In Memory of Wolf Scott-Cohen, February 21, 2012

Part of living is dying, and part of getting close to a person means eventually having to part with them. Last night a friend died. This is my message to Wolf who, in the words of my friend Jacqueline, "discovered the last great mystery of life" yesterday evening around 8pm...

Wolf, teaching you last spring was a privilege. There are some students I will never forget, you are one of them. You were always asking questions (SO many questions), always right up there in the front, making an impression. Driving me crazy, but in a good way. I remember you as lively, but mostly I remember you as being a friendly, bright, and honest guy. You would have made a devoted and talented doctor, the passion you felt for helping people was some of the most intense and sincere I have ever seen. I admired and respected you immensely. You became my friend, and I wish I had known you longer.

The outpouring of love I've seen for you over the past 11 days has been overwhelming to watch unfold. You believed in so many things, and were unrelenting when it came to trying to do good in a world that has so much wrong with it. If I know anything about your character, I know you were fighting as hard as you could till the end.

I'm feeling so many mixed emotions with the loss of a friend, and I'll never get used to the idea of not seeing you around or talking to you. I can't make any sense of it. My first impulse is to try to make something, anything, good come from this. I feel like that would be most fitting to your memory. There's so much left that this world needs from people like you.

I miss you, rest easy. ♥ Mel

The Blues

If I was a song writer I would be putting out some seriously depressing stuff this month.

I just haven't been able to get out of my funk. I've been moody and irritable for weeks, and it's really getting the better of me. It hasn't been good for relationships and it hasn't been good for productivity either. I've likely killed one friendship, and I'm just not feeling good about graduate school at the moment either. I've been asking myself a lot lately "Why am I doing this?"

In other horrible news, my friend Wolf is in the hospital in a coma. He suffered traumatic brain injures when he was hit at 4pm on Friday by a drunk driver while he was on his scooter, and I'm impatiently waiting to find out what's going to happen next. He was in critical condition as of yesterday, and they have no idea if or when he is going to wake up. The news of this happening really shocked me. He is a former student of mine, a nice guy, and I would see him around campus pretty regularly. I can imagine very few things more unfair happening to a person, and this kind of thing is completely preventable. I really feel for the family, the uncertainty of the situation has got to be awful.

Uncertainty. I think that's the biggest thing bothering me. Uncertainty with everything. While I like surprises, not knowing what the future holds is scary, especially when things aren't going the way you thought they would.

Misserable Couple of Weeks

This semester has been rough going from the start.

Beyond PMS, being a moody pain in the arse, and not feeling well I'm finding myself in the unusual situation of wishing school was over for the year already. The only really good thing going for me at the moment is that my cough appears to be going away. This virus just wouldn't let up for almost 2 and a half weeks, though the folks at the health center didn't seem at all concerned.

Then there is my car. You know it's not a good thing when multiple alert lights turn on and you're still in your parking spot. For the next few months I'll be trying to put some money away to get it looked at/fixed.

I guess things can only get better from this point?

Stop the world, I want to get off.