Two Thousand and Eleven

In January, I celebrated the New Year with family and friends in the Bay. Toured the Google campus in Mountain View. Received my acceptance to study at the OU College of Dentistry as well as an outpouring of love and support from my amazing family and friends.

In February, I roadtripped with a fraternity brother from OKC -> Seattle (moving van broke down multiple times in freezing CO). Participated in the 2nd annual Oklahoma Mission of Mercy for back-to-back 10 - 12 hour shifts.

In March, I roadtripped to Arkansas to visit close friends. Stepped out onto a golf course for the very first time in lieu of dental school. Participated in St. Baldrick's with a good friend and raised over $3500 in support of childhood cancer research by shaving our heads.

In April, my time working with the Oklahoma Dental Foundation came to a bittersweet close. Watched my sister and her friends dominate the 2011 Donald W. Reynold's Governor's Cup. Began a whirlwind of travel by booking a one-way flight to my City by the Bay. Experienced my first food truck festival at Fort Mason. Traveled from SF to DC to visit my baby cuz and hang out with my fraternity lil bro/best friend. Tried Turkish cuisine for the first time. Roadtripped to NY, met up with friends from OK, CA, and FL, tried rice pudding for the first time, and celebrated my lil bro's birthday in the Hamptons. Made new friends, went on a date in DC.

In May, I returned to OKC for my baby sister's graduation. Made the switch back from contacts to glasses. Attended the funeral of a fraternity brother. Hosted Lu-Palooza and hosted over 75+ guests at my house. Emceed the Asia Society of Oklahoma's Asian Festival and Pageant. Traveled with family to Orlando making a pitstop at Hogwarts. Traveled with baby sis to Vegas for her business plan competition and met up with a close friend from the Bay. Watched the Jabawockeez show at Monte Carlo. Traveled to Amagansett to spend more time my family. Visited the Ghostbusters firehouse in NYC for the 2nd time.

In June, visited DC again and toured the both the ADA and ADEA office. Traveled to Orlando once more, spent a day at the parks and hung out with a future dental school classmate. Got over my fear of mini-roller coasters and rode Space Mountain 3 consecutive times. Celebrated the wedding of two very dear friends. Started my first day of dental school. Was elected to serve my class/school as the American Student Dental Association representative. Attended the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry's White Coat Ceremony for the class of 2015.

In July, anatomy began to consume my soul. Attended my high school's 10 year reunion and reconnected with a few lost friends. Anatomy continuously ate my soul.

In August, I escaped to Vegas for a week with my lil bro. Watched Modern Nature at Imperial Palace, Absinthe at Caesar's, David Copperfield at MGM Grand. Started the Fall semester of my first year of dental school. Physiology, biochemistry, morphology, preventative dentistry, oral radiology, dental materials, embryology, fundamentals of dental practice, and phenomenology ate my soul.

In September, physiology, biochemistry, morphology, preventative dentistry, oral radiology, dental materials, embryology, fundamentals of dental practice, and phenomenology continued to eat my soul. Received a demo toothbrush plus a slew of oral healthcare products from Crest/Oral-B. Volunteered my time for the 4th year in a row and dressed as a panda for my undergraduate university's Moon Festival. Started dating a lovely girl. Watched Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan at the Civic Center Music Hall.

In October, watched GHOSTBUSTERS on the big screen for the 2nd time. Spent the day at a pumpkin patch for the first time. Attended DentFest for the first time as a dental student and gave my very first tour of the college to aspiring pre-dentals. Celebrated the wedding of two close friends despite major exams looming over my head (happy with my decision to place relationships over work). Continued to have my soul consumed by physiology, biochemistry, morphology, oral prophylaxis, oral radiology, dental materials, embryology, and phenomenology yet somehow survived "red october". Volunteered for Staples Society and helped set up for the Halloween festivities, partied with classmates, and witnessed a uniquely Halloween-themed wedding of two great friends.

In November, traveled to San Antonio for the first time to attend the American Student Dental Association Western Regional Conference and made new, great friends. Visited with my baby cuz and enjoyed dinner and god conversation. Had my travel bag searched and had my free toothpaste confiscated. Roadtripped to Dallas for Thanksgiving with family. Relished my last full month with physiology, biochemistry, morphology, oral prophylaxis, oral radiology, dental materials, embryology, and phenomenology.

In December, viciously battled through an onslaught on quizzes, exams, practicals, and finals. Watched an endless stream of YouTube videos during study breaks to keep me sane. Realized that I had somehow and someway made it through my first real semester of dental school 49 exams and 22 quizzes later. Traveled to SF to visit with family and friends and celebrated my 28th birthday in my favorite city for the third time in a row.

