It's been getting harder and harder to blog lately. It's difficult to give enough details that people understand what's going on in your life and what's important to you at the moment, but not so many details that you violate the privacy of the people concerned. You want to be personal and write something more than a summary of your daily activities (honestly, not that exciting), but you don't want to expose yourself too much.

Things that have been happening with me lately:

Made a trip home last weekend after my III final. Got my fill of late-night sushi, Christmas shopping and friends =)

Doing a decent amount of shadowing and getting some good exposure to history-taking. Finding it almost impossible to ask a senior about the quality of their sex life...

Bonding with the meddies. 3 hours is a long time to sit in the car so you might as well talk =) Fellowship has gone on hold lately, mostly because it's becoming difficult to make a serious time commitment on the wkends when there's shadowing, studying, so much else...

I've basically been cooped up inside my apartment with my books for the last 3 days now. Ugh, I'm in desperate need of a tan/fresh air/exercise/fruit/a hug/more coffee/a shower/human interaction of a non-electronic kind. 24 more hours and I'm free...

Being sick + Upcoming final = No fun whatsoever

Yup, that's pretty much been the story of my life for the last week or so. After the excitement of Toronto, I'm right back into the grind of having to study for my Triple III final while nursing a cold. But on the bright side, I'm coming home next wkend! And hopefully it'll be a good chance to do some Christmas shopping, catch up with friends and see The Incredibles/Bridget Jones =) (PS: anyone up for a movie?)

Shadowed for the first time in the ER tonight. No Andrea (and any other TV fanatics out there), it was not a single thing like the show. No stabbings, no gunshots, no rushing around yelling 'STAT'. Instead, things were really quiet and fairly organized and I was surprised that I was actually able to answer some of the doc's questions (I'm not a complete idiot =) Some of the things I saw tonight: a lady with HIV/Hepatitis C who came in with pneumonia, a girl with diabetic ketoacidosis, a broken arm, a child with seizures, and an infected surgical incision. Tres dull when compared to the antics of Noah Wyle and Co. Hehe...

Awww...girls...I miss you so much! Come to Alberta!!! That goes for all the rest of you too =) 

Who would've thought that 2 little quotation marks would cause such an uproar? *grin*

I made the mistake tonight of opening my Endocrinology course pack 2 weeks in advance because I was nosy and wanted to peek into my future. I'm so depressed...Mondays we go from 8 until 5, nothing but lectures. And it's Biochemistry! My most-hated undergrad course, my second-lowest undergrad mark and the bane of my existence for the last 4 months of 3rd year!

I've realized that I talk about very little other than school on this blog. It isn't because I'm absolutely infatuated with it, although I do like it - it's because that with the exception of medicine and my ultra-personal life (which I try not to discuss on something as public as this), I actually do little else. All my extra-curricular commitments, my social life is all tied to school. The church I go to is infested with both meds and dents =) Case in point, I wanted to go watch a movie tonight but since my Edmonton bud, Candice, has temporarily re-located and all my med friends have already seen it, I realized that I had absolutely no one else to call. I need to get out of this faculty more...

Back in Edmonton again after an awesome long wkend of sushi, coffee, old Queen's friends, Lulu Lemon, treasure hunts, "bible studies", fantastic dessert, a "ball", and me being spoiled by numerous parties, not just the obvious ones =) Oh how I wish I could fly backwards in time...

It is finished...my III midterm that is...and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I had thought it'd be. And we get to do it all over again in 2.5 weeks! But until then, I'm coming back to Ontario on Wednesday!!! Teehee...

Too many hours of my life have been devoted to studying the intricacies of the Herpes virus...I have nerd scars on my hands from gripping my pen...I want to fall asleep and not wake up until next Wednesday...I want to learn through osmosis...

I should really find a way to improve the quality of these pictures...oh well, all in good time...

This next week doesn't look like it's going to be very much fun. We have our III midterm on Monday and after spending 8 hours a day with viruses, bacteria and parasites, you start to get a little OCD. I can now add roundworms and tapeworms to my long list of fears. My favorite worm is this one that likes to lay its eggs in the perianal area, which can then make their way onto your bed linens. Then, when someone comes to make the bed, all these little eggs get aerosolized and float around in the air, or else stick to your drapes and other seemingly harmless items. When someone else (ie. me) comes along to open the window, they'll inhale all those yummy peri-anal eggs. Not even bottled water is safe anymore...

The picture below is from Friday night. What better way to forget about infectious diseases than to get together with a whole group of ppl that can harbor a myriad of delightful organisms...

With the pink ladies...