Aaaaagh Finals

I'm soooo tired. One more final and the hardest one yet of all of them. So stressed. So feeling blah. I don't know what to do. I'm just reading over stuff now. :(

Giving Back

I would tell everyone that I've been busy with schoolwork... but that's not really anything new. Instead, I'll just tell everyone about the community service things that I'm involved with.

Right now, the Pedo Club (I'm secretary... in case you didn't know) is holding a Toy Drive. And, I'm basiclly asking my classmates to sponsor a child by purchasing a toy for them and leaving it unwrapped at the Pedo clinic. I also helped out w/ the Christmas tree sale at the School for Blind Children. We received 300 trees yesterday and we hauled them out, removed the string binding their branches, trimmed their stems, measured their height, tagged their specs, and cleaned up. It was a fun time and it was great hanging w/ the second years... but I'm not going to lie, it was freezing. I was suited up in my winter gear.

Since it is super cold in Pittsburgh, I am now considering making an investment on a really warm jacket. All the wam outerwear I have are coats and I need something lighter and shorter than that. It's amazing how expensive jackets are. Northface is ridiculous... some of the jackets are like $500. I'm looking at Columbia right now but they don't have prices listed on their website. The other one that I'm looking into is Lands' End... my grandma wants to give me her Lands' End jacket... but I really don't wanna wear bright orange around school. And, I found a moderately priced $140 jacket that I might buy myself for Christmas.

Wow. I can't believe that Christmas is coming up so fast. It's going to be exciting, relaxing, and hopefully super fun. But before I get there, I need to suffer through finals. There's just no easy way out. Ah, the life of a dental student... with so much stress, you have no room for other emotion.

Cold...

Yes, it's 4AM. And yes, I've been studying. But not to worry, I actually slept earlier. This is probably a bad idea, but I'm studying on my bed... well, I'm taking a side break now but you get the picture. You see, the heat comes on and off... and well, it's off right now and I'm freezing so I have to be under the blanket. I guess I could bring my fleece blanket to the desk, but that will be odd. So yeah, I'm here... on my bed... chugging away.

I don't think I'll fall asleep though... I've been up since like 1:15 AM... and I did drink some Sugar free Rockstar energy drink. I need to buy some of those 5 hour energy drinks... those are good and don't have much caffeine.

Well here's what I figure, I will stay up now and get as much done now... and hopefully, I can get some sleep tonight which is much more important for test preparation anyway... and on Monday, I'll come home after I take my edentulous impressions of my typodont, pour it up, etc... and I can sleep for as much as I want. Sounds good. :)

I can't wait to be able to get a good 8 hours of sleep.

Quickie Blog

Life is very intense right now. I'm taking a 5 minute break in between me getting ready for school to update my blog. Let's put it this way 5 exams in 7 days. Three of them are back to back. I don't even know why dental schools try to kill us in this way... but they do. :(

I can't wait until after next Monday, then I can breathe for like... 3 days before I have to start majorly studying again for the exam the following Monday. Life is crazy. I can't wait to have a break because I feel so stressed out. I slept for like 5 hrs the day before (2 hrs... woke up for a practice test... then 3 hrs)... and last night, 4 hrs of sleep... today, maybe even less. I don't even know.

I hope hope hope and pray pray pray that everything will turn out just fine.

Crying is Therapeutic

I cry for everything. Seriously. I cry when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm mad, when I'm stressed, when I'm excited.

Crying is seriously therapeutic. And, I definitely can turn on the water works. I cried today cuz I was listening to Michael Buble's song "Home." It made me miss home... so of course, I had to cry. Whenever I have a whole bunch of exams (like the horror that is this week), I really miss home. My year off from school was very relaxed and I enjoyed being home even though I wasn't really doing much. Now I'm off to do bigger and better things... but for the most part, I'm alone as I do it. So even though I feel very lucky to be going to such a great dental school and being on my way to achieve my dreams, I can't help but feel a little bit homesick.

