Homemade: The Sequel

The applesauce did turn out better. It was quite satisfying getting the desired result and cathartic to do all the preparation. It was a good break from studying, and by that I mean it was one of a long series of activities that kept me from doing anything academic today. Sami, a friend from school, called today and mentioned that of his intended 2 hours a day studying over break, he's done a cumulative total of 5 minutes. Makes me feel better about my lack of progress. Also making me feel better is knowing I'm a lot more caught up and comfortable with the current material than I was at the end of last block. I'm also on break, which I have been able to enjoy.

I'm on a walk right now (in 29 degree weather) and realized that I don't have to cut the walk short. A week or so ago, I finally got over respiratory issues I had had for ~6 weeks and I guess I'm still in the sore throat mindset. I was thinking a few weeks ago that I never appreciate health and the ability to get outside and do things until I'm sick, so it's nice to have this reminder of how good it is to be well.

Today I found a local company that could give me the same type of sailing class I'll be taking in FL for about a tenth the price, but I'm glad I'll get to do a mini vacation this winter. And the local company could help in the future not only with classes but with boat rental on some area reservoirs. It was an exciting realization today that I would be able to go sailing whenever I want after this winter since I'll really know how.

The temperature has dropped 2 degrees since I started and I've had to let my hands and iPhone warm up a couple of times, so I'm going to have to break this off now before my fingers do likewise.

Scott

Post-Thanksgiving

I'm happy to say that after all that dinner and a plate full of pie,
I'm still well within my normal ten-pound weight range. It was good
seeing family and friends again. I wish I had spent time with Dad, but
I realized if I don't make plans (or, more accurately, if people don't
make plans for me) to spend time with someone, it probably won't happen.
Today, my plan is to muster up motivation and get through a lot of
that reading. I'm stuck at home 'til my door lock gets fixed since I
can barely get the key in and turn it.
Scott

Homemade

I bought 10 pounds of oranges to make fresh juice and 15 pounds of apples to make applesauce. I must have had the juicer backwards; the three scant pints in my pitcher is an insipid contrast to the gallon of juicy pulp in the trash. At least cleaning the juicer offered a good challenge. I'm assuming "do not submerge," is more a suggestion.

Anyway, the applesauce is bound to turn out better. All I have to do is wash, peel, cube, boil, mash, and properly sweeten and spice 18 galas. That's cake compared with feeding orange slices into a juicer. Interspersed with the above culinary adventure and doing some much-needed cleaning, I blazed through eight of the 100 pages I need to finish this week. Overwhelming progress, I know. I'm going to pace myself better tomorrow. In all honesty, though, I was proud of how much I accomplished today, both academically and domestically. Here's to hoping this becomes a trend.

Scott

Sailing course

Yesterday I spent a while signing up for a Learn to Sail course with
Offshore Sailing School. On December 27th, I'll go to St. Petersburg,
FL and spend thee days there. I'm pretty excited, but I've still got a
month of school to tackle before then.

Delayed Newsletter

Once again, several months have elapsed since my last monthly newsletter, so I want to let you all know how I'm doing. I've decided to try the blog format instead of sending out the newsletter via email. My current plan is to blog at least once a week and write a monthly summary of what's going on. I'll then email everyone on my newsletter recipient list to let you know the newsletter's been posted. As usual, I'll try to keep everything concise after this.

Beginning with what I should have mentioned in the April-May timeframe, I've rethought my religious beliefs. To categorize what I believe now, I would say I'm agnostic (I don't see enough evidence either to believe or not believe in spiritual things). If you want to know specifics, please send me an email; I'd rather not elaborate here.

To recap somewhat, I have started my second year and the status is quo. I've realized that waxing and waning of motivation, of comprehension of material, and of morale is the norm. Thus, I should not expect that getting used to med school will cause me to have consistently high motivation, etc. I've (re)realized that what I will get used to will be the roller coaster effect, so I shouldn't get in a tailspin during the down times, thinking that I still don't have a handle on med school when I should by this point. I've made it this far and I'm actually doing fairly well.

We started a new block last week, so we're learning about the endocrine system (hormones, the organs that make them, and the effects they have in the body). With this new block comes a renewed sense of being able to stay on top of my studies. So far, I'm doing this relatively well, except I just spent too much time this weekend on leisure activities than I should have. My goal is to be deliberate about the use of my time and in general work on my self discipline. My lack of discipline has shown itself in various ways such as the aforementioned misuse of a weekend and the uncleanliness of my apartment (I think more mildew would be growing in the bathroom if it weren't scared off by how dirty it is in there).

Yesterday, I found a blog by a girl who is trying to set the record for youngest solo, unassisted, non-stop global circumnavigation (sailing around the world). She started on October 18th, so I had just over a month's worth of reading to do (part of my misspent weekend). The reason I'm so interested in this is I want to go on long-term sailing trips and I'd like to vicariously experience what she's doing. It will be exciting following her progress, and I hope it will motivate me not only to do what I can now to get ready for future sailing, but also to stay dedicated to the task at hand, i.e. preparing for my other dream of being a doctor.

I'll try to be more diligent about future updates. Thanks for reading.

Scott