28/365: Here Comes the Sun

After having a continental breakfast in the hotel, going shopping, some exploring, and some tip top lunch, parents headed home mid afternoon. It was a good day, and so nice to see the sun for the first time in forever. Wayyyyy too many blizzards this winter. I never thought I would get frustrated at the sight of snow, but now at the slightest flurry, people get all riled up. But today, the sun is out. Awesome.

27/365: Flaming Turtle

Parents came up to visit today after a long drought from Cville awesomeness. Other than having a good time visiting, gorging oneself on much food always comes along as a bonus package of having parents in town (because pushing past people in a crowded mall while shopping can really work up an appetite?). The food decision dilemma lasted for much of the afternoon, before an amazing breakthrough came about (granted, we had already been fueled with cheeseburgers, onion rings, and fries for lunch). The plan was to to to hibachi Japanese for dinner, followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. Fabulous idea. So, after gorging in an amazing teriyaki, sesame-seeded, "yamyam" sauce experience, we headed for the downtown while in the early stages of food coma. Sitting on the bench waiting to be seated while watching all of the other happy people enjoying their fondue was quite painful, but eventually the moment came. We decided on one order of chocolate peanut butter, and one order of flaming turtle. Ohhhh yeah.

26/365: Burn Out

After a pretty exhausting time at the concert, we set out on our voyage back to Crozet. After stopping at many a sketchy, uninhabited, dueling-banjos exits for gas (and getting freaked out), we stopped for caffeine and fuel at a slightly more inhabited location. We reached our destination at around 01:30 as I began to contemplate whether I was awake enough to trek from Crozet to Cville. Little did I know, that when I found out that RM was still awake and up for chatting, I got a second wind. I never get to see her nearly as much as would be awesome. So after eating some cheeseballs, brownies, and animal crackers, me, RM and Barnswallow had a wee morning hours chat session that lasted for a good 2+ hours. One of those very therapeutic life talks. Excellent. During this talk, we realized that the picture to the right is life. Right Now. For me. And my patience with waiting on future plans to unfold- that's pretty close to my finger I might add.

25/365: Black Hawk & Black Stetson

Woke up at 0630 for work feeling blah, before I remembered that at least the second half of the day would be awesome. Today's lineup: work in the ER from 7am to 3pm, drive to Crozet, hitch a ride with Barnswallow to Roanoke, have awesome dinner, see Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw in concert. Today is actually a revelation. I despised country music before it was forced on me in the past few years by friends, and now I embrace it as something fun and interesting (so this if my first country concert, though I've been to hundreds of other concerts).
I thought work would be pretty mundane today......I"m usually right about this but not today. Turns out, a helicopter crashed, and we were lined up to get some victims airlifted in, by a black hawk nonetheless. Everyone got all hardcore and banded together and we got the job done (while gawking at the awesome blackhawk). Didn't get to eat lunch, but hey, I felt like I did some good deeds by the time I left. The drive to Roanoke was quick due to some long overdue conversation with the Barnswallow. Hit heavy traffic but had an awesome dinner. How do I feel about my first country concert? It was awesome.

24/364: The Ice Tree

I was walking to class today, almost late due to lovely morning traffic on 29N. I passed this tree near the East Range and all of the branches were encased in this thick shell of ice making the whole tree look clear with a brown filling- one of the coolest things I've ever seen. As I approached the tree, I decided I had to get a picture of it (since it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen), but I looked at my watch, and like a typical I'm-too-busy-for-everything person, I walked by without taking a picture. During my 4 classes, all I thought about was that tree, and how I hoped it would still look the same when I passed back by after class. After much anticipation.....it didn't. Almost all of the ice had melted and I didn't even stop to take a picture of it in it's prime. Life lesson learned today.

23/365: Half Pipe

Started off the morning with a drought- no tip-top biscuits and gravy after shift for the second week in a row. Usually, the biscuits and gravy on top of being tired from shifts makes for an awesome food-coma nap before class at noon on Wednesdays. Today, nap happened anyway, but food-coma was definitely lacking. The awesomeness of the nap-accomplished day was brought to a halt during 2 hours of physics lab (which always brings everything down). THEN, awesomeness ensued once more for dinner at Outback (the bread looked especially picturesque today). Food coma: accomplished (just later in the day than expected). Watched the US dominate the half pipe in the olympics and then fell asleep early. Awesome day.