I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad I'm given the opportunity to earn my D.M.D. degree. I've waited for this opportunity for such a long time. :-D But, I think it's okay to still feel homesick.

Breaking Up is Hard on Everyone

So... It's 5 AM. Why am I up? Someone in the apartment is breaking up with their boyfriend and they are yelling really loudly. Now, the apartment does not have thin walls and I don't usually hear people saying anything... but this time around, wow. Very loud. I've been up since like 4AM. At first I thought it was stuff going on in the hospital but then i realized, hmmmm, nah.

Now I can kinda hear some banging and I think I heard some guy asked them what's going on... but maybe I'm just hallucinating cuz it's so early. :( I'm really sorry that they are going through this, but I have an exam tomorrow, and I really really really need to study. I had my alarm set and everything... but I woke up earlier than my alarm and now I can't go back to sleep and have to be awake.

::sigh::

I should have bought earplugs.

Some Introspection

I've come to the realization that I can't rely on anyone and that, at some point, everyone is bound to disappoint me. Well, I was never really the type of person to let others know how I truly felt. I would tell everyone about the superficial things about me or just random thoughts that mean nothing to me. But, to really know what I was thinking or how I'm feeling, that's very rare for those around me.

And you would think that after 23 years of getting burned, I would learn that those rare instances must be completely extinguished. But, of course, I'm stubborn. So I constantly put myself out there and make friends who I think I can trust... only, of course, to be burned again. I hate this. Why is it that you can be such a good friend to someone but for some reason never receive the same consideration? I feel like I'm hoping for something that isn't coming. Being in Pittsburgh has made me feel, well, a little bit down. I really feel alone... literally, alone and very disappointed.

But I've gone through much worse in my life... this lonely feeling, these wave of disappointments, and this sadness means nothing. I'll get over it... I always always always do.

Well... I've been gone for a while, huh.

Hi everyone. Okay, sorry for the long hiatus. Things have been pretty busy in school and I haven't really had time to reflect on my dental school experience. Let me just take the time to reflect now.

Last Friday, I turned in my waxing project. It was for the tooth #8 and #24. Basically, this entailed heating up my instruments, dipping them in wax, grabbing the melted wax, and pouring it on a base. Once I have built up a wax base, then I carve a tooth from it paying particular attention to the anatomical structure of the tooth. It was a very interesting experience and thankfully, I am not as bad as I thought I would be. This week we are waxing #11 which is one of the canines. I also have kind of like a practical exam, they are testing if we can put a rubber dam and isolate the lower right quadrant teeth. I have to stay after school and practice doing that. I think they are giving us 15 minutes to finish that task. The pros can do it in less than a minute but since we are working on mannequins, it takes a bit longer and it's a little bit harder.

Besides that, I have been having lots of fun with the people here. I met some pretty awesome people and it's great that I am forming a family of friends within the dental school. It is hard to live by myself and be so far away from home, so friends are definitely welcome. We do some pretty fun stuff. Today, Hsiao, Christie, and I congregated at my place for a mini potluck. It was awesome. Hsiao makes the best lemon bars and Christie made ooey, gooey, awesome Ghirardelli brownies. I contributed corned beef, Thai basil beef, and overcooked edamame. But whatever, I know they appreciate whatever I made so that's fun. And on Friday, Devin, JWo, Hsiao, and I entered Walnut Street and had some Thai food. It was kinda funny because you have to rank the heat of your food when you are making your orders... it was funny fighting over the numbers... "Give me a 10... no an 8.... okay, I'll be brave, a 10 then."

The past couple of weeks, I have also been able to go bowling (though I just chilled and didn't actually bowl). Actually, I won the game since Hsiao bowled for me and had the highest score. I found a place for good boba (that Taiwanese cafe), went to an ASDA picnic (which I like to call the peak of my relationship w/ a certain someone... hahahaha.... don't bother asking, it's kinda stupid and really lame), went to two different churches as well as church at home, and many more.

