Summer, Summer, Summertime

Ah, yes. Good ole summer. Minus your 85+ degree heat and Herrinfest, I can honestly say I've missed you. Personally, mine's going to consist of a decent amount of sleeping in, lounging about, DVD TV show watching, and video games. If I get ambitious, I might thin out the stuff from my most recent move; maybe do a little shopping for the future apartment; perhaps learn to cook cheap, quick, and well. Throw in a random trip (or two, if necessary) for apartment hunting. I might work for a month or so back at Logan, I might not. I've been told constantly, "if you can afford to, don't work at all during your last summer before med school...just don't." Even got told that by the guy I'm thinking about coming back to work for. Heh, I'm still debating if I can afford to take said advice. But, it's just now hitting me that this will be my last real summer. Ever. Next summer, I'll probably be doing some sort of clinical or bench research; doing some volunteer work; or doing some combination of the above overseas - hooray residency applications. After that, a mix of school/clinical rotations, residency, and boards take over all my summers. Similar situations abound with every other recent college grad, but damn - it sucks.

But yeah, I'm perfectly content with my summer plans. Would kinda like to travel, but money's a bit of a limiting factor. Hell, one of my friends is biking with her boyfriend around Lake Michigan, and just camping out every night (for a month). Personally, I couldn't do it, but it's still pretty damn cool. Would definitely like to visit a friend who's just recently moved to Thailand. Free place to stay, cheap food, cheap suits...cheap stuff abound. Cheap food. Thai food. Cheap Thai food. Yeah... Stupid money and needing to book flights in advance. Random side note, apparently we don't get any real breaks during the year: two days for Turkey Day, a few weeks for Christmas, and I definitely didn't see a spring break. That and money makes planning a trip over there kinda hard. Kinda sucks that I'm only now starting to want to travel abroad, with this being my last real chance to for a while. Whatever though, good luck to you JSP, hope you've found a place by now.

Among other things though, it seems like there are going to be a lot of goodbyes this summer. And that's just weird. Especially since it's most likely a lot more long-term and more long distance vs. four years ago. Yeah, there'll be the talks over AIM, phone, emails, and whatnot. But it won't be the same as heading over to a friend's place or Applebee's. But as I've mentioned, JSP's over in Thailand. Still, in no order: JAR - congrats on Microsoft, you'll do some amazing things over there. Hell, based on your track record, you could probably not show up to work, wake up around 2, and still earn a raise every quarter. And that's before redefining the GUI OS. KBH - glad you got into the MS program and that you'll be saving both time and money. Also happy that you found what you wanted to do. Oh, and "High Fiiive?!" JWM - not really sure what you're wanting to do, and I don't think you are either. But whatever it ends up being, hope you figure something out that works for you. SRH - seems like you'll love it down in Atlanta. Don't let your kids get too much taller than you and you'll do awesome. Actually, you'll do great either way, but at least you'll still be taller than the kids this way. QS - to be honest, I'm not really sure what you're going into, but 1.) heh, good luck with it 2.) you'll always have the gang. And having the gang can't hurt you. Smodog! KRJ - good luck with the LSAT in a few weeks, hope the app process goes well and everything works out for you. NM - haven't seen you in forever, but maybe we'll get to catch up once we both get to Chicago. Congrats on the engagement! Whenever you apply to med school, I hope you do great - you've got a shitton more clinical experience than I do, and once you get to the interview stage your drive for medicine will show pretty damn well. To the other teachers, artists, doctors, nurses, PAs, researchers, engineers, lawyers, and others I haven't mentioned: you know who you are - all the best. Here's to staying in touch. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze something out of my loans/schedule and get to visit.

Now, I usually don't do the type of stuff I just did, but I felt like it had to be said. Hey, it's my blog :P

Craigslist

So, I hadn't heard of craigslist until earlier this past semester. I found it through a UIC housing webpage for incoming M1s. This, a few other places, and actual realtors are how I'm doing my apartment hunting. Anyway, I usually I go straight to the apartment listings page and bypass the main page. A few days ago though, I went to the main page and a "best of craigslist" link somehow caught my eye. Clicking on said link led to my wasting a few hours. This one below got a pretty good laugh out of me.

