Christmas at Home

Hello everyone!

My family and I going to see Avatar in 3-D!! Very good movie by the way!

Happy Holidays! It feels wonderful to be home, especially with my brothers and Irene home for the holidays, and it feels great to touch the keys of a piano again, run into old friends at the bookstore, and go out for dinner to a warm place on a dark, chilly night. With only three full days at home, here are some things I’ve accomplished:

  • I got a seasonal and H1N1 Flu shot! When I was applying to AUC during the summer, the only immunization that I was not able to get was the influenza vaccine, because it was out of season during that time. Now, not only am I immunologically prepared for patient-contact, I am protected from H1N1, and a part of the prevention of its spread. Now my record for MEAS is complete, plus a little more. Within a few hours after the shots, however, I felt nausea and a sore throat. Perhaps I have become a little immunocompromised due to this cold weather in which I have suddenly submerged myself.
  • I finally deposited my refund check! This past semester I have spent so much money: mainly $3600 deposit on my new apartment, $600 on grocery, and $700 for transportation (airplane, rental car, ferry to Anguilla, etc.). It felt rather painful to have no student loan refund check to back me up, withdrawing from my own personal savings. Now, I am set for the next semester of paying rent ($1100/month), electric bills, and more!
    The Princess and the Frog?
  • I got all my ICM equipment for next semester. For the white coat ceremony, Irene gave me a really nice dual-head Littmann stethoscope, something that I can use for the rest of my career. For the rest of the equipment, I am actually very fortunate to be able to inherit some hand-me-downs from my father, who is a pediatrician. That’s his Christmas gift to me. For the second semester, here is my equipments list:
    • Otoscope/Ophthalmoscope Set
    • Mini Snellen Eye Chart
    • Stethoscope
    • Flexible measuring tape (in cm and inches)
    • White AUC student short coat
    • Sphygmomanometer: Portable
    • Tuning Fork 256 or 512 cps
    • Penlight
  • Like the books, I have heard repeatedly from upper-semester students that it is not really necessary to purchase all of them nor is it necessary to purchase the best quality equipment for the purpose of this class. For example, it is not necessary to have 10 eye charts for each ICM group (around 10 people, like anatomy lab groups). For expensive items like otoscopes, it will be personal preference whether to get a life-long $400 one or a temporary $50 one and it probably will depend on what field you want to pursue as an aspiring doctor.

  • I transferred all my notes, lecture slides, pictures, videos, and other media onto my external hard drive at home. I have always been hesitant in bringing my external hard drive (which contains absolutely everything I accumulated electronically so far in life) to St. Maarten when I already have my computer. Why put all my eggs in one basket?
  • I bought new socks and a new pair of sandals. The sandals I brought to the island as a first semester broke and the one’s I bought in St. Maarten also broke (are my steps really that heavy?), so that’s why you always see me wearing tennis shoes in my pictures despite being in a warm place! And with more shoe-wearing, there’s more sock-wearing as well, so that means more holes in socks. The rest is history.
  • I revamped the look of my blog. My brother taught me some CSS the other day. I had no idea how much flexibility I had over the look of my site! So now, I’ve made it less cluttered, and easier to read. What do you think?
  • Since Irene and I will be going to Puerto Rico to spend Christmas, my family decided to celebrate an early Christmas together. So here is a home video of my brothers Jason and Justin, my girlfriend Irene, and Mom and Dad at our home in Georgia! Merry Christmas to everyone and have a Happy New Year!