Yesterday was Cadaver Ball! As always, it was great to see everybody all done up in formal attire. It was also kinda fun to see the tourists and other hotel guests wondering just who we were. I wore the dress I got for my sister's black-and-platinum wedding back in 2005. It was a lot less tight on me this time around than it was back then... probably to the point that you could call it ill-fitting. But I've never gotten a new dress for Cadaver Ball, why start with third year? I'll get a new dress next year.

Highlights of the entertainment were "Spec in a Box" and "Punching people who are about to study," both parodies of Saturday Night Live skits. And a hidden-camera prank on unsuspecting first years called, "To Catch a Gunner." It featured an attending advising the would-be gunners, "Only ask questions that you already know the answer to." I loooooved it. Overall, the entertainment didn't come close to the magnificence that was 2007, but that was to be expected. We're going to blow them away next year.

After the skits and such, there was dancing. I danced pretty much constantly, until the whole shindig came to an end at 2am. With daylight savings time starting during the ball, it was actually 3am. I was designated driver for a group of friends, and by the time we'd gotten everybody together and found our way out of the massive hotel, it was 3:30. Since it'd been many hours since dinner, we decided to do a Waffle House run. It was amazing. The waitstaff wasn't even that impressed by our evening wear, since I guess they get a lot of late-night traffic from Opryland events. I got a pecan waffle, and an order of hash browns scattered, smothered, covered, and diced. Delicious.

With eating breakfast and then dropping everybody off, it was almost 6am by the time I was ready for bed. That means that the most productive thing I did today was prepare food for myself and watch the movie "Drumline."

Tomorrow is the beginning of my last three weeks on the surgery clerkship! Isn't that crazy? This coming week is free clinic week for those of us currently during surgical subspecialties. We were able to sign up for an assortment of surgery clinics to spend half-days at. I'm doing hand surgery, thoracic surgery, and pediatric neurosurgery among other things. It'll just be shadowing, but it will hopefully be interesting.

Tomorrow also marks the beginning of my hardcore studying for the two exams I have coming up: one written, one oral. I think I've done a pretty good job at staying on top of things the past two months, but now I have to really buckle down.

Il a neigé hier soir, mais aujourd'hui il fait du soleil et toute la neige a disparu. Moi, je suis encore malade, mais je me sens mieux que vendredi. Il faut que je recouvre parce que j'aurai une semaine difficile avec les chirurgiens de la tête et le cou.

Okay, enough of that. Just practicing my French...I don't know why. Hopefully I didn't butcher it too badly. Translation: It snowed last night, but it's sunny today and all the snow is gone. As for myself, I'm still sick but I feel a lot better than I did on Friday. I need to recover since I'm going to have a tough week on Head and Neck Surgery.

Why do I think Head and Neck is going to be tough? Well, the cases are going to be longer, for one thing. I also anticipate more pimping. I didn't get much of that on general ENT. There was just one otologist who had me discuss the path of the facial nerve (geniculate ganglion???!) and one laryngologist who asked about the intrinsic muscles of the larynx. Head and Neck will have bigger cases with more obvious anatomy. The easier to pimp me with, I fear. I've been doing some reading so I don't look like a complete ignoramus in the OR this week. Neck anatomy is just as not fun as it was the first time around! All these triangles, and muscles going every which way. Sterno-omo-thryo-hyoid?

Cadaver Ball is this weekend! It snuck up on me this year, unlike first year when it consumed my thoughts for months. The third year class historically has a pretty poor showing, despite the fact that we're excused from clinical duties from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. It doesn't help that ticket prices went up a lot this year. I'm going, because as an ISTJ, I value the traditions of the institutions to which I belong. I also want to see what hilarity the class of 2009 comes up with.

Cadaver Ball celebrates the fact that the end of medical school is rapidly approaching for the class of 2009. That means that fourth year is rapidly approaching for my class. We've already had our class meeting with the registrar, about how to sign up for our mandatory rotations: emergency medicine, sub-internships, primary care. Sometimes I feel like orientation wasn't that long ago. How can we be almost fourth years?? I feel pretty fortunate in that I'm 90+ percent sure about the field I want to go into. There's really not that much time to decide!

