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Do you ever sit back and think if life is real? I remember as a kid,
while sitting on the john, i would always ponder....am I really
really....is this really life...or is this all a manifestation of some
weird alien's dream.  (I was a deep kid....i don't know what
happened). 

Sometimes, I'd thinking about what would happen if civilization as we
know it was swept away by some catastrophic event.  And eons
later, some futuristic species would accidentally stumble upon our
remains.  What would they think of us?  Maybe they'd be able
to teleport....and they'd find automobile remains....and display them
in their museums...with a plaque that read "these primitive peoples
could not self transport, so they built these massive structures to
move themselves from one place to another".  Then they'd think,
geez....how could they live like that?

yep....things to think about!!  What do YOU think about?!

So, let me tell you a little story about my new englander classmates
(this just perpetuates the steroetype that new englanders are
racist).  My med chem professor is Indian (as are all chemistry
professors it seems)...and like most immigrant Indians, he speaks with
an Indian accent.  Like most indians, his grammar is perfect, he
just has that charming lilt to his speech.  And it's not even that
heavy, believe me, i have heard much worse.  So every semester, we
do teach evaulations...and people can write comments on the bottom if
they want.  Apparently, someone had written "learn English before
you decide to become a teacher".  YES THEY DID...that's what they
wrote.  HOW RUDE is that?!  Luckily the prof didn't take it
that seriously and told the entire class that someone wrote that and
then added...."that person must've not studied well and did badly, so
he/she was mad...but all i have to say is that i've been speaking
english since before any of you were born!!"

example number two.  Our virology & Antiinfectives professor
is german.  ANd maybe i'm a little bit immune to the german accent
because everyone at my lab was german, but even so, her accent was not
strong at all.  And again, grammar is perfect...just the little
lilt.  A row of WOMAN (grown, married women who went back to
school for pharmacy....NOT young teenage girls) sitting behind me spent the entire
two hours making fun of her accent.  And i KNOW they are new
englanders because of their own accents.   So germans tend to
prounouce their "th" as an "s" or "z"  and they sort of pronounce
their "r" as kind of a "w" sound.  So everytime she said "mouth
organism", the women would CRACK UP...and they would all go" mouse
aw-ganism"...and then they'd turn to each other and ask "what did she
say? what did she say?"  EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Then they would
miss what she would say next because they were too busy making fun of
her accent.  And then they'd have to ask "what did she say?" for real.

SO ANNOYING. SOOOOOOOOOOO ANNOYING...i have NO tolerance for
racism.  NONE.  i can NOT stand it when people make fun of
immigrants' accents.  it is SO RUDE.  why don't you go to
their country and learn their language perfectly? 

although for some reason, i don't find making fun of accents within
American English offensive....probably because i can do a pretty good
Boston one now....that is one horrible accent.  I used to think it
sounded like "pahk the cah in the hah-vahd yahd"...like almost english
sounding "ah"...but it is NOT.  it is SOOO not.  All the "a"
are actually like the "a" in "yak"...but as extreme as you can make
that short "a" sound.  so it becomes "pack the caaaa in the
haaa-vaaad yad".  i can do it for you if you like when i get back! but that doesn't
count...because that's just a difference in speech pattern...it's not
due the fact that our original language pronouces certain letters
differently. 

Anyway. SO RUDE.
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geez. it is 15 below...this is immediate snot freezing weather.

ok so i htink i have injured my right thumb because of all the IV
shifts i've worked.  I have to make a lot of 50-60 mL syringes
(the largest size)...and there's a great deal of resistance when you
pull back on the plunger.  The larger the syringe the harder it is
to pull back because of the pressures you have to overcome....you're
trying to get a whole lot of liquid through a tiny little needle. 
So, last weekend, i started getting pain in my thumb joint whenever i
had to make large volume syringes.  At first i thought maybe i had
just bruised it somehow.  But when i got home, it was swollen and
stiff.  And a week later, it's still the same....except now the
pain extends down to the next joint.

