Blanchie lost her head

I'm glad that I read through the anatomy lab instructions on my way to school this morning. I usually do, but I didn't realize that I had a lab today until about 9 this morning so I wasn't sure I was going to get time. Thank heavens I did, because halfway down the first page, I spied this:

Prior to the lab, the heads will have been removed from the cadavers and bisected in the median (mid-sagittal) plane. Because the nasal septum usually deviates to one side...

Wait, wait, back up. YOU DECAPITATED BLANCHE?

Blanche is the name of my group's cadaver. I don't know why we named her, but most groups do. It seems to make the dissections easier to handle, although you'd think it would have the opposite effect. Mostly I think it just disseminates tension.

We've been learning from Blanche for just over a term now. Everything we know about muscles and nerves and arteries and tendons has been worked out on her. I know her dissections inside and out, pretty much literally. We've gotten used to her being in a certain state of degradation. We cut her skin and reflected fascia and dug around to expose things that are normally not exposed, but somehow that didn't change her essential Blanche-ness. We got to know her, in a weird, morbid way.

So I'm glad I was warned ahead of time that, when I got to the lab today, her face would no longer be recognizable. (Or, like, attached to the rest of her.) Because now, she's substantially less human, and despite everything we've already done, this could still have come as a shock. Cut open was one thing. Cut into three pieces is another.

Don't get me wrong -- lab today was wicked cool. I've never before seen a dissection that looks...exactly like the textbook picture. And Blanche's falx cerebri (the sheet of tissue that separates the left and right hemispheres of the brain) was partially ossified, which is apparently of interest -- so we had all the profs and dissection TAs crowding around for a look. This had to happen eventually, I knew that. It was just a bit of a surprise...and, oddly enough, a bit of a loss.

~isolde

Labels: school

Negating my existence

*rolls up sleeves*

Okay. Time to get back into the hang of this blogging thing. Seriously. Posting twice a month is not enough for me to expect to retain the readers I HAVE, the majority of whom are close personal friends of mine in real life and feel obligated. Not blogging is tantamount to negating my own existence.

But...really...does anyone want to read about the minutiae of my day-to-day life?

"I woke up this morning shortly after 7:00 a.m., but proceeded to hit the snooze button until 8:30. Answerboy and I were fully awake by 7:45, but spent some time chatting and ignoring the fact that we had to get up. Finally, I got out of bed, got dressed, put on makeup, noticed that I'm running low on mascara, and made a mental note to buy some more. I bundled up for the cold weather outside and ran for the bus stop, making it in time for the 9:23 bus. This got me to school in time for 9:30 class, which was the first class of the day. Normally we have an 8:30 class, but we didn't today for some reason. I haven't been to school since Tuesday, so I felt kind of victorious for making it. We had a review of hypoxemia, followed by 2 hours of weekly case wrap-up. We discussed a case of an older smoker with squamous cell carcinoma and a young woman with diffuse alveolar hemmorhage secondary to cocaine abuse. Between classes, I stood in a 10-minute long line for Tim Hortons to purchase a chocolate-chip muffin. It was good. During class, I spent equal amounts of time paying attention, talking to the people around me, and staring absently around the room thinking about God knows what. After class, I went to the computer lab and faffed around on the internet for awhile, visiting gmail, facebook, school e-mail, various friends' blogs, gofugyourself.com, and xkcd comics. I wrote back to Kyasuriin with great excitement regarding Neil Gaiman's sushi pillows, and forwarded the link to Juliet. Finally, Answerboy came into the lab, and I convinced him to come with me to the food court to get lunch. He had a hamburger combo at Harvey's and I had an order of poutine, which I've been having weird cravings for ever since we got back from Montreal. After that, he had to get back to afternoon class, and I was free to go home. Normally on Fridays I have clinical methods, but this week our preceptor can't make it, so we've rescheduled it. I was going to take the bus home, but in the end I just said "screw it" and walked the way I usually do. It wasn't as cold as it was this morning. I listened to my nonPod on the way home. The soundtrack, from computer lab to apartment door:
Tori Amos' cover of "A Case of You";
Vienna Teng, "Feather Moon";
No Doubt, "Spiderwebs";
Alanis Morissette, "Ironic" (the acoustic version);
Aimee Mann, "Save Me";
Tori Amos, "Sugar" (I skipped this song, because I swear my nonPod has a predilection for it and I've heard it like 5 times this week);
Goo Goo Dolls, "Name" .
Once I got back to the apartment building and let myself in, I looked down and noticed that my boots and jean cuffs were covered in snow, as they usually are walking around these days. I wondered 1) what the rate of snow dissolution could tell me about the temperature of the building and what equation would describe that, and 2) how the image of white snow melting into invisible water before I reached my apartment door could function as an image in a poem about the nature of loss. I also wondered if there was a limit to my dorkiness. Then I decided to compound my dorkiness with pretentiousness by blogging about it."

And that, people, is the kind of day it's been so far. Not BAD, by any stretch of the imagination, but bloody boring to read about.

So that's not going to do as a blogging style at ALL.

*sigh*

~isolde

P.S. I really do want those sushi pillows.

Labels: writer's block

The Obligatory New Years' Post

...although a couple of days late. Naturally. I'm going to make "stop procrastinating" a New Years' resolution...next year.