A Letter From The Blue!

Four Years Later

After four years there, one could say I'm pretty familiar with U of I. Having said that, there are going to be things that I do and don't miss about campus.

A few of the things I will miss:
1.) Being able to order food at pretty much any time
2.) The types of food you could order at said times: chinese, cookies, calzones, gyros, burgers, mexican, subs, and the ubiquitous pizza
3.) Food specials at different places and/or nights around campustown
4.) Thirteen, yep thirteen, bars within a ten minute walk of each other:
co's, kam's, station, gully's, clybourne; firehaus, legends, murphy's, white horse, bar louie, illini inn; brother's, joe's
-the first "semicoloned" group is easier with carding, and the crowd reflects that; next group has a little older crowd and are more hang-out type places; last group is a pretty good mix of everything
5.) An abundance of places to take naps in the union
6.) Illinois basketball from the 2004-2005 season (go Deron!)
7.) Somehow running into the same people when walking around a campus of 40000
8.) I've been missing this since they disappeared in 2005: some church giving out free hot dogs after-hours on daniel between 3rd and 4th
-combine this with bonnie jean's across the street, and i had some good drunk food back in sophomore year

This next list actually is from a friend. My own comments are in brackets. Except for #5 (no idea what she's talking about) and #6 (never had it happen), I pretty much agree with her.

Things I actually won't miss about the U of I Quad and campus:
1. People that stop and chat in the middle of a pathway
2. People that decide to hold hands and kiss while walking, thus veering directly into you
3. People that walk in groups of 5 to 10 straight across so there is no way that anyone else can walk near the sidewalk
4. MCB majors getting forced into lectures at the most run down buildings and rooms on campus
[Lincoln, Foellinger, NHB for our core classes]
5. The "information on non-violent eating" and "information on animal cruelty" guy
6. Large groups of people that decide to play frisbee in the middle of the day when lots of people are sitting outside on the quad, thus forcing you to play monkey in the middle involuntarily
7. Classmates that speak at full volume behind you during lecture
8. Professors that don't really speak English very good ;-)
9. Fear of a j-walking ticket - seriously?
10. Driving [up] I-57 several times a year...
[11. UI/Chambana parking prices and tickets]
[12. Dorm living. Bleh.]

Yep, that covers most of it. Heh, my likes list deals with eating, drinking, and sleeping. My dislikes list deals with school and associated activities. I'm sure this'll hold true to an even greater extent in a few months.

Why Do You Wanna Be When You Grow Up?

Nope, the title of the post isn't a typo. It's a contrast between two things, as you'll see.

I paid my pediatrician a visit a few days ago because I needed her to sign off on some immunizations for UIC. She's one of the nicest docs I've met, and didn't mind us walking in. My mom decided to come along because she hadn't seen her in a few years.

Anyway, once all the immunization stuff gets signed, my mom and the doc start talking about their kids. I get mentioned as going to UIC as an incoming M1. The peds doc mentions how her oldest kid is also just starting med school, after getting her master's from Dartmouth. I think to myself that that's pretty impressive. But the next comment kinda took me by surprise.

The peds doc then says "it's about time that [my oldest] got to med school; I hope [my next oldest] follows her." And she said it in a snippy, non-joking manner. I should note at this point that the MD is Pakistani. I guess I've always known about the stereotype of Asians and Middle East cultures pushing, almost forcing, their kids into certain careers. But I've never seen it first hand.

IMO, given one's circumstances, you should do what you want to and what makes you happy. If that means going into medicine, great. If that means working as a flight attendant, great. If you want a job that's all about the money, so be it. If you're wanting more humanitarian work, good deal. There are different reasons and appeals which draw people to various careers. Either way, I don't think kids should be forced into something just to meet their parents' expectations. After all, it's the kids that have to wake up every day and actually live out that career.

