i'm not lying when i say that mike jones album is pretty sweet. although he does yell out his own name a lot. but you gotta love that slowed down swisha house sound.

planning for away rotations is the biggest fucking headache in the world. all these schools want copies of immunizations and proof of insurance (including $3 million malpractice insurance! wtf? do we get that through madison? i have NO idea), and sloan-kettering even wants titres of varicella, rubella, etc. i think i need a physical exam for that application as well. it's like i'm applying for high school sports or something.

i'm also working on my application for step 2. god i am so sick of applying for things and crossing my fingers, but i guess that's going to be my life for the better part of the next decade. fuck.

tomorrow i learn how to apply casts and then we have core day, which means no clinical responsibilities, and we sit and listen to talks about malpractice and residency planning. so i can stay up a little later and do the writeup that's due tomorrow, since i've been procrastinating that work because i've been trying to PLAN MY DAMN FUTURE.

MMMMMIKKEE JONNNESSSS!

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 10:37 PM |

i started surgery this week. right now i'm on ortho, which i've been told and now have seen firsthand is easier than the general service. and my body is still paying for it. i'm in at 6am at the earliest, home at 4 or 5pm. not too bad, can't complain, but my body feels run down and my brain has already checked out. soon will begin the hours of 5am-7pm. i should cherish these days while they last.

so, i have, like, NOTHING, to bulk up my CV with. i didn't participate in very many (read: none) extracurricular activities the first 2 years of medical school because i was more interested in making music with my friends and living like i wasn't a medical student. and now i have to start thinking about my application for residency, and i don't have much to show for it except my grades and board scores, which are not going to be winning me a spot in AOA anytime soon. not that AOA is necessary, but i am seriously going to have only like a half-page long CV. i should use an 18pt font, maybe comic sans, that's not played out.

this is slowly but surely becoming a source of great anxiety for me.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 10:21 PM |

this morning i woke up laying on top of my blankets with my contacts in, all of my clothes on (i did have enough of a mind to remove my shoes), all the lights on, and a copy of the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy on my chest. hm.

i signed up for audioscrobbler the other day. it's kinda fun. i'm curious as to what my chart will look like in a year or so.

no studying to do today, per se. i start surgery tomorrow. time to enjoy the last hours of freedom.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 2:28 PM |

yes, i realize that it's been a grip since i've posted (nobody talks like that anymore, do they).

i took the final exam and practical for primary care on thursday and friday. last night i went out and oh the hammer did fall. today has speen bent in a haze of recovery. and now mtv jams is playing a special "screwed and chopped" edition, hosted by mike jones. even the commentary between songs is screwed and chopped. surriously. they played the obvious cuts like "still tippin" and "game over", but then they played scarface's "smile", and let it heretofore be understood that 2pac's voice and cadence slowed down sounds a LOT like biggie's does normally. the ironies of this game, i tell you.

today i tried to make a day out of party in the park. it didn't work; mother nature was not for it. it felt like it was 30 degrees and windy as fuck by the lake. it was miserable just standing there. but i did get to see some ska band from milwaukee which had a trumpet and trombone horn section, and this prog-math-fucking-champs band called czarbles, which my friend omar has recommended that i go see on more than one occasion, and holy hell, they ruled. it was a freakout. they're local, and i will definitely try to see them again. right now i think ..trail of dead is playing the main stage and i couldn't care less - it's so damn cold i can't imagine standing around outside like that.

when did best buy get all over victory records' shit? it seems like every commercial break that there's an ad for the new atreyu or silverstein or some other screamo band's new album for only $9.99. or its that jamster shit with the irritatingly enjoyable ringtones or the images of generic swimsuit models from the early 90's, with names like "Sexy Jessica" or "Hot Kelly" or something of that nature. the best commercial i can remember is the one for wear it again clothing where that blonde middle aged woman is fucking jamming out to the soundtrack in the middle of the store.

ha! the bravery are on mtv! a wise man once tagged them "like duran duran, only waaay gay".

