Relief

I think I worked harder this week than during finals week last quarter. I never realized how much work went into planning these school events: contacting all the participants, arranging set-up, arranging food, coordinating who does what, learning how to utilize the resources in the university, and all the while trying to have a good time. I am referring to the Tabula Art Show 2007. Calculating the top scores is actually quite difficult and making sure you instruct someone else to announce it correctly is a lot harder than it sounds when you're stressed out.

It was like working with one person then another, and constantly being able to shift your focus. Time just flies by even though you are not prepared for what came next. I was learning how to effectively adhere photos onto non-art walls one minute, then another minute, I am assembling a wooden easel because we used up all the ones that the MU loaned us. I think the worst moment was when I got the cork stuck in the wine bottle opener! Obviously, I don't drink that much...Thanks to Chris Cullander who gave me some tips about how to do it correctly.

My focus has been completely off school this past week and I hope I can make it up since it is still early in the quarter. The day after the art show, I had to coordinate the Patient Counseling Competition banquet. I sat next to the Dean of the Pharmacy school, Mary Anne Koda-kimble. She's always really modest in person. You can't tell that she is the one who sits on the board of the United States Pharmacopeia. She said that she was impressed with our class and that the students get smarter and nerdier every year. I am a nerd, so I couldn't really disagree with her.

I had to cram for the pharm calc quiz today by staying up last night until 3am. I don't know why I had to stay up so late just for a quiz. If this was any other week, my brain might have been in at least a semi-solid form to actually process information more efficiently.

I don't think I can do this again next year.

I might co-coordinate but I was taking on way too much. Especially since I had the patient counseling competition banquet the day after the Art Show. But I will have to say it was awesome seeing the finished show with all the pieces coming together. It was a success and I look forward to seeing it grow.

I visited my resident Robert for the first time since last quarter. I strolled into LLH this afternoon about 2:30pm and found him playing his video games in the lobby. I feel like he wears the same thing every day, but I'm not complaining cuz this way it is easier to find him in a crowd. He needed to ask me my name again this time, but he was able to remember it throughout the hour when I was speaking with him.

He repeated his life story to me again and reiterated his love for motorbikes. Heroine. Cocaine. His old apartment at 5th and Irving. This time he spoke about when he flew in an 3 seater airplane once. I'm not sure what he has not done throughout his life.

I brought him grapes I originally bought for the art show but we didn't need. He dug into the in-season ripe fruit quite happily; he seemed to appreciate the offer. And the whole exchange reminded me of the kind of simple, kind gestures people made in the past. It could have been triggered by the context of the constant references he made at the time to God, mary, and Jesus Christ.