On Monday, September 22nd, and Tuesday, September 23rd, I have the first of my exams in Biochem and Histology, respectively. Yikes. I hope that everything goes well.

Lots and lots and lots of love,
Janel

White Coat Ceremony

Having Fun

So this is the last weekend before we officially plunge head first into our classes. And, it's been really fun.

On Friday night, we went to Dave & Busters and had a jolly good time. The evening was not centered on drinks or food... it was more focused on air hockey tournaments. The two Justins battled it out for the right to be referred to with their first name. I battled it out w/ Hsiao-Ling and barely came out victorious... our game was so low key that the boys didn't even bother looking. We just weren't that competitive w/ air hockey. I saw Ali box (not the actual boxer and not in a boxing ring or even a street fight) but rather on a video game. He is seriously the best video game boxer I've seen. He was on that thing for like 20 minutes using only one card swipe.

Yesterday night, we went to Gullifty's w/ more people from the dental school. I got to meet more of the girls from the school and they were really nice. We attempted to venture over to a bowling place after dinner but the plans were thwarted by the females' lack of socks and energy. It was getting late though and some of us were wearing heels. But still, the convos we had were great and it's nice to see that we are all connecting on some common ground.

So far it has been fun in school. I thought that I would feel more alone in dental school but since there are so many activities and so many things to do, it becomes hard to focus on yourself. That's probably a good thing. This coming Tuesday, September 2nd, school will come at us in full blast and that will bring about a completely different host of activities. It's such an exciting/busy/intimidating thing to think of.

Love you all,
Janel

Computer Labs

One of the benefits of being a dental student is having your own computer lab. So, this is how it goes, folks... I have not one but two computer printing accounts. I have 900 printing pages available at any of the seven University computer labs. I also have $20.00 (I don't really know what this means) worth of printing pages at the dental school lab. So here I am at the Cathedral of Learning printing 140 pages of documents... and here's a bonus, you can make the printers print double sided, so technically I haven't even reached 100 printing pages yet. Yay.

I know, it's such a small thing and I'm going bananas. But I have this thing for abundant office supplies (specifically paper)... it just makes me happy.

::Sigh:: Well, I guess it's time to pick up my pages.

On a random note, I will post pics of my white coat ceremony. :)

Kiddie Pics

My brother is graduating from high school next year. He finally scanned one of his pictures and I think it looks very good. :) I actually picked that pic/pose. :)

And the other pic is from when he was little. He is the child on top, followed by cousin Aaron, cousin Sean, and lastly by my Curlylocks sister, Jasmine.

Soooo cute!!!

And Now the Homesickness Rolls In

When I was in San Jose, I always hung out with my family. On Saturdays, my sister and I would go out with our mom. On Sundays, my brother and dad would come along too making it a family affair. My friend Minh thought that it was weird that I willingly hung out with my parents... but for me it was the norm. I just figured that once I reached a certain age, hanging with my parents would be cool again. I considered college to be that certain age because it didn't really have the pettiness of high school.

Anyway, I call home yesterday and they were about to leave for their Sunday family gathering (sorta). Dad was dropping the rest of them at the mall while he went to one of his co-workers' birthday party. It was nice hearing them so rambunctious and happy... but it made me kinda homesick. After all, starting yesterday afternoon, I'm flying solo in an unknown, unexplored city. I miss everyone.

Computer Labbing

Hey all. I'm at the computer lab at the dental school. So what am I and a handful of people doing here? Facebook. :)

--Update 10 minutes later--

It seems like fifteen other people came over. They aren't all facebooking though. Okay, so this says something about the demographics of Pitt Dental-->2 girls in the room right now and 20 million boys. I guess it isn't that bad but since I'm attached, boys don't really go blip blip on my radar.

