- From Man Vs Wild: Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sometimes We Need One of These
I recently discovered Over the Hedge and found this strip particularly hilarious. I like Verne's (the turtle) daily self-esteem boost to Hammy (the squirrel), because it is the best kind of compliment someone can give to someone else.
Hammy doesn't need to be exceptionally kind, generous, talented, intelligent, wealthy, charismatic, or good-looking (though he is awfully cute). He is a squirrel, and he has no higher purpose in life than to be the best of himself that he could possibly be. He doesn't need to cure cancer, rid the world of poverty, create a masterpiece, or discover the grand unifying theory that links all the sciences to each other. He is who he is, and being reminded of that makes him leap for joy.
In Henri Nouwen's words (see Life of the Beloved), Verne is revealing Hammy's chosenness to him. He is reminding Hammy that he is unique, created like no other being in the universe, and that he is loved for that. Hammy's actions, no matter what they are, do not change this about Hammy. He is a squirrel (a child of God if he were human), and nothing can take that away from him.
I love Verne's simple affirmation of who Hammy is. It's absurdly nonsensical at a first glance, but profoundly moving upon closer inspection (Well, to me it is.). It's the type of statement that cuts through all the fluff that surrounds people (like awards, skills, talents, temperament, etc.) and says, "You are unique because you are."
You're probably wondering how I managed to get all that out of "squirreliest squirrel." I take the phrase to mean "the creature most capable of being you" (more like, the only creature capable of being you); not "the squirrel with the most squirrel-like characteristics." In fact, I don't think the latter interpretation is much of a compliment. It would simply mean that Hammy is an average squirrel. (Squirrel-like characteristics are characteristics that all squirrels have. What else, but the most average of squirrels, would have the most squirrel-like characteristics?)
You can see here that Verne doesn't think that Hammy is average:
Sorry. If I'd put more time and effort into this, it would be more organized.
The raccoon's name is RJ in case you're interested.
It's troubling that I seem to be formulating my life's philosophy out of children's books and comic strips.
Sorry the image isn't bigger on my blog. I couldn't figure out how to change the size. Just click on it to see a fullsize image of the strip.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Let's Try This Again: Reflections on the Little Prince 2
OK. So I changed my essay for my high school a little bit. I told some people that I was planning to do this, hence the cryptic comment about version 2.0 in the original essay. Another friend told me that the original sounds too much like an application essay. Maybe I should have submitted it to med schools instead of my personal statement.
Anyway, the essay came out a little heavier than I had anticipated the first time around. It was kind of like trying to make a nice light clear soup and ending up with a stew. I removed a paragraph and tried to lighten the broth by breaking up a particularly cumbersome paragraph and by slowing down some of the sentences. (Actually, I didn't change too much. I was invited to write something a couple of months ago, but procrastinated until the week before it's due to write it.)
I also added pictures. I meant to do it for the original essay, but got too lazy to do it. Now that this is the second draft, I feel like I have to put pictures to entice the people who already read the first draft to finish reading this one.
The only prompt my high school teacher gave me was to mention the words "high school" at least once. You can see I did exactly that, on the first sentence to get the requirement out of the way.
The little prince came to Earth from his planet to learn more about life. Upon meeting him, one is struck by his persistence and imagination. Throughout his encounters with various individuals, he never let go of a question once he had asked it. Because of this, he learned how some people crave for power, while others beg for admiration; some are immobilized by shame, while others live for wealth; some are too lazy to think for themselves, while others get too busy to explore the worlds within and around them. Through his mind’s eye, he saw how a pilot’s drawing was not that of a hat, but that of a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant. The little prince also saw how the pilot’s drawing of a box contained a little sheep for him to take back to his planet. He was persistent in knowing the answers to the questions in his mind, so he learned a great deal during his travels. His imagination enriched not only his life but also the lives of the individuals whom he touched.
