Professor's Theory of Original Thought

I was having an interesting conversation with a friend of mine today about the idea of original thought. He was positing that it's almost impossible to have a truly original thought and I took it a step further by saying it was impossible, period. He responded with, how about Einstein's Theory of Relativity? To which I replied, he spent his entire life dwelling upon quantum physics and the like, reading, discussing, etc., and his Theory of Relatively must have been the zenith of a lifetime of thoughts, most of which began as not his own (or something along those lines). [My argument centered around the fact that everything we think was 'picked up' or, to various degrees, shaped by the people and experiences we've had in our life. He should have counter-argued with the fact that it all depends on your definition of "original thought," which is what I would have done... man, I must be annoying sometimes.] At this point we both kinda started losing interest in the conversation, and we parted ways with him concluding he could probably come up with an original thought if he really tried.


Later on that day, via text:

Me: How's the original thought coming along?

Professor [<-- what I like to call him when he's wearing his reading glasses]: I figure there's no way of definitively proving to yourself a thought is original so you may as well just claim them all. I invented jam sandwiches, for instance.


Now that was pretty original.

Joe, Me... and Jessica Simpson

I had such a good birthday today and I'm not sure why exactly but it did feel extra "special." I think it's because it's the first one I've celebrated where I got to share it with a friend -- a good friend who was born on the exact same day and year as me. Not many people get to experience that, but man, it's pret-ty cool.

I understand now and agree with people who say that the friends you make in college are the friends you have for life. I think it's very true and I realised today I'm blessed with some pretty awesome people in my life.

It's weird -- not just the thought of being twenty, but actually seeing how... how much has changed... how much I've changed. When did I become a college student? A med student?? This twenty year old??? At heart I still feel like that fourteen year old girl in Seattle, doing extra credit for Honours English and going to the mall with her friends. (Yes, an unexpected combination, I know; I just wrote the first things I could remember!) And now, in what seems like nothing but a blink of the eye, I feel like as if I'm officially entering the next phase of my life where it's not about 'growing up' anymore but... becoming a doctor... finding my "guy"... entering the work force... becoming an "adult."

I know I keep saying this, but it's amazing how much can change in just five years. It's scary to think where I'll be in the next five to come. Hopefully finishing up my House Surgeon years and deciding which university to go to for my Masters in Public Policy... hahaha... yeah. Georgetown here I come!!

me and Genghis Khan are like *this*

It's amazing just how much you can NOT get done in two hours given the circumstances. I had a four hour gap between lectures today and so had been planning on doing a substantial chunk of studying but I guess it all turned sour -- a group study room + a very talkative person. Need I say more? I literally felt light-headed afterwards, trying to focus on what I was doing while trying to drown out the conversation around me but failing miserably at both. *sigh* It's amazing just how much you CAN get done in two hours given the circumstances too. (Thank goodness for the two hours study I got done later on, or else my day would have been a total waste!)


Did you know that all/most descendents of Mongolians are born with a blue birthmark on the bum?? It usually fades, but how amazing is it that we all get it? I knew I had a blue birthmark on my bum for a while growing up, but I found out today I'm not the only one! My whole family, my Korean friends, and all of us descended from the Mongols. Crazy...

a crime against humanity (or at least, us med students)

First week back for second semester and I have an 8am start every morning. Dear Faculty of Medicine -- that's just cruel! Oh well, what can you do? Hi ho, off to work I go...

p/s - it's freezing!

Mr Yummy

Romance advice number 1000-something-or-other from my dear ol' mummy while watching the movie 'Catch and Release':

"Anna, always be careful with guys whose hair looks like that.

