I'm DNA!

You are DNA. You're a smart person, and you appear
incredibly complex to people who don't know
you. You're incomparably full of information,
and most of it is useless.

Which Biological Molecule Are You?
brought to you by

Crazy Japanese...

Hehe...nap pillows in the shape of female laps...I'd comment, but I think the picture of the little Japanese man napping says it all...

Random things for your amusement

1st) A cute and morbid little illustrated story called the Gashlycrumb Tinies. It starts "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs/ B is for Basil assaulted by bears..." I think you get the idea.

2nd) As a stress-reliever, check out this website with a sheet of those packing bubbles you can pop. Sure, it's not hard, but it is kinda entertaining.

3rd) Ellen has been giving stuff away for the past 12 days on her talkshow. This person in a gingerbread man suit brings out that day's prize and everyone in the audience gets one. Anyway, today was day number 12 and also the day the identity of the gingerbread man was revealed. Ellen gave a "hint" that he could dance and I figured it'd be some pseudo-famous person I might have heard of. To my surprise, it was Justin Timberlake. While this may be entertaining in and of itself, it gets better. Justin told Ellen that she "owed him" and gave her something to put on, kinda a clothy white barrel thing. She looked confused and he told her that now she was a glass of milk. As soon as he said that the music came on and they started to dance (if you didn't know, the Ellen show is BIG on dancing). And what song could they play that would be Christmas-y enough for a gingerbread cookie and milk? MC Hammer's Can't Touch This. At this point, Justin starts dancing like MC Hammer while still in a Gingerbread Man Suit. And Ellen's going at it in her Milk Constume. I'm not sure when I've seen something so silly and cute on tv. I'll see if I can find a clip online...but for now, your imagination will have to suffice.

See, I told you other people watched Farscape

On tv yesterday, they announced the top 10 tv shows this year. Coming in at number 9 was Farscape (I think it was for the Peacekeeper Wars miniseries). I'm soooo excited. That's fantastic. In case you hadn't heard before, Farscape was named number 4 on the list of top 25 cult classics (in tv) by Tv Guide. Only Buffy, X-Files, and Star Trek beat it. Speaking of Farscape, my copy of the Miniseries should be arriving in Jan when it finally gets released (or escapes)...yes, that means I preordered it, but at least I can prove I'm not the only one...

Hehe...butt's a funny word

As with everyday, I had anatomy lab. Today was the butt. That's right, the squishy piece of fat you sit on and the corresponding skin, fat (a LOT), muscle (some), nerves (they're HUGE!), and other assorted body "stuffs." Yeah, that's right, I spent my morning skinning a butt. And, when I think about it, it kinda makes me giggle. Does that mean I'm a little immature? Perhaps... ;) But honestly, who doesn't at least smile when they hear the words "anal tampon?" That's what I thought...

Happy 21st Birthday Vanessa!!

It's my sister's 21st birthday today. Hooray!

Cartoon Anatomy

Check it out: the skeletons of cartoons. I am ridiculously entertained, especially by the ones of the powerpuff girls. Look at their eye sockets...huge!

I feel old today...but in a good way

Today I went to visit my preceptor. I felt pretty crappy this morning, but she was expecting me, so I made the effort to go anyway, luckily for me (and for you cuz now you get to read about it.)

Anyway, I went in, she saw a couple patients and nothing remarkable happened. However, she mentioned that she was going into the OR after and I could come if I wanted, but I didn't have to. Didn't have to?!? I wanted to be a surgeon before I figured out the lifestyle's kinda crappy. I figured it'd be like high school, when I followed around surgeons and I put on the face mask, hair net-type thing, scrubs, and booties for my shoes and I'd stand in the corner and watch. However, she just assumed I'd scrub in. So, I did. Let me tell you, I'm sure I looked like an idiot. I was not exactly sure what needed to be done when and the nurse was nice and kinda told me when I screwed up, but I'm sure she was exasperated with the "newbie." Anyway, I scrubbed in and was already wearing the scrubs and booties and hair thing and mask and then they put me in the over-the-scrubs coat thingy and put on my gloves n stuff. And, so I take my position, in the corner, and someone asks where I should stand they point me right next to my preceptor. What? I get to stand right there, like it's no big deal? So, I'm standing there and during the surgery, they move me so that I can hold the retractor...I could have fainted I was so happy. I got to help!

And the whole thing was no big deal. People just acted like I belonged there. It made me feel kinda old, but old in a good way. Perhaps more like I wasn't an imposter...which it seems like sometimes...

Ok, that's it for now. I'm gonna try and go buy some alcohol while I still have the "old" aura about me...oh wait, I can already do that...There aren't any benefits to getting older, are there? Hmm...

Some notes for my sisters...

A hooray to Felicia for getting superiors in Humorous and Readers Theater (she even wrote it) at the State Interp Contest. I saw her humorous piece while I was home over Thanksgiving and I must admit...its pretty funny.

Also, I'd like to say "way to go" to Vanessa for getting a research spot with this super-cool researcher Dr. Yang at USD. I'm impressed. :)

This may creep some people out...

Today was our first day of anatomy lab. I've actually been mentally debating (though debating out loud would be amusing) how much to tell everyone about this particular experience. This uncertainty is due, in part, to my own vascillating feelings about this. I go back and forth about how exactly I feel about all this. I do remember when my dad first told me that medical school involved the dissection of a cadaver. I was sooo excited and I couldn't have been more than 12. However, in the last couple weeks, taking anatomy has not only become possible, but it was creeping ever-closer. And, I began to wonder if I would really be as excited about this opportunity as I had originally thought. I mean this is a person, with a name and a life, and I would be making cuts into his or her cold dead body. Anyway, back to the debate in my head. Part of me wants to "shield" my friends from all the details because I know people find the idea creepy. However, another part of me thinks that it's better to talk about what I'm doing, because otherwise it seems like I'm slowly being seperated from the general populace. I understand that there is some point to desensitizing physicians so they don't scream everytime they touch a dead human body, but I never before had realized how going through this whole process changes you, and to be honest I kinda liked who I was before ;)

But seriously, I've decided that I'm going to fill you guys in on some of the things I'm doing, because I think it's important. And, if you don't want to read it, then don't ;)

Ok, so today, we started anatomy and let me tell you, even though the chemistry building at college smelled because the bio department worked with fetal pigs every spring, it is not even close to the smell in the anatomy lab. Why? Well, becuase people are bigger than pigs. And, because there are over 35 cadavers in one room and that's a lot of embalming fluid.

The actual dissections were just some basic skin removal and breast and some muscle dissections for the mostpart, but since tomorrow is the lungs, today we had to remove the rib case. No one else wanted to do it, and I didn't mind so I manned (or womaned?) the saw. I know this may be random, but cutting off a rib case reminded me of the 3rd alien movie, when Ripley is making sure Newt wasn't holding an alien baby when she died...