Did you know that Selection Sunday is Sunday? I didn't realize that until today! March Madness has really snuck up on me this year. I can count on one hand the games I watched in their entirety this season. And I didn't go to any games. Boo. It seems like I didn't miss a whole lot, as far as the SEC is concerned. This season wasn't too kind to the conference. Nor to Vandy in particular, but that was expected with a team of freshmen.

I finished up my clinic week today. Overall, my favorites were spine clinic with a neurosurgeon, and thoracic surgery. There was interesting stuff in all the clinics I did, but those were the two where I was allowed to see patients on my own. Nevermind that I was sent to do neuro exams without even a reflex hammer (holy unpreparedness, Batman!). I just appreciate being given the chance. Neurosurgery clinic was mostly herniated discs and spinal stenosis. Thoracic clinic included several post-op visits for lung cancer, but I also saw a lung transplant evaluation, and a patient with an overactive parathyroid gland that just happened to be behind his heart.

I also did urology clinic, as a little preview of what I'll be doing for the next couple of weeks. It was actually urologic cancer clinic, so I saw a lot of prostate, renal, and bladder cancer.

Because I got all my clinics out of the way, I'm free to do whatever I want tomorrow. Three day weekend!! My plan is to sleep relatively late, and then coffeeshop the day away. But no more studying tonight, because...

Here's a sign that I may be studying too hard: I dreamt that I was in some sort of learning session with my old Physical Diagnosis group. Our tutor, Dr. G., said that he wanted to quiz us on some scans. So he pulled up all these old images (Xrays, CT scans) of me, from back when I broke my toe (at age 9). For some reason, I'd gotten multiple full body scans for a broken toe. However, in a nod to logic and sense, the images were appropriately grainy for being fifteen years old and sent by fax from an outside hospital. So Dr. G. starts going over all these images with us, asking us to describe the abnormalities. I was dumbfounded, but my classmates were yelling out all these things that were wrong with me on the inside. I got more and more confused, because I felt fine. After this went on for a while, Dr. G. asked "So what should we do?" and I said, "Fix the broken toe!" Which was the right answer, because all those other abnormalities weren't actual problems, and "We treat patients, not imaging." (Basically a direct quote from my main study resource.) Then Dr. G. and I exploding-fist-bumped. Then I woke up.

I didn't sleep very well last night. I dreamt that if I tripped over anything and fell down, I'd die. If it's possible to be nervous while sleeping, I was.

It's August in Nashville, and I'm wearing a fleece pullover. Why? Because it's freezing in the office where I work. I don't get it; the medical center is supposed to be making efforts to cut down on energy usage. They can turn off every other light in the hallways, but we can't put the thermostats above the "Anchorage" setting?? (My freezing too cold office is on the hall shown in that picture, by the way.)

(Bonus points to anybody who knows the origin of the phrase "freezing too cold." Think TV.)

Second year continues to go well. Last year felt like med school, this year feels like learning medicine, and there's a huge difference. It's all thanks to that wonderful class called Path. Memorizing all the branches of the abdominal aorta was part of the necessary foundation, but now we get to see what happens when stuff goes wrong. Even better, we're starting to learn how to figure out what to do when stuff goes wrong. I realize that on Day 6 of second year, to say we're scratching the surface would probably be the understatement of the century, but it's cool all the same. Today, after organ recital (where we see, touch, and discuss pathologic specimens), one of my classmates said, "That was my favorite hour of med school so far." For me, the favorite hour title probably goes to the day I fell in love with Peds GI, but I understand the sentiment.

I just had the worst dream EVER. I may never sleep again.

( Under a cut for the faint of heart. )

I woke up this morning, after having a really weird, but really vivid dream. I dreamt I moved to a new place, and started a new school...in the third grade. It was crazy. CUHRAZY. I was trying very hard to convince these people that I am indeed 21 and about to graduate from college, and did not need to start over at third grade. They just kept telling me to practice my cursive. Quite frustrating. I think it represents my anxiety about going to a new school in the fall. And also the recent discussion I had with my roommates about my awful handwriting.

So pretty much right after I woke up, I had Human Phys, and I was prepared for lecture this time. Starnes impressed the hell out of me by having memorized all our names (over a hundred). She pronounced my name with a short 'e' instead of long, but still. Good job, Starnes. I'm always impressed by a good ability to memorize stuff. I can do it, but it takes a lot of effort and I don't often feel like it.

Then I sat at a table for half an hour, attempting to sell luminaries for Relay for Life. I did it for another hour after Global Health (which was a mostly freestyle discussion class). And I'm planning to do another 5 or so hours by the end of the week. Since being a PTA, I've found it's a good idea to get as much as possible done before Induction. After that, there's a whole new group of people to worry about. Besides, the number of assignments and other class-related things increases exponentially by then, and that's no fun.

Also not fun was the weather today. It poured ALL DAY. There were little rivers and waterfalls everywhere.

And finally, I picked up a degree application today. Whoa. That's all I have to say about that.

