Ahhh, a post in which I link to myself a whole lot. Great stuff.

So, I dislike whatever-daylight-savings-time-is-called-in-the-fall. I remembered this today, since the clocks have been rolled back. Do you know why I dislike it so? I dislike it because it gets dark at approximately 4:00 (not really) and I hate that - it makes me depressed. You know, all of the darkness. I kind of have the opposite problem in the summer - I tend to be anxious during those months.

Last summer was particularly bad (the worst, I think, right ahead of the summer before I started college, because that really freaked me out.) Contributing to the badness (?) last summer were the looming hugeness of scary medical school which loomed hugely and scared me, and the evil dog who killed not one, but two of my beloved kitties within six weeks of each other. By the way, medical school (and the apartment) aren't nearly as scary as I thought they'd be. But I still miss my kitties - is that nuts? And the first one that was killed, Cinders, still makes me shed a few tears when I think of what happened to him. The other day I was cooking some chicken, and I cried because he loved cooked chicken - he'd sit at my feet while I cut some up for him and made sure it was cool. That little sweetie.

Speaking of cats, one of mine jumped in a full bathtub yesterday. It was hilarious. More on that later - for now, I have a nap to take, some abdominal information to shove into my brain, and a presentation to throw together.

And a nap to take. Wait, I already said that. But it's a very important nap, worthy of mentioning twice.

Chinese boys from the back street want it that way also

Okay, maybe it's due to sleep-deprivation or overly-stressed delirium, but I saw a clip of these two Chinese students lip-synching on the Today show this morning (in the seven minutes of news that I watch while I'm drying my hair* - provided that I'm up early enough to actually dry it) and I could not stop giggling at them. I still can't. I'm not entirely sure what makes it so funny to me - maybe it's their impressive choreography at the beginning, or their matching jerseys, or the oblivious guy in the background, or their exaggerated expressions. Or maybe it's the unstoppable force that overtakes Chinese Guy #2 (a.k.a. Yao Ming, who can, in fact, write a check), rendering him unable to hold back the headbanging in the middle of the song. Which is, to reiterate, by THE BACKSTREET BOYS. I have their Greatest Hits album shut up, so I know that it's not supposed to inspire headbanging.

Anyway, go watch. You may be amused as I was/am/will likely continue to be.

*Seven minutes also happens to be the amount of time that I can tolerate Katie Couric before I want to jab a sharp object in my eye. Approximately. The time can run longer or shorter, depending on whether she is awkwardly flirting with an interviewee and on what kind of shoes she's wearing.

Auuuuuuggghhhhh! It's Cabin by the Lake on SciFi, and I must watch it.

As the title says, Cabin By the Lake is just coming on SciFi, and I just have to watch it, even though (as I've already said) it embarrassingly scares the beejeezus out of me.

It stars the creepily creepy Judd Nelson as a guy writing a horror movie screenplay about a psychopath who kidnapped girls and dropped them into a lake with a nice block attached to their feet, and then, later, he'd put on his scuba gear and go and visit his "garden". Except he was actually doing the stuff he was writing about. It completely freaked me out. And now, when I catch the odd rerun of Suddenly Susan on TV, I'm like, "Look out! Don't work with Judd Nelson! He'll put you in his creepy room and then he'll DROP YOU IN THE LAKE!" And when I see The Breakfast Club, I'm like, "Look out! Don't be in detention with Judd Nelson! He'll put you in his creepy room and then he'll DROP YOU IN THE LAKE!" And when I see St. Elmo's Fire, I'm like, "Look out! Don't come of age with Judd Nelson! He'll put you in his creepy room and then he'll DROP YOU IN THE LAKE!" Wait, maybe he wasn't in St. Elmo's Fire. Oh well, you get the idea.