New Year's Eve: spent in Toronto with Answerboy, Antheia, Antheia's boyfriend, some assorted friends of Antheia's boyfriend, Antheia's sister, and Juliet. We watched all of 2 minutes of the official ceremonies on TV, at 2 minutes to midnight...and other than that, chatted, ate munchies, made various jokes about Vex, played Chez Geek, and watched classic viral videos on YouTube until about 3 a.m. As New Years' go, it was dorky -- but I'd make an argument that it was also trendy, given that user-generated content is Time's Person Of The Year. (And anyway, I spent enough time laughing that it was worth it.)

Viking Kittens
The Captain Picard Song
Gonads and Strife
Dick in a Box
Lazy Sunday
Nintendo Choir
Badger
The End Of The World
Ok Go On Treadmills
Hooked on a Feeling
The Viking Kittens sing "Gay Bar"
Llama Song

Since everyone else I know did a survey to capture the New Years' spirit, I figure: what the heck? This one punked from Juliet via Kyasuriin.

1. If you could give just one word for 06 what would it be?

Chameleon.

2. What are your favorite memories of 06?

walking around downtown with answerboy in the wee hours of jan 1. late-night pillsburyathons, and leaving the dorm-room tree up till april. washington. shakespeare class, and group dynamics class. barcelona, carthage, and aix-en-provence. getting accepted to med school. conquering teaching princeton review, and lots of classy coffee-and/or-lunches with antheia downtown. 4 whirlwind days in L.A with julie. cooking, singing, watching downloaded TV, shopping, and laughing about nada with kyasuriin. essential cohabitation with answerboy. sushi. faculty karaoke. buffy/veronica/house. small groups of various descriptions. books read and shared. even some of the studying was ok.

3. From 1-10 how would you rate this year?

I really have to say it ranged from 2-9. That probably makes it about a 5 overall, but I don't think that's quite right. More like an 8, probably. I had lows that I had no right to have, and highs that were quite charming, and to be fair the day-to-day existence was not too bad. So, we'll be optimistic and give it an 8.

4. If you could change one thing about 06 what would it be?

I would like to have skipped the crazy trough of depression I was in from med school interviews through the last month of undergrad. In particular, I could have elided the time between the Queen's and Ottawa interviews. It didn't do me any good.

5. If you could rewind back to one moment what would it be?

I would never go back to a moment I enjoyed, as I am convinced that this revisiting would ruin it. To my thinking, if I enjoyed the moment, it was a success. I have no need to repair those memories. But I think most of the moments I look back on with despair were probably not as bad as I've made them out to be. Therefore, I would like reviews on my Queen's interview, the night of the Homecoming party, and the night of July 9th. I refuse to pick just one.

6. Best vacation you went on ?

yowza...I loved all three. Um, but L.A. has to take the cake, I believe.

Friends-

1. Did you make any new friends?

starting a new school has that effect, yes.

2. Do you think any of your friends have changed?

...yes. In good, neutral, and not-so-good ways, but mostly in neutral ways.

3. Do you still have the same friends you had in the beginning of the year?

I think so. It can be hard to keep in touch. But mostly.

4. Who would you say was your best friends overall this year?

juliet, kyasuriin, antheia, tiffer...dave probably...answerboy goes without saying. next year I'm sure more med school people will appear in that list.

5. Where did you spend most of your time?

in front of kyasuriin's computer. :P no, also in front of my own. and in answerboy's apartment. and in bed.

Life-

1. Do you have any regrets for this year?

mostly I regret my lack of dedication to my education. I regret this every year.

2. Has a lot changed in your life?

I'm a medical student and living in an actual apartment in a totally different city.

3. Do you think you have changed?

not nearly enough to manage the future I've signed myself up for. But I'm working on it.

4. Do you have a New Years resolution? What is it?

Oh, I have many very standard resolutions that will not last past the first week of school. This is always the case. I think I should resolve to be more dedicated to my resolutions.

Relationships-

1. Did you break any relationships?

not...on purpose?

2. Did you meet someone special?

not in the way you mean. I met a lot of cool people, though.

3. Have you had any "firsts" this year?

Why, yes. For the first time, I cut open a human body to see what was inside. Is that what you mean? (Also other more mundane things.)

In 06 have you:

[x] Kissed anyone
[x] Hugged anyone
[x] Been out of province
[x] Gone on vacation
[ ] Failed a class
[x] Been camping
[x] Ridden a roller coaster
[ ] Gone snow boarding
[ ] Played laser tag
[x] Been out of the country
[x] Fell asleep crying
[x] Wished you didn’t do something
[x] Laughed so hard it hurt
[ ] Had surgery
[x] Been to a bonfire
[x] Made smores
[x] Drank any alcoholic beverage
[x] Made a mistake
[ ] Prank called anyone
[ ] Dyed your hair
[ ] Gotten a tattoo
[ ] Chopped off a lot of your hair
[ ] Broken any bones
[ ] Been in a physical fight
[ ] Played hide and seek
[x] Been to a funeral
[x] Said something to someone you wish you could take back
[ ] Been to the circus
[ ] Shot a gun
[x] Passed out
[ ] Played a sport
[x] Been to the hospital (but not as a patient)
[ ] Been pantsed
[ ] Lost your voice
[x] Gone to the zoo
[x] Been shopping.
[x] Cooked your own food
[ ] Played paintball
[ ] Gone mudding
[ ] Ridden a motorcycle
[ ] Painted a room
[x] gained weight
[x] went without food for 10 hours
[ ] Gone four wheeling
[x] Lost someone important to you
[x] Slept for over 12 hours

Happy 2007, people. May it treat you well.

~isolde