Routines and rants

Saturday I had a soccer game with RCF. This time we played against the team made up of "faculty". I use quotations because I only recognized two people on the team, the rest of the team seemed a bit young to be faculty. Our team had a few more people come out this time compared to the last game, meaning I could pace myself and not...you know, almost kill myself again. This time I met a few new people (and I remember half of their names). The regular team members I've seen are Silas, Tim, and Colonel. The new people I remember are Amy and Addie, and the new people I vaguely remember are Kurt-something and Romeo? Yeah, I'm horrible. We played a good game. Positioning and anticipation were great. I've found my niche on the D-line and quite enjoy it there. Due to the size of most teams we only field 6 players (including the goalie). So there's a lot of ground to be accounted for, but our team does a good job at boxing out and cutting off angles. The "faculty" team had about 18 people so they were always fresh and they ended up winning 4-2 or something like that.

Because of soccer, I missed out on small group, but turns out I just missed a games night. So either way I'd be playing a game and I chose the more beautiful one. I always find it funny when people refer to soccer as "the beautiful game". I'm not sure what's beautiful about it. The running, the sweating, the diving, the horrible acting, the arguing with refs; so beautiful. I don't know if there is a beautiful sport out there...figure skating? Though sometimes it's painful to watch, particularly women's figure skating. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching that. Admittedly, there was one beautiful moment where Amy was challenging a male opponent much larger than she and it ended with him on the ground and her with the ball. I distinctly remember saying "Amy, that was so hot". It's times like that when I realize I'm not in Vancouver anymore and people don't know me or my mannerisms very well. The guy on the ground kinda gave me the stink-eye and no, that's not just how his face looks. With time, people will figure me out. After the game, I started walking home with Amy. She's an upper semester and was giving me little bits of advice and tricks to remembering the coagulation cascade. Super sweet. We went our separate ways and I showered, ate dinner, and headed to the annex to work on Friday's pancakes
Sunday, was church, lunch, and then studying. I finished my pancakes.

After class on Monday, I had my first simulation session. This requires students to put on their blue scrubs, stethoscope, pen light, and ID and head to the St. James Centre Sim Lab where we have a plethora of rooms that are set up like any other hospital room complete with a Sim Man. Admittedly, I felt a bit like a douche after I put on my gear. Here's a couple pics of how I felt.

Disliking everything except the well toned arms

Hi, I'll be your doctor today. I'm sorry

I may look the part, but I feel like I'm dressing up for Halloween. The only upside is that my blue scrubs don't smell like formaldehyde like my green ones do and will until I torch them after 2nd semester.

Tuesday was demo and then dissection. I was one of the dissectors and we were doing the anterior leg and dorsum of the foot. All the cadavers have been thoroughly dissected that at some point, you forget that it was once a person. I know that's a harsh thing to say, but I call it how I see it. Our cadaver is missing so much tissue that you stop thinking you've got a dead human being on the table. It's become a specimen instead. Given that our last dissection took over four hours, our team was pretty committed to getting the job done quickly and efficiently. I was in the zone - skinning, preserving superficial veins and nerves, removing fascia, isolating muscles and tendons, and deep arteries and nerves. We were out of there in just over two hours. Headed home, showered, and headed to the annex.

This week's pancakes are no different from the weeks before. Tough to get down, tough to digest. It's a bit frustrating because most of what we're learning is medically relevant, like classifying different types of anemias, what tests to order and what results go with which type, but I am struggling to make sense of it all. It's all so much and very overwhelming. I think knowing that it's actually important information makes things more upsetting for me. It doesn't help that our next mini is on Tuesday either. Oh well, time to tucker down and get that thinking cap going.

To wrap up this post, let's look at some current events pertaining to health care. As most of you know, I graduated from UBC with my B.Sc. I transferred to UBC from Kwantlen with a bunch of my Kwantlen friends. We're almost all in some sort of doctorate program now (more than half of us in med school, two in dentistry, one in pharmacy, one in biochem - I definitely surrounded myself with a good bunch). Anyways, the shortest one (perhaps the most brilliant one) decided academia was her calling and so she went the research route pursuing her PhD in Biochemistry specifically diabetes research in mice. And that brings us to this amazing announcement that you'd likely find in all major newspapers and online news sites (and hopefully on your television too). You don't have to be science savvy to know that this is a huge breakthrough in diabetes research. The fact that this came from UBC and that the amazing Heather Denroche is part of Dr. Kieffer's team is so awesome. Truly it's great stuff that we can put money into research to seek out new treatments and have progress.

This brings us to what I would consider progress met with much negativity. Of course, I'm talking about "Obamacare". The supreme court has ruled that Obamacare is constitutional which is a step towards universal healthcare in that everyone pays into it and everyone has access to it, much like Canada. Being in a predominantly American campus proved to be a bit tense today. There are a lot of Americans that are, for lack of a better term, pissed. I'm not one to stir the pot much, which is why I'll just talk about it in the blog here (plus, my Facebook news feed is already full of angry tirades about this and it's getting nauseating). I'll also say that I don't know much about the logistics of what this all means for Americans. What I will say is that I'm getting a general vibe that pride and selfishness are at the core of the negative response. I understand the frustration of your "hard earned cash" going towards pumping that stupid college student's stomach after she drank way too much. I completely understand that you'd like your money spent on moments when you are stupid and need your stomach pumped after you drank way too much. But come on, that's like not seeing the forest for the trees. I thought thinking about others and putting their best interests before you was a good thing. If not, boy have I made a mess of my life and wasted countless years investing into others. What I find more confusing is the negative reaction from Christian Americans. It seems so hypocritical, blatantly hypocritical, infuriatingly hypocritical. It's downright ugly. There's no attitude of grace. There's no love. It's just emotional people getting angry way too easily (which is vaguely reminiscent of a transitional time at NDEFC). It's people acting like they have no concept of who Jesus is (and fyi, it's not your money). And I don't think this Obamacare is a grey area. I don't think you can pull that card and get away with being that two-faced or inconsistent. That wasn't a nice thing to say, and I'm sorry, but we have to willing to call each other out on these things. That's what "having your back" is to me. I've made sure that I have multiple people in my life that are really good about telling me when I'm being an insensitive jackass. It's one of the reasons why I love them. It's a major reason why the relationship works.

