On a more serious note, I also just got off of my call weekend (Friday-Sunday) on general surgery. It's basically like not having a weekend at all, and it pretty much sealed the deal, I think, on my not having a future as a surgery resident. Although I find the stuff interesting, there's no way I like it enough to work this hard for five years. It's just not happening.

But moreso, this weekend (or at least, reflecting on this weekend) was a reminder to myself to be more mindful of how I deal with some of the things I see.

General surgery at the Royal Alex is basically the first call for a trauma consult. If someone comes in with multi-system or non-system-specific traumas, they get admitted under general surgery. This, of course, means you see a lot of the aftermath of some very violent situations. In Edmonton, unfortunately, this usually means stabbings. And because it's Edmonton, they happen all too frequently.

Considering the number I saw this weekend, I imagine that the residents on general surgery see their fair share of these cases. With that volume, there just can't be any way you can deal with it without treating these events as "work" rather than what they are - traumatic events in real people's lives. You just couldn't function if you tried to conceptualize the real impact of these events. Being the always-learning medical student, it's easy to pick that up. Far too easy, I found, looking back at the weekend.

And so not only do I come to another reason I don't think I could do surgery -- I don't want to be someone who normalizes or needs to normalize that kind of event -- but I find I need the reminder now; I shouldn't be treating these things lightly.

I realize this is more serious than I usually am here, but I trust the people around me can help me out a little with this. Especially if I continue using terms like "Edmonton handshake", a gentle reminder about the way I should be treating these events would be much appreciated.

So I just got around to watching this show I downloaded on a whim last week: The Middleman. I have no idea why it's on ABC Family, so don't ask.

I do know it's based on a comic book, which someone will probably tell me that I should read instead of watching the TV show, but this is easier, and I'm a lazy-ass.

This is a really fun show. It has that quick, snappy, sarcastic dialogue that I really liked from Pushing Daisies, and it's basically a parody-homage to superhero comic books. It's at least worth a taste. And the second episode is on tonight.

Not sure I'm behind the whole "Blob" plan. From an admittedly selfish perspective, it just makes my job that much more difficult.

Yeah I should really jump on that fat bandwagon, just weighted myself and found out I lost 10 pounds on my vacation! That would explain the comments I was getting for my abs...

Yeah, the fat thing is working really great for me actually; I just got a raise! I would recommend it to anyone.

Also, I may have been wrong about the "absorbing bullets" ability, unless you count absorbing it with your left kidney...

But yeah, Al, you've got the right idea:

If we can't be unstoppable cannons, we may as well resolve to being immovable objects.

All joking aside, it seems how tall you are at one year of age compared to your peers has more bearing on your confidence as a adult then your final adult height. (taken from a psychological study done for that documentary I mentioned). While I do agree with you Par that there are better ways of coping with height rather then invasive, destructive surgery, the fact is these people want the height! Well like an engineering prof said to me way back when, life ain't fair. I want to have the power to kill people by just looking at them but that ain't happening (still working on that eye laser)so live with what nature gave you.

And Tay hope that fat thing is working for you, because remember: "nothing moves the Blob!"

Yeah, I'd rather be fat than short or tall. Fat people have it the easiest. They get to eat lots, they don't have to worry about exercise, they're smarter, and they can absorb bullets. That's the fucking good life!

Tall people have to get good views, be at a good height for receiving oral sex, get noticed in a crowd, hold things really high so nobody else can reach them, put things really high for the same reason, and later come back and grab those things whenever they want. That sounds like bullshit to me.

Small people are clever, magical, have pots of gold, can fit in rabbit holes, give breat BJs, don't hit their heads on doorframes, always have tons of legroom in cars, get cast as all the sweet characters in movies, don't have to bend down to pick shit off the floor, have a proportionately huge cock or a wonderfully tight cunt, and never fall very far. That also sounds like bullshit.

Sign me up for team lardass! Hellsyeah!

Also, fuck skinny people.

And white/black/red/brown/yellow/whatever-the-fuck skin-coloured people.

Al, while I don't doubt that there are unique challenges to being short, and I don't want to imply that those challenges are easy, it's not as if taller people don't face problems themselves. One-size-fits-all is a cruel joke to a lot of people.

That said, it seems to me to be going well beyond what's reasonable to risk being unable to walk (not an inconsequential risk) for what is essentially a cosmetic procedure (and I have heard about a professional in Alberta who underwent such a procedure and did in fact end up unable to walk as a result, which directly affects his job.) Joke as I might about "donating" my height to someone else, it's not really a reasonable response to one's physical condition -- even one that is associated with demonstrable morbidities later in life, such as being tall.

I'm not saying that people have an easy go of it when they're short, either, but there are reasonable measures to coping with that, and there are unreasonable ones. This procedure seems well into the latter category.

Alright I am in another country but this topic has really touched a nerve with me. Many of you are 6 feet or over 6 feet tall. You really don't know the subtle prejudice that short people face. You can't understand how we have to try harder, do better just to get noticed. So before you think it is crazy think about how much harder people like me had to work just to get some notice. If you want to be more informed there was a CTV documentary called: S&M: Short and male which covers this topic in more detail, it also includes a section abut the height adjusting operation. Alright rant over.

I was looking at those t-shirts yesterday Paras. I think I'd be in for one or two of those bad boys.