It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .
A New Beginning
Time for Srs Business?
It’s getting hot in here (so hot!), so take off all your clothes
I am getting so hot, I wanna take my clothes off —
Hah?! In my defense, it really is hot here! Hot and humid. Where it’s common to break out in sweat while taking a mere stroll. At night. Even midnight. I’ve also been trying to cut down on the cost of electricity by only using my fans . . .
Anyway, I suppose it’s time for a blog post, neh? It’s been, what, six months? (Really, guys. I’m pretty sure I’m just talking to myself on this blog.) Much has happened this past year.
Spring semester was much more difficult than expected. I dunno what happened, but I realized again that I’m not exactly sure how to study. At all. I don’t understand this concept. “Studying.” What does that mean? Hopefully, now that I’ve got an apartment all to myself. I’ll buckle down and get to business when I need to. Of course, I was pretty much a hermit last semester, anyway . . . but my friends all lived in buildings next to me, so it was easier to be fine with dropping by for a visit, only to stay longer than needed. And maybe now that most of the manga that I read has been taken down due to copyright/license issues, I won’t have to worry about that distraction. I’m more inclined to reading manga than watching anime, so unless I find a good anime, I should be relatively safe in that area. I’m quite prone to marathon-ing manga and anime whenever I find a new one to read/watch, even though I know I should be doing more productive things and have class in the morning.
This blog post is epic fail.
And I’ll Survive, I Will Survive!
Saturday, 2 January 2010
8:41 PM
Even though my holiday break is only three weeks, a bit shorter than some colleges or universities, I’m about ready to begin classes once more. I suppose my college has figured out the optimum break length to where students are able to feel like they’ve had a good amount of holiday relaxation, but haven’t been out of school for so long that they’ve forgotten how to aptly use their time once classes start again.
For me, college life hasn’t been too difficult to adapt to. I’ve always been rather independent, so I wasn’t very homesick when I moved out. However, the work for classes is a different matter. I didn’t study as much as I should have during my first semester of college. Actually, I’ve never had to really study before. All I really did throughout my years of junior and high school years was cram (because really, nobody should have to really study for school prior to junior high). By the time I did start studying hardcore, it was for my finals, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Am I really supposed to just stare at this material for four or so hours? So this next semester, I’ll still be working on adapting to college coursework. Real college coursework because community college doesn’t exactly count.
I also had some difficulty cutting myself off from the fun and games when I knew I had to get down to business and study. I got pretty addicted to shooting pool for a month or two, and I still really enjoy playing it. However, I tend to rotate between my addictions. Pool and anime/manga are the main ones I had to deal with the first semester. At one point of one of my anime/manga addiction phases, I watched and finished Fruits Basket within a day, and went through one hundred and sixty-something chapters of a manga (basically until I finished all the chapters currently out for that manga) in two or three days. I got little sleep those nights; I don’t know how I was able to function in classes during those periods, or if I was able to function at all. At my most addicted phase for pool, I skipped one class (after already playing for pretty much the whole afternoon) and made a bet with a friend (which I won, mwuha!). At least I haven’t gotten addicted to coffee or energy drinks to power my way through the semester. At one point, I lost my keys. Actually, I just forgot them in my chemistry lecture room, and didn’t realize that the keys my professor was holding up at the end of class were mine. And by the time I noticed, it was too late. I suppose, luckily enough, this happened on a Friday. Locked out of both my apartment and my room, I wouldn’t have been able to properly attend classes relying solely on what I had with me at the time. Or, perhaps this was an unlucky thing, since I would’ve been able to go to the lost and found on campus immediately to retrieve my keys. Except for the fact that I didn’t know my professor had left my keys there until the Monday after I lost them.
A friend (or two) of mine was kind enough to let me spend the night at their apartment for the duration of my homelessness. True, I could’ve just spent the nights in my own apartment, out in the living room, but that would’ve been more awkward for me. It’s not that I don’t like my roommates; to tell you the truth, I think they’re pretty cool, and I’m glad that I ended up having them as roomies. However, I’m just not as close to them as they are with each other. I feel rather out of place when spending time with them (and their other friends). I always was more comfortable being friends with guys than girls.
