Interesting fortune of the week: "Your dark exterior masks a caffeine driven activism. You'll take up a cause and you'll get ugly to advance it." If I were a city I'd be Seattle...just a funny little quiz called Which American City Are You? Seattle won out...Zero points for Cleveland with SF running a close second.
¶ 23:08

well..it's 5 days til thanksgiving and I've already had 2 thanksgiving dinners. UGH shoot me before i have to eat more turkey. :) I had dinner tonight with some of the youth in a church I go (used to go???) to. I was basically the only non-CIM (cleveland institute of music) student at the dinner cooked by two very nice young men. I have to say I was very impressed..they baked a 19lb turkey, two homemade pies, along with all the other elements of a traditional american thanksgiving dinner. I had a great time, although have the discussion on composition and conducting went right over my head. It was a lot of fun and a nice change of company. It was interesting to hear their discussion on cell phone ring tones and even on the compositional quality of music used in radio jingles. :) Afterwards I walked home through little italy. It's such a great place to be on the weekend, it's lively, festive, there's people everywhere laughing and talking, eating gelato on the streets, and there's always opera playing at the quaint little opera shop/music store next door to my apartment building. All in all a great night. ¶ 23:04

you know you've had too much of a committee when you start having dreams about what you see in class. I woke up this morning scratching my knee frantically. I had a dream i was sitting in class and a spongy yellow-brown crusted growth had appeared on my knee that was incredibly itchy. I just had to get it off...but it was so disgusting...i still remember the texture. and my leg was covered in "cafe au lait" spots- I woke up thinking i had to see a doctor about this funky infestation on my knee and neurofibroma! I think a break is needed soon.... ¶ 16:01

Another day another weekend. But life is good. It's not exciting but it's good. I think I need to learn to appreciate what I have more. We had an interesting 2 hrs of lectures today followed by a half hour of Q&A about all our personal melanoma worries. Dr. Davies went through his personal case files with us, showed us mistakes, successes, and death. It makes one think twice about going back in the sun. Fortunately, I am not one with moles. I often think I'm the only one with these paranoid thoughts of disease and illness as we go through each committee, but obviously not. I have anemia or leukemia during haematology, psychosis during psychiatry, and neuropathy during neurology. :) Today we had a lecture on melanoma, and after class I watched as 20 of my classmates flocked around Dr. Davies to have him look at their moles, blemishes, growths. shirts came off, sleeves and pant legs came up, tummies, backs, and necks. Everyone had something it seemed and for once I didn't :P It's odd...i have no moles...is that normal?!! hehe it's inescapable this medical school hypochondriasis. Well, I"m off once again. Another meeting to get our Health and human rights week off the ground and running. I hope it works out. Dear friends, farewell. I shall speak to you later. ¶ 14:19

A quote i read this week.....not suprising, but disturbing nonetheless. HIstory does repeat itself and people dont seem to change...

"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

- Hermann Goering, Nazi leader at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II
¶ 23:44

Well...after that disappointing election, i'm not sure how to proceed. :) I've been responding to emails from friends across the globe...mostly emails involving the phrase "what's wrong with you people?" and "How in the world can you re-elect THAT man?". I wonder when they'll start to realize that I can't even vote :P and besides, i did my part campaigning for kerry. this country with little towns in Ohio labeled "center of the world" just isn't ready for change it seems. So the other set of emails I've been receiving are from American friends. Emails about becoming an ex-patriate...emails regarding residency programs in Canada..hehe...not a bad idea to immigrate.

Life goes on, although it is now more frightening and uncertain than it was before. I dont know what the next 4 years will bring, and have this desire to shut my eyes and just wish for it to all go away. but no...we're stuck.

So, it's back to normal life for me...and i need to beginning the tedious processes of cramming for my next exam. Ciao ¶ 23:46

springsteen!  ¶ 11:38

More Rally pics...the Boss and the Kerry's  ¶ 11:35

rally  ¶ 10:39

middle america  ¶ 10:39