Discovery Only Requires A Prepared Mind

Annals of the Armenian who got Accepted to Medical School

I got accepted to UTMB Medical School. WHAT!?!? Did that really happen?
I chronicled the important events in my life that were part of my journey to medical school:

• All my Life - Being part of my family
• 2002 - Anaheed's Illness
• March 2006 - Near Death Experience
• Aug 2006 - Meet Adrianne
• Oct 23, 2006 - Job with Dr. Abrams in a Research Lab
• May 2008 - MCAT
• June 2008 - 30!
• Aug/Sept 2008 - Applied to Medical School
• Oct 2008 - Invited to two interviews
• Oct 24, 2008 - UT-H interview
• Nov 14, 2008 - UTMB interview
• Nov 18, 2008 - Early acceptance to UTMB
• Feb 1, 2008 - Officially matched to UTMB

Time for a confession that will give you an insight into the crazy that is me: I am kind of expecting to wake up and it be March 1, 2006 and I'm in a hospital bed coming-to-consciousness in the recovery room after heart surgery. All of this is just a side-effect of coming off some serious anesthesia. Did I just imagine these last 3 years? How did this happen? Time seemed to crawl, but now looking back, it all seems a strange blur. The road was long, hard, and mostly difficult, but somehow I made it here. Talk about God's hand providing guidance and joy along the way! I would not have made it without Him. Now that it has happened I am...well, I have no clue what I am. Happy. Shocked. Undeserving. Appreciative. Terrified. Overwhelmed. Aflutter. Burdened. Shocked. Happy. Blessed.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the Year of the Ox (aka the Year of Sevahn) Actually, I have no idea what being an Ox means, except for allowing fording rivers to be a possibility, so I did a little research and thought I would share my findings. Obviously, not everyone born in 1985 has these qualities...that would be weird, but I wanted to see how Ox-like I am.

Yes, I am expecting rude and hilarious comments from all of you.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas (not so true for me...depends on the situation), and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise (as long as you have a logical arguement, I can easily change my mind). An Ox person has a very logical mind (depending...) and is extremely systematic in whatever they do (eh...), though they have a tremendous imagination and an unparalleled appreciation for beauty. These people speak little (HA! Totally and completely, 100% opposite of me) but are extremely intelligent. When necessary, they are articulate and eloquent.

People born under the influence of the Ox are kind, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense and with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Security is their main preoccupation in life (fulfilling God's plan for me is actually my main preoccupation in life), and they are prepared to toil long and hard in order to provide a warm, comfortable and stable nest for themselves and their families (does 4 years of med school = toiling long and hard?). Strong-minded (check), stubborn (depending), individualistic, the majority are highly intelligent individuals who don't take kindly to being told what to do (haha...too true).

The Ox works hard, patiently, and methodically, with original intelligence and reflective thought. These people enjoy helping others. Behind this tenacious, laboring, and self-sacrificing exterior lies an active mind (overactive).

The Ox is not extravagant, and the thought of living off credit cards or being in debt makes them nervous (agree). The possibility of taking a serious risk could cause the Ox sleepless nights (but I like risky things).

Ox people are truthful (I try to be...) and sincere (definitely), and the idea of wheeling and dealing in a competitive world is distasteful to them (so true). They are rarely driven by the prospect of financial gain (nope). These people are always welcome in small gatherings because of their humble composure (haha...have you met me?) and reverent nature towards the host. They are reputed to be the most beautiful of face in the zodiac (well, well, well). They have many friends, who appreciate the fact that the Ox people are wary of new trends (opposite of me), although every now and then they can be encouraged to try something new (I LOVE trying new things). People born in the year of the Ox make wonderful parents and teachers of children (I guess we'll see...).

It is important to remember that the Ox people are sociable (holla!) and relaxed when they feel secure (I haven't felt secure since January 2006, but I have been relaxed since then), but occasionally a dark cloud looms over such people and they engage all the trials of the whole world and seek solutions for them.

Well, some of it is true and some of it isn't, but it was sure fun! Go Ox!

7 Months Left to Live

To My Most Devoted Fan:

I only have 7 months left to live...I mean really LIVE it up! I start Medical School in August, sooooo...

I need some spontaneity in my life...no one else ever wants to rollerblade at midnight with me or go discover some amazing little cafe downtown or listen to weird and different music all day long or just drive around until something fun happens or play scrabble all day or just take long naps on the couches/watch movies at the same time or watch VH1 marathons until 5am or make fun of Flavor of Love, yet secretly love it, or get hit on by Flava Flav in person... We have more fun on accident than most have on purpose. All that to say, I miss you. Come see me. Maybe I'll come see you in February sometime. Joe T. keeps calling my name.

To The Rudest Person I Know:

(You know who you are!)

If you think that you can just demote me without a fight, you have another thing coming!

It's soooo on! Be prepared to face some good, old-fashioned Armenian wrath. :)

Here's to 2009

In a bullet proof vest
With the windows all closed
I'll be doing my best
I'll see you soon

In a telescope lens
And when all you want is friends
I'll see you soon

Ike Update for our Friends and Family

Everyone is safe. We are safe and suffered very little damage. We were extremely blessed. We just got power about an hour ago. It went out about midnight last night. That is incredibly lucky considering about 2.6 million people in Houston are without power. They say they have restored power to 112,000 so far. That means that we are among the lucky 4.3% who have power again! How blessed are we!? I think we are the only one's in the family with power right now, though, so come on over everybody! Hurricane Party, Part 2!

Family Status:
-Sam and Lorig are safe, but there is severe flooding in their area. Their house is good so far, but there is still danger of rising waters. There were lots of fallen trees that barely missed their house. We can definitely see God's protection over them. I think they got it the worst though.
-Medzmama and Medzbaba evacuated to Dallas to stay with David and Lucie. They are safe. Baba checked on their house today and everything was great.
-Elize and her family are safe and staying at our house tonight because they have no power.
-Jackie and Dennis stayed with in-laws. Baba checked on their house and all is well. They are all safe.
-Jack and Lucine are safe, but have no power.
-Varouj, Georgik, and Edo are all safe as well.

We had so much fun last night hearing the intense, howling wind and seeing the trees tossed around like twigs. The front door and windows were shaking all night. It is an experience I will never forget. We were all huddled around the T.V. last night until the power went out and then we went all old-school and listened to the battery powered radio with flashlights. Raki is a pansy...he was scared and sat on me the whole time. It was pretty funny. The rest fell asleep, but I was up all night...I was too excited to sleep!!! I mean, how do you sleep during a hurricane!? It's too much fun! It was such a weird thing this morning to walk around the neighborhood and see it looking all crazy and stuff. Like I said, we were really blessed with little damage. Just mostly tree and roof damage. My favorite thing is how people are all automatically best friends in situations like these. After spending all day cleaning debris, we actually had a Hurricane BBQ with our neighbors using the food in the freezer so it wouldn't go bad, since we had no power at that point. Thanks for the memories, Hurricane Ike.