Different Day

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011:

When I woke up today, I was scared, confused, and was not thinking straight..
Something was weird in my dream..
I woke four hours after I went to bed, and could not fall back to sleep..
I hate the days that start like that, they are never pleasant..

I was just wandering around the house..
I was looking forward to going to work..
I talked to my family, and did laundry..
I felt like I want to go somewhere faraway and think loudly..
I cannot do that having a shared room, and shared apartment..

I went to work the same time as usual..
I was happy to be there..
Today's lecture was about searching data bases, and different techniques for searching in them..
After that, I finished working on my clinical trial research small project right after lunch, which I did not want to go to because I was focused on my job..
Then, I started on another project for clinical trails..
I got done fast, and I was not assigned anything more to do..
Instead I just started reading research articles on brain imaging..
I have to think about my final presentation from now!

In the middle of working on the second project, we had a tour..
The tour was to the PET center..
We got the chance to talk to radiologist about their job, what they do, and how they do it..
It was really cool to see all the different sub-sections in the unit, and learn about the procedures when they have someone for a clinical research..
That specific department we visited had two CT/MRI machines: one is for cancer screening, and the other one is for Alzheimer's research..
The pictures that come from the machines makes no sense, and has no meaning..
They only show waves and dots..
Then they get converted to show the image of the part of the body..
It was so cool to see physics in action here..
Also I learned that for most clinical trials, most patients have to stay in the MRI machines between 1.5-2 hours without moving or talking..
I think that will be really hard; I cannot even imaging myself doing nothing, required to think about nothing, keep my eyes open, not fall to sleep, and not talk for two hours..
It is a long time, and I admire the people who choose to participate in clinical research, especially if it is not pertaining to them..

At the end of the day, I realized the big broad range of interest I have..
But I also realized that there is no way I can do everything I want to do..
There is too much, and I should try to minimize my main interest and focus on it..
The rest will come later..
Life is too short, I cannot leave it without being focused and committed to one or two things only between the things that interest me or I like..
That was a valuable lesson to learn..

At the end of the day, I just went home to do nothing again..
I talked to my brother, read something, facebook, eating, and again the inability to sleep early..
Talking about not sleeping early, I think the thing about sleeping early and waking up early, and never sleeping when there sun outside, exist only in Corvallis for me..
That in itself makes me miss Corvallis so much..