Germy

I've heard of other people describe this kind of experience. A memory that has persisted and serves to mark when the internal dialog began. I was three years old, and I remember going out the back door of the church I grew up in, standing on the concrete pad and looking at the huge oak tree and thinking to myself, 'I'm three." It was just something that resonated with me, the fact that I was a person who recognized that I recognized my own existence. I'm sure thats not what I thought, explicitly, at the time, but it is the essence of the experience. I would venture to guess that just about all of us, all of humanity has experiences like this, whether or not they persist as memory landmarks, is hard to say. Memory and the ability (or, inability) to memorize is such an intriguing aspect of life. Just about every other day I take the dog for walks at the nearby park, and have, on and off for the past few years and usually, we park at one particular lot and go for ...

It was late Sunday evening, after a day filled with reading and practice questions, that I was browsing Amazon Prime (through the Roku, on the television) as I was looking for something to watch while I did busywork that I found "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" was available -- the entire catalog. I watched a few episodes and I got to thinking that many people -- no matter the age, would benefit from watching this show.  Just like reviewing the fundamental science behind medicine -- albeit, at a relative superficial level, is imperative to understanding physiologic and pathologic processes and the treatment decisions that stem from this understanding, so is hearing Mr. Roger's positive reinforcement aimed at children who are growing and trying to find their way in this world.  I think my favorite part when I was a child was the make-believe portion where the trolley would come out from the hole in the wall and then go back into the wall, where the king, queen a...

Being a medical student is such an interesting place to be. We are in interesting places literally, metaphorically, philosophically, emotionally and of course financially. There is a lot written, and a there continues to be much written about the med student experience. It is definitively a formative experience and I can't help but write about the experience. A few spurious thoughts on the process: Today, one of the Obstetricians I was with asked me what other rotations I had done this year -- something that I've been asked at every rotation this year. This time I, with a brief but glorious pause, told him that I had already done all of my cores -- and had also served at a free clinic and spent time with an interventional cardiologist. Of course I knew that this was going to be the last gig of 3rd year -- but that was the first time I had articulated that point and it was pleasant. We then chatted how crazy it was that this was the chunk of time that I was to know exactly...

There is a lot going on in the world right now -- at large, and of course, in my little world, too. Instead of exploring my thoughts on things, I'm going to post what will probably be the last "clip-show-blog-post." It is my favorite thing I've ever written, and the story that won a bunch of awards during undergrad and had me reading an excerpt from it in front of a bunch of fancy people. One day I'd like to retool it, expand the story perhaps, but that day is not today. It should be noted that this was the last time I tried to snuggle up to DFW and throw in a bunch of junk in the form of footnotes, nevertheless, I'll let them stay since this was the last version I crafted. I thought it would be nice to add in some pictures, too. These pictures are of the places I was imagining when writing this thing.  Here it is: Apoptotic Adventures While Whale Watching                  ...