In other news, I gave up meat for Lent this year. No problems yet, but I've been sick for most of the days. I haven't felt much like eating anything. My mom expressed concern that I would starve to death, but I think that as a 24 year old future physician, I can figure out how to get my nutrition on without meat. Don't worry, there's approximately zero chance that I'll go vegetarian permanently, or start angrily ranting at people who eat meat in front of me. I'm giving up meat because it's difficult, and it's difficult because I find it oh so delicious. That said, if any of you have some especially delicious vegetarian recipes you want to send my way, please do so. When I have free time and am not sick, I'm already planning to try to make a vegetarian chili that can equal my beer brat chili. I'll let you know how that goes.

I managed to do everything I needed to do after my last entry, which also included buying a necklace and earrings to go with my dress. And I still got to watch Vandy (barely) beat Florida. Yay!

Since I'm not an officer this year, I didn't have to buy supplies, or help set up. I just showed up in time to party in the class suite. Everybody looked so nice in their gowns and tuxes. There was a lot more variety compared to last year, when all the girls seemed to be wearing a shade of red. By the time I got downstairs, they were already flashing the lights for the end of cocktail hour, so not much to report there.

Even though I brought my ticket this time, the people at the check-in table didn't ask for it. Another souvenir, I guess. I got a better table than last year: slightly towards the back, but smack in the middle. Joining me at table 48 were my date, the roommate and her sister, two of our classmates with their boyfriends, and a fourth year and his wife.

Of course, the most important part was the entertainment. It was done as well as could be expected for a class that wasn't mine. (And which, in the first years' case, had a huge exam a week ago.) The fourth year band got a standing ovation for their parody of "Born to Run," but there was not a standing O for the whole show. Of note were the first years' spoofs of Soulja Boi's "Superman" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and the fourth years' "Doc in a Box." My favorite part was actually a quick shot in the Soulja Boi video, when they had a camera outside the medical library and people dancing in each "pane" of the massive windows:



That was brilliant. Well done, first years.

Um, that's about it. Dinner was tasty, and dancing was pretty fun. Got home around 3, to sleep at 4 and slept until 11. Now it's time for another full week of school. Boo school.

I'm writing this as I sit in the abandoned, nearly-dead mall near my apartment. My car's being held hostage... I mean inspected and serviced. I had to make sure that she'd be ready for the road trip on Sunday!! Yeah, it's a 9+ hour drive, but I'm looking forward to it. I'm surprising Mom, who has been really stressed lately, with having Momo at the house and all. I think having her baby walk through the door when she least expects it will do her a world of good. I'll even behave while I'm at home: I'll and go to bed when I'm told and wake up when I'm told and accept being treated like I'm not an adult even though I am!! Er. I actually am looking forward to being home, and making my mommy happy. Plus, if it's like Fall Break, the road trip could make the whole thing worth it.

Today was our Physiology midterm. Out of the first thirty questions, I was only confident about nine. Then I went back and reasoned my way into educated guesses on another ten. Then I went back again and reasoned my way into half-educated guesses, based on at least one bit of vaguely-remembered information, for another eight questions. Then I said "Fuck it, the information's not going to appear in my head," and guessed pretty much randomly for the last three. I could tell that everybody around me was doing the same. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The sucky thing is, the material wasn't actually that hard... nothing we've learned so far is. It wasn't even that nitpicky like Anatomy and Histo and Micro tests can be. The questions were all perfectly reasonable, and gettable if I'd spent more than just this one week studying the stuff. But I hadn't, so I wouldn't be surprised at all if it turns out I got below a 60%. I can't even use the "it wasn't taught well" excuse because I was never in class. If I failed, I think they'll make me get a tutor, but I might get one even if I managed to pass. Not to help me understand stuff, but to force me to study more. Lord knows I hate meeting to "talk through" material if I haven't gone over it on my own beforehand.

So the midterm was somewhat depressing, but as soon as we were finishing word got out that the Cadaver Ball DVDs were ready!! That instantly made the whole day better. The video skits have been available on YouTube for a while, but we've had to wait for the live acts. A bunch of us gathered around a computer in the student lounge to watch the first-year band and the stomp/step dance. AMAZING. I just have to ask myself, how can one med school class contain such awesomeness?

