Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I attempted three American dishes today: 1. salad, 2. mashed potatoes, 3. gravy.

The salad was really easy, and technically, I didn't make it. Here's what I did:

Ingredients: 1 bag romaine lettuce/spinach toss + Caesar dressing + Italian shredded cheese + croutons. Blend/Mix and serve. Voila!

The mashed potatoes were a little more complicated. I did a spin off of the food network healthy version: 4 lbs boiled potatoes + 1/4 cup sour cream + 1/4 cup chicken broth + a small chunk of margarine + 1/4 cup milk + diced onion leaves + salt + ground fresh pepper. It was pretty good. =)

Last, the gravy. It was a bit too liquidy... but here's what I did: 1 can chicken broth + 1 tsbp garlic powder + a smaller chunk of margarine + 6 oz sour cream + 1/4 cup milk + 2 tsbp corn starch + some oregano/dried herbs + pepper.

Hooray for a day of cooking success.

Hope your Thanksgiving feast is going well.

Happy celebrating!

Something New

Do you ever just want to do something so different from what you've ever done? Like, pick up snowboarding or something???

Well. I do. I really really want to find that something.

-~*~-

I was talking to Timmy and Jessica today about why I felt so empty inside... I know I am definitely not being a bum, but I still feel like I get nothing accomplished every day. This isn't like high school anymore. Senior was amazing (at least before I stopped caring); there was so much I cared about, so much I wanted to do. Now, all of that has just narrowed down to academics and a somewhat existent social life. My friends are amazing and I really love them. But, I feel like something in my daily activities is missing. Where is the passion?? Where did all my emotions go?? If you just compare my recent entries to those in August 2008, it's obvious that something has changed. Sometimes I just feel like a robot, and nothing I do is meaningful...

Freshman year in college, this experience is so different from freshman year in high school. I think it's because we never knew in 9th grade what it is like to do something we love so much. And now we do, and we know that we are not doing it. So, we feel like something huge is missing in our lives.

How do you put meaning back into your life when everything has changed?

The Good Old Days

I really miss sitting around with you guys talking about life.

Lying around on the grass with Timmy and Sumi after a Starbucks run was really fun.

I miss all of you.

Emily

LIFE PLAN.

So, I was responding to a questionnaire from an intern at CDC who was asking about what campers thought of the Disease Detectives Camp. One of the questions was: 3. What are you doing now? If in college, what is your major? What do you hope to do next? (i.e.. Job, or graduate school)

Response:

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. I also plan on doing a masters in public health my junior and senior year in health policy and management. After graduation, I want to go to medical school to become a doctor in internal medicine. Later, I hope to work not only in a clinic but also globally as a part of the CDC, National Institutes of Health, or the World Health Organization.

Something nice to keep in perspective.

Balance

Today at medicine book club, we discussed "The Immortals" by Jorge Luis Borges and "Give Me a Doctor" by W. H. Auden. We talked about the importance of being an easy-going, honest, and friendly doctor who listens to her patients and cares more about people than money.

Something interesting, though, that came up was the importance of being self centered. One of the doctors who participated in our discussion talked about how he loved working at the hospital but regretted working so many hours that he missed a big part of his children's childhoods and didn't have much time to himself. He did not find the balance he needed in his life throughout his career.

I hope that when I start working, whether I am a doctor or not, I can find that balance in my life. I want to make time to not only start and raise a family but also be there for my kids. It would be awful to spend all my life at the hospital and miss those priceless moments at home. Also, I'd like to be able to still work out.. go on vacation... and read books for fun.

I think that balance starts now. Sometimes, though, I try to convince myself that it is okay to be a slave to my homework (mainly calculus) in exchange for time spent sitting around relaxing or going out and having fun with friends. It really isn't, because once we start ourselves in this cycle, we never stop. There will always be that extra assignment we must finish. There will always be some project or paper hanging over our heads... but if we don't take a moment to stop and pull ourselves away from what is right in front of us, we'll never be able to. Not next semester. Not next year. Not even in ten years.

So, let's start now.

I wish you all (mostly me Haha) luck in finding balance and happiness in life.

<3

Emily