Anyway, I force myself to buy and watch stuff that scares me. My philosophy is that maybe it will lose its effect if I own it or if I watch it five times. You know? I just bought the Urban Legend DVD, which scared me for about six months after I saw it whenever I would think about it. I still check my backseat multiple times before I start driving, even though there's not enough room back there for someone to hide (unless it was a gnome, a troll, a munchkin or an almost-midget.) That movie really freaked me out. Ask Scott about my stupid freak-out over Urban Legend, and then watch as he rolls his eyes completely back into his head.

Another DVD that I bought recently that creeped me the heck out was Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. I would buy Twilight Zone: The Movie to try to conquer my fear of picking up a hitch-hiking Dan Akyroyd ("You wanna see something REALLY scary??") but it's not on DVD. Oh well.

Wanda looked all around this town and all she found was Earl

I cannot fold a fitted sheet to save my life. I just can't. Can't, can't, can't.

But do you know what I can do? I can get an almost-A on my head and neck anatomy lab practical, despite the fact that I had Goodbye Earl by the Dixie Chicks on repeat in my head the entire time. I have no idea from whence it came, because I haven't heard it for a long time, but when I started the lab portion of my exam, there it was, to do its evil bidding. The hardships I have to overcome, I tell ya.

I'M KIDDING! I totally have no hardships. And I think that's all I have to say ... yes. Yes it is.

Edited because I decided I should add the Goodbye Earl mp3, in case someone doesn't know what I'm talking about. It's about 6MB - right-click and "save as" please. :-)

Ain't it dark, wrapped up in that tarp, Earl?

A little post I like to call ... I'm Currently Amused By. Because my brain is fried and I can't think of anything else.

I'm currently VERY amused by the "A Day in the Life of Lil' Jon" sketches on Chappelle's Show. A million years ago, before I started medical school, I borrowed Chappelle's Season Two DVDs from my cousin, and he told me which sketches I should be sure to watch (including Samuel L. Jackson beer - haaaaaaaaaa.) He also said that the Lil' Jon sketches are hilarious, but I hadn't had a chance to watch them until last week. So, they are hilarious. Hilarious enough for me to make mpegs out of them and upload them to my server. (Incidentally, the whole show was hilarious enough for me to buy my own copy of Season 2.)

And of course, coming from Chappelle's Show, there may be some questionable content or language in these clips - viewer discretion advised and all of that, blah blah blah. Also, right-click and "save as" or else I'll vaporize you from space. If you're only going to download one, I'd recommend either Lil' Jon Goes to the Doctor or The One With Real Lil' Jon. The clip "Lil' Jon Goes to the Airport" was the first Lil' Jon sketch that Dave did, so I included his intro along with it.

Ohhhhhhhkaaaaaaaayyyyyy! - Lil' Jon Goes to the Airport (~26MB)

HuuWWWWHAAAAAAAATTT? - Lil' Jon Goes to the Doctor (~18MB)

YEAH! - Lil' Jon Gets Interviewed by Teresa Roddy (~26MB)

"Sometimes, I feel all alone in this world ..." - The One With Real Lil' Jon (~23MB)

Re: school - unless I'm completely delusional, I think my grade on my head and neck exam today will be satisfactory. Maybe, just maybe, even slightly good(ish). Maybe. I think I may be getting the hang of this thing. And even though this is harder than anything I've ever done, I really am having a ball, and learning some really cool stuff.

And I'm glad to see from the comments on yesterday's post that there are still spacemonkeys flying around. I was afraid everyone would abandon me since my posts are so few and far between lately. *sniff*

I need a break!!

So, tomorrow from 12:00 to 5:00 is the end of this marathon of tests that I've had during the past two weeks. I will be rejoicing if I can pull a C out of it - it's head and neck, which is just so freaking complicated with all of these crazy minute details. (And it was all an evolutionary ACCIDENT, you see - bah.) For some reason, for the first time in my life, I've developed this weird test anxiety. If I come across a question that I don't know, I freak out, and that doesn't bode well for the next couple of questions. And for every question that I do know, I send up a little "Thank You, Lord." Because I would be nothing without Him.

When I was studying two hours ago, I found myself feeling jealous of my cats because they were napping. And then I decided that I was crazy. And then I went back to studying.

