Mauricio

Hmm... where to begin... at the beginning perhaps?
I was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Sorry Venezuelans out there but I do not consider myself Venezuelan because I only lived there from age 0-4. Also, I do not like Chavez so that's that. My entire extended family lives in Chile and I have been flying back and forth from the U.S. since about age 4. I have been on planes more times in my life than a bus - I will explain why in a second.
At age 4, my father got an ultimatum from the U.S. government... use the VISA they granted him or lose it forever. I am extremely grateful that my parents were the adventurous type because that is how I wound up in Miami, Florida. At first I HATED it but some Andes candies and MacArthur milk soon soothed me (yes, I still remember this moment clearly).
Finally appeased with sugar, Miami began to grow on me (Miami is the reason why I have been on a plane more often than a bus... one simply does not take public transportation in Miami unless you have had your license revoked for some reason :P). Kindergarten was a blast (yes, this is my autobiography, deal with it). However, things became a little different once I began attending St. Theresa Catholic School in Miami. I started there in first grade (had a huge crush on our teacher and on a classmate that had the odd habit of raising her skirt - yes, this is what little boys remember) and had my kicks. At first, I was very outgoing in my class and invited EVERYONE to every event I had (I am guessing at age 6 I did not have too many wild parties but that is how it seemed at the time).
Things changed in second grade. That is when I first tasted exclusion. Up until then, I was an A and B student and happy-go-lucky. For some odd reason, my decent grades and my non-Cuban heritage became grounds to exclude me from certain groups. Being stubborn, I decided to isolate myself off, get PERFECT grades, and hang out with and do whatever was NOT popular. I guess this is when I first decided to break off from the mainstream. Pretty early huh? :D I never felt lonely taking this path because there were other unpopular kids I befriended (or did they befriend me?) - they were few but I only needed a few. For the most part, I was used to entertaining myself. I was and remain an only child and my idea of a good time was either reading books (I loved the encyclopedia) or playing video games (I beat hundreds of them during this time). This pattern of "Leave Me The Hell Alone, I am a nerd, so what?" would continue until High School.
I attended Christopher Columbus High School, another Catholic school in Miami. Many of my would-be tormentors from St. Theresa decided to go there as well. However, the difference was that this time we were separated based on academic ability - which meant I hardly saw them at all. Instead, I met many other guys who also had impeccable academic records (by guys, I literally mean males, it was an all-boy school). With grades no longer a factor of exclusion, I began to slowly open up again. However, then came competitveness. Many of us wanted to be the top. To my chagrin, I was NOT the top student. I was number 3. Yes, number 3 beating hundreds of other students but all I knew was that I was NOT number 1. This led me into a study frenzy to be number 1. Considering that I had built my identity over the past 7 years around being top of the class, I can forgive myself for this attitude. Fortunately, I did eventually mellow out. I even befriended number 2 and to some extent number 1 (although he was in his own little introverted world as well). Then something REALLY hit me hard right in the face - the SAT.
Being the something of an academic superstar for most of my life, I could not fanthom being able to only achieve a 1280 (at the time I took it, 1600 was the perfect score and the average score was below 1000). I was furious and my chances of getting into an Ivy League college seemed to be slim. Number 1 got into Yale, number 2 into Harvard... what was I getting into? FIU. Nothing wrong with FIU mind you, but it was a local school. I did NOT want to stay local. I was devastated. I got this idea that all of my years of isolation and studying had been a total waste.
By this time, I had also decided that I wanted to be a doctor. I think my love of the macabre began here in high school. We actually had those Time Life books in our library and I loved reading stories about ghosts, the Grim Reaper, and anything supernatural in general. I became fascinated with life and death. I always seemed to have a knack for science and I was very interested in the REAL human skeleton we had in the biology class (all I ever found out about it was that she was a girl that died in India - and for you stalker-types, there is a picture of me with this skeleton in our yearbook, see if you can find it, lol). Around this time is also when I began performing fish autopsies on my poor dead aquarium fish (I had a book on fish diseases to guide me). The purpose of the autopsies was to figure out why my fish died so I could treat the current living fish before they went belly-up (the Cruxshadows forum people know this story, lol). I figured as a doctor I could use knowledge to help people live productive lives and also be there to comfort them at the end of their lives. To achieve this goal, I had been active in many clubs, volunteered at Baptist Hospital, and maintained perfect grades (all AP classes that gave me some crazy GPA of over 5, lol). But, as I mentioned, now it seemed to be all falling apart. FIU was giving me an amazing economic package (they were basically going to pay ME to go there) but I wanted a top name school.