Again, this is just my opinion and by no means am I the sharpest tool in the shed and I'd be more than interested to hear the reasoning of some upset American Christians. I know that our health care system has it's major cons and much improvement can be made, but I like knowing that while I'm healthy and working, I'm paying into something that can help others who aren't as healthy. Of course, having Grave's disease doesn't necessarily make me "healthy" and within the past year, I've used our hard earned dollars on doctor's appointments, endocrinologist appointments, multiple blood tests, an ECG, a radioactive iodine test, an ultrasound, and subsidizing my prescription costs. So thank you Canada :) I'm sure I couldn't have afforded all of that despite all the payments I've made in my lifetime. I'm looking forward to returning the favour in more ways than just paying into the system (hopefully I'll be more confident and competent than in the pictures above).

The New Stuff I Never Knew

Well to say I've been busy would be an understatement, which is why there wasn't a mid-week blog and there likely won't be in the future, and the weekly blogs might even become shorter. So instead of taking an hour to read my essays, I should only be taking about a good half hour of your time from now on.

Right now I'm sitting down at my kitchen table in my underwear, scarfing down a sandwich for lunch before heading to the annex to study. Yes, Nina, I still have a sandwich nearly every day for lunch (cheddar cheese, whole wheat bread, salami, and lately a fried egg, all nicely toasted on the pan so the cheese melts). Some things never change. (Exhilarating text if I do say so myself)

I got my marks back from my mini and the two practicals early this week. To avoid using too many words, here's the breakdown of class averages and my scores:
Mini avg: 74% My Mini Score: 81%
Histo avg: 78% My Histo Score: 86%
Anatomy avg: 58% My Anat Score: 78%
I'm happy enough with the marks. I was hoping to get an A on the mini but alas, I was short by 4 marks. Better luck next time, plenty of room for improvement. No sense in rising to mediocrity when God created human beings that can adapt, learn, and undergo a process of what's called "trying harder and doing better". If mediocrity was my goal, if just getting by was my life motto, I'd feel like I'd be slapping God in the face. So yes, I've always disagreed with Pastor Mark every time he said "rise to mediocrity". I think that's a pretty crappy attitude to have. So to any youth reading this and have heard Pastor Mark say this, know that it's ok to disagree with your pastor on these sorts of matters. You can still have a good working relationship. When you start disagreeing with the theology behind his statements, then pursue that. I always encourage people to flex and play with Christianity. Examine it and make sure you understand what it's all about. Question it. Challenge it. Don't just take it without knowing it, you'll find yourself so confused when you become an adult. If you want biblical back-up for my stance on "rising to mediocrity", I take it from Colossians 3:23 
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people"
This verse explains my attitude towards work ethic. Even if you're working at a dead-end job or something that's not stimulating you, work hard. I did and it's incredibly personally rewarding when you do. Don't work for a wage or a raise, work for the Lord and the people He has placed around you. That's what gives the job purpose.

Any euphoria that resulted from finishing a grueling series of exams quickly faded when lectures started (check out this hilarious clip from this year's Tony awards to hear how I would deliver that line). While admittedly the subject title of the post is redundant, it's absolutely spot on. We aren't reviewing our undergrad degrees anymore, we are in new territory and it's giving us students a huge mindfu--ntabulousness (whew, that was close Caroline). Yesterday's pancakes haven't been touched because I'm still figuring out what Wednesday's pancakes were made of (probably raisins, they ruin every thing). I hate pancakes (and raisins). Our next mini isn't until July 3rd, so I've still got some wiggle room to get this stuff. I just need to make sure I stay on top of things and that's where the weekend helps me out. Hopefully, I'll be focused enough to really digest all this information.

In other news, I checked out Steve's place on Wednesday and it's great! The bedroom and bathroom are much bigger than mine. The common room has a large white board that I can draw muscles and nerve plexuses on...or that I can write silly words like "naugahyde" and "duty" on. Hehehe duty. The maid comes three times a week (as opposed to just once a week at my place) and of course the biggest perk, the nearly $200 decrease in rent!!! While it is closer to main campus, there's a bit of a massive hill to hike up to campus that should prove to be fun every morning. I'll also need to find a new study spot since the Annex will be so far away. I've already spoken to the landlord of his place to express my interest in taking over when Steve leaves in August. Hopefully, we can finalize things early next week.

In the past week, I've been exposed to more Canadian/American differences particularly in names and pronunciation. Today there was a stirring conversation during a break in lecture about restaurants. Obviously the Yanks don't have any Timmy Ho's, but man they're quick to bad mouth it without knowing what it is. They also made fun of The Cactus Club for not having any cacti paraphernalia in the restaurant. We figured, if they actually went to a Cactus Club (and, you know, had the ability to see) they probably wouldn't even care if there were cacti or not. The most heated debate I've been involved in was pencil crayons vs. colored pencils. Ironically, this argument took place between RCF-ers (we know how to pick our battles). Pronunciation of "about, again, data, pasta, drama, route, process" have come up. Oh and "taking a test" vs "writing a test", and getting your "grades" vs getting your "marks". Yup, it's thrilling conversations like these that are the mark of an international medical school, and are considered blog worthy.   

Well, guys, that's really all I've got time for, plus I'm starting to stick to the kitchen chair. Time to put on an appropriate amount of clothes (*sigh*) and head to the annex. 

Oh and hey, here's a great little house I found online. I have no idea who lives there or any bias at all towards this house, but as a completely impartial observer, I'd say that's worth buying.

Hope you have a great weekend!

The Beauty of Breathing, The Life of Loving

If there was ever a day I needed so desperately to come and go, it was Friday. I needed classes to be over. I needed a break. At Ross, we use this analogy: Every day, you need to eat 4 pancakes (one per hour of lecture essentially). If you eat 2, then you need to eat 6 the next day. If you eat only another 2 more, then you need to eat 8 by the next day. By Friday night, I had eaten 9/12 pancakes, but digested about 1 of them. So yeah, I was stuffed but absorbing little to nothing.

