Clearly I Have Too Much Time…

I had fun with this 9gag ish.

No, I do not have too much time. But with Internal Medicine over (for now) I at least have some time. I know I will miss it soon. Hence the inspiration for this:

TTT: Quotes that Inspire

I think one of the biggest reasons I read is because it inspires me. It inspires me to live, to love, to be bigger than I am, to exceed life’s expectations.

I guess you could say I collect quotes – so today’s Top Ten Tuesday with The Broke and the Bookish is making me very happy. These are my memes, which I thoroughly enjoyed creating:

Dumbledore will always have a special spot in my heart. He was such a good mentor to Harry.

You didn’t anticipate a list without Dahl, did you?

Nobody thought I would enjoy this book. I’m surprised too. But the satire and ingenious angle leaves me with many a favourite quote.

I did not enjoy this book and I didn’t finish it either. But the author has a superb way with metaphors and such.

One of my favourite setwork books in high school. That little island taught me so much about this big bad world.

I think I’ve mentioned this book in a TTT before. Albom is wonderful with life lessons.

And people say Shakespeare is irrelevant to modern teens…

Another book I really didn’t enjoy, but this verse struck a cord.

Oh Atticus, this is why I’ll always crush on you.

I read this on recommendation from TBTB. Much better than the movie Contagion!

Here’s the typed-out versions of the memes for those whose internet is wonky:

1. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
2. “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
3. “A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have.” The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
4. “With passing years, a single kiss can acquire more meaning than many years of naked skin.” Chernobyl Strawberries, Vesna Goldsworthy
5. “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.” Lord of the Flies, William Golding
6. “But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.” For one more day, Mitch Albom
7. “But he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed.” Othello, William Shakespeare
8. “Roads go ever and ever on, under cloud and under star, yet feet that wandering have gone turn at last to home afar.” The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
9. “Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of another.” To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
10. “This is what we do. We make tea and read books and watch people die.” The Way We Fall, Megan Crewe

Organ Donation, Unwinding and the Black Market

Organ donation is becoming more and more of an issue. It should have been a huge issue ages ago.

Nazirah wrote a great post about it here. I recently read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. You need to read it. It is a warped and really freaky story. The fictional concept of unwinding is the process of donating an entire live child for organ harvesting, because by the law’s weird rationale, the child is not killed as it “lives on”.

And here’s how it starts:

“If more people had been organ donors, unwinding never would have happened.”

South Africa had an organ scandal a few years ago. And when I went to China last year, people warned me about the black market there.

Disclaimer: I’m not an organ donor. Yet. I want to be. I think voluntary organ donation is a truly wonderful thing. If my dad could see by receiving donor corneas (he can’t, it’s a retinal problem) I would want him to do it. If my mom’s pain could be cured by a donor organ, I would tell her to go for it. But for me it’s a biggish decision that doesn’t just involve me. One I believe I’ll make, soon.

This picture on pinterest inspired me to write this post. It’s a little morbid, but it’s educational and wonderful.

Are you an organ donor? Why or why not? Do you believe the matter is being under- or overplayed?

Morbid Cartoon Anatomy

You know what’s awesome about fourth year? The lecturers go through so much effort to teach us. They put together nice slideshows, they share interesting tid-bits and they are friendly. They could have saved us all a lot of grief if all lecturers were this nice from first year. But I digress.

Anatomical art, which once took the world by storm (think: Frank Netter) is back and cooler than ever. Our lecturers have been alluding to some artists in their presentations. Here are some examples. I include links to the artists’ sites where I was able to find them. Please visit them, I will only include one example of each here.

Michael Paulus has an entire series of popular cartoon anatomy:

Jason Freeny has some really cool digitally animated anatomic drawings and cutaway sculptures. They include Mr Potato Head, Gummie Bears and Kewpie Dolls.

Perhaps the most realistic-looking (and slightly freaky) is done by South Korean Hyung Koo Lee. I couldn’t find his site, but this one is relatively good. He has sculptures of Goofy, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry…

I find that these are a very different (albeit fascinating) look at characters from my childhood. I have to wonder how non-medical individuals feel about these. Let me know what you think!

TTT: How to be a Great Blogger of Books

The blogosphere is weird. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but here I am another week. I had a blog once before, it didn’t work out too well. Then I moved to this blog, and it hasn’t exactly skyrocketed, but I enjoy it.

This week, The Broke and the Bookish talks about tips for new book bloggers. I think my tips are kind of for any bloggers –  does one decide from the get-go to blog about books? I don’t know. But here goes.

1. Appeal to the laziness – yeah, some of us are total nerds and will read your long essay extricating the philosophies in the latest chick-lit, but even I have my limits. If you really have so much to say, divide it into a series of posts. This way you have people actually reading to the end of a post, and they come back for more. (I am also very bad at this.)

2. Your readers are kids (at heart) – and we all like pictures. If you’re reviewing a book, at least post a picture of the cover. With the rising popularity of fan art and pinterest you really don’t have an excuse for forgetting the visuals.

