We finished our school's review for the boards last Wednesday and decided to take a week or so off before starting our study for Step One (the first set of boards). Farley and I having been taking it really easy. We went to Costco with a friend on Thursday and spent THREE HOURS shopping around. I've never spent this much time in Costco...ever! We had lunch, chit-chatted and it was lot of fun. After we got back, we headed to Blockbuster and grabbed a few movies. We watched Elegy which is a bit of an artsy-fartsy movie. Both Farley and I enjoyed it--it discusses art and music, death and love--but to forwarn you: the ending is a bit sad. On Friday, we went to the gym for 45 minutes of a heart pounding cardiovascular workout, showered and headed to our pool. We were going to go to the beach, but it would have just been the two of us and we decided that since the pool is just downstairs that it would be easier to stay at home (besides, the University of Miami starts school on Monday so there are wild and crazy co-eds all over Miami trying to have their last bit of fun before the new semester starts). I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife, which was a wonderful book. I'm not a huge science fiction reader, and there is a little of science fiction, but it was amazing. I'm amazed at how the author kept the story line straight as you were jumping around in time (each chapter started by saying how old the Time Traveler and his Wife were and they took turns telling the story so you heard the story from two perspectives and sometimes you would hear the same story at different times in the book as the Wife might be 16 when something happens and the Time Traveler might be 36). I can see why some people don't get into the book, as it jumps around a lot, but I really enjoyed it. I was trying to finish it so that Farley and I could go see the movie, but the movie is getting horrible reviews and I think a film adaptation might loose some of the magic of the book. Parts of it were a bit sad, but overall it was a great book. I might even read it again after I take Step 1 because there was so much foreshadowing and I'm sure I missed things the first time around not realizing how important the details would be.
Without having school, I've been tearing through books. Before reading The Time Traveler's Wife, I finished up The Agony and the Ecstasy, which I've been nursing all semester--nursing all 700+ pages! Farley was also reading it--it was our book club read. The first 500 pages or so were complete ecstasy--you felt like you were walking down an Italian street during the Renaissance and I learned so much about art history. However, there was a 50-100 page span where I couldn't wait to be done with the book. I felt like the book picked up again in the end, but not to the same level as the first 500 pages. Nonetheless, it was an amazing book overall and I'd suggest it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. Bear in mind that the author spent about 6 years researching the book so there is a lot more history than the normal historical fiction, but if you read this book you will definitely learn something!
Anyway, after reading by the pool, Farley and I decided to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona, which was also artsy-fartsy. It wasn't my favorite movie, but there were moments that it was great. I've never seen a Woody Allen film before and it had a few interesting moments. I thought it should have been funnier given the set up: two American girls and close friends go to Barcelona for the summer fall and fall in love with the same man--a man whose ex-wife tried to kill him and reappears to complicate things as she is also still in love with this man. Really, it could have been extremely funny and it really wasn't in my opinion. It wasn't bad by any means, but it just wasn't at all what I expected.
To continue our relaxing break, I went to the gym early this morning so Farley and I could hit the pool a bit earlier. We both started reading A Good and Happy Child, which is a debut novel by Justin Evans. It is about a man in his 30s who cannot bring himself to hold his son and his wife demands that he goes to therapy. He begins to remember some horrible things from his childhood, including a murder. It is a psychological thriller and it must have been good because I read all 300+ pages in an afternoon. It was an interesting book and Farley and I have had fun discussing it. I was a little worried about reading it because I have an active imagination and get scared easily, but I wasn't really scared. I just really wanted to know how it was going to end.
After finishing the book, Farley and I watched another movie. This time an older movie, Primal Fear. It is a legal thriller with Edward Norton and Richard Gere. There are tons of twists and turns and the acting was superb. It came out in 1996, so I'm sure many people have seen it and if you haven't I won't say anymore because I don't want to give any of the plot twists away. It was a great movie.
And that is about that. It's been nice to be relaxing and I'm not looking forward to starting the official Step Review, but all of this relaxing makes me feel like I'm not getting enough done. I guess it is the medical student in me--we must always be accomplishing some goal. One of our professors said that anyone who goes to medical school is some sort of masochist: we go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt, attend classes seven days a week sometimes for 10 hours a day often in rooms without windows, carry an incredible responsibility and burden, and sign up to work nights, weekends and holidays for the rest of our lives. To top it all off, we spend a good 10-15 years getting trained before we start to make any money and by then we have enough student loans that we basically have two house payments. I'm beginning to think he is right: I've been feeling like a I need a break for the last few weeks and now that I finally have a chance to relax for a week or so I have an overwhelming feeling that I should be studying, in a room without a window!
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