It's been a great week of relaxation. Med school is interesting like that. It's busy for a little while, and then it eases off. I don't mind the cycles, because there's never an intolerably long stretch of craziness. Two out of the however many weeks of school thus far have been busier than I would have liked, but overall, I can honestly say that I was busier for at least half of my college career than I've been during this first semester at UMC. Junior year at Belhaven I literally didn't have time to sleep much more than 6 hours a night. That's back when I was an overly ambitious, new pre-med doing everything. In med school thus far, I've realized that I'm pretty much going to get nothing done unless I have a test in the next few days. I try to study, but nothing really goes in. So I've been skimming notes as things are taught, then I cram for a few days before the test. It's not ideal, but it will have to do until I can get myself to do more when there is no pressure.

Next few days I'll be studying for our Biochem test on Wednesday, then directly after that I'll be embarking on my four-day road trip to Houston and Austin. As much as possible, I'm going to try and forget completely about studying during that time, but if Pedro needs to study some (which he probably will), we might hit up a bookstore for a couple of hours a day. For the most part, though, I hope to eat some good food (Texas de Brazil!), see the sights, take some pictures (if the digital camera I ordered gets here by Wednesday), and chill.

Let's see, what have I done last few weeks?

Hmm... Running has been going well. Last 3 weeks my mileage has been between 56 and 60 miles per week. A number of friends from Belhaven (including the men's and women's cross country teams) are going to be running the Madison Half Marathon on December 12, and I've challenged some of them to beat me. Should be a fun race, haha.

I've seen a number of movies, most of them mediocre. I watched New Moon on Friday night (there wasn't anything else out worth seeing that I hadn't seen), and it was shocking to see how crazed people were about it. The lines were insanely long, and when they started letting people into the theater, a lot of the females in line began squealing/screaming. Pretty ridiculous. There were a few women ahead of us in line probably in their fifties who were saying they couldn't wait to see Jacob shirtless. Weird.

I haven't been around the UMC campus too much recently. Physiology classes have started back up, but other than that and a few random mandatory classes and labs, I haven't been going to much. In hindsight, I am extremely happy that I wasn't elected president of our class. If I had been, I probably could not be this uninvolved without feeling guilty. The Free Clinic is always fun when I go, but more often than not, I'm the only one from my class there, so that doesn't help me socialize with the class. I definitely like all of my classmates, but I'm not going to go to class just to see people. And I enjoy studying with Belhaven friends because they're very laid back (e.g. Pedro, haha).

Anyways, I need to go to sleep. I have a mandatory Phys class at 8AM. I went to the early service at Church this morning, so this will be two consecutive days of waking up at 7. It's been a long time since that's happened (1st week of med school maybe?)

Things are chugging right along. Time is flying by, and that's fine with me. Every day that passes is getting me closer to Thanksgiving break and then the big one, Christmas! I'm not sick of school, I just really want to get out of Jackson and be spontaneous for a change.

During Thanksgiving break I'm loosely "planning" on either going to Atlanta for 4 days or to Houston and Austin for 2 days each. This'll be with Pedro, a friend of mine from Belhaven. See the sights, maybe go to a concert or two, maybe an NBA game, etc. Basically, the goal will be to get my mind off of med school for 4 days before we have to get back and start cramming for cumulative finals and board exams.

The last week has been the most hectic of med school for me thus far. It wasn't stressful, but I did study more than usual. And did it pay off? We'll see. I felt like the anatomy tests today went fairly well, but the grade improvement (if there is one) will probably not be big enough to justify the extra time spent studying.