My background? Yeah, I'm Asian and my parents are first generation immigrants. Also, my father's a physician, and my mother used to work as an RN. But, they've never forced any particular career on me, especially not health care. I got surprisingly little exposure to the health field growing up: neither ever brought work home with them or talked about it in front of me. My parents always supported whatever I was trying to do. So, I gradually got interested in medicine mostly on my own. But once my parents saw I was seriously interested in health care, then they started to talk more about what they'd experienced. So are my parents happy I'm going into medicine? Yes. But only because they can tell that it's what *I* want to do and because it was my choice, not theirs.

So for me, it's kinda hard to understand how kids can be forced into a career by their parents. Even harder is comprehending that that's just how things work. Yeah, there's obviously a culture difference, but still. I don't think I would be cool with that type of environment. I'm not saying one culture is better than another, but I just find it hard to relate to that sort of upbringing.

All Things Final

So over the past week or so, a couple of things have finished up.

Finals Week
Like I've mentioned earlier, I had the lightest finals week of my undergrad. Of the finals I do have grades for, I did pretty well. Still waiting on Endocrinology though.

Med School App Process
I've withdrawn from all schools that haven't rejected me. That is, I've withdrawn from not only five of six schools that accepted me but also both my waitlist schools. These last two waitlist withdrawals brought a sense of finality to the med school application process. For details, check here. Some random numbers: Boston University applicants (11000), class spots (155); Loyola applicants (9400), spots (145); Northwestern (7000), (130); Vandy (4300), (100); Rosalind Franklin (6500), (185); UIC (6500), (300). From these numbers, I'm pretty happy to have multiple acceptances. But almost a year, a couple thousand dollars, countless essays, nine days of interviewing, and a lot of waiting later, I'm definitely going to be at UIC. Yay me.

UIUC Undergrad
A few days after sending out my final withdrawals, commencement rolled around.

The orange/blue cord indicates University Honors (Bronze Tablet), the white cord (over the stole) indicates James Scholar Honors. Part of graduating with University Honors means that I'll have my name on a bronze tablet in the Main Library. Kinda cool, IMO. Also, the line for getting this pic and a pic with my family was ginormous. Anyway, there are similar feelings of finality regarding my undergrad/premed career, since getting into med school was such a big goal for me. Finality in being one step closer to becoming a practicing physician. And while I did pretty well in undergrad and feel good about how I did, I can't help but wonder...

What's Next
Now for actually doing well in med school and residency. Undergrad organic chem, biochem, molecular bio, immunology, endocrinology, bacterial pathogenesis, anatomy, physiology? Psh, wait until you see what's next. Or at least that's what I hear. After the excitement of getting my first acceptance and the finality of picking one school, I'm starting to freak out. Mostly about the amount of time and work I'll have to put in for med school. I guess this is only natural at this point and will work to keep me going once I actually start. But, in the immediate future, I'll be heading up to Chicago in a few weeks to check out a few more places and actually sign on an apartment. As of right now, my tentative move date is late July/early August. Orientation week is August 13, with the first day being August 20th. I'm ridiculously excited to move up to Chicago, get situated, and check out the city, but not so much about school. Either way, I get the feeling this summer is going to fly by way too fast.

Line Dancing

After my last final (yay!) yesterday, I decided to tie up some loose ends. I figured it'd be as good a time as any to get some things done. Unbeknownst to me, a lot of standing around in lines awaited me.

Cap and Gown
First on the agenda was getting my cap and gown. The people distributing these took over two ballrooms in the Illini Union. When I got to the Union there were a couple hundred people crowded into the room, and probably around ten lines to get your stuff. Fine, whatever I'll wait in line. On a side note, there was a couple right in front of me who felt it was necessary to put on extremely excessive PDA. I mean seriously, every minute there was a peck, an ass grab, some hand holding, and whatnot. I guess the hand holding isn't so bad, but come on. Anyway, fast forward about twenty annoying minutes later and I'm five spots from the front. Then, I hear some lady yell for those with last names from A-J (Illinaisa) to come over here. Are you shitting me?! Fine. Spend another ten minutes in line, get my cap and gown, and leave. As I'm checking the bag, I notice I'm missing a special cord I was supposed to get for graduating summa cum laude. Grrr. Head back in and wait another ten minutes.