In his travels, the little prince tamed a fox he met on Earth. The fox told him a great secret: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” People who have heard of how the little prince tamed the fox often quote this secret, but I believe that the fox understood another secret that is just as important as this one. When it was time for the little prince to leave the fox to continue on his travels, the fox did not try to stop him. Though greatly saddened by the little prince’s departure, the fox knew that the little prince had given him something far more special than merely spending time with him. In their time together, the little prince grew to love the fox, and because of this, the fox’s life was changed forever. Though they could no longer be together, the little prince's love continued to infuse life into the fox’s otherwise aimless existence long after he had left his side.
I wish I had paid attention to this secret before I left home for college. If I had, maybe my transition into a new phase in life wouldn’t have been so difficult. Instead of embracing all the exciting opportunities I had ahead of me, I chose to cling to the past, and to pretend that my life hadn’t changed for me, when it had in fact radically and irrevocably changed. Though I was in a totally different time zone, I kept my wristwatch in Manila time, believing that changing it to reflect my circumstances would be tantamount to betraying the family and friends I had left behind. I sent numerous emails back to my friends in Manila, and was extremely reluctant to make new ones in my new school. By trying to live in the past, I failed to appreciate the present. The little prince’s fox understood that circumstances change, and that it is important to know how to adapt to them. I wish I had learned this from him.
During his time on Earth, the little prince came across a salesman who sold pills that quenched thirst. Taken once a week, the pills kept one from feeling thirsty, saving a person about fifty-three minutes a week. The little prince walked away from the salesman without buying a single pill, thinking of how he would rather spend those fifty-three minutes walking to a water fountain. He understood that life is more than just a culmination of all the goals that we achieve. He knew that the moments in between the accomplishments are just as important as the accomplishments themselves.
I have been learning this about life time and again as I work towards attaining my aspirations. For some time, I wondered why the little prince thought about the act of walking to a water fountain, rather than the act of drinking itself. I think it’s because the anticipation that we experience while we are working towards our goals can be just as enjoyable as finally reaching them. Water is tasteless, but we remember its sweetness when we are thirsty. Now that I live overseas, I no longer live with my family. However, my biennial trips to visit them are always preceded by weeks of anticipation as I look forward to seeing them again, buy pasalubong for them, and think of all the things that I miss from Manila.
The little prince’s brief interaction with the thirst-quenching pills reminds me that the process of working to achieve something makes the end product much more meaningful. I am grateful for being able to drive my car around, but driving has become more enjoyable since I rotated my car’s tires myself. I am planning to go to medical school this fall. Though this is only the start of a long journey, the process of deciding to and applying to go to medical school has been a journey in and of itself. Instead of going straight to medical school from college, I chose to spend a few years working. During that time, I learned more about pursuing my interests and desires, taking care of myself, and living in general. Because of my experiences, I am more able to appreciate my opportunity to go to medical school.
Most importantly, the little prince’s refusal to buy the pills reminds me to pause occasionally to pay attention to the joys strewn across life’s path. In my rush to do everything on my list of tasks in order to make my life mean something, it is good to appreciate a slow walk to a water fountain every now and then. For me, this could mean taking the time to prepare and share a good meal with friends, taking a walk around my neighborhood, having coffee with a friend, reading a book, or watching a movie with my girlfriend.
Another moment when I get to slow down and appreciate life is during my drive home from work. Occasionally, I would turn off the radio and focus on my surroundings. I would listen to my car's low hum as it makes its way on the freeway. My eyes would watch the road ahead of me, and occasionally catch a glimpse of the setting sun crowning California’s mountains with rays of gold as it makes its way out of the horizon. During these moments, I would remember how watching the sunset is one of the little prince's favorite pastimes. His planet is so small that he only needs to move his chair a few feet to watch the sunset whenever he wants to. As the cars around me turn their headlights on, I would wish that I had that luxury, because the sunsets in Manila are simply breathtaking. My mind would start thinking about how in Manila, shades of purple and blue dance across the sky with orange, yellow, and red when the sun prepares itself to face a different part of the world. I would think of the little prince’s travels, compare my experiences to his, and wonder where I will be a decade or two from now. As I park my car in front of my house and look up to search for the few stars brave enough to show up on the city’s brightly-lit skies, I would wonder if one of them is his planet, and how he and his sheep are doing. Then, I would walk slowly to my house, grateful for having made his acquaintance.
