Snowboarding Summarization

• It took me 2 hours to make it down the first slope on Day 1.
• On that first run, I fell over 30 times.
• Around fall 20 (which was a doozy), I broke down in a serious case of tears due to frustration.
• I literally bruised my bum from all the falls.  Knee, wrist, and elbow bruises are expected, but the gluteus maximus bruise was a first for me.  I would post pictures, but don't want to offend anyone.
• One time I was on a narrow trail and I was trying to slice back to the left but something went terribly wrong and I fall completely off the slope into a mud pit. Not embarrassing.
• I said my first reactionary curse word in my life after a fall on the last run of the day on Day 1.  Ashamed to admit it, but it's the truth.
• Don't go to bed at 8 pm, even if you are so exhausted you think you will die, because you'll wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to sleep the rest of the night.  Thank goodness for Grey's Anatomy Season 1 DVDs.
• I think Ed and Andrew like each other more than they like me.  Who knew I'd be the third wheel?
• ALWAYS wear a helmet and knee pads when you snowboard.  They are a girl's best friend. Who needs diamonds anyway?  
• When we went to get dinner in the village on Day 1, Ed dropped Andrew and I off and then went to park.  30 minutes later he had not come back to join us, and we couldn't get a hold of him because his phone was turned off, so I started to fret.  He finally shows up just and I told him I was worried he'd been attacked or something, and he literally pulled the "pssh, you should have felt sorry for the other guy if that happened" line.  100% serious.  Really, Ed?
• The second day of boarding is mucho better than the first.  Day 1 fun index: 4/10.  Day 2: 8/10.
• I have a new appreciation for indigestion.  It hurts.
• Motion sickness only increases with age for me.  Driving through those back hills of wild, wonderful West Virginia made me want to puke my brains out.
• I can't sleep in the same bed as someone else.  I am a high maintenance sleeper in that regard.  But I can sleep on the floor or in a sleeping bag in the woods just fine.  Odd.
• Do I like snowboarding or skiing better?  Skiing.  Will I go snowboarding again? Debatable.  Depends if someone else is paying for the rentals!  :)

Video:  Starts with me flipping up off the ground and then you see Andrew shoot across the screen as he wipes out.  Just keep watching.

Why Marriage is Beautiful

I've decided I'm ready to get married.  All these years I've pushed it aside, thinking I was too immature and selfish to enter into such a covenant.  But this Christmas I had yet another revelation that has shifted my stance on holy matrimony.  While I may still be callow and egoistic, I believe I have many other traits to bring to the table.

For example, I believe I could make some great babies.  Seeing how successful my brother and his wife have been, I am ready to give it a try.  These little babes would be super athletic (they will be on a training regimen to be walking by 7  months), super smart (writing symphonies by age 4), and cute as a button (blond curls and blue eyes).  If anything, I think there is a guy out there that would be more than welcome to put up with my personality flaws to get some good genes for his children.

But even more so than my fantastic breeding capabilities, I want to get married for another reason: the holidays.  Christmas is already fun as it is, but imagine multiplying it by 3? Christmas at home with my hubby and children.  Christmas at my parents house.  Christmas at my husband's house.  Three FULL Christmases.  Seriously, could it get any better than that? I'd be set the rest of the year with all the gifts I so graciously received.

I am embarking on a new journey, one filled with anticipation and hope for one day finding true love.  Because friends, marriage surely is a beautiful thing.

How to Lose Weight

Over my 24 years of existence, I have never struggled with my weight or ever even needed to drop 5 pounds for an upcoming event.  In fact, I was told I needed to gain weight by our team nutritionist, but I threw that garbage out the window because I already ate like a fat kid.  Can't fight metabolism, baby.

While I am not saying that I am fat by any means now, I will admit that I do probably have 5 pounds to spare now in my current state.  I decided to make a change in my lifestyle and I actually worked out fairly intensely 4 times this past week (following my old A&M soccer workout book that I found at home).  I have started eating a bit healthier, knowing that that could only help.  Well I figured that I would see immediate changes in my body composition (ie the return of my glorious tight abs and toned arms), but after a week of working out, no pounds have dropped and no fat has dissipated.  

And then I remembered something.  There really is only one sure fire way to lose weight quickly.  And although it may come at some other expenses to your life, you need to only focus on the scale.  That's all that really matters.

It's quite simple: go through a break up.  Nothing makes pounds drop faster.  During my times of rejection and depression that I am unfortunately all too common with, my insatiable appetite for food disappears right in front of my eyes.  The thought of food makes me cringe.  It couldn't be a more perfect scenario for losing weight.  You won't even have the desire to eat.  On top of that, nothing is a better stress reliever than working out, so you will probably start going to the gym more often after the break up than before.

So my plan before spring break is to find a guy, fall crazy infatuated with him, then find a way to make him hate me (see: How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days) so that he will break up with me.  I'll eventually thank him as I am sitting in my bathing suit in Florida in March, basking in the glory of my hot bod.

Apparently...

I'm high maintenance.  

