Lindy Journal

Mustard

2009-11-02T15:36:00Z

I got accepted to Mayo Medical School, and it's the first time I've ever been really excited about a specific place. Mayo is the most humble place I visited, with the most reasons not to be humble. They are a world-famous model of healthcare, putting the patients first and being extremely efficient with money/resources. It also feels nice to actually be wanted - I was one of the first 10 students admitted for the 34 MD spots. It's in stark contrast to other schools, where I might be waitlisted or just thrown somewhere in the middle based on MCAT scores. Mayo doesn't care about those things as much as about who the student is. I think I've found my future home...Rochester, Minnesota, here I come! Better buy a warmer coat...

musicalshort1 @ 2009-09-30T22:02:00

2009-10-01T02:03:03Z

...so, I have interviews at Johns Hopkins and Harvard Medical Schools coming up...

musicalshort1 @ 2009-05-18T20:58:00

2009-05-18T18:59:36Z

You know the only thing better than turning 21 in Europe? Turning 21 in Europe and having your wonderful boyfriend fly over to stay up with you all night in Madrid on your birthday. I think this weekend will be amazing.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T20:28:34Z

There was a rose and a note on my door this morning, and it wasn't from my boyfriend. Oh boy.

How Weird

2008-07-04T02:50:46Z

I've been volunteering at UConn's Migrant Farm Worker Clinic for the past couple of weeks. Normally I am a Spanish translator, because most of the farms we visit have predominantly Hispanic workers. However, tonight we visited a very small farm with mostly Jamaican workers. Because of the holiday this weekend, we were short on volunteers (volunteers include high school students, college students, medical students, and doctors).

As a result, I was handed a stethescope and appointed a "team leader", which is usually the position filled by a medical student or doctor. This meant it was my job to "be the doctor" and "see" patients. This past year I took a course on how to do a medical history (this is the series of questions doctors ask during the visit - it is actually very structured, and it's easy to forget things...), but I didn't think I'd actually have to put that knowledge to use so quickly. Additionally, it did not help that I have not taken one anatomy or physiology class yet.

Regardless, I had to act confident so the patients would trust me. I carried out the interviews with only a little bit of hesitance. The next hurdle involved interacting with the preceptor (which is the doctor you "present" the patient to, summarizing what the patient told you). I thought I did a flawless presentation to the doctor, and then he asked the scariest question possible: "What do you think we should do?"

I had nothing to say. And that is where the learning began. The doctor told me about each drug we prescribed, the possible side effects, and the cost (which is important for patients without much money). He wasn't condescending about it, but he still made me think and reason. I think med school will be fun.

Summer

2008-05-18T03:33:40Z

These two weeks are the most activity-free I've been in over two years. I'm doing my best to do absolutely nothing that is not enjoyable, which has reduced me to eating, sleeping, and singing with ECGC.

I would like some excitement this summer. Once I move to Farmington, I am so banking on finding some attractive, available medical student who is inexplicably compatible with and drawn to me. A sultry, soap opera-like romance would make full-time research a little more palatable. We shall see.

Honors Formal

2008-05-04T01:06:23Z

The formal was so much fun. The oh-so-spoken-about random date turned out to be great. Faces were made, jokes were cracked, and beer smoothed things out. In addition, he looked great in that black get-up and pink tie.

Spring Weekend

2008-04-25T04:14:53Z

I went to Carriage for the first time after the a cappella concert tonight. It was underwhelming - a sea of drunk people, girls wearing not enough clothes, and broken glass. I lost Rubyfruit so I just walked home alone - not advisable, but the best choice at the time.

I really made an effort to enjoy it, but I've never felt so out of place. It just reminded me of all kinds of things I lack.

musicalshort1 @ 2008-04-20T21:10:00

2008-04-21T01:13:39Z

Kerry's engagement party was yesterday. I met some of Gian's family (27 first cousins alone), and lots of his friends from residency at Yale. They all spent the afternoon giving me advice and listening to my views on medicine. Conclusions:

1. Going to UC Med is a good choice (most of the Yale residents went to state med schools)
2. I have already gotten into UC Med.
3. So I should chill the fuck out.
4. Which means go to school, sing with Rubyfruit, and travel.

Our concert today went very well; I was exceedingly happy to have my good friends show up, along with my entire family. I felt very proud of my final solo; of the 300+ concerts I've sung in, I felt I performed the best, with the most heart, at this one.

musicalshort1 @ 2008-04-01T00:39:00

2008-04-01T04:45:33Z

There have been some vaguely annoying events recently, but overall I feel more empowered than I have in the past. I did not get the SURF grant I applied for; this was a small blessing in disguise, as it catalyzed my telling my research professor and the Honors Program to shove it regarding the Goldwater scholarship. Because I did not get the grant, I may have no summer activity planned. The dean of admissions at the medical school told me to apply past the deadline to the summer research/clinical skills program there, because students in the Combined Program are supposed to be guaranteed a spot. I may get to do that if there is enough funding; otherwise, it's find a job and volunteer to my heart's content.

In other news, I am going to be stepping down from Honors Council next year in an effort to increase my sanity. Rubyfruit makes me happy; research feels real; and school is busy. These are enough activities.

