White Coat Ceremony

My parents were nice enough to fly out for my White Coat Ceremony (and on my dad's birthday nonetheless!) Unfortunately, I had finals a few days later so I pretty much only saw them once a day when they took me out to dinner (hey, a girls gotta eat.) I must say, getting our white coats makes this whole PA thing seem a little more official. If only I didn't feel like such a man. Seriously - only about 10% of my class is male, but they make us all wear man coats? They're ridiculously boxy and most of the girls look like they're drowning in them. Not to mention the fact that it's completely disorienting to try and button it up. Who in the world decided that men and women should button their clothing in opposite directions?!



My main study-buddies Mike and Brooke.



My sushi-friend Danielle.

Mother Nature is Grossing Me Out Today.

Since I moved to Arizona I have been acutely aware of the fact that there are a lot more bugs and animals here than in Utah. It's not uncommon for me to see a couple of frogs or a jack rabbit on the short walk from the parking lot to the school.

That I can get used to.

What I can't get used to are the scorpions, cockroaches, grasshoppers, crickets, etc. that scurry across your path or the huge disgusting flying insects bouncing off the windows at night. They create a loud incessant hum in the air which, after a while, starts to grate on your nerves.

Today was worse than usual.

I was walking in to school at 6am this morning when I heard a loud "pop." Looking down, I saw what I thought was a crushed food item on the floor. Not so. Looking closer, I saw several little legs that were still twitching. I had stepped on a huge cockroach. Disgusting. It was the length of my thumb and twice it's width.



I was still shuddering when I walked into the library and sat down near a window to study. Less then 1 minute later a bird slammed into the window 2 feet in front of me. Sick. You may think, "What? It was just a bird." Yeah. Well have you ever seen Hitchcock's bird movie? It's freaky. Huge flocks of birds break through people's windows then peck their eyes out and proceed to brutally murder them. Yeah. Birds. Birds are freaky.

The Drive

I used to LOVE driving. There's nothing like turning up the tunes and singing at the top of my lungs for inordinate amounts of time.

Yeah... Not so much anymore.

I'm pretty sure the drive from SLC to Mesa is the longest drive of all time. Especially when you're driving by yourself and you have no clue where you're going. (Okay, probably only when you're driving by yourself and you have no clue where you are going.)

I didn't have much of a plan when I left that morning. My dad told me it would take 10-11 hours so I figured I'd just follow my trusty GPS. However, when I switched it on, the "fastest route" was 14 1/2 hours! Looking closer, I realized that it was routed through Las Vegas, so I tried the "shortest route" which was about 11 hours. Umm yeah, that's awesome how the "shortest" route was 3 1/2 hours faster than the "fastest" route. I should have seen that as a sign of things to come. Nevertheless, I naively started on my way, really having no idea where I was going, but trusting that my GPS would get me there.

Yeah, not so much. About an hour and a half into the drive my GPS instructed me to take an exit. It seemed a little early, but I had no clue where I was going so who was I to argue with the electronic voice? As I coasted to a stop at the bottom of the exit ramp, I was instructed to get back on the freeway. Seriously? Okay, just another little glitch in the system, no big deal. Yeah, no big deal until it started telling me to take every other exit and then get right back on the freeway. What? Is that supposed to make the route "shorter" or something?!

Frustrated, I switched off my "trusty" GPS and found the nearest Quicky Mart where I could call someone to get some real directions while I bought some sunscreen for the terrible sunburn and heat rash I was already starting to develop.

After obtaining more reliable directions and slathering on some sunscreen, I started on my way again. It wasn't too much longer before I made another stop to eat lunch and purchase gas in Podunk, UT. I found endless amusement in the fact that while the women's restroom didn't have a tampon machine, they did have a condom machine (with 4 different flavors, nonetheless.) Ahh, society these days.

Back on the road again, I decided to listen to a book on CD my roommates gave me as a going away present. It didn't take long, however, before I was completely confused. The plot made absolutely no sense. For the life of me, I could not figure out what type of writing devices the author was trying to utilize. You bet I felt pretty stupid when it took me over half an hour to realize that my CD player was on "random." Awesome. That's a half hour of my life I'll never get back.

In the end, I did make it in one peice. I'd like to thank my ipod, the book on CD, Paco (my trusty Corolla), and Diet Coke with Lime.

I would also like to NOT thank my GPS.

Jen, In Real Life

So the other day I saw the movie Dan, In Real Life. In an attempt to show how sad, lonely, and pathetic his life is, one of the shots at the beginning is of Dan lying on a big bed next to a stack of books which have obviously taken up permanent residence. I had to laugh when I realized that scene was an exact replica of my own bed. Should I be offended? What exactly are they trying to insinuate anyways?

This Book is Not Yet Rated

Is it just me or does anyone else think books should be rated? I can say that I've never seen a rated R movie, but I can't say that I've never read a rated R book. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a large portion of the books I've read over this past year would have been rated R. I try to skim over things but I'm pretty sure it doesn't make that much of a difference. I have been swearing up a storm lately and I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the books. (Because I like to shirk responsibility like that.) Now I know I can't claim that I've always made the most pristine of vocabulary choices, but my customary hells and damns are nothing compared to the words that have been popping out of my mouth as of late. (But does it really count if you're in your car and the radio's blasting and no one's around to hear you?) In an attempt to clean up my act I banned myself to only LDS books... But let's be honest, that's just not cutting it. So, tell me, have you read any good books lately?

Conspiracy Theory

My phone decided to self-destruct 3 days after the warranty expired.

Coincidence?

I think not.

Just call me Janet.

You might as well. 95% of the patients at work do.

Seriously, 95% of the people I talk to on the phone call me "Janet" after I announce myself as "Jen at Dr. Walker's office."

I'm sorry but, "This is Janet Dr. Walker's office?" That just doesn't make sense.

No matter how hard I try to enunciate it doesn't make one bit of difference. At this point, everyone in the office knows who they're referring to when they ask for "Janet." We don't even try to correct them anymore. It has become easier for me just to assume a new name.

We the American people have some serious deficiencies in the listening skills department.