The student government association (SGA) organized a Beach Bash close to campus for students to unwind. It ran from 3-8pm and then there was the 'Stach Bash at a club in Portsmouth which is where people would be from 10 to the ungodly hours of the morning. Rachel was part of the planning committee for the Beach Bash so she suggested I come out. The DJ crew was definitely going to the 'Stach Bash. So I decided that after lunch, I'd study and try down those pancakes so that I could attend both. Around 5, I called Candyce and found out that she, Kat, and Janos where making their way to the beach. So I hurried home, changed, and headed to the beach. Got myself a free t-shirt, but didn't want to wait in the ridiculously long line up for the possibility of getting free food. I met up with Candyce and Kat; Janos had already left to attend a planned dinner. The three of us chatted with other classmates, watched a few tug of war competitions, and then we were beached out. I didn't end up seeing Rachel, but at least I could say I was there. I headed home, showered, ate dinner and headed back to the annex to see what I could get done before 9:30. Yeah, I hate pancakes. My mind was made up, I wasn't going to 'Stach it up. I was going to choke down pancakes and turn in early so I could finally catch up on sleep. Being anti-social never felt as good as it did Friday night. 

The alarm went off at 9:15 and I felt awesome. I felt rested. I ate breakfast and headed to the anatomy lab to meet up with Erik. We're scheduled to demonstrate the leg dissection and wanted to go over everything so we knew what we were doing. The lab was empty except for us and a couple other people. It was nice and quiet and we could work at our own pace. Erik's an older gentleman who's out here with his brother. He used to work in the accounting department for an automotive company and so when the industry took a huge recession hit, he lost his job. He knew it'd be tough to find another job and so he thought about going back to school. He thought about going for his MBA, then a physicians assistant, and then his friends encouraged him to try going for med school instead. So that's what he did and then his older brother who worked in software engineering decided he'd join him in that endeavour. It was pretty cool listening to his story while we worked. I love it when people buck trends and go for what they're passionate about. Erik and his brother are easily in their mid 40s and we are classmates. We want to be doctors. That's awesome!

After we finished I checked the time and noticed it was almost noon which was when I was supposed to Skype with the parents. So I quickly changed, locked up my scrubs, and headed home. It was almost 12:30 and I wasn't counting on anything, and so I checked the email and found the email I was expecting. I'll catch them next week. I ate lunch and studied the gospels. It was a nice change to studying medicine. It was a necessary change. After that I started working on responding to emails. Then it was close to 2:30 and I started getting ready to head out to the beach where a bunch of the clubs were gathering to clean after Friday's Beach Bash. It was a hot day and I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the beach. Took us a while to get organized, but I finally got a garbage bag and started walking the shore. I met some 3rd semesters: one from New York, one from DC, and one from Toronto, and yup, I've forgotten all of their names. We filled our bags and headed back to the main area where no one was to be found except for one SGA rep surrounded by a bunch of full garbage bags. We couldn't believe that we were the last. Oh well, we helped the lonely SGA rep hull the bags to the garbage bins and then we all headed home. I took a much needed shower. It was just after 4 and Chris and I had already made plans to head to small group together at 5:45. So I sat back down at the kitchen table where my laptop and an email in progress were waiting for me, affirming myself that that day would be my break day. School would take my attention in the morning and after small group, everything in between was time for me to unwind. I worked on the email, ate dinner, finished and sent the email, and then met up with Chris at the main gate where other RCF-ers were.

We all walked up to the Loys and had a great time together talking about God speaking to us and the different ways he does it; contrasting the direct ways used in the Old Testament vs. present day. It was neat to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions and awesome how we were encouraging each other. Obviously, for Christians in med school in Dominica, there's the pressing issue of God's plan vs. your plan and how Ross University wasn't really part of any of our plans and yet that's where we are. Before I left BC, the youth leaders were reading through "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin MacManus. It's a brilliant book and really applied to what I was going through at the time. There's one section about Christians' understanding of God's will and how we play into it,
"Risk that God respects is fueled by a passion for His purpose and a willingness to subjugate our lives to His mission. Prayer moves from 'God, what is Your will for my life?' to 'God, what is Your will, and how can I give my life to fulfill it?'"
I love this perspective because it's so spot on and yet so many Christians miss it. In case you didn't know, Christians are just as messed up as any other person, and I'm sorry we don't admit it more often. For those who have ever been hurt or wronged by those who proclaim the name of Christ, I'm sorry that we suck at living the life we've been called to. Nothing infuriates me more than someone who proudly says they're a Christian and lacks the actions or follow-through to back it up. I hope I'm not the first to admit that we've probably caused more hurt than healing and I hope I'm not the first to apologize to you for it.

Tangent aside, back to the small group. Somebody posed the question, "How would you feel if God spoke to you in the morning and told you exactly how your day was going to unfold?" There were quite a few responses and it was interesting to hear that the vast majority would really dislike that. Perhaps they misinterpreted the question, but the idea of being given a "To-do list" was planted in their heads and it was really off putting to them because the list was seemingly filled with strict orders like "read your bible, pray, go to small group, lead music, talk to this person about God, hand out tracts, go visit this person, pray for them, etc." I wanted to laugh at how absurd the thought was, but a part of me was scared at the same time. Was this what people thought God would insist on you doing every day? After we've resolved that Ross University was part of God's plan, all of a sudden that goes out the window once you know the "To-do list" of the day? So school's not actually part of the plan anymore, it's a time filler that takes us away from the real things God wants us to do such that this list is now a huge burden? If we think that this is what God wants us to do day in-day out, I think we have a weak grasp of who God is and what He desires. Or if that's what you feel God's calling you to, then maybe you actually shouldn't be at Ross, maybe you're not supposed to be a doctor. When I imagine the list, I figured it'd say "Enjoy, live in, and live out My Presence" and when I'd get a description of how my day was going to unfold, I'd have so many things to look forward to. I was concerned that my thought process was ass backwards, when finally the facilitator of the small group tactfully verbalized my thoughts with an encouraging tone. Though seriously guys, if you think that God wants you to become tacky evangelist enthusiasts you've got it wrong. You're completely missing the core of Christianity; you're missing God. If Christianity was just about doing stuff and not about knowing Someone, I'd be running from the church as fast as possible.