I truly never knew.  I always thought I was as un-high maintenance as they come...I mean hello, I like wearing sweats, hate showering, and would rather go play tackle football with the boys than go shopping with the girls.

But when "high maintenance" girls came up in conversation the other day, my guy friends all informed me that I am the epitome of high maintenance.

Devastated, to say the least.

"You're the worst kind.  You're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance."  ~When Harry Met Sally

"Turkey" Day? More like Sweet Potato day.

If it were up to me, I would say leave the turkey out.  What makes the Thanksgiving meal so great is not the meat, I say shamelessly.  No, I believe it's the vegetables, casseroles, and dessert.  Corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.  You can even leave out the stuffing.  Yeah, that's right, I just said it.  No turkey and no stuffing would actually make me a happier person because I would have more room in my belly to savor the pumpkin pie.  The only reason to roast a turkey on Thanksgiving would be to save it for the leftover turkey sandwiches that you eat for the next week.  mmmmm, now THOSE are high quality.

Round 2

Ahhhhh....you smell that?  It's the delightful aroma of a new beginning.  Spring is in the air.  And clearly by "spring", I mean biochemistry and genetics.  I officially survived my first block of medical school, scraping by with B's in both anatomy and histology.  But I'm told B = MD, so I'll take it and move on.

Today was the first day of class for biochem.  (I personally like A&M's shorthand for that class (BICH), which I will be using from this point forward, which means take a mental note and store it away in that little brain of yours.)  I'm excited about studying a new subject, I just wish it wasn't this one.  The class is graded on a curve (not a bell curve, mind you, one where only 6 people get A's and the majority get C's - and for those who don't know, C does NOT = MD).  My teacher for the first exam is an angry, angry soul.  I can't imagine living with such hostility towards life.  Needless to say, I miss good ol' Professor Tsai already.  Dr. Spielmann won't be wearing any crazy hats, or showing youtube videos during class, or inviting me out to play soccer with him.  I used to have such fond memories of BICH, but I'm afraid, my friends, that this is soon to change.  Alas, I realize that this is no longer undergrad and it's time to buckle down.

Although the thoughts of studying glycolysis and protein folding does not make my spirit flutter, I must say that I am relishing this new beginning.  My slate is clean.  I feel as if I have been given a second chance to prove myself.  And hopefully with the help of Mr. Genius himself, Eduardo, "tutoring" me every day, I can do half as good as he does.

For those of you who don't know, Ed is a member of the "family".  I believe I have not blogged about family, which is quite remarkable.  In fact, they would probably disown me if they knew this.  Gross Anatomy Table #5 consisted of Cara, Carol, Mary, Mike, Ed, and Steve.  From the beginning, they hit it off as a group and formed a tight, cohesive study group, but more importantly, became best of friends.  I was fortunate enough to be one of Ed's Histology lab partners, and after him listening to me wallow in self pity about how poorly I was doing in Anatomy, his dear soul invited me to join their family in a study session the following day.  Well it worked, my grades started improving, and I became a permanent groupie of table #5.  I knew I had been officially adopted when I was included in their super secret list serve of emails.  We recently adopted another member, Rachel, into our family, bringing the grand total to 8.

For those of you who care (which I know is all 5 of you who read this blog), here is an exaggerated, quick break down of the family (in order of the picture above):

Mike: high maintenance California boy, super sweet, "dad".

Carol: the artsy fartsy, always smiling one.

Rachel: reserved, witty, athletic.

Ed: crazy army dude, ridiculously smart, "naughty uncle".

Mary: the "tall girl", makes sure everyone is happy and well fed ("mom").

Cara: miss popular, outgoing, token liberal of the family.

Steve: outwardly a stud, inwardly a huge nerd. 

In celebration of finishing the anatomy block, we packed up our cars and took a mini road trip to Mary's cabin at Lake Cumberland this past weekend.  It was raining/sleeting the whole time, but that was fine by us because it made the hot tub that much more endearing, and cuddling up on the couch in front of the fire so much more enjoyable.  But it is now back to reality, and although our family is no longer tied together through lab, we aim to remain one with our weekly Grey's Anatomy parties, Friday night family dinner, and study sessions throughout the week.  No one can break us apart, for our family "hit the freaking jackpot".*

*actual quote by an outsider who is jealous of us.

Obligatory post-election thoughts

1. It's not the end of the world. And even if it is, heaven will be a much better place than this.

2. I am grateful that I will be a student/resident for the next 8 years of my life and won't be making any substantial income. None of my wealth will be redistributed.

3. I absolutely, 100% can't stand people that made this election out to be about race. Who cares if he's "black"? He's also half "white". And he hasn't rubbed shoulders with the black people of America since...never (see Harvard, University of Chicago, Senate). Fact: every one of my black friends on facebook has the following as their status: "MY PRESIDENT IS BLACK!!!!" That is messed up. If I said something like, "at least my governor is white", I would be shot dead. Double standards. I hate 'em.

4. It saddens me to see all these people now say that they are for the first time "proud to be an American". I don't think I need to explain why this one hurts my soul.

5. Why did the Republican party choose McCain in the first place?

6. I believe there is Someone upstairs that still is in control.