22/365: Bigeminy and Figure Skating

Another chocked full day of classes. Typical. Another shift at squad. Typical. Well....maybe not so much. I saw Vtach with a pulse awake and talking --> amiodarone --> conversion to bigeminy. For the non-cardiac nerds, this is only one of the coolest things you can see and do to fix someone, so it made my night to see it firsthand. As if that wasn't exciting enough (and it was), eating a coffee mug full of cookies and cream ice cream while banding together with other girls to torture guys by watching men's figure skating definitely made the night.

21/365: Physucks

Physics seems to be a popular theme in talking about my day to day activities. Today was normal. Go to class. Go to the library. Go to medic class and learn about more cardiology (woohoo!!). Then...an atypical twist! After medic class I went BACK to the library with Shumar and Sprinkle. Me studying "intro physics" while watching Shumar fill up 8 white boards on the wall of our cubicle with advanced physics like it was the easiest thing ever was quite disheartening. I didn't let it get to me much though, I just continued eating the pizza we ordered for our snack and plowing away. Stopped by squad at 1am for some much needed delicious coffee, only to finish out the night sitting at home at the kitchen table studying some more. Lonnnnnng. Day.

20/365: Hazelnut-Chocolate-Pineapple

Got done this morning at Western well-rested after a good night's sleep in an awesomely comfy bed. Managed to plow through an afternoon of physics after coming home to Berk. As soon as I was about to delve into electric flux, I realized that going to the grocery store and getting stuff for an awesome dinner was definitely more important. So a few hours later, I found myself lounging on the couch, watching Olympic pairs figure skating, eating some chicken parm, salad, biscuits, and chocolate covered pretzels, strawberries, and pineapple with S.pants, JC, and Meatsauce. Really don't think it gets much better than that. Learned something new today: Meatsauce could open up her own candy shop at any moment and dominate the competition. After an intense food-coma and Olympic watching marathon, time to retreat to the loft to finish a paper (and keep watching the Olympics of course).

19/365: Western

Slept in, watched ski jumping on the olympics, and studied some physics before our trek to Crozet for rescue staffing. It's proved to be just as awesome as any other year, complete with TV watching marathon, Crozet pizza awesomeness, call running, hilarity, and Dairy Queen blizzards, and the night isn't even over yet. I know it may sound like any mundane night, but it's been a great one, though pretty tiring. Nice to be staffing with a smaller number of people in a new place (with a MUCH more awesome pantry i might add). And you can't really beat laughs, speed skating and ice luge watching, snickers blizzards, comfy couches, and the occasional call.

18/365: All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarden

Traffic class today. No, not because I wrecked my car or ran a red light, we went to learn how to play smart with firetrucks and ambulances on the interstate. What did I learn? Other than a lot of things, I learned that all I need to know, I learned in Kindergarden (apparently this applies to playing safe in traffic as well as it does to playing in the sandbox). A few highlights: Share everything, play fair, don't hit people, clean up your own mess, and when you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Seems simple enough, but I guess life has taught us that getting older makes us forget these things. After class and a 4 hour stint at work in a hella busy ER, I finished out the night with Shumar and Miney at McGradys contemplating life and the plausibility of conquering 4 pitchers between 3 people. Things discovered: conquering is possible, bonnaroo lineup looks AMAZING, and the olympic opening ceremony was sweet.

17/365: Negative end to the Switch

Full day of classes today. Yikes. That hasn't happened in a while. Amidst studying opera, listening to P.Q.H. talk about "AHA" (r hat, again), studying asian musicals and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, physics lab is even more of a downer. Black wire, red wire, alligator clip, lightbulb, resistor, battery....20 other wires....huh? Ran out of lab and booked it to medic class, but, surprise! It's cancelled. That means I get to go to squad earlier than expected to staff the heavy squad. Yay. Checked the truck, checked and stashed my gear. Studied and chatted with Meatsauce for a while, and got in a rousing game of (careful) indoor soccer passing with Meatsauce and MM before bed. Goal = don't break anything. Mission accomplished.