Anyway, the essay came out a little heavier than I had anticipated the first time around. It was kind of like trying to make a nice light clear soup and ending up with a stew. I removed a paragraph and tried to lighten the broth by breaking up a particularly cumbersome paragraph and by slowing down some of the sentences. (Actually, I didn't change too much. I was invited to write something a couple of months ago, but procrastinated until the week before it's due to write it.)
I also added pictures. I meant to do it for the original essay, but got too lazy to do it. Now that this is the second draft, I feel like I have to put pictures to entice the people who already read the first draft to finish reading this one.
The only prompt my high school teacher gave me was to mention the words "high school" at least once. You can see I did exactly that, on the first sentence to get the requirement out of the way.
“If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I’d walk very slowly to a water fountain.”
- the little prince from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The little prince came to Earth from his planet to learn more about life. Upon meeting him, one is struck by his persistence and imagination. Throughout his encounters with various individuals, he never let go of a question once he had asked it. Because of this, he learned how some people crave for power, while others beg for admiration; some are immobilized by shame, while others live for wealth; some are too lazy to think for themselves, while others get too busy to explore the worlds within and around them. Through his mind’s eye, he saw how a pilot’s drawing was not that of a hat, but that of a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant. The little prince also saw how the pilot’s drawing of a box contained a little sheep for him to take back to his planet. He was persistent in knowing the answers to the questions in his mind, so he learned a great deal during his travels. His imagination enriched not only his life but also the lives of the individuals whom he touched.
In his travels, the little prince tamed a fox he met on Earth. The fox told him a great secret: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” People who have heard of how the little prince tamed the fox often quote this secret, but I believe that the fox understood another secret that is just as important as this one. When it was time for the little prince to leave the fox to continue on his travels, the fox did not try to stop him. Though greatly saddened by the little prince’s departure, the fox knew that the little prince had given him something far more special than merely spending time with him. In their time together, the little prince grew to love the fox, and because of this, the fox’s life was changed forever. Though they could no longer be together, the little prince's love continued to infuse life into the fox’s otherwise aimless existence long after he had left his side.
I wish I had paid attention to this secret before I left home for college. If I had, maybe my transition into a new phase in life wouldn’t have been so difficult. Instead of embracing all the exciting opportunities I had ahead of me, I chose to cling to the past, and to pretend that my life hadn’t changed for me, when it had in fact radically and irrevocably changed. Though I was in a totally different time zone, I kept my wristwatch in Manila time, believing that changing it to reflect my circumstances would be tantamount to betraying the family and friends I had left behind. I sent numerous emails back to my friends in Manila, and was extremely reluctant to make new ones in my new school. By trying to live in the past, I failed to appreciate the present. The little prince’s fox understood that circumstances change, and that it is important to know how to adapt to them. I wish I had learned this from him.
During his time on Earth, the little prince came across a salesman who sold pills that quenched thirst. Taken once a week, the pills kept one from feeling thirsty, saving a person about fifty-three minutes a week. The little prince walked away from the salesman without buying a single pill, thinking of how he would rather spend those fifty-three minutes walking to a water fountain. He understood that life is more than just a culmination of all the goals that we achieve. He knew that the moments in between the accomplishments are just as important as the accomplishments themselves.
I have been learning this about life time and again as I work towards attaining my aspirations. For some time, I wondered why the little prince thought about the act of walking to a water fountain, rather than the act of drinking itself. I think it’s because the anticipation that we experience while we are working towards our goals can be just as enjoyable as finally reaching them. Water is tasteless, but we remember its sweetness when we are thirsty. Now that I live overseas, I no longer live with my family. However, my biennial trips to visit them are always preceded by weeks of anticipation as I look forward to seeing them again, buy pasalubong for them, and think of all the things that I miss from Manila.
