Cookout in C-ville

Yesterday, two of the girls from my class had a barbecue at their house. It was so nice to relax and socialize outside of class and get to know everyone a little better. The cookout was at Chrissy and Bettina's house. They're both married and live in Charlottesville, about an hour from Richmond. Their house is really cool, because it's kind of split in half. It's really convenient for them because each couple gets their own living room, dining room, bedroom, and guest room. Then they all share the kitchen, which is centrally located. Chrissy and Bettina are the type of girls who have the house perfectly decorated, neat, and clean. It was such a pretty house!

One of the cool parts about this get-together was that I got to meet a lot of significant others. I met Chrissy and Bettina's husbands, who are both really nice welcoming guys. I also met Meike and Jenifer's boyfriends, who were hilarious and really nice, too. It was fun to finally meet people that I've heard so much about. And the great part was, everyone was really hitting it off, talking and laughing, and having a really good time. It's starting to feel like our class is kind of a big family. Maybe not all 55, but enough of us have gotten close that we can just be comfortable and chill when we're together. That's really nice to have between all the stress of classes.

Compatible or not

One of the big things I forgot to mention was the new game we played this weekend. When Tristan and Emily and I met at camp, we played this really fun game called “Compatibility” and we all loved it, but we haven’t been able to find it since. I’ve looked for it everywhere, but no store seems to have it. Anyway, Leslie found it online and she and I bought the game for Tristan’s birthday. It’s so fun! Here’s how you play: Everyone gets a deck of cards with the same pictures. When it’s your turn, you flip over a topic card, which will have a word, for example “freedom”. You and your partner each have to choose five picture cards that you think represent “freedom”. The more you match, the more compatible you are! I think I’m going to design my own set of picture cards to use when we get tired of the given pictures. Just for fun.

Another exciting event last week was that Taylor Swift released another single from her new album. It’s called “Back to December”. It’s a notable song for her in that it’s the first time she’s ever apologized in a song. Of course, I absolutely love it. It’s so honest and heartbreaking. And risky, because it’s totally obvious who the song is about, and I’m sure the guy has heard it by now. Of course Taylor, who has never shied away from putting personal details into her songs, doesn’t hold back now. She admits that she took the relationship for granted and that she was wrong. Yet she also realizes that she might have lost her chance with this guy. She can’t go back in time and change her mind. Still, she’s at least going to apologize in her song and put it all out there, for fans to love and critics to hate.

Picture for Taylor Swift's "Back to December" single

Melting Pot

This post is going to be a random mix of everything that happened this weekend.

First, Leslie's birthday was celebrated with a trip to The Melting Pot, a fancy fondue restaurant. It's expensive, but they have a special deal at the bar where you can get unlimited cheese and chocolate fondue for $20 a person. That's what we did, and it was delicious! With the cheese fondue, you get bread, nachos, veggies, and apples to dip. We tried the Fiesta, Wisconsin Trio, and Spinach Artichoke cheese fondues. Of the three, the spinach artichoke was my favorite! For dessert, you get rice krispies, pound cake, brownies, fruit, and cheesecake to dip in the chocolate fondue. We tried the Yin & Yang, bananas foster, and turtle fondues. All of them were really good. I don't know if I've ever left a restaurant feeling that full!

Emily had to watch a video for her education class this weekend, so Leslie and I went to see it with her. It was called "Waiting for Superman". It was a documentary that described the education system in the US. I didn't really know much about how the school systems worked, since I went to a private school in middle school and was homeschooled throughout high school. For people who can't afford private schools and have to rely on public schools, the situation becomes difficult. Everyone wants to get into the best public schools, but there are many more applicants than spaces available. So the schools have to hold a lottery where the spaces are filled randomly. The kids who don't get in are denied a better education... and this all depends solely on luck! Another big problem that the movie focused on was that bad teachers can't be fired when they have tenure (which is automatically granted after two years of teaching). It's really sad to me that teacher's unions are more focused on teachers keeping their jobs than on the education of children.

We also went to Scream Forest this weekend in anticipation of Halloween. I thought it was pretty scary, but I get scared easily. I didn't like it as much as Scaremare (in Lynchburg) due to the fact that they only let smaller groups go through the woods at a time and they let people TOUCH you. I didn't like that because I just felt very vulnerable and unprotected. It also didn't help that Tristan and Kyle talked about serial killers right before we went through the woods.

Sadly, sometime Saturday night I lost my cell phone. I think I lost it at Scream Forest, but I'm not sure. However, I talked to my mom and I'm due for a free upgrade anyway, so I'm going to go ahead and get a new phone. And I really did need a new phone because mine started randomly turning off sometimes, even when the battery was fully charged. So yay! I get to pick out a new phone.