Last night, I had a dream about graduation. It was quite weird. I was graduating, but I was just watching all the activities, not actually taking part. And weird activities they were. There was a party of some sort on the quad. When it ended, everybody took off in a sprint and ran around some building before diving into a lake. (I'm guessing those things come from various end-of-high school traditions that I know about in Baton Rouge.) It wasn't on any campus I recognized, but then towards the end I found out I was at my dad's alma mater. Oh, and Will Smith and Uncle Phil were there. Yes, from the Fresh Prince. So yeah, it was a pretty interesting graduation.

Last night I dreamt that I was appointed Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. So random, but it felt so real. In my dream, it was the night before the term began and there was this dinner being held for the Justices. Ruth Bader Ginsberg was sitting next to me, so we talked a bit. At one point I asked her, "Hey, where's Antonin?" and she was like, "Scalia's always late." Then the dinner began, and each Justice had someone giving a short speech to introduce them, and then gave a speech themselves. Will Ferrell introduced Bader Ginsberg. As these speeches were going on, it slowly dawned on me that I was in no way qualified to be a lawyer, let alone Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Nobody else seemed to realize this, and my mom's best friend, Mrs. Jackson, stood up to introduce me. I grabbed a passing waiter and whispered desperately, "Get me a law book!!" And then it gets fuzzy from there..oh wait, I got the law book just as I had to start talking. So I held it up and said something about how we'd all started at the same place, as students of the law, and how we should always...stay? Students of the law? Something like that. And then I sat through the rest of the dinner with the law book on my lap, reading it.

To open this entry on a random note, I once stayed in a hotel in Colorado Springs that looked almost EXACTLY like the "Weapon of Choice" video. I think it was the Radisson. There was a lot of Christopher Walkenesque dancing on that trip.

Last night, I dreamt that some of my teeth had fallen out without my noticing. The dream actually ended when I woke up coughing, in an effort not to choke on a newly fallen-out tooth. In this dream, I also had a brand new puppy that I was trying to housetrain, with my husband Jim Carrey. We may not have actually been married, but we had the same bedroom. In my little idealistic world, that means marriage. So I guess on some deep dark level, I wish I was LaKedra Carrey. Pretty freakin' scary.

The night before last, I dreamt that Bigfoot was in our backyard. I wanted to call animal control. "It's an animal, right??!?!" was my reasoning. Mom wanted me to take a picture so we could sell it to a tabloid. Like a fool, I went to get my camera, and took a picture. I then attempted to classify Bigfoot, until I realized that I'm no longer in anthro.

Either my dreams are too realistic, or I'm too dream-gullible. I can tell myself that Anthro's over, but find nothing suspicious about the Bigfoot attempting to break into the den. And then have to convince myself that none of it was real once I wake up.

In other news, having work Monday-Wednesday is great. It's like I get two extra Saturdays, and then real Saturday as a bonus.

One and two-thirds innings before Mark Prior leaves the game hurt. The man must be made of freaking tissue paper. I can't believe this. This freaking sucks. The Cubbies need to win every game because the damn Cardinals are NOT cooperating. We need Prior! Although I did hear on ESPN that Randy Johnson could possibly end up a Cub. I weep (with joy!) just at the possibility. Seriously, I just teared up as I typed it.

Root, root, root for the Cubbies....

Whoo, dark yellow w/ red stage.

Last night I dreamt that Lake Chad was in Australia. It was summertime, and I was tutoring small children, as I am wont to do. And there was a kid named Chad, and I was all, there's a country and a lake called Chad. So I point out the country, but the lake is gone. Gone! They moved it. To Australia. Wild and crazy stuff, I know.

Today's going to be a really long day.

Had a weird dream last night that I'd rather not go into detail about. It involved a sand mandala done on a blanket(??), recreated in watercolor, and dispersed into a sink. I woke up very unhappy and haven't been able to shake the feeling all day. BUT, I'm going to dinner with Mattie and Katie, so maybe that will redeem the day.

I like an escalator because an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You will never see an "Escalator Temporarily Out of Order" sign. You will only see an "Escalator Temporarliy Stairs" sign. Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there. -Mitch Hedberg

I had a strange dream last night. I was at the mall, and all the escalators were broken. So I'm running up and down all these flights of stairs, when suddenly I tripped over this person who is selling jewelry on one of the escalators. But it isn't just any person, it's Katie G. from Glasgow Middle. I went to school with her for one year, haven't seen her since, and suddenly there she is, plain as day, in my dream. Weird. We talked for a while, and then I bought a pendant from her. Then I had to go run up more escalators. That's all I can remember. And when I woke up this morning, I found that I was clutching...a pendant.

Yeah, I made that last thing up.

So I slept late and was a blob for the rest of the day. I had to stick post-it notes everywhere to remind myself that "24" comes on at 8 here, not 9. It's sad, this season I don't get an episode that corresponds to the actual time where I am. The 8-9 episode aired while I was still in Atlanta, and I'm here at home for the 9-10 episode. Sigh. I know I'm a dork.

Tonight's episode: OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS!!!!!

I did get one thing done today ...planned out a schedule for each day, estimating how much time I'll need to spend on homework/studying for each class. If things go as planned, I may have some free time!