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Busy, busy.Feb. 5th, 2005 @ 05:42 pm
My computer is having Issues with the new modem from RoadRunner. The old one stopped working and Ben finally called to get it fixed. However, when my computer i plugged into the router, no computers work. It is Truly Fucking Weird. So I have to steal Ben's computer. I can't type on this stupid keyboard. Some of you got an email from Ben detailing the issue.

State Farm is giving me $8700 for the remains of my car, and we can pick the check up at our local agent on Monday. Many thanks to all of you who offered hugs and scritches and other forms of support. I plan on collecting :)

Aside from the car, I think the interview in Asheville went OK. I think I didn't have good enough answers for some of the questions, and others I wasn't quite sure what they were getting at, but I didn't leave with the feeling of "Ohgod I fucked up so bad."

Baltimore yesterday; interviews went OK and well, I think. I had intervies for both pharmacy practice and primary care. I lean toward the primary care, because I really hate hospital practice, which is where practice residencies are. At the end of the interview process (which went from 8 to about 6), the director of the primary care residency told me I was a strong candidate, and I think I did fairly well overall. For the primary care one, anyway. I don't think the practice one went super well. One of the interviewers (and preceptors) was Mr. Crankypants.

The interview in Salem is being moved becuse of my lack of car. I asked them to move it to the end of the month; if I hear back positively from Baltimore or Asheville before then, I can always cancel. Hopefully, since I'll be getting money soon, a new car will be in my near future...
Current Mood: busy

Photos of my carJan. 31st, 2005 @ 07:34 pm
http://pics.livejournal.com/akiko

Keep in mind all *I* got was a couple scratches on my hand, and that was after the fact. And a sore neck.
Current Mood: discontent

Too much excitement for one trip.Jan. 29th, 2005 @ 05:07 pm
Ran into a semi on 40. Spun around a few times. Need to get a new car, it seems, but I'll hear from the insurance people when they go look at it.

Need to get my garage door opener, but I got everything else out of it.

All I got was a scratch on my finger and a bit of a stiff neck. And a broken nail. And a traffic citation for "traveling at unsafe speed for road conditions." Joy. $25 for the fine, and 100 for court costs. Bastards.
Current Mood: grumpy

Another interview!Jan. 27th, 2005 @ 08:28 pm
This one at the Salem, Va, VA. Which is exciting, because I really like their program on paper. We'll see how I feel about it in person after 2/11, which is when I said I could go.

Here's the details on the interview schedule stuff:
1/31: Asheville, NC, VA. Primary care residency. Going down Saturday to visit a friend and get a feel for the town and check out apartments.

2/4: Baltimore VA. Officially heard from the primary care residency, unofficially from the pharmacy practice. Flying up late 2/3 and back midday 2/5. I've decided that if I haven't heard officially from the practice residency director by Wednesday, I'll email the primary care director and ask him. I'll also ask where I'm supposed to be and when, since I haven't gotten anything about that yet.

2/11 (tent): Salem, Va, VA. Pharmacy practice with emphasis in primary care. Would probably drive out in the afternoon on 2/10 and back either 2/11 in the evening or 2/12 in the day, depending on what the schedule is.

So I have a 50-65% interview rate, which isn't too bad for someone who did absolutely nothing extracurricular while in school this time around. At least not pharmacy related...

Tired. Think I'll go sleep soon.
Current Mood: happy

I hate writing papers. Bleah.Jan. 26th, 2005 @ 04:43 pm
So, I have this medication use evaluation on high-dose Prilosec due tomorrow. I have everything I need to finish it, and it's 6 pages already. I still need to crunch some data that my preceptor wanted me to include, but I don't know how she wants me to present it. I also have to do the conclusions part. Well, make it better. I have some conclusions, but I don't know if they're what my preceptor is looking for.

I have a final version of my presentation for Friday (which is the same one I have to give next Thursday ... I suggested I'd give it as practice, and my preceptor went for it.) Unfortunately, the computer I was using at the library made me very nauseous. The monitor kept doing weird-ass shit, like turning blue or green for no apparent fucking reason. Of course, the fact that I had to deal with these tiny little powerpoint text boxes didn't help at all, nor did the fact that the monitor was like 7 inches from my face (and had no way to go back any further.)

Going to Asheville this weekend for an inteview Monday. Am quite nervous about that. I don't feel ready at all, or that I've had remotely any time to prepare. I'll feel even more rushed for the Baltimore interview, since I'll be going from rotation to seminar to the airport, just about (though I should have time for dinner and to change.)

