The problem with posting after a long time is

I have so much to say and no FORMAT to say it in. I can't tell a funny story or write about anything specific that anyone would want to know about, but that's really more of a general-purpose statement about my blog, not about this particular post. So... I'll just go with that run-on and turn it into something that's longer than a run-on. Run-off, I guess, like rainwater on the side of the creek that etches its way along the expressway. I read memoirs of a Geisha, by the way, and it was A Maize Ing. Seriously. But the really strange part is that the people I've talked to about it (women, mostly) all say how extraordinary the writer is at expressing female emotion and feelings and pathways of expression, etc and I felt that way, too, like I was actually inside the head of this conservative Japanese woman. Which strangely, enough, is a really moving experience.

So they ( i.e. the Man, to whom I will soon be auctioning my services ) did this Cultural/Physiologicial Anthropolgy experiment on Japanese living in Hawaii. Turns out traditionally raised Americans interpret nature sounds (read: birds chirping, dogs barking, wind hissing through the leaves, thunder) in the same part of their brains as they interpret background noise (read cars passing, neighbors barking, garbage cans clanging, static) while traditionally raised Japanese register nature sounds in a similar area to that which interprets art (read: sculpture parks, crayons, naked people, Amelie). I guess they're testing Japanese Americans living in Hawaii( like a cultural mix) which part of their brains they get all this stuff in. It' be cool to know.

At this point I've gone back and, from now on will try to make a point of, broken up thought processes into paragraphs. I figure it'll help, having no map, to at least have a compass.

So I quit my job so that my little egg roll and I could go to Michigan to visit her family, and I could make a stop in ol' Milwaukee. Michigan's cool, except for the left turns, which are actually right turns + U-turns. Holding. Holding. Holding. And release. (Please tell me someone else has seen that SNL with Ray Ramano). So anyway, we're trying to get to Milwaukee and not Chicago, and Mapquest is giving us 94 through downtown. And we're like , "Enh?!" So we hit the "avoid highways" button and you know what? Mapquest told us to take the fuckin ferry! Ha! Seriously, the map was a big red line straight across Lake Michigan. Hilarious.

Truthfully, I quit my job so that I could focus on getting a better one and so that I could focus on getting into school and so that I could focus on my apartment and not Wentzville. And so that I could get Christmas Eve off. I told them I was losing focus. And I was ON TIME the day I said, "Peace Out," so that's good.

"Enh." is a frustration noise.

On to brewcity and my boy Pablo is the new Executive Chef of the new Mike Idol eatery across the street from the Hi-Hat and the Garage called Balzac. Walked in the first night I'm in town, with the k squad - my own imaginary title for a Kateface and Karen crimefighting duo, if ever one were to exist - and run into a old friend before we sit down. Awesome. So then we get a Highlife, a Guiness, and a glass of Shiraz, light cigarettes, ask the bartender if the Chef could come out for just a moment, sit back in our clouds of "This has got to be the coolest feeling in the world. Happy Fuckin' New Year". The place is beautiful. It's dark and warm and wooden and metal and it's like sitting on the inside of a giant oak cask. Paul is in whites, with a blonde shaved head and a crooked grin. He reminds me of the Keebler elves, passing deliciousness through his window.

It's good to see him and its good to see Dane and Church and Oval Omar Ried even Dusty and Colin and Mitch, who is ALSO an Executive Chef of a place called the Riverside Cafe, on south Water, right across from Centanis, owned by the same people, doing better. We don't goto Water but we do hit BBC and some new place off Farwell called Yield, which made me think of Jason. I called him as soon as I got home. Oh Dane is the Sous Chef of Carnivore, which is next to Three, or 3, or III, or whatever the fuck it is on Milwaukee. Dane hates Milwaukee Ave. But everyone is bank all of the sudden and we have a great time. And Qu'ran is a storm trooper.

So I'm running low on steam all of the sudden, so it might get jumpy. HA!

-I'm an offical canidate for the Saint Louis University Medical School's Ph.D. research program in Biomedical Science. If I get the assitantship I'm trying for, they're paying my tuition.
-Sumit's car broke down and he had to ride back with us. But his nephew -Arnev?-is the cutest baby I've ever seen. Very compelling evidence for reproduction.
-Rachel Ray is still a goddess. There's just way more goddess than there used to be. I think she got married because she wanted to let herself go.
-Michael is doing well in Minneapolis. He hates having a 9-5, but he survived the drunk driving black ice 2-wheel drive pickup with no sandbags 360 skid over the Mississippi river and called me on my roommates phone to tell me about it -- while he was still in the truck!! So that's good, too.
-I'm addicted to Strong Bad.
-Tiantian Zeng is living in Denver, going to Pharmacy College, and working at the busiest Target in the mile-high metro. She's doing well, and is very happy.