In any case, I’ve better prepared myself should such a thing happen again. (Yes, I know I fail epically for losing my keys in the first place, but I’m trying to be optimistic here!)
Even though my holiday break is only three weeks, a bit shorter than some colleges or universities, I’m about ready to begin classes once more. I suppose my college has figured out the optimum break length to where students are able to feel like they’ve had a good amount of holiday relaxation, but haven’t been out of school for so long that they’ve forgotten how to aptly use their time once classes start again.
For me, college life hasn’t been too difficult to adapt to. I’ve always been rather independent, so I wasn’t very homesick when I moved out. However, the work for classes is a different matter. I didn’t study as much as I should have during my first semester of college. Actually, I’ve never had to really study before. All I really did throughout my years of junior and high school years was cram (because really, nobody should have to really study for school prior to junior high). By the time I did start studying hardcore, it was for my finals, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Am I really supposed to just stare at this material for four or so hours? So this next semester, I’ll still be working on adapting to college coursework. Real college coursework because community college doesn’t exactly count.
I also had some difficulty cutting myself off from the fun and games when I knew I had to get down to business and study. I got pretty addicted to shooting pool for a month or two, and I still really enjoy playing it. However, I tend to rotate between my addictions. Pool and anime/manga are the main ones I had to deal with the first semester. At one point of one of my anime/manga addiction phases, I watched and finished Fruits Basket within a day, and went through one hundred and sixty-something chapters of a manga (basically until I finished all the chapters currently out for that manga) in two or three days. I got little sleep those nights; I don’t know how I was able to function in classes during those periods, or if I was able to function at all. At my most addicted phase for pool, I skipped one class (after already playing for pretty much the whole afternoon) and made a bet with a friend (which I won, mwuha!). At least I haven’t gotten addicted to coffee or energy drinks to power my way through the semester. At one point, I lost my keys. Actually, I just forgot them in my chemistry lecture room, and didn’t realize that the keys my professor was holding up at the end of class were mine. And by the time I noticed, it was too late. I suppose, luckily enough, this happened on a Friday. Locked out of both my apartment and my room, I wouldn’t have been able to properly attend classes relying solely on what I had with me at the time. Or, perhaps this was an unlucky thing, since I would’ve been able to go to the lost and found on campus immediately to retrieve my keys. Except for the fact that I didn’t know my professor had left my keys there until the Monday after I lost them.
A friend (or two) of mine was kind enough to let me spend the night at their apartment for the duration of my homelessness. True, I could’ve just spent the nights in my own apartment, out in the living room, but that would’ve been more awkward for me. It’s not that I don’t like my roommates; to tell you the truth, I think they’re pretty cool, and I’m glad that I ended up having them as roomies. However, I’m just not as close to them as they are with each other. I feel rather out of place when spending time with them (and their other friends). I always was more comfortable being friends with guys than girls.
In any case, I’ve better prepared myself should such a thing happen again. (Yes, I know I fail epically for losing my keys in the first place, but I’m trying to be optimistic here!)
I, for one, have been really enjoying Christmas vacation. Aside from lack of immediate internet access (no internet at home anymore), the holidays have been pretty pleasant and relaxing. Go to sleep whenever (although I haven’t been able to fall asleep before midnight the whole break), wake up whenever (usually around ten or so, but I go back to sleep and don’t get out of bed until around one), I don’t have to make my own food, spend all day doing basically nothing, and somehow I’m still tired enough to take naps around six or seven at night. That’s probably why I can’t fall asleep before twelve.
I haven’t been completely lazy, though! I swear. But ask me what I’ve done over the holidays, and I honestly can’t remember doing much of anything. On the weekends, and during for Christmas Eve/Christmas and New Year’s Eve/New Year’s, I’ve been going to my grandpa’s house with my parents (like we did before I went off to college). That’s where we have family get-togethers. Our family visits our grandparents at least every two weeks. So all the cousins grew up as a pretty tight-knit group. And I love visiting my family.
