Learn to Sail Course Trip Debriefing

I had high hopes for elaborating in flowery language about all my numerous experiences, but right now I'm not in the mood after spending forever editing one of my pictures. So, for now, I'm just posting some of the photographs.

Here's where I stayed. It's not as haunted as it looks in this picture.

This is the Colgate 26 we used. Fun little boat.

My battle wound after the first day of class. In case you're wondering, this is the photo I took so long editing. I photoshopped some pants on so as not to subject you to the sight of me in naught but my boxers.

The boat from forward, Gail at the helm, Rob below the mainsail. If you're really paying attention, you'll notice the outboard is lowered and running. We had almost no wind at the end of this last day and wanted to get back in.

Gail let me steal the helm real quick to get a picture. No, this wasn't the only time I had the tiller.

Stupid new shoes. This is what three days of being sockless in non-broken-in leather shoes will do to you when you've got sweaty feet. The lower two are torn blisters.

 

Sailing Course Day 1 Down

My sailing course finally started yesterday. I'm staying at a B and B a couple blocks from the marina where the boat is docked. Diane, the lady running the B and B, makes delicious breakfast and then I'm on my own for lunch and dinner. I'm working on some stuffed French toast right now.

Yesterday was great. The instructor said the winds were really high for beginners, but I had a blast. Not sure I can say the same for my classmate Gail. She has almost no experience and was expecting balmy Florida weather, so she was freezing and frustrated by the end of the day. I hope it doesn't sound too cutthroat, but it was nice having someone who knew less than I did to show me how much I know. It was also good that I screwed up a few times to put me in my place. Oh, well. I'm trying to be patient with Gail and encourage her. It helps to put on my patient tutor face, which is a good filter for the "well, duh" thoughts I have.

Well, breakfast is over and I have to get to class.

Scott

Year-End Wrap-Up

I'd like this post to do double duty as a monthly newsletter, but seeing as I'm actually writing it a month after the last one, that would be too inconsistent with my MO. Also, since it's not the typical
newsletter, I ran rather long - apologies.

Compared with a year ago, I'm doing very well. I was burned out at the end of my first semester and stayed that way through the second semester. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, second semester was tough. Knowing what I know now, I think being in a study group and spending more time with people would have helped, but I didn't devote much thought to such things and I didn't have the motivation to make changes. I did well enough to get through the semester, but I'm worried about how well I understand and remember the information. I'll get back to that, though.

I don't recall much of my brief summer off hand, but it was helpful to have a break and hit third semester with a fresh start. Before summer, during second semester, it actually had occurred to me to get involved with a study group and in the newness of third semester, I finally had time to consider it more and implemented the idea. I joined up with a good group of dedicated, mature students who helped keep me on the study bandwagon with their Saturday morning meetings. Toward the end of the semester, students and faculty/administration started waving the banner of board prep with a vengeance. The boards are a set of tests that gauge our progress and are mandatory to become a doctor. We take step one, the first test of three, after the second year (in six months). It assesses how well we learned all the basic medical sciences in the two lecture-based years. My school requires a passing score on step one before we're allowed to progress to the two years of clinically-based learning.

I'm not as worried about passing as I am about earning a competitive score; boards not only allow me to advance in my medical training, they'll also be one of the factors used to evaluate my application when I apply for residency, which is where I'll finally learn to be a surgeon. So, now that I've started getting the upper hand in this battle against med school, I'm reminded that I need to go beyond studying the material at hand and review everything I was so glad to have put behind me. I mentioned earlier that I'm not confident with how well I learned past material; I feel like I'm good at test taking and don't study well for long-term comprehension. I'm hoping my study of the next four systems courses plus my board review cover everything well enough not only to prepare me for boards but to make me feel like I'm prepared for boards.

In non-school (i.e., pleasant) news, I'll be cramming the rest of the prereading for my sailing course into the next two days since I leave early Sunday and the class starts Monday morning. Tomorrow (actually, later today, Saturday), amidst reading the sailing book, I'll be frantically and inefficiently packing, buying last-minute sundries, and debating whether to drive myself or ask my neighbor to take me to the airport at 11 tomorrow night (so I can catch the 12:59 flight on Sunday morning. Yes, I meant EARLY Sunday).

