YEAH ROCK STAR YEAR!

Our med school had a talent show, and we played Reptilia by the Strokes. If anyone knows anything about the cardiovascular system, there's this thing called Stroke Volume, the amount of blood ejected per contraction of the left ventricle. We called ourselves the Stroke Volumes, pun on The Strokes, nerdy cardio reference (who doesn't love those), and... Volume? Music? Sound... I dunno, there's a pun somewhere in there.

Anyway, it was pretty much my first performance, and it was a blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TDkMtavq2E&feature=channel_video_title

and of course, the orange peel penis

ahaha no of course not, I just went with a buncha friends out to east long island who have decent cameras and they went trigger happy.

Photoshoot son!

AY MON! WE FROM JAMROCK! EERIEE!!

Haha, thanks for the congrats guys! But nope, still not the real thing. That was my white coat ceremony, meaning I just started my first year (I get it cause I will be doing pre-clinical work). It'll be hilarious if I still come here 4 years later when iA I'll post pics of the real deal, ...though can you imagine your doctor going on Rm2k3-land in between shifts? 

what's a stock photograph?

White-Coated! Now the real fun begins

wow, amazing picture man. Very candid and real.

DOUBLE RAINBOW!!!!!!

So the game is finally out, a wait that was... what 5 years? And there isn't a THREAD about it! Come on guys! I might have gone a little trigger happy with the pictures, but the game is just amazing. Graphics are fantastic, easily rivals Uncharted 2. In fact, I think I like them better than Uncharted 2 because of the lighting, and I generally like darker games more. The animations, running, enemy attacks, trees falling down into the distance, the SMOKE MONSTER (lol lost) of in the forests, the game just looks perfect.

The sound and voice acting for the most part has been pretty good, as has the story. It kind of reminds me of ABC's Happy Town a little. I'm on Episode 3 (of 6) right now, and am surprised at how long the game is. I heard it was short, but I've been playing some 7 hours so far and still have over half the game left. I think a 15-18 hour game is perfect length of this genre. Plus, they're adding additional 2 hour long DLC's this month (a few weeks away actually), that continues the game from where it left off, at $7 a pop. Pretty good deal I'd say.

The battle system. The combat. The gameplay. Oh god, it is PERFECT. I've never had this much fun shooting down enemies before. It's terrifying, and exciting all at the same time. The usage of the different sources of light to break away the shadowy barrier all your opponents have is such a clever element. Use flare guns, flares, flashlight, lamps, construction lights, flashbang grenades, car headlights, flood lights, whatever you get your hands on to take out that shadow barrier, and then pummel them with your pistol or shotgun - and the sound effects are amazing, you really feel the THRUST of your bullets as you pick off your enemies, it's great.

The difficulty is great too. Very challenging, but not over the top. It's actually kind of easy if I weren't such an item hoarder. If I wanted to use up all my flare guns (which I always end up having spares for at the end of an episode), I guess it would be easier - but I'm treating the game as a survival horror, and appropriately so, so I have a stock of great items I haven't used. Nightmare difficulty will really test me though.

This is a phenomenal, almost perfect game so far. If you have an XBOX, BUY IT!!!!!!!

We're not homosexual, we're hilariously gay!

I just got back from an amazing weekend over in Chicago. We had ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America, convention up there, some 20,000 people came. It was great seeing people from across the country, some folks in Stony Brook (the school I'll be going to this August for med.), and just chilling with my best friends one more time before it's time to move on with life!


My best friend's still learning how to smile




We're brown, and we saw a White Castle. We had to do something.


Who would have though someone could look this good cutting toe nails? 


We saw the Legendary Chicago Sears Tower! ...lol jk, I know that's not it. It was hilarious seeing it in Chicago though.

2005: Just graduated High School, just got through the IB program (yeah, like from my game, remember guys!!!) and entering UAB for undergrad. studying Biology and being a pre-med.

2010: Starting medical school this August in Long Island, New York.

Yeah, my life's been pretty on-track, no real surprises or bumps along the way. Made a plan, and I'll stick to it through the end.

I passed out for like 10 min., it was a really long day and that floor was amazing

Fell asleep mad weird. Almost looked like I was running away and got shot with a tranquilizer dart.

the ending they gave negates alot of moments/episodes/scenes that we were led to believe would be pretty important, for instance, MIB putting desmond in a well and telling sayid to kill him. doesn't make much sense since he needed desmond to get off the island

He didn't need Desmond to get off the island. He needed the candidates dead to get off the island. He tried by blowing them up in the submarine, but when that failed, he realized that with Desmond still alive, he could use him to destroy the island, which would inadvertently kill off the Candidates, again giving him the opportunity to leave the island. He can't kill them himself, just like he couldn't kill Jacob himself. He needs to accomplish these things through pawns. The bomb in the sub would not have gone off had Sawyer not pulled the wires, just HIMSELF activating the bomb and killing the others.

I found how amazing and far reaching some of the main themes of the show were. I just realized that Jack started off as the man of science and by the end of the show, became the man of faith. Likewise, WE, the audience, began the show as people of science, and by the end, as the creators intended I believe, to transcend into people of faith. That's why so much of the show was based on the mythology of the island, why so many of the QUESTIONS were indeed ANSWERED, but not in a scientific way that Jack wanted initially, but rather through mythology - and, like Jack, you needed to have faith in it to accept them as the answers.

The show also reflected heavily on, just life itself. Some of our greatest mysteries cannot be answered through Science. And when we try, we get vague theories, that are eternally complex and only justified by equations and beliefs in formulas - not through actual witnessing and believing (Big Bang Theory comes to mind). And what CAN actually be the answers to life's greatest questions? Well, faith again. And you need to believe, to be content with the answers.

The parallels to our lives. The themes that expand and encompass so much. I thought the show was beautifully done.

I don't understand, what were you guys expecting? When Jacob gave Richard his drink in Ab Aeterno, every one of Richard's cellular telomeres stopped shortening per DNA replication, allowing all cells to maintain optimal viability ad infinitum? You really wanted LOST to say THAT to the audience?

Look, the show is not a reality-based drama, it's sci-fi. Asking how the Smoke Monster became, is like asking how Frodo became invisible upon wearing the ring of power. The show is set in an open-ended creative arena, and to want tangible scientific rational explanations for the most irrational things is just foolish.

Yes, it's true that the mysteries were enticing, but you DID get answers to almost everything - but through mythology and not textbook science.