It’s fun watching my cousins play games. My cousin, Quan, and his younger brother, Vinh, recently used their Christmas money to purchase an xBox 360 and Halo 3, along with a few other games. Of course, it’s always more fun playing such games with more people (the more the merrier, after all), especially with family, so Quan and Vinh brought their xbox and Halo 3 with them for everyone to play on. My older cousin, Tommy, and my younger cousin, Quan, are playing Halo 3 right now. A little while ago, they were standing in an elevator waiting to go to the next level (playing storymode). Quan recently had acquired a gravity hammer, an overpowering weapon, and was really excited.
Tommy: (health goes down to absolute minimum) Whoa, was that you?
Quan: Ehehehe . . .
And another time they were going up in the elevator and waiting until they reached the next level:
Tommy: (shoots Quan with a needler)
Quan: (wacks Tommy with the hammer)
(They reach the next level, both at minimum health, and see quite a few formidable opponents.)
Tommy: Oh, yeah . . . now was probably not a good time for that.
Later, Tommy got tired of playing, so another younger cousin, Nguyen, took the controller.
Nguyen: Chaaaaaaaarrggee! (Gets blown up)
Quan: (Gets blown up immediately afterwards) Aww, I was watching your screen!
Ten minutes later, they have sentinel guns that resemble lasers when they shoot:
Quan: (shoots Nguyen) Ehehe.
Nguyen: (Takes damage) Oohh, I want one of those!
One minute later, going against a horde of enemies:
Nguyen: (Imitating laser noises) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzeewwwwww.
Quan: (Dies) Aww, you killed me!
Finally, they get past that stage. Upon getting to the next one . . .
Nguyen: Awww, I don’t want to do this stage! It scares me!
A minute later:
Quan: (Dies) Nguyen, throw a grenade.
Nguyen: (Throws a grenade. Then walks into it and dies.)
For the next five minutes they have fun killing each other. Just for the giggles.
Quan: Aww, you douche!
Nguyen: My energy shield, you bitch!
And then, two minutes after they’ve declared the friendly fire war done . . .
Quan: Walk away from me, Nguyen. Walk away!
Nguyen: (Kills him with a plasma sword.)
Quan: You douche.
Well. This goes on for quite a while, and I’m sure you guys get the idea. Needless to say, it was quite entertaining to watch. I guess this is probably true for most gamers, but I like how when it’s time to seriously get into a game, my cousins and I sit up to play. That’s when we know it’s serious business.
Because that’s how we roll. [Ololol.]
Reminiscing
So. It’s three twenty-three in the morning where I live. My stomach is growling; I haven’t been eating very healthily lately. I tend to neglect myself when I’m at home alone?
As of late, my sleeping has been out of whack. Falling asleep at two, waking up slightly around eight or so in the morning, falling back asleep, and not getting up until noon-ish. So, to remedy this without some type of medication, I shall pull an all nighter (to the best of my abilities) and stay awake all day, thus tiring myself out enough to fall asleep at a normal time and (hopefully) fix my sleeping schedule.
I noticed earlier that I joined in 2005 and my fifth anniversary is in about three weeks. Whoo. (I haven’t been a stellar member, though.) So, I’ve been skimming through past entries. I know my grammar was horrendous in the beginning. I’m not sure exactly when proper grammar debuted in my entries, but anything written during and after 2006 was significantly better. My style and diction has changed so much since then.
One common thing about most, if not all, of my previous entries: I was friggin hyper. Periods and exclamation points galore. Smilies up the wazoo. They were certainly colorful.
Most of my entries were pretty down to earth. Coherent, ya know? And then, sometimes, out of seemingly nowhere, an entry would pop up where I’m abusing the period or exclamation point and spouting nonsense. I believe those entries were written and posted sometime in the early morning hours when I was suffering from sleep deprivation. Which just goes to show you that I should not still be up and blogging my thoughts for the general public when my good judgment is taking a break.
