A Procrastinatory Friday Fiver

Entitled "Broken":

1. What's the last thing you broke?
Much to my chagrin, the heel of my right black boot snapped half-way through its first day of wear yesterday. I tried to hold my head up high and wobble with grace as I walked back from school with one leg 1 1/2 inches shorter than the other. Rest assured Sears will be receiving a complaint from me.

2. What's the most expensive thing you've broken?
I recently broke the post off one of my pearl earrings but I'm pretty sure the glue just went kaput. Other than that I'm drawing a blank although I'm sure my parents will be able to contribute 18 years' worth of expensive break memories next time I talk to them.

3. Do you consider yourself clumsy or graceful?
Extremely clumsy. I think I've blogged before about my disappointment at realizing I'm not exactly the picture of grace I once believed myself to be. I run in to walls and tables, slip, and fall quite often.

4. How much money do you have in your wallet right now?
I have potential money in the form of my check book and credit cards. I carry zero cash (which is extrememly inconvenient) and for some reason my well-worn debit card is sitting in my locker at school in the left pocket of my clinic coat. I'm losing my mind.

5. Someone asks for change while you're walking down the street -- what do you do?
I usually give change or a dollar bill if I have it. If not, I say I'm sorry and that I don't have any. It's a constant struggle for me between the idea of not giving money because it contributes to an addiction/disrupts systemic efforts to help the homeless and my visceral reaction to a person with so much less than me in so many ways. A long time ago Josh heard a motivational speaker who was once homeless say that the most painful part about panhandling was having people walk past him as if he hadn't even spoken, something we would never do to a person in a business suit, for example. To dehumanize a person in such a way, regardless of whether I'm empowering an addiction or not (which I will never know, for that matter), is something I have trouble doing. Nobody wants to be asking strangers for change on the street; it must be very humiliating to do so.

xoxox

This year of dental school so far has been very similar to when a vase gets shattered in a cartoon -- after the accident, the vase remains intact and seemingly unscathed for a few seconds and then simply collapses upon itself in a cloud of dust. The first few weeks back, I certainly felt overwhelmed about seeing patients regularly, the classwork load, and the ambitious lab schedule but I felt somewhat ready to hit the ground running. This past week, the vase shattered in a cloud of dust. Without exaggerating, there has not been a single day in the past 2 weeks that I didn't feel like I should sequester myself in a bathroom stall momentarily to 1.) burst into tears and then 2.) regain my composure. As a matter of fact, I've seen at least three people crying this week in school and granted they may have been upset about countless school-unrelated things, it helps me to at least think that I'm not alone in feeling this way.

The other night, Stacy, Katrina, Josh and I were swapping stories about how stressed our parents must be going through this with us. Stacy thinks her mom suspects torture at the dental school because she always has a minor breakdown on the phone. I called my parents on Monday night and before my poor Mom could even finish the "--oo" in "how are you," my eyes had already welled up with tears. By the end of the conversation, my parents had offered not once, not twice, but 5 times to come to Ann Arbor and clean my apartment, do my laundry, take me grocery shopping, send me home-cooked food, or bring me a care package. I adore their support and sometimes just knowing it's there helps.

I wish I could say I'd have this weekend to recuperate but we've got three exams and a wicked practical next week. In comparison to the studying I'll be doing this weeked, putting on some tunes and scrubbing the apartment tonight sounds like a luxurious vacation. I know I'm going to make it; I always do. I just have to take each day at a time and remember how far I've come. Today I heard a few first year students stressing about their biochem lecture and first upcoming practical; I felt the same way a year ago and somehow I made it through unscathed. No collapsing upon myself. No cloud of dust.

xoxox

You say it's your birthday...

Today is my golden birthday -- 24 years old on the 24th of September. I've tried not to get too excited this year because birthdays just aren't as fun as they used to be. For years I had a blowout sleepover party and capture-the-flag extravaganza on my birthday; these days it's more like dinner at a nice restaurant and disbelief at how old I'm getting. I heard a radio announcement the other day recruiting young people to a Detroit suburb for try-outs for the next season of MTV's The Real World. They were looking for people ages 18-24 and I was in shock for a good hour afterward that MTV officially considers my life on the border of bad entertainment. I guess it's true though; I'm sure I'd be the one turning down the bar for a good night's rest and urging my housemates not to play hookie from work again. My friend Stacy noted that when a "big night" for us is making bread, we've officially crossed the line separating young woman from adult. Oy.

