Remakes

I've written about this made for television movie before, I think back in November when it came out. It's the updated television version of "The Poseidon Adventure". The original I remember starred Pamela Sue Anderson (the original Nancy Drew)and some others (I'm too lazy to look it up on IMDB.COM). I remember I watched it as a really young child cause I saw the previews and saw that Nancy Drew was going to be on it. I was a really big fan of the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries in elementary school,although I didn't understand them. It may have had something to do with my parents telling me that they grew up reading the books. So when a preview for The Poseidon Adventure came out featuring Pamela, I begged my parents to let me watch it. My father tried to explain that it wasn't Nancy Drew (he had already seen it when it first came out and thought it a little too violent for someone my age). I begged, pleaded, cleaned my room and did some other chores. They gave in.

I remember only the parts where the ship turned over and when they were finally rescued by the Navy who drilled a hole in the bottom of the boat. And I do remember liking the movie.

So back in November when this new movie starring Adam Baldwin and Steve Guttenberg came out, I watched it. Not the same feeling of wonder and awe at the dramatical moments of the original. For one, Steve's character had a line which bugged me throughout the entire movie. Steve had to take off the shoes of a floating corpse and use them. When he complained about using them, his girlfriend asked, "Don't you want to live". He replied "Yes, I do" as he slipped the shoes on. This particular scene and its dramatic music unnerved me.

Now, I ask myself how I got pulled into watching the show again. And of course, the fact that the director saw the scene played through, and it didn't end up on the chopping board is beyond my comprension. Do they not know a scene that works and one that doesn't?

This is a sort of updated version of my original post. We all know the remakes hold no candle to the original.

Back From the Slack

Yes, I've been gone for quite awhile. Lots of things going on this week, but my brain is pure mush.

On Monday, I drove back from Florida to West Virginia!!! Very exciting for me since I got to leave the hot temperate climate of Florida. I've been down there staying at my parent's summer home studying. It was a good way to get away from my friends and family and to concentrate. I may have gone a little stir crazy hearing the sound of my own voice bounce off the walls. Pure lonliness, except for the few people I met at the gym. Those people were my social life for the last three months and I think I learned more about myself talking to them on the treadmill then I did about them. Funny how talking to strangers, you learn more about yourself.

On my way back, I got a flat tire. I have no idea what I ran over, didn't feel the bump. I do remember the "pop", which I thought was the truck beside me. But as I pulled away from the truck, the smell of burning rubber clued me in. I pulled over and noticed that my back right tire was shredded to bits.

It didn't take long for Triple AAA to come to the rescue. I got off the phone with them at 9, they were at my side before 9:30 and I was on the road before 10. I know I should learn to change a tire myself. It would have saved me some trouble, but I had a 13 hour trip ahead of me (I don't like stopping overnight anywhere and usually make the trip in one day).

Since I was alone, one of my friends kept me company via cell phone. We talked thru three states. I owe her one!!!!!

Anyway, sorry about the slacking off. This is all I've got for right now. My brain needs time to rest and then I'll be able to write something more exciting.

P.S. Michelle, I left the pushy door-to-door salesman in Florida.

Door To Door Water

Yesterday as I was leaving to do an errand, a man pulled up, got out of his car and started to walk towards mine. I thought he might need directions, so I got out of mine (he was already on the driveway) to see what he needed.

He then said "Are people in this neighborhood complaining about the water?"
I didn't understand what he meant by that and I guess due my perplexed look--I must have had the expression of a person having mini-strokes--he repeated himself.

"Are people saying the water taste bad and when you take a bath you have rashes on your skin?"

I looked at my arms and then realized that this man was going to attempt to sell something--skin products, beauty products, something like that. Why the hell was he asking about the smell of the water and then saying the water was putting rashes on my skin?

I very politely told him that I was on my way out and I had errands to do. He asked if there was anyone else in the house that he could speak to. REDFLAG!!!! Of course my paranoid mind thought, he now wants to rob me blind while I'm away.

"My wife is asleep and I don't think she would appreciate being woken up to hear a sales pitch." Lie, big lie, but I had to make him think someone was in the house.

He then said, "My testing technique will only take thirty minutes I just want to test your water. Let's go inside and see."

He kept looking into the garage at the water heater. I then repeated that I had no time for this and could he just go on his way.

He then said, "But you were the lucky person I stummbled upon, none of your neighbors appear to be home."

I explained well yeah, but A)I don't have time B)I'm really not that interested C) It's a brand spanking new house, new neighborhood, our water filtration system is great, the water doesn't smell nor have I gotten any rashes and I was already losing my patience.