It hurts especially when i apply pressure by bending my thumb back (the
same movement that i use to draw syringes).  It also hurts if i
apply pressure to the top of my thumb while it's bent (like when i
WRITE). 

After the wednesday, i won't have to work for another week and a
half...so hopefully, it'll be enough time for whatever it is to heal.

my poor little thumb.

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OMG....I AM FREAKIN OLD....i mean MATURE!!!!

When i was in college in Brooklyn, there was this pizzeria nearby...right outside
the Q subway station.  And the pizza was DARN GOOD....it was run
by this old italian guy...and he worked rather slowly, but the pizza
was always so good.  The place was really shoddy and had like 2-3
small tables and one of those folding tables in the back.  This
guy made all the pizza's in front of you while you waited...he would
take the dough...so the whole throwing it the air thing...scoop on some
tomato
sauce....add FRESH BASIL that he grows in pots in the window...and then
he would put on the
cheese (MULTIPLE types of cheeses.....hand grated right then and
there).....and then drizzle on the olive oil (it's so fascinating to
watch...i always stood by the counter and just gawked).   i always
loved going
there...i ate half a pie by myself once because it was so good. 
And on the weekends, when i took the train home, i'd stop in and grab a
slice to eat on the train.  Oh, and they had the BEST garlic
knots...like 6 for $1...SOOO GOOD.

Anyhow, today, i was reading Time Out New York...and they had this
article on best eateries in the outer boroughs and how they're opening
up new restuarants in the city.  So, they talked about this place
called DiFara...which is supposed to be legendary.  And how it's
in Midwood (which is where i lived) and off the Q line.  ANd then
they show a picture...and at first i was like, hey, that kinda looks
like the place i went to...it's on the corner and everything. 
BUT...i never knew the name of the pizzeria i frequented because i totally thought it was just the local pizzeria.  But i'm
almost positive it's the same place. 

But it really is a very hole in the wall place and you would never know that
it's legendary by looking at it. I've been telling everyone that the
pizza is best in Brooklyn because i thought this was just a regular
normal pizzeria and all pizzeria's in brooklyn would probably be the
same.  SO....if you still live in brooklyn, or if you know...is
that pizza place underneath the Q station (I think the Ave J stop and across from the supermarket) THE famous Di Fara pizza?!

oh...for those of you who are in the city, the old italian guy's kids
opened a pizzeria in the city called DeMarco's on W. Houston and
MacDougal.  If you guys happen to go, lemme know how the pizza is!

okay girls, let's share beauty secrets...what products do YOU use...if
you use many, list favorites?! (boys may share too if they wish)

I use:
*HAIR - pantene sleek and smooth, Bed Head After-party  to smooth (smells GREAT), MOP hair
conditioner/protectant if i blow dry, and physique wax if i cut my hair
in that short layered cut i sometimes have

*BODY - Oil of Olay soap, Vaseline lotion

*perfume - Gucci Envy

*FACE - Origins checks and balances foaming cleanser, Clinique
astringent, Benefit Eyecon for the eyes, Oil of Olay Total Effects face
lotion (for day) and Alpha Hydrox Enhanced Creme (for night....probably
not good for sensitive skin, it's a pretty high % of alpha
hydroxy.....thanks
april!)

*FOUNDATION/POWDER: Almay Liquid Makeup in Sand (cheap, hypo-allergenic and light!!!) only on special occassions

*EYES - maybelline extreme volume, random drugstore brands, shu uemura eyelash curler (the BEST...never crinkly eyelashes!)

*BLUSH - Tarte Cheek Stain in Flush, Nars in Orgasm

*LIPS - Chapstick, Rosebud lip balm (which i no longer have because i
brought it to the softball tournament one year and it melted in the
sun), Kiehl's  lip balm, Neutrogena lip gloss in dreamy.  (I
don't really wear lipstick all that much because of my big lips....i
always look like a prostitute)

*NAILS - whatever's on sale....usually Brucci!

Did i miss any other categories?!  SHARE SHARE!!!

