silver linings

Our Clinical Skills labs this year consist of a wide variety of different activities. We were stuffed into groups based on alphabetical order (I’m glad the people with “F” fronting their last name all seem to be pretty cool :O ), so my friend Nina’s in my actual group, and 2/3 of my usual study buddies/cellmates are in the one right after (they grouped a lot of activities by twos).

Earlier during the week, I was pretty ecstatic because we had “Clinical Experiences,” which basically meant that we’d be going out somewhere and shadowing someone (dentist, PT, PA, physicians, etc.). I happened to be assigned to a friend from church, but when I texted his wife on Wednesday (we were stuck in class until late, so I couldn’t call), I found out he’d closed his office for the week because of the state fair. This was good and bad–good because my friend happens to be a podiatrist and we all know how I feel about feet (if not, just know that I hate them), but bad because it would’ve been super chill, and I happen to pass by his office every day on the way to school.

However, I ended up getting to pick where I wanted to go out of a list of preceptors who were willing to take on 2 students. Naturally, I picked one of the physicians my friend would be shadowing, and we went on a mini-road trip together. (All of us except Sean, who started singing sad and heartfelt Celine Dion songs about how alone he was when he heard that we were all leaving him.)

It was a beautiful drive over to the health center (in a town with a population of 565!), and our preceptor was really nice. I learned a lot and got to correlate a lot of the material we were learning in class while we were talking to the patients. We listened to a bunch of hearts/lungs, checked for orthostatic hypotension in one patient, checked reflexes, palpated for swollen lymph nodes and looked into lots of ears/mouths. I’m not too wonderful about asking questions and Isaac is great about asking questions, so I think it provided a great balance.

I’d told them earlier this week that I was probably going to attempt to make Thai curry over the weekend so we could have a feast of sorts while we studied. On our way back, this happened:
I: So since Farrah’s not cooking us dinner after all, what should we do about dinner? :[
F: Hey! I said I’d cook this weekend! It’s only Thursday!

We were playing this horrible, horrible game at dinner (“Out of these three, pick one to do, marry, or kill.”) and giving each other all kinds of crap about it. (There are definitely more guys than girls in our class with absolutely no redeeming qualities, so I think it sucked more for me. >_> )

I: Wait, guys, we should include Farrah in this.
S: Okay, so given the choice between Farrah–
M: No, don’t include her in the choices. That’s too personal!
I: Alright, hypothetically!
F: (Wasn’t this all hypothetical to start with…? D: )
I: Given the choice between Farrah, _________ or __________, who would you choose for each?
F: Um, should I be around for this?
I: You’re right. We’ll talk about this when we get home.
F: How is that any better?!
M: I’ll answer it.
F: Should I leave?
M: No, it’s actually a good thing. Or at least, I think it’s good. For marriage, I’d pick Farrah, hands down. There’s not even a question to that.
I: Yeah, that’s an easy one. I’d definitely marry Farrah.
F: Thanks guys, this is pretty flattering.
M: Yeah, of course! You like our choices?
F: Yeah! That’s the best one! (It implies that you think I’m awesome enough to spend life with me and that you find me at least somewhat attractive.) I don’t want you to kill me. D:
M: Well, there’s the other one.
F: But who says you can’t do that if you’re married? >_>
M: Good point.
S: As of last week, I would have picked __________, but as of this week, I’d definitely pick Farrah to marry.

Thanks, guys. :O

We went to Stardust Cafe for dinner since Isaac and I are doing “lifestyle changes” (we prefer not calling it a diet because really, diets need to be lifestyle changes for them to actually work–concepts ingrained in us from EXB!). He’s trying to lose weight and I’m trying to stick within my weight class (I reached my goal weight a month early!) for my competition in September.

The “Trust Me” salad from Stardust!

We have a [not-so-]secret handshake (people thought it was cool and wanted to learn, so Sean taught it to them; traitor) and I’m an [un]official member of our/their band, The Vagal Tones.

M: I feel like we’ve been vulgar all day. I’m really sorry, Farrah.
F: It’s cool. I’m still here, right?
I: Well, we’re actually this vulgar all the time. Just not around girls.
F: Are you saying you guys no longer think of me as a girl? D: Because that’d be kinda sad. :[
M: No, I think we’ve just gotten too comfortable around you.

A good euphemism, I suppose.