I watched the first episode of Sukisho, this new BL series, based on a game I think. It's ... weird. It's got the seiyuu of hotness, and bishonen, and, of course, hot BL action. (Well, no action so far, but it'll so be there eventually.) It's not as OMGcool as Genshiken, but not much is. Genshiken is the shit.

And my eyes hurt, so I'm going to go somewhere else and not look at anything.
Current Mood: working

Meme. (from [info]dolohov)Jan. 22nd, 2005 @ 03:50 pm
~ Scan my interest list and pick out the one that seems the most odd to you.
~ I'll explain it.
~ Then you post this in your journal so other people can ask you about your interests.

Have fun.
Current Mood: relaxed

I have *got* to see this movie.Jan. 22nd, 2005 @ 10:40 am
Beowulf, with script by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary.

Word.
Current Mood: pleased

Wherever I am next year, it's not likely to be here.Jan. 21st, 2005 @ 01:50 pm
If I'm doing a residency, that is. I heard today that I didn't get one of the 6(!) interviews at the Durham VA. Out of probably 20+ applicants for 2 positions. I don't suppose I'm too tore up about it, since I've got 2 interviews lined up already and one in the works (the same day I'm in Baltimore, since I applied for 2 programs at the same site.)

I await official word from Baltimore-Practice, and word at all from Salem, Va. Then I'll have more of an idea what'll be up.

But for now, I have crunched data, sorted, and queried, and I'm going to take it home and analyze it, after I go to the office store or Target and pick up a couple things I've been meaning to get. I was planning on going tomorrow, but the weather forecast looks icy and nasty, so we'll stay home tomorrow, instead.
Current Mood: disappointed

Genshiken: it hurts because it's true.Jan. 20th, 2005 @ 08:05 pm
It's funny, so far. I like it, so far. When you see yourself and people you know in an anime series about a college anime club, and you think things like "Yeah, I've done that" or something, you know you've spent too much time in a club that spends 3 hours a week watching cartoons.

Though I was amused by the scene in the beginning of the first episode, where two cosplay guys are discussing how to build their costumes. Horrified that I've put at least as much thought into costumes, though.

Of course, my vote was to be the LoGH club. We'd watch a couple episodes a week and get through it ... sometime before the heat death of the universe or when the university notices we're just watching cartoons. (Then again, as frequently as various university bureaucrats screw us over ...)

Stardust Memory looks like it'll kick ass. I *heart* robot shows, and Gundam is pretty cool. So far, I like the baddies better. The main character and his horndog buddy are sort of annoying. Mmm, Zeon. It's lemon-flavored. (Damn, I haven't seen those little Gundam model+candy things in ages. Want one.)

Samurai Champloo continues to be fooking weird.

Now I need to go put some clothes on. This workout outfit is freezing if you're not working out.
Current Mood: eh-heh ... ^^;

6 -2 -1=3Jan. 19th, 2005 @ 05:17 pm
Have interviews at 2 of the places I applied (Asheville and Baltimore - Primary Care). Received notification that I was not one of the 15 people they chose to interview (Kaiser Permanente). Am still awaiting word from 3 places.

I need to get plane tickets, hotel, and car worked out for Baltimore.

I need to email Erin and let her know what's going on for the Asheville trip, since I'm staying at her place.

But first, I think dinner should be ready soon.
Current Mood: calm
Other entries
» Score!
Another interview, this one in Baltimore. I need to decide between a host of dates in the first week of February, and work it out with my preceptor, as well. I think the 4th of February will be OK; don't know if I'll drive up or fly. If I flew, I'd have to figure out how to get from the airport to where I'd be going. But it'd take about 3 hours, including airport time, whereas driving would be 5-6. Ooh, I could rent a car. I've never done that before... Looks like Southwest can get me there for 80 bucks (plus taxes and shit), and a car would be like $50 for 2 days. Plus gas, don't know about miles. So let's call it $150. Driving up would be 2 tanks of gas, at 1.759/gal x 13 gallons x 2 = 46. Plus 10-12 hours of driving. Hrm, I'll also have to get a hotel. Any Baltimoreans here?