Well, at least it’s obvious (from past entries) how I came up with my username.
It is now three forty-two in the morning. My eyes feel gritty. I think I’ll retire from Xanga for tonight. Or this morning, rather.
Please don’t read my past entires. It’s embarrassing.
As of late, my sleeping has been out of whack. Falling asleep at two, waking up slightly around eight or so in the morning, falling back asleep, and not getting up until noon-ish. So, to remedy this without some type of medication, I shall pull an all nighter (to the best of my abilities) and stay awake all day, thus tiring myself out enough to fall asleep at a normal time and (hopefully) fix my sleeping schedule.
I noticed earlier that I joined in 2005 and my fifth anniversary is in about three weeks. Whoo. (I haven’t been a stellar member, though.) So, I’ve been skimming through past entries. I know my grammar was horrendous in the beginning. I’m not sure exactly when proper grammar debuted in my entries, but anything written during and after 2006 was significantly better. My style and diction has changed so much since then.
One common thing about most, if not all, of my previous entries: I was friggin hyper. Periods and exclamation points galore. Smilies up the wazoo. They were certainly colorful.
Most of my entries were pretty down to earth. Coherent, ya know? And then, sometimes, out of seemingly nowhere, an entry would pop up where I’m abusing the period or exclamation point and spouting nonsense. I believe those entries were written and posted sometime in the early morning hours when I was suffering from sleep deprivation. Which just goes to show you that I should not still be up and blogging my thoughts for the general public when my good judgment is taking a break.
Well, at least it’s obvious (from past entries) how I came up with my username.
It is now three forty-two in the morning. My eyes feel gritty. I think I’ll retire from Xanga for tonight. Or this morning, rather.
Please don’t read my past entires. It’s embarrassing.
Overview of Events from July to the Present–Part II
Is it just me, or does anyone else think my new profile is uberly awesome?
The simplicity, coupled with the humorous drawings that reflect major characteristics of myself (love of food and dislike for dressing up).
Of course, I’m probably just building up my ego right about now. So, on with the summary!
Last thing I talked about was the visit to Baylor Med, right? Right. I went out of chronological order there, because the medical school experiences were the day before the clinical experiences. The day after clinical experiences (which was on Thursday) was the day of the Medical Ethics Caucus (basically a debate). Well, this was one thing among other events of the day, but the caucus was the main event. I was lucky and had a good team (MED groups were split into teams, and competed against teams of other MED groups. MED group teams didn’t compete against the other teams of their own MED group at any time. There were only two rounds, and each MED group team judged one round and debated in the other.). Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I was lazy and did no work, it’s just that, came debating time, my mind just completely blanked out on me. I never was really good at public speaking. Unfortunately, we did not realize we had to ask for the one minute rebuttal time, and so all we were able to do was present our side without refuting the other team’s arguments. I believe I would have done better during the rebuttal, since I would have something to feed off of for my own argument, but speculating all of this now won’t be doing any good, so I’ll be moving on now.
>.>
The next day was Saturday, which would bring us to the trip to Moody Gardens in Galveston. The weekend was designated for relaxation time, I guess. Before I forget, I should say that I’m pretty sure MED groups stuck with people in their own groups, for the most part. My MED group certainly did. We all started out at the . . . I want to say seafood pyramid, but I just know that’s not right. Aquatic? Marine? Well, we started out in the pyramid with all the sea animals in it. It was okay . . . I can be socially inept at times, and this was one of those times. I basically tagged along with the group of people from my MED group that I usually hung out with, or walked ahead of them at times . . . After we toured through that pyramid, the others decided to eat (since that we were supposed to eat dinner there because we’d be getting back too late for dinner at the hotel). After everyone ate, the group I was with divided again. Next place we went to was (I’m having trouble with my memory as of late. -_-; ) near the rainforest pyramid. Only thing we did there was go on this ride that sat us on this moving platform with a huge screen in front of us.