The little prince’s brief interaction with the thirst-quenching pills reminds me that the process of working to achieve something makes the end product much more meaningful. I am grateful for being able to drive my car around, but driving has become more enjoyable since I rotated my car’s tires myself. I am planning to go to medical school this fall. Though this is only the start of a long journey, the process of deciding to and applying to go to medical school has been a journey in and of itself. Instead of going straight to medical school from college, I chose to spend a few years working. During that time, I learned more about pursuing my interests and desires, taking care of myself, and living in general. Because of my experiences, I am more able to appreciate my opportunity to go to medical school.
Most importantly, the little prince’s refusal to buy the pills reminds me to pause occasionally to pay attention to the joys strewn across life’s path. In my rush to do everything on my list of tasks in order to make my life mean something, it is good to appreciate a slow walk to a water fountain every now and then. For me, this could mean taking the time to prepare and share a good meal with friends, taking a walk around my neighborhood, having coffee with a friend, reading a book, or watching a movie with my girlfriend.
Another moment when I get to slow down and appreciate life is during my drive home from work. Occasionally, I would turn off the radio and focus on my surroundings. I would listen to my car's low hum as it makes its way on the freeway. My eyes would watch the road ahead of me, and occasionally catch a glimpse of the setting sun crowning California’s mountains with rays of gold as it makes its way out of the horizon. During these moments, I would remember how watching the sunset is one of the little prince's favorite pastimes. His planet is so small that he only needs to move his chair a few feet to watch the sunset whenever he wants to. As the cars around me turn their headlights on, I would wish that I had that luxury, because the sunsets in Manila are simply breathtaking. My mind would start thinking about how in Manila, shades of purple and blue dance across the sky with orange, yellow, and red when the sun prepares itself to face a different part of the world. I would think of the little prince’s travels, compare my experiences to his, and wonder where I will be a decade or two from now. As I park my car in front of my house and look up to search for the few stars brave enough to show up on the city’s brightly-lit skies, I would wonder if one of them is his planet, and how he and his sheep are doing. Then, I would walk slowly to my house, grateful for having made his acquaintance.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Reflections on the Little Prince
I wrote this for my high school’s 50th anniversary coffee table book (at least I hope it’ll make it into the book). I was surprised to get an email from my English high school teacher asking me to write something, because I didn’t do anything particularly outstanding in high school (or in life for that matter). Anyway, I wrote about The Little Prince, one of my favorite books. It’s one of those sweeps through several events in my life, kind of like this and this, so it’s kind of long [Sometimes I get freaked out by how much of myself I put into this blog. (When I read certain entries, I get a little embarrassed by how lazy I am with writing. Some of the entries really contain enough ideas for 3 or more entries. I just didn’t put in the time to write them.)]. After having written this, I feel like I’d destroyed some of the book’s poetry by attempting to explain it. I still put it here though, because it might inspire some of you to read the book. [The Oxy library has a copy with my name on it (I worked there, and had my nameplate glued on its inside jacket.), and an audiobook can also be found on imeem.]
“If I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I’d walk very slowly to a water fountain.”
- the little prince from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I first made the acquaintance of the little prince during my freshman year in high school. Our class was assigned to write a report on his story. Though I was drawn to its simplicity and read it multiple times that year, I failed to understand how the little prince’s tale is really a richly layered story on life pretending to be a fanciful children’s book. I came across the little prince again about three years ago when I went back home for the winter holidays during my senior year in college. This time, having traveled more of the world and further down the path of life myself, I was more able to relate to the lessons the little prince learned on his travels.
