Fortune cookie of the day...

This evening, at Super China Buffet, I received a fortune cookie that was strangely appropriate:

"You will pass a difficult test that will make you happier."

Hopefully that is in reference to my last final of 2nd year on Friday! :-)
(Or the boards!)

school rant... sorry...

*begin rant*

Anybody that has talked to me in the last two years knows that I take issue with the behavior of a subset of my classmates. I am very frustrated at the way people treat our professors, as if they know nothing and exist only to serve our whims. Today, we got an email changing the entire grading system for a quarter-long set of assignments that virtually assures that anybody doing them will qualify for an honors grade because people complained so much that it was unfair to do "full-credit" work and not get honors. Doesn't "honors" suggest that you did BETTER than just the typical expectation??!! AAARRGGHH! The email ended with the sentence "Please stop the hate mail."

It makes me absolutely crazy that people would actually send angry email to the professor about this, rather than saying "oh well, I will just have to work a bit harder" and going with the flow. These people have collectively been teaching medical students for longer than many of us have been in school! Don't you think they might have learned a thing or two about the subject and the process of teaching?????

Call me old-fashioned, but I really believe that professors deserve respect (even when you are disagreeing) and the benefit of the doubt, they deserve not to be bothered for stupid things or questions we can easily answer ourselves, and they should have the latitude to make reasonable rules/policies for the class and have us shut up and do what they say. Med school is supposed to be hard, and it is their job to motivate us to do our best, not give everyone a cookie and an honors grade and a hug! (By the way, I do NOT expect to get an honors grade in this class and I am not trying to be exclusive about it, I just think people need to be nice to professors.)

BE RESPECTFUL. BE KIND. HAVE PERSONAL INTEGRITY. WORK HARD. In the real world, we don't get to change "the grading system" just because we don't like it!!! We will get whatever patients we get, with whatever illnesses they have, and we have to roll with the punches and do our best to help them.

Imagine this: "Excuse me, nurse? I don't think it is fair that I have to see this patient today. His medical condition is too complicated. It is too hard to figure out what's actually wrong; I think he should just be happy that I gave him a bandaid and some random pills, so I don't have to get all stressed out... He should pay me a lot anyway, since I tried..."

*end rant*

psychiatric disorders...

Does studying psych indoors when it is 80 degrees and sunny outside (for the first time this year) cause affective disorders? Ack! I should make a cold, frosty, SSRI cocktail and go enjoy it and study on the deck! :-)

warming up...

This set of finals feels different than usual; it feels like the warmup for the big game (boards) rather than the event itself. Fortunately, my clinical skills professor (we are in small groups to learn these things) has proclaimed me "ready for 3rd year". Whew! :-)

I've been knitting still, although it has gotten a bit simpler lately; here is a nearly-completed scarf made from Noro Kureyon inspired by Brooklyn Tweed (although not nearly as nice!) and using some yarn I got for Christmas from my aunt.

I've also been learning to run! A friend referred me to an excellent podcast, the "Couch-to-5K" put together by Robert Ullrey. The program uses intervals of walking and running, along with great music, to coax some running out of even the most running-phobic! I'm on week 4 of 9, and it works great!!! Thanks, Robert!

Well, sadly, it's back to studying "Neurobiology of Mental Illness". Yum!