ping pong

Instead of a war on poverty, they've got a war on drugs so the police can bother me
-Tupac Shakur

I learnt recently that the metre is one one millionth of the distance from the equator to the north pole.

Settling now into school. Routines make dealing with life alot easier. You can just sort of roll around on autopilot and not think too much about why you are going where you are going. Since I've started school, I've taken no pictures, read less (non-medical material), written less and have communicated the bare minimum with family and friends. Seems silly.

My tutor this block has an incomplete understanding of the theory behind PBL which is making the whole process very difficult. A well meaning and kind man who truly believes he knows what's best for us. A good lesson that you can be as good-intentioned as you want, but if you are out of touch with the people, nothing good will come out of it.

I went to an orientation today to work at a clinic in the Downtown Eastside, just shadowing like we already do in family practice. We went on a little walking tour with a dude who is part of the community. I've been there once before, but had not really taken a good look around and I have to recommend it to anyone visiting/living in Vancouver. It's a place with alot of pain and suffering but alot of humour as well. I was impressed with the community. Everyone knows eachother and is openly friendly, even to us obvious outsiders. Regardless, it is a truly unique place. I went out to Langley on friday for my family practice, and for all I knew, I could've been in White Rock, or Ladner, or Coquitlam or whatever. I was nervous the first time I was down there, and still felt a little on edge today, but rationally there is not much to be worried about, walking around in broad daylight. I realized that I was probably feeling uneasy just because there are so many people around who don't subscribe to the rules of society. Sometimes I get annoyed by societal norms and rules, you know, like having to wear clothes and not being able to sing or talk to yourself, but in the end, it's a pretty useful tool for regulating behaviour. Anyhow, if you really think about it, it's not like you're going to get robbed or stabbed by a needle, it's just the fear of not knowing what the people around you are going to do.

Family Practice should be good this term, minus my preceptor is of the old and burntout/bitter variety. He has already told us to specialize and says things like "Patients like that just make you want to jump out the window don't they?". I thought he had some pretty funny patients. We even had a guy in with ehler's danlos syndrome. So even if you didn't care about the people, there's some pretty neat pathology as well. Anyhow, he's old, but it's hard to not be discouraged from family practice.

The Dalai Lama is in Vancouver today. A few people are going to see him speak but the talk is at gm place. No thanks.