It's about time

I'm very happy and encouraged that one of President Obama's first acts as President was to rescind the Global Gag Policy. 

Red hot

Sorry for not posting over the last few days, as I spent the weekend in Phu Quoc Island, off the coast of Vietnam. It's a popular vacation spot for Vietnamese and foreigners alike. It's little more than than a simple island with a few pearl farms and famous ridgeback dogs. Yesterday, I spent the entire day on a boat fishing, swimming, etc etc. Turns out Vietnamese people get seasick easily because half the boat upchucked at one time or another in our 4 hour journey (fortunately, not myself). Also, turns out that you burn if you don't put on sunscreen, so I am sitting in pain right now, because somehow, I forgot to put sunscreen anywhere but on my face (lucky I didn't forget that!) and so my arms, my bcak, and my chest is as red and hot as a freshly boiled lobster. Yummy.

Oh, yesterday was International Women's Day, which in Vietnam is celebrated like Valentine's Day (instead of celebrated as a day to think of all that women have accomplished). So, when my tour guide for my night squid fishing excursion showed up, he came with a rose. It was cute. Overdone, like my tan, but cute.

Feminism, redefined.

After reading this article by Maureen O'Dowd, I am convinced that I am a staunch feminist in some respects (I like to use "Ms.", I will keep my name after marriage, I don't mind paying for my own meals, and I hate playing games) and I wonder if that will change if I'm not married with 2.4 children and own a house with a white picket fence within 10 years.

My mother's age

There is a time in every woman's life when she realizes that she is her mother's age when her mother had her. For instance, this year, I am 24. My mother had me at 24. I am my mother's age (and my mother would not be happy I'm revealing her age).

Of course, I have no children. I have no husband. No white picket fence. Not even a date on Friday night. Which, for me, is what I want (well, a date on Friday night wouldn't be all that bad). I just imagined my mother, who at 24 was "old", and having her first child. I know that I couldn't do it and I admire her, and my father, for putting up with me as a kid and now.

So, what do I have to show for myself? I have a college degree and working on two graduate degrees at once. I have lived away from home since the age of 17 and love its ups and downs. I have a bright future that, someday, may involve a husband and kids. So, am I really far behind my mother? I don't like to think of it that way - rather I have taken a different path. We all reach the same destination of happiness and personal fulfillment, hopefully. My journey has just taken me 3000 miles away from my home but my mother's journey took her halfway across the globe.

Pre-Valentine's Day Rant

I'd like to start off the Valentine's season with a rant about men and women. As I was looking around class today, I realized that most of the men in my class (upwards of 90%) were either married, engaged, or seriously committed to someone. On the other hand, I find that the majority of the women (about 70%) were not any of the above.

Why is this so? I have a theory. Men in medical school are seen as attractive to women. They are seen as having earning potential, intelligence, and are goal-oriented. All are admittedly attractive and I can see that. On the other hand, a woman in medical school is intelligent, but likely she won't let you push her around and likely has an opinion on things. [Side note: the women who are married, engaged, or otherwise committed tend to be more of the docile type, at least at my school.] Granted, these generalizations do not hold true for everyone (hence, generalizations), but that's how I see it.

Someone please prove me wrong. Tell me that either you're not afraid of an intelligent woman that wants to put her personal advancement ahead of baking cookies for classrooms. Then, and only then, will I stop telling people I meet that I'm a public health student and start admitting that I'm a medical student. [I have had guys just stop talking after I tell them I'm in medical school.]

so, nothing too big is going on right now. i'm just rather tired and sick of reading over biochemistry, so i'm taking a break.

while eating lunch today, i was watching the new whoopi goldberg show (i taped all of thursday night on nbc, hoping to get a new er, but it was a rerun). let me tell you, this show sucks. i'm not even very picky about tv, as i can get addicted to anything, including the OC, but whoopi just sucked. it was uninteresting, the characters are not believable in the least, and all the jokes are cheap shots about race, gender, or politics. i didn't even smile when watching it. it's rather disappointing.

oh, i also forgot to relay a story about my experiences with dell technical support. so, when i bought a new laptop, i was all excited, but also paranoid about it getting stolen or broken. so, to thwart some thieves, i put in a security screw to keep my cd/dvd drive in. well, when i tried to take it out to put in my floppy disk drive, it wouldn't come out. the screw was dseriously stuck. i tried everything, but what happened was the cap in the drive that the screw screws into came off and wouldn't let go of the screw. if you can picture that, read on. so, then i called dell tech support, expecting wonderful dell tech support. well, my first tech support guy was a piece of sh*t. sorry, it made me angry. when i told him that i couldn't get the screw out, he told me "are you sure you know how to unscrew it?" yes, of course i do. i have put together several dressers and a desk in my time and i hope that i know how to use a screwdriver. then, after i said that i knew how to use a screwdriver, he continued to say, "why don't you get your brother or your boyfriend to unscrew it for you?" what a bastard. right then i was flaming. i don't get very angry often, or even at all, but that comment just made me go over the edge. i then berated him and told him that i do not need a man to unscrew something for me and i do not need some idiot tech support guy to tell me to find one. then, he said that dell can't do anything about it because it's not their fault (though it is because it's faulty manufacturing that made the cap come off to begin with). then, i just hung up.

however, that didn't solve my problem. so, i called back after half an hour (the amount of time it took for me to calm down) and a lady helped me. she promptly said that a technician would call me within 48 hours and i should get it fixed, no charge. then, i filed a formal complaint against the guy who had "helped" me in my first call. dude, if i paid this much to have a computer with the support that comes with it, i better get good support.

so, overall, dell tech support is nice and good, if you get a good person. otherwise, you're screwed. the technician did call, though it was a week later, and it was promptly fixed, new cd/dvd drive and all. but yeah, my experience with a chauvinistic bastard. don't you just love them?

ah, enough angry tirade. the cubs lost right after i said they were up. i really should stop watching baseball as every team that i root for ends up losing. and the red sox losing to the yankees in game 7 was enough to keep red sox nation quiet. it's amazing. no baseball talk!!!

but my choice for the pennant: marlins. yeah, they have a smaller payroll and are playing the most popular team in baseball, but hey, the yankees aren't unbeatable. but i promise to not watch or follow a single game in hopes that will not give them bad luck.

i think that's it for now. back to biochemistry and cell, tissue, and organ biology (yeah, TWO tests tomorrow morning). feel the excitement of glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid! it's happening right there, in your liver right now. why don't you give it a nice pat (it's in the right ab region) as a thanks. now doesn't that feel good?