After small group, I headed home, grabbed my gear and headed to the annex to finish my fricking pancakes. To mix things up a bit and give my mind a "treat" I decided I'd play my whole music library on random while studying. I'd like to think I've got an eclectic mix, meaning you can jump from Arcade Fire to Dashboard Confessional to Yellowcard to Eastmountainsouth to Les Miserable to Hillsong United to Swell Season to Backstreet Boys to Sam Cooke. The random setting definitely doesn't allow for flow, but it lets you rediscover songs and appreciate them. In this instance, I rediscovered the greatness of Joshua Radin's "Everything'll Be Alright" off his first album "We Were Here". It's a great easy listening album. Given that most artists have full bands, backing vocals, reverb, and lots of layering, it's nice to suddenly realize you're listening to just one man's voice and his six-stringed friends. There's beauty in the simplicity of it. Anyways, I hope you give it a listen, take a deep breath, and relax for a couple minutes. The message of the song is really in the title and I know that some can't buy into it. Crap happens and it gets dumped on some people more than others, but I guess my faith gives me peace of mind regardless of what's happening. I don't think I've been dealt a tough hand in life at all, but I guess that depends on perspective. If you think marriage, kids, and careers are important to have at my age, then maybe I've got the short end of the stick. If having all your "ducks in a row" is the good life, then I'm working with deaf blind sheep in a large field. I'm almost 26 years old, and I can tell you that my high school plan would have had me practicing medicine right about now, happily married, with a kid on the way. I'm about 4 years behind schedule if I was still going by that, but obviously I'm not comparing myself to my secondary school standards. That would be ridiculous.

What I've done in those four years has been transforming. I wasn't just waiting and twiddling my thumbs. I found a love in me that refused to be contained within the walls of the church. Don't get me wrong, I still love the church. I love the youth, the young adults, the adults, the best-agers. I love those who left, those who stayed, and those who came back. But in those four years, I found a love that could last and endure; that would never forget people and never let them feel forgotten. It went to Haiti, it went to BackCheck, it went to the dialysis ward at VGH, it came to Dominica. I just don't think I'd be able to discover it or develop it if I was busy working in a career and being a family focused person. I'm not trying to pump my tires here, but I'm sincerely trying to express that I grasped that when someone's laid on my heart, it demands follow-through, consistency, and stamina. I don't let go of them. I can't. It hurts. So within the past couple of years, I found myself taking more active steps in making sure that people knew they were loved. It needed to be more than words, it had to be backed up by action, by being there, doing whatever needed to be done, and asking what they needed. I didn't care if it was babysitting, music or driving lessons, car rides, routine visits, dinner dates, candy grams, or hugs. I wanted to be there. I wanted to put in the effort and felt that people deserved to know how important they are. I really don't know how else to explain it, but that is the core of me. That's what I am, what drives me. That's what God gave me and I feel so blessed. Sometimes it feels like a heavy burden, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Intense love is my heroin. It's the reason why I could tell you how much I care about Rachael Pelat when I haven't physically seen her or talked to her in over 8 years. I can guarantee you that I will never forget Rachael Pelat, ever. I don't have the ability nor the desire to. Here's the cool thing though, I don't think this love was just for me to have. I think we're all capable of it and I encourage you guys to take the time to figure out what's in you and how you can express it in a way that blesses those around you.

And so now I'm here on this island and I didn't know I was going to be here until a month before I had to leave. This is where God's perfect timing comes into play. This is where my mind gets blown every time. I quit my job at BackCheck exactly a year ago. I had no plan beyond going to Haiti again and then spending a month alone on a personal retreat. When I returned home, I went on a frenzy of purposeful connections. It wasn't because I knew I was going somewhere or because of my brush with death, but because I thought I had all the time in the world to do so. I was here, there, and everywhere, doing anything, keeping busy, working hard whenever possible. The whole time, I was deliberately trying to pour myself into people and the time we had together. I remember finally being able to make a date with Joy McConnell. It happened to be my birthday, but it was just a time available for us. A quick rendezvous at ABC Restaurant to have some pie and discuss life. We knew little about each other, but that day we had a couple hours to work with and we let fly as if we knew this would be our first and last meeting. Life stories, life disappointments, life doubts, life hopes - endless tears. If that is the the only time I ever have with Joy in my life, I have no doubt she knows that I love her and that she loves me. And that's what it seems all of my interactions were about, letting people know that the love was there and wasn't going anywhere even if I wasn't physically around. That was what I did in a year up until the last day before I left. Given how my heart works, I truly believe that God spurred me to affirm everybody of how important they are to me even though I had no idea I was going to leave them soon. There was only one instance where I felt like I was working against the clock. One person who I knew I had never been able to fully express how special she was to me despite knowing her for an entire lifetime (and yet not really). I found myself with one evening left, time running out. Pm turned to am when I realized there would be no smooth way of bringing things up. So I just let it all out. Our intersecting life histories, disappointments, tragedies, and through it all, one unrelenting life goal achieved by the simple fact that we were able to have this conversation. It's hard to think of any relationship that I've worked harder at having when there were so many strong opposing forces. This is where I'm not going to be as open book as I've been in the past, because this is just for me (and her). But this is how special you are to me and I thank God every time I think about how far we've come.  You may not believe in Him, but you are proof to me that He is good.

Guys, I know that this has been a pretty heavy post, but to be fair, I felt like the stuff I posted on Friday was a waste of your time and my time. We all know I'm in school and believe me I'm working hard, but what I've talked about in this entry will ALWAYS take precedence. People will always come first. You are more important than my ability to practice medicine. So with that, if you ever what to talk about anything or pick my mind about something I've said, don't hesitate due to the fact that I'm in med school, because I'm not going to use it as a crutch. You may not get an immediate reply, but I guarantee you that I've made it a priority and when I do respond, I've thought my words through (even the swear words...especially the swear words).

Did ya miss me?

Sorry guys, I've been busier than normal the past week. To avoid running too long, I'll put another post out on the weekend. I write short stories, not novels.

Well it's tough to say where to start. Many days rolled into the next and were filled with MOTS. That's usually the sign of exam time. We not only had a mini (on Monday) to prepare for but also a histology practical and an anatomy practical (both on Tuesday). Endless hours spent studying, re-learning, trying to digest it all, and then settling on understanding most and not all. That's how it is. You can't get everything. You don't have the time and so you need to figure out what you need to focus on, what's worth more, and you let go of the others. Balance. Here's a pic of what my laptop has seen the past week

Thursday had me in the lab quite a bit for a demo and then for a TA session. When I wasn't in the lab, I was studying in the library and then after dinner, in the annex. As it gets closer to the exam date, study spaces are more occupied. The library is the most populated location. It has a giant room full of cubicles and another large room with large tables for 2-3 individuals to sprawl out their belongings and occupy a table with 6 chairs around it. The annex is a lecture hall and much less populated. People take over about three "spaces" and study in silence. The library is supposed to be a quiet place but it never is. People are always talking and you constantly hear people outside. Oh also, you can't eat there. If you're caught with food they charged you $25. Food is allowed in the annex. I like the annex. About halfway through the day, I noticed my throat was feeling scratchy and dry despite my water intake not changing. It's usually what I experience before a cold forms. I drank lots of fluids and took my vitamins before bed. I don't go to bed before midnight when we're close to exam time though so that probably didn't help.