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 8:14 PM |

see the entire photoset over at flickr. go nuts, watch it in slideshow mode (i just did).

the first photo is controller.controller, who totally rocked the opening slot, and the crowd was very enthused (unlike, say, the crowd for q and not u at the rave). their diminuitive lead singer ended up joining us common folk on the dancefloor during their last song and delivered her vocals from the center of a sweaty milwaukee hipster abyss.

the girl in the bra tore her shirt off after the supposed last song, trying to work up the crowd to convince DFA1979 to play one more song. the drummer then poured his bottled water on her chest. she was thrilled. then they played one more song. earlier in the show she flashed him, and he said something along the lines of "i was just going to say, do some situps or something", to which the bass player simply replied "oh... dude." i laughed.

towards the bottom is a shot of myself and my milwaukee roommate, efrat. the 1979 tattoo is on the drummer's forearm. the wound is on my forearm.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 6:06 PM |

DFA1979 was one of the best shows i've been to in a long time. my neck hurts, and i have bruises on my knees, arms, and a nice long battle scar on my right forearm. holding down the very front lines in front of a 1 foot high stage with my back to the sweatiest mosh pit i've been close to in years will do that to you, i guess.

my neck is in a lot of pain. there was thrashing. pictures will follow shortly. for now, i need to pack up this bidniz in the milw and move my ass back to madison.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 8:37 AM |

i finished my clinical duties today. a few more lectures, an exam and a practical, and this rotation is O-VAH. and i went out with a bang. today i got to diagnose genital herpes, and then inform a girl she had the herpes. totally what i love doing. the humorous part occurred when i was carrying around a biohazard bag with the vaginal swab (in the vial with culture medium), and a nurse asked, "what's in the bag?" and this other nurse (who always loves my dress shirts and calls them "grown man shirts" and says i "be looking all like jay-z") replied "herpes". but she pronounced it "herps", like we all do. HI-LARIOUS. we all erupted in laughter. then i told the girl she had the herps, and asked if she'd been sleeping with carlos d or michael vick lately.

my 4th yr schedule is complete, i think. to kick it off, i think i'm going to take step 2 early, like before 4th yr starts. i'm not too jazzed about my step 1 score, and i want to get step 2 over and done with, preferably by early july. and then starting july 18, i have 2 weeks of radiology, 2 weeks of hematology path, 2 weeks of anesthesia, 4 weeks of forensic path (cool!), 2 weeks of derm, 2 weeks of transfusion medicine (could be interesting, could be sucky) (i'm going to see if i can squeeze in a couple away rotations - NYC? philly? boston? california? chicago? - in the forensics-derm-transfusion stretch), and then my 4 week peds sub-i in heme/onc. the sub-i ends on 11/18/05 and then i'm off until 2/05/2006. THREE AND A HALF MONTHS. fucking awesome. of course i'll be interviewing a lot then, but damn it'll be nice to have all that free time. then i have my medicine sub-i for 4 weeks (also in heme/onc), 2 weeks of ortho surgery for the non-orthopod, 2 weeks of gen surg at meriter, and then finally my 6 week preceptorship in beloit (working with a family friend/neighbor, a geriatrician). that wraps up may 12, and then i'm DOOOOoooone. it's very exciting to see the schedule finalizing.

saw the shins last night with amy, efrat, barbi, sara vondy, and #1 FDF fan mike. it was at the rave, we had some shitty view but then amy and i went around to the far back side of the balcony and we had a good view of the back of the band. but at least we could see the band. the sound was kinda crap from back there, but i guess the compromise was ok. the shins rocked though. i never thought they rocked that hard live. and they were totally on point, rhythmically and melodically. i had a lot of fun. tonight i'm going to see DFA1979 (after i watch the OC in about 20 minutes). and then tomorrow i move back to madison.

for those concerned (chas): the hair looks fine. but that girl at the new salon is no eunice.

i have been listening to (probably) too much mobb deep lately. i think it's giving me nightmares.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 7:31 PM |

already, on a saturday morning, i've dropped off some dry cleaning (the bane of my clotheshorse existence, since magnified after slow accumulation of a signficant dry-clean-only portion of the wardrobe, necessitated by the "professional dress code"), which hopefully, will be ready by 4pm; i've gotten 2 loads of laundry done and am working on #3 (which includes, as i'm sure the readership is clawing themselves with curiosity, towels, sheets, pillowcases, and my white coat), showered and dressed myself (all by myself and i didn't cry when i shampooed), and washed the dishes in the sink. that's some fuckin' efficiency.

