large chunk of the first 5 days of my vacation planned out. There is already no room for studying, though... yikes!

Two friends (Arielle & Aileen) from my program are coming to visit Miami. I am excited to show them some real latin flavor!

The plan:

Wednesday (today): Study, study, study (shouldn't be blogging!)
night: Go to McFadden's with classmates for pre-spring break fiesta.

Thursday: Frantically pack, rush to airport, fly home!
night: Coconut Grove w/ Monica, college night! An age old tradition. We still go even though technically we're not in college. Sigh.

Friday: Recover from Thursday night. Talk to mommy.
night: Finnigan's and Brick's to celebrate Monica's birthday!

Saturday: Recover from Friday night. Go to the beach.
night: Celebrate St. Patrick's day : )

Sunday: Recover from Saturday night.
night: visitors from DC come into town! Party out on the town.

Monday: BEACH
night: more partying

I'm going to stop wasting time writing all this stuff out. It's basically beach then party every day. This is terrible. I'm not going to get any studying done, and I'm going to fry my already fried brain. I promise myself at least 2 solid days of studying after Tuesday!!!

Speaking of studying, I should go do that now. I just wanted to talk about how excited I am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The past several days in review, and me saying "boo-hoo"

Friday: Game night was fun... it got pretty crowded. I think there were 17 of us at one point. My apartamento is not that big...

We got to play my latest game acquisition: Taboo. I found it on the floor in the lobby of my building. People leave crap behind when they move out... and by crap, I mean treasures. Other lobby of my building goodies include: a set of good knives, 2 cute placemats, Season 1 of Friends on VHS (ancient!), and my very nice living room table. Hooray for free stuff!

After most of the herd left some of us went to hookah and play backgammon. Not smart on my part, since I got home at 5 am, only 4 hours before I was supposed to be leaving to Atlantic City.

Saturday morning in a Zombie-like state I got in a car headed to Atlantic City for a beer festival. Super exciting! The road trip was fun. That part of New Jersey is depressing. It almost slightly has some charm, but it's the kind of charm an ugly, dumb dog has.

The beer festival was awesome! I would not have ever believed that chocolate or blueberry beer would be something good... After 4 hours of beerfesting, we went to Hooters for some fine dining, then a nightclub. I was impressed with the nightclub. Everything else in Atlantic City made me nauseous.

The car ride home was fun, too!

I hate getting back from one of these awesome super mega fun road trips and feeling sad it's over and facing the reality of exams and med school and laundry. I hate laundry.

I missed class on Monday because I didn't change my alarm clock for Daylight Savings. I changed the clock on the oven, and the one on the microwave, but I somehow forgot the most important one. So that sucked. Just the beginning of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day (ok, that's an exaggeration... the day was good, until the end).

I went to a spinning/cycling class for the first time in my life. It was super fun! Then I went to see 300, which was entertaining. Then, instead of coming home and going to bed early, I went out to a Georgetown bar for trivia night. All was fine until I got home and realized I had left my keys at school. NOT FUN!

Through determination and magic I got into my apartment within 30 minutes. It was frustrating, but quite the adventure.

So it's been an eventful past few days. Amidst the fun times, however, I can't deny that I've been having some of those lows. Those "holy crap I'm not doing well, I'm not gonna get into med school, I should have studied more, I hate this crap" lows.

The uncertainty of where I will be in August, the uncertainty of whether or not I'll have to start this incredibly painful application process once again, and the uncertainty of whether or not I will be happy with life if I have a year off are all chipping away at my sanity.

Making the situation worse is my drive to go out. I've been catching myself attempting to stay distracted by going out a lot more than I should, neglecting everything, including laundry and sleep (both very important!)

The good news is I will be away from all of this in two days. I'll be at home, in my comfortable bed. I'll be away from talk of GPAs and Med school interviews and Exam scores. I am going to push myself to study as much as possible... (booooooooo)

Besides studying, there will be some shopping and a lot of beachgoing... EXCITING!

Nap time!

Okie dokie karaoke...

So I didn't do exactly as well as I should have on the exam, but such is life. I didn't study as much as I should have. Shit happens, ya know?

I will study my posterior off for the next exam in hopes of getting that sexy "A." The exam is in the beginning of April, but everyone's already studying like crazy. This program is NUTS.

The only thing keeping me sane: In between study sessions, I've got lots of exciting stuff planned.