But now, I've hit a place where I just want to study for several more hours to pick up more details. Maybe my ridiculous amount of coffee is finally kicking in. But I think it's because our head and neck professor made a big deal out of getting adequate sleep the night before the exam, since it's such a long exam and he doesn't want us falling asleep in the middle of the practical (which we take after the ginormous and scary written part.) Now that I think about it, the practical is ginormous and scary in its own right. And the laboratory portion of head and neck has been one of the most bizarre things that I have ever done in my life.

Our head and neck professor also told us that if he puts a particular question on the test (a point that he's mentioned a million times - about getting popcorn stuck in the vallecula (the area at the back of the tongue) which has the type of nervous sensation that you feel like something is stuck in your throat but you don't know where it is, or in the piriform recesses of the larynx, which has the same type of innervation) and we miss it, he will come to our house, ring the doorbell and run away. Haaaaaaa. I'm very tempted to miss it on purpose just so I can see if he'll really do that. Best. Threat. Ever.

That is all. Back to my notes.

Party all the time ALL THE TIME

I've had Eddie Murphy's unfortunate foray into the music business, Party All the Time, stuck in my head for two days now. And I've been unable to pinpoint exactly what I did to deserve to have such a thing percolating through my brain.

More to the point - why, Eddie Murphy? Why did you have to sing, Eddie Murphy? People liked you, you were funny, a successful actor - was it really necessary to cross entertainment genres? That usually doesn't fare well (see: Carey, Mariah and "Glitter"). Here's what I think. Eddie Murphy should not have sung then, he should not sing now, and he should not sing ever, anywhere, anymore. Because what happens is - he sings, and then fifteen years later, he makes movies like The Adventures of Pluto Nash. And nobody wants that, really they don't.

You know what the worst part is? I only know one line. ONE LINE! "Party all the time", that's all I know. I don't even know if at the end of the song, Eddie decided it would be good to only party every once in awhile and maybe contribute to society instead. Whatever. Anyway, I fear that I will jam a sharp object into my auditory canal if this continues.

And there is a piece missing out of the sidewalk in front of the medical school that I think looks like an anterior fontanelle. My best medical school friend, however, thinks it resembles an anterior cruciate ligament. We'll just have to agree to disagree. The end.

Re: Last night's episode of The Office (the American version, not the BBC version - which may be better, but I can't stand the British teeth - I can't!) There is something about Everybody Hurts by REM that I've always found hilarious. I'm glad someone else sees the hilarity in it too.

Oh, and I just discovered that Dwight has a blog. Heh.

Just for the heck of it, here's the Everybody Hurts mp3. Please right-click and "save as" - it makes me happy.

In my last post, I referred to Scott as slightly less geeky than Mort Goldman. (For the record, I also said I'm slightly less geeky than Muriel, though.) Of course Scott is geeky - it's a moniker conferred upon you as soon as you get a terminal degree in a science field, for crying out loud. But as evidenced in a group of pictures at People.com today, there's nothing wrong with being geeky:

Sexy Geeks

Browsing through that gallery, I've reaffirmed the fact that I rather like geeks. :-) Well, except for Jon Heder - sorry, I hated Napoleon Dynamite with the passion of 1,000 fiery suns. And Jay Baruchel because I don't know who that is. And Beck and Chris Martin, because they look like they both need a shower. All other geeks aside, Scott is obviously my favorite. And that is all.

I miss writing in my blog so. But the thing is, my subconscious is too busy processing large quanities of information (and, unfortunately, deleting some of it prematurely) to formulate blog posts, or topics for blog posts, in the back of my head. Which is what I used to do, before I started fulfilling my dream and purpose in life and blahdeblah and so on.

