Janel vs. Justin & the Stick Shift

Really quick overview of kind-of recent events...

I'm back in school after a crazy summer session. And, one of my friends, Justin, purchased a stick-shift vehicle. It's been a learning process for him since he was a former automatic driver.

So fast forward to today...

Justin picked me up from my apartment so we could go to a sushi place. Dinner was awesome and it was also great to catch up. Ooooh, I did not have a single California roll this evening (which is actually a feat because that's my go-to roll).

Anyway... on the way back, we had some problems. I think it started when we had a difficult time figuring out if we were in the left turning lane or the straight lane... and it kinda just escalated from there. Pretty soon we were in Downtown Pittsburgh unable to distinguish which lane we were in. We eventually found ourselves not in an actual lane but on the piece of the road that divides the two-way flow of traffic. Yes folks, right smack in the middle... going towards a statue. Of course, the large statue alerted us of our mistake and we rectified the situation quickly. Now, now, I'm not hating on Justin's driving. Truthfully, we couldn't see the lines on the road (I think there were none). After changing lanes about 5 times within the span of 2 blocks, we were on a straight road back towards my apartment.

And then...

The GPS fell. Seriously, it just fell. And for a brief moment in time, we freaked out. It was dark (almost 10 PM) and we barely knew where we were. We're not really experts on Pittsburgh driving so panic was a reflex. But, this story has a happy ending. We managed to put the GPS back on the windshield (lopsided, but it was there) and we managed to get home. I didn't even have to tuck and roll to get out of the vehicle. :-D

It was a very odd driving experience... but, I am pleased to say that Justin is a safe driver and is now proficient w/ his manual car. Yay!!! Now, I'm back home, chillaxin' and sharing the events of the day to everyone.

This is it for now. Have a Happy Labor Day!!! :-D

Janel vs The Finals

My second semester in dental school has ended... and to cap it off, we celebrated (yeah, right) with an intense 7-finals-back-to-back spread. I don't think I've ever felt so busy academically. There was little time to devote to each exam, and knowing my ridiculous procrastination habit, I had even less time than most people.

Picture this... a 32 page endocrinology handout...
I summarized it in 17 pages of size 10.5 font, Times New Roman, and .25" margins.
I basically gave myself 30 minutes to memorize each page because I needed some time to do the practice exams.
So how much time did I have for this crazy task... from 4PM to 11:30AM essentially.
And no, I have never been able to pull an all-nighter so I did have to sleep.
So before every freaks out and yells at me for being bad... I did pull it off and did very well on the exam. All in all, a happy ending.

But, certain revelations were made regarding myself and my study habits...
(1) I'm a study guide person. Paragraphs and memorization just does not work with me. I need to see things in an outline or list format. I am probably better off rewriting my notes.
(2) I don't write very fast... it could take me 3 hours to reorganize a 7 page handout... or, take 45 minutes to 1 hour typing it. Unless I have to draw things, I think I'll stick to typing.
(3) Even if I'm a worry-wart... I definitely can mobilize myself under pressure.
(4) My Berkeley education was awesome... I might not remember everything I learned at the drop of a hat... but certain themes are so embedded in my mind that pick up of information becomes relatively quick. Also, I have mastered the quick uptake of large amounts of information.
(5) I should be thankful for getting through finals despite being ill-prepared and must do better next semester.

Dental school is soooooo odd. Sometimes, I hate it. Like when I'm stressed out because I think I'm going to fail amalgam because my cavity preparations might be less than ideal or because I might have flash on my amalgam placement. But after everything is said and done, and I realize that I actually didn't suck as badly as I think I did, I start to love it. It's a love/hate relationship. It's so much fun telling everyone about what I do at school. It's really exciting. Dentistry is a whole new world on its own... and I feel like being in the field makes me part of something so much larger and more important than myself.

Despite the fact that I get so stressed out, I'm so glad to be doing this. The difficulty of school is merely an initiation to a well-respected and amazing profession.

Kudos to all who got through second sem and to all the 4th years graduating at the end of the term.

I wish...

that I was a genuinely happy and positive person..

Beyond Tired and Stressed

This has been such a bad and long week.

Here's the gist of it...

My mom was hospitalized for three days... so I basically was stressed out of my mind. I was so scared.
I had four exams... three of them were on the same day. The other one occured while my mom was still in the hospital.
I still have two more exams to go... and I'm just so darn exhausted.

I just want to be able to sleep and not feel guilty. I want to just have a little bit of breathing room... but I don't even know. Not until this Tuesday afternoon.

I'm so bummed out. I'm not very happy right now. I just feel stress... stress... and more stress.
I can't wait for the weekend... this will be the first time in a long time when I can actually feel like I have free time.

I know I signed up for this... I know that dental school is hard and I am very glad that I'm here. I'm just really tired.

I Really Should Blog More

Today was a really long day. It was very eventful and it left me feeling a little bit accomplished in at least one aspect of dental school life. Here goes... I went to a CPR certification. My card expired some time last year and it's awesome that the school scheduled for us to get certified. This way, I don't have to go to some random location or bus to far away destinations just to get certified. Hooray for that.

On a side note, life is bitter sweet sometimes. For those who know me personally, it is a very very very obvious thing that I love anime and manga A LOT. I even went to my first anime convention last summer... and I really liked it. Anyway, I found out that Pittsburgh hosts an anime convention. Of course I was extremely excited especially after I discovered that the location was only 30 minutes away via bus. But then reality hit me like a giant mecha robot (you like that? just imagine Transformers or Escaflowne), I have an exam the Monday after the anime convention weekend. And knowing me, I will feel to guilty to endulge my anime-ness when an exam is looming around the corner. ::sigh:: Maybe some other time? Or maybe I'll study extra early so I can go...

Another random note, being a dental student has some simple perks... such as an awesome discount to dental products from major retailers. It's nice to know that I can buy a Sonicare power toothbrush and an Oral-B power toothbrush for a third of the price. Some people will be getting dental products for presents... and they will like it... they will all like it. :-D

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