Loans Approved!

I'm now officially in massive, massive debt (read: Loans - approved)! um.. yay?

The disbursement date is the 6th of January and I sincerely hope that I actually receive my loan check before I land on the island. It'd be nice to have all money related things taken care of prior to flinging myself down so close to the equator. I'd like to eliminate any extra worries. Because I'm sure I'll have enough to handle as it is. And no doubt there will be a whole host of good and bad surprises waiting for me on the island - no matter how many SGU blogs I read and how many hours I waste trawling on VMD.

On the other hand - I clearly have good credit! That, or Bank of America assumes I'm a safe bet since I'm going to medical school. Hmm, with the amount of debt I'm committing myself too I wonder what would happen should things become unpleasant later.....

From the secret policies of debt collectors everywhere:

Normal Credit Debt Procedures:

-send a nice letter

-send a not so nice letter with a fine

-fine them again

-call persistently

-threaten to report to collection agency

-report to collection agency

-repeat of above from collection agency

-recipient changes phone number and ignores calls

-repeat until recipient dies of old age

Medical School Debt Procedure TOP SECRET:

-send a nice letter

-send a not so nice letter with a fine

-hire a hit man; problem resolved*

*note to operatives: this may also be proactively carried out if loanee drops out of medical school and therefore becomes unable to pay back full amount with interest

**also note that if aforementioned action occurs it is permissible to jump straight to third directive

O.O

Ok, I'm just kidding of course! In fact, I'm pretty sure among the throngs of forms I've signed over the past few weeks I noticed that SGU considers it a breach of professionalism not to pay back your loans. *grin* But of course I plan to pay back my loans. As soon as possible actually. My current forecast of my residency involves me living in a cardboard box and putting everything I make into loan repayments.

Well, I suppose that if I fail horribly and drop out of school I can always fall back on my cleverly designed backup plan that I came up with in a fit of hilarity (you know, the "ha ha, I'm laughing because otherwise I'd be sobbing pathetically" kind of hilarity) after getting rejected from medical school the first time:

Yes, I actually scrawled this on the back of a pizza box cover and had to be physically held back by my sister so as not to go stand by the side of the road with it. Heh. You think I might have gained insanity points with it? The majority of people probably wouldn't even know what any of it meant. But they're my only marketable skills! Yup, definitely insanity.

And yes, I actually felt the need to save this sign. I'm thinking of framing it and hanging it up next to my MD degree in a few years. ~.^

Listening to: 灼眼のシャナ オリジナル・サウンドトラック 'II'

Is it still December?

I thought that in lieu of my current trend of going on about unimportant things I'd actually post something of interest to any poor soul who has stumbled upon my blog in a search for information on being an SGU student (you poor, poor thing). Here is the list of my first term books! And the school buys them for us. Of course, they also charge us for them. So no running to amazon and getting a better deal this time around. Hmm, who has an image of SGU and the book companies in a dark room somewhere plotting.....

Not me of course! <--all sunshine and rainbows I am Biochemistry
-Marks' Essentials of Medical Biochemistry: A Clinical Approach
-Lippincott's Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry

Bioethics
-Bioethics and Professional Course Companion by Dr. Sheryl Macpherson

Gross & Developmental Anatomy
-Anatomy Prosection Manual by Dr. Feisal Brahim & Dr. Brian Curry
-Atlas of Human Anatomy w/ netteranatomy . com
-Before We are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects W/ STUDENT CONSULT Online Access
-Gray's Anatomy for Students with STUDENT CONSULT online access
-McMinn's Clinical Atlas of Human Anatomy with DVD

Histology
-Histology: A Text and Atlas with Cell and Molecular Biology w/CD-ROM
-Laboratory & Lecture Notes for Histology and Cell Biology

General
-Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing
-Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers

I also received a surprise present in the mail from SGU yesterday:



You probably can't read it, but on the card is says 'With Compliments of..". I nearing burst out laughing at this. Complementary? Seriously? What, complementary with your quarter of million dollar tuition fees we'd like to give you this five dollar case and luggage tag.

Ok, can you tell that I had my loan counseling this morning? I'm going to be in debt a looong time. But it will be worth it! And I actually was pretty happy to get the important paper holder and the nifty SGU luggage tag. Kinda cute really. :)

Oh, and case anyone cares now several people a day comment on my massively bruised arm. Heh. Who's the wimp now? Huh?
Ok. Me.

