I'M SO EXCITED! I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! dada-dada-dada-dada-da-doodoo.

supposed to be studying. and am getting some stuff done. going through review questions and taking notes on things i need to make myself remember. reviewing all the 'buzz' words that lead you to a diagnosis....auer rods/philadephia chromosome/ca-125/reed-steinberg/thompson test/thomas test/homan sign...etc, etc. somehow i've kept all this stuff more or less categorized in my head and so just going back over it now is hopefully cementing it in place. it does alarm me, though, that in 5 years time i have to re-certify and that then i'll be YEARS out of school and away from all these memory games that i play....that will be rough. but for now i think that my tricks will work. tricks such as: the Philadelphia chromosome reminds me of a philly cheese steak and what's on a philly cheese steak? why that would be: Cheese, Mayo, and Lettuce.....therefore bringing me to the correct diagnosis of CML (chronic myelogenous leukemia). i have millions of those. i really do. some of them kind of naughty, if you must know. someone asked me the other day how i was able to learn all that i know in the short time i had to learn it. i told them memory tricks to get it down initially, but then once you've seen it on a real life patient, it just sticks with you. OR if you totally blew it when a preceptor asked you a question ('pimped' you) you'll remember those, too. i even remember the questions that my FRIENDS totally blew and then came crying to me. there is some merit in being publicly humiliated.

ANYway...

so yes, i'm studying, but....mostly i've been preparing for and thinking about my upcoming vacation. we are going to eat really well on the trip. and since food is such an important part of my life, i will share with you all the amazing meals that i have. and, since we're doing a bunch of wine tastings and such, i plan to become a genuine wine snob and say pompous things like, "i do detect a slight cherry, oak, prune, caramel aftertaste and, if my nose does not deceive me (which it NEVER does), i believe this harvest was in september and that the grape picker's name was raul and that he wears a red, no wait...a dark fuchsia hat while pruning the vines." and as i speak i'll wave my hands around grandly and say things like "RATHER" and "oh, indubitably, i do agree."

that's my plan. in reality, i'll probably look like i just fell off the bus and landed in sophisticated places where i don't belong. i just hope i don't do anything too stupid to embarrass my family like ask for a straw while wine tasting or pull an eliza doolittle and rave loudly about what "good shit" i'm eating.

these concerns are not without precedence. when my parents graciously took me to england for high school graduation, i had just taken an honors english course where we talked a lot about the history of shakespeare and whether the author of all those plays was in fact the man we think he was, or instead an earl or someone else of royalty... so....when we were at westminster abbey, i very earnestly asked the stodgy (but good humored, mostly) tour guide where the "real" shakespeare was buried. i think i even had a conspiracy theory name of some aristocrat and was looking for his headstone. needless to say, we were almost kicked off the island.

cheerio!