Dinners, parties, tests, wtf?

So, I'm going a little nuts. I have a test next friday, and there's just so much fucking material I want gouge out my eyes. I did manage to have some fun this weekend, which kinda makes up for this stress nonsense, I guess.

I'm doing this Alzheimer's buddy program thing where people working in the neurology department match volunteers with a newly diagnosed Alzheimer's patient. The idea is that the person with Alzheimer's has someone they can go out and do things with (movies, museums, etc.) and the student gets to do something good and gain some new experiences. I was matched with a woman that was described as spunky, sophisticated and fun. I was supposed to meet her on Friday, so I got kinda dolled up (it happens rarely nowadays) to make a good impression. She actually didn't make it out, but apparently my dressing up seemed to make a good impression on people in my class. . .maybe? I ran into a girl I know from one of my classes at the grocery store and she invited me out to dinner at a Thai restaurant that night, which was fun. There was much joking and laughter, and we all know how much I like laughter.

On Saturday night, one of my friends that lives in my building invited me for homecooked Ethiopian food because her husband was in town, so she cooked. Man, that was so good. Like I didn't really realize how deprived my diet has been lately. I just kinda switch off between pasta and vegetarian chili every day. It kinda makes me sad. So you damn well better believe I ate my little heart out.

Then, I was kinda cajoled into going to the big halloween party at one of the penthouses nearby. It's a really cool place that's super gothic looking for some reason, and it's been passed down to Northwestern med students for a whole bunch of years. It started out ok, there was some awkward standing around in corners with the people I went with commenting on how we don't really know anybody. And then everybody proceeded to get plastered. I got drinks spilled on me repeatedly (like at least 4-5 times). Girls were kinda out of control and I somehow was put in charge of making sure they didn't embarrass themselves, or die or something. It was great. And I'm not being sarcastic because I was really hammered. I wasn't stupid drunk, but it was enough that I was having a fine time on my own. Yay alcohol. Except for the hangover, but watching movies all day in bed was great, so there's a silver lining to everything.

That's all. Oh, I have a test next week. . .I'm freaking out. Have I mentioned this before? :)

Indiana Jones lies

Dude, it's only been one week of anatomy, and I've already done some crazy stuff to my dead person. It's nuts. It's also a lot of fun, which is weird. There are definitely times when I just kinda think about how weird it is that I'm cutting up a person in the morning and then doing normal things, like going grocery shopping or doing my laundry later on in the day. Which is why no one outside of med school should ever ask me how my day is going on anatomy lab days. They'll regret it. But I'll share here because I think it's kinda awesome.

We started out studying the back. So we had to open up the back. Which meant taking off the skin and looking at the muscles underneath. We basically skinned the dude. It turns out I have a mild allergic reaction to the solution they fix the cadaver in, so as I'm skinning away, my eyes started burning and watering exactly like they would if I were cutting an onion. Not that I'm comparing my cadaver to an onion. . .but it is kinda funny. . .

Anyway, after that we got to look at the spinal cord. To get to the spinal cord however, we had to hammer and chisel away the spine. . .which is a suprisingly good way to get out aggression. The spinal cord is actually really pretty. And it's very appropriately named because it looks like a thick cord with smaller cords running out of it. That's what controls most movements and sensations. . .a simple looking cord. I thought that was neat.

Yesterday, we took out the heart and dissected it. It was actually a lot of work because we had to take the skin and muscles off, then take out the ribcage, cut out the lungs and then cut out the heart. There's no way in hell the dude from Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom could seduce out the heart, or whatever it was he did. No freaking way. Our guy actually had a really big, muscular heart the size of a small football. . . so we naturally pretended to throw it at, er, to each other. Heh. The heart is also really pretty with all its different chambers and vessels and whatnot. Yeah that's right. I'm talking about a human heart. I have to keep reminding myself that. I know what your heart looks like. . .God that's so cool.

Anyway, not much else is happening outside of school. I'm still trying to find a life of sorts. You know, one that's not too demanding, possibly involves free food and doesn't judge me because I cut up dead people during the day. Anything along those lines would be awesome.

I can make awesome baked potatoes. . .yeah that's right

Man, it's been a hell of a long time since I've posted anything. I used to be so good at writing every three days. . .and then my life got boring/incredibly busy with school.

I went home last weekend, which was super-exciting. I did dinner and costco shopping with my mama (I am a college student after all). We then went home and relaxed. I played with my cat and she apparently had missed me quite a bit because she wouldn't leave me alone. Here's a pic of the little fatfat.

Look at the belly! Sooo cute and furry and bear-like. :) On Friday night, she came and slept with me. She somehow managed to find a nook on my shoulder and slept there, thus pinning me down and making me completely immobile for the rest of the night. But at least she was soft and warm. . .that makes up for anything.

I then spent Saturday running around and hanging out with people. I did dinner in the city and drinks with Dina. I realized how much I miss San Francisco. For some reason, it never seemed overwhelming and crazy to me, although it should have. Chicago on the other hand is pretty overwhelming and crazy. I don't know why. Then we headed over to Berkeley for Sami's party, yay party!

Overall that weekend was really great. I really miss hanging out with all you guys. . .stupid moving. But I also really needed that weekend at home. Being around the people I love even for a few hours was really really refreshing.

So I managed to get back to my place around midnight on Sunday night and do an hour of reading for monday then go to sleep. That basically set the tone for the rest of the week. I was running around all week doing all kinds of nonsense. It was super busy. But I survived and I'm spending the weekend catching up on work. I did make myself the most awesome baked potato ever after watching Tyler Florence make it while I was at home. Behold, the yummiest baked potato ever.


And, I also got another view:

There are actually two baked potatoes because Trader Joe's didn't have normal potatoes for baking. I made a white cheese sauce and added the broccoli in there. It is possibly the most delicious thing I have ever made. Drooool.

Other than that. . .I don't have a whole lot going on. I start anatomy on Monday, and we got to see our dead person on Wednesday. I will be cutting up a rather large, but not particularly fat dude. Should be interesting.