16/365: NCIS overload

Today. Nothing out of the ordinary. No class again, so I decided to set up shop at the kitchen table to, as we say, DO WORK. After getting a surprising amount done, including an entire music composition which I did in place of physics (wise choice....for now), decided to take it easy with CLM to watch an awesomely long marathon of NCIS. No better stress medicine than that. I'll probably end up regretting physics procrastination, but it was an awesome day.

15/365: Snow Wars

Decided to check out some classes today even though half were cancelled. Maybe not the best decision ever to satisfy my relaxation craving, but at least I learned some quality essential-to-life information about the effect of opera on colonialism (uhh, yeah). Although it feels like I had just packed up my life from the squad mat that I resided on this past weekend, I trekked back to squad for weekly shift. As usual, there was some fun peppered in with truck checks, call running, and the occasional homework doing. Lesson of the day: Throwing a snowball through the door at top speed into homework territory will land you, well, in the snow yourself. Good life tip.

14/365: School?....I think not.

Too snowy to make it to class today, oh well it was only one class anyways. Thought I would get a lot of work done today after a picture perfect cup of coffee. I DID end up being super productive, but in building a super humongous snow man with CLM and having NCIS marathon, not physics. So maybe I didn't become a master of electric field knowledge today, but I did have many a snowy-awesome adventure and some much needed couch and tv relaxation.

13/365: Cabin Fever

Day 3 at rescue snow-athon. Loopiness is setting in. People were tired of being cooped up and decided it was a great day to go to the hospital. We braved many an adventure including a fallen-tree-climbing, ice-sliding (and falling) experience trying to hold it together for another day. Breakfast was a no-go. We cooked lunch but eating it was a no-go. Took advantage of a 20 minute afternoon down time by crashing on the mat for a much coveted nap, then back to the grind. Decided at the end of day shift to pack up camp and head for home. Dug out the explorer and went home hungry and tired to find the best surprise ever. Somehow the snow overshadowed the fact that it was the super bowl, and I walked through the door of Berk to find that Sprinkle had a spread of food complete with wings, taquitos, and brats waiting for consumption. What an awesome way to finish the night.

12/365: Belgian Waffles and Snowy Adventures

Woke up on my mat-bed this morning to find a full (but necessarily full) house at squad. The snow was still coming down and after some icing last night, the roads were the worse for wear, but the smell of Belgian waffles cooking in the kitchen made all this seem negligible. After spending last night on the heavy squad with no activity other than digging out the vehicles of poor souls that got snow-mountained due to plows, I moved to a truck today to do some patient care. It was definitely a new experience to have to be preceded on calls by some sort of all-terrain vehicle to make sure the road was accessible and take care of any fallen trees or miscellaneous other hazards. We got to play around in the snow with some neighborhood kids on a call, waiting for the duty officer to chainsaw some trees blocking the road, not to mention they were building a 10 foot snowman that we just couldn't stay away from. By nightfall, everyone was getting a little worse for wear, but we made it a fun night nonetheless. Looks like one more day of staffing to go

11/365: Foreboding Blizzard....again?!?!

Well, apparently Cville lies within the arctic circle. The big hype for this weekend is 35+ inches of snow (what?!?!?!). Had to work in the ER this morning before this whole shindig was supposed to start. Got the luckiest break ever when they accidentally wrongly scheduled me for only 4 hours when I was really supposed to be there for 8....I'll definitely take it to get the heck out of there before the thing started. Hitched a ride back to squad on an ambo and set up base camp for what was sure to be days on end. Turned out the classroom was already underway of being a slumber party with gym mats and sleeping bags for beds. The day was a little disappointing, with only around 5 inches by nightfall instead of 10, yet the snow continued to fall. Either way, the night proved to be a fun one, complete with intense indoor 4-square and card games often escalating to competitive-semi-violence. Definitely a "slumber party" to be remembered. And just the beginning of a long squad stint.......

10/365: Twist on MGMT- "Shock me like an electric field"?

