Heard of a suicide of another NS resident today. Another loss for the community. RIP, man :(

Well, the exams are coming soon and I've changed my priorities, which means I won't spend time here until I'm done. Wish me luck :D

Ciao.

:(. I really loved everything about the neuro unit, even the damn cranial nerves/nuclei. It was incredibly easy (I'm dead serious) and even if I end up bombing the exam (I won't 8)), I'll always remember that it was very fun to learn and that I knew the stuff well enough to impress my professor. I'll probably take a break from the forums soon, so I can focus on my studying, but I'll be back. :)

Now we're starting psych and I'm not sure I'll love it. Oh well. Maybe I'll finally understand KarlB.

See ya later.

Can't spend a single day without it. Ah, it makes life feel good :D

Yup, I got them today. I know I can kiss my social life goodbye (as if med school wasn't punishment enough, socially-wise)... But that's the least of my concerns right now. It's the pain that's bothering me, and all the good tasty food I'll be missing for the next 4-5 days. I can hardly speak normally, and don't even get me started on the friction between the braces and my lips. Argh... Oh well, it'll pay off in 2 years :D

I know it's early to get a summer job, but I've managed to get one. I'm going to be an assistant in the neurosurgery department for a research project on glioblastomas. I'm quite glad I got this spot, since this will be my first research experience. Apparently, no 1st year students applied for the job, so that probably means I'm the only guy in the class constantly dreaming of brain surgery. I kind of understand them though. Who in their right mind would want to do a 7 years residency ?

Funny thing though, after I signed the papers for the job, I met a 3rd year student who was going back to the dorms, and I know him a little bit, so I walked with him. I noticed he was dressed in scrubs, so I figured he was having a surgical rotation, like most 3rd year students. He told me he was currently doing an orthopedic rotation, and his next one is neurosurgery. I was like, no way man, that's awesome. I told him about my new job and he said he had done research too last year, and he felt it would give him an edge over other applicants, at least for the residency interviews at my school.

Neurosurgery is an incredibly small medical field, and getting known by the surgeons at your school means you've got a good part of the job done. Of course, you need more than that to be able to match in ns (academic grades, letters of recommendation, clinical grades, personality), and I really hope I'll be able to make it in the end. But although my main focus is ns right now, I'm still open to other fields. Neurology is exciting so far, and I think I might fall in love with cardio and ortho. But like I said previously, I'd rather have some serious goals right now, and work hard to meet them, instead of just being lazy and un-motivated because I'm not 100% sure I absolutely love fields ''x'' and ''y''. Sky is the limit, my friends, sky is the limit. I'm going to thank my parents one day for making me realise I can become whatever I want if I work hard at it.

Oh, I forgot. Happy Valentines day ! (Funk has got his eyes set on a lady. Stay tuned for more updates, hehe...)

Back to more studying (neurology : cerebellum and basal ganglia. Hmm, pure fun :P)

CIAO :D

BlackJack

:D

My parents came (surprise) to visit me and they've bought me a digital camera. So sweet !

I should congratulate myself :D. 9 days straight. By the way folks, here's a website that has a few samples of my favorite band's next album : True Paralles by TrustCompany. Enjoy :P

www.trustxco.com. Enter the website, then click on any samples (slave, fold, etc). You should also check the download section.

Ciao :D.

This stuff if off the hook. Everything is so logical, so simple, yet so complex... *dreams* I just hope I don't have to memorize the brachial plexus, haha. I've talked to a neurosurgeon today about his research, and he gave me some articles he published so I can read them and ask him questions later. This guy has got to be the coolest brain surgeon I ever met. He's really young (33), incredibly funny (he put playboy pics in his powerpoint on neuro-anatomy. He also put playgirl pics for the girls, hehe), a huge fan of action movies (again, pics of Matrix movie in his presentation) and just plain bad-ass (the only neurosurgeon in my province who uses mannitol and carboplatin to alter the blood-brain barrier in order to increase the effects of chemotherapic agents on brain tumors). Let's hope he'll allow me to work with him in his lab next summer (I heard he teaches his students how to operate rat brains. No way, Jose, way too cool !) And the guy is so simple and humble, definitely a gentleman.

Back to more neurology. Ciao :D

Just got back from my 4th ban in 2 weeks. Yea, I know I deserved it :roll:. Anyway, this place has turned ugly a while ago, and frankly, I just lost the will to post any more messages. What's the point if I'm going to get banned again for nothing ? Meh. I'm starting my neurology unit tomorrow, seeing a live neurosurgery friday, getting braces next week, etc. I really have a lot of stuff to do, so I'll take a break from OT. By the way, I went to the ''beach party'' 2 days ago, and while it was fun dancing around with 100+ med students, I kind of felt out of place sometimes, especially when every single girl is focusing on a guy, and vice-versa. I'm like the ''eternal friend'', always stuck in the friend zone. I guess I'll be single for quite a while... Oh well, life isn't always fair, but I can't complain much. My life is probably better than 95 % of the world's population, so no more whining.

Ciao.