And Fiona's ready to pick up, already. It's a good thing these people are fast. I was about to head to Chik-Fil-A for some food. I only just realized that I wouldn't have been able to get the fries (gave up potatoes for Lent). That would've been pretty sad...Chik-Fil-A without waffle fries is like a neuromuscular junction without a nicotinic ACh receptor.

I apologize. That won't happen again.

This is what I dedicated my life to for most of January: Cadaver Ball '24' Spoof

It was awesome. That's all there is to say. Okay, not really. There's a lot to say. This entry is going to be ridiculously long, and for that I apologize.

( The most rambly ramblings ever. )

Links to some of the videos just got posted!!! Alas, no 24 yet, but trust me, it's coming.

Medtos
Gunnerol
I forgot to even mention these, but they are awesome: True Art Dalley Facts 1 and True Art Dalley Facts 2

The title's a bit of a misnomer, because CB isn't actually until Saturday. I can't even say that it's over as far as I'm concerned. I'm just trading skit producer responsibilities for class officer responsibilities: buying, transporting, and setting up stuff. And I'll be helping with cleanup, too. It just feels like I've entered life post-CB because it's no longer the top concern of my life. Since finishing the skit, I have turned in the form declaring my Emphasis Program mentor (about two weeks late). I went with the Healthcare Research and Management area, specifically improving quality of care. The actual project hasn't been finalized, but it will involve nutrition in geriatric patient populations. I'm pretty excited about it.

I have also finalized my two electives for the semester (over two months since initial registration). As I mentioned before, I'm doing another Clinical Preceptorship. Actually, I'm doing two. Looking at our class schedule, compared to last semester, made me feel drunk with freedom. So I told the person helping set me up, "Hells yeah, you can find two doctors for me." So on Mondays I'll be with a pediatric gastroenterologist and on Thursdays I'll be with a pediatric cardiologist. Yes, I just gave up two of my free afternoons, so soon after getting them. But I think it'll be worth it.

Now, my second elective. Narrative Medicine got canceled because apparently, only two people signed up for it. (The other person was Walter, which makes him even cooler than I already thought he was.) So kind of at the last minute, I signed up for Medicine and Media because it sounded pretty interesting. It's basically about the intersection of the worlds of journalism and medicine, and understanding what patients are taking from the media, and knowing how to communicate medical ideas to the public... good stuff. Alas, there are only four of us in the class. I really want to feel awkward about that, but then I think back to Stat Mech, the class of three in which I was the only one who actually spoke English. That was waaay awkwarder.

Perhaps most importantly, since wrapping up work on '24' I've been able to start studying!! It looks like Micro is going to be the new Anatomy. I'm way behind, and it just keeps building on itself, and I'll have to put in some serious hours to master all the material. Physio will only be bad because the class is so poorly organized. We have an online quiz that has to be done by Monday!! This is Cadaver Ball weekend!! Every other class we're taking respects the Ball, but I guess Physio guy thinks he's too good for that. The funniest part is that performance on the quiz determines whether or not you're assigned a tutor. I think there are going to be a lot of people getting tutors. Myself included.

Apparently, the key to getting my ass to school on time is having some Cadaver Ball-related task that I have to get done before class starts. I had no problem with that this morning. Showing up on time for the sake of learning? Still a struggle. Also, I've got a Physio quiz in a week and a half. Not going to do so well on that.

Soon after writing my last entry, I fell back in love with my skit. Yesterday afternoon was my first time seeing it with the music, and dramatic music makes everything a thousand times better. Thomas had also cleaned up the transitions and added some flashy effects. It looks awesome. It didn't hurt that some other people saw it, and they all laughed. Not bent-double, tears running down guffawing, but chuckles. Chuckles!! That qualifies as not silence!! That's all the validation I needed.

Today, we got the last two bits of footage that we needed for the final split screen. Have I mentioned the multiple split screens? I love them. I'd marry them if I hadn't already proposed marriage to Thomas because he made them. ANYWAY, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people willing to stay after class and wear scrubs just because I asked them to. Or because they just wanted to get three seconds of screen time, but I prefer the first explanation. So this afternoon we added that stuff, and the opening blips from the show, and the title cards. And finally, finally, at about 4:30 today, we went from 'Initial Draft 46' to 'Final Draft.' A momentous occasion. I may have even cried a little bit. And just now, I got the official word that the skit will not be cut from the video. So. My job is done.

