i've been back in the city only a week and a bit, and already, i need to hold myself back - be placed in a papoose board. credit card bill....one big, large, humungous credit card bill....i need to cut back on something, i fear...i think i may have to stop eating...

my dentistry class is really....brainy. i don't know how anyone knows, or who told who, or if this info is already available to everyone, but apparently a quarter of the class had an average between 84 and 87%, and half the class had an average over 80%. braaaaaaaiiiinnnyyyyy. that's all i can say. of course, marks such as these tend not to reflect that much anyway. i remember Dr. Teteruck asked me how 2nd year went, and i just off-handedly said..."oh, well, the marks aren't out yet" and he asked me "did you learn a lot?" and i said "yes" and he said "that's all that matters. marks don't mean anything anyways". i quite agree. do marks reflect how much you've learned? yes and no. marks reflect....your ability to memorize, your hand skill, your problem solving ability etc etc etc, but until the knowledge is like second nature to you, and you can apply it, and develop it, and solve problems with it, i don't think it means very much. i quite understand the lamentation that many professors have about their students...for instance, it is funny when Dr. Al-Osman asks us questions about periodontics one week after a huge comprehensive exam, only to have the entire class muddle about for the answer. Dr. Al-Osman graciously takes it easy on us and in mock horror laments "they forgot everything!" but - it just goes to show you that until you can actually use what you've learned, bring these facts up and cross-reference them in application to a real problem, you haven't learned it at all. a 94 in the course only reflects your mastery over the material at one point in time - and says nothing about how you might use the knowledge as you quickly (age) progress. i think that is what the next two years will be about (that, and a lot of reviewing).

looking forward to it. until then, i read the girlie mags, the gossip columns, and blissfully use plastic to finance it all.