My House Burned to a Crisp

I was performing in Boston on Friday night, and came home to a smoking, still-on-fire house. A million fire fighters, 4 friends, a hysterical roommate, and 4 dead cats. Pictures from that night, and from the next morning. Everything was toast, very very little was salvagable--some of my jewelry was okay, a few clothing articles in the middle of my laundry hamper and stuffed at the back of my closet, and shoes. Nothing else. If you wish to help out, I have posted a wishlist here. More information can be found on my tribe blog. A short clip of what I came home to is here.

Mixed Bag

Well, I'm glad I don't have pictures to share depicting my every day life, or --worse-- pictures of me during my emotional/exhaustive breakdowns when school is overwhelming and I do stupid things like call my boyfriend crying and then hang up on him (I'm sorry!).
I am grateful to my friends that buoy me and help me pass my exams.
And I am grateful that I have students who give me joy in my life to break up the drama that is veterinary school. My students love me and I love them too! They are so sweet and supportive--some have given me massages, some have made me dinner, some bring me little gifts for no reason, some remember my birthday, almost all of them send me nice emails, they all make me proud to watch their progress, and this one came to the last open mic, took these pictures, and created this collage. I am so impressed by what a good job she did--you can't even tell I'm in a coffee shop dancing! (Thank you Terry!)

Breakthrough

I just realized that my mind works in analogies and associations. I am crying with that realization. Partly in relief for figuring it out, but mostly in sadness because that's not how ANY of our classes are taught, and for the loss here of my best tutor, Emily Stuart who taught me about renal physiology in such a way that the electrolytes became personalities, with little brothers tagging along with their big brothers, but sometimes going out on their own. She was here this weekend and helped me with my clinical pathology homework, describing types of fluids as different types of people, and it made so much sense. I am overwhelmed every day with NEW information here. I need connections for it all to come together, I need for the material to be described to me in a way that is allied with something I already know well.

I've had people tell me that I 'live in the past' but I think it's more that I'm connecting to the present by making associations with things I've experienced before--is it the same? is it slightly different? how? I need these comparisons and similarities to make sense of the world around me.

I'm so sad that this is making my studies so difficult, that it annoys people when I constantly talk about the past.....How do other people do it? How do their brains function? What is it that they are able to do that I am not?


[Me and Emily on the Boston Bunny Bar Hop]

Way of the Dragon

Remember the old Bruce Lee movie filmed in Rome where he ends up fighting chuck norris? Well, my uncle (mom's oldest bro) played the head of the bad guys. "Big Boss"=Jon Benn. I like this picture of him getting threatened by Lee and this one where he responds by bringing in a very 1970s Norris.