Microbiology Done

Finally something worth while to write about....

Today I finished my Microbiology Final exam, which is a great relief. Just at this same desk as I write from now I was sitting last nite wondering how this was going to turn out today. And frankly I was not the usual confident Róbert Mar like I usually am. My strategy for all exams is to be well prepared and go and show off my knowledge. But this time around I just didnt feel I had a good grip on it.

The fact is that micro is just a book to remember and not too much applied knowledge which is usually my stong point. The memorizing is not my ace of cards to say the least. But sticking to my guns by never postponing exams I showed up early in the morning with a smile on my face ready to do my best.

When it came down to it I knew plenty, even though one of three topics was one I was not keen on getting. Overall assessment was a : GOOD

You can just imagine how far into my bookshelf my micro notes and literature are now !!!


r.mar

Fantasty Football for WC 2006

Hey everyone lets get together and go to fifaworldcup.com and sign up for your World Cup fantasy football team. You select 23 players, 3 from each time and then you collect points as these players perform in their matches.

Once everyone has created a squad we create a group and compete with each other !!!


Its free and lots of fun, I tried this for the first time in the Champions League and you get so much more involved in the tournament. Once you have selected your squad there is not much to do, so this is not comparable to the stock market, even though changes are allowed before each players match..

check it out and play

the group will be created soon...


r.mar

Another Football Sunday

Sundays have started to become one of my favorite days of the week this semester. Not only for the fact that there is no department at school threatening me not to sign my lecture book for not showing up for class. But the FOOTBALL !!!

Yes, me and the icelandic boys play every sunday at this artificial field owned by the university. Every weekend the quality of football is getting better and better. I can say personally that my touch is getting better by the week. Not to talk about the over all form of the group the first sunday way played, it was a lot of huffing and puffing all over the place and shear luck if 3 passes were completed within one team.

So now I start dreaming again about joining a club in Iceland to see if I still have what it takes to play at a high level... As embarrasing and ridicilous it is I have lost some sleep over this.

Not that I regret the decision of becomming a doctor, but it feels often like an unfished task. Or I think the main problem is how I left the sport back in the day.

I was a big player on my High School football team back in Florida, god knows what year. But I had to return to Iceland for my senior year and was not able to finish that stage and to move on to the College lever where I already had some offers from small Colleges. But I allow myself to wonder what kind of offers I would have received if I played one more year ....

I think in these situations it is hard to make everything work out, all the pieces must fall into place at the right time, health, money, visas and family.

Now that im pushing 27 next october I think its best I keep my focus on the medical books. Im sure I can have a enjoyful, respectable and fulfilling career doing this.

Speaking of which I must return to reading the phone book, oh I mean the microbiology book...

r.mar

Not Much Going On...

Yeah not to many things going on these days, have been a pretty good boy and been able to stick to the books lately. Inevitably this is not going to last and I will be out on the town doing something silly, hopefullly not too silly so that it will be edited from this blogg.. haah

No report from the predicted Hungarian b-day party, since I ended up not going. Was waiting around for a while, high on the FA Cup win of my Liverpool boys. But then something just came over me and I decided not to go.

Considering that it was fresh Saturday morning with no hangover. I was like wow so this is what a weekend with unlimited drinking feels like and I just decided to enjoy the whole weekend without a headache...

Now the biggest thing on my agenda is the upcomming Microbiology Final Exam. Decided to get this one over with first since I have the least love for this subject. Figured that late in the exam period I would be in no mood to be memorizing bacterias, viruses, parasites and worms. NOT to mention the kick stating of the World Cup on june 9 !!!

That is gone be some tough challenge to keep my eyes of the television during that month of festivities. My exam study program kicks off on monday, this is where I get up at 7 and hit the gym before starting my day of reading. It really works out good for me, the first 3 days are a little rough getting up and going to work out, but my body soon adapts and starts to kick start in the mornings... recommend this trickery for any one who want maximal concentration and who has a tendancy to lie around before noon.

So with this plan I figure one match a day is quite acceptable, cause quite frankly I am not able to just program my brain for too too many hours a day, now just if this was the Matrix way ...


róbert mar
the microbiologist

p.s. sorry to hold out on the pictures but my 800Mhz computer is allowing some basic functions these days...

Relaxed Friday

Yes, once the pressure has been off I have been doing some much needed realaxing. Friday I did have a small task to do, that was the BST practical exam. Lets just say that was a walk in the park. The only problem being getting there and back, those of you who know this prime location of the kutja Clinic know what im reffering to.

After that I made a quick trip to the library and it was just so nice to read something other than pharmacology. I was quite thrilled, not so to make sure I took my standar 30 min nap .... hahah

Picked up a dvd and stayed home in the nite, first friday nite in a long time that Im not seen at one of my regular watering holes...

Tonight Im supposed to go to a hungarian B-day party... it will be interesting to see how that turns out. Since the party is about 20 km outside of Debrecen, im definetly reaching out of my little bubble.. will report on that a.s.a.p

r.mar

One Big One Down

This morning did not start of like a good day, I almost overslept. Not a real big deal but today I had one of my big exams. I had planned on waking up early to go over my notes before my Pharmacology final.