I should be studying for an organic chemistry exam and another in developmental biology. Did you know they have characterized certain medical conditions with very specific events occuring at very specific times after conception (I'm talking down to the hour)? Mammalian development is the shit.

musicalshort1 @ 2008-02-23T09:56:00

2008-02-23T14:56:35Z

Excuse me: Billy Joel is performing at Mohegan Sun on May 23rd. Anybody want to go?

musicalshort1 @ 2008-02-22T11:00:00

2008-02-22T16:00:20Z

You know what's hard? Breaking up.

musicalshort1 @ 2008-01-25T09:29:00

2008-01-25T14:30:15Z

I'm so proud of myself. For the first time in my life I liked a guy, and instead of waiting months and months for him to make a move, I just came out and said something. I'm not even sure if I succeeded, but it doesn't really matter. Assertiveness has been achieved.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-12-01T19:21:00

2007-12-02T00:21:48Z

Satisfied.

My Life

2007-11-20T02:37:42Z

For once, for the first time, I think I have the slightest idea of the specifics of what I want to do with my future. Yes, I knew I wanted to do medicine, but I medicine is so big. So big. So now, as I write this essay for my Patient and the Healer class, I am getting an idea of some things I could do. Fulfilling things on top of helping patients individually. I am ashamed to say that college has helped me. God forbid.

Let's see. Healthcare policy. What the fuck, U.S., what the fuck. We have 15% of our citizens without any form of health insurance - that's 47 million people. We need to adopt at least some elements of socialized medicine because, geez, everybody deserves to be able to see and chew and breathe a little.

Medical school. Why should it cost over $30,000 a year? If the gov't really wants to get disadvantaged students into med school, stop charging more than any of them can really pay.

Maybe I will try to do some policy work in my life. I guess I should take a class on politics.

Terrible weekend

2007-10-21T18:40:06Z

So, I'm not looking for sympathy. Just mutual awe at such a sequence of events.

I left UConn on Friday afternoon and drove home. My family got in our car at 4:30pm and started driving to Maryland (which should have been a 5-6 hour drive. By 9pm we have been standing still in traffic in New York City for 4 hours, and we have not yet crossed the George Washington bridge. We finally cross the bridge and it begins to pour torentially. We reach Maryland at 2am, nine hours after we left, after dodging a bunch of clearly drunk drivers on the highway. We go to the hotel and sleep until 9 am, when we get up to get ready for the wedding. My cousin's wedding was very nice, and pretty short.

Next, we get into the van to go home. It's about 3pm. Zoe is changing into comfortable clothes in the backseat when she gets stung by a bee for the first time in her life. Her foot gets really swollen and she starts having trouble breathing, so we drive around frantically looking for an emergency room. We find one, and they take her in and shoot her up with epinephrin and other drugs for two hours until she is ok.

We then get on the the highway, its about 5:30pm. At 7:30pm I notice the car is bumping a lot while I drive, so I start to pull over on the freeway. I almost can't control the car enough to get to the shoulder. My dad gets out and sees that the front tire is dead and the rim is bent. Him and my mom start trying to put on the spare tire, but the jack gives out and the car almost rolls over them. We call AAA and wait half an hour for them to come. They put on our spare tire, which is a donut tire. This means we can't drive more than 50mph. It's about 9pm. At 9:30 we pull into a rest station to get dinner, and m dad notices the donut tire is losing air. He tries to open the valve to put more air in but it's not budging. We go to some gas station where some guy helps us with a wrench. We then drove from Maryland to Connecticut, going 50mph. We arrived around 3am.

Today I get back to UConn and drag my bags from my car to South dining hall so I can eat. I promptly lose my Husky card in South. What a weekend.

So my boyfriend is ridiculous...

2007-10-17T03:23:45Z

The scene:
Last night, I am stressed, tired, studying for organic chemistry exam.
Arrive: Josh, Ben & Jerry's frozen yogurt (so I can eat it) in hand, along with a jar of pickles

This evening: Arrive back at dorm room to find vase with bouquet of flowers sitting on desk with ridiculous note expressing hopes of an exam gone well.

It almost makes me sick. But it's just so nice.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-06-29T12:08:00

2007-06-29T16:10:48Z

So, ya know all those safety things in labs that seem kind of silly. Not that you actually think they're silly, but some little part of you just giggles everytime you see the shower head in the middle of the room? So, I just used the eyewash for the second time in less than 24 hours. The chemicals I'm using love eyes and they burn like the dickens. The second time a grad student actually had to hold my head in the eyewash because I have trouble coordinating breathing with having my eyes showered (it's weird, I know, but body goes into oh shit mode and can't do two things at once). Another grad student was kind enough to take pictures of me in said state with his cell phone. I am so cool. And eyewashes are immensely useful. I haven't gotten to use the chemical shower yet.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-06-28T22:45:00

2007-06-29T02:51:06Z

I just returned from my first time volunteering at the UConn Migrant Worker Clinic. It's a free clinic that travels around CT to give free health care to some of the 20,000 migrant farm workers in our state. After exchanging a few emails with the girl who is in charge of the clinic, she told me I could start coming and acting as a translator for the doctors and medical students.