No word yet from the other 2 places I really want to hear from.
Jan. 17th, 2005 @ 05:55 pm
» Woo, day off.
Well, sort of. I don't physically have to be at the VA hospital today, since it's a federal holiday and the outpatient things are closed. However, I do have to get massive amounts of work done, mainly outlining/drafting a paper evaluating the use of Prilosec at the Durham VA. (Sounds utterly thrilling, doesn't it?) I might try to finish up the slides on my migraine presentation, which my preceptor this month said she'd review for me. And I'll be giving that presentation the last Friday of the month, as practice for the real presentation 2/3.

I'm going to Asheville the 29th-31st for an interview. The interview is the 31st, but I'm going down early to visit a friend and check out the place - pick up info on apartments and see what there is to do. There's reportedly good Indian food.

I need to shower, then I have to get work done. If I get my work done, maybe I can work on my novel some more. I have new CDs to listen to, which should help. I discovered that techno and trance work best, but I only had about 4 CDs in that vein (er, no ... 6. All Move/Move remix cds, too.) So now I have 3 more, including one by Moby and one by some weird-ass German techno dude. I also now own the Nightwish CD with "10th Man Down" on it. I love that song (and the 08th MS Team video set to it.)
Jan. 17th, 2005 @ 08:52 am
» Internet's back! Yay!
RoadRunner inexplicably went down yesterday at some point, and it stayed down until a little while ago. So I haven't been able to read or post or anything like that. And I'd face the wrath of the DoD if I did something as completely unworkrelated as surfing LJ while at the VA hospital. I'd like to avoid that, thanks.

But! I got a phone call yesterday afternoon from the director of the residency I applied to in Asheville offering me an interview. I just need to call her back tomorrow (or send email, I suppose, now that it's functioning again) and confirm that January 31 will work. I'll be driving down Saturday and staying with a friend. Depending on how long the interview is, I'll either drive back Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. (It's my understanding that these things are all-day affairs.)

I should be hearing back from more places soon, I hope. There are 3 places of the 6 I applied to that I really want to interview. Asheville's one of them.
Jan. 13th, 2005 @ 09:43 pm
» Why can't I log into gmail?
Whenever I put my login information into the little boxes, it says "invalid email address." WTF? I was logged in just fine 6 hours ago.

Any other gmail users having this problem?
Jan. 7th, 2005 @ 06:20 pm
» Livejournal being acquired?
By the people who make Moveable Type?

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
Jan. 5th, 2005 @ 07:48 pm
» Oy, the work ...
Tomorrow's going to be a 7 am day, in the IV room. Yay?

Most of next week is 7 am, too.

I hate early days.

WTF, why can't I send mail anymore? God, I just switched to Thunderbird, and there are serious Issues with switching default SMTP servers. (Okay, that'll be tricky if I ever want to send mail from the other account, since it likes to play with spam filters.)
Jan. 4th, 2005 @ 06:55 pm
» From the plastic.com quicklinks ... (courtesy of logan)
In an overwhelming show of compassion, the Ayn Rand institute has come out against giving aid to victims of the tsunami. Key quote: "most of those affected by this tragedy are suffering through no fault of their own". Can't wait to hear about those who brought it on themselves.

I love libertarians.
Jan. 2nd, 2005 @ 09:26 am
» LOTR:EE
Watching the extended editions of LOTR made everything flow much more nicely: Peter Jackson had this plan from the start, and watching it as he intended it, all 11+ hours, fits.

I still disagree with many of the changes he made (and most of the shit he outright made up), but I've come to terms. The book!Aragorn was too perfect, too self-assured, just *too.* Movie!Aragorn seems more human, though the idea of him actively not wanting to become king chafes. Gimli gets no respect, though; poor comic-relief-dwarf.

The near-assassination of Faramir's character still chafes the most. (That little bit of cruelty, and sending the Ring to Denethor... uh, no.) I identified with Faramir as a teenager: he was bookish, and his parent liked his sibling better. Denethor's harsh words struck home to me. I had empathy, and I think Faramir/Eowyn was my first OTP, had I known the term or that fanfic existed, as a teenager who didn't know anyone else who truly loved the book. Or anyone who even read for pleasure, truth be told. I read it first before I was 10; I wish I could recall what it was like to read it for the first time, 20 years ago.
Jan. 1st, 2005 @ 01:20 pm
» Stuff I got for Christmas
Not much -- twas a small year, but that's fine.
( listy )

So, just waiting till tomorrow, when we're geeking out. And writing when I can. I wrote 9 pages yesterday and 5 so far today. That's the most I've gotten in *months*. Yay for me. 75 more and I fill this notebook. Hopefully I'll be done with the plot by then; then all I need to do is type it and add descriptions and a couple missing scenes and send it to beta readers. (Okay, it'll probably be another year before I get to that point, with the stupid amount of work I have for school, but anyway. I'll beg then.)
Dec. 30th, 2004 @ 04:20 pm
» (No Subject)
This story indicates that, while Mr. President was on vacation, the rest of the world wanted him to speak up and express condolences/promise aid/whatever it is that world leaders are supposed to do when something horrible happens. Anyway. The story indicates that we'll be sending $35m in aid. I heard on DWTV on Scola today that Germany is sending 20m EUR. At today's exchange rate, that's $27m, nearly as much as we're sending, from a country 30% or so our size.

