You do WHAT for a living?
So...
My life is kinda crazy again. I read though, that a lot of people are going through some confusing times. It usually always happens around this time of the year, have you noticed? I have. Anyway, today I watched most of the dedication ceremony for President Bill Clinton's Library in Arkansas. It was nice to see our last four presidents sitting outside in the rain.
To the topic at hand. A lot of people ask me what I do for a living. Well, to answer succinctly, I'm a full-time college student at Montgomery County Community College (MC3.edu) and I work part-time (8:00am-3:00pm) about 5-10 days a month as a Standardized Patient for a company that will remain nameless (for confidentiality requirements).
Ahh, now, with that last part, you can see why explaining what I do for a living takes longer than usual. I will try to answer the questions I'm often asked about being a Standardized Patient:
What is a Standardized Patient?:
A Standarized Patient or SP for short, "is a person who has been carefully coached to simulate an actual patient so accurately that the simulation cannot be detected by a skilled clinician."
Specific to my current situation, I learn a case history and physical findings of a patient case and portray the patient as accurately, consistently and with as much realism as possible for each candidate (12 of them per day).
It is said that an SP represents the "Gestalt" of the person being simulated; not just the history, but the body language, phsyical findings, personality and emotions.
Hey, wasn't Kramer a fake patient in a Seinfeld episode?
Yes, he was. He portrayed a patient with gonorrhea to earn extra money. And no, I didn't see that episode I'm sure it was funny though.
Alright, but what's the purpose of being a Standardized Patient?
Well, quite simply to perform multiple case scenarios within a high-stakes examination for medical students. Medical students are now required to pass these exams to practice medicine in their desired field of study. They pay thousands of dollars for the exam itself and on top of that, travel, sometimes great distances across the country to partake in this exam.
We, as Standardized Patients above all must preserve confidentiality with regard to our particular cases, as not to tip off medical students (candidates) who are coming in for tests. After performing our role, we complete a clinical skills assessment where we recall the exam and document it objectively, accurate and consistently. It is important for our performances to be consistent as to give all candidates an equal and fair exam setting.
So, that's generally it. I love what I'm doing. My co-workers are mostly actors and other performing artists who do this on the side for additional income, however, if you have an excellent ability to recall from short term memory, memorize a script and are willing, I suggest this to you. I especially recommend being a Standardized Patient to college students. The money is great, the schedule is flexible allowing you to pick the days you want to work.
*job description taken out of the SP Manual authored by my employer*
So anyway, back to my life in general. I just installed some more RAM in my aging computer (4 years old). I've been playing a lot of NFS:U2, out doing my man 
evnostrich: in all aspects of the game. He's weak, but he doesn't know it yet.
I'm putting a lot of money into my car, 1993 Nissan 300ZX. I'm trying to get it ready for the quickly approaching winter weather. I acquired the car in June, so, at the time, it wasn't a major concern of mine. I'm going to need a new set of tires (doing burnouts on asphalt isn't the smartest thing to do when you don't have the resources to replace the tires). I'm taking to the shop in the coming weeks for a tune up. It's not the twin-turbo version of the car, but it's just as quick and responsive as it was when it was new (11 years ago).
I guess that about sums it up for me, I'll update again later should things change. Peace 