Saturday, March 30, 2002

Outline for some upcoming blogs

1. KTIS/KLOVE addiction
2. Downtown (Marshall Fields, IDS, Neiman Marcus, Sachs Fifth Avenue)
3. Buxtehude
4. Garrison Keillor
5. Dumb Jokes

Stay tuned, Don't turn away from your blog channel. Same place, same time.

Ever procrastinatingly yours,

John
Seder Meal (March 26, 2002)

Ok, I was debating all week last week whether to finally start studying for pharm or participate in the Seder. I decided to do both. Unfortunately I've already eaten a big meal before the seder, so I missed out on all the good cooking :( It was a very meaningful service for me, because I started to see the connections between passover and the last communion (stories of redemption). I'm not feeling very philosophical right now, so I won't go into depth into soteriology and semiotics. What event that happened about 2000 years ago is the most important things ever to happen in this world? Go to church tomorrow to find out :) BTW: Happy Easter!!!!!!!!!

The main thing that left me confused was the 13 attributes of God. I counted and recounted and even asked Keith to help me cout, but I could only count 11 attributes of God. I'm pretty good at math, so that left me kinda baffled until I finally realized that the authors of the song came up with Lord, and Lord God as 2 separate attributes.

I liked all the songs that the cantors (Jess and Amy) selected, but I couldn't help but smile when I heard the pentatonic unaccompanied spoken progression.

Makes me wonder what I will be singing in eternity,


John
Monday (March 25, 2002)

Sorry for getting my blogs out of order. The blog down below detailed my hurting thumb on Tuesday. We're stepping back in time to Monday.
Read Blog on Da Afghan for intro details.

I was hungry and getting desperate for food. At this point, I even ran out of cereal. Time to go to the grocery.

My new favorite grocery store is the one in Har Mar Mall in Roseville. Why?
1. It is brand new.
2. It is next to my favorite bookstore. Northwestern.

I was hungry, but I decided to get tickets to the Ginny Owens or Third Day concert first. Bad news. They sold out of Third Day and they didn't have Ginny Owens. I thought to myself that should be ok, since I could listen to Ginny's new CD on their listening stations. Even worse news! Their listening stations were down. I did get to listen to Fernando Ortega's latest release, though. So even though I'm not going to his concert (sob, sob, sob), I still heard some of his newest stuff.

Went shopping. Gave in to my craving for fruit: oranges, bananas, and apples for now. Finally found out what my favorite fruit is. Try this experiment out for yourself:

Step 1: Fasting
Step 2: Buy all assortment of fruits.
Step 3: See what fruit you eat

Answer: My favorite fruit is the orange!!!!!!

It is about 3 o'clock now, and I still havn't studied for my exam. Decided that it was a good time to take a nap. Then I visited people at Nu Sigma and saw how stressed they were :( Probably wasn't a good idea to delay studying for the exam (6 o'clock now). Studied for a little bit. Watched movies.

Thumb still good,


John
Latest Test News

Thank goodness that I finally completed this hectic test schedule. It will slow down considerably for the next month or so, when I finally recover for the boards. I did ok on my tests, but not nearly as well as I did on the first two. I'm just glad it's over .... Hooray for Spring Break!!!!!!!!

Thumb's Importance in the Grand Scheme of Things

Do you ever recall the passage in the bible about the unity of the body? Each part actually has a unique function including the thumb. Sometimes when you are in medical school you overemphasize your gray matter and the corpus callosum. But did you know, that when you take a test the thumb is just as important :) I found this out the hard way when I had a pretty nasty papercut over my thumb right before the test. I went out to the test proctor to see if she had any bandaids, but she didn't have any. All I could do was think ... thumb hurts ... need to suck on thumb ... are my platelets working? thank goodness I didn't take aspirin before the test ... BT normal ...

Just imagine if you didn't have a thumb. Would you be able to grip a #2 pencil and bubble in the answers? No you couldn't. Fortunately I still had a thumb, but it hurts so bad to bubble my exam. I couldn't think straight.

I did fine on the exam, but I might have been a wee bit overconfident in preparing for it. You see, I decided to watch History of the World Part I and VS right before the test. I also put in less on that exam than I have for any of my other pathophys exams.

Note to self:
1. Don't ever watch HOTWP1 right before a Seder meal. I could even generalize it to: Don't watch any movies by Mel Brooks right before the seder :) I swear you can't listen to the cantor without grinning :)
2. Don't watch VS. I mean I do love Kirsten Dunst, but even she can't save the movie.