Woke up Friday and decided to test out my throat by swallowing. Man, it hurt bad, but I knew that I needed to try my best to take care of myself and get my studying done as well. I booked an appointment with one of my BioChem profs to go over some questions I had. Again, close to exam time, our profs office hours get booked up. So I had to see him in between lectures. I went to the first class, then to his office at main campus, then back to the annex to catch the last half of the second class and the rest of the lectures. Our last couple days of lectures have been very focused on behavioural aspects, like patient-doctor relationship, suicide, addiction, patient histories for acute illnesses and genetic illnesses, cultural competence, etc. It's tough going through some of these topics because you start to see some of the dark side of medicine. All the legal responsibilities and how sometimes you feel like you're being taught more on how to cover your ass and less on care. But I know that this is the world we live in. In some ways being a doctor is like having a target on your back. Now people decide the way they want to live and if something interrupts that, they see their doctor for a quick fix, even if the more permanent fix involves changing the way they live, but they're not interested in that solution. So many illnesses are preventable through lifestyle choices, but our culture is so unbelievably selfish and arrogant that it can't be bothered. It's like doctors are either the enabler or the enemy. That's tough. Will my patients care that I want to care about their overall health when I'm finally practicing? Will they care that I want to get to know them as a person? Or will they just care about getting what they came for. Will they trust me and follow my recommendations when it requires long-term effort, or will they ask for a prescription instead? I know I'm going to have to deal with very different kinds of patients, but I'm hoping most of them will give me the time of day as much as I want to give the same to them.

Saturday had me at yoga where I deliciously stretched, hoping it might help the cold in some way. Unfortunately, during nap time - I mean while I was imagining my favourite flower and the relaxation permeating from the stamens into my body - I was getting the crap bitten out of my legs. If Trudy was watching me, she'd think "That girl's favourite flower is the venous fly trap". I'll wear repellant next time. After yoga, I had a mock anatomy practical that the lab TAs put together for us. They create the questions themselves to imitate what the real practical would be like. Well, I left feeling mocked alright. My poor brain cells' pride took a beating. I sucked. Even worse, I was still sweaty from yoga so I stunk which makes you feel altogether like crap, plus the cold didn't help. Headed home to quickly Skype with the parents, then took a much needed shower, ate, and then Skyped with Alison. It was great to see her and catch up and talk HOCKEY! (I was actually correct with my prediction of 6 games). Alison's a smart cookie and is going to Carleton on a hefty scholarship in September. She's not only school smart, but street smart; making appointments with financial advisors and creating draft budgets. So proud of her. But alas, I did need to study and so we said our goodbyes and went about our days.

I rocked it out at the annex for the next few hours. Harper studies there as well and he happened to sit in the row in front of me. Around 5:45, we messaged back and forth on Facebook to make dinner plans. We're both the type of people who absolutely respect the "quiet study space" rule. After we agreed on a place, Candyce showed up and we all walked to the Golden Dragon for some hearty Chinese grub. It was nice to have dinner in a smaller group because it allows me to get to know individuals better.

After dinner we headed back to the annex where the lab TAs were scheduled to review the answers of the "mocktical". It's always awkward and frustrating to sit through "exam" reviews, because people get so angry and it's completely unnecessary and uncalled for. If I'm stupid, I accept it and tell myself to work harder so I can be less stupid. I don't interrupt or raise my voice at the reviewer. That's just rude and disrespectful, and yet somehow a significant number of students feel like they can get away with it or that they're entitled to express themselves that way. This was particularly upsetting because our TAs put this together for our benefit and we certainly didn't show our appreciation very well at all. Admittedly, we have a lot of jerks in our class. If I had the ability to punch people with the blink of an eye, you would have thought I was napping for 75% of the review session.  It's alarming how much I find peoples' tone abrasive and out of line. Is it an American thing? I don't want to be insulting in saying that, but I know Americans have a more direct tone. The statements end with a finite confident decreasing tone, whereas Canadian statements end with an broad increasing tone such that it sounds more like a suggestion rather than a statement. Perhaps it's this cultural difference that I'm not used to. Like maybe they don't think they're being rude. Maybe this is normal discourse and maybe we're over polite, but I'd rather be over polite then. Courtesy and articulation go a long way with me. I'm pretty sure I've already expressed how important articulation is to me.

Sunday had me studying in the annex after church & lunch. Harper was in front of me again and so we made dinner plans except I still had leftovers. So he went to get some Subway and then came over to eat at my place. We talked about our families and what brought us here. Again, I love interactions either in small groups or one-on-one because that's when I can get to know a person. Harper reminds me of Kurtis minus the mutual love for hockey. They're both incredibly kind-hearted gentleman, respectful in talk and in the way they carry themselves. Kurtis, I still miss you! I just feel like I have a piece of you nearby, that's all. Don't worry, and you better still be going to Haiti, mister!

Monday was exam day and finally my throat was feeling better. The mini felt like it went well, better than the first one, though feelings were mixed in the DJ crew. Some felt the first one went better. We'll see. Upper semesters were also writing their exams, meaning the annex was occupied. So I headed to the library to study for the practicals. Malani, Candyce, Dimal, and Kat were there too. Candyce and Kat eventually went home. I went out to dinner with Malani, Dimal, and a couple new people I met, Arun and Gypsa. Harper joined us there too. We went to a Chinese restaurant called Hope. It was pretty good and reasonably priced. I'll likely head there more, but let me just say it, the Chinese are everywhere!! I don't get it. They own all these restaurants, they own stores, apartments, everywhere I tell you! After dinner, Harper and I hit up the anatomy lab where we were joined by Angela and Yezi and we went over everything. Finally it was around 9:30 and after writing an exam and studying afterward, your mind just gives out on you. So we packed up and headed home.

Tuesday morning was the Histology practical and I felt clueless. Again, we'll see. I had a five hour break between my histo and anatomy practical so I crammed for the latter in the annex. This was how packed the annex was...

Yup, just me and the keener at the front left corner. To be fair, some students were scheduled to write their anatomy practical earlier in the day so accounts for some absences, and then the rest of us were too drained from the first two tests that studying for the third wasn't physically or mentally possible. I know I found it tough to focus.