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4 years as a Panda

Another Asian Moon Festival has come and gone. Last night marked the 10th anniversary of the annual event which has more or less become a tradition at UCO. To this day, it still holds a very special place in my heart as one of my favorite community events to volunteer for. This event signifies the first organized event I played a role in planning while I served as AASA president a few years back. I can still remember exactly how I felt planning the 5th Moon festival.. I was a nervous wreck the entire night but the feeling of satisfaction, pride, and personal growth that hit me as soon as it was over when all the families and children had left was amazing.

This was the 4th year I had the opportunity to return to my undergrad campus, spend time catching up with a few friendly faces, and dance the night away as a panda. Yes, I'm that dancing panda that either made your kid squeal with delight or terrified the living daylights outta them. One of my favorite moments of the night was when a young girl ran up to me and tackled me with a big ol' hug. I, of course, returned the warm hug while overhearing her parents mention to her, "aww, remember 2 years ago when you were too scared to give the panda a hug?".

Being somewhat of a Disney junkie, characters have always been one of my favorite aspects of visiting theme parks. It's an amazing feeling to witness the sheer joy and laughter of the children who I get to spend a few moments with either playing, dancing, or exchanging high fives. After I had changed and was walking back to my car with a friend, I recognized a young boy walking back with his family who I had danced with and hugged on several occasions (some kids are really into pandas, haha). He barely noticed me but overhearing him exclaim to his parents about the wonderful time he had was enough to put a smile on my face. I guess I did my job right!

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Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Sooo, yeah. Dental school, huh. I can hardly believe that it's been only 6 weeks and one class. When friends would tell me how challenging dental school would be.. it's truly one of those "you think you know but you really have no idea" situations.

I'm really struggling to put into words what the past few weeks have meant to me. I'm really fortunate to have  met some amazing people through the college and I am truly looking forward to spending the next 4 years of my life with my new dental family. I've enjoyed the super late night study sessions, the ping pong rallies in the Union, all of the get-togethers off campus, cookouts and pool parties at mi casa, and the early mornings and late nights spent with the cadavers. I'm also super honored to serve my class as an ASDA representative! I'll be a bit busy with all the didactic course work during the first year to truly get involved with the organization but I hope to learn a lot and make an impact on the organization!

I feel like I've learned a lot about myself as well. I had to quickly tweak and adjust a lot of my study habits. Graduate school at a health professional level is completely different from any level of education I've experienced in the past. I got off to a shaky start with the first exam but I definitely pulled it together for the final. I feel like I've learned so much already and it's only the beginning. I won't miss living and breathing anatomy 24/7. I took a break to watch Captain America and found myself staring at the Red Skull and thinking of all the nerves and vessels. When someone got punched in the nose, my mind started detailing the major arterial supply to the area! Even after the exam, I crashed on my couch, started watching some Buffy the Vampire Slayer and immediately thought of the arterial blood supply of the neck the second a vampire bit into someone. I'll never forget a dream I had during the first test block.. I had laid my head down for a quick power nap and had dreamt of myself telling myself that it was time to study. And then I woke up. Yeah...

So now I'm going to do my best to enjoy this two week break and then the real fun starts in the Fall!

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ASDA Alternate Delegate

No time to blog! Dental school has been a crazy emotional roller coaster and it's only been 4 weeks! I'll be sure to update with more details after our final exam for clinical anatomy.

I'm just super psyched because earlier today, our class voted on class officers for ASDA and I was elected to serve as alternate delegate! It's a 4-year commitment and so next year as a DS2, I'll serve as 2nd delegate, and as a DS3, I'll serve as 1st delegate and acting president of the OU ASDA chapter!

ASDA has been on my radar ever since I first came across the organization as a predental. I absolutely love organized dentistry and I'm excited to see what the next few years will bring!

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Back to School

Day one: Orientation

Day two: 1st day of class

I've recognized the truth in a lot of advice I've always heard but never fully realized. It's going to be an interesting four years.

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First Crush

This one is a doozy, haha. My mom came across this letter a few weeks back. It's a letter 6-year old Ted Mosby Daryn wrote to his first crush, a girl named Ashley from Jacksonville, FL. If you know me at all, it's pretty apparent that not much has changed in the past 21 years.

The real kicker? I never gave her this letter. Womp, womp, womp.

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Good Thoughts

"If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. 

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely." 

— Roald Dahl (The Twits)

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