Now what do I do with myself??

You all will be pleased to know that I was on time for class on Friday. 1-for-4 is better than 0-for-4!! I was pleasantly surprised by the improvement of our physio lecturer. He's actually teaching information now, which I appreciate. On the other hand, I was very disappointed in Histo. As I've mentioned before, one of my biggest pet peeves is when lecturers use the phrase "We're going to go over that in a minute." If I hear that just one time, I get ready for a poorly-organized, rambling, waste of my time lecture. And that's what we got on Friday. I've given long talks before; I don't understand why some people find it so hard to organize their material in a way that stuff is explained when it's introduced.

I continue to have occasional panic attacks about my Cadaver Ball skit. The near-constant writing and rewriting and reading and rereading and planning and filming and watching and editing and re-watching have driven out every bit of the funny, at least for me. But I can take comfort in two things. First, whether it's funny or not, it's the most heavily-edited and looks really slick. I'm basically in love with our smash cuts and split screens and title cards and multiple-angle shots. Secondly, it's going to be the first skit shown. The audience won't have anything to compare it to! Yay!!! And another good thing is that I'm still enjoying the whole process, as time-consuming as it can be. One of the highlights was on Friday evening, recording the voiceovers. Thomas, Demetri and I each donned a set of headphones, and when you're wearing fancy giant headphones and facing a fancy recording studio mic setup... who wouldn't launch into "Do They Know It's Christmas?" What's that...most normal people wouldn't? Oh.

One
While grocery shopping the other day, I was in the juice aisle and saw a cranberry-lime juice on sale. I thought I'd give it a try!! I like the cran-apple, I like the cran-grape, I liked the various cran-concotions I made back in the college cafeteria. I figured I couldn't go wrong with a new cran-based juice.

Well, I went wrong. I went very, very wrong. That is some disgusting juice. I do not recommend it.

Two
I was advised to add a little explanation to my Cadaver Ball skit, because nobody who's not a first-year knows who Dr. Bauer is. Well, I wrote the skit as a giant bundle of inside jokes, with my class in mind as the main audience, so I don't really care that no one else will really get it. If the first-years are laughing, I'll be happy. But, I decided to throw the remaining 80% of the audience a bone, and at least mention Dr. Bauer's position. Problem is, I didn't really know her position. She was like a TA, but way more than that. But not quite a full lecturer, since she only gave the one. So I emailed her, and asked what she'd like to be called. Her reply, in full: "FACULTY MEMBER BYATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So. I'm going to say that. And I think I'm definitely past the point of feeling awkward just calling her by her first name.

Three
My stethoscope came yesterday, but since I wasn't home it had to be redelivered. I practically tackled the mailman this afternoon. It's burgundy, and has my name engraved on the chestpiece. It's beautiful!! I love it!! I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to name it!! Right now the name that has popped into my head is Albie, short for albatross. Which is not good. Suggestions? Something a little more positive???

I certainly hope that nobody was eavesdropping outside the editing room tonight. I imagine that such gems as "But will we still get to see scrotum?" and "We can cut some of her gyrations." would have made them think that we were working on something a lot more scandalous than a spoof of "24." There has been much learning about the editing software as we go, so today was far more productive than our first session. I went in with a goal, and we passed it. We've got basically everything after the intro in its rough form. It's a beautiful thing. I was somewhat kind about cutting stuff, but I'm going to have to be more vicious later. The ultimate goal is two minutes or less, and what we have now has us on pace for three or four.

Watching the late late late late late show at the moment. Conan O'Brien just made a joke about Tennessee, and I thought idly, "Hmm. I wonder if they'll show that in Tennessee." You see, I go for long stretches without thinking too hard about which state I live in. Kind of like the Saturdays during the NFL season, when I'd wonder why there'd be entire shows dedicated to the Titans, of all the teams. This is not a new thing. I've been known to give a blank stare when asked about the time I spent in Georgia. ("Georgia? Why would I be in Georgia?") I think it's that I identify more with cities than with states. It probably also doesn't help that I read my own address as not Nashville, Tennessee, but Nashville, Tekken. Devilish laugh...