Ohhhh physics. How we all hate you so much. The exception is the occasional laugh at things such as thinking P.Q.H. is saying "AHA!" every few seconds, only to realize that he's really saying "R hat".....as in the letter r, with a carrot symbol on top. Oh boy. Electric fields, right hand rule, resistance.......what's for lunch again? So what have me and my squad physics buddies learned so far in physics? If you play sporcle and have sporcle wars too loudly, everyone in a 300 person lecture will turn around and look at you at some point. Distraction win.

9/365: Gone Wrenching

I've decided to take it easy for awhile, getting some schoolwork done and relaxing for once. Back to the schedule of wake up, go to class, go to medic class or run squad, sleep, and repeat. Definitely enjoying not spending every spare minute that I have stuck in the health sciences library studying for the MCAT. Burying myself in practice problems while looking around and seeing that med students have to work this hard all the time. Not that relaxing of a glimpse into a probable future, but I guess it falls back on that corny phrase that says something like you have to work hard for what you want (but in a more catchy tone). At least life is semi back to normal. For a few days, I can sit down and do nothing while watching S.pants and Shumar "go wrenching" (aka: play video games) again without feeling like I should be doing something more productive. Loving this return to normal, but April will come faster than I expect I am sure.....

8/365: Cville-Bound

After braving the snow the night before to find a satisfying pizza dinner, we all turned into bed early and decided this morning to set out to Charlottesville in hopes that the roads were decent enough. The interstate had one lane plowed, totally do-able, so our small convoy set out for home and arrived back in Cville exasperated but in one piece. I've decided that the best way to view this whole situation is that, hey, at least I have more study time now right? (even though I'll be taking this test 4 MONTHS later than I was supposed to). However, for now, I'm vowing to take some time off from intensive MCAT studying. Bad idea? Most likely. Necessary? Absolutely. Life needs to return to it's usually-crazy-yet-normal-for-me baseline.

7/365: Prometric FAIL!!

Hearing the alarm go off, before opening my eyes it seemed like a typical morning.....this may have been the most wrong I've ever been. After I remember that I'm in a hotel room, AND that there could be a blizzard outside AND that my mcat is [supposed to be] today, I walk to the window to see that this is far beyond confirmed. My explorer looks peaceful in it's natural snow-loving habitat, but if nerves weren't enough today, the snow definitely made up for it. After consulting with my co-tester Shuki, Meatsauce and I decided to set off for the testing center 4 hours early in hopes of getting back to Cville early. After the explorer braved the 7 unplowed inches to the Prometric center.....we see this sign on the door. Shame that AAMC said that the MCAT would NEVER be cancelled. So much for guarantees. And so much for them caring at all. MCAT rescheduled until April. Worst news ever. We're snowed in for another night. Again. And MCAT-less.

6/365: Foreboding Blizzard?

Day before the MCAT, I decided after so much hype and forewarning of a huge snow to go ahead and get a hotel room the night before. Meatsauce decided to be my faithful companion and we set out on the trek to Glen Allen with clear skies. After a delicious dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, we went on to the hotel for fresh baked cookies and hazelnut coffee. After resisting the temptation to go to bed, I tried to get in some last minute practice questions. Around midnight, before decided to go to bed, I looked out the window to see snow......oh joy.

5/365: How Wide is your PR Interval?

We started learning cardiology in medic class......call me a nerd (as you should), but I've been waiting to learn about this for years- just consult my abnormal EKG collection for proof. I find it slightly hilarious that not only had I been looking forward to this class for so long, but this four hour session served as my much anticipated break from MCAT studying. I guess it never ends, especially these days. What ever happened to the days of watching tv and doing nothing? I haven't seen those in a while, but I guess it's all worth it. You, though, probably have one burning question: was starting to learn cardiology as exciting as I thought it would be? Answer: Ohhh yeahhh.

4/365: Grateful-est

After having a stressful night at squad facing the reality of impending snow on my mcat and getting a hotel, etc, woke up this morning to leave to find a package on my computer. One of my awesome preceptees decided to give me a present for helping him realize that we do squad for the patients, not for med school applications or anything else. The surprise included a card, a squirrel pouch, and a chipotle gift card (which he so eloquently supported with the fact that, "no normal person has an unused chipotle gift card laying around"). Best. Day Brightener. Ever. Especially knowing that we do meaningfully get through to people on occasion....