Back

In case you hadn't heard, I dropped my computer a month or so ago, and it wouldn't start up. Just kept click-click-clicking and whirring --> hard drive failure. Whoops.

Well, my wonderful wonderful friend B took it to TekServe and had the hard drive replaced (quite cheaply, I might add!) as a Christmakuh present.

So I am back at my desk with my laptop, and it feels good. Though, to be honest, I managed pretty easily without the laptop. I don't really use it for much other than email these days.

I am also "back" in that I just returned from holiday family-time in Tx. It was good, but it's nice to be home. Came home to an empty house though, since B is away at a job conference. Hope it goes well for him!

Sadly, as you can see from my "Upcoming" sidebar, I feel like I don't have much to look forward to after these holidays. Well, guess that gives me plenty of time to focus on my job and the research I'm supposed to be doing.

Instant gratification

I did it. I splurged and bought the remaining three books of the Twilight Saga at Barnes & Noble. I tried to buy them cheaper online, but with shipping added, there isn't much of a price difference... AND I have to wait at least 3 days!! So I'd rather pay a few dollars more and be able to read them right away (which is what I started doing).

But oh it was so hard to make up my mind. There were so many other books I wanted to buy! I will have to make a wishlist for Christmas/Hanukkah. Books books books!

I find, however, that I tend to spend my money on books I consider somewhat frivolous... the "cheap thrills." Though I have Fitzgerald and Nabokov and Asimov on my list, I never actually buy them. It's like a fear of commitment or something... Or maybe I would just feel too guilty asking other people to buy the "cheap thrills" books for me. ;-)

Okay, story time!

Books!

I just love having time to read!

Last week I finished Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey," which was fantastically captivating. I took it to work with me and read a little during downtime. Unfortunately, every time I had to put it down, I was somewhat dazed and befuddled, like I had just woken up. That says something. (I felt that way while reading Haruki Murakami's "Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" also.)

I took "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on the plane with me on Thursday. Such a quick read, but really powerful. There's a magic to writing plays that I just can't comprehend. Anyway it was funny also because the copy I had was a very old copy of B's sister's that she written and drawn all over with marker. Very insightful. ;-)

Then, since I finished the play in Cleveland, I bought "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers in the airport. B's sister has been reading these books, and I am hooked on HBO's "True Blood" series (based on the Southern Vampire Chronicles), and I had read "Vamped" earlier this summer, so I thought I'd try another vampire story. This is a young adult series or something, so the style is somewhat juvenile, not as mature or intense as "Vamped," but it's a lot of fun. It's a big book, but I expect I'll finish it today.

I just love having time to read!

Innocence can be lost

A not-so-serious post and yet serious.

While B was making dinner, I happened to catch the end of The Cure on tv. And I remembered what a crush I had on Brad Renfro when I was 12 years old. So, wondering, "Where is he now?" I googled him and discovered that he had died earlier this year.

And I realized that, while I was not one of those oft lovestruck teenagers, of the few celebrity crushes I did have in my adolescent years,

all are dead.
Jonathan Brandis - b. 04/13/1976 d. 11/12/2003 (hanging)
Brad Renfro - b. 07/25/1982 d. 01/15/2008 (heroin)
Heath Ledger - b. 04/04/1979 d. 01/22/2008 ("abuse of prescription medications")

It seems notable, for me anyway, that Renfro and Ledger died just a week apart. Seems a rather morbid way of driving the fact that my childhood innocence is gone for good.

(Note: I don't include Nathan Chasing Horse among my celebrity crushes because he is far from a celebrity. Good thing too, apparently. And as far as I know, he is alive and well and an anti-drugs/alcohol role model.)

Things I want to do this year

Assuming I start med school next fall, I have time to do a few other things this year. However, I had all these big plans in May and have yet to really begin any. The year is going by fast! Will I accomplish anything on my list?

1. A doula course (which includes a three-day workshop, a reading list, and participating in several births)
   
2. BLS/ACLS (Basic Life Support/Advanced Cardiac Life Support) classes
   
3. READ FOR FUN (have done a little of this so far)
   
4. Draw! (in particular, paint guitars)
   
5. Make music (including learning to play guitar)
   
6. Research (by approaching one of the doctors at work)
   
7. Work out (have started doing this)
   

I don't have time for all this, do I? It's hard enough to make myself go to the gym after work, and I do most of my reading on the train to and from the office. And I hate having to think of these things in terms of what will help me get into med school, but that's my life now, isn't it?

Whew!

I have officially submitted 22 of 22 secondary applications. Now I just have to wait for Columbia to submit my letters, then wait to be complete. Then HOPEFULLY I will get lucky and get some interview invites! (At least one, please!!!)

Next on the list...
writing thank you cards!

Home Sweet New York

So my sister is married now, and I spent a little more than a week in San Francisco preparing for and celebrating the wedding. For the past several months I had been thinking that I was ready, maybe eager to move and try something other than New York. But last night, standing in the taxi line at JFK, even though JFK is such a terrible airport, it felt really good to be back in the city. The smells, the sounds, the people... Yeah, I've really grown to like and be comfortable here. It wouldn't be so bad if I had the chance to stay. But of course, I'll make the best of it wherever I end up.

Keeping my fingers crossed.