yes indeed.  it's about time for me to update this little blog, to start getting addicted to coffee, and to get sick.  and lucky me it's all happening at the same time :)  okay, not really thrilled about it, but what can you do but swipe my snotty nose, sniffle up the rest and bury my brains in my books?  push forward and move on: my new mantra.

it's kind of interesting to look back on the past year.  last year around this time, i was just finishing up my first block of class at school, still trying to find my footing in the fast-paced world that is med school.  and somehow it doesn't feel all that different.

this past weekend i volunteered with the columbus marathon for the second year in a row.  i was debating whether or not to skip out on it since i desperately need to study for my exam this friday, but thought, "it'll be a good change of pace" and that it was.  school has become the bubble that it was ever since undergrad.  it definitely has to do with my living so close to campus.  my world in columbus is contained within a five-block radius of my apartment and my life is so consumed with studying that i tend to forget that, oh yeah, there are people who aren't in med school, who work and have families and lives outside of the classroom.  one guy that ran the race shared his story with me while he was icing his foot and getting some minor medical attention after he finished the 26.2 miles.  he had been overweight (42" waist) and he was having trouble doing his everyday things without getting short of breath so he bought a treadmill and started walking for an hour each day.  after six months, his treadmill broke.  he repaired it, but then it broke down another six months later so he joined the local Y and started running on their treadmills in the mornings before work.  one morning he was approached by a pair of ladies that asked him to run with him since they wanted to run outside in the mornings when it was still dark.  he had a difficult time keeping up with them initially, but kept with it.  and sunday, he completed his third marathon and he looks great, feels great, and knows he's blessed .  one of his daughters is a runner too and ran one of the marathons with him; the other is overweight, but has recently started to become more active and is running too. 

and the other 15,000+ runners undoubtedly have similarily inspiring stories.  it's amazing what the body will do when the mind is made up.  push forward and keep going.

"leisure" readings that are helping to keep me sane:
- the little prince: "grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them"

- anne of green gables:
"will you please call me Cordelia?"
"Call you Cordelia? Is that your name?"

- gilmore girls:
[about the box on their doorstep]
L: it's from my mother?
R: what is it?
L: it's heavy; it must be her hopes and dreams for me.
R: i thought she discarded those years ago.

"whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." -- Philippians 1:27

too much blogging about the s-word.  here's a potpourri of other thoughts floating around my mind:

every wednesday, i get to wear a bright red vest and volunteer in a hospital waiting room.  last week was celebrity look-a-like, and i saw joaquin phoenix and a heavily-bearded ralph fiennes!

i'm in love with collin. 
and his adorable siblings.
i discovered jon and kate plus 8 on TLC last week about a Christian inter-racial (Korean-Hawaiian, Caucasian)family with two sets of multiples (twins and sextuplets).  it's reality tv, but the relationships are real.  the kids cry, pout, fight with each other and the parents bicker, have tones with each other, etc. but you can tell they all love each other.  i recommend it.

walking up the middle of one-way streets.  i do it.  i love it.

this weekend was my first experience of the game

O-H

here are my symptoms, doctor.  can you tell me what i have?
- i'm tired, but don't sleep well at night, so i'm tired, but i can't sleep...
- my stomach hurts
- i can't focus on my work

ahhh, yes.  you have something known as gastro-anginal cyclic apnea.  it's very common actually.  lay people call it stress.

-------

well i could've told you that.  it's been a long week, and i'm exhausted from spending my days studying and my nights tossing and turning.  not to say that i'm not enjoying anatomy.  it's somewhat unbelievable that i'm dissecting an actual body.  two weeks ago, i ripped the heart out of the body (ok, not really, but holding the heart did reminded me of that scene from the last of the mohicans, except not quite as bloody or vengeful) and yesterday, i held a uterus in my hand, something i had been anticipating all week. (i'm not weird, really!)  it was tiny!  the one i saw was about the size of a regular-sized post-it note.  actually everything is a lot smaller in the body than i imagined.  the pictures i see are usually blown up on huge screens during lecture, so i'm expecting big, big parts.  actually it's fascinating how the body is so elegantly put together -- the checks and balances, nothing without an important role (if not multiple) -- and it all fitting compactly in our bodies [psalm 139:14].  truely AMAZING. 

in other news, i moved into my new apartment and am basically settled, other than my living room which is in need of some furniture.  and i'm much closer to campus, which is both good and bad.  good, because i'm closer :)  bad, because i'm closer, and thus leave later in the morning and end up getting to class late.  friend groups are starting to form, but because our classes are so demanding from the get-go, it's taking longer to get to know my classmates.

alas, exam numero duo is coming up next friday, and i am grossly behind (pun not intended), thus explaining the stress.  so off i go.

leave me a happy one as i leave you with this: "12 types of medical students"