John
ACP News

Unfortunately I just found out that I didn't get elected to the ACP-Student Council. I really like this organization, and I highly recommend it over AMSA or AMA. Those other organizations are way too political for my tastes. The president for the AMSA chapter here at the U is a pretty cool person, though :)


John

Sunday, March 24, 2002

Know Name Records

Did I know that place? I figured since I was lucky to get 50 minutes on my parking meter for free, I might as well wander around dinkytown. Went into the store, looked at a lot of no name records until I went to the CD section. Whaddya know ... I found 2 used Tori Amos CDs.

From the Choir Girl Hotel
To Venus and Back

Making out like a bandit,


John
P.S.: Tori likes gardens, too! Hint: She wrote a song called Datura.
Da Afghan (March 23, 2002)

Just like old times ... My cupboard is bare, all food gone ... Thinking about food ... What will I eat???

Got some money in my pocket ...

Mickey D's? Just ate 2 big macs 2 days ago.
Arby's? Just ate there last night.
Dragon Court? Ate there during lunch yesterday.
Big 10? The sub is not filling enough for dinner.
Chipotle? Waiting to use my bag for later.
Booger King? Craving for veggies.
Hong Kong Noodles? That's for my lunch and dinner on Sunday.
Pizza? Yuck! After all these lunch lectures with pizza, no thanks!!!!
Supermarket? Too lazy to get food.
Fine dining? I'm hungry, man ... Gotta eat quick!
Porky's? Didn't feel like driving.
Matt's Bar? Jucy Lucy's are fabulous, but the wait is too long.
Nu Sigma Nu? Leftover lasagna. Ummm ... no.

As you can see, I'm quickly running out of options. Then I remembered about Da Afghan Express. Never been there, but that should satisfy my craving for something different.

The food was decent, I got chicken curry in case you were wondering. However, they watered it down to cater it to the American public. I like my curries hot and spicy, just like MTV (just kidding!). MTV has some rather insipid programming of late -- they also recycle programs over and over. After awhile, you think that there could be nothing more lame than HIG (check what the acronym means at www.paulinia.blogspot.com. Be forwarned it isn't a pretty site.

I'm going to post a review of their shiskabab once I get back there, but what I really want most is their baklava.

Sweet!

John

Saturday, March 23, 2002

Done with Pathology!!!!!!!!!!

Hallelujah! Done with two exams so far!

Even though I've studied less than I've ever had in medical school for these set of exams, I'm fortunate that I havn't really done that poorly. My mind is really on other things at the moment. In case you were wondering Pauline, this is what I got. (Note to sister: I probably won't post my bad grades on the internet :-)

Lab Medicine: 67/68
Pathology: 54/55

Please pray for me, because two of my hardest tests are coming up: hematology pathophysiology and pharmacology.


John

Thursday, March 21, 2002

Suturing

I got to practic my suturing skills on Tuesday (March 19, 2002). Pigs' feet are really tough to suture, and I feel like I need a lot of practice with suturing. The good news is that with lots of practice (ex: foosball), I think I could get pretty good at it. Maybe, I'm going to practice suturing during my summer break before my surgery rotation.

Will be insanely busy next week. Lots of fun ahead,


John

Monday, March 18, 2002

Relationship Lunch Lecture

We had a lunch lecture on relationships today by a marriage counselor in the medical school. It was a very good and encouraging talk for me. Did you know that doctors have a 22% less divorce rate than the general population. Lawyers and dentists have a much higher divorce rate ... I wonder why? The profession with the lowest divorce rates are the clergy and farmers. Taxi cab drivers and bartenders have the highest divorce rates, Yada, yada, yada ....

I actually took notes about the talk on intentional couples. Here are a few things I jotted down:

Nurturing couple rituals. For example leaving and returning home, talk times, having a date night, bedtime, etc ...
Negotiating roles and responsibilities.
What to accept vs. what to keep struggling over.

I have the serenity prayer (ok, the Zits cartoon version) posted on my locker. I'm being random again, which means that it's time to actually get back to work.


John
Welcome to the Garden

The synopsis below does a much better job writing about Amelie than me. Here are my favorite scenes.