I’m doing a horrible job at explaining this ride, and it was very boring, so I’m going to give up trying. After this I ended up in a group of three from the original quarter-group from my MED group (Me, David, and Jonathan). David wanted to go swimming, so Jonathan and I accompanied him to wherever the pool was. He ended up only going in the water for about a minute because it was the kiddie pool, and we couldn’t really find anywhere else to swim, ahaha. We then traipsed over to the rainforest pyramid, decided not to watch whatever cinema they had showing because we had heard it wasn’t worth while, and instead perused the gift shop. Now, I hadn’t planned to get anything, but I always like to look at the music in gift shops.
David and Jonathan are so awesome.
They bought me a CD, in spite of my many declines and attempts to place the CD back in its proper place on the shelf. Each time I put it back, one of them would get another CD with the music I had been looking at. I gave up trying to put it back when they were next in line at the cash register. -_- After that, we basically hung out in the food court of the pyramid, playing with their purchases (spinner ring and bracelet, mainly. Haha, Jonathan’s bracelet went all the way up to my upper arm). A few minutes later, Jonathan’s room mate saw him and joined us at our table, and we commenced to playing cards. Oh geez, I love speed. ^-^ I’m also competitive, and one game, when I had only one card left and was about to put it down, out of my peripheral vision, I saw Jonathan’s room mate move to put his card down. I didn’t know which pile he was going for, but with my left hand, I pushed away his hand while placing my card on one of the piles with my right hand. “SPEED!” Highlight of the day, I have to admit. I hadn’t even realized I had done that until right after I finished the game; it was a reflex. o.O Don’t worry, I apologized for it. x3 Sunday we were supposed to go to Kemah Boardwalk, but the rain prevented us from going there, and instead we went to Katy Mills Mall. I walked around with David and Garrett (who was from another MED group) there. First we visited Books a Million. I’m sure we spent at least fifteen minutes in there. Started walking elsewhere after David made his purchase. I think we went to look at music next, and I immediately headed for the anime. I’m so anime deprived, I couldn’t help it!
OH, two guys walked past me while I was looking at the anime, and one muttered some stereotypical/racist comment. Basically, he assumed I was Japanese because I was looking at anime. Ignorant idiot. GAH. D< This didn’t have much importance, but it stuck out in my mind, and I had to type it out.
Next stop was the Asian store, to look around; and then after that, the bubble tea place around that area because I persuaded David to get a drink. (He ended up not liking the boba/tapioca in his coffee, so I got to drink it; and, it was pretty much still full. SCORE! I <3 boba drinks.) After this, we just walked around the mall, and eventually met up with the other people of our quarter-group. They had already bought tickets to watch Transformers, so that was where they were headed. We had nothing else in mind to do, so we decided to join them. Mind you, this was only about five minutes after we had left the bubble tea place; Garrett, David, and I are fast-paced walkers, and we know how to weave through people. By this time, I had only about a quarter of the drink left. I paid for my ticket, and David’s, because I was adamant about buying something for him since he and Jonathan bought me the CD the day before; unfortunately, Jonathan had already bought his ticket. We found seats in the theater with our other friends and got ourselves comfortable, and I finished off the boba drink before the movie even started.
Darn David and his coffee addiction, and the fact that coffee’s a natural laxative. Not even halfway through Transformers, I had to go to the restroom. Of course, I’m stubborn, and didn’t want to miss any part of the movie, so I sat there and endured the pressure on my bladder while shaking my legs to keep myself preoccupied.
I have to say, Transformers is a very good movie; I certainly enjoyed it, even in my distraction. x] Well, the movie ended at around the same time we were supposed to be at our buses to go back to the hotel, so I left about ten minutes before the movie ended, took my restroom break, and came back out (surprised to see that David was waiting for me). The rest of the group had already headed to the entrance we were dropped off at, but we caught up with them pretty quickly. This basically ends the Katy Mills Mall summary, and now we’re on Monday. Monday, the main event for the day was public health competition. Each MED group team (split into only two separate teams this time) chose a problem to do their presentation on that would raise public health awareness for that problem. Students judged everyones’ presentations based on verbal presentation and information presented on the tri-fold board. I admit, I basically BSed the second half of the paper. The students judged during lunch, and not much time was allotted for us. I think the FAs were telling us that we should only be taking about thirty seconds at each presentation. I missed lunch that day, but oh well.