The little prince came to Earth from his planet in order to learn more about the universe. Upon meeting him, one is struck by his persistence and imagination. Throughout his encounters with various individuals, he never let go of a question once he had asked it. Because of this, he learned how some people crave for power, while others beg for admiration; some are immobilized by shame, while others live for wealth; some are too lazy to think for themselves, while others get too busy to explore the worlds around and within them. Through his mind’s eye, he saw how a pilot’s drawing was indeed that of a boa constrictor that had swallowed an elephant, and not a hat. The little prince also saw how the pilot’s drawing of a box contained a little sheep for him to take back to his planet. He was persistent in knowing the answers to the questions in his mind, so he learned a great deal during his travels. His imagination enriched not only his life but also the lives of the individuals whom he touched.
I could have learned the power of persistence and imagination from the little prince but I did not understand the lessons he was trying to teach me. Instead, I had to go to college to learn them. While the little prince learned about persistence and imagination from the people he encountered, I grew to appreciate their significance in a laboratory. As a biology major, I had the opportunity to work on a project that involved conducting experiments on live organisms. The work was hard, and at time tedious. Sometimes, I had to go to lab at odd hours of the night because of the organism’s life cycle. At other times, I had to redo weeks of experiment due to a minor miscalculation on my part. There were moments when I had to think of creative ways to get around obstacles that hindered me from getting the desired results. This experience taught me the value of trying again after encountering setbacks, and the importance of thinking beyond established solutions in order to find the most satisfying one.
In his travels, the little prince tamed a fox he met on Earth. The fox told him a great secret: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” People who have heard of how the little prince tamed the fox often quote this secret, but I believe that the fox understood another secret that is just as important as this one. When it was time for the little prince to leave the fox to continue on his travels, the fox did not try to stop him. Though greatly saddened by the little prince’s departure, the fox knew that the little prince had given him something far more special than merely spending time with him. In their time together, the little prince grew to love the fox, and because of this, the fox’s life was changed forever. Though they could no longer be together, the little prince love continued to infuse life into the fox’s otherwise aimless existence long after he had left his side.
I wish I had paid attention to this lesson before I left home for college. If I had, maybe my transition into a new phase in life wouldn’t have been so difficult. Instead of embracing all the new and exciting opportunities that I had ahead of me, I chose to cling to the past, and to pretend that my life hadn’t change for me, when it had in fact radically and irrevocable changed. Though I was in a totally different time zone, I kept my wristwatch in Manila time, believing that change it to reflect my circumstances would be tantamount to betraying the family and friends I had left behind. I sent numerous emails back to my friends in Manila, and was extremely reluctant to make new ones in my new school. By trying to live in the past, I failed to appreciate the present. The little prince’s fox understood that circumstances change, and that it is important to know how to adapt to them. I wish I had learned this from him.
During his travels on Earth, the little prince came across a salesman who sold pills that quenched thirst. Taken once a week, the pills kept one from feeling thirsty, saving a person about fifty-three minutes a week. The little prince walked away from the salesman without buying a single pill, thinking of how he would rather spend those fifty-three minutes walking to a water fountain. He understood that life is more than just a culmination of all the goals that we achieve. He knew that the moments in between the accomplishments are just as important as the accomplishments themselves.
I have been learning this about life time and again as I work towards attaining my aspirations. For some time, I wondered why the little prince thought about the act of walking to a water fountain, rather than the act of drinking itself. I think it’s because the anticipation that we experience while we are working towards our goals can be just as enjoyable as finally reaching them. Water is tasteless, but we remember its sweetness when we are thirsty. The little prince’s brief interaction with the thirst-quenching pills reminds me that the process of working to achieve something makes the end product much more meaningful. I am grateful for being able to drive my car around, but driving has become more enjoyable since I rotated my car’s tires myself. The dishes that I cook for myself will never taste as good as my mom’s, but to me, they taste better than they actually do because I made them myself. Most importantly, the little prince’s refusal to buy the pills reminds me to pause occasionally to pay attention to the joys strewn across life’s path. In the midst of our rush to do everything on our list in order to make our lives mean something, it is good to appreciate a slow walk to a water fountain every now and then.