Needless to say, it was incredibly intimidating driving into a tobacco farm where the barracks were lined with tough looking men and women, smoking and drinking. However, upon entering the cafeteria (the clinic is usually outdoors, but it was raining), I saw how appreciative the people were. I had some trouble translating (it's been over a year since my last Spanish class...), but the language started coming back to me. I ended up translating for three patients over the course of two hours.

Although it was difficult, nowhere near a victory for my language skills, I had a fantastic time. It felt so cool to be playing doctor for real - learning how to take a history, seeing how diagnosises are made, and seeing different approaches by different doctors. It was also humbling to figure out how useless much of the Spanish I know is. I took me 10 minutes to convey the word "poop" to a girl. That was...embarassing? No, just silly. In conclusion, I will be returning to the clinic whenever possible.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-06-19T09:36:00

2007-06-19T13:37:12Z

I remember the first time I heard this song - it's amazing.

I thought when someone died
The spirit flew over furthest field.
Now I see death will leave behind
(a scrap of light, a broken smile)
The remnants by which I might be healed.

Chorus:
The Dead lift me up:
In brightest sky, the clouds below me race.
The Dead lift me up:
I see them face to face.
Held high by these strong hands,
Breathing the wind I am born again.
The mountain flow'rs, the desert sands
Surround me now, comfort me now.
In death or dreaming I find my kin.

Our voices shake in song
For memories we have long endured.
Though this begins to make us strong
(the combing through of shreds of love)
It is through living that we are cured.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-06-18T10:03:00

2007-06-18T14:08:00Z

Cape Cod was lovely. Highlights included a man in a lobster suit, Josh buying a bowler hat and consequently being hit on by two men in P-Town (what a cute hat), and lazing at the beach. A good weekend.

Oh, and three months today. Geesh.

Silly post

2007-06-11T14:22:47Z

For anybody who knows me, they probably know that the ability to relax is not one of my stronger points. Even if I have nothing to do or worry about, I often find things to do or worry about, because that's how my mind functions. Anyway, yesterday was utterly relaxing, 4 realz.

After waking up past 12, I went with Josh to Mirror Lake, where we proceeded to sit under a tree, like tools, reading in the gorgeous weather. Then we went over to Starbucks, indulged in good drinks, and walked around the high school across the street (there was a basketball game going on, but it cost $5 to get it, so screw that). This sets it at about 4pm. We proceeded to go back to my room and reading random online articles/take naps for about 2 hours, and then we went to see Knocked Up at Eastbrook Mall. Post-movie we played Boggle, and then I sent him on his way so I could read more (Stranger from a Strange Land > bonding time).

I felt like the day defined summer, or what summer should be. I am happy to be doing research, and I am ecstatic about hopping around S. Africa, but oh god - once in a while I really do need to sit my ass down in some grass on a nice day and enjoy life.

I hope all of your summers are going wonderfully. Although I am up at Storrs, please fill me in if there are gatherings to be had. I will happily drive to wherever because I haven't seen most of you cool people in a real while. Thanks guys, and merry christmas.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-04-30T11:01:00

2007-04-30T15:09:23Z

A small ode to Josh:
So, it's now finals week. I've been stressed because stressing out is what I do, and I've been studying for biology (haven't started chem, which is tomorrow...) for three days straight. Yesterday, I was in the study lounge going through my bio chapters from ~11am until 4am, literally. At about 11pm, Josh came into the study lounge and sat next to me with a book. He stayed there, simultaneously reading and rubbing my back, until I was ready for bed at 4am. It made my...finals week.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-04-16T00:25:00

2007-04-16T04:31:23Z

So, life:
Life is good. Everything seemed to pile up for a while, but now it's let up a bit and suddenly all these good things are happening. Some good things:
1) I acquired a boyfriend. There is a longish, vaguely amusing story behind it, but let's just say he certainly waited a while for me. Also, he is rather tall. I am wasted on him.
2) I got elected Vice President for the new Pre-Medical Society (which I helped form) with 48% of the vote (there are over 200 people in the society). I'm pretty excited.
3) I got the summer research grant I applied for from UConn. I wasn't expecting it at all because older kids apply and because it's pretty competitive, but I guess my abstract worked. Basically, they are giving me $3000 to do research for 10 weeks here. It'll cover my living costs.
4) As I will be living here for 10 weeks of the summer, it means I will be within walking distance of said boyfriend's house.
5) I've finally gotten over all the body image crap I went through during junior high and high school. I hadn't realized how often I thought about it, and I've finally come to peace with my body. That may sound stupid, but it was significant for me.

Ok, time for bed. Goodnight everybody.

musicalshort1 @ 2007-03-17T15:41:00

2007-03-17T19:43:26Z

And all of a sudden things click. Something so stupidly obvious that I completely overlooked. My mom always makes fun of me for not seeing things in the refrigerator that are right in front of me, but I've now brought that to the level of my life. I went into chatterbox mode, no self consciousness. How refreshing.
This might be cryptic, it might not. I apologize.