Next was the public health symposium, which was a competition of the top presentations from each category. These were judged by some guests, I think (guests with a medical field background). Tuesday was the last day, so the only thing planned that day was a MED session and a closing ceremony. I’ll explain about MED sessions next entry, and also tell about the social events of the nights. Fun fun. (Aren’t I boring you yet?)
I’m doing a horrible job at explaining this ride, and it was very boring, so I’m going to give up trying. After this I ended up in a group of three from the original quarter-group from my MED group (Me, David, and Jonathan). David wanted to go swimming, so Jonathan and I accompanied him to wherever the pool was. He ended up only going in the water for about a minute because it was the kiddie pool, and we couldn’t really find anywhere else to swim, ahaha. We then traipsed over to the rainforest pyramid, decided not to watch whatever cinema they had showing because we had heard it wasn’t worth while, and instead perused the gift shop. Now, I hadn’t planned to get anything, but I always like to look at the music in gift shops.
David and Jonathan are so awesome.
They bought me a CD, in spite of my many declines and attempts to place the CD back in its proper place on the shelf. Each time I put it back, one of them would get another CD with the music I had been looking at. I gave up trying to put it back when they were next in line at the cash register. -_- After that, we basically hung out in the food court of the pyramid, playing with their purchases (spinner ring and bracelet, mainly. Haha, Jonathan’s bracelet went all the way up to my upper arm). A few minutes later, Jonathan’s room mate saw him and joined us at our table, and we commenced to playing cards. Oh geez, I love speed. ^-^ I’m also competitive, and one game, when I had only one card left and was about to put it down, out of my peripheral vision, I saw Jonathan’s room mate move to put his card down. I didn’t know which pile he was going for, but with my left hand, I pushed away his hand while placing my card on one of the piles with my right hand. “SPEED!” Highlight of the day, I have to admit. I hadn’t even realized I had done that until right after I finished the game; it was a reflex. o.O Don’t worry, I apologized for it. x3 Sunday we were supposed to go to Kemah Boardwalk, but the rain prevented us from going there, and instead we went to Katy Mills Mall. I walked around with David and Garrett (who was from another MED group) there. First we visited Books a Million. I’m sure we spent at least fifteen minutes in there. Started walking elsewhere after David made his purchase. I think we went to look at music next, and I immediately headed for the anime. I’m so anime deprived, I couldn’t help it!
OH, two guys walked past me while I was looking at the anime, and one muttered some stereotypical/racist comment. Basically, he assumed I was Japanese because I was looking at anime. Ignorant idiot. GAH. D< This didn’t have much importance, but it stuck out in my mind, and I had to type it out.
Next stop was the Asian store, to look around; and then after that, the bubble tea place around that area because I persuaded David to get a drink. (He ended up not liking the boba/tapioca in his coffee, so I got to drink it; and, it was pretty much still full. SCORE! I <3 boba drinks.) After this, we just walked around the mall, and eventually met up with the other people of our quarter-group. They had already bought tickets to watch Transformers, so that was where they were headed. We had nothing else in mind to do, so we decided to join them. Mind you, this was only about five minutes after we had left the bubble tea place; Garrett, David, and I are fast-paced walkers, and we know how to weave through people. By this time, I had only about a quarter of the drink left. I paid for my ticket, and David’s, because I was adamant about buying something for him since he and Jonathan bought me the CD the day before; unfortunately, Jonathan had already bought his ticket. We found seats in the theater with our other friends and got ourselves comfortable, and I finished off the boba drink before the movie even started.
Darn David and his coffee addiction, and the fact that coffee’s a natural laxative. Not even halfway through Transformers, I had to go to the restroom. Of course, I’m stubborn, and didn’t want to miss any part of the movie, so I sat there and endured the pressure on my bladder while shaking my legs to keep myself preoccupied.