I'm going to go to bed now, and see if I can't make it to class on time for the first time this week!!

Yesterday was pretty fun. The day started relatively early for a Saturday, with two shoots. Both went well, although we didn't have as many members of our IM football team show up as I would have liked. That meant I had to appear in the scene. Booo. However, the skit is currently on pace to be 14 minutes long, so when we have to get rid of entire scenes, I might do the selfless thing and cut my own screen time first.

Anyway, after shooting I headed over to Light Hall to study. I didn't do this out of any sense of motivation. It's the first weekend of the semester, after all. No, I spent the afternoon with my books because everybody I would've hung out with was at CB dance practice. So I looked over Micro, getting through a whopping one lecture in about four hours. Not because it was hard, but because of distractions like the interwebs. I wanted to quit after hour one, but like I said, I had nothing to do and nobody to do it with. I usually crave alone time, but for some reason I was desperate for human contact yesterday. Not desperate enough to start calling people and open myself up to rejection, but... almost.

Then, finally, all the dance practices ended. I was so happy to have friends again that I agreed to go out to a country music place, something I've resisted since moving here. My one previous experience with a honky-tonk place was pretty bad: horribly crowded, loud bad country music, and drunk tourists in their 60s stumbling into me left and right. The place we went last night, however, was excellent. There was plenty of room, there weren't any drunk stumbly people to get in the way, and the line-dancing was actually... dare I say... fun. We'll be going back again.

After leaving the country place, we played some "Friends" Scene It, and all got a sound asskicking from Erin. If only I could convince that kid to use her powers for general trivia... I do believe she'd be unstoppable.

I was going to study this afternoon, but I think I'm going to go see "Stomp the Yard" instead. And then tonight, there's some show on Fox that I think I might want to watch.

Thomas and I just spent three and a half hours in the editing room. The result: 32 seconds of video. I knew, going in, that it was going to be a pain, but I didn't quite imagine this. We're doing a lot of complicated stuff. There's also the problem of balancing fast-paced and action-packed with funny. We can't lose the humor in the action or the whole thing's pointless. That's something the producers of real "24" don't have to worry about. It'll either be awesome, or a total flop. Nothing in between.

Shooting begins at 9:30 tomorrow morning. Goodnight!

Filming today was excellent! My gunner, basket case, slacker and sniper were all excellent sports. We are almost almost almost done.

I alternate between being psyched about everything, and being really freaked out. Filming itself is a lot of fun. Planning the filming is very stressful. It also wasn't fun that I wrapped up filming at 5 and was so psyched to go home that I was halfway there before remembering that I planned to film Liz and Erin tonight. Getting halfway to Bellevue, then turning around and coming back, is the effort of a full hour when you do it at 5pm. That was a little de-motivating, but I was able to see some of the dance practices and I got psyched again. Not enough to volunteer to be in a dance, though. I'm doing all this stuff behind the scenes so I won't have to do anything in front of people. It also helps that I'm working with an excellent cinematographer, one T.Spain, who is extremely excited about the skit. The fact that he's so into it, despite having never seen an episode of "24," really helps keep my motivation high.

Those of you who aren't in school with me might still be unclear on just how big a deal Cadaver Ball is. Well, when we wrapped up the afternoon's shoot I saw that I had a voicemail waiting for me. It was from one of our Deans, giving me his personal cell phone number and asking me to call him back at my earliest convenience. Why?? Because nobody had asked him to be in a skit yet. A personal call from a Dean, lobbying for a part. Gotta love it.

Tomorrow: The gunner, the basket case, the random stressed-out first years. Then editing.
Friday: Dr. Dalley, Dr. Halle, the slacker, and the sniper. Then editing.
Saturday: The stunt driving scene. Oh, if only I were kidding.
Sunday: Editing.
Monday: Nothing. For once, I actually begrudge Dr. King his day.
Tuesday: Dr. Nanney, Dr. Pettepher. Hopefully, final edits.

I am choosing my electives for this semester based on whether the first class conflicts with my shooting schedule. Maybe I'm kidding, maybe I'm not.