Not feeling too confident I figured going over my stuff one more time before the test would not hurt what so ever. I jump out of bed, eat breakfast and throw on a shirt and tie. I have one thing about going to oral exams, this time the only thing that I had going, is to make sure that my look is up to par. That first expression with the examiner is key...

That done I have to move fast to get there on time, once there I realize I have an hour to spare since the exam started at 9 not 8, much to my pleasure. I all dressed up go over to TB and flip through my Pharmacology Made Ridicilously Simple book. I remember some drugs but a lot of them I can hardly recognize...

So not with the greatest of confidence I move back to the Pharmacolgy building to find two girls there that are also waiting for the exam. They are one nerve wreck, by that time I had unbelieveably cool and ready for the test. Not that I suddenly remember my stuff but realizing that I had 1) made a plan 2) stuck to the plan 3) studied my ass off and 4) dead tired of reading the pharm topics. So there was basically nothing I should feel bad about. If the examiner would not feel I was ready I would just bite that bullet and come back or I would make an ass out of myself, which quite frankly I could give a rats ass about.

I pull my topics and its a dream come true, I got one of the best ones available ! I saw an excellent exam comming up, the rest is history....


the pharmacologist
róbert mar

Pharmacology Final in 2 days

At the moment im spending all the time I possibly can to study for my pharm final. It is going but how fast and how productive can be debated. It seems that I am unable to cram all of these drug names into my head.

Or that is I can do it, but then again some hours later its like I have never heard that word before. That goes withou saying how helpful the names of these things are. For example trying to remember a drug name you can´t even pronounce it make life a little more difficult.

I plan to stick to the plan and use my time wisely and just go for it on thursday. It has been my style since I started this whole mess and I don´t feel the need to change. If it doesn´t go the way I want it ill bounce back and take it again after the weekend.

I just cant imagine spending the weekend still with this final on my back

here is quote from Batman Begins which is quite appropriate. this is Mr. Wayne (older) talking to his young son, who will then become Batman. Here goes "and why do we fall down, so we can learn to pick ourselves up"

r.mar the pharmacologist

Lazyness

How is it possible to be too lazy to go to bed ???

Yes, today was a slow day mainly due to last nites events. It seems that I pushed the limits of Jack Daniels and Cola last nite. Losing number of the total drinks... But a good time indeed. then again I dont go out to have a bad time.

It all started at Glussi´s place for an Icelandic grill where I enjoyed good company, food and beers. After that I jumped over to EGO for what I thought was supposed to be Szabi´s B-day party but was mislead, his party being next saturday. But there was indeed a good party going on with Jack Daniels bottels all over the place. There is some major flaw with icelandics and free drinks, we just dont know how to hold back in these seldom situations.

I end up at McDonlads drive thru at 5 in the morning, noted that I only eat that shit while severely intoxicated. On back to my place with the American, Sandont, Raven and Boogzina. First mistake there was not to realize that Babycakes was home and asleep, but since we didnt see his keys on the hanger I autmatically assumed that he was with a lady friend.

Only to meet him today at TB to find out that his sleep was cut short by the obnoxious crowd downstairs.

I peeled myself out of bed before noon to go pick up some pharm notes from the maple only to be at TB at noon, which was just amazing time on a few hours of sleep. Stuck my face in the books until 8 o´clock, starting to feel the pressure of the pharmacology final next thursday.

Im having great trouble remebering all these drug names, but not surprisingly considering the fact that there are about 400 hundred to be noted. Well see how that gets along... ahahahh

r.mar

Dont know shit about parasites, viruses or worms

After my last post one might have thought something about these critters. But now once home from the test it seems that I dont know shit about it after all.

Situatoin was that I needed 72% percent for the to have a high enough average to be exempted from the written part of the final. Now that seems to be a lot of optimism...
Who dares to ask about minor pathogens, like I care. I actually didn´t even read over that stuff...

Next on the agenda is a final exam in Pharmacology, which is a much better and interesting subject than those critters. Im sure im going to have nightmares and pick my bed mates better from now on knowing about the percentages of women with Trichomonas Vaginalis !!!

But what is that rubbery thing for anyway ;)

Worms

Yes, the topic of my next test is worms.... or I could name a few genus and some technical shit but no one woud follow.

But microbiology has not been one of my favorites during this year. For me it seems to be focused on who can remember the most at each given time. I have been doing ok at this game but once you feel that the next day all is going to be forgotten its hard to force yourself to study.

On top of that the material for this test is viruses and worms. And reading about these worms and other critters that harbour our bodies, suck our blood, destroy our cells and grow to great lengths in the intestines... Just gives me the creeps. Just to clarify I am not one to be called sensitive but when the clinical diagnosis involves thing like uncoiling a meter long worm from the skin, larvae in the perianal region and worms swimming in the vitrum of the eye... I just get the chillz.

Luckily for the most part these parsites are found in remote places around the worls where sanitazion is poor and medicine is not available.

Even the black and white illustrations in the book are kinda scary, you see this worm with hooks, four mouths and flagella... ontop of that its a hermaphrodite which can reproduce by itself given the right conditions...

How is that for a bed time story...

r.mar