For the anatomy practical, you're scheduled into groups of ~40-50 people in such a way that no group that has finished the practical could have any chance of communicating with later groups. This is accomplished through quarantining, I mean "sequestering" students for extended periods of time. Being blessed with a last name near the end of the alphabet, I had the pleasure of being sequestered for the longest amount of time (~2.5 hours). You're not allowed any electronics. Just books, paper, and writing utensils. I figured I'd be able to get some studying done during the 2.5 hours but that was stupid of me. You're in a classroom with about 150 people in it and we're all talking. Even after 100 had left for their practical, our remaining group was fully equipped to fill the air space void. Candyce, Malani, Janos, and Yezi were in my group, which didn't help in terms of focusing on studying. Nonetheless, time passed and eventually we were called to the lab and we spent the next hour rotating between tagged structures and images, getting a total of 45 seconds with each one before the bell rung and you had to move to the next station. For some, you think "Ok I know what nerve is tagged, but you're asking that if it were injured at the mid-shaft of the humerus, what hand formation would I see?" and so you run through all the muscles it innervates from arm to forearm to fingers and picture what's affected. And before you know it, the bell's telling you your 45 seconds have come and gone and you need to move on. Sometimes you're writing down half the answer and then hope the next station is easy so that you can tackle both questions within the next 45. It's a bit of a tiring experience, but given that it was the last of three exams within two days, it was straight up exhausting.

When all was said and done, it was 6:30 and so the crew went out to Tulips for dinner. Plans were made for heading to Champs, but I had other priorities that involved reading and responding to emails. I was more than happy to have a quiet night and maybe hit the sac at a decent hour and be ready for class the next morning. After showering, I headed to the annex where it looked exactly like the above pictures. I finished most of the emails around 12:30, so sleep didn't happen the way I planned, but at least I was spending time on personal things and not school, at least I got the mental break I needed.

We're into the second block of semester one: the musculoskeletal system. I'm pretty sure it's because we've just written three exams and had no days off between classes starting again, because I am mentally checked out. It's been incredibly hard to focus, to stay awake, to prepare, to study. It didn't help that our lab today was a four hour long session of skinning and dissecting the upper leg and thigh muscles and that none of us had really prepped. Fortunately, I didn't have a major role and could stand back and assist when needed, but it was a long haul. I'm scheduled to demonstrate this dissection to the other lab groups on Tuesday. So I'm going to need to come in on Saturday and figure out what's what. No yoga, I've already decided on that.

Well guys, this is pretty ridiculously long already and so you'll get the rest on the weekend. Hope you're all doing well!

A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Blogging

Sunday was church and this time a fourth semester student named Tim spoke. He had some strong things to say and definitely wasn't afraid to vaguely call people out. He straight up said "I know some of you are here because you think that God will look with favour on you and let you pass med school." Of course he went on to say that that's not how God works, but still it was somewhat awkward because it carries a significant amount of truth. I'm sure there are lots of us who go to consume and not even think about responding. If there are people like that in church back at home, then it's no different here. But still, it always gets a bit uncomfortable when it's brought to light. It's the weird in between of "We're just glad you're here!" and "Well don't just sit there!" (and yes I purposely used "just" in both sentences, because we just use "just" in such an unjust manner that we just think it just justifies overusing "just". If you want me to laugh during prayer time, use "just" over and over and over. I'll be the one head down, eyes closed, shaking from contained giggles). Anyways, I think what often gets missed in this awkward confrontation is the topic of overflow, which is so unfortunate. The concept of overflow (in my mind) reconciles or at least bridges the two seemingly opposite statements. We're glad you're here consuming, digesting, understanding, soaking it in. Presumably, if you are absorbing all of this great stuff that is God's love, there'd be overflow which manifests itself in a response, initiates action such that you can't just sit there. Overflow is beautiful. It's too bad it's not talked about enough.

Anyways, after the service ended, I ended up talking with another fourth semester whose name I obviously can't remember (give me two more Sundays and I'll have it, hopefully). She's from California and will be staying here for her fifth semester. We have three different campuses for 5th: Mirmar in Florida, Saginaw in Michigan, and Roseau in Dominica. I asked if she was assigned Roseau or if she actually requested it (assuming that people don't request to stay on the island). Turns out she requested it. She listed off many great reasons for staying: cheaper, more hands on experience in the hospital, the semester's only 3 months long so there'd be less logistical complications in moving, less distractions, etc. It definitely got me thinking and so I guess we'll see how I feel when I'm in 4th. 

Lunch at the Subway deck where I spoke with yet another 4th-er. His name is Steven and he organized the RCF mixer for the 1st Semester students. He's from North Van and did his undergrad at University of Toronto. He prefers the laid back culture of Vancouver over Toronto though. We got to talking about where we're living and I expressed how I wanted to find a roommate and move closer to the main campus for next semester. He told me that the place he's at right now is only $475/month and he's on his own. The places I was looking at with 2 bedrooms would have me spending about $400/month which obviously isn't much less than if I lived at Steven's apartment. So once again, 4th semesters have been making me reconsider things.

During lunch, Malini stopped by to say hi, then Yezi and Angela came by to chat, and then when I turned back to the table, I noticed that Rachel and her friend Esther were there. Lots of conversing and wonderfulness all around. It made for a very enjoyable, albeit lengthy lunch. I returned home for a quick cool off in the shower, headed to the annex for a couple hours, then headed to the field outside Jenner Hall to play soccer. I joined the RCF team because I figured it'd be a good way to meet more people. There were only 6 of us (half the roster) that showed up, which is eerily like the percentage of players that show up to NDEFC games. I only have my running shoes here so I was a bit tentative, but the field was dry and I had enough traction to run freely. The one thing I didn't count on was realizing how hot I'd get. It was late afternoon and the sun wasn't out in full force, but I guess I forgot that we were on a Caribbean island with temperatures and conditions exactly like Haiti. No need to freak out, I didn't get heat stroke again, but I knew I over exerted myself after the first 20-minute half. I had prepped my water bottle with electrolytes for the game so during half time, I downed that puppy, headed to the bathroom to cool off my upper body, downed a bottle of water, and breathed deeply. I told our captain that I'd need to take it easy for the second half and thankfully we had a couple more players show up so I just subbed off for 3/4 of the 2nd half.