in a couple hours i will be having a hair affair. apparently this is when you've been loyal to your stylist for some time, but for one reason or another (this particular reason being that eunice had another baby and is busy being a mom and has told the salon that "she doesn't know if she's coming back.. yet"), the aforementioned stylist is unavailable and one is forced to choose a new stylist. i have no salon loyalty (only to the stylist), and as such i have no intention to go back to cha cha if eunice ain't there. this being said, my last haircut was in 2004 and suffice to say, i've become a bit shaggy. it's time shear the locks. working in a hospital/clinic all day long, it becomes a bit unwieldy (and unprofessional-looking) to have a floppy moppy hairdo. not to mention it's quite annoying, constantly brushing your hair out of your face. and i have no intention of being one of those ponytail-professionals. helllll no.

i'm going to some aveda salon down on atwood which comes highly recommended (i was told to go to the stylist named willow, who i'm told has trained at the vidal sassoon academy in london, but alas, she was booked all weekend, and i need a cutting STAT) from some friends. elisha, a graduate of the madison cosmetology college (located in illustrious westgate mall), will be my surgeon stylist.

it's a spring ritual of sorts. the weather gets warmer, the hair gets longer, the head gets hotter, the patience wears thinner, and then i go in and get it chopped. how short, i haven't yet decided. but there will be pictures. so just you wait. unless it looks like crap, in which case i will delete this post, pretend that none of this ever happened (except the laundry bit), and hibernate until the hair grows itself out again. which, in my case, will be a few weeks.

*murakami update: i've finished "the wind-up bird chronicle." epically excellent, i'd say. i'm now about halfway through "the house of god", which is an incredibly cynical story about life as an intern, to the point where it almost seems realistic and honest. it also features a good deal of gratuitous sex, which is described in a most medical and unerotic fashion. typical.

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 10:39 AM |

(that was the question liam was asking everyone at the underbar on friday night)

1. bloc party at the metro on thursday night. that was a LOT of fun. we got VIP section seating, and i convinced a friend of stv's that i was the drummer's cousin. bloc party fucking rocked the house, it was awesome. the openers weren't half as impressive, but hey, for a free show it was the rockingest. afterwards, stv and i chilled at smartbar where we [NAME DROP] met the lead singer of bloc party, just as we were leaving.[/NAME DROP]

2. lunchblog occurred twice, the first on thursday with quinn and stv at hot doug's (just as amazing as i had hoped), and the second on friday with quinn, jp, and ed, at artist cafe (i think that's what it was called).
quinn and i also had a playdate which involved us playing and posing with a britney spears poster we found on the street. truuuue story.

3. milwaukee brewers game on saturday. i can't really remember any specifics of the game aside from the fact that we (the brewers) won. it was a good time though, tailgating with some folks i hadn't seen in a while, and drinking a lot of high life. also, i did my best to complete the sausage cycle (hotdog to brat to polish to italian), but i couldn't get past 3 cycles. millah b wasn't upset.. just.. disappointed.

4. i came back to madison saturday night with the intention of making an appearance at both erica cook's and nichole medschool's birthday party, with the extra bonus of ramo returning for the weekend. and i failed. after a long multi-day bender in chicago (the likes of which i hadn't experienced in some time), i came back to madison and was no match for my accumulated exhaustion and lack of sleep (i never sleep well when i go to bed drunk, i.e. the previous two nights). of course, these are merely excuses, and i can only ask, "forgiveness please".

5. murakami update (mostly for chas): haven't finished "wind-up bird" yet, mostly because of aforementioned points #1-4. i don't expect it to last me until the weekend, however. then it becomes a matter of deciding if i should move on to "hard-boiled wonderland..", re-read "kafka on the shore" (as murakami himself suggests reading it more than once), read some franz kafka, or maybe start studying for this rotation's final exam, which will be in a few weeks. anybody interested in a medical school required reading book club? sounds like... boring.

outro: all photos from the weekend have been uploaded to flickr. i'd like to give a shout out to stv slv for hooking me up with the bloc party VIP treatment, BBQ beef and a place to crash, ed lo for also providing a bed the second night, quinn for providing endless amounts of entertainment, and everyone else i saw and hung out with this weekend, some of you more than others (zaid, next time, remember your ID).

this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 9:14 PM |