Sometimes, on my drive home from work, I would think of the little prince while watching the setting sun crown California’s mountains with rays of gold as it makes its way out of the horizon. One of his favorite pastimes is to watch the sunset. His planet is so small that he only needs to move his chair a few feet to watch the sunset whenever he wanted to. I would wish that I had that luxury, because the sunsets in Manila are simply breathtaking. My mind would start thinking about how in Manila, shades of purple and blue dance across the sky with orange, yellow, and red, as the sun prepares itself to face a different part of the world. I would think of the little prince’s travels, and compare my experiences to his. As I park my car in front of my house and look up to search for the few stars brave enough to show up on the city’s light-polluted skies, I would wonder if one of them is his planet, and how he and his sheep are doing. Then, I would walk slowly to my house, grateful for having made his acquaintance.
I ended up rewriting this piece here.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
One-third Full
I have a small disposable plastic cup on my desk at work. There's really nothing remarkable about it, just a regular 8-ounce cup that I got from the water cooler in the break room. Since reading about a person who collects staple wire at his/her work in PostSecret (Actually I read it in a PostSecret book, but I can't remember which one.), I have been using my little cup to see how much used staples I can accumulate during my time here at work. My job (which I have previously described here, though the description makes my work sound more amazing that it actually is) requires me to unstaple massive amounts of documents, so twisted staples is a good way to keep track of some of the work that I do.
Unstapling pieces of paper is one of the most annoying parts of my job. There's no such thing as an automatic staple remover (I've looked.), so I've been using one of those little things that remind me of saber-toothed tigers.
Having a repository for used staples has made the act of unstapling papers apart a little more tolerable. I see it as a tangible manifestation of my work, something that's slightly more motivating than the uncertain possibility of eventually co-authoring a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. Since the appearance of the little cup, scanning stapled documents has risen to the top of my list of priorities at work. I have also started to loathe scanning papers that aren't stapled together, irked by their disrespectful refusal to pay tribute to the little cup.
The little cup is now about one-third full of staples. For a while, I used it as an hourglass of sorts, with each staple playing the part of a grain of sand. Judging from the rate at which I am filling the little cup, I'm hoping to completely fill the little cup with staples at around the same time that I am ready to leave work for medical school {if I get into medical school [I don't like having to append that clause every time I talk about my plans to go to medical school (but I do like using this many parentheses and brackets.).].}.
Lately though, thoughts of whether the little cup is one-third full or two-thirds empty have been supplanted with obsessive musings on what is going into the little cup. The most obvious answer is, of course, used staples. However, my desire to feel like my 8 or so hours at work everyday are worth more than hundreds of pieces of bent metal has me trying to infuse more meaning into them.
I suppose the staples could represent the monotony of my work. After all, I started collecting used staples because I was bored with my job. My success at the more interesting parts of my job has unfortunately led to the proliferation of its more mind-numbing aspects. A substantial part of my workweek is taken up by unstapling, scanning, re-stapling (Yes, I have to re-staple them.), and stamping (with a bright red stamp that says "ENTERED") an endless stream of forms and other documents. It's not exactly the most exciting aspect of clinical research.
The staples could also stand for the ways that I have tried to alleviate the tedious nature of my job. Since unstapling and then re-stapling pieces of paper doesn't exactly require my complete and undivided attention, I have been able to finish listening to NPR's Morning Edition every morning. I've also been able to listen to audiobooks of the entire Harry Potter series (yes, all seven of them), The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope (all of these can be found on imeem.), not to mention several of his speeches .(By the way, I get insanely jealous thinking about how his director of speechwriting is only 3 years older than I am.)