1. Telescope
2. Childhood
3. Riding on the motorcycle (Look ma, no hands!) The Mudders out there would totally get the reference :)

The movie reminded me about the special innocence that we have in all of us. There are so many simple pleasures that we can partake in our daily lives. Right after seeing the movie, I went to see Marshall Field's Spring Flower Show. The theme this year is recreating Christian Tortu's garden in Provence, France. Although the theme of this website is about a garden, honestly I havn't visited a garden in such a long time. Back in the good old days in Egypt (um, I mean college), I frequented an enclosed garden in Scripps almost every day. It was a place of extraordinary beauty and solitude. A place where I can smell the roses and hear the rustling water. Tucked away is a small chapel where I tried to listen to that ethereal, small, still voice. It was also there that I challenged God to make the rains come. To be honest, it was a pretty stupid request because I didn't bring an umbrella :) Nope, God didn't pour out the heavens that day but it did rain at night. You might say that it was coincidence, but after that point I never asked God to prove His existence again.

The eighth floor of Marshall Fields was visually stunning. I had no idea that they could recreate a garden inside a building. Like a kid reborn, I twirled around with the music and listened to the birds chirping (through the sound system), and smelled the flowers again. I also found out that a horse can move its ears. Yes, there was a live horse there! My favorite moment has to be watching little kids squeal in delight over the gold catfish. They then took a penny and made a wish. In fact, those kids inspired me to make a wish of my own. Here's are a few hints:

Matthew 6:21, What have I been praying about lately?

Actually, I heard a song by Sting this morning. Hmmm ....

Set them free,


John
P.S.: I wish I could go to Paris for Spring Break. Roseann and Eric are the luckiest couple in the whole wide world :)

Saturday, March 16, 2002

Waiting to see Amelie
Here's the synopsis from Twincities.sidewalk.com

The Setup

Raised by stifling, unemotional parents, little Amélie grows up into
a dreamy young Parisian (Audrey Tautou) who lives alone, works in
a restaurant and tries to bring joy into the lives of others. In
between mooning about Paris, taking revenge on the local meanie
and matching two lonely hearts in her restaurant, Amélie herself
falls for a strange young man (Matthieu Kassovitz) who collects
discarded photographs. Always eager to encourage love in others,
she finds herself too afraid to do the same for herself.

The Breakdown
After the monstrous letdown of his Hollywood sojurn ("Alien:
Resurrection"), Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Delicatessen") has concocted
a fanciful little treat out of Audrey Tautou's girlish smile and witty
fairytale interludes. After one of the most hilarious opening title
sequences ever made, "Amélie" lets us into a world much lighter
and happier than we're used to from Jeunet but still lit with flashes
of his mordant wit. While the machinations used to keep the young
lovers apart grow somewhat ridiculous, Tautou's sublime
performance and the film's unshakable devotion to her make for a
deeply satisfying experience.
Shelf Exam

I did better than average for the shelf exam, but there is still a lot of studying left to do. Right now, I've just purchased QBANK for 90 days as preparation for the boards. I've got all my study materials now. For everyone who's interested, here is how I'm studying for boards.

Before May 3. Cover all of the traditional disciplines (Read First Aid for the Boards at least 3 times from cover to cover)

Micro -- Reread Clinical Micro made Ridiculously Simple. Do the Comprehensive Final on one of the books I have. Do BSS.
Embryo -- High Yield Embryo (all). Selected passages from BRS.
Biochemistry -- Lippincott (all) Spring break. BSS.
Pharm -- Lippincott (all).
Neuro -- Reread High Yield.
Physiology -- Do all questions in BRS. Read Kaplan books.
Gross Anatomy -- High Yield Gross (all). Read all the Case Studies in Moore and Daley.
Genetics -- ? First Aid for Boards. Pathology BRS
Pathology -- Read Pathology BRS cover to cover. Look at all the pictures in Robbins. Work on Robbins Question Book.

After May 3. Systems + Questions

Goal do 3500 questions by June 10. Reread First Aid at least 4 times (total of 7 times). Read books on internal medicine for the wards. Memorize all of Buzzwords.
Go through my systems review books (Kaplan).

June 1
Jars of Clay.
Jennifer Knapp
June 10 Boards
June 11 Flying Back to So. Cal.
June 23
Justin's Wedding

Wow 7 J's in a row!

John

Thursday, March 14, 2002

Just posted two songs that captured my mood for the evening.

