school is toxic. i’ve got bags under my eyes that won’t go away— and my temper is getting shorter. time for a vacation. bermuda, bahama, come on pretty mama…

so, like, william and i are sitting in starbucks, drinking coffee and studying for the cardio exam, when this crazed homeless man comes up to us, flips a coin, and then proceeds to shove his frappucino in william’s face.

crazed homeless man: will you drink half of this and tell me if it’s ok?
william: uhm, no. but the people at the counter might help you.

crazed homeless man walks away, ponders his situation for 10 minutes, walks to the trash can, flips a coin, drops his untouched frappucino in the trash, walks to the door, flips a coin, opens the door, and wanders out into the night.

freaky.

i kept wondering what would have happened if the coin told him not to go out the door, or not to be nice to the scared medical students, or not to wear clothes tomorrow. oh the horror, the horror.

so, kapil keeps reminding me that i really do need to go out and hit some balls in order to get out of this funk we’ve both been in for the past couple weeks. as much as i grumbled and whined about needing to study, i knew he was right. so…i threw caution [and my ekg book] into the wind and ran off to break in my new racket on the ball machine. it wasn’t bad enough that the ball machine was acting wierd and the balls were old and dirty– but midway into my first round of balls– the strings on my new racquet broke. doh. so… i grabbed the other one and continued hitting quite poorly for another round of balls. sad and dejected, i gave up the struggle and went over to say hi to jayton, a tennis pro at the club.

seriously, he saved the day. after he gave a lesson to a little girl, he hit with me– and suddenly…magically… my shots started going in. i actually made contact with the ball– on the strings! and…i was winded in about 5 minutes. of course, this opportunity doesn’t come along every day, so i stuck it out for probably the equivalent of 2-3 baskets of balls. i think he’s my new hero.

i stopped by the crepe shack last night for some dinner and studying– about an hour into it, a few kids came in for crepes and sat down at the table next to me. well, they weren’t so much kids as 20-something mormon kids with simple minds and simple lives. still immature and a little bit slow, they rambled on about not wanting to go to USC for college because of the hot girls and the fear of being tempted by someone other than their wives [i didn’t know you needed a college degree to become a cop]. it reminded me of happy times in high school– well, minus the marriages and the morgages. it’s like they’re 10 years older than me and 10 years younger than me at the same time. wierd.

so…studying slowed down until they left– i ended up making flashcards because my train of thought kept getting interrupted by some inane comment. i miss wheatberry.

i studied hard friday afternoon, and was promptly rewarded by a nice sushi diner in pasaassadena with the boy. we wandered the streets afterwards and ended up at borders, where i found a 4 ingredient cookbook. easy squeezy, no? we’ll find out. at least the pictures are pretty.

saturday morning, i went to volunteer for PCHAT at one of pomona’s local elementary schools. we hung out with some kids, made fruit out of play-doh, and practiced saying the different fruits and veggies in spanish. fun fun.

that afternoon, back in pasadena, ryan and i stumbled on a latino festival. they had blocked off a section of colorado blvd and set up tents for entertainment, food, and yes, a full bar. we gorged ourselves on tacos, a burrito, flan, lemonade, a tamale, and a churro. mmmm. tasty.

that night, we took the train down to hollywood and highland for drinks at twist and bowling at lucky strike for a friend’s brother’s birthday. turns out, we neither drank nor bowled, but it was still fun. i found a photo booth inside of lucky strike, and dragged kat and ryan in with me. the first shot is my arm and kat’s arm because we weren’t quite sure what was going on. the last one is freakin scary because i was midway through sticking my tounge out, and ended up looking like some kind of monster/retarded child. love it love it love it.

sunday, i spent the morning at wheatberry, the new corner bakery rival on lake. ryan and i had wandered into the place earlier and were in awe of the baked goods. so… it was just me, a strawberry and cream filled croissant, lots of tea, and my EKG book… for about 3 hours. they must have thought i was mad… but it was a great study space. big tables, no annoying music, and nice smells. i’ll be there next weekend for sure– i have to study for my exam and i’m thinking one of their croque monsieur’s will be a nice study companion.

a new doctor came in today to teach us EKG basics and now everything seems managable. he made it simple-pimple… and cut my studying time down by hours. so… i studied pharm for the afternoon. class 1a, 1b, 1c… goodness. tomorrow, PCHAT and bowling somewhere in hollywood. ooh.

the day of the tennis tournament that we’ve all been talking about arrived, finally, and just my luck, i came in a sick puppy. cramped, nauseous, and dizzy, i wiffed balls, missed serves, and dumped easy shots straight into the net. the horror, the horror. kapil and i won our first match 6-3, and the second match was halted at 5-4. it was a welcome reprive. kapil and i were up 4-1 and then we just tanked. it was a sad day on the pomona courts. we’ll have to play again another time, when i won’t waste everyone’s time. so sad!

update: i just took a nice, long, hot bubble bath and i felt all better… while i was in the tub. the grossness has taken over once again. note to self: bring tub full of bubbles everywhere for good health. mmmm. time to find dinner, or get back in the tub. we’ll see.