Mushy Moment...

Okay, again not long, this time because I'm studying my butt off because I'm freaked out about finals.

Mush moment #1: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!

Mush moment #2: HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY to my gorgeous little first cousin once removed, Hunter. His is on the 22nd, by which time I will probably be crying into my Lippincott text and regretting every spare second I didn't spend on studying.

More extensive mush moment, termed "#3" to fit with consistency.

I'm not a school pride person at all... when I was in high school and a teacher suggested I try out for cheerleading, I laughed for about twenty minutes... for a number of reasons, actually. As you've no doubt derived from my blog, I can often be classified as bitter and cynical, and hopefully exist in an amusing enough fashion that people don't hate me for being bitter and cynical. I call it my postadolescent broody period, which is likely derived from being a goth in high school (that laughing at cheerleading is making more sense, eh?)

I liked UC Davis a lot, and I was proud of individual accomplishments say, in my department (anthropology), but I also have to say I didn't give a rat's butt when they went Division 1, and I was always ready to bemoan decisions I thought were awful (Hello, Mondavi Center!).

And I like SGU, despite complaining about it, largely because they gave me a chance (for the low low price of a quarter million dollars) when my alma mater sent me a 'thanks but no thanks' freaking EMAIL. Good gods, I didn't do *that* badly on the MCAT.

But.. you saw my above post about Reality TV SGU and why I think it's a worse idea than the return of wide polyester collars. I went to the student government meeting tonight, with some idea of the school's overall negative reaction thanks to 'word on the street' as well as ValueMD and SGUPost, but I wanted to make sure my slice of SGU life (internet people and lovable dorks) were not the distinct minority.

The overwhelmingly negative reaction to the idea at the meeting, the students' concern for their futures, the input of the Caribbean students, etc, really impressed me, even more than I expected to be impressed. Even most of the 'pro' points centered around image damage control (better here than elsewhere) than "I wanna be on teevee!" That doesn't mean any 'pro' people are evil, btw (they just look that way on television), but the fact that a prospect that can be so potentially alluring (you'll be on television!!! People get to experience what you experience and your friends and family, even if you aren't a STAR on the show, get some idea of what you're experiencing!) fell so flat made me proud to attend this school.

Oh, and to thread-starting dude who gave the speech, *I* thought it was awesome and that your points were not 'insulting', but brought up some excellent things I hadn't thought of (not that I was for the idea to begin with), such as distribution of consent forms etc, so good on you.

Even if the show does go on at another Caribbean school and ends up presenting island med school as an anti-academic, orgasmic binge-drink-a-thon, we will have the distinction of saying "Yeah, but we didn't GO to that school. We chose the school that had the maturity to send those vultures packing." Caribbean schools have ALWAYS had a sketchy to nasty reputation. SGU so far has distinguished itself (along with AUC and Ross later, my opinions of which will drop GREATLY if either of them green light this) by not conforming to that stereotype of "island schools", and I'm glad to see that the students, at least, are helping maintain that integrity.

GO SGU!
Go SGA!

*Addendum: Lest anyone point out the obvious hypocrisy in the fact that my *blog* tends to center around activities, vacations, and drinking, that actually goes to emphasize my point... I am not trying to score ratings, yet just simply relating the events in my life that any of my friends or family would ever be remotely interested in gives an insufficient picture of what medical school is like. Those who know me know that I am a primarily boring individual who likes dorky things, does dorky things, and drinks less than frequently. What do people do here? Study. They study and study and study, and when they're not studying (about 5 percent of the time), some party off the excess. Those are the interesting bits. If there's a major exam, they tend to REALLY study, hence Sandblast being an MTV-worthy affair. What would NOT be shown is the three weeks prior where people only left their dorms, study halls, or library cubicles for long enough to get sufficient sunlight to continue synthesizing vitamin D.

So take that, have it hacked at by the people that did Laguna Beach, cast people that are likely FAR more interesting and attractive than I am, and stick it on national television. Hello, academic death. And again, GO SGU!