Still grinding, new old UW grind
I'm currently taking two classes at UW, and one long distance Spanish class. UW is not what I'd call the most supportive, happy environment - more like a penitentiary. Every time I tell somebody that I'm still taking classes at UW, with a med school acceptance in hand, they think I'm nuts. Apparently I'm supposed to find a beach and just hang out for the next six months. The beach can wait.
I'm in molecular virology this quarter, with a veteran researcher who just LOVES viruses, is insanely organized, and teaches the living daylights out of these buggers. Engineers should take this class, to better appreciate the elegance, the sneakiness, the economy, and the innate tinkertoyness of viruses. Every single class I learn something that makes me say "you're kidding me." Nobody designed viruses, not even Mike Huckabee's Lord and Savior. They represent a tiny minority of random events that result in a prolonged existence. And it hurts the head to avoid saying "why?" and to avoid insinuating that a virus has an intention. It's more realistic to think of them as bazillions of miniature Mr. Smiths from the Matrix. "You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson..."
I'm also in medical microbiology this quarter, with a new researcher presenting his or her specialty organism each day. Today we covered spirochetes, which give you syphilis and Lyme disease. I love this class, because I finally, finally, get to see pictures of clinical presentations. Bullseye rash for Lyme disease. Sores on the bottom of the feet? Secondary syphilis. The projector puts a big image at the front of the room, and there are also high resolution screens above the class that the lecturer can see. I always turn around to look at the high resolution image, at which point I can usually confirm that I'm THE ONLY ONE IN THE ROOM getting excited about rashes.
Mostly what I've learned at UW is that I'm ordinary. I was mistaken to believe that I had special (or at least marketable) superpowers, as I was told in the software industry. Sure, I can nail a $100 million product release, but the 19 year old sitting next to me in class is going to clean my clock on the next exam, and he's going to get into one of the 30 med schools that rejected me. That's been the story for about three years now. So these classes I'm in this quarter, these last few weeks of my UW career, feel like UW forgot to put the kryptonite under my seat, and I get to think I can fly again.
I'm in molecular virology this quarter, with a veteran researcher who just LOVES viruses, is insanely organized, and teaches the living daylights out of these buggers. Engineers should take this class, to better appreciate the elegance, the sneakiness, the economy, and the innate tinkertoyness of viruses. Every single class I learn something that makes me say "you're kidding me." Nobody designed viruses, not even Mike Huckabee's Lord and Savior. They represent a tiny minority of random events that result in a prolonged existence. And it hurts the head to avoid saying "why?" and to avoid insinuating that a virus has an intention. It's more realistic to think of them as bazillions of miniature Mr. Smiths from the Matrix. "You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability... It is the sound of your death... Goodbye, Mr. Anderson..."
I'm also in medical microbiology this quarter, with a new researcher presenting his or her specialty organism each day. Today we covered spirochetes, which give you syphilis and Lyme disease. I love this class, because I finally, finally, get to see pictures of clinical presentations. Bullseye rash for Lyme disease. Sores on the bottom of the feet? Secondary syphilis. The projector puts a big image at the front of the room, and there are also high resolution screens above the class that the lecturer can see. I always turn around to look at the high resolution image, at which point I can usually confirm that I'm THE ONLY ONE IN THE ROOM getting excited about rashes.
Mostly what I've learned at UW is that I'm ordinary. I was mistaken to believe that I had special (or at least marketable) superpowers, as I was told in the software industry. Sure, I can nail a $100 million product release, but the 19 year old sitting next to me in class is going to clean my clock on the next exam, and he's going to get into one of the 30 med schools that rejected me. That's been the story for about three years now. So these classes I'm in this quarter, these last few weeks of my UW career, feel like UW forgot to put the kryptonite under my seat, and I get to think I can fly again.
posted by Cy at 1:58 AM
2 Comments:
I totally disagree. I do believe the little buggers were created by Mike Huckabee's Lord & Savior. That's why they're so nifty. They make our bodies stronger and more adaptable (when they don't kill us, that is...). So there.
Bring it, Suzie... :D
Mike Huckabee's Lord & Savior intelligently designed every living thing in 6 days, and no living thing has evolved in any way since then, further intelligent design notwithstanding.
So, (a), viruses aren't living, so it's already a theological quagmire;
And, (b), you can watch viruses evolve in response to stimuli, so Mike Huckabee will need to either make microscopy illegal, or announce that God is actively designing each of the 10**10 mutations per replication that result in the one genetic change that works and persists, which implies an UNINTELLIGENT design for the other 10**10-1 mutations. Doesn't leave much time to answer prayer. Better go with making microscopy illegal.
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