The sky is falling..... No wait, thats just the dollar

It's tough going to a school where over half of the students are Canadian. I remember when I was a child that if I ever found a Canadian quarter it was about as good as monopoly money. Somehow they would work their way from Canada all the way to Tennessee and end up being handed to me as change for my baseball cards that I would so often purchase. I normally wouldn't realize that I had been shafted until I had walked to the Coke machine later in the day. It was standing in front of that machine with my mouth watering that I would find out that what I assumed was a U.S. Mint quarter had been replaced with yet another crazy Canadian coin. I must have had sucker written on my forehead because I this scene happened to me time and time again.

Now lets flash forward 15 years. Although the entire world still takes my US dollar, it is becoming worth less and less every day. I have lately started looking back and regretting all the bad thoughts I had against our northern neighbors growing up each time I was denied a Coca-cola Classic because I had been tricked yet again by the Canadian quarter. In retrospect I should have saved all of those coins. I would have turned a 100% profit in a 15 year period. Thats not too bad with todays current market. I will learn from this mistake though. I am currently looking forward to the next time I return to Mexico. I will collect every peso that I can find. I will not miss out on another opportunity to double my money from one of my neighboring countries. So, for all the Canadians that read this, enjoy your time on top of the dollar. My suggestion is that you start collecting US quarters. Don't make the same mistake as I did and lose out on a nice profit when things turn back to the days of Parker Bros.

Names

Growing up I always wondered why I was called Lee. I always remember on the first day of class when Steven Bouldin would be called and I would raise my hand. I can remember dreading that moment. People would turn around and stare at me like I was some circus freak. It's not that Steven is some off the wall name but there would always be conversations that followed on why I went by Lee. Most people would think that my middle name must be Lee. I would then have to explain that this was not the case either. My middle name is actually Leander. I'll take the next few lines to explain to everyone reading here so that I can clear this up for you all.

My parents decided to name me after both of my grandfathers. My maternal grandfather's name was Billy Stevens Moore. My paternal grandfather's name is Leander Charles Bouldin. From these two names was created Steven Leander Bouldin. I know some of you will still be puzzled at how one grandfather lost an S in translation but that is for another time. Just think of the looks I would have gotten had I been named Stevens Leander Bouldin. I guess my parents didn't want to put Leander solely in the ownership of Steven. Now as to how I became Lee, I know they really wanted a girl so I guess it was the best of both worlds. I think I can count on 1 hand the number of males named Lee I have met in my life. I say all of this to say that there is alot that goes into a name. The majority of parents spend countless hours pondering what their child will be named. I often wonder if what you name someone actually has a lasting impact on who they become.

Lets take my name for instance:

Steven- literally means crown

Leander- literally means lion-like

Bouldin- I looked this name up online for its origin and the name comes from English and German backgrounds. The name means- " I stand for truth"


I can't help but see thy symbolism in my name as it correlates to my views on religion and life. I know that my parents didn't go into this much detail when mapping out what I would be called. I just find it interesting as to how it applies to me.

There is another name I want to bring to your attention. Longar Longar plays basketball for Oklahoma right now. The fact that he has the same first and last name made me laugh out loud when I read his name today. At least I wasn't named Steven Stevens. The other interesting fact is that he is 6'10". He was destined to be tall.

I say all of this to make a simple point. The name that each of us carries has a very special meaning. You are not only bearing it for yourself but also for everyone else who carries that name. Whether it be the first, middle, or last, someone else always shares at least one of those with you. I hope that my actions in life will do more to build up the names of Steven, Leander, and Bouldin than tarnish them. I guess I'll also help the biological Lees of the world while I'm at it.

Lee

On the Clock

My entry today will be brief. I find myself on the clock once again. My next set of exams are 2 weeks from today. This leaves me little time to procrastinate. My professors keep telling me that the greatest thing about medicine is that it is open book. You always have countless resources at your fingertips to help diagnose and treat patients. I am still trying to convince them that our block exams should be the same way. Sometimes I feel like I am trying to take a drink from a fire hydrant. The information is endless and yet somehow I keep gulping and taking in as much as possible to survive.

On a side note, over the weekend I read a book unrelated to medicine. It was really refreshing. The book is called The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Oprah recommended it so I thought it must be good. I think that Oprah could recommend drinking sodas to lose weight and people would do it. Some of you may know him by another book which is now also a movie called No Country for Old Men. I have now read both books. After reading two of his books I am still not sure I can grasp the way he writes. I feel like the story is going nowhere for the first 2/3 of the book but at the end I always look back and feel like I am surprised at how I strangely enjoyed it. Maybe that is his intention with his writing style.

First things first

I recently realized that I should start writing down some of the things that I encounter everyday before I start forgetting my experiences. I hope that some of you will enjoy reading my thoughts from time to time. Hopefully they will shed some light on where I am at in my journey. One of my plans in life is to write a book. Maybe this will give me the outlet to practice my writing over the next few years.

We went to St. Martin this past weekend for vacation. I don't think I fully realize how blessed we are to be able to take a weekend trip to a place like that. I am sure I will understand it more once I am gone from Saba and in the next phase of medicine. I think that is how most things are in life. I know that most of my life I tell myself I should really be enjoying the moment I am in because it is normally after that moment is past that I realize how special it was. I think there is something about us that either doesn't want to leave the past or longs for the future but fails to appreciate the current place we find ourselves. I often think it is America that has made me this way. The sense of never being satisfied and always looking for something better. I think this is as much of a curse as anything else we can encounter in life. I think being in medical school lets me encounter the people that struggle with this the most. It seems like everyone is always either living in their past life about how wonderful they were before they got here, or living in the future and designing their yacht before we get out of basic sciences. Maybe this is the very essence of what keeps people going. I have to think this isn't the way we are suppose to live.

So, in short, regardless of where you find yourself in life, enjoy it. Even if its pain and suffering. I find myself daydreaming about the day when I am done with studying. The day when we are back closer to family and friends. The day when we can have kids and a normal life again. But the funny thing is, our days on Saba have been some of the best of my life. Yet for some reason, I keep wishing them away.