Lab
Started the PhD portion of my MD/PhD today and so far so good. I was a bit nervous because I haven't ran an experiment for awhile but luckily all I had to do was a pull-down. I'm glad I wasn't incompetent on my first day back! That said, I'm sure the next month will be a steep learning curve. I have to take over someone's project (meaning learn mouse genetics/how to keep colonies alive) AND I have to help someone else out with there project. I'm excited though! I've always been good with my hands and it's just nice not having to bury my nose in books all the time.
I'm currently reading Michael Au's book and it's AMAZING. I LOVE narrative medicine and yes....I consider it leisurely reading. It's weird how a test distorts your perceptive but I actually had a good time cleaning, shopping, writing emails, and updating my life today. I guess mundane stuff becomes "fun" when you don't get to do them that often. On a side note....I especially look forward to doing my laundry and washing my car this weekend. Oh and Raging Waters! My mom got discount tickets so we are taking my baby sister! It's been like 5 years since I've been to a water park so this is very exciting.
What is not so exciting is searching for a paper to present for journal club. At my institution, we have summer MD/PhD journal clubs. This would be fine if all I had to do was talk about a paper but these "journal clubs" are suppose to prepare you for prelims so I have to use a paper to come up with a project, present a hypothesis, specific aims, methods, etc etc...all of which will be butchered by faculty members on the day I present. Nerve wracking hardly describes the experience. Thus, I have decided to suppress my feelings...just as I am suppressing my feelings about Step 1...Instead, I'm researching road bikes.
For those who know me, I'm not a hardcore athlete nor particularly athletic at all. Yes, I sometimes go to the gym but mostly, I eat a lot of cake/ice cream. I think I mainly take up these things because a) grad school culture here is very athletically oriented and I'm like a first grader wanting to be cool/accepted and b) I love a challenge. For instance, on a dare, I ran the LA marathon my senior year of college....Perhaps I'm just narcissistic...who knows. At least I'm excited about spending extraordinary amounts of money on a sport I'm not sure I'll even like yet!
I'm currently reading Michael Au's book and it's AMAZING. I LOVE narrative medicine and yes....I consider it leisurely reading. It's weird how a test distorts your perceptive but I actually had a good time cleaning, shopping, writing emails, and updating my life today. I guess mundane stuff becomes "fun" when you don't get to do them that often. On a side note....I especially look forward to doing my laundry and washing my car this weekend. Oh and Raging Waters! My mom got discount tickets so we are taking my baby sister! It's been like 5 years since I've been to a water park so this is very exciting.
What is not so exciting is searching for a paper to present for journal club. At my institution, we have summer MD/PhD journal clubs. This would be fine if all I had to do was talk about a paper but these "journal clubs" are suppose to prepare you for prelims so I have to use a paper to come up with a project, present a hypothesis, specific aims, methods, etc etc...all of which will be butchered by faculty members on the day I present. Nerve wracking hardly describes the experience. Thus, I have decided to suppress my feelings...just as I am suppressing my feelings about Step 1...Instead, I'm researching road bikes.
For those who know me, I'm not a hardcore athlete nor particularly athletic at all. Yes, I sometimes go to the gym but mostly, I eat a lot of cake/ice cream. I think I mainly take up these things because a) grad school culture here is very athletically oriented and I'm like a first grader wanting to be cool/accepted and b) I love a challenge. For instance, on a dare, I ran the LA marathon my senior year of college....Perhaps I'm just narcissistic...who knows. At least I'm excited about spending extraordinary amounts of money on a sport I'm not sure I'll even like yet!
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