• From January to the end of July, I did pretty much nothing. In fact, the most difficult decisions I had each day were:
  • What am I going to eat?
  • What video game(s) should I play?
  • How many times will I go to the gym?
  • How late will I wake up the next morning?

Talk about a life of leisure! I did enjoy some time in Hawaii with the family, but for the most part, I relished the freedom to do nothing.

• Since August, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know my amazing classmates at Baylor Med, some astounding physicians around the community, and aspiring pre-med students.
• I made a killing in the stock market with Ford and Apple. Probably the only time I’ll ever invest in an American auto company, because I sure as heck won’t be buying any of their vehicles.
• Stuck to my New Year’s resolution from last year by not eating at Taco Bell (lame, but I still stuck to it).
• Improved my cardiovascular system to match that of a Spartan, but lost it once school started. This has, therefore, become my resolution for 2010: achieve a body fat percentage of less than 10%.

As far as blogging goes, I wrote 236 posts (counting this one) in 2009. That’s an average of one post every 36 hours (most likely because I had so much free time from January to July). Now that school is in full swing, more of my posts will be about my experiences in medical school… and not much else.

2010 will be an incredibly challenging but rewarding time as I’ll be working to complete the last 12 months of pre-clinicals. Really looking forward to it!

Hope everyone has a fantastic start to the new year!

Many of my classmates finally had the opportunity to go back home and visit their family/friends, but as a commuter from home, that’s a daily occurrence for me. Probably why winter breaks seem to be more focused on “doing what I always do when I have free time” rather than warm, fuzzy moments with the family.

I just love seeing everyone so cheery this time of the year.

So what am I doing for Christmas? Hmmm, nothing different from the usual. My family is only “together” for a handful of days each year (mom busy with the stores, brother and I busy with school, dad always out of town for business), so we’ll just enjoy being at home together.  In other news, I’m glad that Mariah Carey wants me for Christmas. Can you believe that song was released in 1994?! How the time flies!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!

Having my education flanked by Christian influence (a Catholic pre-school and a Baptist undergrad), I consider myself to be relatively familiar with the religion. Do I practice it? No. But do I owe some of my upbringing to it? Undoubtedly. It’s the most widely practiced religion in America (not to mention the rest of the world), and being an agent of assimilation, I prefer adapting to some of the most poignant practices of Christianity, one of these being the Christmas holiday.

Growing up, I interpreted Christmas as a “time when mommy and daddy will buy me gifts.” While this is completely incorrectly, especially in light of what Christmas really represents, many still cling to the materialistic connotation of the holiday. Yet there are many non-Christians who don’t celebrate Christmas in the first place. The reasoning is obvious – it’s a Christian holiday; however, I don’t see what harm is done if someone wishes them a “Merry Christmas.”

People need to grow up. In a society where we have enough to worry about, denying someone the pleasure of giving a holiday greeting which is, sure, of a different religion, makes no sense. This whole “Happy Holiday” movement is just another example of how messed up our priorities are. For those who are offended by being wished a “Merry Christmas”, please realize that the intentions behind saying this are rooted in the cheery mood associated with this time of year, not in the pursuit of trying to convert you. Take what you can get, and appreciate kindness when it’s shown to you. Don’t give the individual a lecture about how wrong it is to wish his/her people “Merry Christmas.”

So now, for the sake of both groups, I say MERRY HOLIDAYS to everyone!

The religiously inclined will argue against the materialism of giving gifts; instead, they would prefer that everyone reflects on the actual, symbolic meaning of Christmas. While I respect this view tremendously, who are they kidding? Children will be children. Unfortunately, they would much rather receive a video game than listen to stories about Jesus’ birth. I guess it’s just one of the fallacies of our society. In the pursuit of materialistic satisfaction, we all are guilty of forgetting about what really matters from time to time.

So going back to presents. I remember my very first Christmas gift. It was something which I knew would generate a lot of laughter from my classmates when I told them. They all received things which I would have envisioned opening for myself on Christmas morning – a new Nintendo game, a new action figure, a toy car, etc. But I received something which confused me. Something which was disappointing in comparison to the gifts my peers were fortunate to have. My brother and I both received a $20 bill. On the note that “Santa” left, he suggested that we open up a savings account, deposit the money, and keep saving up. Now, I was kind of startled that daddy (errr, I mean “Santa”), wanted to give sound financial advice to a child, but many years would pass before I realized the true benefit of this move.

Now I sit atop a relatively large portfolio of stock investments as I generate revenue to help save up for medical school. Instilling the concept of “saving” early on has significantly contributed to my conservative ideology in that I’m not much of a gambler. Greed is a very foreboding enemy, and it comes in all contexts. I intend on remaining immune to its relentless temptation.

So in conclusion, I ask my readership two questions:

1. What’s your most beloved Christmas gift of all time?
2. What do you want for Christmas this year?

So I had a random question for my readership – what’s your favorite Christmas carol? Okay fine, you’re allowed to pick two, since I can only narrow it down to two – Carol of the Bells and Silent Night. I was driving around Katy this evening while running errands and happened to come across Carol of the Bells on Sunny 99.1 FM. It was rather difficult to maintain my composure. As excited as I was, the people staring at me in the neighboring cars at the Fry Road and I-10 stop light didn’t seem so interested in the fact that I had the convertible top down in 50 degree weather. Instead, I unintentionally drew their attention when I blasted holiday music on the radio. Who cares if they questioned my sanity? The festivities of this season only last for a few weeks, so it’s time to enjoy them.

Hmmm, so I plan on writing another post dealing with the pointless distinction between “Merry Christmas!” and “Happy Holidays!”, but I’m rather cold and tired right now. Till then, let me know what your favorite carols are! 

You would think that in an era dominated by computers, Black Friday and other “early bird” deals could be implemented in a far less dangerous manner. Imagine if all the companies who took part in Black Friday offered their deals online to the first ‘x’ customers after 5 AM. Not only would these companies save tremendously on payroll, but consumers would save on gas and having to wait in long lines. It’d be a win-win, but apparently, we rather hear about a handful of people being injured each year for no reason.

Instead of waiting in line, my brother and I purchased two 10.3 megapixel Kodak digital cameras online last night. We really didn’t need anything else except some blank CD-R’s, batteries, and noise-cancelling headphones (all of which were readily available from Radio Shack this afternoon.)

Now I’m sure those poor, unfortunate people who get trampled would hate to see themselves on a video playback of the stampede, but imagine what the woman in this video must be thinking. Makes me laugh everytime.