The walk home that normally takes me 10-15 minutes, took me about 30 and the shower that usually lasts 3 minutes, endured for a good 10 down my neck and spine. I cooled down in front of the fan while eating dinner to replenish my energy stores, then headed back to the annex. Around 9pm, I noticed that the screen was kind of pulsating. I figured my eyes were just getting tired so I bowed my head and looked down to rest them only to find my shirt trembling. My heart was pounding, and much like before, I hadn't been aware of it. I felt my pulse, looked at my watch, did the math, and found my resting rate well above 90bpm. The game had ended over three hours ago so naturally, I cursed under my breath, drank some more water, ate a Cliff bar, and focused on my breathing. The thing is I needed to prepare for my Pace quiz for the next day. So cutting out early wasn't an option. I kept on trucking until 11 and then headed home. Obviously, I had a difficult time falling asleep and the last time I looked at the clock, it said 1:15. This time I wasn't doing the math to figure out how much sleep I'd get. I was doing the math to figure out how long I'd need to wait before taking my Tapazole. My dosage is at one pill a day now so it's pretty important to take it around the same time.

Sleep was pretty awful and of course my muscles were screaming "What the heck did you do to us yesterday?" My glut was being a real pain despite being so non-existent. Jerk. Did the normal morning routine, went to class, went home to eat lunch, went to Pace and wrote the quiz which went a tad worse than the first one, but our group quiz went very well. After the quiz, I put some more money on my meter (even though I still had a good week's worth of electricity left), then headed to the library. At 6, the DJ crew headed to The Tomato for Harper's birthday dinner. The Tomato is one of the more expensive places in town because they import all of their ingredients. I had a bacon swiss burger and it was delicious. You take for granted things like good quality beef. I definitely miss sushi and a good Burgoo Irish stew, not to mention a robust ale. It's piss beer left and right here. I haven't even tried it. I just look at it and something deep inside me shrivels and cries "Nooooo!!". The downside to Tomato's (and most restaurants here) is that the eating area is outside. It's like mosquitoes know where the good food's at and ergo where the yummy blood is. Let's just say, everyone had a feast that night. After dinner we headed back to campus to study. Kat had booked a room for group studying but I chose not to attend. I had other things to do and felt that it'd be best if I went back to the library to finish what I started. Took the 11pm shuttle home and finally remembered to check my pulse while in bed. A-ok.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful. Classes, lunch, lab demo, then patient interview. Worked on the interview report, submitted it, ate dinner, studied at the annex, home just after 11. Yup, that was my Tuesday.

Today's classes didn't start until 9, giving me an extra hour of sleep, which was much appreciated. However, we still needed to have four hours of lecture so we had an hour lunch break in between 12-1, then had our last lecture from 1-2. It throws off your groove just a bit. Most of what we're learning is the equivalent of condensing a more detailed undergrad degree into 4 weeks with a few extras like patient interviews, radiographic anatomy, wellness, patient-centered care, and from today malpractice suits. I definitely wouldn't say we've gotten into the "fun" stuff yet. Next week after our mini and lab practical exams, we'll move out of the Fundamentals block and into the Musculoskeletal, Blood, and Lymph block. I'm trying my best to keep up with the info and maintaining a balance in other areas of life to ensure "wellness", but it's definitely a juggling act and requires so much initiative. This week will be fairly easy material wise - less of a focus on science material and more on behaviour/relationship aspects of medicine.

That's my mid-week so far. Right now, I want to bring your attention to my favourite Rachael. Rachael Pelat came into my life in grade 1 and we were best-ies throughout elementary and into high school. We've grown apart since we graduated but remain in contact through the magic of Facebook and to a lesser extent, Twitter. The one thing that remains constant is our support for whatever each other is doing.  She has always been this amazingly talented person. An all-star athlete in every sport, but especially soccer and more recently an incredible make-up artist for weddings, photo shoots, and Sportsnet. I don't know how many of you read The Province newspaper, but in case you don't, check out this article. I cannot tell you how proud I am of this wonderful woman. She has always been a sensitive and kind friend, incredibly generous, and easy to be around. She was the one that gave me her Joey Mcintyre NKOTB doll for when we played Barbies, made me fall in love with the Backstreet Boys, worked on my free throws with me, taught me how to shave my legs, always did my hair and make-up for dances, came out to some of my ball hockey games, and insisted that I grow my hair out for grad (and I've never gone back to super short since). Seeing the role she has taken on as an active purposeful mentor warms my heart to no end and I am so proud of her.

Alright back to the books!   

Something That Rhymes With Aces

Alright crew, let's have some muscle fun! Everybody lay your arms out in front of you on your desk, palms up. Now flex you wrist upwards and pinch your pinky & thumb together. If you notice a bulge running down the middle of your wrist towards your elbow, that is the tendon of your palmaris longus. This muscle is absent on one or both sides in 14% of the population. If you're missing them or just one, don't worry, it doesn't do much because you have other muscles that serve the same function. When I first did this, it looked like I was missing my left one, but turns out I just needed to pinch harder and flex the wrist more in order for the tendon to be more pronounced.

On another note, let's talk herpes (yup, herpes), specifically cytomegalovirus (CMV). This is the form of herpes that we're likely all going to have by the time we're 30 years old. The most common presentation of this virus is the cold sore. Anyways, one of our profs brought it up in lecture and it reminded me about blood donating. Shortly after my first donation, Canadian Blood Services notified me that I was CMV negative (meaning I didn't have the virus), and asked me to not only donate regularly but to donate my platelets as well. I should note that while CMV seems harmless to most people, it is particularly life-threatening to newborns and the immunocompromised. So donations of CMV-ve blood products are utilized in treatment of newborns and organ transplant patients for example. It's not a simple case where you just match blood type; you need to match platelet type as well. Given that the earliest age you can donate in Canada is 17 and that you're likely to contract CMV before your 30th birthday (if you don't had it already), the window of opportunity is incredibly small. So moral of the story is donate, but if you're CMV -ve donate as often as possible. You can donate platelets every two weeks. For those of you who have CMV, your blood products are still useful for the majority of those who need it, just not for the aforementioned exceptional patients. I've always been a proponent of blood donation, but my trips to Haiti benched me. I won't be eligible to donate until July (one year since I was last in Haiti). Dominica doesn't have any associated blood type health risks like Haiti does (malaria). So I should be able to donate when I return in December.