So yesterday was the first day of orientation and I was so delighted to find that we get PAGERS. I know, I've had a cellphone for ages, but do you know how official a pager seems. VERY OFFICIAL. And to add on to the hotness, we got our scrubs and since I'm a rebel, I am wearing the proper top w/ flared Dickies scrub bottoms. Yeah. You heard that right, REBEL. Kathleen took pics of me in my first day outfit w/ my panther ID around my neck along w. the pager on my lanyard. :-P

Plus, we got like boxes and boxes of instruments that I know nothing about. I have never even seen so many random things at the dental office where I work at. :-P Yaaay!

So, just another random facebook update... someone just facebooked me and wrote on my wall, "stop facebooking." Uhuh. Oh the hilarity of the first 2 days of dental school.

Too bad it's all downhill from here. :-P

Back in NY

Okay girls and boys, I am back at my grandmother's place in Freeport, NY. It has been a long long week. On Monday, I get to go to NYC with my cousin Kathleen and have lunch w/ my boyfriend, Michael.

Yay.

Then, back to school w/ me. But, Kathleen and my Aunt Mabel are turning the journey back into a roadtrip.

I love you all.

--Janel

Tired of cleaning

Everything in the kitchen and bathroom seems grimy and yucky. I feel like I can never get it clean. I am so frustrated. The main room, dressing room, closet, and dining rooms are fine. The bathroom has a permanent nasty smell because of the deteriorating condition of the radiator. The cupboards, stove, oven, and sink are grimy. I have fixed the stove and oven and sink. I don't think I will ever get over the cupboards. I'm so sad and frustrated about everything.

I've been inhaling Lysol for three hours now as I try to clean everything. I am afraid that when my aunt and cousin come here, they will have to clean for forever. I don't think I can get this place clean in time. I'm already tired and upset about everything. HELP!!!

Apartment

I don't really know how I feel about my apartment.

Positives:
-Reasonably priced
-In a very good/convenient area:

• Across the street from the Marriott and a Starbucks
• Walking distance from a Boston Market, Subway Sandwiches, Panera
• Walking distance (which means I bought a cart) from an awesome grocery store which happens to have a bank, dry cleaners, deli, bakery, and cheese selection
• School shuttle stops right outside of the apartment

-It's huge - for a studio, it actually has a separate dining area and a reasonably sized kitchen. It also has a dressing area separate from the large closet. The main room which holds my bed is also roomy.

Negatives:
-Old - which means the tiles are old although the carpet looks like it's new
-Bathroom sucks - the bathroom is weird and doesn't even have a towel rack. The toilet flush is also weird. It looks like a public bathroom flush w/ the lever.
-The stove is dirty. I still have to clean it.
-No parking... which means that my visitors are in trouble if they cannot find parking. There is a hospital lot next door and hopefully they let random people park there.
-And, of course, it snows. And when it snows rodents from the outside world like to come in. I live on the second floor, which is actually still very close to the ground (like I can jump out of the window provided it didn't have bars and be unscathed). Raimy recommends using those ultra sonic devices to keep them at bay. I will probably buy two because the place is fairly large and I like protection.

Overall, I think it is a good place, but it definitely needs some getting used to. It's weird how I never worried about stuff like this when I was in Berkeley... even though my apt was much much dirtier and yuckier. I guess it is different when you don't have roommates... at least if I had roommates, then we can all share the responsibility of handling the place. But, I wanted to live alone because I don't really know anyone here yet and I don't want to get stuck w/ a roommate that I don't like.

Well, I gotta go now. An Ikea trip awaits so I can (1) get lunch, (2) buy a desk and shelves and whatever else.

Ciao for now.

P.S. Will post pics when I get the chance.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane... But, I Know When I'll Be Back Again

It is 3 something in the morning and I'm awake. My tummy was inexplicably hurting and I found that lying down was making it worse so I decided to surf the web and write a blog. My flight leaves at 11:25 AM today... geez, time crept by and ambushed me.

