Escape...If Only For An Hour

Between Friday and Saturday, I listened to the new medical modalities for diseases from hypertension to insomnia. It was an excruciating and yet fascinating 16 hours for me. Excruciataing because there were almost 60 million new drugs, their doses, trade names, generic names and side effects to learn. Fascinating because of the strides that medicine has made in treatment. I thought I would be able to spend Saturday night studying, but it was no go. My desire to study was there, my drive had waned at 4:30 when the last physician had stepped down from his podium and thanked us for our time. 16 hours of lectures had taken their toll on my brain.

So I did what every brain dead human would do--I bought some doritoes and a six pack of diet coke (I wonder what the cashier thought of this huge clash of items--chips and diet soda). I went home and proceeded to devour the whole bag--to the point where I had to do the tip my head far back enough to dump the crumbs down my throat. And it wasn't the small ninety-nine cent bag, but the family size. I ate enought doritoes for a family of four.

While I was flipping though the channels, one of them was showing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". I was elated. I remembered watching the DVD with other classmates after some mid-terms a few years ago. I was immediately hooked--buying the book the next day and then watching every movie they made thereafter. Something about the fantasy world of Hogwarts made me forget my stress. So armed with Doritoes and Diet Coke, I watched as the 11 year-old Harry Potter battled trolls and Voldemort, made lifelong friends and won everyone's heart. I remembered the first time when I watched it, I wondered, it can't be over. And as the credits rolled, the reality that I may have failed one or two midterms hit me. I wishing that I had a magic wand to make it go away.

I called one of my friends after the movie was over. We were talking about the day's lectures and he said he didn't do anything but play with a computer game to escape the binder full of new trade names. I told him it would be great to have a magic wand like Harry Potter's to make the stress disappear. I then called another friend and chatted for awhile (yes, I may have too much time on my hands). When I finished talking, I realized I was ready to start reading my notes.

Let me see how cheesily I can end this. I realized that Harry Potter had his magic wand to help him overcome some of his obstacles. The strength came from his friends. My magic wand is my friends. When I had gotten off the phone with both my friends, I suddenly was ready to read again. My stress was gone. Their laughter was my spell.

And the doritoes helped too!!!