11/24/06

Thoughts \ Developed Thoughts \ Rants \ Raves \ Writing

02/26/2005 00:16 -0500 GMT

Cacophony

The day has ended.

The Allman brothers are playing an acoustic version of Melissa on Sirius. I wish it were an odd U2 something-something.

I scanned my web site, and I realized it was woefully unupdated. November was skipped, and January had one entry. Here we are in February, and I've yet to write the slightest bit of fiction I could muster.

I stood at the elevator today, amongst friends, and I said, "Oh maaan." Shaun noticed, and I remarked that I am a romantic old sot, that I didn't want to go home alone without Maggie being there. I do call Maggie every day, and that love of her voice carries me through until the date when she will arrive, on March 12th. I'll leave you hanging on that one a while.

Despite my humility, and I write that laughing quietly to myself, the first thing I want to say amongst a thunderstorm of things to say, is that the MS-1 basketball team went undefeated for the season to win the UAB intramural championship for this year. The undefeated season, the T-shirt, the fellas won the whole damn thing this year. YES!

I have to say in complete honesty, in the kind of honesty where you don't-know-whether-to-believe-me honesty, I had nothing to do with our winning. We have guys who can carry a ball, score a three at the crucial moment, jump high to make an unexpected block, play D on a dude that would score 20 on any other team, and out-hustle the hardest hustler.

Austin Lutz was our go-to dude, who can handle a ball unfazed, drive a layup in a crowd and make it look easy, command a team and be absolutely correct. We have other guys who could have led the team to a championship in the absence of Austin, but he was here, and he did it. Suh-weet!

To see pictures from our final game, check out one of my classmate's sites at http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~kimej/bbal_pics/bbal_pics.htm. Jinnie Kim came out, along with about thirty others, and cheered us on and gave us support. It was a great, fun time.

We're in the midst of Physiology, Introduction to Clinical Medicine, and Cell biology. It's a lot of work, and it's going well. It's interesting, and gives us information that we will use for the rest of our careers. It's also so much information that I have a hard time enjoying it. I wish I could think more about it, and spend less time getting it, moving on to the next block of information to get, getting that, and moving on again. Nevertheless, this is the process, and we're getting through it.

What else? My two sisters, Courtney and Elena were due to come to Birmingham tomorrow, from Framingham. Unfortunately, Elena fell a bit ill, and we postponed. Next time, as we say in Zambia.

I and 14 others were awarded a small grant through the UAB Medical Student Enrichment Program to travel abroad and enrich our medical education. I am absolutely thrilled about it. There are at least five of us going to Africa, in Zambia and Rwanda. We have a fantastic crew, and a special group. Each has expressed a special passion for meaningful work in an area of the world that I feel is wrongly neglected, over and over again. In addition, a dude named Mark Manning received an MSEP award that will support his going to Ecuador. Mark is a class act, and I am gladdest of all of us that he received support to travel this summer. I can't wait to hear about his experiences.

I could almost weep about the thought of being on Zambian soil again. Every time I think about it, I imagine kissing the earth there, when I land at the airport, although I never do it. Zambia, for reasons that I fully don't understand, holds one of the most special places in my heart. The people certainly make the place, and God has blessed that region with some of the most beautiful, fertile, mild, and undisturbed space I've ever seen on our planet. I am sure that at some time in my life, I will think of Zambia as my home more than I will any other location.

We are not without losses.

Dan Riherd's father, a physician, passed away this month. You know I think it bothers me more than it bothers Dan. He has such a peaceful countenance about him in a time that I think would be very difficult for me, were I in his shoes. I think that his faith, and his family's faith sustain him in ways that I do not appreciate, but certainly admire.

Rob Martin also lost his grandmother this month, and I've thought about that often. As president of the class, and in efforts to be responsive to these losses, I feel that Rob may be short-shrifted in terms of visible class support. Maybe it is a small thing, but I would like to be equally responsive to all needs. Yeah, like that will ever happen. Nevertheless, I have a small sense that I have failed in this regard, although I have not put a fine point on it yet.

The singlemost important thing going on is that in two weeks time, my baby Maggie and her baby Estelle will be somewhere in the air over the Atlantic ocean, on their way to this little homestead. I can't even get my mind around the implications of adding a teenager to my life, from a foreign land, but I know a few things. She is my daughter. She is Maggie's daughter, and we will integrate her and make her feel a part of this new world as best we can. I can't wait. I look forward to teaching her how to drive. And I do not look forward to boys. It will work out as it should, but wow, be careful what you wish for, huh?

Finally.

My grandmother remains, at 95 this year, with a matching set of replacement hips and giving hell to all who will listen. Despite our differences in my formative years, I love that woman. Weird as hell what life will throw at you to spin your fixed ideas on end.

We learned to use our stethoscopes this month, and that is a welcome, but daunting skill to learn. Listening to the heart is like listening to a good song. The more you listen, the more you hear.  There is supposedly a pathological rhythm where you can hear four beats, but I only hear three. I would like to be able to slow down a recording of these rhythms to be able to hear the four distinct sounds, then hear them at full speed to really understand them.

We've got a service tomorrow, and it will be a unique experience. It is a service in honor of the anatomical donors who gave their bodies to our human anatomy course. So we will meet family members of the people whose bodies we used to learn the structures of the human body. I am apprehensive about it. It's a strange experience to be sure. I am afraid of saying the wrong thing and thus dishonoring the gift that these donors and their families gave. I am sure it will be OK, but I still feel strange about it. I guess I don't feel any more strange about it than I do about some of the dissections that we performed. 

What else? We won the hoops, we're studying like mad dogs, Maggie and Estelle are coming soon, I'll be in Zambia in June, and we get to meet dead people's families to pay our respects. Did I miss anything? Clearly I did. I don't like the sound of the way I said that last part. It was disrespectful, and above all things, I do feel a great sense of respect for the gift that we received in our human anatomy course. I think it is a reflection of my emergency department humor - when it gets really difficult, make the worst joke possible, and everyone laughs. The worst gets better.

Hallelujah.