Tonight I will have people over for game night, which is always a blast! Tomorrow I am heading to Atlantic City for a beer festival with a dozen or so of my classmates. VERY EXCITING! I don't intend on gambling there... mainly because "Medschool Roulette" is taking up all of my gambling energy.

Then, on March 15th, it's home-sweet-home for Spring Break. I will study. I will. Really. I'm going to study a lot during the days, and then party at night. To end the vacation, I will probably go to ULTRA, which is a massive music festival that rocks my socks off.

Then I get back here for a week of hardcore studying. Then I take my second physiology exam. THEN, Monica (aka Moneefa) is coming to visit. I'm really excited!!!!!!!!!!

All of these great fun things help me keep my mind off of the deep-seated fear of not getting into medical school this year. Yikes-o-rama.

Ok, so I'm gonna go study now *shudder*

*singing* It's the end of the world, as I know it.... and I feel fine...

Yep, that's right. I've lost my marbles. Insomnia the night before a test. The hardest test I'll ever take, and it's the least prepared I've been for any exam since I started this program. Correction, it's the least prepared I've been for such an IMPORTANT exam.

I can't wait till it's over.

Physiology is damn amazing though. The lengths your body goes to just to stay normal. It's all about my homie, homeostasis. I love this subject, and I'm hoping that in medical school I will be able to enjoy it more. Right now, however, it is the bane of my existence.

I'm losing my mind... really, I am.

Sipping on some sleepy time
So much crap jumbled in my mind
The partial pressure of O2
Dead space, shunts, and VQ
Ventilation and stuff like that
Arteries that are clogged with fat
Heart disease, veins that squeeze,
PFT's, and COPDS
A patient's wheeze
Kill me PLEASE.

Can you say "too much red bull"?

Yeah.

I shouldn't/wouldn't be blogging but studying is just not happening. I tried that pre-sleepytime tea. My mind is overloaded with information.

Less than 6 hours till the exam. SIX HOURS. That's how much sleep I should get tonight. Instead, I might squeeze 2-3 hours out and then fail even more misreably than initially expected due to BOTH insufficient preparation AND insufficient sleep.

And by fail I mean not get an A.

Maybe Frank Starling will save me.

I am back. I cannot sleep.

I'm freaking exhausted, and I can't sleep.

Talk about annoying.

And so I'm sitting here, waiting for the teapot to squeal so I can guzzle up the miracle that is sleepy time tea.

AND....the teapot's shrieking already....

So I hit the stumble button a few times on the browser and found a site that has a PDF for Steal This Book... if you haven't heard of it, let my good friend Wiki tell you all about it.

I've read a few pages and so far this thing is hilarious.

Just to quote a few lines from Chapter 7, "Free Medical Care" in a Chapter about birth control clinics, the author writes:

"The rhythm method or Vatican roulette as it is called by hip Catholics, is a waste unless you are ready to surround yourself with thermometers, graphs and charts. You also have to limit your f$%@ing to prescribed days. Even with all these precautions, women have often gotten pregnant using the rhythm method."

"Vatican Roulette!" Pretty amusing, huh? I thought so... Then again, I'm easily amused.

Part of my amusement comes from knowing damn well that Vatican Roulette is about the best way to guarantee unwanted pregnancy. Kinda dumb for such a pro-life group of people, dontcha think?

Anyway, I read some other excerpts, covering the obtainment of free meals and tricks to steal from the supermarket.... Also pretty amusing.

Yes, it's wrong that this dude encouraged stealing and other crimes (the whole book is really about getting stuff for free).

Whatever. It's still really entertaining.

Ok, now that I have chugged this infusion of chammomile, valerian root, and other herbal sleep aids, I will attempt to catch some of those elusive Z's...

It's 12:25 am. Just got home from school. Spent the whole day studying. I can't even describe how freaking tired I am. This test has brought an unparalleled level of stress to my little soul. I can't wait till it's over.

Then, there's nothing but blue skies! Next weekend I'll be in Atlantic City for a Beer Festival, and the weekend after that, it's home-sweet-home for spring break. Miami, here I come.

Although I am nowhere near my weight loss goal, I did lose some weight, and that's a plus since I will spend as much time as humanly possible at the beach. This reduces the chances of the Humane society showing up as a result of mistaking me for a beached whale...