Now I Feel Like A Copycat

Looks like Jason and I decided to post on the same week.  It was my plan all along, I swear!  Below the fold are some excuses and some facts about my life.



Hey guys.  It's been a while.  I know you haven't seen a text post from me in even longer than you haven't seen a post from me, but this is really all I can manage right now.  I enjoy doing videos more for several reasons, first of which is the fact that I'm illiterate and my roommate has to write out all my text posts.  The second reason is when I talk out loud about my week I seem to remember more and get more excited, which is good for my continued posting.  The downside to a video is that the stars have to align for me to successfully post one.

• My roommate can't be home
• I have to not have class for the next 4 hours (about how long it takes to record and edit)
• I have to get out my camera, stack a bunch of books on my desk, and perch it on top (no tripod)

Since these three boxes (and their relatives) are seldom checked, it's very easy for me to say "Ugh, I can't make a video right now.  Maybe next week."  And we see how that has worked for this past while.  Even when I really intend to post (like that time I commented on Derek's post) I just...don't.  So it's going to be text for a while I think.

I've started taking an MCAT prep course.  This is tough for me for a few reasons.  First it's a 20 hr./wk commitment.  That's madness if you're taking a full course-load like a dumbass (read: Rich Posert, professional dumbass, DDS), not quite as mad if you're only working part-time like most other people in the course.  Another reason is the fact that in the group class sections...well it's time for me to sound cocky.  I know more science than 84% of the people there (according to a test, not just me, I swear!).  I still get valuable stuff out of it, but not enough to merit the 4 hours every Wednesday.  Third, my tutor has been talking to me about how the workload essentially doubles second semester.  My coursework also doubles in the spring.  Yippee!  Finally, I'm not really sure I want to be a doctor anymore.  This is the toughest one for me, and it's basically 73.2% of what I think about right now.  I'm not sure I want to interact with patients.  I'm not sure I want to be in what is essentially a service industry.  I have yet to meet a doctor with a good relationship with their children.  In my mind my alternative career is a professor, but this has its own slew of cons.  I don't know.  Very disconcerting.

I've started to write up the paper for what I did over the summer.  Data still hasn't finished rolling in, nor have I started analyzing it, but the intro and materials & methods sections are going well.  Should be publishable.  I've returned to playing basketball with my old lab-mates (I hurt my ankle a few weeks back pretty bad).  That's a good reliever of stress.

Liz broke up with me.  That's about all I have to say about that here.

Upsides: 

My history class (Legalization of Europe) is really awesome.  I've always been interested, both philosophically and historically, in how laws and their preeminence as problem-solving machinery came about.  

My biochem classes are some of the best experiences I've ever had.  The first week we read a paper about an experiment trying to figure out how the first cells came about, which is a really fascinating problem.  How do you trap shit inside that started outside?  How do you replicate a membrane?  How do you move things without protein?!  And we've looked at even more awesome stuff after that.  Let me know if you want to see some of the papers we've read.

I've been playing some really fun video games, namely XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Morrowind (OLD SCHOOOOOOOLLLLL).

I've been drinking a lot of coffee, which I love.

I've been having lots of good sandwiches, which I love.

I've been reading lots of books, which I love.

This week's theme song would have been:

I hope I can keep doing this with you guys.

-Rich