today

today i cried when i told a good friend from high school that i couldn't be a bridesmaid in her wedding, that is week #2 of med school, in columbus ohio. i know that it's only week #2 but i need all the time i can get for that first set of block exams. i really wish i was able to be a part of this big day in her life but i have been working for 6 years on this, and now the sacrifices have to be made.

but i hope i did not sacrifice a good friendship.

ummm

okay so i may have too much time on my hands now:



teeeeehehehe.

to do list:
1. move all boxes either into room or into garage
2. get new glasses
3. go through clothes, give away old things
4. spend lots of time with mom and dad. easy now with march madness...and now we switched from comcast to verizon and our cable plan is hooooked up with all these movie and sports channels. i am kind of sad that i won't be closer to take advantage of the big ten network (you usually need like dish network to get it!!) but my parents have been upgrading the house since my brother and i have moved out. haha!

back in DC

Moving is always interesting because I can fully see all of the stuff I've been saving, storing, buying too much of. Canned foods, instant coffee, shoes, cardboard boxes, pens...and lots of dust. I'm mostly moved out of the studio but have to go back on Saturday to get the rest of my things and clean the apartment.

With my life in boxes in DC, I don't know whether to unpack or just keep it in boxes since I'll be moving again in July. I can't take everything to Nevada so I should unpack it...but then my parents already have a ton of things so where am I to put my stuff?

When I entered the house last night, I was reminded that it was no longer "my house" but really "my parents' house". A new rug, new painting, and no more Buddy - these minor changes are foreign to me but have been that way for my parents for weeks now. My dad also told me not to spread out my stuff too much because they were expecting four guests at the end of the month. It's a weird feeling to be a house guest in a home that is yours, but not really.

I've moved quite a few times and lived in many cities - Columbus, Chicago, DC, Philadelphia, and now Henderson. So when people ask me "How do you like living in Philadelphia", I have a lot to compare it to and honestly I did not really appreciate Philly until just this year when I began to really take advantage of the city life and living so close to everything.

I loved that I could cross the street and be at one of many things: Chinese buns and bakery (and bubbletea!), Chinatown market or Reading Terminal market (between those two I had almost everything I could ever eat), Wawa (for milk products), great dining around every corner, Chinatown bus terminal, Greyhound terminal, Subway stop...the list is endless. And Philly is a truly walkable city - in a couple minutes you could walk to Old City, Rittenhouse, South Street, or the Art Museum and Boat row - depending on what direction you headed. City living allowed me to have a smaller carbon footprint and me more conscious about my consumption.

Yes there are downsides. It can be a dangerous city and you're constantly exposed to the "ugly side" of urban living. Philly could do more with it's greenery and water ways - Chicago is awesome because of its beautification projects, beaches, and parks. Philly is older, has older roadways and an older infrastructure...driving in Philadelphia really is not fun as the roads are small, rarely have lane lines, and pedestrians are a bit too obnoxious.

Case in point: After getting very yummy cheese steaks from Jim's on South Street I made my way north on a one-way street to my apartment and almost hit a woman as she stepped off the curb to go around a slow-poke group of people in front of her. She didn't hear my screams or cursing because she had headphones in. I swear I grazed her with my front bumper or mirror but she was not really paying attention and that is essentially how crazy Philadelphia is...

Philly has great food. I'll miss it as well as our Quizzo nights. I'll miss being in a walkable city. But I will really miss my friends and the memories that we made out in the town and at NCB.

i'm goooooone.

stinkin' love her, this song, and the music video. she is amazing.

there is some much needed dolly relaxation time in my life right now because i am becoming a little stressed/overwhelmed with moving, saying goodbye to different groupds of people, making connections with people who are buying my furniture, getting my immunizations, canceling utilities, packing, cleaning, returning things, and the rest of my "to do" list.

yes i should be relaxed and happy that i'm no longer taking classes and that i can get 8 hours of sleep a night a do whatever i want. but trying to co-ordinate so many things in about 3 days is really stressing me out...and sometimes i don't react well to stress so i just need to chill.

packing, cleaning, moving

I only have a studio apartment so there's really not much to pack, especially since I decided to not take any furniture with me to Nevada. I am taking a dresser back to my parents house in DC, but only having to pack clothes, kitchen/bath stuff, and "life accessories" really cut down on my work. Though it's time like these that really make me think of just exactly how much stuff I really have and what things are really worth keeping.

Most of the stuff that went to DC with my brother was clothes: heavy jackets and coats, pants and jeans, sweaters, shirts and tank tops...and a box of purses. Then I in DC I will go through and get rid of some stuff and then decide what to take to Nevada. It's going to be hard, haha!




The space above around my desk was the hardest to clean up and take down. Pictures, postcards, memories from fun moments - I want to be able to remember them for longer but don't know if I'll be able to take all this "stuff" with me. And I'll be creating new ones in Nevada too so don't want to be too cluttered.

(Looking at the picture now, I see that this is pre-acceptance to Touro as I still have my "Positive Affirmation I'm getting into Medical School pleeeeeeeease" paper on there. Also no Chuck Bass picture)



I've posted my furniture on craigslist and have gotten a few responses. I just hope that they will write back to me and follow through - I had a really hard time getting a hold of people when I was giving all my books away. So hopefully people will show up tomorrow to haul away my stuff - someone even responded to see if I was selling my framed pictures of Michael Phelps! haha It really made me feel special because they are unique and MINE!!

