In the beginning...

On my first post, I mentioned that I knew I couldn't be a music teacher when I wrote my "Philosophy of Music Education" paper for a music class I took. So here is the story, from the beginning:

When I was 14, I went on a medical mission trip to Honduras. I actually went as a cook, but ended up in the O.R. helping out for some odd reason. I LOVED it- every minute of it. I thought I wanted to do something medical for sure. Now fast-forward 3 years, and I am practicing piano and harp like a fiend. Somewhere along the road music became so much a part of me that when I was offered a full music scholarship to college I jumped on it without even thinking twice! During the next three years, I developed carpal tunnel but kept going 100 miles an hour to a music degree.

So here I am, a senior in college and writing this paper on my views of music education when I realized that I had a problem. I was supposed to talk about how music education was so important (and it is) and should be a "core curriculum subject" (which it probably should), but it felt fake to me. I didn't have a passion about it like other people did, and believe me- music is NOT something you go into as a profession unless you are EXTREMELY passionate about it. I am so glad that my friends are musicians and music teachers, but that isn't where God wanted me, and it took me a little while to figure it out.

Now, enough of the past- here is my present life!

I went out to Tennessee this week with my mom and grandma to see my cousin K graduate from LPN school. So proud :)

This is K with my Aunt Mary.

Also this week was the Cadaver Ball! And no, there were no cadavers there. That's weird.

This is me and my man at the party. We celebrate our 1st (marriage) anniversary in just 2 more weeks! He's pretty nice and very good looking, so I think I will keep him ;)

In case you want to know, the cadaver ball is basically a big, fancy party we have to celebrate the end of gross anatomy. Next year is the Fungi Formal :)

Bad Week and Brains

Well, I wouldn't say that it is a bad week, but it certainly hasn't been a fun one. After our gross anatomy national board test on Tuesday, I only had Wednesday through Sunday to study for a neuroscience brainstem test. That may sound like a lot of time, but it isn't. I have generally enjoyed my life in med school, despite all of the studying, but this week has just been overwhelming for me.

Example: this is a cross section of your pons (the middle part of your brainstem.) I have 10 cross sections like this with about 20 things a piece to know... and my brain is tired of studying itself!

I actually think it looks more like a frog.

Brains are very incredible- so intricate and perfect and just amazing. I just don't see how anybody could doubt that they were created by a perfect Creator.

A lot of this studying took place at the favorite Starbucks, where the coffee dudes/dudettes give us free samples and stuff like that. We (me and W) probably spend too much time there. We pulled out our brainstem models to study and got some pretty funny looks....

Last week we let M join us for Starbucks studying and he brought his skull along. THAT was very, very disturbing.

This is a picture of my fake brainstem (well, one like mine). I have a real one- other than the one in my head- but I leave it at school.

Non-Gross Anatomy

This is the last week of gross anatomy. Thank you, Jesus. I have actually really enjoyed it the last 7 months, but spending 4 hours every afternoon and sometimes 8 or 9 hours on weekend days in the lab is EXHAUSTING! It also smells bad and is very cold. On the good side, I have discovered that I am pretty good with a scalpel :)

My good friends A, W, and M are my study partners/lab partners and can be thanked for helping me pass med school. We all push each other to stay longer, study harder, jump higher....ya know.

Also, we all REALLY like food. It's kind of our thing. Once a week the four of us have what we call "long lunch". We go out to eat and talk and pretend for an hour or so that we are normal people. It is pretty much the highlight of our week.

This is A and W at Sushi Cafe this week.

Sushi is always followed by a cupcake from Cupcakes on Kavanaugh. It's a rule

Since I am in the small minority of bloggers without kids, I want to show you what I come home to:

This is Sophie. I didn't tell Daniel I was getting her, so he wasn't very happy when a tiny black kitten greeted him at the door one night (he he he). He likes her now, though.

She's a bad cat, though. It's the truth.

Welcome to my head

Well, I can't say I ever thought I would be a blogger. In fact, for a time in my life I disdained faithful bloggers (please don't hate me for that!). Funny thing is that the older I get, the quicker life happens and the more I forget!

I'll be honest, this blog is mostly for me: I want to remember my journey from newlywed, terrified first year med student to experienced wife and physician. Excuse the ranting and rambling (and spelling errors) along the way. I promise to try to keep it to a minimum, in case anybody is listening.

Also, be warned: my head is a very strange place where often things only make sense to me. Even more so now that most of the things that leave my head resemble, "Where is the attachment of the salpingopharyngeaus?"

Now, the million dollar question: HOW in the WORLD did I end up here?

It all started in Music Ed 2 (Junior year in college) when I had to write a paper titled "My Philosophy of Music Education"....