So, after a good post-test workout and run, I was on my way to the store to do some shopping, and I got to thinking. Is there really any reason to go all out for As in classes? I don't think so. There's a huge amount of material covered on each exam, and in order to get an A on a test, you need to study a whole lot and know almost all of the material (unless you're lucky or the test happens to be easy). However, making a B on a test is not that difficult, and doesn't require nearly as much studying. This is because every test has a good number of easy questions, and then several questions that test minutiae that you probably won't know unless you've put a lot of work in. Yes, there are people in my class who study relentlessly and make all As. I'm happy for them. But I don't want to be like that. As for me, my goal will be to get a B in every class, have minimal stress, and still be a human being outside of medical school (which means taking part in the activities listed in prior blogs). I think this has been my mindset this whole semester, but I just hadn't thought about it. And I'm sure I'll get some As this semester and next, but that'll just be icing on the top of the cake. But no Cs. If that happened, I'd have to change things up.

So that's that. Nothing much of note has happened. I watched the New York City Marathon on Sunday morning, and that was highly motivational. I've made up my mind to run the New Orleans Half Marathon in late February, and then possibly the Boston Marathon in late April. I really want to run Boston, since that's THE marathon to do, but I don't want to go by myself. Finding someone to run it with would be ideal, but I'd settle for a friend who would just accompany me up there for a good time. I'm not in terrible shape right now, but I've just been maintaining a base of between 40 and 50 miles per week. Not really killing myself in workouts. Now I'm excited about running again. I might go out and run 10 tomorrow afternoon, because the weather is absolutely gorgeous here these days.

3 weeks since my last post. Not too bad, hehe. Things have been chugging along at the pretty good clip here in Jackson. Not a whole lot of variety in my life right now, other than the daily change in location of my studying. I've been alternating between home, the library, Books-a-million, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Cups, and the Belhaven Student Center. I'm going to tack on another few locations eventually, maybe the Lemuria bookstore and Sneaky Beans.

We're in the midst of the busiest few weeks of the semester, with the possible exception of the week before the anatomy board exam, and I like to think the worst is behind us. And to think that that's the worst it's going to get this year. HAH. It isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

Tests are a funny thing. At least that's the case in med school. You think you're prepared, and you don't do well, and then you think you're not prepared, and you do well. That's what happened to me with the anatomy tests today. Going in, I felt much better about the written test, but I think I ended up doing much better on the practical. The written just happened to test everything I didn't know. I'm going to estimate that I made educated guesses on close to half of the 70 questions, which means that I'd be content if I passed it. Normally, I don't like it if I'm not positive about an answer, but by the end of that test I had been guessing so often that it didn't even bother me any more. It was actually pretty funny.

I was in a good mood after the tests, probably because they were over, and headed over and got in a great 2-hour workout with Pedro, a Brazilian friend from Belhaven that I've been hanging out with a good bit recently.

So overall, things are going great. I'm enjoying most of my classes, getting plenty of sleep (little behind from last night, but I'm catching up tonight), running around 50 miles per week, working out three times a week, going to the movies every Friday, trying out one or two new restaurants each week with Pedro, and going to the Jackson Free Clinic about every other week. I'm certainly not at the top of the class, but that was never my goal. I feel like I'm learning the material, but at the same time having a balanced, enjoyable, low-stress life. God is very good, and He continues to sustain me. Church and CMDA on Tuesdays are always a great break from everything.

It's sad that there's no fall break in medical school. It would've been nice. So now I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, when I'll hopefully leave town for a few days. I have no idea where, but I'd love to just go somewhere random for 3 or 4 days and get completely out of this environment. Maybe go skiing. Hahah, that'd be awesome. We shall see. With such a scheduled lifestyle, it'd be very nice to be able to be completely spontaneous for a few days.

So that's that. Maybe I'll update on here more frequently.

Quick update on what's been going on, because I'm about to head out the door to hang out with a friend from Belhaven (Pedro!!).

It's been a good week. The biggest two things that happened, in my mind, were the first gross anatomy tests and the braces. The tests went fairly well. I did better than I thought I would do, considering how under prepared I felt the night before. I didn't get an A on the two tests combined, but it was close enough. What I did learn was that I need to review for a little while longer in the lab before the practical. Personally, I think I should be doing better on the practical portion than on the written (should be easier, if you're prepared!).