I have to say, Transformers is a very good movie; I certainly enjoyed it, even in my distraction. x] Well, the movie ended at around the same time we were supposed to be at our buses to go back to the hotel, so I left about ten minutes before the movie ended, took my restroom break, and came back out (surprised to see that David was waiting for me). The rest of the group had already headed to the entrance we were dropped off at, but we caught up with them pretty quickly. This basically ends the Katy Mills Mall summary, and now we’re on Monday. Monday, the main event for the day was public health competition. Each MED group team (split into only two separate teams this time) chose a problem to do their presentation on that would raise public health awareness for that problem. Students judged everyones’ presentations based on verbal presentation and information presented on the tri-fold board. I admit, I basically BSed the second half of the paper. The students judged during lunch, and not much time was allotted for us. I think the FAs were telling us that we should only be taking about thirty seconds at each presentation. I missed lunch that day, but oh well.
Next was the public health symposium, which was a competition of the top presentations from each category. These were judged by some guests, I think (guests with a medical field background). Tuesday was the last day, so the only thing planned that day was a MED session and a closing ceremony. I’ll explain about MED sessions next entry, and also tell about the social events of the nights. Fun fun. (Aren’t I boring you yet?)
Overview of Events from July to the Present–Part I
So, I am officially sixteen (and five days) old, have my (provisional) license, as well as a car. And a new phone to match! I should be driving myself to school starting on Tuesday (since I do not have school on Monday, huzzah). I’m contemplating on whether to buy a parking permit because, apparently, the guy who checks all the cars for the permits is supah-lazy. I’ll probably end up getting one, anyway. But I am going out of order, and that should not be . . .
So, shall we start with NYLF? That would probably be the best thing to do, after all, that is where I a week after I finished the Blinn dual credit class (first semester). Luckily, I went to the one in Houston, so I didn’t have much traveling to do. All the NYLF students stayed in one a Renaissance hotel (Plaza 6?); I think we numbered at around four hundred juniors and seniors, although there was one sophomore. Just one. Yeah, I think one of the elevators broke or something, probably on account of us trying to fit as many people as we can on an elevator that should only be holding ten. The food at the hotel was mediocre, not like I ate much at the hotel, anyway. I’m sure if I had gotten room service, my attitude about the food would be better, but I’m stingy and don’t like buying things I don’t necessarily need. I cannot believe my stinginess can overcome my love of food. It’s amazing, I know.
Over the course of ten days, we took trips to various places of Houston. Some medical-related sites, hospitals, and med schools in the Houston area. The rest of the time, we were at the hotel, listening to speakers, doing activities in our MED groups (all the students were separated into, I think, ten or twelve groups with around 25 people in each; each MED group is named for someone famous who made a major contribution to medicine), or participating in the (basically) mandatory fun activities that had been planned for the night.
The first site I went to was the Ronald McDonald House of Houston, where the group I was with (since we didn’t travel with our MED groups for site visits) had a brief tour of the place, and then made lunches for the parents who were staying there at the time. For those of you who do not know, the Ronald McDonald House of Houston houses the families of children who have cancer. It’s close to the hospital where their child is most likely being treated so that the parents don’t have to travel far or pay ridiculous prices to stay close to their children.
The second site I went to was the Spring Branch Hospital (I think. Not too sure about this one.) The group I was with this time was separated into groups of four, and then, once in the hospital, we did hospital rounds. My small group went to the ER first, and since it was morning, there weren’t any patients at the time. Next we went to the OR. I was allowed to watch part of a knee replacement surgery, before we had to change rounds again. All we did the next round was sit in the waiting room, since everyone who was there was off for lunch. Our last round was the radiology department. I would say that round was the highlight of the day, for my group got to have MRI scans of our heads. Yes, I still have mine. Bwuhaha.
