A New Turn in the Road

Promethazine, atropine, meclizine, everywhere a "zine, zine." That's what spending a lovely day inside studying drugs will do to you.

So I've been thinking about this whole blogging thing lately, and what I've come to realize that I've deviated from my original intent for creating this blog. It was originally intended as a means as a replacement to the emails I used to send out to keep in touch while I was away learning to become a doctor. However, those who I used to write aren't really those who now read, and some wonderful meetings with old friends over the past few months made me realize that the lines of communication were never meant to be solely sustained through broadband and blogging.
In a nutshell, this blog is no longer for the purpose of learning what's going on in my life. Don't worry faithful blog readers; I'll still write when I have time about whatever may be on my mind or heart. It's in the best interest of all of us that this occur. I don't have to worry about finding time to keep you updated nor finding time to read your many blogs (that's what phones, emails, personal visits, etc are for). With that having been said, I leave you with some fond memories of the past year:



Speaking of roads...along I-40 right past Amarillo you can find numerous old Caddies buried in the dirt. Don't ask me why. Sain showed Cammie and I this roadside attraction when we stopped to visit him. Apparently there's not much else to do in Texas (just kidding Sain!). On our way out the following morning, we decided to leave our own signature on this Western Town attraction...I wonder if it's still there...


What can I say? It's the Grand Canyon, representative of a memorable 3 day camping trip. If you've never been on a roadtrip you should definitely consider doing so.


I think this is one of my favorite pictures taken while abroad. I can't thank God enough for having the opportunity to experience another culture, to"feel the pulse of the persecuted church," and to be among Christians who truly know what "family" means. Just a few dollars spent on a Pinata, candy, and some string, but it resulted in a priceless look of joy on this little girl's face. I'm constantly amazed at how God can take what little we have to offer and turn it into something great.


An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure-teaching the best way of preventing disease-handwashing. While I was in Guatemala, a preacher gave a sermon about how we consider the book of Acts to be completed yet we each have our own chapter to contribute if we believe God and the wonderful message of the "Good News." I'd like to think that this class was only a tiny part of my chapter, and I look forward to see what the following pages contain.


In all my experiences abroad, I seem to find myself on a random roadtrip. This was a stop at Castillo San Felipe near Rio Dulce before the infamous Shigella incident. Don't worry, the cannon wasn't loaded.


The CSC guys (and girls); where would I be without them? No semester is complete without a visit to Knoxville or some stop nearby. An October hike to Hen Wallow Falls led to Brad and Eric and giving their impersonation of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" while Justin did the "Smiling Hungry Bear." Good times. Good hikes.


One of the blessings of Johnson City: Mrs. Chara Watson. Not only did she make this cool scarf and hat for me for Christmas, she was kind enough to come stay with me at JCMC when they decided that Barium shakes would be a great thing for me to try while I was waiting for my IV to finish. I seriously don't know what I'd do without my Christian family.


Hanlin was this the 4th or 5th Pancake Pantry Reunion? A holdover from our life together at Governor's School way back in the day, Lauren, Hanlin, and I always make time to have breakfast at this famous sweet spot in Nashville. Unfortunately, the closest we got to seeing a country music star was this rather large guitar.


A beautiful wedding for a beautiful couple, Nancy and Manuel. They were the ones that invited me to come spend a memorable three weeks in Guatemala this past summer, and it was an honor to attend their wedding. It's rare to meet people with a passion for seeking and saving the lost and even rarer to meet a couple whose primary purpose in life is spurred by this passion. I know God will be using them in great ways in the coming years.

So there you have it. Michele Gourley 2005 in condensed annotated and illustrated form. Per usual, I leave you with another one of my favorite quotes:


"Health is based on happiness-from hugging and clowning around to finding joy in family and friends, satisfaction in work, and ecstasy in nature and the arts." -Patch Adams

Reason #57...

...why Quillen is the greatest kept secret in medical schools: all-expense paid trips to conferences in cool places like San Diego. Unfortunately, the trip started off a little rough, though I should have expected that for the following reasons:
1. It was Friday the 13th
2.I was attending a medical missions conference (see example)
3. I was flying Delta (which bears the moniker "Don't Ever Leave the Airport")

Bad weather caused us to miss our flight from Atlanta to San Diego. There was another flight leaving later, but it was overbooked. Our trusted travel guru classmate Ryan tried to use his "Medallion" status to pull some strings and called hotels.com to arrange accomadations for the night, but it was to no avail. There were no more flights out and no available rooms in Atlanta. We were going to just have to spend the night in the Atlanta airport.


Looking way too happy for preparing for a stay in our "comfy" beds

We scavenged the airport for a good place to sleep and found some non-armrest chairs in the international terminal. It actually wouldn't have been too bad except for the wonderful pre-set recording that woke us up every 20 minutes or so to remind us to keep an eye on our luggage at all times and to not accept baggage from strangers. Bleary-eyed and showerless we caught the next flight out at 8:30 and arrived in sunny San Diego around the middle of the morning.

Though we missed the first half of the conference, the rest of the day and Sunday were great. It was my first non-Christian medical missions conference, but it was still worthwhile. I learned, and find it amusingly ironic, that many of these people sacrifice months and years of their lives and money spending time learning the culture and language of the people whom they serve, tirelessly giving of their talents to help better the lives of others. On the other hand, many Christians don't learn the language and culture and throw away thousands of dollars and one week of their time to help better the lives of others and call it "sacrifice." Just something to think about but I'm not tackling such an issue here. Needless to say, it was a very informative weekend and it was nice to see that others share in the vision to provide healthcare to those who need it the most: the impoverished, the oppressed, the ones who don't have the fortune to live in this country.

Of course, no trip to San Diego is complete without a trip to the San Diego Zoo. The super-cool, soon-to-be-famous Matt (not Lee) Brown left his famous movie friends in LA to hang out with me, and we went to the zoo with my classmate Elizabeth. It was a good thing that he did come see me, or else the Zoo might be minus one panda. I really wanted to take the little brother of this guy home with me. Why can't Pandas be as numerous as dogs?


Can I take him home with me?

This is a picture of us sitting on almost an exact replica of myself. How thoughtful of the Zoo people to create such a stunning likeness of yours truly! (just kidding)

Matt and I atop a hungry hippo!


Looks like someone's lawn ornaments got loose!

Elizabeth and I explored some more of San Diego Sunday night and Monday morning before flying back to the South and our "exciting" lives as medical students. In short, the moral of the story is always take advantage of opportunities to travel to places you've never been, take time to visit old friends, don't fly on Friday the 13th, and always be prepared for the unexpected!!!

"As the traveler who has once been from home is wiser than he who has never left his own doorstep, so a knowledge of one other culture should sharpen our ability to scrutinize more steadily, to appreciate more lovingly, our own." -Margaret Mead

Leave of Absence

The administrator of this blog regrets to inform its readers that there will be no additional postings until further notice due to deviation from the blog's original intent and an upcoming series of tests and hectic travel schedule in the coming months.

Any comments, questions, or concerns may be addressed to the blog administrator via email, phone, or in person. Thank you for your time and attention.