3. …but don’t be silly now – pictures should at least be a little relevant. And not pixelated. And don’t rely on a picture to tell a thousand words, unless it’s Wordless Wednesday or unless the picture really is THAT GOOD.

4. CAPTCHA – is bad. Say it with me. I hate CAPTCHA, and sometimes when the prompt jumps up I get too annoyed to comment. And by the way, Blogger CAPTCHAs have become crazy difficult. Take away the damn prompts.

5. Reply to comments – seriously, I think the whole “follow back” thing is lame. BUT it’s common courtesy to reply to comments. Also, visit the person’s blog. Manners are important.

6. Don’t limit yourself – so you want to blog about books. That’s cool. But I know and you know that there is more to you than books. So it’s okay to write about things other than (but relating to) books. Just like I don’t ALWAYS write about being a medical student. Ellie once wrote about annoying customers at her bookshop, and check this cute picture I found at TBTB.

7. Participate in challenges or memes – it keeps you from stagnating, it helps when you’re feeling like a dead weight, and it introduces to entire new circles on the blogosphere.

8. It’s okay to have a negative review – Negative reviews have stopped me from reading crappy books. Then again, so have over-enthusiastic positive reviews. ’nuff said.

9. Join Goodreads – if you’re going to be a book blogger, you want to be on this site. This is not me putting you into a box, this is a great tool (and procrastination method).

10. Get off your bum – go out and live. Blogging is fun, and great, and creative (and so is reading). But some places you can visit in real life too. And there are some things you will only truly understand once you have lived. Your writing and also your reading will change as you gain more life experience.

Ectoparasite Infections in Art, Literature and History

Because today is a study day (and I would like to study, for once), today is a quick post.

One of the chapters in Dermatology is about ectoparasite infections of the skin. These include crabs (Pthirus Pubis) and fleas (yes, humans can get fleas).

And, just to show how relevant these are, here is your daily dose of fun, in two portions.

Perspectives on Health

Today I want to share some pictures from PostSecret. They are sad, touching, cheeky, funny. I want never to forget the fears and thoughts of the people sitting across the desk from me.

TTT: Top Ten Book Covers

After giving us some really tough questions the past few weeks, The Broke and the Bookish have graced us with a straightforward (but fun) topic this week: Top Ten Book Covers of all time. Since I don’t really stick t o one genre, I won’t be narrowing it down any further.

I’m not a particularly artsy person, but I like to think that I can appreciate a good piece of work, as opposed to a run-of-the-mill, shallow piece of so-called art.

Animorphs Series by K.A. Applegate – these covers enthralled my budding little mind. I was fascinated by the morphs, and the really good quality books had a “second cover” with the full picture of the entire animal.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer – I didn’t even read the blurb, it was shiny and gold and I loved it. All that glitters is not gold – but sometimes it is. By the way, check out Sylvia’s drawing of the elf child!

Feed by Mira Grant – this cover is excellent because it provides a pun to the novel even before you start reading: the blog feed, vs. what zombies do. I like it.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman – I haven’t even read this one yet, but the cover intrigued me, and I can tell that it fits with the blurb: Identity, the right to life. The fingerprint effect, merging into obscurity, is just wonderful.

The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson – I really enjoyed Wilson when I was a little girl, and while reading this book I kept looking back at the cover to discover what each picture meant.

Three Letter Plague by Jonny Steinberg – The design of this specific cover is awesome. Since the book focuses so much on the youth’s perceptions of HIV, it is very fitting. I didn’t like the other cover too much because it was a bit stigmatising.

Yes, I am! Writing by South African Gay Men – I just love the many subtleties in this cover. You have to read it to understand it.

The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge – I like this one because scientific books often have the most boring covers, and this cover is just lovely and inspirational and gives a lot of credit to the regenerative abilities of the brain.

Room by Emma Donoghue – Again a book I am yet to read, but just looking at it makes me broody and protective over the little child.

Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyers – I didn’t enjoy the books too much (not at all, actually), but every time I see to covers I have to resist purchasing the books. I love a series that sticks to a theme for its covers, and these covers are spellbinding.

So there you have it! I do think that there is much room for improvement when it comes to covers – how about you?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Down

…but before I get to that, today I reveal my brand-spanking-new blog button, yay! I’ve never been great at the whole design thing, but I think I finally hit gold with this one. I hope you like it.

Now to get back to business:

 

 

The theme for this week’s photo challenge from The Daily Post is “down”. On weekends, I am lucky to be on the sixteenth floor right next to the ocean. I stare at the changing ocean and of course, at Table Mountain, most of the time. So perhaps it is important to look down sometimes, too. To remember where we are grounded.

I am also a bit clumsy. The Boy reminds me that I must be on the lookout for his feet so that I don’t step on his only favourite sandals. There they are!

Cut&Paste 4: There’s Gotta Be More