As an aside, I went to Denver a coupla months back, visiting with more Scooros family, and we were supposed to see her cousins in 'a choir.' Well I'm thinking American Baptist #177 Holy Chorale as we pull up to the Symphany Center. They sang Carl Orf's Carmina Burana. It was breathtaking. It's the only opera? that I would even recognize if I heard it, and I've seen the Denver Symphany/Choir sing it(with the full-on robes and mouths real open and everything!). Didn't see Candy, though. My cell is off, I have a new number. Send me an e-mail. I love Big Brother.

-Andy and Joe are engaged to be married in June. She recently was accepted into the University of Auckland Psychology Graduate program, and they plan on moving there -- sometime.

Some music and books that you, as an upstanding social indiviual should check out - Marlena Shaw - for some of that St. Louis Blues/Soul, because black is beautiful. Sterophonics. The Books. Jackson and his Computer Band. Del the Funky Homosapien - Mr. Dobalina - if you've never heard it before. And this song, in whatever form you can get your hands on "The Centuar" (it's been done by everyone, but they are ALL good).

Text only browsers? try The God of Small Things - because it's already back in style. Mario Livio's take on Greek Philosophy and math in The Golden Ratio. In the Beginning is an interesting example of two fields of science that probably shouldn't have been brought together - evolutionary natural selection and hypothetical metaphysics. Kurt V. got me with an in-season retro-teaser with God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Last but probably going to make him a saint is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality. Really really really cool.

So I guess I caught a second wind there. If you've made it this far, you probably don't like me anymore. I'll try to write more often. . . kinda sounds self defeating, doesn't it?

This may, or may not, be a post.

SOOOO. It just so happens that a certain Worrior Indian may or may not have gotten a job.

Now the exciting part ( not that Sumit's job isn't exciting by itself... hmm) is that this job may or may not be located in a certain little town I like to call the S-T-L.

And I may or may not have invited him ( or he, me) to share an apartment with me ( or I, him) in the luxurious Camden Trace community located on the corner of Dorsett and McKelvey.

And every night, yes the old idiom is true... "Mahn, we could never be roommates. Every night there would be me, and there would be you."

QUICK! I need input on my personal statement.

This is FAR from complete but I need input on the direction that it's taking.

My parent’s sometimes tell me a story of my young childhood – I drew them a crayon picture of a storefront that read, “Joshua’s Love Bakery”. I told them that I wanted to bake bread for poor people and hand out the loaves on the street.

During high school, I was fortunate enough to meet a professional in the medical field who shaped many of my current views of medicine. I had always been a bright student with a keen interest in science, and my family physician, Dr. Grant, suggested that I join him for his shifts at the local Emergency Center at our small town hospital. He allowed me to wear scrubs, carry his clipboard and address patients with him. He showed me basic medical procedure and had a wonderful bedside manner. The care he showed for his patients left a lasting impression on me. But it was when Dr. Grant saved a young boy from a near fatal brain hemorrhage that I’m sure I was most influenced.

I was shadowing Dr. Grant one slow Monday evening, when a 16 year old boy was brought into the emergency room by his mother. He had not picked his sister up from school and could not remember what he did all afternoon. The boy showed no signs of injury or illness. Over a two hour period, we asked the young man a series of questions, ordered tests, and urged the boy’s family to contact those that might know more about his injury. Finally, as Dr. Grant sat with the Nurse Radiologist, he noticed something strange on the computer monitor. He pointed it out to me, and quickly ordered a helicopter. Our small hospital had no facilities for brain surgery, and he was carried to a large children’s hospital about 40 miles away. The boy, as we later learned from his mother, had been playing baseball and hit his head sliding into a base. The broken blood vessel would have caused permanent brain damage, or even killed him, had Dr. Grant not found it that night. I was only 11 months older than this boy.

I first applied to colleges with the idea that I would enjoy research biology. “The lab” had always been extremely fascinating to me. During my experience at Marquette University, my education in history led me to explore the world. I focused my studies on diverse cultures, especially women’s history in Africa and Asia. I researched political and religious themes in the Xhosa of South Africa and developed theses based on constituents’ personal experiences. It was this method of historiography that really spurred my interest in world health and infectious disease. I have always been interested in world events, and have an enthusiastic desire to travel.
When I prioritize my interests, there are always a few that far exceed the others. I want to help people directly. I am eager to make a difference.