Top 10 of 2008

Chronological Order

1. Monical's Pizza
-best night of pizza ever

2. Nikhil's Bday / Peorians Dinner
-don't tell Nikhil, but this is only here because it was the last few exam free days before Spring Break. Future Peorians Dinner was fun too.

3. Spring Formal
-it was fun seeing everyone dressed up and looking hot instead of in the usual anatomy lab gear

4. Last day of M1
-speaks for itself.

5. Palm Springs
-a great week away with the folks after M1

6. Ecuador
-best month of the year.

7. Sea World, Zoo, Universal Studios Week
-the NorCal cousins came down for a visit, and we got to visit the tourist spots of San Diego and Hollywood.

8. Rockfordian Visit
-Whitney, Bruce, and Nick came to visit for a great weekend of karaoke, casinoing, and the greatest cornfield maze in history

9. Movie Nights Marathons
-All 3 LOTR movies, extended editions.

10. Christmas in San Diego
-visits to Balboa, Coronado, Julian, the beach, lots and lots of food, my 65 inch tv, video games, and my dog. Oh, and the folks.

The Ultimate Superhero Team: Med School Style

Sitting in class during our 7 hour lectures, or trying to study before our daunting exam days, it sometimes crosses my mind that anyone able to survive even a year or 2 of medical school must be a superhero. The things we have to do are insane, from memorizing the names and functions of 100s of drugs to asking 87 year old women their sexual preference, being a medical student requires strength, courage, and determination beyond that of any normal human. So, as I sit here still trying to snap out of the post exam / pre thanksgiving laziness that has overtaken me, I present to you the secret identities of our truly amazing classmates.

Nikhil: Captain America - honor, courage, and loyalty to his friends and country. That's Nikhil in a nutshell. And of course his responsible and hard working nature is an inspiration to us all.

Krunal: Mr. Fantastic - not only is he one of Earth's greatest geniouses, but he can seemingly do anything by reaching out and stretching for the stars. Except go through 4 hours of lecture without cracking up at least once.

Sachin: Iron Man - intelligent, charismatic, and every story he tells starts with "So there was this one girl..."

Andy: Wolverine - He can go pretty berserk, and when he's out of control, he's not someone you want to mess with. And if you've ever talked to him about slide 17, you'd know that his animal instincts are his main driving force.

Mark: The Hulk - they're both pretty tall and immensely strong?

Seetal: Storm - a natural leader and the ability to rain down lightning and thunder fits Seetal perfectly.

Leah: Rogue - if you've ever seen Leah throw a punch (Wii boxing) then you'd know she's got the super strength of Rogue. And she can fly.

Pankti: Invisible Woman - I admit, I couldn't really think of anyone for Pankti, so she just gets to be Jessica Alba.

Me: Spider-Man - We're both nerds.

So there you have it. Next time, I'll reveal which of our classmates make the best super villains. (and which of our professors is Dr. Doom).

An Ode to Glen Oak Towers

Here I sit in a familiar place
With nothing but homework in my face
So like before what I will do
Is write a poem for me and you
An ode I write to Glen Oak Tee
With its elevators that smell of pee
15 floors there are in all
My kitchen sink is really small
The neighbors here are good and bad
My 9th floor friends make me glad
Plus all our classmates everyday I see
And also the hotties from M3
It makes for fun each day we do
Mafia, cards, and the Office too
But though its good I still must say
You will see oddballs every single day
Glen Oak is full of unique folks
Like the guy who stands outside and smokes
And the dude I see with the thing on his face
Make me wish I lived in another place
It makes me miss San Diego more
Missing home, my dog, the beach and shore
I nearly burst into onomatopoeia
But then I remember Seetal and Leah
Glen Oak is not so bad on the ninth floor
With neighbors like these life's never a bore
They keep you up when life seems down
They force you to stay when you nearly skip town
And though we often wish we weren't in Peoria
Having friends like that is nearly euphoria
So cheers again for Glen Oak Towers
Instead of studying I have wasted 2 hours.

Remember that show "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues"? It starred David Carradine as Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine, kind old explorer and kung fu extraordinaire. The updated version of the show featured Caine's son Michael, who had spent his childhood studying Kung Fu with his father at a temple likely in China (after wikipedia'ing, it turns out the temple was in California), and was famous for actually NOT having a grasshopper at his feet. As the story goes, he gets separated from his father during an attack on their temple, and subsequently grows up to become a cop. After he reunites with his father, the two of them experience endless adventure, generally involving Caine artfully vanquishing evil doers with his graceful yet deadly martial art form, and Michael shooting them with his gun. Throughout their kung fu adventures, a running theme would be in the form of flashbacks, wherein Caine and sometimes Michael would find himself in some hopeless predicament, only to suddenly remember an important lesson learned during their Shaolin Temple days that allows him to triumph over their adversity.

