This may be a couple days late, but I can claim that was intentional so I could not only experience the entirety of March, but also allow myself time to think and write a thoughtful reflection. Right. Also, sorry about the length, but there's a lot of news.
March 1st found me in the midst of our first Renal test, showing off all my knowledge of the functioning of the kidneys. I say that partly in jest, but for the first segment of Renal, ending the day of that first test, I felt quite on top of the course material. I'm not sure what happened, but for the rest of Renal, I barely kept my head above water. In fact, it was my score on the first test that carried me through the abysmal scores on the second test and final. The good news on that front: I passed the course even without the curve on the final exam, which we just took a week ago. I felt like I picked up the pace a bit for the last leg of the course to have a strong finish, but I ended up doing poorly on the final anyway. The disappointment from that is alleviated by knowing that only half of the final was on the new material and especially by the relief of not needing to retake the course this summer.
On March 5th, I and a classmate, Paul, flew to New Jersey for the student surgery club spring national convention. Friday consisted of several surgeons taking more time than allotted to tell us about various aspects of surgical careers. I didn't pull much out of that evening. That night, most of the students went to a bowling alley and stayed there, apparently getting quite tipsy, until after midnight. Paul and I missed the experience because we had been up for so long and just wanted to go to the hotel and sleep. The next day consisted of a lot of hands-on experiences. We ran through how to gown and glove (maintaining a sterile environment while donning surgical garb), laparoscopic maneuvers (abdominal surgery using small holes instead of a big incision), and several other procedures. It was a lot of fun. During lunch, I was sitting with some first years from another school and they were talking about their drinking experiences of the previous night and plans for that night. It made me wonder how much maturation happens between our first and second year. Yes, many of my classmates still like hanging out downtown in clubs and bars, and while I'm not into the drinking scene myself, I still feel like my class has become more responsible and mellowed out somewhat in regard to drinking. They have definitely made strides in the interpersonal drama that kept the gossip fires well-stoked. First year, I felt like we had regressed all the way back to high school, the immaturity was so ridiculous. This year, I have still been bothered by some classmates' immaturity, but overall, we've come a long way. Sorry, I'm waxing philosophical; I'll wax anecdotal again.
The second night's activity was going to Atlantic City, with the idea of more drinking and maybe some gambling on the side. Neither Paul nor I wanted to go drinking, especially not 'til 3am, so we decided to take our rental car instead of the provided bus. If you've not been to Atlantic City, the Strip, a boardwalk on the beach, is like a mixture of Las Vegas and a carnival, so it would be a fun place to walk during the day with casinos, carnival games, and eateries on one side and the ocean on the other. After dark, be sure to stay on the boardwalk, on the east side of the casinos. Even then, we were hit on by a hooker, then once we crossed back to the west side of the casinos, we truly thought a mugging was inevitable.
The last day, we did a community service event in a church in an area in which every other house was either condemned or enclosed in security bars. We were told not to leave the building unless we were with someone and left our white coats behind. We took blood pressure and blood sugar readings for people and provided food and informational packets about various health topics. It was good to do that; it's been a long time since I did any service activities and I appreciated the reminder of the conditions some people are dealing with. We had enough time after that to try every bridge in southern Jersey back to the airport in Philadelphia, looking for one without tolls. After an hour of getting off and on freeways and trying three bridges, we found out it was just a one-time toll of $4, and we happened to have $4.06 on hand. We just had enough time to run through the Liberty Hall and Liberty Bell area. It was nice to see parts of US history, even if only briefly. See pictures below.
We have been on spring break this week (yeah, I know, there's absolutely no excuse to be writing this late), so I've worked on a project I thought of the night before the final. It was a real strain making myself go to bed for a good night's sleep instead of starting on the project that night. I was watching a gardening show which showed several gardens with hand-laid brick and stone walkways and walls. This made me want to do some sort of similar project and I thought of making a mosaic. I like glass and especially mirrors, so I decided on starting with a mirror tile, etching a compass rose onto it, breaking it, and using the shards to make a mosaic. It's not quite what I expected, but I'm still working on it and it turned out a lot better than it could have considering it was my first time working with anything like this. It's currently mounted in a frame of foam board and balsa wood with plaster of Paris. I tried using grout sealer to seal the plaster, but I guess grout sealer means grout sealer, because it serves only to dissolve a bit of plaster and smudge it around. Next is to use acrylic sealer on the plaster and clean up the glass, then outline the edges of the frame with blue foam rubber, finishing by figuring out how to hang it. See pictures below.
In personal news, Liz and I broke up early this month. Since everyone seems to find it important, it was my idea, but that doesn't really make it easier. I didn't feel like I could give her the time or attention she deserved; basically, I wasn't very invested in the relationship. She, on the other hand, was willing to do almost whatever was needed to work around my schedule and do what I wanted to do. There's a bit more to it, but that's the gist. I'm glad for the opportunity to get to know her better, learn about relationships, and learn about myself, too. I don't know how I'll feel down the road, but right now I'm content being single, and feel like any relationship I would be in right now would have to be all about me since I don't really want to change, and that doesn't seem healthy or desirable.
A positive outcome of the breakup is that I finally started thinking about various personal issues and, with some urging from a friend, I set up an appointment to start counseling April 6th. I've struggled with depression and sundry things I'd like to finally get straightened out, so this is a really good thing. Also, because of the way I'm going about getting counseling, I don't have to worry about negative repercussions on my future career.
I'm anxiously awaiting August, when lectures and board exams will be over and I'll finally be in the hospitals, but for now, I'm setting my sights on the end of May, when our last block, Women's Health, will be over and board review will start. Hopefully I'll post the next newsletter a few days before then.
Scott
 |
| Proof we were in Atlantic City. As you can see, the sign says, "Welcome to Atlantic City." Or "Shocking Upscale Presbyterian Party." Maybe "Passing Through Mississippi Ping"? |
 |
| Atlantic Ocean at night. I really like the depth of color in this shot. |
 |
| It was tricky dodging other people and their photo ops to get this. My expression conveys something like, "Oops, I hope I'm not in their picture! Hey, don't get in mine! Geez, has he taken it yet? Wait, am I smiling?" |
 |
| Liberty Hall. |
 |
| Mirror after etching. It's one foot square in dimension. |
 |
| Mirror after breaking. |
 |
| Framed and mounted with plaster of Paris. |
 |
| Grout sealer smears. |
 |
Bonus pic. Is it a ship? Is it a kite? It's a ship kite! Mom gave me this a while ago and a recent windy day inspired me to give it a fly try. |
