February 2012
29 posts
Day 938
Dutch Bells
I tracked some percussion with my friend Emily today for that folk song I mentioned. Emily is really remarkable. As a consequence of being a grade “A” classical violinist, she can keep time like nobody’s business. And so, I recorded almost none of the percussion myself and instead let Emily pound away at the kick drum and snare. She also brought these little...
Day 937
The Wash
Today I kind of feel like I’m slipping through the cracks of the American medical education system.
Day 936
Study, Study, Study
Day 935
I took a little break tonight to record with some friends. It’s a folk song I wrote a while back and doesn’t have anything to do with The Culprit Life. I’m hoping to finish it up next week and post it somewhere.
Day 934
I got a lot of good studying done today.
But you don’t care about that.
What you care about is good music. I do too.
So on that note, tonight I finished up some photos I took at the Tycho show last month.
You can see the full black and white set here
You can see the full color set here
Day 933
The Fifth Floor
Every American man should have a novel by Michael Harvey on his shelf.
I finished his second, The Fifth Floor, today and loved it just about as much as his first. It’s bare bones, masculine, detective, noir writing at its best complete with a protagonist who’s rough around the edges but has a heart of gold.
Some artists are groundbreaking and experimental. ...
Day 932
I forgot but we do have a spring break in the third year of med school. It starts next week. Although, because of my current state of limbo, next week will be just the same as this week for me, chock full of studying. I’m happy for my classmates though.
Day 931
Study, Study, Study
Day 930
Hoops
Day 929
I saw a quite different film tonight: “50/50”. I thought it was generally a pretty good look at the life of a young person who is diagnosed with cancer. I wasn’t crazy about it but I did really enjoy it. The only thing I really had a qualm with was that they made almost the entire medical community look like heartless jerks, especially the physicians. There’s no way if...
Day 928
So I know I’m the last person on earth to see Fight Club but I watched it for the first time tonight. It was crazy. I mean, really. Chuck Palahniuk is a sick genius. David Fincher is a mastermind. The casting was perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever liked Norton more. The cinematography was fantastic. The only real flaw I saw in the whole film was how the final scene (the...
Day 927
Well it wasn’t easy but it was a lot clearer to understand and think through than I remember. Still there was a load of random stuff in there that I don’t think I would have known even if I had memorized every word in the three study guides and three questions banks I used to study for this exam. I had a month! A whole month! Plenty of time to study for those 100 questions and it...
Day 926
Alright. The big day is tomorrow. Insert giant cliche phrase about how important this is here. I don’t know if I feel prepared or not prepared or what. I feel like I’ve looked at almost everything five times. If I fail tomorrow, I have to retake an entire year of medical school. If I pass, I have to take a series of exams that are extremely difficult, any of which could result in a...
Day 925
I’m a Patient Patient
Weakness, muscle aches all over my body, chills, fever. Last night was pretty awful, especially for something no one will officially call the flu. I went to the doctor’s but because I didn’t have a fever at the exact moment I was in the office, she couldn’t write me a document saying she recommended against me getting the flu shot. The medical...
Day 924
The Shot
So I’m just going to come out and say it: I hate the flu shot.
Every year, our med school tells us we have to get the flu shot but I’ve been able to avoid it until now because they threatened to send a letter to the student affairs office saying we are non-compliant if we don’t get it.
My reasons for not wanting to get it are both personal and public in nature. ...
Day 923
Tunnel
Day 922
Study, Study, Study
Day 921
Everything is a Test
Day 920
I met with my adviser again today. I expressed my worry that I’m a week out from this major exam and I feel like I’m clueless when it comes to proper fluid resuscitation for ICU patients. We went through a few problems together and I felt better about it but I still could use a lot of work. It’s just one of those things I never got in the first two years and now I’m...
Day 919
Crank and Pedal
Day 918
Study, Study, Study
Day 917
Appropriately Good Typography
Day 916
Walking toward the hospital this morning for trauma team rounds, I noticed an elderly lady ahead of me being helped along by another woman. I felt something was wrong and when I came up along side of them I noticed the elderly woman’s face was covered in bright red blood. Apparently she had taken a terrible fall on the sidewalk. The woman with her cried out asking if I worked in the...
Day 915
After church today, for the first time in my life, I wrote a straightforward worship song. Parts of some other songs I’ve written have been worshipful but it was largely unintentional. So anyway, I might share that here or I might not. Haven’t decided. It’s definitely not a song from The Culprit Life catalog. On second thought, I think I’ll just post the lyrics here...
Day 914
Micheal Harvey Speaks Truth
Day 913
Things I Used To Know About
For the second time in a little over a week, I was on the other side of the chart. I’ve been feeling really run down physically for a few days so I decided to go to the student health clinic for kicks (it’s free). I’m proud to say, I was correct in my self-diagnosis and treatment. I just have really bad allergies due to my super human immune...
Day 912
I got up at 5:45am to attend the trauma service’s morning report where the night team passes off the patients to whoever is working that day. It felt weird to be in scrubs walking down the halls of the hospital again. Later in the morning, I went to my friend Kenny’s house to record some guitar. We only finished one song, “White Mass”, but it was a really good...
Day 911
After almost a full day of studying at school, I came home to organize the music my friend Kenny and I will be recording tomorrow at his house. I know we’re not going to get everything done but I’m praying and hopeful that what we do record actually sounds good in his big living room. As far as guitars go, the size of the room is the one variable I have yet to test.
Cross your fingers.
So the thing is...
I’ve been somewhat discouraged in keeping up this daily journal of my life in art and medicine. Part of the reason comes from the fact that I’ve been doing poorly in the medicine portion. Well, actually only on standardized tests if you want to be specific. But still. I’ve been struggling to keep track of every single day like I used to. I have been writing behind the scenes...