At any rate, my adult friends saw to it that I had a great birthday and they took me out for dinner and drinks on Friday night (see pics below). Thanks to everyone who has called, dropped a line, or shared a cocktail with me in honor of my big day. I'll take a great group of friends and a loving family any day over capture-the-flag :)

xoxox

We went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. No thanks to that pesky spinach E. coli outbreak, I couldn't get my usual favorite meal.

We got to LIVE way early and the three patrons in the bar were watching the Tigers game. Hyden and Jamie took a series of pictures pretending to be bored out of their skulls. At least I hope they were pretending...

The band happened to cover Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" and Holly happened to have a purse shaped like a radio. The band didn't seem to catch the Say Anything reference when she did this on the dance floor but we sure got a laugh out of it.

The Three Nerd-ateers

Katrina, Holly, and I all wore wild shoes that night. Note Katrina's faux snake skin boots; I urged her to buy them and she accused me of always making her buy "weird things." I knew she'd go back and get 'em!

An impromptu end-of-the-night group shot

It's been a hard day's night

This past week made me want to curl up into a ball in my bed and not get out until Saturday morning. I got a small taste of what the rest of this semester is going to be like: all the coursework from before, triple the lab work, and seeing patients twice a week to boot. This week I saw a patient, did a local anesthesia injection refresher course with Holly, had a lot of lab work to catch up on, and had 2 exams. Tuesday night I was at school for 15 hours and Wednesday night I felt so beat up that Josh, Katrina, Holly and myself had ice cream (and Coldstone at that!) for dinner. I felt sick for two days afterward.

Thankfully, my friends and Josh are all on the same page as me and we get our retail therapy and Lord of the Rings fixes together outside of school when they're needed most. Yesterday a few of us got pedicures as a reward for the rough week and even though my pedicurist zoned out for 4 minutes and rubbed one spot of my right foot raw with abrasive moisturizer, it felt good to be pampered and the ultra hot pink color on my toenails could light up a room. I actually considered posting a picture but that's weird.

A few noteworthy items before I get cracking on the renal system this beautiful Saturday morning:

- 2 great movies I've seen recently are An Inconvenient Truth and The Illusionist. The former made me want to change my life (Josh and I are calling our energy company to see if we can switch to green power among other things) and the latter is based on a short story by Steven Millhauser, an author I enjoy very much. I highly recommend both.

- You may not know it but today is the "100 Days 'Til Christmas" mark. We decided that we needed a holiday to celebrate before Halloween and counted one day. We're heading over to Rick's house this afternoon to watch the UM-Notre Dame game and Holly, Katrina, and I plan to celebrate right. Let's just say that I'm pulling my mini tree out of the storage unit.

- I'm a little sick right now which is timely because we just finished learning about the pathology of the respiratory system. It's really disturbing knowing which bacteria is in my body, how it's replicating, and why I'm having certain symptoms. Sometimes I feel like medicinal ignorance is bliss.

- The Royal Shakespeare Company is doing a residency at U of M for 2 weeks at the end of October and since I missed them last time, I shelled out a considerable amount of dough to treat my parents and Josh to a performance of Julius Caesar in early November. I'm so excited I could pee my pants and I brought my 4 pound Shakespeare Anthology back to Ann Arbor so I can re-read the play a few times before the show.

- Halloween is just around the corner and I'm about to get started with some decorating (I've already refreshed my Halloween sock collection). Rest assured that I've got a trip to the apple orchard/corn maze/hay ride planned and will hopefully be able to have a pumpkin carving contest and not-so-scary scary movie night with my buddies (I'm talking Ernst Scared Stupid, none of this Nightmare on Elm Street stuff).

xoxox

boob tube

1. How much TV do you watch?
Very little, actually; probably 1-2 hours a week and often times that's just ABC News. I get a headache from watching TV for more than 2 hours at a time and I despise the commitment of watching one show religiously.

