Just got back from test

Just got back from test #3. Not that bad. Especially considering that my plans to study all weekend were suddenly and unexpectedly foiled - but in a good way. Instead of waking up and cracking the anatomy book on sunday as planned, I woke up and went on a 5 hour scooter ride to the columbia gorge.

How did I find myself on this amazing scooter adventure? Well, it all started when my clutch cable snapped saturday night. This was not a fortunate event in itself, as I was forced to push the trooper 12 blocks uphill, alone because mike ditched me to go to a poker game (in which he lost all his money), and yet not alone because, as it was saturday night, the sidewalks were teeming with folks in their trendy little going-out-to-northwest 23rd outfits. That was nice.

But a good thing came out of it (besides me getting excercise for once). I got to meet Rob, a columbia scooters employee, who out of the goodness of his heart ditched his girlfriend to come replace my brake cable at 9 pm. Not only did he do that, but he found that my shifter cable was also out of whack, so he replaced it with the front break cable off his very own vespa! Such service, such sacrifice, such support for a fellow (although inexperienced) scoot-er in need. In exchange for his awesomeness, i bought him (and jessica who was hanging out) a fancy cocktail at brazen bean. And we had a pretty in-depth conversation on the evils of automobiles and the cost-effectiveness of alternative single-person transportation. Very cool.

And if my clutch cable wouldn't have snapped when it did - a) i might have been seriously injured (or inconvenienced) when it snapped as i was winding my way down the backroad from OHSU, and b) i wouldn't have found out about the big scooter ride on sunday. It was sponsored by Columbia Scooters, and put on by the new Oregon Scooter Club. So i drug mike out of bed on sunday morning, strapped him to the back of the trooper, and rode in a pack of about 30 scooters of all different breeds out to the columbia gorge and Edgefield. It was awesome. The fall colors were incredible, and it felt so good to get out of the city. And I got to meet all sorts of cool scooter kids. True, in the back of my mind this whole time, i was thinking - "Ummmmm... fiona, you have a test tomorrow. You haven't really studied. I guess somebody's staying up late again." But i pushed down the panic, and had a good time. It was really cool. I will post pictures soon - mike documented the experience.

And I did stay up late. And I did try to learn embryology for the first time this morning cause i fell asleep trying last night. And I am VERY VERY VERY tired right now. But it went ok - maybe even well. And I'm very glad I went.

It seems like each day is a little struggle of sacrifices - do well in school? have fun? do well in school? see my friends? do well in school? sleep? It seems like a lot of the time i have to pick - and most of the time school wins. But it doesn't have to be a complete sacrifice. I can do more than one thing.

And now I'm all excited because I want to be the first aid medic for all the scooter rides and rallies! I am thinking about trying to get a basic first aid elective going at OHSU (maybe through the emergency medicine intersest group), and then putting together a comprehensive first aid kit for scooter rides. Someone made a comment to me during the ride that they need somebody like that. I even thought about maybe getting a red cross onto my scooter - JESSICA JUST HAD THE AMAZING IDEA OF GETTING GIANT RED CROSS MAGNETS TO STICK ON IT WHEN I NEED TO BE A SCOOTER MEDIC. HOLY SHIT. Yay! It makes me so excited to think about doing that (and it might help in the game of getting into a good residency, especially if i continue my interest in ER work). I feel like its all comin together.

SCOOTER MEDIC! SCOOTER MEDIC!!
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