when NOT to compliment a lady.

had my well-woman workshop today. this is where we learn how to perform a medical exam on a "healthy" woman. it's like a physical but for women. so on top of the usual things like BP check, listening to the lungs & heart, you also have a breast exam, a PAP test and a bimanual exam. so basically all the stuff i learned during my elective.

unfortunately in classic SOM (school of medicine) fashion, they managed to suck all the fun and life out of the well-woman exam. case in point, in the student preparation notes it reads:
"avoid referring to a client's breasts/vagina/cervix as beautiful/wonderful etc. this description can be interpreted as sexual in nature. a better alternative is to describe the client's vagina and cervix as healthy or normal."

healthy or normal?? how mundane.
besides, women LOVE creepy doctors that comment on the attractiveness of their private parts. no? ladies, back me up here!
;p

give me my money!

i finally got my OSAP for the school year. in case you didn't know i started in january. JANUARY! that was 6 months ago! goodness gracious. silly government.

did you know... that the provincial government of alberta provides it's students upwards of $30,000/year in student loans. compare that with OSAP which gives you a measly $8400. pft!

back on the horse.

after a week's hiatus, went running again today. went to the city and back.
it was brisk.
(i'll let you decide whether i'm referring to my running speed or the outside temperature).

5 year, 10 year, 25 year plan?

i've been sitting on this post for a few days. don't feel like i'm getting my ideas out coherently but i thought i'd just go ahead and post it.

*****
been thinking about my future quite a bit lately.
not just about what i want to specialize in or what my first car is going to be (i'm thinking something on par with a mini cooper s???). been thinking about marriage, kids, career...

well the marriage & kids part usually requires another consenting female. put that on my need-to-obtain list. the dilemma boils down to all the things that i WANT to do & all the things that i feel i NEED to do.

so what do i NEED to do?

• pay off my ever increasing debt.
  
• get married early enough to have 4 kids without the repercussions and the associated health risks with having kids at an old age.  (yes i said FOUR kids.  and yes, i will find someone agreeable to this! :p)

and my WANTs...

• Canadian Forces. i started looking into the canadian forces in an attempt to find a way into med school. then i started looking at it as a way for me to pay off my tuition in a hurry (there is a decent sized signing bonus). but the more i think about it, i think i WANT to do. for lack of a better word, i think it'd be... cool. ok, i won't lie. i think it'd be pretty cool to fire a live weapon. what can i say? i'm just a little boy at heart. plus you get to see parts of the world you'd never get to see otherwise! i'm not saying i want to be an army guy for the rest of my life. just for a few years.
  
• i also want to do something like MSF for a year or two. ideally it'd be with a organization that has no political or religious agenda.
  
• start the next phase of my life. i want my own family. my own wife, my own kids, my own dog, my own house & my own porsche sitting in the driveway.

as you can see there is no order in my wants and needs. some of the things i want can't go with some of the things i need - how am i possibly going to pay off my tuition when VOLUNTEERING for a group like MSF??? heck, some of the things of the same list aren't even compatible with each other! i don't want to be in somewhere in afghanistan when i have a family with kids!

i think this guy sums up what i'm feeling deep down. (thanks mike for the heads up). hopefully i can look back in 5,10 or even 25 years and think, yes it was worth every night-in. every stress-induced freak out. worth every single sacrifice.

don't know why i feel like my head clock is ticking louder than ever. can't you hear that? it's going TICK! TOCK! TICK!! TOCK!!
i know i'm getting WAY ahead of myself and that i just need to take things step-by-step. my dad used to tell us this all the time...

i stole this photo shamelessly & without permission from my friend julie's facebook profile pic. it translates into something along the lines of... let's be happy. and... do when you do. as in play when you're supposed to play, and work when you're supposed to work. i'm pretty sure i'm supposed to work right now.

pretty good.

just got home from watching the dark knight. i thought it was pretty good. heath was pretty crazy. probably the best movie i've seen all winter (north american summer). better than iron man, better than kung fu panda and DEFINITELY better than indy. i hear that wall-e is quite good, but that doesn't open up down under until mid-september or so!
but this movie's left a bad taste in my mouth. i feel that making this movie definitely could've pushed heath over the edge or at least contributed. i know it was an "accidental overdose", but...