Listening to: 夜桜四重奏 op/ed

I look like a junkie

Ok, not really. But I have this approximately four inch long bruise tracing a vein on my elbow that is getting more and more nasty looking as the days pass. V_V The sacrifices I've made to go to medical school! Read: getting blood drawn so titers can be run for MMR and varicella. Unfortunately me trying to look cute and claim innocently that I really, really did remember having chicken pox wasn't quite enough to free me from SGU's annoying 'we must have titers, immunization records aren't enough' policy. *sigh* Luckily for me it didn't hurt when the girl who drew my blood (obviously in hindsight) punctured through the vein multiple times. *grin* No wonder she gave me a strange look when I complemented her draw. She probably knew that she screwed it up. Hmph. Although, maybe it did hurt and I just didn't notice since I was too busy trying to act cool and unconcerned while cranking my ipod up so loud that I didn't hear her tell me I could stop squeezing the ball like a maniac. If you haven't picked up on this so far I really really don't like having my blood drawn. Causes me stress. I'm planning on skipping that day of medical school. I wonder if I can get away with that?

Oh man. I've now done what I never should have done. Used my blog to whine about things that people around me are sick of hearing about.

Me: "Look at my bruise! It's getting worse!" *points to bruise*
Others: "Yes, it will get darker before it goes away." <--poorly suppressing obvious annoyance at my total and complete state of whimpy-ness Hmm. Oh well. It's not like I'm actually forcing anyone to read this. And probably no one is reading it anyways. hehe Please refer to below Pearls Before Swine comic. I'm pretty amazed at how fast the days until I leave for Grenada are slipping by. And how much less I'm caring about things here and shifting more and more towards thinking about medical school. All of a sudden the priority of the day is getting to the post office so I can mail something to Bay Shore whereas just a not so short time ago I was on a completely different plane of thought. Oh! I found out my roommate information! I've contacted her and I'm relieved to say that she seems very nice. I'm looking forward to meeting my new cell mate, er, roommate. But seriously, have you seen pictures of the dorms we'll be living in?? Ok, you probably haven't. But they can be summed up as follows: postage stamp.
So having a amiable roommate seems to be fairly essential to not going stark raving mad while studying 26 hours a day. No I haven't lost it - I've just been watching too much DS9 lately. ^_^

Listening to: マクロスF O.S.T.2 娘トラ

Funny

Ok, this has nothing to do with SGU or really anything else....but it's really hilarious. And I promise not to have too many posts that consist solely of a comic strip.

My SGU

Ok, this just makes me happy:


I now have access to my SGU e-mail account! The above banner is from that page. See Nic, pictures as promised! Hope this is short enough to keep your attention. *snicker*

Official!

My leaving for Grenada is getting more and more 'official' every day. SGU has now officially taken their first $1,000 from me. Let's all take a moment to reflect on this historic occasion. I have now started my payments for my medical education. And I will no doubt finish paying in about thirty years! It will be worth it though, the benefits far succeed the cost.
I still need to submit my scholarship application - hey it's worth a try right? - and all the other miscellaneous paperwork. One of which is my white coat order form! My happiness over this no doubt labels me a complete nerd. But hey, when you've made a profession out of applying to medical school, actually getting to do all the little things leading up to matriculating are just that little bit more wonderful.
I would also like to note and send out a sheepish apology to all my poor co-workers here in the lab who, I think, are really tired of hearing me pontificate on the island of grenada and how I'm soon going to be studying on a tropical island etc. Sorry guys!!
Funny story. So, I went shopping for school clothes yesterday (read: a swimsuit) with my sister.

Me: "So, I bet you don't have much business in the winter here?"
Saleslady: "Not really, but for some reason, we're open."
Me: "I'm moving to the Caribbean in January to go to medical school" <--I still inexplicably feel the need to tell this to anyone who will listen
Saleslady: "Really?? That's so cool!"
Me: "Ha ha, yeah, all my friends kind of want to kill me for getting to move to an island to study."
Sister: "Yeah, I'm her sister and _I_ kind of want to kill her."
Saleslady: "Wow, now I kind of want to kill her too."
Me: .... o.o "How sweet, everyone wants to kill me..." *edges away*