Looking to the future...

I loved college. And I love college students. This is why I have mixed emotions about my future. On one hand, I'm incredibly excited about my future schooling and career in medicine and science, but I also know that in about two months I'll be leaving my home of five years, Belhaven College. This saddens me, as I've had an amazing time here.

Unlike the typical student, I never suffered from senioritis. In some ways, I wasn't ready to be done. The issue wasn't that I didn't feel mature or responsible enough to be in the real world. The problem (and blessing) was, I was enjoying myself tremendously, and I didn't want it to end. I made amazing friendships in college, and a major reason why I decided to work at Belhaven was to continue to deepen those.

I've always been the type to be content with the stage of life I'm in. If anything, I look to the future. I don't dwell on the past, and it could even be said that I forget about it too easily. Those who have known me in different stages of my life would say that I am terrible at keeping in contact with them, and regrettably, this is the case. I get caught up with what's going on in the present, and sometimes forget to stay up to date with friends. I'm working on this.

I know that I'm not moving far to attend medical school. I'll still be able to hang out with my current friends at times. My life will be completely different, though, and not knowing exactly what it will be like is a source of some anxiety to me. What I have been working through recently is learning to trust God in everything, which is much easier said than done. I like Matthew 6:25-34 for this, and of course, Philippians 3:6-7.

Whenever You Call

Completely random post just because I'm bored at work. I'm listening to "Whenever You Call" by Mariah Carey and Brian McKnight, and I love it! I'm not afraid to say that I'm a sucker for songs like that.

Something I've realized recently is that I've been living an extremely selfish life for the past few months. I know I continually have ups and downs in this regard, but this has been a rather long drought. I'm an Assistant Resident Director at a college, and am supposed to be there for the residents, to care for them, to be a mentor, to assist them, etc.

It seems like I've been part of a clique, and that I haven't been reaching out much to those outside of it. I rarely ask how people are doing, and when I do, I don't genuinely care about their answer. I've been a shallow friend in many ways. This is something I've been convicted about, and the last few days I've been making a real effort to have some deeper conversations with people, to see how they're really doing underneath the surface. And I've loved it! God works in amazing ways, and I'm glad that He brought this issue to my attention.

I've started memorizing a fair amount of Scripture lately, and yesterday I memorized Philippians 2:1-4, which pertains to the issue in this post.

Favorite News Post

The best news post that I've seen today was on MSN, titled, "Woman subdues suspected car thief with a wedgie." You have to love that.

RA Interviews

I have a busy day ahead of me today. Early morning (7:30 AM) work, get done here at 11:30, then head back to school to interview 8 prospective Resident Assistants for next year's staff. We have a total of 24 applicants for 12 spots. It's a shame that a good number of excellent applicants will be turned down, but such is life. They'll learn from the rejection, and hopefully apply again next year. On the upside, I don't think it's possible for us to have anything but an amazing men's residence hall staff next year. It's a shame that I won't be here to work with them.

Mornings are tough sometimes. I'm convinced that it has everything to do with sleep cycles. One night I'll get 8 hours and feel exhausted when I wake up, the next day I'll feel great on 6 hours. This morning my alarm clock summoned me out of an extremely deep sleep, and it wasn't fun to leave my comforter.

The Reasons

Okay, so off the top of my head, here are a few reasons for this blog:

1) My family likes to know details, and when I talk with them, I always forget the little things. This is for them.

2) I'm terrible at keeping up with friends, but I am trying to get better at this. This is my effort to stay connected. This is for them.

3) Sometimes you either don't have anybody to talk to, or don't want to talk to anybody about things. You just need to vent. You know how that is. So this is for me.

Getting started...

Why am I starting a blog? That is a good question. I had no plans to do so, and even now I wonder if it will be a waste of time, which will soon become a precious commodity to me. But I guess I can get started with this thing while I have time to burn.

First off, the name of my blog site. Madphad? What the heck is that? Well, it contains the letters MD and PhD, which are the degrees I am going to school for seven years to earn. Usually the crazies who enroll in these programs are referred to as Mudphuds, but I think Madphad is more appropriate; we really are mad. The reason I include the letters in the name of my site is because, once I get started this fall, the majority of my posts will likely concern my experiences in the program.