While we're on the subject, consider signing up to be a bone marrow and organ donor. Ever since my friend, Hannah, was diagnosed with leukemia I made sure I was part of the bone marrow registry, because you never know when you could help a friend or a complete stranger in a big way. It's simple and painless to be part of the registry. It's even more painless to sign up to be an organ donor. I don't believe that my body will be of any use to me when I die, but I know that it has potential to save multiple lives. If I'm not using them, then it's pretty selfish of me to deny others the opportunity at a better life with them. In Canada, we have a huge wait list for transplants. Some think that privatizing health care will make lists shorter, and while that's a valid point, having more organs available will also make the list shorter. If every person was a registered organ donor, I guarantee you that list would be exponentially shorter (even after you weed out those whose organs aren't acceptable). To find more information, go to www.blood.ca. OneMatch is the marrow program which is accessible through the site. You can also find info on Organ donation as well, but here's a more direct link as the process differs depending on the province you're from. The important thing to note is that you need to inform your family of your desire to be an organ donor. In some provinces, even though you may have registered yourself, your next of kin is still required to sign and consent to the donation after you pass.

Alright, campaigning is done for now. Let's address this other stuff we call life. This week has been a pretty chill, school wise. My whole afternoon was free on Wednesday so I spent most of it at the annex. I wasn't studying the entire time, that's for sure, but I was still getting work done. The power went out Tuesday night. I'm not sure why, but people say that it tends to happen every now and then. It hadn't rained in a while so it was pretty hot with clear skies. I'm guessing, more people had their a/c on and for longer periods of time and maybe the grid just couldn't handle it. Luckily for me, our apartment has a back-up generator that kept our power going. My main concern when it comes to electricity is my fridge. You can take the lights, a/c, hot water all you want, because I don't use two out of the three and I have a flashlight, but leave me my fridge. Regardless, I like to keep my fridge fairly empty; just the groceries I'll use for the week, water, and cranberry juice, and anyone who knows how I drink my juice knows that it will last an entire semester. 

Another relaxing day was in store for Thursday. I technically had a radiographic anatomy lecture in the afternoon, but after attending previous ones, I've learned that it's best if I just Mediasite it instead. You can get most of what you need from the lecture slides anyways. Our prof, while knowledgeable, is not the most articulate person in the world. Her style of speaking utilizes lots of successive "Uhh"s and "Umm"s, like a skipping record. So while you're waiting for the point to be made, you get tired of waiting through the uhh-umm abyss and start feeling like Chandler. If you're in conversation with me or around me when a discussion is happening, you might notice that I'll try to give a person the word their looking for if they've been struggling over it for a few seconds. It's probably an annoying trait of mine. Obviously there are some situations where I'm going to let it fly, but when it's a professor or public speaker, I've got expectations (and little patience as I've mentioned numerous times before). After class, I headed home for lunch and then the rain started. The rain that's been missing for the past week, complete with roaring thunder (YES!).

While I study, I have my "Study Mix" of music playing. Most students have their own mix. Some like lyrical songs that they know, others like online radio, others like classical music. I like instrumental music, mainly Explosions in the Sky. Classical music will put me to sleep, but Explosions in the Sky will lull you and then wake you within a 2 minute span. It doesn't get old or repetitive for me because I have all their songs (except for the Friday Night Lights soundtrack) and that takes up about 5 hours worth of music. I've also got some songs off the August Rush soundtrack, the guitar songs (so good). Then I throw into the mix Ratatat's "Seventeen Years". It's like my mental break because as soon as it comes on, I think of Meg and our many dance parties to this one song - hardest cardio I've ever done even with the cool off at the end.  Anyways, when I'm at home or elsewhere, I want to listen to the other music that I love and frequently belt out with wild abandon. A good chunk of that music comes from BC artists like We Are The City, Aiden Knight, The Zolas, etc. I first heard We Are The City when they did a concert at ND. They were phenomenal and further to that, their photographer/videographer was a guy I graduated with at Seaquam, Joe Schweers. Super nice! So through this one band I've been exposed to endless local musicians and awesome videos by Joe's company, Amazing Factory Productions. A recent project that Amazing Factory has headed is "Giants of the Forest" which is featured on www.vancouverisawesome.com. "Giants..." features local artist performing in the beauty of BC. If you love discovering new music, watching great live artistic videos, and supporting local talent, then I highly recommend you check it out.

Thursday I studied at the library because the Radiographic lecture was taking place in the annex. Then I headed to a Lab TA session from 5-7. One of the TAs is from RCF and there were a couple other RCFers in the group. So that was nice. Anatomy is a really interesting subject to me, but it's one of the hardest to absorb. There's just so many muscles to remember and then you need to know their innervation and arteries and collateral blood flow, and then what condition presents if it's damaged. It's just all very overwhelming unless you break it up into tiny pieces. After the session I headed back to the library to finish my study product, then I went home to eat, and then to the annex to continue studying.

Friday, after class I went to a group discussion session. Candyce and Malini were in my group. The questions we have and subsequent discussions definitely exposed my numerous knowledge gaps. It was a bit disappointing to realize how much I was missing, but also encouraging to know that I've got more than a week to prepare for the next mini. Went home to eat dinner and then to the annex to get cracking on those gaps.

I also received an email from my cousin Alison. It had a picture of my grandma smiling with her new pearly whites. Her dentures were finally done. After a year of molarlessness, cancer treatment, massive weight loss, damaged taste buds, and endless appointments, she finally has her teeth! This is truly a case where this is about more than just teeth. As a family, we have been patiently waiting for this moment. Finally, we can say "Screw you liquid diet, weight loss, and self-consciousness!". I've heard from three different parties in the family that have all GONE OUT to eat with grandma. No more home deliveries. She's confident enough to go outside because she's got f-ing teeth and you're damn sure she's not ordering the soup or tofu! Can I get an "eff yeah!"? (Sorry Caroline). I love this woman dearly, and believe me, we've all been waiting for this. She really needed this win. We needed this win.

Saturday was yoga, shower, lunch during a quick Skype with the parents, and then the annex...I'm starting to sound like a broken record. Around 5:30 I headed home for a quick dinner and then headed to the Loys' for small group. A girl named Becky was leading it. She's from Michigan and looks a lot like Meg's friend Danielle (I think only one person will know who I'm talking about, and her name rhymes with leg). Anyways, it was good. Rachel and Chris weren't there. I assume they're studying. It all ended around 7:30, so I took the shuttle back home, grabbed the backpack, and now I'm back in the familiar confines of the annex.

I'll try to post something mid week again, but right now I really need to get back to studying. Hope you're all doing well!