He then said, "Okay, is there a beter time for me to come back?"

I told him "NEVER!"

He then asked about Saturdays or the evenings, was there a number he could call to check for a better time. I told him he was never to trespass on my property again.

He said, "Okay, do any of your neighbors speak Spanish?"

I told him that I didn't ask any of them. And with that got in my car, asked him to leave my property and took off. I didn't really feel uneasy about him breaking in because of the alarm system.

In my rearview mirror I saw him throwing a pitch to an unsuspecting neighbor who came out to get her mail.

The Shock Heard Round The World

I'm pretty sick of hearing about one idol contestant's ousting from the show. I mean lets face it, at this point in the contest, any one of them getting booted would be quite shocking for any fan left watching the show. When you are part of the top five, an elimination would be hard to take.

From Wednesday night onward, we have been bombarded with clips and news stories of the ousting. Everyone keeps saying it's gotta be a mistake, they should do a recount. How could this happen? Some people claimed that they heard other contestants voices thanking the caller for their vote. Another caller said they could not get thru.

Let's see, here's how I think it happened. First off, maybe the singer had only enough fans to get them to that certain position in the ranks, the other remaining ones had more fans who called.

As for callers hearing other singer's thank yous, are you sure you dialed the right number? Sometimes in frantic redialing, fingers slip and those numbers are so close together that the mistake might have happened. Or, if you are hearing other voices, it might be a delusional problem. Finally, if you couldn't get thru, that means other people were voting for your favored singer, so there were some votes, just not enough.

You shouldn't feel sorry for these ousted singers. Many of them already have recording offers, quite lucrative ones. Many of the ousted singers have done better than the picked idols.

As far as shocking goes, I am no longer shocked by reality television. I'm just shocked the networks are coming up with new reality shows which are ridiculous--"Unanimous".

Late Night Treasures

It's been a stressful couple of weeks for me, so I've found myself awake later than I usually am. Sleepless because of stress--the thought of this upcoming exam, the nightmare of getting questions of weird, unknown diseases or worse yet, completely blanking out, has kept my mind racing at unbelievable speeds. In order to bore myself to sleep, I would turn on the television for mindless entertainment.

One particular night this week, I found myself awake in the early a.m., so I turned to the Oxygen network--not really stimulating at all. In fact I usually find the shows suffocating mad, depriving one's brain of the much needed earth element. In medical school, I would have turned to Harrison's (one of our dear sacred books) or Robbin's to put me to sleep. However, during this crunch time, if I open either of those, I find myself in panic, wondering why I didn't know certain details or why the certain pathological hallmarks have eluded my memory.

Anyway, on Oxygen was a repeat of Tyra Banks. Her topic for the night? Booty. Her show was dedicated to the shape, size and form of achieving the perfect booty. Since I've got a huge crush on Tyra, my remote was tossed down and I watched her display the many different types of booty out there, and how to use clothes and other devices to achieve bootylicious.

She had a plastic surgeon on there who could perform booty-lifts, masseuers who specialized in just stimulating the booty area, and even this fashion thing (much like a bra) that would lift and perk the booty. I don't know about the massage. I wouldn't want to have that profession, to just massage butts all day, but if people will pay for it, someone is going to make a living.

Now, what really caught my attention was Tyra confessing to another imperfection of hers. Her first confession concerned her mammary glands (okay, so the booty wasn't the first time I stopped to watch her show). She proved that she didn't have a breast implant---in fact she showed the world that without her wonderbra, she had ordinary flapping ones. This new "imperfection" was cellulite. This made her more human and less "super" in my eyes (it's a good thing). And it showed most people that you don't have to be plastic perfect to become a super model. My hats off to her for doing something like that. Now, to me, she's perfect.

By the time the show was over--and audience members had gotten free booty massage certificates, booty lifting devices and even a "call-in" from home booty work-out routine, sleep was calling, only I had now started to fight it, hoping to catch a glimpse of a perfect booty.

It's Not Routine

I remember the first physical exam I did on a patient like it was yesterday. My professor and I, along with 5 other medical students stepped into a ward that was full of volunteer patients (patients who volunteered for the sake of education to allow themselves to be subjects for 2nd year medical students). We walked up an elderly patient and my professor said "Dr. Angel will be examining you right now". The patient sat upright on the bed and faced us.

The professor said "Proceed".

