Did you ever have one of those days

that's just so full of coincidences it makes you wonder if there might not be something else out there making the world go round? Besides gravity? You know what I'm talking about. I remember in high school, learning vocabulary words in English class and then suddenly seeing them pop up around me ("surfeit" was one such word; and the Shakespearean couplet we were taught to go along with it has stuck with me to this day: "A surfeit of the sweetest things / A deepest loathing to the stomach brings." -- A Midsummer Night's Dream). Divine intervention? Coincidence? Or simply an awakening of the brain to things I previously would have glossed over? Who knows.

Well, anyway, yesterday was one of those days. And so was today.

Yesterday, while taking one of many study breaks (yesterday was not a good study day), I happened to check out the C-J website and saw this article about a local girl who got to meet Rachael Ray. This girl, whose name is also Rachel (normal spelling), went to NYC to attend a taping of Ray's new talk show, which I happen to have not had the chance to see yet this year. Well, the story mentioned that it was on at 3 pm on Fox, so I looked up at the clock to see that it was exactly 3:00. Weird. I turned on the TV and watched about 10 minutes of Rachael (deeper voice, typical talk show stuff, not that interested). The story went on to say that little Rachel enjoys making big Rachael's recipes, since they're pretty simple, and one of her favorites is something called honey nut chicken, a recipe with which I am not familiar. Later, as per my usual routine, I turned on Food Network while tidying up in the kitchen before making dinner (Shake 'N Bake pork chops, yum (yummo?)), and half-listened to Rachael Ray in the 6:00 installment of 30 Minute Meals. All of a sudden, I hear Rachael say, "Remember, this chicken has honey and nuts in it" and I looked up with a start. How bizarre! (I checked the website, and last night she was making Tangy Cherry Chicken, not Honey Nut Chicken, but still...) Plus, the 6:30 show featured her making her Macaroni and Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli, a recipe I myself have used and enjoyed, and one that I just sent to someone as part of a recipe chain letter email I received. More minor coincidence, since I think I've seen that Mac and Cheese episode about 20 times (but I'd never seen the cherry chicken one before, and I've still never seen the honey nut chicken one -- why does that always happen? You see one particular episode of Seinfeld, Will & Grace, or Friends a hundred times without seeing any of the others), but a coincidence nonetheless.

Today it happened again. I was flipping through channels tonight and saw about 10 minutes of a Futurama episode on Cartoon Network. It was a holiday episode that featured a scene that was a parody of the Charlie Brown kids ice skating scene -- only it was Futurama-type kids and slightly different music (Bender ends up falling on top of them and breaking the ice so they all fall in). I haven't thought about Charlie Brown in forever; that was Charlie Brown incident #1. Then, Eric was talking to our friend Duc online and Duc sent him a link for a video of the cast of Scrubs doing A Charlie Brown Christmas (the video itself is posted here at the end; see the link in the previous sentence for the accompanying TVSquad.com commentary). That was Charlie Brown incident #2.

Eric told me to pull up the video using the TVSquad.com site and search for the video, but I couldn't find it. Instead, I found this entry on the home page about a blog post Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy! fame) wrote regarding the dance styles of various Peanuts characters in the Christmas dance scene. (Here is the Ken Jennings post.) That was Charlie Brown incident #3. Very strange series of coincidences, if you ask me.

Will I worry about it? Maybe a little bit. It's easier than worrying about how much clinical genetics I don't know. Or about how much pathology I've forgotten in just the last few hours. Or about how every time I learn about a disease, I think of all the people I know who have it. Or could have it. Peptic ulcer disease (me); Crohn's disease (a couple people); gallbladder/liver problems from oral contraceptives (someone we know); pyloric stenosis (Eric's mom, which leaves a teeeeeeeny tiny chance for Eric's new niece to have it, but we won't know for another 1-3 weeks...); ear mites (our kittens; OK, I didn't learn about that one in Path). (And just to clear the air of other people's worry: there is basically a next-to-none chance that Lea will have pyloric stenosis. I just suffer from medical student hypochondriasis, only applied to other people so far, not myself.)

Anyway, the point is that I like to ponder these weird life occurrences. I guess it's nice to have something stop you in your tracks like that, when everything else is moving at such a fast pace. So fast, in fact, that I've developed a tic in the last 48 hours: a fasciculation (how's that for medical terminology) of my lower left eyelid, intermittent but frequent, at just enough intensity for me to notice it and for it to bother me, but not enough to always see it in the mirror). I think it's school-related; if it doesn't go away by Saturday then I'll go see someone.

Enough of the chatter; here is the Scrubs-doing-Charlie-Brown video:


Also, a video that was mentioned by Ken Jennings: the Charlie Brown dance scene set to OutKast's "Hey Ya," which is apparently a pretty old video, but I never saw it, so there:


Just one more day of studying, then one day of test-taking, then it's nothing but partying for the whole weekend! (Literally; three Christmas parties, Friday through Sunday, with varying levels of drunkenness to be expected.) Happy Holidays!