And then, I got it. I came off of the Johns Hopkins waiting list. It was a miracle! Mind you, I did not actually go there to interview so I had NO idea what Baltimore was like... all I knew was that I was going to a top name school, a school KNOWN for medicine. Fortunately, I had turned down the BMW my parents offered me at age 16 (bless their hearts, they just wanted me to fit in a bit more since our high school parking lot had $60,000 cars in it) so the money was there for me to do this. Off I went to Maryland.
When I got to Baltimore, I was PETRIFIED. Compared to my beautiful lush tropical Miami, I found Baltimore to be incredibly dark and forboding. It only got worse... then I met the Johns Hopkins students. I overheard a group talking about how they each had over 1500 on their SATs and how they had gone to apparently big name boarding schools (I had no idea at the time there was such a thing as a big name high school). Any arrogance I ever had in my academic ability was gone forever. All I was worried about now was survival. Not to mention, that from all of the AP courses I took, I was actually a half-semester ahead which meant that... while others were starting off pass-fail, I was going to be receiving grades IMMEDIATELY.
Fortunately, I would soon discover something called "the curve." Since I was so frightened, I was studying 6 hours a day. While I was definitely not scoring a 100% on my tests, I was scoring far above my drunken compatriots. See, college is where people seem to lose all inhibitions. I cannot remember all the people that would come home totally wasted. The ambulance seemed to come to our dorm fairly regularly for alcohol poisoning and I took care of many people personally (I think this is when I decided that I would never drink to get drunk - something that seems to be a favorite pastime of the mainstream). The combination of my frightened studying and my classmates' inebriated states led to me rising to the top again. I graduated around number 60 in my class, all top honors including Phi Beta Kappa - the highest honor Johns Hopkins had to give.
Now, do not get the impression that all I did was study. Having come from an all-boy school, Johns Hopkins is also where I discovered my sexuality. ;) I kept playing video games avidly. I joined several clubs (Kung Fu club, multiple "cultural clubs" - e.g. Chinese Student Association, Japanese Student Association, etc [the quotes are there because then I discovered these clubs really only existed so people of the same race could date :p], the Johns Hopkins fencing team, and even a fraternity!).
I think this a good time to explain some of these interests.
Video games: started playing when I was age 6 and they have kept me company during years of solitude - I love them and I will NEVER give them up!
Martial arts: I originally refused to learn any martial arts because I was afraid it would be perceived as me doing something because of my grade school torment (the idea of my doing anything because of how others perceived me or how they treated me sickened me) - however, I liked martial arts too much and I began doing Tae Kwon Do at age 13. Turns out it WAS very useful in high school (I did have to mingle with those brutes from time to time and fights were common in an all-boy school - being able to put down a much larger individual got me some respect and breathing room). The interest continued from there and I have studied various martial arts now (thanks to all of my moving around). I love the game of fighting an opponent but I never want anyone to get hurt! :-p
Asia: This developed because I liked martial arts. I joined all of the Asian cultural groups in college because they were the first Asians I had ever seen and I wanted to learn about them. Turns out JSA taught me how to eat sushi and I first discovered Anime in college. My last girlfriend was a Chinese Singaporean living in Singapore! I met her .. in college and I visited her during the summer of 1997 (the summer after college sophomore). I had been in love with her ever since. Unfortunately, she finally showed up in New York in 2006 and showed me her true colors. I guess I should thank her for curing me of my "Asian fetish." :-p
Fraternity??: I joined a fraternity mostly because I knew it was something no one would ever expect me to do. I LOVE the unexpected. I gave my fraternity the unexpected... I joined as a "dry" pledge. This surprised the hell out of them but then I asked them what was more important, brotherhood or alcohol? Turns out the fraternity had some beautiful philosophy and even mythology behind it. I and my fellow pledge brothers had similiar ideas and we got the fraternity back to its roots. No regrets here, just wonderful memories. My pledge name? Cyberhunk... heh, I was not embarrassed to admit that I met my around-the-world girlfriend ... By the way, don't call me that now. I plan to NEVER have such a crazed relationship again.
