Zombies! Vampires!!

I read Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith in the past four days. I preferred the Abe Lincoln/vampire hunter mash-up. It read more like a drama/biography, and I liked the photographs of 19th century vampires thrown in for good measure. It had a little bit of a conspiracy theory plot thrown in too. I can understand why people liked it so much. I think I reserved this book from the library in March, and I just picked it up on Friday.

P&P&Zombies felt kind of over-the-top because the author threw in ninjas and Shaolin kungfu, but the original book was pretty light-hearted and Mrs. Bennett was pretty over-the-top as a character...so maybe it does fit. It was still a fun read, especially because I imagined Colin Firth's version of Mr. Darcy slaying zombies. teehee.

Both books were pretty fast reads. Maybe 3-4 hours each day over the course of 4 days, with a good chunk of that reading occurring during my bus commute and lunch breaks.

The Nom-of-the-Weekend: Chinese desserts

Black sesame paste (black sesame seeds blended into a paste and then cooked in a pot) with glutinous rice balls

From the establishment's Yelp.com page

Mango sago with fresh mango cubes:

From the establishment's Yelp.com page

It's basically a mango slushy (crushed ice, mango juice and mango bits blended) with fruit and sago. I had to look up sago to find out where it comes from. In desserts, they're small transparent pearls. Apparently, it's made from the starch extracted from the spongy centers of tropical palm plants. They don't taste like anything, but I like to have it in these desserts.

These can all be made at home. It's easy, just time-consuming.

Late Night Blogging Carried Over to Noon

I've been alternating between bouts of productivity and bouts of extreme layzee-itis.  I was watching a 2AM rerun of Without a Trace until I fell asleep, and I stayed up the previous night to marathon Battlestar Galactica like the geek I am.  My sleep schedule is preeeeeeeetty messed up.

I finished reading Healing of America recently.  Overall, I liked it.  The author, T.R. Reid is good at explaining the similarities and differences between different health care systems in North America, Europe and parts of Asia.  It's an easy read for someone who doesn't want to grapple with too much professional jargon or someone who wants an introduction into health policy.

I've also been e-mailing professors..My next step will be to set up an appointment with a few of them, which I won't be able to do until a month or so from now, once I'm out of my sling and can make the hour and a half drive to campus.  I was surprised that some of them responded to my e-mail within days...I was expecting to wait along the lines of a month or so, which is why I asked so far in advance.  Oops.

I've also been updating my end-of-the-year AmeriCorps report for Dr. J, the medical director at the surgery center.  The hard part is trying to be thorough without ending up with a 20-page report, which I can easily do since my quarterly reports were easily 10-11 pages each.

On Friday I'll be heading back to Santa Rosa to train the new AmeriCorps girl.  I'll have to get up at 6-ish (ahhhhhhh the horrorrrrrrrr!!!) to take the bus up, but I'm looking forward to hanging out with the staff again.  Hopefully some of the more fun dentists/docs are scheduled to work.

Books

On Thursday, NPR posted the Top 100 Reader-Selected Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books.  This was made public at a rather opportune time...In September I will be undergoing surgery for a torn labrum.  I'll be in a sling for about 4-6 weeks, but I'm not sure what my own level of activity will be within that time.  I don't want to sit on my butt the entire time, but little things like getting dressed to go outdoors will be difficult (and potentially painful).  If I am diligent, I will start reviewing material for the MCAT buuuuuuuut I think I would rather sample books on NPR's Top 100 list.

I'm actually surprised that I've read quite a few of them during high school - 1984, Flowers for Algernon, Fahrenheit 451, and Frankenstein, to name a few.  They are all very sci-fi-y, but I always associated the sci-fi category as books for leisure rather than books for study.

Also, The Princess Bride made the list.  Woohoo!

I've also been reading The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid.  I've only been reading it during meal-times instead of devouring it all in one day.  It is a good beginner's book for people who want to learn how health care is managed in different first-world countries.  I may just want to read it again so the info sinks in better.  I might post a few thoughts on it later on...when I'm less lazy :P