All of this of course relates to the last 10 hours I have spent studying pharamcology. I sit here looking over these infinitely impossible mind map slides, wondering how the heck I am ever going to pass this exam when I flashback to my ancient days of training at Mt Carmel High School. I remember my teachers teaching me valuable lessons like "If you have too many people at a study group, it becomes a pizza party", and like Caine I am using those long days of forging my spiritual and mental strength studying APEC and AP Bio to defeat today's enemies. Kung Fu, like medical school itself, is all about remembering the valuable lessons of experience and applying the knowledge gained in the past to overcoming the challenges of today.

And after spending the last 30 minutes writing this post, the greatest lesson I learned is that I am just as inefficient studying now as I was ten years ago.

So on Friday night a bunch of us decided to spend the night at the safe and fun bowling alley. What resulted was one of the most comical moments in recent history.

After a rather decent game on my part which included one strike on the night, the final turn to bowl was on me. Hoping to end the night on a good note, I picked up what had up to that point been my lucky bowling ball (also used by Leah) and stepped up to the lane. Again, trying hard to focus on making my last attempt count, I looked down to check my grip on the ball, observe my slow careful steps, and watch my smooth and deliberate release. I was pleased as I watched the ball roll right down the middle of the lane. I was less pleased when I realized the pinsetter had not actually reset from the last round, and was now coming down right as my ball approached. The ball bounced right off the middle of the pinsetter (sure to have been a strike) and slowly came rolling back down the lane. Amidst the confusion, someone yelled "Go get the ball Mike!" (definitely Nikhil), and in my own stupidity I began to walk down the lane to grab the ball, only a few feet away. As soon as I stepped foot on the lane, I realized for the first time how slippery bowling lanes are, and quickly lost my footing. In something straight out of a slapstick comedy, I ended up sliding and slipping and possibly flipping in midair. Time surely slowed down to a halt at some point while I was off the ground, my legs up in the air and my face pointed towards the ground, where I thought in my mind "This is going to be reeeeaalllly bad" right when time sped up again and I landed on the hard floor. A lesser man might have simply laid down and died at that point, but of course my inner Michael Phelps came to life and I got back up, grabbed the bowling ball, somehow managed to get off the bowling lane, and returned to the enthused greetings of my compatriots (who were very busy laughing their heads off).

The second memorable moment of the weekend came during a game of charades as I tried to guess Andy's clues. Puts up 2 fingers, "Two words!", points at himself, "Andy!", points at his shorts, "ANDY DICK!!!". (Andy's shorts).

Coming up close behind for best answers of the game were "Tire Ribs" (Spare ribs) and "Beauty and the Beast" (X-men).

Passing the time while we waited 3 hours for our food at Granite City, we decided to get to know each other a little better by sharing our answers to a couple fun questions. Here's me in a nutshell.

Favorite cheese: Mozzarella, because it means pizza.

Favorite refreshing non alcoholic drink: Gatorade

What what you want to do if you weren't in med school: Chef. I love food and I love cooking, even though I'm terrible at it. If I had any skill at all at cooking, I would love to be a chef with my own restaurant.

Something nobody knows about you: I am a red belt in taekwondo. But I've forgotten most of it.

Favorite movie: This is a hard one for me, because I don't think I can really choose one movie that would be my favorite above all else. It would be a tossup probably including Star Wars, Batman Begins, and Beauty and the Beast. And maybe the Lizzie Mcguire Movie.

We probably had some other questions too, but by that point in the night we were way to hungry to be able to remember any of it.

A really cool show to watch on the Travel Channel is Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman. The first time I saw it was actually at the dentist's office on the ceiling, while getting my tooth whitened by ultraviolet rays. The dentist warned me that people with sensitive gums get an uncomfortable feeling similar to a "shock" during the procedure, and apparently I have really sensitive gums because my gums felt like someone was electrocuting my mouth for the entire hour it took. Most painful experience I have ever gone through, not counting medical school.