To continue, given my success at Hopkins and my beyond-my-wildest dream success on the MCAT (like the SAT but for medical school - imagine my feeling of triumph at getting a ridiculously high score here when I could not on the SAT), I can say without conceit that I had my pick of ANY medical school in the country. Number 1 school at the time: Harvard. I rejected Harvard because of the overbearing pretentiousness I felt there. Looking back it might have been somewhat fun because they had a weird House system that reminds me of Harry Potter. Number 2: Johns Hopkins. Johns Hopkins medical school is located in a very crappy neighborhood in Baltimore, I was ready to try something new. Also, Johns Hopkins premeds were SCARY cut-throat people (myself excluded, hee hee) and I was afraid this pattern might continue at the medical school. Number 3: University of Pennsylvania. UPENN promised a beautiful campus integrated with all of the other schools (often a university's medical school is off in the middle of nowhere) and a friendly atmosphere that could not be beat. I was accepted at several medical schools but UPENN became my top choice and that is where I went. Do I regret this decision? Maybe a little... you will see why. ;)
At first, Penn Med seemed to be a dream come true. What they promised was reality - at first. Everyone was bend-over-backwards nice to us. We were given notes for all of our lectures and every lecture was videotaped and put on the web for us (so if we felt like sleeping in, we could always just watch the video later). Whenever we had a test, a huge spread of bagles would be right outside the testing area so we could all enjoy a good breakfast. I still remember getting salmon cream cheese stains on my tests, lol. And, of course, my most macabre (yes, I like this word) dreams came true in GROSS ANATOMY. Finally, a chance at dissecting a real human being and finding out exactly what was inside. I think my anatomy group (four to a body) were a little disturbed by my enthusiasm (yes, I made the first incision). We were given a elderly gentleman. At first, his face was covered up so as to dehumanize him. The hands were also covered... apparently that part of the body is also very "human" and therefore disturbing to people. I did not really want him dehumanized. I wanted to think of him as a person that decided to do a nice thing for us and not as a lump of dead meat. Out of respect to those that found the gruesome task ahead of us easier by not thinking of them as people, I let things be. We worked long hours dissecting. I always wondered why we did this around lunch time... one guy finally broke down and stated that the rib meat was starting to look tasty, lol. After every session, we all smelled horribly - especially the group to the right of us (I think their body did not preserve well - it was so rank that when the test came, I just skipped the tags on their body as those few points were not worth the nausea/vomiting that was sure to ensue if I got closer). Gross Anatomy also brings back fond memories because that is where I met Dr. Fred Stark. Turns out Fred was a martial artist and we became close friends (hence why I refer to him fondly as Fred). Fred taught martial arts to anyone interested after hours. I joined and got to brown belt under him (he was affilitated with an official organization so we got to test and get belts!). A true teacher, he taught me anatomy that first year and martial arts for all four years. Thanks to him, I know several useful knife and gun disarms as well as the best place to snap a clavicle in two (that actually appeared later on a test!). Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with small colon cancer during my years there. He would have rounds of chemo and then come back to teaching. Everyone could tell the chemotherapy took a toll because he would be very tired afterwards. However, he kept on fighting and kept on teaching. The cancer would go away... but then return. I remember he finally got a colostomy (this is when part of your gut is hooked up to a hole in your belly and you collect your waste in a bag). Even that did not stop him, he told us how he had read about martial artists with these things and he wanted to keep going. He went to my graduation and gave me a big hug. He died one year after my graduation (I will never forget you Fred).
Those are the fond memories Penn Med gave me. The first year and a half were great - but things changed when I entered the clinical years. Once we started doing clinical rotations and taking care of people, the promise was broken and all bets were off. I was even estranged from my Singapore love at this time. But then, during this awful time, while at home sick with walking pneumonia, I discovered a little game that would change my life forever. I will talk more about this next time. ;)
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Vampire
You are damn sexy you hot, hot midnight lover you - I love you. In folklore you are a corpse that rises from the grave during the night, and for nourishment or pleasure sucks the blood of humans. Various talismans and herbs supposedly avert vampires, but, according to tradition, they can be destroyed only by cremation by stakes driven through their hearts. You like people to have high or even intimidated feelings towards you. You love to gloat - but pretend to be modest. Definitely the slyest and most elegant of all of the creatures, your dark mystery and painful passion attracts all to your bed and mouth. Marry me you hot beast.
Toreador-- Of all clans, Toreador are the vampires most
connected to the mortal world. While other
vampires view the kine as pawns or simple
sustenance, Toreador glide gracefully and
effortlessly through the society of the
Canaille, sampling the delights of each age as
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Very true. I cannot stand women that are stuckup about their "maturity" (a sign of immaturity if you ask me). I like women that can still enjoy lollipops, stuffed animals, video games, comics, cookies, candy, ice cream and all kinds of other nice "childish" things. I have high amibitions in this life but that does not mean I will ever give up my inner child and I do not want my girl to do that either. Do not get me wrong, I do want a girl that is driven, motivated, cultured, loves to travel, etc... but one that does not allow that to define her entire personality. Life is full of happy and tragic moments - but no matter what is happening, I want a mate that can still derive pleasure from simple, childlike activities. I guess as a Gemini (not big on astrology but my sign agrees with me) I want it all - the adult pleasures of operating on a person's eye, financial independence, world travel, opera, museums, drinking a fine merlot, etc. coupled with being able to dress up and go to clubs, goth concerts, play video games, blow bubbles in a park while eating ice cream, etc. :)
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