The braces haven't been as bad as I thought. Of course, a heightened sense of self-consciousness accompanied them, but I'm pretty much used to them now. It's funny, everyone has been sharing with me their stories with braces. One thing that frustrated me a whole lot was that I got a loose bracket last night (Friday), which means that I can't get in to get it fixed until Monday. I hope this doesn't happen much, because I was trying so hard to follow every single little rule they told me to (not eating cookies and chips is difficult!). I think I just brushed my teeth a little too vigorously. It's annoying because the bracket is still connected to the wire, but it keeps moving and flipping around. Oh well. Two years from now, I'll probably laugh when I remember how much this annoyed me.

Other than that it's been a fairly relaxing week. After anatomy, my brain was fried, so I haven't really been doing much of anything with regards to school since then. We basically have a three-day weekend (only one class on Monday), so I hope to get a decent bit accomplished.

We had our class elections this week, and I think we have some great officers. I gave my little presidential spiel, and I was honest with the class. I told them why I wanted to do the job, but that, if elected, I would only be able to serve a two-year term because of my MD/PhD status. They ended up choosing someone else, and I think they made the right decision. I was bummed for about 5 minutes when I found out, but that's about it. It would've been great to serve the class in that way, but honestly, I think my heart is more with the community. The free clinic is great when I go (haven't had as much time this semester as I would've liked), but I'm looking for other opportunities. I wish there were a community-outreach-related position that I could have run for, because that's what I'd love to get people interested in. It's too easy to become wrapped up in yourself in medical school.

So that's all I have to say today. Keep voting for the Children's hospital, please (10 times a day for the next month).

http://xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org/default.aspx

We're in second place now. If we get a new game room, I'm going up to play video games with the kids.

Alright, an update is overdue, I admit it. It's been a while, and blogging has been on the backburner for me, primarily because I feel like I have no interesting updates. Things are going great, but it's just been the same-old, same-old stuff.

Anatomy is my favorite class right now. I enjoy studying for it, and the labs are a blast. However, I have had a minor allergic reaction to formaldehyde, which is putting a small damper on things. I'm hoping that the issue will resolve itself shortly. Our first test isn't until two Mondays from now, so I probably be getting behind on it over the next few days in order to study for the upcoming Biochem and Genetics tests (this Tuesday). And I also have to travel to Tupelo tomorrow to run a marathon early on Sunday morning.

So my free time for the weekend will probably consist of the evening off tonight (probably go to the movies), driving to and from Tupelo, and running the marathon. Other than that, I'm going to try and get some good studying in.

Biochemistry isn't too bad. It's not uninteresting material, it's just that I don't feel like it's incredibly relevant to clinical medicine. I know it will help to understand diseases, but I think I could still be a competent doctor if I understood everything from a level above the biochemical level. I need to know this stuff for the big ol' STEP test, though, so I'll learn it, and try to do so happily.

Genetics is interesting to me, despite the fact that I've only attended 1 out of the 6 or 7 lectures we've had. I've been trying to wade through the 350 or so powerpoint slides that we'll be tested on on Tuesday, trying to figure out how much of it I want to learn. I would love to learn it all, but the class as a whole is only 2 percent of our overall grade for the year (biochemistry is 20%), and that will definitely be a factor in my studying.

I've barely thought about developmental anatomy so far. We have a test in it the same day as our anatomy test, so I'll be looking at it next week as well. Again, I know I should be interested in this material, but I'm really not. I think I could do fine without knowing a lot of it.

Physiology will be starting up in the next few weeks. I'm excited about that, both because I love the subject, and because I like all the professors that I've met in the department (except for one, who won't be teaching any of our classes).