I don't think I planned it well though because now I have people coming to pick up the bed and futon tomorrow. Oops. I guess I'll just go back to DC a bit earlier than expected or crash on someone's couch for a night or two...

procrastination station.

My dorm room during the first year of undergrad was called "The Procrastination Station" because my roomie and I were always up for chatting, debating, hanging out, etc. Clearly I didn't do so well my first quarter there, but oh was it a good time.

I am procrastinating a bit before getting back to work on micro slides. I checked the scores of Monday's physiology exam and am just happy/relieved to have passed the class. It was a hard class but it'll help out next year and now I'm glad to understand everything about the menstrual cycle. Hooray for the LH surge!

Facebook, for all the craziness it's caused, has become a great way for me to meet my future classmates - it's so crazy that these are going to be my friends for the next four years and we're just strangers now...

Okay back to work - I'll be completely done in about 10 hours!! WAAAHOOOOO!!!!

exams are a'comin!

Today was all day "review" classes on urinary and reproductive physio, reproductive histology, and case conferences. Whew, a lot of work to do still for my Monday and Wednesday exams but I am not worried right now. I know the things I have to get down and I really think it'll be okay. Haha let's see what happens on Sunday night...

I was on Shape.com and found some nice workout articles for the treadmill and strength training. I think my routine is getting a bit boring, so I've tried their technique of 2 minutes fast run, 4 minutes walk - and right now it's putting me at a faster mile than before. I'm just taking it easy now because of exams though I'm not worried about the actual 5k part (let's be clear here!), I just want to reach a certain time goal.

OMG Dolly Parton just came onto my ipod, her cover of "Shine". Oh, she is amazing! Maybe I can work in a trip to Dollywood this summer en route to Nevada....

$hit.

Sometimes things hit you in waves, no? That's why there's that saying "When it rains, it pours". We know that's not entirely true as there as misty days, light rain days, rainy days, and "holy shit did I miss the news about a hurricane?!?" days. But there still so much truth to that statement.

It's not really one of those times, but I can feel a wave coming. Dark clouds are approaching but I hope some warm/cold front comes in to scare those storm clouds away.

In this past hour, I've come to the realization that I haven't been as smart about money as I should have. Yes, JUST NOW. Oops. Well I did just pay off all my credit card debt, but knowing that I have some 40K out there in loans is sick. And now I've just realized that I only had 15 cents in my internet banking savings account for the last year - and 85 cents more would have been enough to collect interest. Instead my 15 cents is still only 15 cents...but at least now it's got some more friends to play with. And make babies with. AKA grow in compound interest...

Ah shit, I should have known this and put more money in there to grow interest.
"But A, why is there only 15 cents in there to begin with?", you ask.

Because I took it out to put into my Roth IRA and then forgot about it. The entire thing is online, there's no real paperwork or cards that define the account, so it's almost not real. I almost forgot where the account even was (HSBC? ING? who knows?!) and had to search my emails...ah well, lesson learned.

I'm only on this kick because I found poormd.com which scared the $hit out of me. Helpful, but scary.

As HDuff so eloquently sang, "Let the rain fall..."

Happy March!

Only a few days left of classes here at Drexel and I'm really excited to be done. I know I will miss the city a bit (surprisingly, I've grown to almost love it) and definitely will miss my friends. But the recent snowfall here makes me think of the warm Las Vegas air.

I'm trying my best to use up all the food I have in my apartment. The last thing I want to do is haul canned corn and soup across state lines. It's made for some interesting meals but one thing that has bothered me for the last couple days is that all of the bread I've been looking at contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. WTF?! It's marketed as whole grain wheat bread, but secretly it's a ploy to make you think you're eating healthy so you'll buy it but it's really not. I finally got a good loaf at the Metro Bakery in Reading Terminal - even the Dutch bread store had some of the HFCS grossness. It's criminal, I say!!

Also I've recently gotten invited to two weddings, both of close high school friends. I'm so excited for C, B, and their respective fiances and the lives they are building together, but a part of me doesn't really connect with them. It just feels weird to know that this is the norm for my "peer" group now - and I suppose I should be bracing for even more wedding and baby news from other people down the road.

It's 2009, I'm 25 years old, looking at 4 years of schooling plus 4 more for residency. Dating and marriage hasn't really ever been part of the plan. And it's interesting because most of my friends that are doing professional school/doctor/PhD route are not married, not in serious relationships at all. It may be a fact of our goals and ambitions, but I can't help but think sometimes that I am missing out on something that's bigger than you, me, us.



Anyways don't want this to be a downer, just something I've been thinking about recently. But I am very very excited for the next few months - here is the schedule:

March 11: last exam at Drexel!!
March 24 - 27: Las Vegas with mom for apt hunting
March 30: Viewing of Colbert Report in NYC =D
April 2 - 6: Detroit, Michigan!
April 16 - June 29: Saigon, VIETNAM!!!! Classes end on the 16th of June so I'll have some time to travel
June 30ish - July 11ish: road trip with Tracy from DC to Las Vegas! haha it's going to be crazy fun
Aug 3: Orientation for Touro-NV Class of 2013 begins!