Happy Birthday To Me.

It's that time of the year again... my favourite day, my birthday. Given that I start my 25th year today, I suppose it's time for my quarter life crisis too, though for the life of me I can't find anything to be conflicted about today.
From the time I was a child, I've loved September 18. I'd be counting down the days a month ahead, the hours a day ahead and once the big day arrived, the minutes to my birth time. It drove my parents crazy I'm sure, but they bore it with the same bemusement with which they've viewed my other antics. And no, it wasn't the birthday party and the presents (since I used to get dolls, bleh, from my classmates most of the time). I think it was the feeling of being the star of the day, centrestage and in the limelight, probably because I made sure it was focussed on me. :D
I've grown a little better as I grow up. Wordly toils mean that the Final Countdown is not quite so constant in the month preceding my brthday. However, I still insist on my friends and family wishing me today or else....

• Pooja didn't wish me till 11 am two years back, so I rang her up and fired her for being a lousy friend. Did I mention that the reason why she hadn't called was that she was out getting my gift?
  And yes, I have instilled the fear of God, or rather me :D in her. She called up today (all the way from Delhi) saying and I quote "I was scared you'll call and yell, so I decided to call you the first chance I got. " That's the spirit, dah-ling. :P
  
• Anumeha gets reminder calls becuase she's a bit forgetful of my birthday, though this year she managed without them. :D
• Last year, my favourite cousin (jojo Chechi) got a message saying "Happy B'day To Me" so that she remembered to call. This year she (and for that matter Gaurav and Vikram too) called me up with 2 and 5 minutes to spare. Grrrrrrr..... relatives. :P
  The list could go on and on.....

Anyway, the long and short of the matter is that I take my birthday very seriously, and I expect everyone else to take it that way as well. Unreasonable,you say?
Ah well, love me, love my quirks. :)

P.S. : My heartfelt thanks to those who wished me today for making my birthday extra special.

Liff As I Know It!

Champagne Supernova or The Dark Side Of The Moon !!!

Gallagher or Waters.. isn't that a tough choice? :D
No seriously, I wrote this a while back and promptly forgot about it until it turned up today while I was hunting down some Surgery notes.

A supernova is unique ; a brilliant story
To quote Jon , it goes down in a blaze of glory.
And ultimately becomes so cold
That it ends up as a black hole.
A hole that sucks in everything in sight
One that deprives the world of light.
For when an intrepid explorer, that event horizon does pass
Though they aint countable, those moments will be his last.
Of course, some say that day is quite near
Apocalypse Now, vide the Hadron Particle Accelerator.
But in its heyday, it shone brighter than the Sun
Of the Universe's brightest stars, it was once one.
A satellite, on the other hand
Takes a more modest stand.
It doesn't illuminate high noon with its light
In troth, 'tis seen only at night.
Associated with loony tales of horror and mystery
Like werewolves and vampires of history.
No, mooning isn't the topic I'm discussing today
Keep those thoughts under control, pray. :D
The Moon, Titan, Ganymede ; those heavenly bodies
That are content to bask in reflected glory.
Sometimes, I watch the twilight skies
And wonder which choice would be wise
A blaze that shines with uncontrolled light
Or a silent sentinel of the night.
For going by what the ministrels sing
Great fame often does sadness bring.
The greatest love stories usually the tragedies are
The greatest kindnesses are brought out by disasters.
And though as a young buck, a star one aspires to be
Age renders Great Expectations, just a little bit wee.
Contentment for oneself and those one loves
Are the blessings we want granted by the Power above.
And for those who can't of the crowd be one
The future is meteoric but not always filled with fun.
And for those who prefer the safety of the shade
Life, though comfortable is rather tame.
For every Mount Everest, there is a Marina Trench, y'know
Highs aren't as exhilarating without earth shattering lows.
To paraphrase Newton's Third law: For every crest, there is a trough
But if you don't take risks, the going won't be so rough.
The question is : Would you prefer a short time in the Sun
Or of the long-lived crowd be merely one.

Liff As I Know It!

You know...

• Anatomy has caused a structural change to your thinking when you wish that if there had to be so many organs required for the body to function (like the liver for example) , the least they could do is not describe the remnants of embryological structures like the falciform ligament which have no function (except to increase the amount one has to study).
• Physiology is altering your thought processes when you extend the meaning of vasodilation to all possible limits.
  
• Biochemistry is recycling itself in your brain when a chocolate cake can trigger a lecture on beta oxidation till the glaze shifts from the cake to your listener's eyes.
  
• Pathology has dis-eased your thoughts when you bemoan the pathos of the chaos caused by the sickle. Of course, if you're a Mallu, that could also mean this .
  
• Microbiology has infected your outlook when you call marriage a ringworm.
  
• You've overdosed on Pharmacology when someone writes wink, wink, nudge, nudge and you think of antipsychotics and tardive dyskinesia.
• Forensics (and Toxicology) has poisoned your thinking when strychnine is your choice of poison (for someone else, of course) because he/ she makes you convulse with disgust.
• You've seen enough of Ophthalmology when you laugh at this or when your differential diagnosis of a chalazion is a sebaceous cell carcinoma.
• You've heard quite enough of ENT when you tell a friend you have sphenoidal sinus tenderness (which of course is caused by aseptic meningitis).
  (On a lighter note : The way to a man's heart is through his oesophagus)
• P.S.M. (Preventive and Social Medicine) has added dimensions of health to your thoughts when you use it to justify your opinion about the current situation in Kashmir.
  
• You've ingested quite enough of Medicine when you tell your mother that you're eating all the chocolate in sight because it increases the dopamine levels in your nucleus accumbens .
• Surgery is really cutting into your life when this is your idea of a purr-fect Valentine's Day date. (By the way, there's something wrong with my Surg text ; it doesn't have an appendix :P)
  
• Obstetrics isn't going to bring you deliverance when your standard joke in the aforementioned posting is, " I'm dilated to be at your cervix".
  
• Gynaecology is causing your thoughts to prolapse when the word clue brings Gardenerella to mind.
• Paediatrics is making a baby of you when you wonder if a meeting of minds will give rise to a brainchild.
  
• Anaesthesiology is knocking you out when you use "the science of sleeping around" as a relaxant.
  
• You should por(e)ing over skin / VD when you start making rash promises.
  
• Psychiatry is nuts because you're too Jung to understand it
• Orthopaedics will cause a brokeback when you diagnose your friend's cellular phone as suffering from repetitive strain injury.
• Radiology has definitely penetrated when you look and look for the real MRI of a man's brain... and find it. :P

And you can definitely diagnose that you've been studying too much when this makes sense.


Liff As I Know It!