It's been a few days. In that time I've loafed, worked out, done a bit of shopping, taken my iPod to the Mac hospital, delivered 45 Homes and Land magazine racks all around Long Beach (the first money I've earned in over 6 months!!) and hung out with AJ, Boyaner, and a bevy of ladies with whom they so often cavort. One of them is really nice, Shawn, and I think she likes me, but I don't want to get anything going since school is starting and she's going to Brazil for a while...
The magazine delivering was cool, we filled these plastic magazine racks with gravel, a pallet of which we bought from the Home Despot. They came in cardboard boxes, and I stacked a bunch up and jumped off the U-Haul into a pile of them like a stunt man. It was fun. Had some good convo with my half-cousin, he's divorced and playing the dating field. He brought up this great point about how when a nice, respectful guy dates a girl who's used to being treated like shit, she automatically falls in love with him before he has a chance to figure things out. Good times. Tonight we leave for SF, Dustin is super excited and I can't wait to get to HMB, CA. NYE in SF will be good fun.
In other news, I think I need something to divert attention from school. Lately I've been dreaming, daydreaming, talking, being interrogated, and worrying about school. I'll wake up in the morning remembering something really random about cardiovascular physiology or figuring something out that I didn't previously understand... It's not healthy I suspect.
On that note, please take note: I have been in med school for a QUARTER! I don't know enough to give reliable medical advice, so DON'T ask. I got cornered last night and this girl told me about 9 surgeries she'd had and how her mom is a medical miracle featured in multiple textbooks. I am a nerd and I do enjoy talking science, but it's driving me fucking crazy! I took AJ's stitched out and almost took Shawn's out too but decided to let her see a real doc...
Oh yeah, and when we come back from SF I want to attempt a cross-state road trip meeeting between 2 cars going opposite ways on the freeway. Our car and Shannon's, since they're down here for NYE and we're up there.
Sylvia got her first interview for med school! Naomi is interviewing at UCI next week too. Paaaaarty.
I also tagged along with Dr> Fox, a cool but slacker ER doc at UCI. The attendings just sit around and jack off for 10 hours while all the residents do the work. But the department has such a great comraderie, the attendings, residents, med students, even the undergrads all are buddies and hang out together. There's also this gorgeous nurse that wasn't there when I used to work there, but she's dating a doctor. One of these days.....

I am THAT GUY. You know, the guys who drinks to much and makes an idiot of himself. Lots of good old vivd descriptions of gross things ahead, read at your own risk. Good Lord, last night was fun until I puked my guts out for only the (third time as a result of drinking). Started off at Lazy Dog, a new place owned by the son of the guys who owns Mimi's Cafe. It's a bar and grill-type place with great food. The best part (listen up Dustin): Thursday nights are "college night" and although I don't know which college they intend to cater to, I DO know that the "deuce-deuce," a 22 oz. PABST BLUE RIBBON ON TAP is $2. Hooray. Met up with Gary, etc., drank some beer, wussed out asking a table full of cute girls to accompany us to karaoke (luckily, read on...) and headed to the official most ghetto bar I've ever seen. We're talking sub-dive, below the "dirty-but-cool" level: The Rebel Room, on Westminster avenue, whose sign is literally drawn in with a sharpie marker, whose bartender, Rhonda, has a countably small amount of teeth, whose Budweiser comes in a can, whose karaoke is limited but rockin.' Was drunk when we arrived, then drank MUCH more, including several of the strongest Jack and Cokes of my life. Most were free, since Rhonda was drunk since noon. Sorta tried to hit up Breanna's cute roomate Melissa, she was into me, we sang "New Sensation" together. The three or four regulars in the bar seemed a little miffed when 20 of us stormed their bar and bumped "Sal the guy who only sings Creed songs" off the mic. We had a blast, I got blasted. This 40 year old lady grabbed my glasses and tried to flirt with me but I was too trashed to respond. Apparently after talking to Kedis in the bathroom, I lost my dinner (thankfully quite light) then returned to hit on Melissa some more. Next thing I know I'm puking out the window of her car on the way home. Oh, it gets better. Between the deleted events of the rest of the night I remembber dropping my keys in the bushes on the front porch of my parents' house, then falling in them to rescue the keys, which Dave eventually found on the grass, not in said bush. In the process I pulled a Chris Farley and took out my Mom's wire-framed reindeer. Flattened the poor guy. That was fun to explain this morning... Proceeded to puke some more and pass out. Even made Dave puke from watching me puke. Gnarly. It get's better... Awoke to find out that I'd puked INSIDE of Melissa's car, and before I could call Gary to get her number, he called me saying that they couldn't even get in the car and that Melissa had borrowed Breanna's car. So I set out with a towel, toothbrush, and skewers for hard-to-reach places. She apparently was not pissed, but thought it was funny. Funny doesn't even begin to describe the process of pre-washing the area (it actually was not that bad), buying cleaner, scrubbing, and taking that shit to the car wash for a $30 platinum wash. Merry Xmas to that poor 2004 VW Jetta. Finally was stisfied with my cleaning job and dropped the car off at Gary's where later, through some complicated string of people driving, switching cars, and invonvenience caused by your truly, the car would make it back to its disgusted owner. Tony Tran called me and we went to Di Vang #3, (one of 4 locations in Little Saigon alone!), this wonderous place where you get delicious Vietnamese coffe served by delicious Vietnamese girls with fake boobs in bikinis and not much else. It's so strange, people smoking cigs inside, playing cards, drinking coffee, and checking out waif-ish asian girls with big boobs. Only one was actually hot, but it was fun. All of the preceeding activities were performed with a huge headache and generally hung-over feeling.

