Tuesday my MCAT scores were released, and I managed to meet my program's requirements--that means I am done with it (!). I am incredibly relieved and can now enjoy the rest of my summer...which is like 3 more days. (Sigh).
I've been meaning to post, but I've been swamped and sleep deprived. O_O
Last week I came to Tampa on Thursday night because the Red Cross girls wanted to plan some pranks on the boys for the retreat we had Friday through Saturday. The biggest prank we conducted was covering the boys with shaving cream...
I didn't really participate because I wanted to take pictures (& if I sprayed they'd get me back, and I didn't want any on my cam) and also I am a "frugal-Asian" and didn't want to waste my shaving cream. Unfortunately one guy stole my can anyways 
. Should've just enjoyed it 
.
The retreat itself was information heavy and left me exhausted. Most of us stayed at the Chapter, giant slumber party. We got a lot accomplished, and I learned more about the RC. I love it, but there are parts of me really frustrated/annoyed by it. As a fairly modern person I can see places where we can improve and increase awareness, etc. but as an organization they are really tight on the regulation.
For example, I am subscribed to their Twitter account. And everytime they respond to a house fire, they "tweet" about it. While I think it is nice to see their progress, I find that seeing the same, or similar, message repeatedly desensitizes me, and I start to just ignore it. I wanted to create a twitter account for our USF Red Cross, but we are not allowed to. I think that it would be better that way because then we can streamline the information that pertains only to our club, since many students are involved only at the school-level, as opposed to the city level. That way they aren't desensitized either...They also won't allow us to buy a URL so that we can have our website at, say "www.arcusf.com", instead we have a long winded URL that "www.ctr.usf.edu/arcusf". But then I found out we are technically not even supposed to have a website hosted through the school. With organizations like the Red Cross, I get frustrated by their brand-standards/regulations/rules. They mean well and they want to protect their identity, but they also limit their own growth in some ways. That's how I feel anyways. :
After the retreat, I went over to my friend Miloni's place and we drove back to Ocala together and ate at Ale House. We sang Disney karaoke at my place, and then went to sleep because we were planning to shadow on Monday.
After shadowing Monday, I think Miloni was able to see why I was in LOVE with the OR, or the Leesburg OR, anyways. So we stopped by Joann's to buy some ribbons and made brownies that night for them and packaged them iindividually n parchment paper+ribbon. Was very cute, I'll post a pic next time I go home--forgot my camera there .
I shadowed for the last time on Tuesday, so I spent Monday night making a card and finishing off presents to all the nurses and doctors that showed me kindness. However, it was 3 AM and I realized there were many for whom I had not yet gotten a chance to make presents...but I was exhausted and had to wake up at 5:30 AM to shadow, so I decided to sleep, and finish the presents during my down time between watching surgeries (I made their names out of 20-gauge wire ^^--> for nurses or made them magnets with their names inscribed on thin metal sheets --> for the docs, since I decided wire would be awkward because I'd only do their last name...metal sheets --> can use Dr. Lastname). I meant to take pictures but I was too tired and forgot to. But perhaps if I have time this semester I can make and send a few of those out
The first surgery I watched on Tuesday was a total shoulder replacement. It was quite fascinating, and the surgeon was amazingly kind. He kept asking if I could see okay from where I was standing, and actually had the tables shifted around so I could stand elsewhere for a better view. He even stepped out of the way sometimes to point things out. And then he explained the general steps or reasoning for some of the things he did, and let me have a piece of bone cement to play with! (The bone cement was awesome; it felt like putty, but after a while got really hot [so hot that my fingers got tender from holding it] and hardened to be like bone!). After finishing the surgery, he sat down and asked if I had any questions, and he just answered them with a fair amount of detail. ...Dr. Mitchell is my new hero . I wish I got to shadow him for more than one surgery; though it was my eighth time shadowing at LRMC, it was actually my first time seeing him/his name on the board.
Honestly, as a whole I was suprised by how kind the surgeons at Leesburg were, for the most part. I had always been told that surgeons are generally very arrogant, but I don't think I met any like that. Maybe I was just lucky (:..Stereotypes are unfair, so I'm glad I had this opportunity. Well, overall I am glad to have had the opportunity to shadow. I felt very at home in the OR, and I feel like the path I am working through is the path I want to take, reaffirmed. It is kind of like the carrot at the end of the stick, the stick being med school (etc.), and the carrot being the career <3. It's a really good feeling to know I am heading where I want to be going.
Then after shadowing, I took Miloni to see downtown Ocala, where we met a young man named Giovanni. He seemed nice though he kind of frightened us, because he just approached us randomly to talk. He was originally from an island in the Caribbean, which may explain his friendliness [?]. But he wanted to remind us to have some fun now, otherwise we wouldn't know how to deal with having fun later and might take it overboard. Very wise, and I could totally see that. We then went on our ways, to go eat; we ate at a pizza place called Pi. ^^ They kind of messed up our order though, but it tasted good.
After that we returned so we could rest, and I checked my MCAT score (-party inside; but too tired to celebrate-). I then had to read 15 pages about research because I had a mtg on Wednesday at 9 AM with the professor that is in charge of the research. I'd like to work in his lab (regarding immunity in house sparrows as related to stress)--he seems pretty nice too. I kind of don't want to do it for thesis though; I'd like to just work there for the experience. But he said that would be okay too. We decided that we'll just see how things go over the next few weeks and we'll decide that later. I'm glad he was flexible about that.
But since it was 9 AM, I had to leave Ocala at like 7:00/7:30. Exhausted...I didn't finish reading the article about his research until like 3AM, so I was dead tired yesterday. Then I had to check into my dorm, and get stuff that I had forgotten (disinfecting wipes). I also got my textbooks and bought some clothing because my jeans are too big on me and also I was out of clothing, since I packed most of it away and have yet to retrieve them, hehe. (Oops...I've kind of been living off of about 5 shirts and a dress back at home). Plus, it's kind of nice to spruce of the wardrobe from time to time?
I later saw a homeless man and offered to buy him some bread and meat for sandwiches. Well, he tried to sell body wash or ask for donations, but I said I didn't need it, and I also don't give out money for obvious reasons, so then I offered to get food. I only spent about $7, but I think it could last a while (loaf of bread, mayo, turkey, and canned fish --> can last longer/no refrigeration necess).
I woke up late yest, so I didn't get to thoroughly pack when leaving Ocala, so I forgot a bunch of necessities. Sigh. :[
P.S. I made some earrings recently:
DNA FTW