So I went for about a month not being able to watch the Travel Channel because it reminded me too much of sitting in that dentist's office with Zeus shoving lightning bolts between my teeth again. Now that those feelings are nice and suppressed in my subconscious right next to memories of studying for the neuro final, I've been able to watch Bizarre Foods again and I have to say its a lot of fun to watch. Most of the foods he eats really aren't all that bizarre, and actually look quite delicious. It's awesome seeing him explore the world, tasting all sorts of different foods and drinks. There even was an episode where he went to Ecuador and got a cleansing ritual where the shaman spat in his face while he stood there in his underwear.

But the whole point I've been trying to get to by talking about Zeus and bald guys in their underwear is how much the show makes me wish I could travel more. Growing up, the most traveling my family ever did was 5 hour drives to Las Vegas or Palm Springs. We did go to Mexico, and had a trip to the east coast and another one to Hawaii, but we never got to see any far away countries. Going to Ecuador was a great experience for many reasons, and it allowed me to see completely new people and places and discover what life is like in a different part of the world. The trip made me want even more to travel, especially to Europe and Asia and see for myself what the rest of the world is like. Which makes being in med school even worse; we get so little free time to ourselves I feel like I won't be able to travel again for quite a while. But I guess that's the price we med students pay. Oh well, my trip to Paris can always wait until my honeymoon with Jessica Alba

Taylor Swift - "Stay Beautiful"

It's funny how I had all summer to talk about my great adventures throughout California and all the way to Ecuador, but I wait till a couple days before our first exam to finally post on my blog again. Med school is lame. The only thing that keeps me fighting and makes me stay up to look over these 200 drugs instead of going to sleep is the thought that in 10 years, i will be rich and married to Jessica Alba, or someone equally hot and impressed by a guy who spends long hours in the hospital. It is for Jessica Alba that I torture myself with pathology.

Spring Break is coming scarily close towards its end, so time to look back and reflect over the last week or so.

Actually I'm just going to mention our Future Peorians Dinner, which went swimmingly well. It was a good bonding time, getting to hang out with the people we'll all be stuck with for another three more years and figuring out which were the ones to ask for eggs at odd times at night. Props to Katie for planning it, and to me for making an awesome Facebook event page. Our group is one of variety and excitement, and filled with people who I am sure will make for some interesting blog entries in the future. So here's to the Peoria Crew and our many future adventures.


Cheers also to Nikhil whose birthday was last week, and to Sharon for giving me a ride far and away from Urbana (and also for bringing me back on Sunday).

Growing up in San Diego, I used to get confused during movies when someone would step outside on a clear sunny day and say "What a beautiful day!". I would think, "What does he mean? Doesn't every day look like that?". Since moving to Illinois I have discovered that in fact every day is not beautiful, and some are downright ugly. But then I thought, perhaps the ugly days are beautiful in their own way. Maybe snowy days are snowy just so you can make a snow man with that special someone. Then I slipped on the ice and fell right on my knee, which still hurts right now. I then decided that when I am rich and married, Jessica Alba and I will settle in San Diego where every day we can walk outside and say "What a beautiful day!".

Ok, I feel bad about not updating my blog in over a month and a half, and I'm also tired of studying the female pelvis (never thought I'd say that), so Mike's Blog is back due to high demand.

So 2008 has begun and our journey called Medical School has started its 2nd semester. I'm also feeling a bit nostalgic, so here's a little trip down memory lane looking at the last couple februrarys in Mike's Exciting Life.

Feb 2007: A year ago, I was in the midst of endless travels and interviews all around the great country of America, including a memorable and infinitely significant visit to a small little town called Peoria. What stands out the most is of course the episode of 24 I watched in the hotel room which I almost missed b/c I didnt realize shows started an hour earlier in Illinois.

Feb 2006: Highlights include joining the Kiger lab with its view of the Pacific Ocean and eating at a sushi buffet in La Jolla.

Feb 2005: One of the busiest times of my life (obviously not counting the last few months) which consisted of endless hours in the Hampton lab, studying for that one MCAT exam, and sitting next to the hot girl in psych class.

Feb 2004: Relatively good times, until my grades sucked ass and I almost decided against going to med school.

Feb 2003: Chem 6BL sucked. A lot.

Feb 2002: Gotta jog the old memory banks quite a bit for this one. I seem to remember a certain valentine's day that involved a trip to the beach that drastically changed the course of my high school senior year. It involved the company of some very good friends, most of whom I haven't seen in a long time. A long, long time. Ok, feeling painfully nostalgic now, which means its time to study the female reproductive system again.

Monical's has awesome pizza.