2. What type of show is your favorite?
I lean toward witty drama/comedy. I love Gilmore Girls and Sex and the City and I know I would have become a total Arrested Development junkie if it were still around. RIP.

3. Which talk show host do you hate?
Oprah drives me completely batty. I admire her ambition, success, and loyalty to her hometown but face it, people; the woman is a self-absorbed, self-congratulatory, condescending mess. Who puts their picture on the cover of their own magazine month after month after month? And who spends more money promoting their philanthropic ventures than on the ventures themselves? Ugh.

4. Are you looking forward to any new season premieres?
Nah, not really. All of my friends are nuts for Grey's Anatomy which I believe premiered this past Thursday.

5. Which show is your guilty pleasure?
I've mentioned it before, but Project Runway is my new guilty pleasure and in reality, it's not even that guilty. I can appreciate a show that rewards skill not strategy and I'm so impressed by the talent of all the contestants (well, not Vincent). It also tickles the do-it-yourselfer in me...I'm sure I'll feel inspired to break out the knitting needles and sewing machine come the season finale. .

xoxox

The Quarter Century Club welcomes GT

Below I've posted a few pics from Grant's 25th birthday celebration on Friday night. A great dinner at Rush Street and three bars later, I hope his induction into the quarter century club was a memorable one. If not for those reasons, then at least for my leopard print dress ;)

This week will be a busy one with two exams, a lot of waxing due, and two patients. I feel like the dental school is not pushing but shoving me out of its comfortable simulation-lab nest a little too early. Here's hoping I find my wings.

xoxox

The night started off trying to figure out the bill and being short, as usual. Come on, people...just add 20% to your total! I can see how it would have been hard though; with 16 people eating at Rush Street, our bill was over $440!

Holly and I just ended up looking goofy for what was supposed to be our "come hither" pose

Katrina and GT at one of those weird fairy doors all over Ann Arbor. We might plan a scavenger hunt involving them later this year.

Shveta and me outside Club Oz, the third stop of the night

Hyden, Grant, Stacy, and Madeline

1. When is the last time you dressed inappropriately for a situation?
It could be argued by some that I dressed inappropriately for GT's birthday this past Friday night (see photos above) but screw that. I thought it was fun and funky for a night out on the town though I did feel a little self-conscious walking down Main Street to dinner when it was still light out. That kind of dress requires the cloak of the night ;)

2. How many friends do you have?
I like to think I have a lot of good friends. Remember when we were little and we would order our best friends by number (i.e. Lauren was my #1 best friend, then Christa was #2, and so on)? Ouch. Now, Tanya and Josh are my bestest friends and I love all of my other friends dearly.

3. Are you running on time today?
I'm always running on time. I haven't not set an alarm clock in 7 or more years and dental school doesn't quite afford you those days when you can not watch the clock. Speaking of which, I should probably be studying right now (or "shoubudying" as some of us call it).

4. Do you use bleach on your laundry?
With the white load, of course. My socks always look brand spankin' new.

5. What are your thoughts on guns?
I am terrified by them. It's no suprise that the United States is consistently responsible for the overwhelming and nauseating majority of gun-related accidents and deaths worldwide every year; violence always breeds violence. Until our country can take an honest and hard look at why our gun-related crime is so high (which I attribute to an unappetizing cocktail of racism, self-entitlement, and taught violence among other factors), countless people will die unnecessarily.

xoxox

A conundrum and a related honorable mention

My dear friend Holly always indulges my four-year-old-like, pseudo-scientific inquiries on how the world works (i.e. can you pump a keg on the moon, is there really a Big Foot). Together with Katrina and Josh, we ponder the world around us and often times use our lunch hour to Google its mysteries. A few months ago, Holly and I decided to email Kraft food company to fully understand how amateur bakers can suspend chunks of assorted fruit in JELL-O at varying levels in mold-formed desserts. Anybody who knows anything about science (Tanya, you can stop reading here) knows that matter will float (or not) in a liquid at a certain level depending on its density, like ice floating at the top of a glass of water. However, many homemade JELL-O delicacies have bits of pineapple, mandarin orange, cherry, what have you, suspended through out with no rhyme or reason as to their placement. Following is the email that Holly and I sent to Kraft...