Last week we learned the eyes/ears/nose exam in our preceptor groups, right before I found out that I REALLY need to practice with my opthalmascope. So I need lots of willing eyeballs. I tried to see what I could see in Scott's eye, but he pulled a Mort Goldman on me, complaining that the bright light was burning a hole through his eyeball. (It wasn't a direct quote, but it was close. And he didn't talk about his mucus, a quality that I look for in a guy. And, he's slightly less nerdy than Mort Goldman. ;-) )

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a clip from the Family Guy episode Stuck Together, Torn Apart, in which Stewie and Brian get glued together by an industrial-strength adhesive, while Lois and Peter have some problems when her old boyfriend shows up and Peter turns into the Jealous Green Monster. So a therapist suggests a trial separation, and Peter lives with the Goldmans for awhile.*

Please right-click and "save as":

There's blood in my mucus! (~4.5MB)

Also, here's my favorite part from that same episode, the whole scene with the police van and the sound-amplifier or whatever spy device they have:

Oh no, they must have heard me. Oh no, I can hear me! (~27MB)

*In Stuck Together, Torn Apart, Peter goes out with the Goldmans' niece, Jennifer Love Hewitt. Which reminds me - some time ago, someone emailed me and told me that they knew the cartoon in my banner was supposed to be me, but it looked like Jennifer Love Hewitt. I wonder whatever gave them the idea that it was me? It IS Jennifer Love Hewitt.

And finally, I am trying really hard to stay positive as far as school is concerned. We are in the middle of a flurry of millions of tests, and I feel overwhelmed and behind everyone else and so on - but it doesn't help to dwell and complain about it, I've discovered. I know that almost everyone else in my class feels like they're about to crack as well, and that I can only study as much as I can and pray for the Lord's help, and I'll get the grades that I get. And for the past few tests, those grades have been satisfactory. So I'm going to be happy about that. HAPPY!

Edited because I should probably add that I'm only slightly less geeky than Muriel Goldman. So I guess Scott (and his sensitive retinas) and I are a good match. :-)

Okay, real quick, I must say - re: Arrested Development - Bob Loblaw, Attorney at Law? Heeeeeeeee. But it does sound a great deal like my friend Bob LaBla, the dead horse. And only about 3 people who read this blog will get that.

But give me a break, y'all - I have about a million tests in the next couple of weeks, and I fear that I will be driven bananas by the pressure. Oh, the pressure!

It's Scary German Guy!

A couple of weeks ago, we had a few biochem lectures by a professor who bore a strong resemblance to Scary German Guy from The Monster Squad (which, as it would seem, has only been seen by about five people, including me.) Not so much that people would mistake him for Leonardo Cimino (aka Scary German Guy) but I could definitely see a resemblance. So - maybe I should call him Dr. Possible Sibling of Scary German Guy, perhaps ... or, Dr. Possible Sibling of Scary German Guy Who Happens to Know Quite a Lot About Carbohydrates and Metabolism and I Wish I Knew As Much Because I'd Know All the Answers to His Portion of the Test This Thursday. Something like that.

Being taught three days every week by Dr. Possible Sibling of Scary German Guy reminded me that I haven't seen Monster Squad in a loooong time, so I went looking for the DVD. And it doesn't exist. So, I found a fake DVD on eBay, which I bought for $10 because I was really in the mood for some Scary German Guy and some fine monstrous fun (and Groundhog Day Part XXXVII or whatever horror movie it is that they talk about.)

I'm fairly sure that the eBay DVD was ripped from a VHS recorded in 1988 when the movie was on HBO, so I ran it through TMPGEnc Plus, applied some noise reduction, and voila! Scary German Guy clips. So here you go [please ignore the random appearances by Frankenstein's monster and an exploded (and then unexploded) werewolf.] Download away. But right-click and "save as", lest I have to vaporize you from space, or fill your house with popcorn until the roof pops off, while Tears for Fears plays in the background. I adore 80s movies.

Scary German Guy part 1 - the scene in Scary German Guy's house, when they've enlisted his help to translate Van Helsing's diary (~45MB)

Scary German Guy part 2 - the scene near the end, when they're trying to open limbo to suck up all the monsters, but it turns out that the girl who is reading the German "limbo-opening scroll" may have questionable fitness for that particular job (~11MB)