Happy Hour

Today, I experienced my first Happy Hour. And I'm not talking Sonic Drive-In half-price slushies Happy Hour here. Okay...no need to be alarmed. Today at work, the Psychiatry division had Happy Hour, and drinks were provided, yes, along with lots of food. A lot of people were drinking. Some people were getting totally drunk, some were doing it just for the image (the social drinking I suppose. I don't quite understand that), some wouldn't drink because they had more work to get back to, and a select few (myself included) didn't because they choose to not drink. Everyone brought really good food for this Happy Hour as well. There are a lot of Asians that work in my division, so there was a lot of funky Asian food that I got to try. There was this black stuff that I thought looked like shriveled up olives, but they told me it was mushrooms and that it was really good for me and that it would clear up all my excess lipids. Well. I didn't have the heart to tell them that the mushroom wouldn't have the ability to even clear up the amount of oils (lipids) it was drenched in. I love the Asians. Anyway. I ate cool foods while everyone else got wasted. It was great. Well, John and Jun sat by me and they didn't drink today either, so we were able to carry on good conversation without having me feel too out of place.

The store right downstairs of my apartment building is CLOSING! Gah! What am I to do!? Here is what I have heard: the store is going to close the end of next week. Although that actual store did well, the overall chain fell out of business. A couple weeks after they close, it will reopen, and I've HEARD that it's going to be some sort of organic food store or something. Which I don't know yet if that will be good or not. It could be totally awesome and healthy and stuff, or it could be completely lame, hippie, and expensive. Or any combination of the previous descriptions. I guess we'll just have to find out. Right now they're starting to have sales on some of their items, so for the next week, I might have to stock up on some cheap discounted groceries!

If I could choose only one type of weather to live in for the rest of my life, it would be the weather that we have had here for the last week. When I first got here, I thought that the weather was awful. I think though, that it was because I came right when the weather was suddenly like 100 degrees and the humidity combined with it made it feel like it was 120 out. Well, now I think the weather is wonderful. Everyday as I leave work and head to the shuttle, I tell John how great I think the weather is (true story). I've probably just acclimated to it compared to when I first got here. It will still got hotter in the end of July/August, so hopefully that won't be miserable.

I learned why everyone in Baltimore has cats. When I was looking for apartments before I moved here, I noticed that a lot of apartment ads stated that they had cats living there. I'm allergic to cats, so this posed a problem for me. I thought that everyone out here would just be cat freaks or something. I brought this up at work the other day, and John and Geetha informed me that the reason that everyone has cats is to keep the rats away. The famous line in the song "Good Morning Baltimore" that says "the rats on the street..." well, it's TRUE. Not in the Mount Vernon area where I live, but in most areas of Baltimore, esp. where all the undergrads live in Charles Village, it is totally true. John told me that the rats are bigger than the cats. Geetha said that if people don't have cats, then they are asked to put out food for the wild cats in the area. I'm so glad that I don't have to worry about all of that. And the whole trash issue too. All of my trash I put down a garbage chute. I kind of want to see a Baltimore street rat someday just to say that I saw one...but really...I never want to see one.

People (mainly at church) frequently like to test me to see if I have a Utah accent. They ask me to say the words "mountain" and "Kaysville" a lot. Uncle Jim would be disappointed to know that I always fail at the "mountain" part (I KNOW how I'm supposed to say it, but I'm not going to change how I say it for them just that once), but I never say "Kaysville" weird. But I've never heard it said weird. It's like..."kays-vull" or something is what they're seeing if I say. Overall they say I talk normal. But who's to say what's "normal"?

Earlier this week at work I learned how to work a fax machine! I think my boss was shocked when I told him that I didn't know how to do it, but seriously, I don't think that 80% of the people my age know how to work fax machines. Just saying. Anyway, so my boss, went through a detailed explanation to me of how to use the machine. Including detailed sound effects. All with his Russian accent. It was highly amusing. Following this brief training, I successfully faxed my first document.

As part of the Stanley Summer Scholars program, I have the opportunity every week to do Schizophrenia rounds. Every Thursday, my group of summer interns, med school/grad students, and some doctors come listen to this doctor interview a patient that has Schizophrenia. These patients are usually severe cases who have come to JHH as a last resort, and are in need of desperate help. The nurse goes over with the doctor the patients entire medical history, which usually takes about 20 min to discuss and is pretty intense. The patient comes in, and the doctor will ask them questions. It really is interesting to see how people with Schizophrenia interact with the doctor, and how they answer the questions. Each case is so different, too. As students, we can also ask the patient questions if we'd like at the very end. After the patient leaves, the doctor discusses with the other doctors/students the different treatment options.

The Stanley Scholars group is focused on Schizophrenia research. When you're sitting in a lab all day, it's easy to forget what you're actually doing the research FOR. I'm glad that we're given the opportunity to see Schizophrenia patients, at their worst even, so that we know what we're trying to accomplish in the long run. Granted, the solution is a long ways away, but it keeps the big picture in mind. Not a lot of people even know what Schizophrenia is. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that 90% of the people reading this post only have a very vague idea of what it is. "A Beautiful Mind" IS a good source, sure, but there is SOO much more than just that! Study up on it. Everyone can learn more. I have a book on Schizophrenia by Dr. Fuller Torrey. It's like 500 pages. I have to have it read by next week. So while I read that, you can read a wikipedia article or something. Anyway. Back to my point. My point being that I love going to see the patients! I just want to go up to each one of them after and hug them and let them know that everything will be okay! Even if it's not while they're on Earth. They'd definitely freak out at me if I were to do this, but my heart just gets so softened by each and every one of them. It for sure motivates to work hard when I get back to the lab bench and hope that maybe the next little mouse I work with will help get me one step closer to making the lives better for those with Schizophrenia.