Jealous of the Moon

"You've given up the good fight
You're as strong as anyone
You're back where you started from
I see you're back where you started from..."

I guess it is time for my periodic "I'm still alive" post. Its been just under a month and not too much has changed. I remember coming back to school fearing the dreaded Fifth Quarter, where clinical faculty begin their quest to break medical students. Even so, things have been going so well that I almost worry that I'll wake up someday and the burnout will suddenly hit me. Worry not, parents, it doesn't seem like that will happen soon. Maybe its the fact that I've finally figured out how to study or perhaps its the prospect of starting clinical rotations in a brief eight months. Whatever the reason, life as a second-year medical student has been far more enjoyable thus far than I had imagined. Its not to say that the ominous approach of board exams isn't on my mind, I just choose to delay obsessing over it until after the holidays.

On that note, I've been lucky to get down to Columbia in the past two weeks to see a couple of my favorite bands. The first, of course, was Guster. We ran down to The Blue Note in the middle of one of our hellish weeks and I can honestly say, that was probably one of the best ideas I've ever had. It gave a bit of a break to the crazy amounts of studying we were doing for the past ten days and truly re-energized our minds. The venue is great. It is big enough to get a good-sized crowd and small enough that there really aren't any bad spots. The acoustics are great from any spot and since it is open and standing only, there really isn't a bad view. Just yesterday, I ran back down to see Nickel Creek perform one of the best shows I have ever seen. Again, music has been one of the major ways I have been staying sane amidst the books and diseases. Last night was no exception as I stood immersed in every note and word.

Nickel Creek at The Blue Note

So that was fairly fragmented approaching verbal diarrhea, but I guess that's what medical school does to you...