Yeah, I know... war, deficit, blah blah blah. It's not like Germany's federal budget looks much better.
Dec. 29th, 2004 @ 07:53 pm
» Tsunami relief links
http://www.livejournal.com/users/nitasee/357832.html

I'm leaning toward the Medecins sans Frontieres. I wonder what you have to do to join them...
Dec. 29th, 2004 @ 12:55 pm
» Deutschland, here we come.
After some minor inconveniences, we have got flights to Germany in May.
May 16 RDU-ORD-FRA (5/17)
May 29 FRA-ORD-RDU.

And because Ben got paid for 2 months a couple days ago, catching him up to mid-October for pay, and we got travel money from his mom for Christmas, we've got several grand put aside for the rail pass, lodging, and food. (And I'll probably have to buy some books and CDs while I'm there... maybe see if I can find a Heino CD for Phil. He'd like that.)

Our current plan of attack is this: Marburg for a day or two, train to Koblenz for a Rhein cruise, train out to Trier, train back to Tübingen, then to Rothenburg, Nürnberg, and Munich, with an expedition to Neuschwanstein, then back to Frankfurt to catch our plane. It leaves at 2:20, so the ICE should get us there in plenty of time, as long as we leave by 8 or so.

Of course, the danger of this expedition is me not wanting to come back... (I almost didn't, after my year abroad. I wanted to stay, but I knew it was impractical since I didn't have a job and couldn't quite figure out how I'd get a degree, so I went back and finished at Juniata. And continually wondered how I could get back.)

In other news, I actually drew yesterday. For the first time in months. One I'd like to make bigger, but when I tried scaling it up, the facial proportions were all wrong. Bleh. Any art people have recommendations for that?

That presentation I have to give in early February is outlined in full, and I just need access to a computer with powerpoint to hash everything out. Well, I also need a couple more articles, which I'll look for next week. Monday I'm not supposed to meet my preceptor until 1:30, so I can spend the whole morning at the library typing and whatnot. Yay.

Friday shall be spent geekfully, marathonning the extended editions of LOTR until midnight, then collapsing exhaustedly. My cousin might be stopping on her way to Miami on Saturday, so we should be home and awake around dinnertime. She'll have her cat with her, and we'll probably wind up locking it in a bathroom to prevent mine from being too pissy. Yay, kitties.
Dec. 29th, 2004 @ 10:22 am
» Mrph.
So, for graduation, Ben's mom is giving us some frequent flier miles and money for travel. We'd considered Japan, but, dammitall, I really want to go back to Germany. And we wouldn't be tempted by scads of pornography and CDs and other assorted crap related to Japanese cartoons, so we'd spend less money. (It's also cheaper to travel in Europe.) So we're looking into it, because, as Ben's mom pointed out the other day, there are limited seats available for use with FFMs. And, of course, the American Airlines site says there are no reward flights available the days we need to travel.

Thing is, I need to go in the last 2 weeks of May: graduation is 5/14, and I have to take the NC board exam on June 15. Period. I need a couple weeks to study for it. Another snag is that it runs into Animazement weekend. Now, I know you're all thinking "Germany or Animazement? Duh?" We'd save some money by spending 3 fewer nights there than we'd originally planned (it was 2 weeks, now 11 days. Either way, still one good vacation.) and less on food, too. We can still see almost everything we wanted to, except Trier (which is cool, true, but a day's journey in the opposite direction of everything else we're planning to see. I've been twice, and Ben's been to Italy, so it evens out.) (For the curious, it'd be fly to Berlin, a few days there, train to Marburg, spend a day there, take a Rhein cruise at Ben's insistence, train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, train to Munich, and spend a few days there before flying home. And the silly tourist trap in the Bavarian Alps is on the schedule, too. It's pretty. Maybe I'll be fit enough to hike up the mountain by then.)