Ways this semester feels different:
Learning Physiology seems a lot more like learning actual medicine.
We got to pick our own partners/tables for histo lab!!
Looking into microscopes is easier and more fun than looking into cadavers. (I might have found my calling in Pathology...)
Tomorrow is Tuesday and I don't have to wear scrubs!!!

Ways this semester feels the same:
Light Hall 202.
Lectures today by Pettepher and Nanney.
I've fallen asleep in every lecture we've had.


Filming this afternoon went really well. Dr. Bauer was awesome, though I'm sure she wondered more than once just what she'd gotten herself into. I was definitely way too nervous beforehand, but that's just how I roll. The skit might actually turn out well, if we can pull off the monumental editing job I'm envisioning. And in the post-filming happiness, I was struck by several inspired ideas for the two other things I'm working on.

Tomorrow's trivia day! Get excited!

In less than half an hour, people are going to start showing up and expecting me to direct them in scenes. On camera. For a skit that's supposed to be funny, but I've convinced myself will suck more than anything has ever sucked before. I think I'm going to get an ulcer.

Well, it's my last day at home. My flight back to Nashville leaves at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow. I don't really mind, since I need to get back into the habit of waking up early anyway. The full days start immediately on Monday. I'm excited about the upcoming semester, even though I've heard some horror stories about Physiology. I also have yet to pick my elective for the semester. I really want to do another clinical preceptorship, this time in a pediatric subspecialty. I think neuro would be really interesting, but after last semester I don't want my focus to get stuck above the neck. I know there's spine and peripheral nerve stuff, but still. Also, I'd probably get more out of the experience if I've already taken Neuro. So that leaves...pretty much everything else.

Cadaver Ball stuff progressed at a rapid pace once I actually began to work on it. I have my really important parts cast. We may begin filming as soon as Monday. It just depends on when the star gets back to me about her availability (*eyeroll* Celebrities...). Also, I need to get over my moments of "This isn't funny, let's just forget the whole thing." People who've read the script like it, but I'm worried about my ability to make it funny on video. I'm also working on part of another skit, and lyrics for a song parody. I think that by the time this is finished, my desire to be a staff writer on a comedy show will be quite satisfied.

I'm reading The Pursuit of Happyness, since I'll probably never get around to seeing the movie. I'm enjoying it so far. The style is kind of rambly, and it can be hard to follow Mr. Gardner's train of thought sometimes. Other than that, it's really good and I was sucked right in. Really sucked in. I cried at some of the accounts of his childhood. He grew up in some sucky circumstances, but worked really hard to overcome all that. Then he lost everything he had worked to earn, and the circumstances in which that happened made me so mad, I'm currently taking a break from the book. I'll probably finish it tomorrow.


Any more takers for the lyrics game?? It's good practice for trivia!!

Only in med school could you leave your laptop, iPod and wallet unattended without worry, but have your sesame chicken stolen from the fridge. THAT WAS MY DAMN SESAME CHICKEN. I sincerely hope that the person who stole it gets food poisoning.

In happier news, today was officially the last day of classes! We just had Biochem review from 8-9. It could have been from 8-8:30 (or even better, from 9:30-10) if the prof didn't love the sound of his own voice quite so much. He went on quite a bit about "grade management" and "knowledge management." He's not a big fan of people who do well on the first four exams, then bomb the final because they've built themselves a cushion and decided to study for the Anatomy final instead. Guess what my approach to finals is going to be.

After Biochem, I led a meeting of my Cadaver Ball committee. It went pretty well. I'm glad I decided to be in charge of the entire skit, as opposed to just writing it and letting it go. Next thing on my to-do list is to try and get all the parts cast before we leave.

Last good thing of the day: I led a tour. Quite fun, as usual. Tour guiding is the best part of stressy times. 23 hours of the day, I'm a lowly first year who smells gross and knows next to nothing. I'm the person nobody else wants to be. The one hour I'm talking to interviewees, I'm a first year!! In med school! I've made it! I'm the person they can't wait to be!

And then I get yanked back down to reality, go struggle my way through a practice practical and come back to find my sesame chicken stolen from the fridge. Food poisoning, I say!!