Gracefully falling back to the arms of grace,

John
Painting Pictures of Egypt

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

-- Sara Groves

Breathing

I'm finding my way back to sanity again
Though I don't really know what i'm gonna do when i get there
I take a breath and hold on tight
Spin around one more time
And gracefully fall back to the arms of grace

-- Lifehouse




Hair update. I'm getting used to it. It's pretty cool!


John
Fun Ideas (ranked in the probability that I will do it)

1. Amelie
2. Marshall Fields' Spring in Provence (some place in France)
3. Prairie Home Companion
4. Buxtehude
5. Third Day
6. Ice skating
7. Cosmic Bowling
8. Fernando Ortega

John Hartono

Monday, March 11, 2002

No skiing

I have but one excuse: MARCH MADNESS has arrived!

John
The Ice Storm

You've never really lived until you've experienced an ice storm. Ok, I just made that up however we just had the most incredible sturm and drang this weekend. My poor car, all alone on the street suffered through the freezing rain and sleet. I had a craving for pancakes this Saturday, and I thought it would be cool to test my car to see how much damage the storm inflicted on her psyche. Well, my car wouldn't open up to me. I did everything I could until I finally bodyslammed the doors in frustration. The ice was broken. Anyways ... I couldn't see through her because of all the ice on the windshield. It took me a good half an hour to scrape all the ice off my windows. The roads were very slick, and I got to use my new favorite phrase. Ooof Duh. Key to Minnesota driving ... drive slow, real slow.

Were the pancakes worth it? Absolutely! I had mango and strawberry pancakes topped with Maria's secret recipe. The place also had live Latin American music. Pretty cool if you realized that this was in Phillips' neighborhood. Just proving a point that you find beauty in unexpected places.


John

Friday, March 08, 2002

Shelf

The shelf was a very draining exam. I was falling asleep when I took it, fortunately the exam doesn't count. After taking the test, I know that I still have a lot to review for the boards. Hmm .... shelf, boards? Was the original doctor a carpenter?


John

Thursday, March 07, 2002

Knee Hurts

I really wanted to go cross-country skiing this weekend, but right now I'm having doubts if I could make it or not. The funny thing is that my knee started to hurt right after I told Caitlin that I wanted to go skiing. Go figure .... Just thinking about skiing made my knee hurt.

John


Last Day with Dr. Miller

I was really sad to leave Brooklyn Park Clinic. There is still a lot that I could learn from him. Anyway, the best compliment I received so far is from Julie who said that I was the nicest medical student that she has met. However based on an informal poll that Abby took, I think that Nate Groebner probably tops the list. He is in one of my small groups, and he is one of the nicest people I've met.

John

Plan for the Weekend

1. Study
2. Cross-country skiing
3. Good Earth
4. Shelf


John

Monday, March 04, 2002

Gophers Game (03/03/02)

I just figured out why I felt so bad over the weekend :) The Gophers just blew a 4 point lead with 30 seconds to play. Unbelievable!

NIT, here we come!


John
Delirious Concert (March 2, 2002)

I love Delirious -- IMHO they are the best Christian rock band around. My favorite moment of the night was during the introductions when Martin introduced the guy as someone who is not fit to tie his Master's sandals. His name was John the Bassist (Ok, horrible pun but I love it!)

My favorite song of the evening was "Do You Feel the Mountains Tremble" since the song brings me back memories of my time at Catalina Island. That was a very special time for me. Changed lives, Changed paradigms.

John

Saturday, March 02, 2002

Deliriously Happy

In about an hour, I will be going to Northwestern College to listen to Delirious in Concert! Last year I went by myself to listen to Ginny Owens perform with her labelmates over at Rocketown records. I'm really glad that Rinde (a first year at Nu Sigma Nu) is coming along to the concert with me. He has heard Delirious on KTIS, but he has no idea what he is in for.

John
Ok, I'm not feeling very original lately. I guess I'll start copying music lyrics that fit my mood for the day.

By the way, I just heard an awesome recording of Vladimir Horowitz's return to Carnegie Hall. Bach always makes me feel better.


John
Ocean

Lately I’ve been thinkin’ about You
And lately I’ve been dreaming of You
And lately I can’t get You out of my head
Get You out of my head

Something about the ocean
Makes me rise up and praise
Something about the heavens
Makes me stand in awe again
Something about the sunrise
Reminds me of Your faithfulness
Something about the ocean
And I’m lost in love again

I’ll sing until I sense a smile
Upon Your great and lovely face
And till I know Your glory’s in this place
Your glory’s in this place

Something about the ocean
Makes me rise up and praise
Something about the heavens
Makes me stand in awe again
Something about the sunrise
Reminds me of Your faithfulness
Something about Your presence
And I’m lost in love again

--Ten Shekel Shirt
Waiting Again (March 1, 2002)

I called my parents up last night, because I was feeling kinda down. My dad, the amazing guy that he is read me this poem by Rudyard Kipling (Actually my equally amazing sister wanted to read it to me).