Time

I come easily
Long you think I’ll last
I’m stretched out like an eon

But I leave quickly
Leaving you aghast
At how night turned into dawn

No way to slow me
To get back the past
I’m the queen and you’re a pawn

Make much use of me
For I come too fast
And am all too swiftly gone

I don't have palmaris longus!

Something I learned today: I don't have a palmaris longus muscle!
It's not that big a deal, since it's just a thin slip of a muscle that aids in flexing the wrist. But it was pretty cool in lab, because I was the only one who didn't have the muscle in either forearm. The cadaver I dissected this past summer was also missing palmaris longus bilaterally. My kinesiology professor told us that about 15% of people are missing palmaris in one arm while 9% are missing it in both.

Here's how to check if you have a palmaris longus muscle: Touch the pads of your thumb and your pinky finger together and flex your wrist. The tendon should pop up right below your palm. If you don't see a visible bump, chances are you don't have palmaris longus.

Why this could be a bad thing: Palmaris longus can be used in a tendon or ligament graft. Since removing it doesn't produce any noticeable functional impairment, it's a great muscle to remove and use in the place of a tendon that has ruptured.

Life after facebook: Studying's less fun

Facebook Update:

This is the first weekend that I’ve really missed facebook. Up until now, I’ve been busy and I was enjoying the fact that I wasn’t wasting as much time on the computer sans facebook. However, this weekend I have nothing on my agenda except studying, and FB would have been a welcome study break. I can only study neuro for so long before I feel overwhelmed and need a break- usually every couple of hours. Then I like to go and do something mindless for a while to give my brain a break. FB would have been the perfect distraction, so I miss it more than usual. Still, I’m sticking to my guns and I’m going to hold out until the end of the semester at least!

Studying neuro is a pain in the rear. The only way that I can describe it is that there are different layers of complexity, and studying is like peeling back all the layers one by one. At first, I’m totally lost and confused and I don’t know what any of the terms mean. After studying, I learn some definitions and have a general grasp of what’s going on. I feel pretty good that I’m getting the hang of it. That’s phase one. Phase two occurs when I go into greater detail and realize that I didn’t truly understand anything that I thought I did. I get frustrated. I study more and eventually sort of understand it. I realize there are 5 names for one thing and no name for another thing. I go back and re-learn some of the terms, which now have slightly different meanings to me. I’m finally understanding this stuff! Then comes phase three. Although I understand basic concepts now, I don’t have anything memorized. I’ve finally grasped the big picture, but there are a LOT of minute details that are going to be on the test. Now I have to organize the information in my head. I have to be able to visualize cross-sections of the brain stem and the pathways of tracts. I have to know every single disorder and syndrome, where the lesion is, and the symptoms that would occur. It’s not easy to get all this info into my head.

You probably got bored reading that, but imagine how I feel studying it.

Shades of gray

There always seems to be that boring stretch in the middle of the semester where classes become monotonous, tedious- almost unbearable. The same routine of classes, studying, and homework continues to keep me busy, but there’s no variety or excitement anymore. I find it hard to pay attention in class. I sit there waiting for the clock to tick down so that I can go home… where I’ll inevitably study the same material we just went over. It just seems like we’re learning a lot of boring stuff.

Yesterday, to break up the monotony, my roomies and I took the evening off from studying. We ordered pizza and watched a movie after a LONG day of classes. It was nice to take a little break, but now it’s back to the grindstone. Neuro continues to be my nemesis, so I'm focusing on it a lot, at the expense of my other classes.

At least the weather finally feels like Fall! After several depressing days of rain, the showers finally stopped, and now it’s a nice breezy temperature outside. Time to pull out the sweaters, jackets, and long-sleeved shirts!

Creativity and Glee

This weekend I took the time to decorate some cards for my friends. I'm not very artistically inclined, so I got most of my ideas from a book I have called "The ABC's of Creative Lettering". Here's a picture of two of the cards I designed:

I also started watching the first season of Glee this weekend, and I'm addicted! It's such an interesting show and the musical numbers are fantastic! I kind of cheated and watched an episode of the current season, because I wanted to see the episode with Britney Spears. I thought Heather Morris (aka Brittany) did an awesome job of performing Britney's songs. She even looked remarkably similar to the real Britney! Of course, Lea Michele (aka Rachel) was amazing as always, too.

Besides that, I've spent a lot of time studying this weekend in preparation for next week, which my class has already dubbed "hell week". We have three tests next week, the first of which is the dreaded Neuro exam. I also have my first skills check this Friday, which will involve getting patients in and out of bed and into wheelchairs. Seems like a no-brainer, but there's actually a lot of little things to remember. Plus, the session is going to be recorded and I'll be graded on it. It's a lot of pressure.