Then again, I suppose I can also look at the staples to represent all the ways I have been enjoying my job. In the present environment, simply having a job is something to be grateful for. Having one has afforded me with a sense of feeling like I'm learning to take care of myself, even though I still rely on my family for certain things. As I work with healthcare professionals and attend talks about advances and challenges in the treatment of certain diseases, my job provides me with opportunities to learn more about the medical profession. It challenges me to do things I hadn't learned before (and honestly, am not terribly interested in learning), like using certain computer programs. I've had the chance to read medical records that have made me teary-eyed as I cheered for survivors and mourned for those who didn't make it. My bosses are all amazing, intelligent people who not only inspire me to work hard to make a difference, but also encourage me in my pursuit to get into medical school.
Or maybe the little cup is just one-third full of staples, and I'm stuck in a cubicle waiting to hear back from medical schools, and not in the White House writing speeches.
To anyone who actually finished this entry, thanks for reading. I can't imagine anyone being bored enough to read an entire entry about work and a little cup of staples. haha.
Unstapling pieces of paper is one of the most annoying parts of my job. There's no such thing as an automatic staple remover (I've looked.), so I've been using one of those little things that remind me of saber-toothed tigers.
Having a repository for used staples has made the act of unstapling papers apart a little more tolerable. I see it as a tangible manifestation of my work, something that's slightly more motivating than the uncertain possibility of eventually co-authoring a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. Since the appearance of the little cup, scanning stapled documents has risen to the top of my list of priorities at work. I have also started to loathe scanning papers that aren't stapled together, irked by their disrespectful refusal to pay tribute to the little cup.
The little cup is now about one-third full of staples. For a while, I used it as an hourglass of sorts, with each staple playing the part of a grain of sand. Judging from the rate at which I am filling the little cup, I'm hoping to completely fill the little cup with staples at around the same time that I am ready to leave work for medical school {if I get into medical school [I don't like having to append that clause every time I talk about my plans to go to medical school (but I do like using this many parentheses and brackets.).].}.
Lately though, thoughts of whether the little cup is one-third full or two-thirds empty have been supplanted with obsessive musings on what is going into the little cup. The most obvious answer is, of course, used staples. However, my desire to feel like my 8 or so hours at work everyday are worth more than hundreds of pieces of bent metal has me trying to infuse more meaning into them.
I suppose the staples could represent the monotony of my work. After all, I started collecting used staples because I was bored with my job. My success at the more interesting parts of my job has unfortunately led to the proliferation of its more mind-numbing aspects. A substantial part of my workweek is taken up by unstapling, scanning, re-stapling (Yes, I have to re-staple them.), and stamping (with a bright red stamp that says "ENTERED") an endless stream of forms and other documents. It's not exactly the most exciting aspect of clinical research.
The staples could also stand for the ways that I have tried to alleviate the tedious nature of my job. Since unstapling and then re-stapling pieces of paper doesn't exactly require my complete and undivided attention, I have been able to finish listening to NPR's Morning Edition every morning. I've also been able to listen to audiobooks of the entire Harry Potter series (yes, all seven of them), The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope (all of these can be found on imeem.), not to mention several of his speeches .(By the way, I get insanely jealous thinking about how his director of speechwriting is only 3 years older than I am.)
Then again, I suppose I can also look at the staples to represent all the ways I have been enjoying my job. In the present environment, simply having a job is something to be grateful for. Having one has afforded me with a sense of feeling like I'm learning to take care of myself, even though I still rely on my family for certain things. As I work with healthcare professionals and attend talks about advances and challenges in the treatment of certain diseases, my job provides me with opportunities to learn more about the medical profession. It challenges me to do things I hadn't learned before (and honestly, am not terribly interested in learning), like using certain computer programs. I've had the chance to read medical records that have made me teary-eyed as I cheered for survivors and mourned for those who didn't make it. My bosses are all amazing, intelligent people who not only inspire me to work hard to make a difference, but also encourage me in my pursuit to get into medical school.
Or maybe the little cup is just one-third full of staples, and I'm stuck in a cubicle waiting to hear back from medical schools, and not in the White House writing speeches.
To anyone who actually finished this entry, thanks for reading. I can't imagine anyone being bored enough to read an entire entry about work and a little cup of staples. haha.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