IF


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!



--Rudyard Kipling

Friday, March 01, 2002

AAArghhh. Lost the Lottery

Bummer, I'm in group 12 for the class registration lottery. This means that I'll have the last choice for all of my rotations.

To be continued,


John
Random Blogs (Free writing to see where my mind leads me)

Blogs are cathartic. They are my golytely for the soul. Bad pun. Did you know a girl named Holly written by a guy named Truman Capote? Whatever happened to Breakfast at Tiffany's? I used to sing that song a lot. Back in the days in college. I think Dave knew the guitar chords. Sometimes I want to go to New York. To touch the sorrow, angst, pain. Where is the humanity in this post-modern age? Relationships. Distance. The world may be getting smaller, but people may actually be moving further apart. Building walls. Pink Floyd. Revolution. Beatles. Instant Karma is going to get you. John Lennon once imagined a world. I too think of a world. A place where time ceases to exist. Where we would all dwell in the radiance of the source of all goodness and love. A place where I will finally converse with Bach and ask him how he got to be so smart. Chris Rice, you finally have all your answers now. But how would it feel like if you finally have the answers to all your questions? Where does that leave me? Do I want to know all of the answers? Am I strong enough to handle the truth? The truth shall indeed set me free. There will be neither tears nor sadness. Questions, questions, questions. Many things keep me hanging. Never forget that fateful day in college. Chicken. Chirps. Love to. No. Unintended consequences. Questions. Grief. Love. Acceptance. Prayers. Requests. Answers? No. Yes. Maybe. 1 out of 3 ain't bad. Remember 245, the passion. If you read this far, you've begun to know the randomness of my mind. I keep going in circles. I'm missing Najarian for this? Let everything that has breath ....

Let the games begin,


John
Misunderstood Songs

Launch has been totally awesome and the service has introduced me to a bunch of new songs that I havn't heard before. One of the songs I heard is Kody by Matchbox 20. At first, I was excited to hear that Rob Thomas was singing about the bible. However, instead he was mangling the word bottle. These are the actual lyrics:

So please hand me the bottle, I think I'm lonely now
And please give me direction, I think the hurt set in
And I don't feel nothing

There's a squeak hinge down on the back gate
It lets us know if he comes around
I don't sleep that good anyway
If you've never heard the silence, it's a God awful sound


John
Devil's Hair Cut

Ok, I never liked that Beck song. However, I have just gone from having the longest shag of my life to the shortest hair cut ever!
Note to self: Don't get a haircut from someone who doesn't have hair. Shortness is subjective.

Anyway, I'm getting used to my haircut and I have actually gotten quite a number of compliments from my classmates. It just takes a lot of time to get used to this style. Steve said that I look like Jet Li, but I definitely need to incorporate more martial arts moves.


John
The Ides of March

March is a crazy to time for medical students. The rationale is that April will be the time when we could start to review for boards, so they are trying to pack all the info in March. I have a shelf exam next week (simulated boards) and then finals starting on March 15 or 16 and then continuing until March 29.

March 29 will be a Good Friday indeed!

The good news is that I'm really excited about the blood/cancer segment in contrast to the Gut/Bones from the last period.


John
Plans for the weekend

1. Delirious Concert
2. Gophers Game
3. Studying
4. Studying
5. Studying

Looking forward to my most exciting weekend of the year!


John
Party at My Place

I invited a bunch of people from my church to come over to my apartment in lieu of core group. I actually tried to get enough prizes for everyone, but I was a little bit short because there were more people than I expected :) You find out really interesting stuff about people such as that Chris is actually friends with Pierce Brosnan aka the other James Bond :) I also figured that you can trade a computer game for a car. Just ask Tom :) He is going to be my agent when I finally graduate from medical school. Since it was supposed to be core group, all of us shared our favorite bible verses. It is really neat to see which verses touch everyone's lives. FYI: My verses are Isaiah 40:31 (got an extra point on the Chemistry final with it) and Hebrews 11:1-2. really glad that God has placed a strong group of Christians in my life.


John