So I had this one class today called Interpersonal
Communications.  It's one of those required crap classes that is
not really required in all practicality.   But it's supposed
to teach us how to communicate with patients and coworkers and what
not.  So the prof comes in and talks about the class...telling us
about how important communication is in the real world blah blah
blah.  i'm thinking, we're in grad school...why are we still
learning about this.

And she goes on to announce that class participation is 20% of our
grade.  And if we do not participate, or participate to the level
she likes, she will start us of at an 80 and go from there.  She's
going to use one of those systems where you get marked down everytime
you say something.  Fine.  i understand that since the class
is on communication, that speaking in class is important.  But our
class is rather large...there's about 40+ kids in there....and she
wants us to have avid discussions on our readings (which resembles
those self-help books on how to develop people skills) and she will
moderate.  So obviously, even if all 40+ of us raise our hands,
only one will be chosen to answer...and only that one will get marked
down for participating when in fact, all of us wanted to
participate.  She said if she could've done things her way, she
would fail anyone who didn't participate to her heart's content.

My question is, how controversial/interesting could our readings be
that they would provoke such fervored discussions.  I have looked
through the book....it is literally a self help book...complete with
mock conversations that are analyzed to come up with ways to handle
certain situations better.  Oh, and let's not forget those
interpretation charts that read "if he says this.....he really means
that."

And she says pronounciation is very important and will refer us to a
pronounciation class if she feels it's necessary (and then she looks at
all the asians in the class, myself included.  I had to REALLY
resist the urge to roll my eyes).

And the class was concluded with her teaching us about courtesy and
respect in the classroom (for a half hour).  She actually uttered
this phrase "if you talk in class while other people are talking, I
will send you to the dean" ( I could've sworn she was about to say "the
principal's office".

Yes....this shall be a fun class.

Mon Jan 10, 7:49 AM ET

Top Stories - AP

LEMOORE, Calif. -

Fed up with students' racy moves, a principal at a California high
school has taken the unusual step of canceling the rest of this year's
school dances.

Principal Jim Bennett of Lemoore Union
High School said he warned students at a winter formal dance last month
to either quit dirty dancing or face the possibility of not dancing at
all.

But he said the students continued "freak
dancing," a form of sexually suggestive dancing that involves grinding
the hips and pelvic area.

The ban on dances includes the school's
Sadie Hawkins dance in February and the junior and senior proms in the
spring, but Bennett said they could be rescheduled if students modify
their behavior.

"It's really up to the kids at this point. They have to take some responsibility," Bennett said.

Organizers of the Sadie Hawkins dance, a
fund-raiser for the school's Future Farmers of America, are working
with Bennett to come up with a series of regulations, which could allow
that dance to go on.

One idea is to let students sign a form stating that raunchy dancing will get them kicked out.

Students hope similar regulations could lead to the reinstatement of other dances, particularly the prom.

"Some students save up all year to buy a
dress or rent a tuxedo and buy flowers for the prom," said student body
president Zohra Lakhani, a 17-year-old senior. "To crush everyone's
dreams, it's not fair."

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I am exhausted...I think perhaps I should've taken a few days off
before school starts again.  However, i did not...AND I am working
next weekend.  I think i just need to sleep for one whole
day...and then i'll be fine.  My throat hurts and i have TWO
zits...that is a big deal...i rarely get zits...i must be sick.

AND...when i work in the IV room, the hood i use blows air straight
towards you...and within a few hours, my lips are TOTALLY dry. 
They start tasting like blood...and they start turning white cuz
they're so dry and chapped.  I use chapstick like crazy, but it
doesn't work.  what should i do?!

But i did not watch Hotel Rwanda last night because i was so tired when
i got home from work.  I did manage to get my hands on Hero...the
real version from asia.  it was in mandarin, but since i don't
understand China Chinese, i had to put the subtitles on.  However,
in the beginning and the end of the movie, there's some written
narration in chinese characters.  For some reason, the subtitle
didn't translate it to English.  So i don't know how the movie
starts or ends.  Please fill me in!

My neighbor from across the window has purchased a keyboard...which
he/she plinks aways at and sings along.  It is VERY irritating.