I stepped up to the bed, introduced myself as we had been taught in physical diagnosis and fumbled thru my medical bag for my pen light, opthalmoscope, and a tongue depressor. My hands nervously palpated and I could feel the sweat dripping down my back as the professor maked/wrote evaluations on her clipboard, coughed nervously and sneered a couple times. My fellow classmates hid behind one another in hopes that the professor wouldn't see them or call them up to plate next.

I apologized everytime the patient winced when I would palpate a tender part of the abdomen. I asked when the pain had started, the duration and what exacerbated it or made it better. To take the patients mind off what I was doing, I asked about family members, when they see their loved ones next and television shows they missed while being holed up in the ward.

When we were finished, the patient smiled somewhat and said "I think my blood pressure may have raised because you made me nervous. It isn't a reflection of my regular readings. Please be sure to mark that in your history".

I said "Excuse me? I made you nervous? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I hope I didn't do anything wrong and I apologize for the inconvenience".

The patient then said "You didn't do anything wrong, but you were just so nervous, I thought maybe you knew something I didn't and it made me nervous to think that you were searching for something they hadn't found or were trying to confirm".

I apologized again and said "I'm still a student".

The patient said, "It's okay. I'll still be your patient. I'll see you later doctor".

"Oh, I'm not a doctor, I'm a second year medical student", I reiterated.

The patient laid back onto the bed and said "You're a doctor. It was in your smile".

When I walked out of the room, I realized that sometimes as physicians we can evoke certain emotions from patients, by body language, facial expression and other non-verbal statements we make. Over time I mastered how to do a complete exam in less than 10 minutes, when it use to take me close to 45 to do a P.E. and interview. I learned to examine while interviewing and to pull necessary information by wording my questions in a way to get the right answers.

I hope I learned the art of bedside manner--the most important part of being a physician. I'm still learning cause I know that each patient personally has more to teach me, then any malady they may have.

I think that patient comfort and the kindness and compassion they receive from us is vitally important.It should be incomporated into the routine.

Not A Penny More

I know I've written about solicitations/bums asking for money before. My last post was about some chicks raising money to go to England. This time I passed a man holding up a sign that said "Need 78 cents". WTF? What would you need the exact change of 78 cents for?

I don't think he could buy any food with it--maybe a small bag of chips or a fountain drink at a convenience store. Let's face it, the cheapest things at most fast food restaurants are their 99 cent menus, which they all have because they are following Taco Bell's trend. Oops, he could get a taco, but he'd need an extra penny.

Why would you hold up a sign asking for exactly 78 cents. I would have stopped to ask him, but he was at a stop light that led directly onto a major highway. So he could possibly only get money from anyone who happened to be caught at that light. And from where I was stopped, no one was opening their windows--who would want all that truck dust, diesel scent and carbon monoxide going into their cars anyway.

I asked one of my friends what they possibly could want with just 78 cents. She thought maybe it was the cost of a senior citizen discount for a bus ride into the next town. Not!! This guy wasn't a senior citizen.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what this guy could possibly want with only 78 cents, please let me know.

Very Superstitious

On one Grey's Anatomy episode (a show I really really love and if I had to give up all other shows for just one, this would be the one I would keep), they had a patient with OCD. This patient had to turn the lights on and off several times for good luck. He truly believed that his luck would change if he didn't do this. Sadly in the end, when he wasn't allowed to finish his light clicking, he passed away due to a complication during his surgery. Meredith Grey said "Superstition was based on waht we can and can't control..." yada, yada, yada with her voice over and shots of Seattle Grace Hospital. I don't get the voice overs. I usually turn to this channel during the end of Desperate Housewives and once again there is a voice over summing up the moral/virtue/lesson of their show.

Anyway, I believe that I'm a pretty superstitious person. I've written a post about this once, it was because some of my so called friends send me those frickin forwards that state my cause/time of death if I don't continue the forward. What I hate the most is forwarding it to friends I know won't forward it because they aren't spooked by it. And then I will bear the guilt if they should succumb to the nasty predictions of the forward.

I also always pick pennies up. At first because I was told it would bring good-luck. Later I learned in microbiology class that these ground dwelling items could be the harbinger of a multitude of germs. But now I pick it up because of a forward that I got that said you should pick it up becuase of the printed statement "In God We Trust" on it.

I've never broken a mirror, nor have I walked under a ladder. I stay away from black cats, step over cracks in the side walk, never walk over someone's grave...I'm a listener of old wives tales. I think that cold shivers are because a soul/ghost has passed thru the room and my friends and I have discussed the effects of a full moon.

Does anyone else have certain superstitions they abide by?