Ever since we've started school, I've had this feeling that I want to do more than just study. I want to be involved in things outside of classroom work, and I think that I might just have a chance. We had a lunch today where the M2-M4 class officers came and spoke to us about their roles on campus and within the class. It's been odd, but I've had several people ask me over the last few days if I was going to be running for president. It threw me off, but not because I hadn't considered it before. I just figured that some of the older students in the class would want to do it, and I thought I'd defer to them. But I think I've decided I'm going to run. It's no big deal if I don't get it, and I think I'll run regardless of who runs against me. I'm totally fine if people don't vote for me, but I know that it's something I would enjoy doing, and it would be a great way to serve my fellow classmates.

So that's what I've been doing. School mostly, but also a healthy chunk of free time as well. Definitely enough to keep me sane. Plus, keeping up with the exercise and the 8 hours of sleep per night is invaluable.

I wrote this all very quickly, and I'm too lazy to proofread it right now, so I apologize for the inevitable errors that this blog entry is sure to contain.

So long.

Oh, and an addendum. I went to the orthodontist, and apparently I need braces. I know it's ten years late, and I'll be like a little kid, but whatever. My bite is slightly off on the left and right sides, and if I don't do something about it, apparently the enamel will wear on one side and create a lot of problems later on. So those are going on in 10 days. On the positive side, the orthodontist I happened to go to is a very strong Christian and I know his son, who plays soccer for Belhaven. He said that because I'm medical student, he's giving me a discount. And it's an incredible one.

So, medical school has begun, and it's not too bad. I'm actually starting to enjoy myself. There were a few moments here and there over the last few days where I thought to myself, "What the heck am I doing? I have nothing to look forward to over the next two years except studying. And lots of it." The few times I have felt like this have been immediately after finishing up looking at a book for a few hours. But then I get outside, or go for a run, or do pretty much anything except study, and my perspective returns and all is right in the world again.

It's just been a small adjustment getting back to studying after a year off. Today was great. There was a lecture on biochemisty where a ton of material was covered quickly, and I left feeling slightly confused. However, as soon as I looked at the slides myself, things began to click (maybe it was because I started remembering this stuff that I learned years ago), and I began to have fun. We still have a good bit of material to learn that will be included on our test next Wednesday, but I'm feeling much better about it.

On another note, I'm going to go to the Jackson Free Clinic again this Saturday. I'm looking forward to that. I've decided that I'm going to try and go as much as I can. I'd love it if I could make it over there almost every week (excluding the weekends prior to gross anatomy tests).

So that's how med school has been going thus far. I've been sleeping 8 hours a night and running and working out every day as well. Things are good. Praise God!

I love it how my dad always lets me know when it's time for me to update. It just requires a bit too much effort for me to do this on a regular basis, and there is always something more interesting to do.

It's been a fun week. I worked out a whole lot, which included a few miles of swimming, around 40 miles of biking, 65 miles of running, and three or four hours of weights. That may seem a bit much, and I'll be the first one to admit that, but I justify it by saying that once school starts I won't have the luxury of doing anything near that. I want to keep running, of course, and going to the gym, but it'll probably be more like 3 or 4 miles here, 6 miles there, etc. Just working around classes and studying. I'll still be doing marathons, so I can't slack off completely. This week I'll have a lot of free time, so I want to try and run 80 miles with no biking or swimming. That'll be an all-time high for me.

I capped off my summer lab rotations with a bang. Three out of five of the days I had to stay until 8 PM observing pig surgeries, which were interesting to say the least. I was the lab of a cool, young, Argentinian researcher, and I had a great time hanging out with him and his co-workers. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and willing to teach, even if he was a bit intense during the surgeries. I guess that comes with the territory. One second everything is honky-dory, and the next second things are going wrong and everybody is stressed and freaking out. Oh, the life of a surgeon. It does give you a bit of an adrenaline rush, though, and I like that.

So, my last week of freedom before I hit the grind. I'm looking forward to orientation. I fully expect the sessions to be soporific, but it'll be a nice time to get to know my classmates. And there will be free food, which is always good. I've ordered all the books I think I need, and most of them should be coming in tomorrow or the next day. I hope I'll actually use most of them so I don't feel like I've wasted a small fortune on paper.