Be very, very careful."

one-eye blindness (no, it's not the title of a song/poem/90s rock band)

It's been a pretty full-on week and surprisingly enough I got a lot done which I'm very happy about, my biggest achievement being that I am now a proud owner of a New Zealand driver's licence! It's only a learners, I grant you, but you have no idea how much agony I've been through these past five years, always having it at the back of my mind as something I should do but just utterly dreaded doing. I don't know why I have to learn to drive -- in the grand scheme of life, learning to drive would be at the bottom of my 'to-do' list if I had a choice. I would rather move to a large city (ie. NY, Boston, London) where they had an extensive public transport system (making it impractical to have a car) just so I could avoid this whole fiasco. But I've finally done it. I have to admit there were times when I thought this day would never come. I passed my theory test but funnily enough, I failed my eye test!


Looking down into the microscope-like eye testing machine:

AA worker: Can you please read for me line 6 of column 3?
Me: Huh?
AA worker: You see the rows and columns?
Me: Yeah...
AA worker: What letters do you see in line 6 of column 3?
Me: You mean column 2?
AA worker: No, column 3.
Me: But there are only two columns...
AA worker: Do you not see the third column at the right? Yeah, you're going to have to get a certificate from an optometrist before we can issue your license.

Me (thinking): What the --!?! What just happened?

So I wasn't expecting that. But it turned out okay. I've known for a while that my right eye is basically blind and my left is almost perfect -- together I see fine, but I had to get it certified first. I'm considering getting contact lenses for just my right eye. Apparently it's more common than you'd think!

Looking back at my 'to-do' list from the beginning of the week: Learner's licence? Check. Starter for 10? Transformers? Check, check. [I absolutely loved Transformers!! You'd think a movie with talking robots would just be stupid, but man, I just had this giant grin on my face throughout the whole movie. It was great! Reminded me a little of Armageddon (Michael Bay??).] 1984? Check. Well, not finished, but major progress.


"As he watched the eyeless face with the jaw moving rapidly up and down, Winston had a curious feeling that this was not a real human being but some kind of dummy. It was not the man's brain that was speaking; it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was a noise uttered in consciousness, like the quacking of a duck." - From '1984' (George Orwell)

All in all, a good week! :) Now I'm gonna enjoy my last weekend (even though I'm working tomorrow morning) before I have to head back to med school.

6pm curfew???

The last few days, I have to admit, have been kind of a blur due to excessive West Wing watching and now that it's over (for now) I feel a little... lost? I've been so wrapped up in all that is West Wing that when I finally get out of it I have to steady myself a bit. But that's not just with West Wing but any TV series DVD I get hooked on.

Anyways, it's good it's over because I seriously have a lot to do in this last week of break -- I can't afford to let it go to waste, no matter how much I want to. The downsides of being a "responsible" student.

This past Thursday Kirsty and I had a pre-birthday celebration for my turning 20 next week. A little early to some, but it has kind of become a family tradition -- it's fun that way! She took me out shopping for the day, we went out to lunch and then later that night to The Royal New Zealand Ballet's "Swan Lake" which was, no kidding, the best ballet I've ever been to. The leads were amazing, and the rest of the company, especially the other swans, were brilliant. It's funny how the only reason I've been to so many ballets is because of Kirsty's life-long love for it, but now it seems I'm getting hooked myself. The last two acts in particular gave me chills as everything came together -- the music, the lighting, the costumes, the dancing... brilliant.

Although... why do people have to do things at night?? I've always been a morning person, which implies I'm not so much of a night owl so it's always hard to fully enjoy shows or movies or dinners late at night. During Act II of the ballet, there was a period where I had to struggle to keep my mind alert (it was my threshold -- the point when it's the hardest, and then after I get past it, I'm wide awake for the rest of the night) and last night at church the same thing happened. I was joking with Kirsty that my problem would be solved if "they" impose a curfew on the city/country. Hahaha... not possible, I know, but not impossible?


To-do this week:

Movies to watch: Starter for 10, Ocean's 13 (maybe), Transformers, Blades of Glory... and to watch again: Becoming Jane, Lives of Others.

Things to study: embryology, organogenesis, reproductive anatomy

Licenses to get: driver's learners license

Cleaning to do: room

Books to read: 1984, Becoming A Doctor (the latter which I have to review for NZMSJ)