A Random Header Image
20th November 2010

lazy hazy

posted in Uncategorized |
lazy hazy

Lazy day today. I cleaned my bathroom and contemplated doing dishes (they’re sorted into cups, silverware and remainder. Maybe tomorrow). I met up with my friend Sarah at the nearby Starbucks for some studying (an aside, their peppermint hot chocolate is to die for), where, as per course this week, I managed to read 2 paragraphs of MKSAP15 “Pulmonary and Critical Care” before discarding the book in frustration. I’ve been trying to get past “Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease” for the past two weeks – it’s twenty pages of wishywashy-ness that basically says that “there’s a lot of diseases that affect the lung and differentiating between them is really hard, but we’re going to do so in a way that contradicts everything that we said before.” Seriously, I am struggling. I need to get through this all by the end of this week – I had hoped to be half-way through GI by this time. Maybe a countdown of days to Boards will be a motivator.

Anyway, Sarah and I spent more time talking and catching up than we did studying. She mentioned that she liked being mentioned in my blog, so consider this your shout out. 🙂 Sarah is one of the most vivacious people that I know, which means that hours can go by without me even realizing it. Our conversations have familiar themes but we always seem to find something new to talk about. It’s lovely.

The All About Me Meme – Day #9 (I swore I’ve done more than that!). Your hobbies:
Honestly, medical school and residency have sucked my life dry of any meaningful extracurricular activities. One of my friends remarked that to get into medical school, all of the schools looked at how well-rounded you were and chose those who had balance in their lives with interesting things they did outside of school.

1. Photography. Well, I think you all knew that. I’ve wanted to get into photography since college. Longer maybe – I used to read my parent’s National Geographic and long to take pictures like that; truth be told, I still do. It took me a long time to convince myself to buy my camera, but I’ve never regretted the decision. I’ve taken over 6500 pictures, many of them crappy, but it’s been a wonderful learning experience. There’s so much more that I want to learn to do. I want to take a photography class or two, so that more of my photos are less “point and shoot” style and more like art. I want to learn to do more with HDR, motion shots and night-photography (how much would I love to get into astrophotography!). There are several lens that I lust after – I would love a wide-angle or fisheye lens and I still really want a 35 mm lens. Someday…

2. … I don’t know. Wasting time on the internet? Reading and educating myself about politics/science policy/health care reform/vaccinations? Seriously, I’ve gotten lame.

From a google search for hobbies, I learned that I have the following: church attending, eating out, home repair, internet, listening to music, relaxing and sleeping. Still lame.

Hobbies that I used to have:
1. I used to paint. In high school, I loved to paint and draw. I never was fantastic at it (my drawings were pretty comical), but I enjoyed it. Some of my favorite memories involve going to my grandmother’s house and painting with her. I wish I had enough free time that I could get back into it.
2. I used to write. Short stories mostly. I miss my days of writing fanfiction – there was something so supremely satisfying about getting just the right turn of phrase. I heard once (and I can’t remember where) that 70% of people have “write a book” on their bucket list, but only 5% actually do and less than 1% ever get published. I’d love to be part of that 5% – I don’t care about being published – but I have no original ideas or even starting points.
3. I used to read. That’s an understatement. I used to devour whole books, 700-800 pages, in one sitting. My favorite brand was fantasy and I followed several series at once. Now if I read a book a month, it’s an achievement. I read the Hunger Games triology in a 2 day period but that was back in September and I’ve barely read anything since. Currently (as in I started it this afternoon), I’m reading a book about the world-wide oppression, prostitution and genocide of women that Chris and Gretty got me for my birthday which is getting me all righteously impassioned. I need to add books back to my diet.
4. Stamp collecting. Haven’t done that since before high school. I wonder where my stamps went.
5. Dancing: swing, latin, ballroom. I miss it so much. I joined a Facebook page that posts about all of the swing dances across the city and haven’t been able to convince myself to go. Soon. One day, I’d like take a Lindy-hop dance class.
6. Guitar: I learned to play the guitar in the 9th grade. My fingers have long ago lost all of their callouses and I no longer even own a guitar. Last weekend, I held one in my arms. My fingers remembered a few songs (I think I’ll be able to play Leaving on A Jet Plane on my death bed) and it was lovely getting to make music again. There are so many techniques that I never mastered and I’d love to get into it again.

Hobbies that I wish I had:
1. Astronomy. I would love to be part of an astronomy club and go star gazing on Friday nights.
2. Costume making. Specifically, Edwardian/Jane Asutenesque costumes. My dress that I made last year only whetted my desire.
3. Quilting/Sewing. I really, really, really want to make a Cathedral Quilt.

What hobbies do you have/wish to have?

HP meme: Day 8 & 9:
Day 8: Hogwarts subject you would most like to take.
Can I pull a Hermione and go to all of them? Okay, okay, I think I’d probably like Charms the best – it seems the most practical and the classes always sounded fun in the books. I’ve a soft spot for Prof. Flitwick as well – nothing fazes him! If potions was anything like my organic chemistry lab class, I think I’d find it pretty painful (and worse with Snape; I don’t do well with pressure). I think I would have found Care of Magical Creatures boring (sorry Hagrid), and I’d have definitely pulled a Hermione with Astrology. Arithmancy and Ancient Runes sound awesome too – too bad we never got to learn more about them.

Day 9: Least favorite male character.
There are quite a few male characters that bother me, actually.
1. Severus Snape: I understand you lost the woman that you loved, but you were pretty spineless when she was alive, it was 20 years ago, and it doesn’t excuse your bullying now. Also, if Voldemort had AD’d you like a proper villain, you wouldn’t have been able to pass on those memories to Harry, so he wouldn’t have found out that he needed to die and it would have all been for nothing. Luckily, your author really likes convenient coincidences, so we never had to find out.
2. Draco Malfoy. I just wish that you had gotten the guts to defy those in power and really choose the good life, instead of just living in fear. Yours was a redemption story that fizzled. At least your mom loved you.
3. Harry. It’s okay to ask for help. Things might have gone a little better if you did. Also, if you had paid a little more attention in class,
4. Dumbledore: In life and death missions, usually directions for how to accomplish the massive scavenger hunt are helpful. I realize that you are the “Guardian archetype” and so your role is done once the Hero has realized his potential, but since you kept vital information from your Chosen One, you made him much less prepared and relied on chance for him to succeed. Lame, mentor. Lame.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 20th, 2010 at 11:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

  • Julia’s Journal

  • Just an ordinary girl.
  • Archives

  • RSS Red Head Snippet

    • Books read October-December 01/01/2024
      My goal was to read 120 books this year. I just finished number 129. (Some of these I reviewed as part of my WWW posts). October: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I had high expectations for this book, as it had been so praised, and I felt let down by it. Still enjoyable, […]