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A few posts ago I mentioned that I’m scheduled to take the MCAT on August 16th. That leaves me with about two months to finish preparing and with little else on my plate, a few things have become startlingly clear:

• It is quite difficult to study at home, given that we have wireless everywhere and OnDemand in the living room
• Not exercising regularly makes me somewhat crazy
• Five cups of coffee over the course of three hours is probably somewhat excessive

Obviously, something had to be done. In no particular order:

• Starbucks, while somewhat repulsive, is both close and open at decent hours (and no free wifi)
• 24 Hour Fitness has these $24/month membership deals that no ones knows about… just ask nicely and see what happens
• Chewing gum can act as a decent stand in for coffee (and five cups of coffee is too expensive at Starbucks)

So instead of starting my day with the usual caffeine overdose and jumping right into Newtonian physics, I decided to put in a little time at the gym, in hopes of being able to focus for the entirety of the day (so far, no such luck as I seem to be sitting at my Mac, writing this blog but I digress). Missing my biking days, I decided that sitting on a stationary bike might be a good way to get back in shape. Facing the cardio equipment is a wall with seven or eight huge flat screen TVs, each with some very trashy selections on. Maury Povich, Montel Williams and a soap opera or two.

It struck me: people actually plan on watching this. It isn’t just people on the StairMaster at the gym, or those taking the day off work/school because they’re feeling a little under the weather. There must be some folks out there who actually plan on and enjoy watching Maury provide make-overs. The advertisers pay good money to get commercial spots so they must actually succeed in selling something.

In any event, I’ve decided that while studying for the MCAT doesn’t make for the most thrilling of summers, it is much better than the alternative of watching hours of daytime TV. Maybe next time I go to the gym I’ll bring a book… and some coffee.

This is quite a gem. I remember when being emo had less to do with wearing lots of black clothes and more to do with cheesy/sappy lyrics and a penchant for admiring autumn leaves. Nowadays* it apparently involves self-injury and online quizzes to assess how emo you are.

 * I believe this is the first time I’ve written the word ‘nowadays’.

So I just took my first final of the Spring 2007 term. Biol 321: “Magic, Myth and Medicine” (please, stop laughing, I’m well aware it’s a fluff class). So the final was supposed to start at 6:15pm but we did evaluations for a few minutes, followed by a discussion of what was going to be on the final (along with a few relevant answers) and finally started around 6:35pm.

I handed in my exam, which is worth 40% of my final grade, at 6:47pm. Yeah, that’s twelve minutes.

And as an extra bonus, here’s a direct quote from the exam: “Hercules smashed microbes with his righteous hand. (Right on, brother! Roll me up another!)” And for those of you that are curious, that is a true/false question.

That pretty much verifies my earlier suspicions that the professor came to every class stoned out of his mind.

I love fortune cookies. I’m not sure what it is about them but whenever people order Chinese food here at the Lodge and neglect to eat their cookie, I swoop in. Tonight there were a few such cookies on the coffee table, so I chose one, ate the cookie and eagerly read the message.

“You’ll accomplish more later if you have a little fun this weekend.”

With finals coming up, that’s quite a risky proposition but I may just have to follow the brilliant advice of whoever wrote this little gem.

I can’t actually write consistently in this blog. I’ve been meaning to finish wrapping up my stories from the Czech Republic and Hungary but it’s been already been two weeks since I got back to the City. Instead of posting a half-baked draft, I’ll opt for saving it for another time and instead write about something (okay, three things) that are of more importance at this very moment.

1. April 2007 was an amazing month
2. I’m getting on-board ‘24 Hours of Flickr’, which is taking place tomorrow, May 5, 2007.
3. Pictures from my most recent trip are up on Flickr.

Starting with the former: April was a great month. I turned 24, my passport has three more stamps (yeah, I just passed through Slovakia but it counts!) and due to unforseen circumstances, I was able to use my sister’s ticket for Coachella. I’m not a huge Rage Against the Machine fan, but they put on a pretty good show especially considering it’s been a few years since they last performed. Other highlights: the Arcade Fire, Peter Bjorn and John, the Decemberists and a surprisingly upbeat Damien Rice set. Anyone interested in Coachella 2008?

Okay, numero dos: Cinco de Mayo is already happening tomorrow so why not just bring my camera with me everywhere for 24 hours? I just read about 24 Hours of Flickr and I’m intrigued. I won’t pretend that my life is that exciting, but at least tomorrow there are a few things on the agenda (for once): studying for immunology, BBQ at home and maybe even going out (although we’ll probably just resort to Beer Olympics). Sounds like perfect picture (picture perfect?) fodder to me.

Last but certainly not least: I took about 500 pictures and managed to boil it down to 131 decent shots. That’s a bit of a lie… some of the pictures were taken by my cousin Dave but let’s just pretend that they’re all mine. Take a look.

Continued from the previous post…

Monday started with a quick jog to the metro station and a ride to the other side of the town where Dave and I met three of his friends for a Czech countryside adventure. We were headed to Mělník to check out a few sights and observe a peculiar Czech Easter tradition.

After a 45 minute bus ride, we arrived in what looked to be a deserted town. Apparently the day after Easter is also a bank holiday so everyone was off doing exciting things. This was great news for the five of us because we had no tourists to compete with (not that foreign tourists even go to Mělník). After snapping a few photos, we managed to find the only place serving food and sat down for a mid-morning Italian meal complete with Czech beer. How better to start a day of touring?

Read the rest of this entry »

Note: I’m writing about my trip to the Czech Republic and Hungary in parts because I’ve managed to do a lot and not write a word about it. This is part one of (hopefully) more than a few.

I left San Francisco on Friday, April 6. Oh, the joys of public transportation. I mean, how better to start a trip than by taking Muni and BART? I flew out of SFO and stopped over in London, where I randomly met the former UN ambassador from Cyprus. He and I talked about “the Cyprus Problem”, international travel, the Iraq war and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Nothing makes a 2 hour layover fly by like good conversation.

Read the rest of this entry »

So I made it to Praha (Prague) safely and I’m working on writing up a rather extensive chronological retelling of the events that have transpired in the last three and half days. It’s been a lot of fun but my time at this cafe is running out and I’m supposed to meet David for dinner in a few minutes.

As a teaser: I’m now the proud owner of the famous Czech Easter stick. Story and pictures to follow shortly.

I share a birthday with:

• Jackie Chan
• Francis Ford Coppola
• The Internet

…

The next time I write I should be somewhere in central Europe. Fourteen days in Prague with Dave which include sleeping on a couch, seeing the sights, eating vegan food (thanks for the recommendation, Allan) and drinking local beer. I can’t wait.

I should be posting periodically on Flickr, too. (And yes, my rant about Flickr has resulted in absolutely nothing because the alternatives leave quite a bit to be desired… oh well.)

My Dad wrote to me yesterday to update me stuff happening down in southern California. The one thing I appreciate most about his e-mails is his propensity to write as if the caps lock key were stuck in the ‘on’ position. This latest e-mail, however, was great for an all together different reason:

“WE PRACTICED THE VOLCANO CAKE-PAUL HAS VIDEO IF YOU WANT TO SEE IT!?”

A little context: my brother is getting married in early June and he wanted a different kind of cake, so he and his wife-to-be have decided on a volcano cake, complete with explosion (I’m assuming more on the baking-soda-vinegar side of things than the C4, but who knows with this one).

Needless to say, I cannot wait for June. It’s going to be one hell of a party.