Other than that, break's been OK. Hung out with Tony a couple of times on his quest for girls. Saw Alexander, it was too long and not good, visited my Aunt on the hospital a few times, tagged along at the Hoag ER, chilled with AJ, went to South Coast, sat around the house, and that's about it.

Had a good conversation with Tony Tran about girls and issues and things of that nature. It sucked though since he knows Yvonne and had lunch with her and Thuy the other day, so lots of painful memories and frustrating feelings going on. I need to exercise, stop drinking excessively, and get the fuck over my ex-girlfriend...

Break is getting a little more fun now that I have stuff to do besides sit at home and think about being lonely on Xmas. :)

So yesterday was a mix if good and bad. My aunt (mom's sister) is in the hospital for ovarian cancer and she's in bad shape. She'll recover I'm sure (had surgery and is beginning chemo) but will not be happy or comfortable for a while. I went to visit her yesterday and a lot of my family was there too. The extended family seriously never really gets together unless someone is sick or dying. Not even on holidays as much anymore, unless it's just that no one invites me...
Drove up to LA with Andy and Dave and tried to meet up with Adam but he sent us the wrong way and we landed in Thai town. Awesome. We ate at this super cool upstairs loungy Thai restaurant with a hug stage and a band getting ready to play. The food was reasonably priced and phenominal. It's called Thailand Plaza Restaurant and it's on Hollywood Blvd. north of the 101 about a mile. Check it out next time you're in The L.A., but don't let that God-Forsaken place eat your soul :)
Which reminds me, I've missed so many OC episodes that I might just be irreparably behind. The only show I keep up with now is Scrubs. Last week before our anatomy final we were watching Scrubs and I busted out the bone box and started quizzing my roommate. (we were issued a half of a human skeleton in this old mysterious-looking black box. It's nice to study from, but mildly creepy. I'm trying to motivate myself to go to the arc. I just finished a huge one-man cleanup operation of the disaster area I call home. I need to have a talk with my roommate about keeping this place clean. It's me too, but I try to clean up little by little. then my tolerance for shit-ass dirtyness is much lower than his so I end up doing the big cleans solo most of the time. Not going to fly anymore.
Tonight I am going to the Hoag ER to tag along with Dr. Riel, who my brother knows from high school. He sounds really cool, I hope I can get my brain out of the haze that it's in from last night and seem sort of smart...

I just woke up and I'm not hungover. Maybe because I haven't gotten there yet since I'm still drunk...
Last night was such a blast. All of yesterday for that matter. I want to write it all down so I don't forget.
Took my bigass physio test after only 5 hours of sleep thanks to stupid Starbucks high octane coffee. Test was tough, sure i did ok. Finishe dearly, played a little ping-pong in the student lounge then went over to Gillespie to crash the Anatomy department party early. Made some latkes and shot the shit with two or three faculty members while sucking down wine. Start time: 11:15. Continued to eat latkes, suck down wine and punch, and randomly shmooze with professors. It was fun. Made a few drunk dials, etc. Then BUI'd over to Crawford field where sloshball was commencing. These 2 guys from my class bought a keg and I recommended Crawford field since it's secluded. Apparently there's a soccer tournament this weekend so we actually played behind that little snack bar on this little "track and field" field totally invisible, it's about 20 feet down a hill from everything else. Perfect. Eventually we had about 25 people and it was such a blast. Kickball with a keg on second base, everyone gott mammer-jammered, as mark would say. Round about 4:00 we realized there was supposed to be band practice so we headed back to the VDC and set up in Adam's living room and rokked out drunk for a couple of hours. I had already popped open the bubbly I got from shimako for picking the winning name for her baby (Emi). THen I caught a ride with her and felix and said baby to the former lab Xmas party. It was great, ate dome more unhealthy food, drank a bunch more (actually rolled up wasted, which was fun) and hung out with Jot, this really cool Canadindian guy married to a girl in the lab. Caught a ride back home with Candice, went over to Adam's, met up with Jill and headed over to PV to Megan's. Her place was phatty and I had a few Jack and cokes and kicked some ass at Taboo. There is a new pop-culture filled version and I am great at it :) Meanwhicle the keg was situated at my friend Aaron's house in Newport where the usual (white people) crowd was hanging out killing it off. I was over going to Newport but on the way out of Megans we ran into a few second years, one was vomiting profusely on the ground, and they were headed to Pierce st. I have never been there, and despite its newport-ness and skanky crowd I had a ball. Dr. Booty (the girl i hooked up with waaaay earlier in the year) grabbed me as I walked in and tried to hang all over me and grab me. The best part: her telling me my roommate is hott while squezing MY ass. Weird. I ditched her ass and 2 minutes later she was all up over this clueless Asian guy from my class. Classic. Danced with Jill and Adam and Amanda and had a phenominal time. Bailed at closing time, faded. Had been drinking for 14 hours straight, possibly a record for me. Drank a few glasses of port with some chocolate at Adam's then passed out around 3:45. Record set. Good times had. NOTHING TO DO TODAY and i effing love it.

