"I don't know about you, but my mouth gets really dirty"

The quote is from my anatomy professor. He was talking about how to equalize the pressure in (i.e. "pop") your ears, like during airplane take off or landing. Apparently you should yawn or swallow, not plug your nose and blow. Someone asked why it was a bad idea to plug and blow. I guess bacteria from a dirty mouth can get pushed up into your middle ear and cause an infection. At least I hope he was talking about bacteria.

Not the best day today. I had to interview a "patient" (an actor) in front of a large discussion group. It did not go well. She was a good actor though. I think she's up for an Oscar the the category "best performance in a bitchy role."

I've picked up racquetball again here in med school. I played a lot growing up at the YMCA in good ol' Beaver Dam. I also played a lot in college and grad school. There is a group of about 8 of us that play almost every day. These are all classmates of mine. Then I met some guys who work at my school who are older than me, and I play with them about once during the week and on every Sunday. It's funny, the young guys I play against I can pretty much beat every time, though they are getting better quickly. The old guys on the other hand - and one guy is in his mid-50s - beat me like a rented Dodge Neon. I haven't taken a single regulation game off of any of them yet. I got into a tournament here and drew one of the old guys for the first round. It's a best of 5 games to 15. We played three games and if you add up all my points from the three games, I doubt I broke 15. I was trying to play today and when I finally got onto the court, I played two points against a friend of mine before we got kicked off for a yoga class. Another crappy part of the day.

On an up note, this weekend is my school's annual ski trip to Tremblant, a resort just north of Montreal. Between medical school applications and interviews last year, I didn't get in a single day of boarding. So this ski trip has been a long time coming. From what I hear though, east side skiing is not the best. Word has it that it will be icy and not very steep. I don't mind the non-steep, but the icy part will suck if true. But then again, boarding is like sex. When it's good, it's great. When it's bad, it's usually my fault. I will have to brush up on mon Français as we will be deep in the heart of French Canada, eh. As you can see, I have begun my cultural warm-ups already:



I promise ski pics upon my return.