I love perusing National Geographic's photographs of the day. Here are some beautiful pics from what I saw today!


Water spilling down a cliff at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.


Perfect example of what Palin is trying to destroy...poor polar bears:(


Coral Reef off Australia.


Fire dancing. Originated by a Samoan man in 1946.

The Painted Line Swagger

The time ticks and blinks that it is over
So soon after what is said and done
I halt in my line, walking sober
In my slight apprehension, the mice on the mind's wheel has begun.

Now there's no stopping who says what
Where those words land, it is unknown
My somber mind relays but I already forgot
Just what I was going to say out of a mess so grown.

Life for that minute moment has stopped
All levels of life as you know has a focus on just you
Recover so energy and fuel retains stock
Or not and you are yet to be blamed for being a fool.

You are stranded and alone in this
Nowhere to turn or run and hide
Determined to not fail so you can spend the rest of your days in bliss
You step forward- one foot in front of the other- confidently to walk the straight line in stride.

Favorite words of the week

1. Suppurative
Tied 1. Exudate: Oh my goodness! This made my day when I first heard of suppurative exudate! Oh medicine...why do you have to be so fancy with the name calling:)
2. Treponema: So many syllables...so great!
3. Neisseria gonorrhoaea (genus and species of the bug that causes...you guessed it..gonorrhea!! But i enjoy the pronunciation of these words. It almost sounds like you're saying, "nice serious gonorrhea". It's just wrong to have that word combination.

When in doubt choose..

PNEUMONIA OR UTI! Both do not sound like too much fun, but after studying hours and hours on these bacteria for a micro test I have on Monday, I have come up with the conclusion that the answer would be one of these disease manifestations, if I was stumped on a question. Like for real...all these bacteria cause either pneumonia or a urinary tract infection or both! Dang...can you imagine having an aweful UTI while you're drowning from water in your lungs?? That would be a rough day.

Ascension to progression

She questions, is this really it?
By 23, two little girls were God's gifts.
Ambition aside. Young life waiting beside.
She steals moments by the window and sighs.
Leaves, they change
The lines on her sweet face reaarange
And her hair grows a different shade
She questions, is this really it?

Her girls are growing
The seeds in the backyard, she starts sowing
While her back breaks from bowing.
Working day in and day out to put her family first
And never once quenching her own thirst
She questions, is this really it?

Working and saving to move to that new World
For she wants better for her girls
And to her home, a big wave of farewell to grab life and thrive
A house to live. A table to eat. A car to drive.
She questions, is this really it?

Fast forward to today as she ponders what's next
Her daughters are grown. They've taught her how to text.
The country that welcomed her ten years ago
Has finally embraced her to call it her home.
That house is now lively and that car grew to be four
She feels loved and respected.
And yet she questions, is this really it?
Well no...she finally answers, "I am just starting".

A day to remember

Gosh. It's september 11 again...one of a only a handful of memorable days, in my life at least. I still remember exactly what I was doing when the planes crashed into the twin towers in NYC. At the time, I was a sophomore in college at the University of Montana. It was really early in the morning and I woke up to my phone ringing and me cursing because I didn't think I set my alarm on my phone. Obviously, I was planning to sleep in through my first class that morning! But, no. It was my mom calling to tell me to get up and turn on the television. Actually, the first words out of her mouth were "WE'RE BEING BOMBED!" I was like, "MOM...REALLY? It's too early to be melodramatic." But, no again. She wasn't overreacting because we were really being bombed. I quickly hung up the phone and ran downstairs to the only place I knew where there was a tv...my head RA's room. And for the rest of the day, I (along with ten or so random people) sat on her floor and watched the horror unfold, thinking "How could this happen?"

Looking back, I wasn't deeply affected about the situation until the next few days and weeks when the death toll kept climbing and the number of people still missing in the rubble was unfathomable. My heart ached for all those people who had missing family members or had loved ones who filled the morgues of the big apple. Of all cities, my favorite city in the USA got hit.

And now on the 7th anniversary of this terrible day, it is amazing to see how far the city of New York has come to rebuild herself from the spiritual catastrophe it and its people endured. Somtimes we take for granted the blessed life we live here in the US. Although we are mourning for all those lives we have lost since the attack of 9/11, here and abroad, we sometimes forget of the many countries who are in constant turmoil on their own soil. One of my professors joked the other day (after feeling after shocks from implosions done on a nearby construction site) that if she were in Iran, she would instinctively be taking shelter. For the majority of us, we laugh at the joke wholeheartedly because we really don't know what it is like to live a life of that kind of fear. The fear of war and constant violence wears on people and their souls. And even though it is selfish for me to say it out loud (or at least in writing), I am very happy to live here in the US, where at least I feel safe and where I don't have to take cover from bombings or hide from guerrila warfares. Yes, we have been bombed by terrorists, but it is nowhere near what some other countries experience.

And as I end this blog, I send up a prayer to God to bless all those people who have been affected by this tragedy...a tragedy that has affected us all as Americans.

cute cartoon

This is hilarious..particularly the top left..hahahaha!

Grinding

Nose to the grind. Nose to the grind.
Wiping your brow, sweat you will find.
Day in. Day out. Same rituals, same plan.
To be the best in the world while getting scrapes from the sand.

Nose to the grind. Nose to the grind.
Praying every second for a bullet to be kind.
Signed up at eighteen and lost without your voice.
Your third tour away from your sons and the gun is your only choice.

Nose to the grind. Nose to the grind.
Hustlin' in these streets getting paid from these crimes.
No love can be found without quarters and dimes
And you're sick to death of poverty, even if you soon do time.

Nose to the grind. Nose to the grind.
Pumping down on chests, all the while losing time.
The young are born. The old will die.
We are given life to put up a good fight.

Twilight

Oh my goodness. Yes, I should be studying instead of writing this blog. And yes, I should not be reading a book that has nothing to do with my studies because I really have no time right now to read anything but pharm, path, and micro. But I just have to mention that I'm totally obsessed with Twilight. I'm a new fan of Bella and Edward so I'm barely finishing up the first book of the series, Twilight, and just cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. But, I will try my best and refrain before I fail my exams that are just around the corner. I can hear those exams breathing down my back and frankly, I am really scared. As I write this, I must admit that one of my windows is currently opened to searching through Amazon for the next book in the series. What am I going to do with myself?