Why am I up so late? Two words which I hate to utter: STAR BUCKS. One more day to cram before wasted time. Lots of stuff went on yesterday, we learned physical exam (feeling up the patient, etc) and a girl in my group almost passed out so we got a cool cardiovascular physio explanation by the doctor. Then on the way out 30 minutes late we ran into a classmate who got into a fenderbender, she was all crying and stuff. More delays, eating, and less studying. Today class wasa a waste, studying was a-plenty. Not feeling so good about the upcoming test but I just have to cram all day tomorrow since there's no class. Lunch on the former boss too, Dim Sum=Yum Yum. Late.

The past two days are the reason I am thankful for living in the OC. It's been above 70 degrees and beautiful. Perfect weather for running, surfing, skydiving, or whatever outdoor activities one is inclined to enjoy. So I'm about to..... STUDY. Fuck, everyone on campus (and I mean EVERYONE) is done with finals except us. Last night after losing focus after 3 hours at Starbucks (populated completely by first-year med students, there were at least 10 of us), Adam heard that the Pub was giving all the beer away to grad students before the break. We got there, it was crowded, we drank a few beers, then I came home to meet my roommate and a few people to see Ocean's 12. It was good, more complicated and less glitzy than the last, but I enojoyed it. And Catherine Z is The Hott. In other news, I spent time with my sister last weekend, she whooped my ass at raquetball. My sister-in-law has given me a tupperware container, originally filled with soup, that is mine to wash, return, and have refilled with her delicious cuisine whenever I want. How money is that? Break is one week, 2 tests, and many grueling hours of studying away. I already have a bunch of shit to do, including 2 ER tag-alongs, going up north for New Years, and possibly working on one or both of the two research papers that bear my name but are yet unpublised, giving me zero real-world credit for my hard work in undergrad. No, I'm not bitter :)
Otherwise all is going well, I'm getting exercise, practicing what I like to call "natural family planning," ie. not getting any, and just chillin. Off to study.

So here's some interesting shit, more interesting than my normal "eat sleep go to class study eat sleep shit" blogs. Many more people in my class are Jewish or paritally such than anyone elver noticed. So much so, in fact, that my (Jewish) friend Adam and I are writing a Hanukkah song about the class. It will rock. In other news I played music with a few guys from class, it went well, but I wish it was more punk-ish. I guess I need to broaden my musical horizons. OK, I'm tired. I'll write more when I am awake...

It's Friday. A year ago that meant cooking dinner, going out, drinking, hanging out. Now it means studying at Starbucks until I get kicked out thne going to Cha to pimp a dude with histology questions. (I don't know if I've defined "pimping" yet, but it's the malicious asking of esoteric questions of med students by doctors for the purpose of establishing dominance. We call it pimping when we fire off questions at each other after we've studied thoroughly and don't feel like reading notes anymore. It's better for recall memory and is much more "fun.")
Saw my sister (!) today, she's in town to watch USC football. Also found out my Dad's aunt passed away at 104 years old. She stopped eating. Totally gave up, which was probably appropriate at her age and quality of life. Apparently she was a librarian and set up medical libraries around the US. She was never a doctor or anything but was an editor of JAMA. That's hott.
So Bob, one of the guys from student affairs and the man when it comes to scheduling, media and lecture hall management, says I can play drums in our lecture hall. Awesome. I want to get him to let me sote my set in th emedia closet. We'll see about that.
In other news, the drama of my previous relationship has increased to a level higher than it ever was while it still existed. Apparently my ex-girlfriend is no longer speaking to her former labmate and friend (my current classmate) because she suspects said person "is trying to get with me." I speak to this person, my classmate, maybe once a week and we've literally never hung out. I don't know where all this shit comes from, but I guess since we don't even talk anymore it doesn't really matter. Sad though. As if she couldn't get any angrier.
And now, deep thoughts...
I still don't feel quite myself, it's been a while now. I am still shy and reserved in some situations where I never would have been before. I have little self-confidence lately too. I am afraid of hanging out with girls and I have no desire to date or anything. I could use the casual fling here and there for entertainment and stress relief, but that sort of thing never really was my thing, plus I don't think I can even swing that. Lately I've just wanted to look at cute girls, not say anything, then comment on how hot they are and explain to people who bug me to talk to them why I can't...