To Whom It May Concern: I am interested in knowing how the same type of fruit can be suspended at different heights in JELL-O. I am curious because approaching my question with an understanding of density does not fully explain how variable the fruit's position within the JELL-O can be. It would seem to me that the fruit should all be suspended at the same level. The Class of 2009 at the University of Michigan Dental School has been plagued by this anomaly for the past year. We would deeply appreciate any explanation you can give us. Or if you are not able to answer this, could you please forward this to someone who can explain? Thank you for your time.

...to which we received this reply:

Hi Holly,

Thank you for visiting http://www.kraftfoods.com/.

Gelatin must be chilled until thickened before adding additional
ingredients, to hold added ingredients in suspension.

If you haven't done so already, please add our site to your favorites and
visit us again soon!

I must admit to being very unsatisfied with Kraft's canned response. Anybody have any better guesses? It seems like it should be a simple answer so I'm hoping that someone out there in cyberspace is thinking of something I'm not. Perhaps my conundrum solver Emily will once again come to the rescue....we'll see.

The reason I bring all of this up now is because two Fridays ago a group of us were sitting around the lunch table when Katrina removed from her lunch bag a perfect, tiny Tupperware bowl containing the perfect, tiny amount of JELL-O. It wasn't as though she had scooped the JELL-O into the Tupperware, either; Katrina had the brilliant idea of letting her homemade JELL-O set in individual, lunch-sized portions. I thought that was so clever that I told her I had to write about it in my weblog. A week later, Katrina pointed out to me that she was still waiting patiently for her cyber-honorable mention so here it is: Kudos to you, Katrina! You are one clever gal! Now if we could only be that creative with our Spring Break planning! :)

xoxox

Unveil your mysteries to me!

Thank goodness for long weekends. I can't believe what a difference a day makes. I really think we should consider have permanent three-day weekends because that would make for a more balanced week instead of the obviously skewed 5-working-days-to-2-relaxation-days proportion we've got going on now. Then again, I guess the extra day would lose its novelty and charm because it'd be the norm, just like my Daddy says that if you earn $20,000 a year you want to spend $22,000 and if you earn $120,000 you want to spend $122,000. It's just not about having more. Bottom line: enjoy your weekend and don't use credit cards :)

At any rate, life hasn't quite handed me much new and exciting to report. Yesterday was the opener of the Michigan football season and we defeated Vanderbilt 27-7. We had a great dental schoolwide tailgate before the game organized by each class' social chairs and my seats are much better this year than last year. I'm so happy to be out of the undergrad sections where it's pretty standard to be claustrophobic, shoved out of your seat, or grossly offended by what the drunken, shirtless mobs are shouting. Now we're sitting with the graduate students from the professional schools (Law, Medicine, Dentistry) and even though the bozos behind us were pretty idiotic yesterday, we're hoping they were actually just some hooligans who beat up and took the tickets from the real law students whose seats are behind us. We'll find out in a few weeks I guess.

The plan for the precious remainder of the weekend is a serious deep cleaning of the apartment, a couple of trips to the gym, and some work in the lab. We're also having a small brainstorm session tonight over dinner to start planning for Spring Break at the end of February. We're hoping to maybe do a big trip again with our classmates and this time we're thinking all-inclusive resort somewhere hot. There was a contingent attempting to usurp the fun-in-the-sun trip standard for skiing instead but we saw an end to that. Spring Break this year falls between my summer research project paper and poster presentation and the beginning of studying for boards so it'd better be good!

Well, it's about lunch time and I should start checking items off of my to-do list. But first, two dental quotes from this week that stuck with me:

"The tongue is a heartless despot that basically rules the mouth." - Dr. Richards, on why it's so difficult to brush the inside of one's lower teeth

"Do you know how I explain tooth decay to my pediatric patients? I say 'You see, there are sugar bugs in your mouth and when you eat sugar, they eat sugar. Then they poop on your teeth.'" - Dr. Boynton on communicating with children; tellingly, I couldn't stop laughing after he said this

xoxox