I also need to be there to distribute the July zine, assuming one exists. I still have almost all of the copies of Gruselgeschichten available (if anyone wants one? *doe eyes*), and they'll sell pretty easily at the con, if someone is physically hawking them. I want to have a table in Artists Alley this year, too. Someone needs to man it, though.

Does anyone think we're insane for considering curtailing our European vacation for a stupid anime con? 2 weeks vs 11 days/10 nights doesn't seem like that much. (Er, another consideration we need to make is whether the stuff we're doing will be open. Things in Germany have a way of being closed at random intervals. Should be after Pfingsten and most of the random May holidays...)

Right. I need to go to sleep. Merry Holidays and good night.
Dec. 24th, 2004 @ 11:29 pm
» divx codecs, anyone?
I just decided to watch the last episode of Oniisama E. However, I discovered that my codecs are too out of date to allow my version of Mplayer to run. And I can't remember which freaking package/file/thingy it lives in to update it. It used to be something like libdivxencore and libdivxdecore, but those don't appear to exist anymore, and none of the output of rpm -qa|grep lib is ringing any bells. xvidcore is up to date, as is mplayer.

I just wanna watch some late 80's shoujo melodrama. Is that too much to ask?
Dec. 23rd, 2004 @ 09:07 pm
» The crust of the blood on the driven snow
Home again, home again, jiggety jig. Driving last night was fun and exciting, because it was snowing like hell the whole way from DC to Richmond (well, about half an hour south of Richmond.) Then, suddenly, it stopped. North Carolina was clear. We got home around 11 pm, unpacked the car, and went to bed. I had to open my extended ROTK first, though. The Minas Tirith thingy is a little trinket box. It's currently sitting on my dresser.

Backtracking. Let's see. Thursday: went to DC. The Sackler gallery had an exhibit of Japanese prints, from this guy's collection. They were really cool (and for, like, $100 or something, you could buy them all in a nice hardback book.) Then we went to see the dinosaurs and rocks. They redid the elephant exhibit in the Rotunda. It's got this nice diorama around it, with little snakes and bugs and birds and beetles, and a little foxy in a den. You can even push buttons to make animal noises. It used to just be this elephant on a pedestal. They also redid the rocks and minerals exhibits. I took 70 pictures in there, but I won't put them all online. I think [info]tsaiko would be the only other person to care.

Friday: Picked up [info]luckykitty and met [info]intothedream for lunch. I got to meet Marley -- he's such a chill snake. I wished I had my camera inside when he was just chilling, wrapped around Ben's arm and draped across their fruit bowl. Lunch was great. I hadn't seen either of them for at least 2 years or something. And because [info]darthneko was home, I got to meet her, too. Then when we dropped Liz off, Joy and Leah were getting home from work. And Mr. Cat (Tseng) is the cutest kitty ever. (Okay, after my own kitties. So he's like the 4th cutest.) Then we went to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner, with them, their kids, their kids' SOs, grandma, my sister, and her ex. It was fun. I am *so* much more like my dad's side of the family. We're all geeks. Then drove to my sister's to sleep.

Saturday: Michael (sister's ex) made us pancakes for breakfast, then dropped us off at the Metro station. We went to the zoo, saw the cuuuuuuute pandas, and the river otter, and the big kitties, and small mammals. There are these little otters that make huge noises, and they knew they were getting food, so they made more noise. Then we went to Teaism for lunch 'cause it was like 3 and we were hungry. This time I tried white tea, and Ben had chai. Both were extreme yum. I had Chinese noodle soup with vegetarian ginger broth, and it was also quite good. Then we wandered around Dupont Circle a bit, and walked to Robin's office. She took us to this bar called The Saloon, which had a huge selection of Belgian and Belgian-style beers. I couldn't decide! That's so rare. I wound up getting Liefmann's Gluehkriek, which tasted like mulled wine. (Or Gluehwein, see.) It was really good.

Sunday: family stuff. My cousins are getting old. One of them is going to cooking school in Miami, and I told her she should stop on her way down. I gave her directions, and we'll see what happens. Her brother might get a job in Louisburg, NC, starting 1/5, at a junior college. Then we drove home in the snow.

And now we're in the process of cleanifying the house for Ben's family, whose flights arrive in 30-60 minutes. They'll get here around 6, I think. We've got a little time, anyway. Hungry, too. Should get a little something before dinner.
Dec. 20th, 2004 @ 03:51 pm
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