For the medical schools, everyone traveled with their MED groups, and I think maybe three or four MED groups went to each med school. My MED group went to Baylor. The first few hours were lectures from some professors, but I kept falling asleep. Dark rooms + tired teens = everyone asleep. Honestly, I tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t do much to keep myself from falling asleep. I remember resorting to making paper shuriken for the rest of the lectures to keep myself awake, haha. I gave those to various people in my MED group.
I believe the funniest part of the whole ten days was me taking the stairs up to the twentieth floor for my MED group. If you try to take the elevators ten to fifteen minutes before the MED sessions start, you’ll end up waiting for a while, because that’s when everyone else heads to theirs as well. The MED sessions were held in separate rooms on the Plaza (twentieth floor) and the Concourse level (level below lobby). My room was on the eighth floor. I’m surprised I never got sore from taking those stairs up all the time.
Sadly, I’ve grown tired of typing at the moment, so I have split this summary into two parts. Maybe you’ll get the other half of the entry in a couple of weeks, at the rate I’m going.
So, shall we start with NYLF? That would probably be the best thing to do, after all, that is where I a week after I finished the Blinn dual credit class (first semester). Luckily, I went to the one in Houston, so I didn’t have much traveling to do. All the NYLF students stayed in one a Renaissance hotel (Plaza 6?); I think we numbered at around four hundred juniors and seniors, although there was one sophomore. Just one. Yeah, I think one of the elevators broke or something, probably on account of us trying to fit as many people as we can on an elevator that should only be holding ten. The food at the hotel was mediocre, not like I ate much at the hotel, anyway. I’m sure if I had gotten room service, my attitude about the food would be better, but I’m stingy and don’t like buying things I don’t necessarily need. I cannot believe my stinginess can overcome my love of food. It’s amazing, I know.
Over the course of ten days, we took trips to various places of Houston. Some medical-related sites, hospitals, and med schools in the Houston area. The rest of the time, we were at the hotel, listening to speakers, doing activities in our MED groups (all the students were separated into, I think, ten or twelve groups with around 25 people in each; each MED group is named for someone famous who made a major contribution to medicine), or participating in the (basically) mandatory fun activities that had been planned for the night.
The first site I went to was the Ronald McDonald House of Houston, where the group I was with (since we didn’t travel with our MED groups for site visits) had a brief tour of the place, and then made lunches for the parents who were staying there at the time. For those of you who do not know, the Ronald McDonald House of Houston houses the families of children who have cancer. It’s close to the hospital where their child is most likely being treated so that the parents don’t have to travel far or pay ridiculous prices to stay close to their children.
The second site I went to was the Spring Branch Hospital (I think. Not too sure about this one.) The group I was with this time was separated into groups of four, and then, once in the hospital, we did hospital rounds. My small group went to the ER first, and since it was morning, there weren’t any patients at the time. Next we went to the OR. I was allowed to watch part of a knee replacement surgery, before we had to change rounds again. All we did the next round was sit in the waiting room, since everyone who was there was off for lunch. Our last round was the radiology department. I would say that round was the highlight of the day, for my group got to have MRI scans of our heads. Yes, I still have mine. Bwuhaha.
For the medical schools, everyone traveled with their MED groups, and I think maybe three or four MED groups went to each med school. My MED group went to Baylor. The first few hours were lectures from some professors, but I kept falling asleep. Dark rooms + tired teens = everyone asleep. Honestly, I tried to stay awake, but I couldn’t do much to keep myself from falling asleep. I remember resorting to making paper shuriken for the rest of the lectures to keep myself awake, haha. I gave those to various people in my MED group.
I believe the funniest part of the whole ten days was me taking the stairs up to the twentieth floor for my MED group. If you try to take the elevators ten to fifteen minutes before the MED sessions start, you’ll end up waiting for a while, because that’s when everyone else heads to theirs as well. The MED sessions were held in separate rooms on the Plaza (twentieth floor) and the Concourse level (level below lobby). My room was on the eighth floor. I’m surprised I never got sore from taking those stairs up all the time.
Sadly, I’ve grown tired of typing at the moment, so I have split this summary into two parts. Maybe you’ll get the other half of the entry in a couple of weeks, at the rate I’m going.