Here I am, all excited about the new semester, motivated, ready to work hard. And there's nothing to do. Funny how that happens. I'm not complaining, but I don't like to be idle. I get bored quickly with inactivity, and while I don't necessarily want to be doing school all the time, it does tend to ward off boredom. So I've been making a great effort to be productive with my time, and the last 10 days have been fantastic in that regard. However, each passing day I find myself wasting just a little more time than the day before.

Okay, I exaggerated in that paragraph. School has been taking time, maybe even more than last semester, primarily because I've been attending classes. So that's three to four hours a day right there, and then some reading after class. That still leaves about 8 or 9 hours each day that I have to occupy. Am I in med school? I guess so, but most of the time it doesn't feel like it. Or maybe it's just that I don't feel like I thought I'd feel as a med student. I remember in college being freaked and excited at the same time, thinking that I'd be some sleep-deprived zombie with no life who has his head in a book for 12 hours a day. It's a good thing it's nothing like that, because I've found that I'm inept at studying for long periods of time unless I have a significant amount of pressure on me to do so (e.g. the day before a test).

As for as productivity, I've been keeping busy doing the things I said I was going to do in my last post. I'm in the midst of reading 5 books right now. I should probably just read one at a time, finish it, then get onto the next one, but for some reason I can't do that. I think I got that trait from my dad. If I open a book, I usually get interested and read a few chapters, then I'll end up picking up another one the next day and doing the same. Before I know it I'm reading a bunch of books and it takes forever to finish any of them. I'm actually doing well to just keep it at five.

I had a great day at the free clinic on Saturday. We had a fun group, and the two M3s let me talk to the patient and present the case to the doctor a few times. Working at the free clinic is really a great learning experience, and I absolutely love the patients. They're funny, respectful, grateful, non-compliant (hehe), and terrified of needles (deep down, who isn't?). My goal is to try and go every weekend this semester, except when I'm out of town for races (only once or twice) and for that conference in April. I know that's ambitious, but there's no reason (laziness, but that' not a good one) why I shouldn't be able to. It's a lot better than wasting time watching TV or browsing the internet.

The water crisis in Jackson has been a nuisance, but I don't want to complain about it. It made me realize that I've always taken running water for granted, when I know that many many people in this world don't have it. I'm blessed, and thankful for what I have, but I am happy that the water is back on. It makes life much less complicated.

I've been hanging out with Belhaven friends a good bit recently as well. That's been great. I don't like losing touch with people, especially when only live two miles away. It's always very interesting to me to see how relationships change over time. How I'll hang out with a certain group for a few months, then inexplicably won't see them for months, then I'll start hanging out with them again as if we never stopped. That happened more in college than it does now, but I think it will happen.