Mckinley Health Center
Next up, I head over to the campus health center to pick up some immunization records for UIC. First off, there's no parking whatsoever because a nearby dorm had sent all their movers' parked cars over to the Mckinley lot. I drive around the lot a few times and finally resign myself to trying to find a spot over yonder, across Lincoln Avenue. Five minutes later and I'm parked in someone else's spot. I head into the building and find medical records. As I'm walking up, I see a line that's coming out the door of the office. What?! How many people can seriously want medical stuff on the last day of finals? Ten minutes, a few people, and some paperwork later I leave with said records in hand.

Rain, Sleet, Snow, or Hail
It doesn't seem to matter what time of day you go, but there's always a line at the Neil Street post office. Today was not going to be an exception to that rule. On top of that, apparently the day's theme was that of "mail at least one large package" for the people in line. And to top it off, the paperwork I asked for got me redirected to a side wall where it was sitting all along.

Wally World
I headed over to Wal-Mart to grab a Mother's Day card and some stuff for a year-end barbecue with my grad student and our group's undergrads (Thank You card and some drinks). My feelings are summarized here. What he said holds especially true for the Friday afternoon rush hour.

Hooray for lines. A sincere hooray for being done with finals and school! Done at least, for three months.

This Kid's Got a New Toy!

Yep, I got myself a(nother) mp3 player. Cost me $40 shipped, from here . It's a 1GB Creative Zen Nano Plus. Runs for about 18 hours on a AAA battery, and this'll get you MP3/WMA playback, FM radio, and recording abilities. Said recording abilities can happen one of three ways: through an in-unit mic, through a line-in connection, or from the radio. Oh, and it's insanely small. You've already seen the player's size in comparison to a credit card. This pic below has seven quarters stacked up next to the player.


I've only got two small negatives about the player. One is the lack of an in-unit USB connection; still gotta use a cord to upload files. The other thing is the lack of an easy way to select a track or create a playlist. Although, you can organize music by folders and find tracks/makes playlists through folders. Like I said, neither con is big enough for me to not recommend this player. It definitely beats carrying my other mp3 player around.


For the perceptive folk out there, yes I've got two Creative players. They're quality products and they're pretty reasonably priced. Hell, the Zen Visions are pretty sweet and they're cheaper than their Ipod counterparts.

Finals Week?

Yes, the title of this post is a question. A rhetorical one, but still a question. This is pretty much the best finals week ever. Only three finals and one of them is an online one. An online final in medical terms. Yeah, I like it. A lot. This is in stark contrast to what UIC's kids were telling me about their finals during Second Look. Something like eight finals in ten days, or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, yikes. Especially since some of those finals are for year long classes. So to answer the original question, yes it's finals week, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. No complaints here though. Guess I should go study.

Mail Call

Got this email a few days ago. I didn't need the reminder, but the deadline's crept up faster than I thought it would.

Dear Illinaisa,

We are pleased that you are considering ***** as one of your enrollment choices. You would be a terrific addition to our institution.

I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you and other accepted students of a looming deadline. We have received a listing from the Association of American Medical Colleges indicating those applicants who are holding more than one acceptance at U.S. medical schools. According to this listing, you are holding an acceptance at our institution as well as:

*****
*****

We realize it is often difficult to decide which medical school you wish to attend. We would like to remind you that you have until May 15 to make a decision regarding *****. If you choose to attend another medical school by that date your enrollment deposit will be refunded to you. It is important to other applicants who are now on our waiting list that further acceptances be offered as soon as possible.

If you feel you need additional information to assist you in making your decision, please do not hesitate to contact us. We want to be as helpful as possible. Thank you for your continued interest in *****.

Sincerely,
Admissions Director

As of a few hours ago, I withdrew my two remaining acceptances. Unless one of my waitlist schools offers an acceptance with some major money, I'll be at UIC next year. Feels kinda good to have a (mostly) final decision.