Over-the Hump Party
February 3, 2006

Mick with Akhil, who sits at Mick's pod in the Sim Lab. Akhil has two second-year roommates, Arvin and My (pronounced "my"), who've been really helpful to Mick in the Sim Lab. They're also pretty fun. I like the foot-high Yoda puppet they found in the road and propped up at Mick's station.

Rob and Josh (two first-years), with Tori (Rob's fiance visiting from Arizona).

Sepi and Sean (from Israel, I think). They've been through medical school together and decided to go through dental school together as well. Sepi's 32 and Sean's 38; they have an 8-year-old son and an infant. (Sepi gave birth first quarter.) Sepi's parents live with them and take care of the children during the day and during study sessions.

Mick and me with Megan and Jay. Megan's doing a residency in Pedo (children's dentistry) at UCSF while Jay's a first year at Pacific with Mick. Mick likes to study with Jay.

Yeah, I look a little crazed, but I'm actually just pointing out Akhil's snazzy little ascot.

Over-the-Hump is a party put on by second-year students marking the 18-month halfway point of dental school at Pacific. This year it was held at Bimbos 365, a gorgeous old renovated ballroom-style building in downtown San Francisco with rich red velvety curtained walls, glass chandeliers, and mirrored lounges in the back. The dress was semi-formal (didn't really catch that from Mick until we got there!), complete with catering and entertainment and dancing.

The entertainment was the highlight of the night. The second year students held an awards ceremony the class had voted on. Sample awards were: "Student Most Likely to Be Mistaken for a Mormon" (the winner of this award gave a brief speech, joking "Wow, this is a dream come true..."); "Student Most Likely to Fall Asleep in Class," (accompanied by a hilarious slide show of students asleep in class. One student in particular dominated the series--Robert Cho, I think--, and someone had managed to include in the slide show (a) an interview with Robert earnestly declaring his love for Pacific and classes and how interesting the subjects are, and (b) a video where he's sitting at a table with a bunch of students eating lunch and slowly falling asleep, eventually just plopping his head down on the table. The students went wild when he won the award); and "Student Most Likely to be Using Someone Else's Equipment."

In addition to the awards ceremony, second year students showed off some talent in dancing and singing, crescendoing to a perfect 5 guy boyband kind of dance routine to "You Got the Right Stuff, Baby." I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

Mick and I stayed out until midnight (WOW) while our kids had a great time spending the night at Vincent and Amelie's.