My bro and sis helped me fix the room today and put away some of my old stuff. Thank goodness... otherwise, I might not even be finished yet. For the most part, I finished packing ... I just need to insert one bottle of perfume, contact lens solution, and two pairs of shoes in my luggage and then I'm done.

I AM WITHOUT A DOUBT GOING TO MISS MY FAMILY. I mean, they drive me crazy and all, but I love them. The weird thing about me is that I have always loved the east coast and I never really thought of myself as someone who was attached to home. I've been going by myself to New York for months at a time since I was twelve years old... since then, I always thought that I would study in the east. I seriously considered going to NYU for undergrad and dental school. Before I even applied for dental school, I already told everyone that I wanted to go to Boston University. In other words, I've always wanted to study out of state and get the full east coast experience. But in the last couple of months and especially today, it hit me. I am more attached than I thought I was. I am sadder than I thought I would be. I am more scared than ever. And although Pittsburgh was my first choice, I have some regret.

Mom took us out to dinner tonight. My bro, sis, and mom all told me that they will miss me. It's probably a weird feeling for them. They are sad that I will be leaving but at the same time happy because they know how much I wanted to go to dental school.

::Sigh::

I love them all. I'll be seeing them come December in NY. Then, I will be flying home w/ them to San Jose for a couple of days. In the immortal words of General Douglas McArthur, "I shall return." And hopefully, I will still be sane (well as sane as I could be for me) and cuter than ever.

Changes

Just to let my beloved readers know, everyone can now comment on my blog. It isn't just for registered users anymore... so, show me love!

Cutesy Comparisons

My Cousin Loofah

vs

A Jelly Chew Container



I think they look remarkably similar.

Ouchies

My brother was accidentally kneed on his face during a Karate sparring match last night. He might have broken his nose. The PA said that they have to wait until the swelling goes down before they can x-ray him. He's going to his own doctor today to get more information. For the most part though, he's okay. He isn't that swollen and his nose doesn't look that bad which is great because he has the best nose out of everyone in my family. Michael says I don't even have a nose. :-P

Getting Tired...

::Sigh::

I am getting a bit tired with all the preparations for my move from California to Pennsylvania (Ducksylvania). Don't get me wrong, it's not like I can't do it or figure it out. I've been dealing with the situation quite well and I definitely have a plan of action. Still, random things pop up.

As I'm doing my drill, I all of a sudden realize that I need to do this or that... and, it adds up to a very long list. I find that my mind moves a lot faster than my body. I think of more things to do than I actually have time for.

So, let's make a list for tomorrow's events!!! (I like making lists of things to do and highlighting those I've done. It makes me feel accomplished).

1. Lunch w/ Raimy
2. Pick out scrubs
3. Optometry appt
4. Call Dave and verify apt information
5. Find out about Comcast college deals
6. Send Aunt Mabel the list of things I need from her & Grandma

Well... I guess that's all I can think of right now since my mind is still hazy. I will definitely add on as I think of more things.

Ciao for Now, Quackies!!!

Manga Recap

I've read so much manga during the last couple of days. Here's the recap.



Sold Out! - Manga about a girl who goes shopping at an expensive store and is complimented by a male salesperson. In order to get closer to the salesperson, she applies for a part-time job at the store. Unfortunately, she isn't very good at her retail job.



Grade: C - The story was lackluster and there wasn't much romance. The character experiences no growth. Although there is a resolution to the story, it still lives the reader feeling empty.

Howdy, Quackies!!!

Hello to everyone! Welcome to my brand new blog. Treat this as a window to my daily happenings, thoughts, and adventures. I will try to write in this as often and as much as I can.

I have to warn you folks that some of my entries will make no sense, be completely irrelevant, show off my childish nature, and will make you question my sanity. But, that's okay. Try to enjoy it anyway.

I will try to post pictures so that everyone can get a better idea of what I mention. Thanks everyone and much love to all.

--Janel

P.S. Don't mind the giant picture. :) It's to make sure you remember my face!!!