it's good to be a guy

so, today i had one of those moments where something completely obvious but heretofore unnoticed suddenly becomes apparent to you. like, for example, the morning i realized that the word "deodorant" was, in effect, "de-odorant," i.e. something that removes odor. previous to that epiphanous moment, someone could have divided the word as deodo-rant and i would not have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

anyway, this morning i was frantically trying to catch up on neuroanatomy when i came across the term "epidural." epidurals are perhaps most famous as those fearsome shots administered to expectant mothers delivering their babies in order to numb their pain. well, it turns out that the dura mater is a membrane that covers the central nervous system--not just the brain, as i had previously though. the epidural space is that thin sliver of space immediately outside of the dura, containing mostly fatty tissue, lymphatics, and tangles of veins (in the spinal region). an injection of local anesthetic into this epidural space produces a so-called "saddle" nerve block, aka a paravertebral nerve block. and this is why women receive epidurals, although my mom was a soldier and decided to go without one for both me and my sister. which is why i'm a soldier too.