After this mini vacation, I'll need to select a board test date, organize my apartment, get cracking with board review, and prepare for next semester. In addition to getting used to the emotional roller coaster that is med school, I'm adding the skill of getting refreshed from short breaks. By the time of graduation day two and a half years from now, I might be close to knowing how to handle med school.

Scott

Only 11 Days Left

That's until the semester's over, not 'til I go sailing (sailing is 18
days away). At this point, it's hard to say which is more important to
me. I'm back to having no motivation to study. My latest thing is to
end up napping for a couple hours in the evening instead of the half
hour I intend to do. It couldn't be because I stay up late and get up
early; maybe it's an endocrine problem (if only I'd been studying, I
might know what it is). I'm hoping I'm just having another temporary
low point and that I'm also just ready for another break. I was
looking forward to this second half of this block and staying on top
of things, but somehow I'm doing worse with that than I was for the
first half of the block. I'm really grateful for my study group. I
hate showing up not knowing anything and not being able to contribute
to the group, and right now that's the only reason I've got a textbook
open in front of me instead of my laptop with the Lord of the Rings
movies playing (technically, I've got my iPhone in front of me to type
this, then the textbook on the table with my laptop behind that, but I
swear I just plan on looking at lecture notes, not movies. Hmm,
movies, that's a good idea - no, just kidding, I'm studying). I did
get a boost today - we had a review session for one of the smaller
courses for which we have the final next week and I was pretty
confident with the concepts. Every little bit helps.

A few days ago, I decided it was time to get back into physical
activity, so I did stairstepper at my apartment's workout area and
followed it by trying to work out my lats, but managed to strain my
brachiales on both sides (muscles that bend the elbows). I noticed
today that the soreness is pretty much gone, so after exercising for
the second time this week by running on the treadmill, I did
triceps and pecs. I felt pretty buff benching less than a third my
body weight. Oh, well. Gotta start somewhere.

In gloomier news, we heard about coping with patient death and
considerations regarding suicide for two hours in school yesterday.
Focusing on death for so long made me realize that I've never before
feared death because I had certainty of what would happen afterward and I
wasn't too focused on the things I wanted to in life. Now I do fear
death, since I have no idea what it will bring and there are so many
things I want to experience in life. I had a strong desire to run home, curl up on the couch
and watch all 12 hours of Lord of the Rings so I could connect with
Frodo's difficult journey. I'm better now without my professors
harping on the subject.

On that light note, I need to stop delaying and start reading. As I've
mentioned, finals are coming up. Indeed, the last simulated patient
interaction (an examination) for the semester is tomorrow. Anyway, I
may not post much until the titular 11 days have passed.

High winds and rough seas (for calm seas do not make a skilled sailor).

Scott

Post-test Monday

I just remembered December 7th is an important day - Pearl Harbor Day. It seems to have arrived without much fanfare, but it's good to remember the men and women who died 68 years ago and the events that lead to the US joining the War, little though I know about the whole thing.

I'm between classes right now, so this will be brief. The midterm was rough. On the last test I took before it, I was even less comfortable with the info, but I knew that I hadn't studied much for it so my poor performance didn't phase me. For the midterm, I felt like I was well prepared for it, and when I didn't feel very comfortable while taking the test, my morale took a hit. Everyone seems to have had a hard time with it, though, so it could have just been a hard test. It doesn't encourage me to study, though, when there doesn't seem to be much payoff on the test. I'm pushing on, though, since I know not studying is worse than studying in any case.

Class started again, so bye for now.

Scott

Endocrine midterm

I have been busy studying hard for our first exam in the endocrine block (first thing tomorrow morning). I don't know everything by any means, but I feel like I've seen most of the material and should do fairly well. When I don't think about all the information I haven't addressed yet, I feel proud of how much more I understand the current material than I did the material in our last block. I've rather shot myself in the foot, though: I set up appoinents to tutor some first-year students in anatomy on Saturday and since I don't remember all of the anatomy they are covering right now, I'll be reviewing that after the test instead of taking the evening off. I say "evening" instead of "rest of the day" because after the test we have two lectures followed by a lab covering all the physical examination techniques we have learned this semester, so there'll be no rest for the weary. At lest until Saturday night, that is. I need to get some sleep (hopefully that hasn't been too apparent in this post), so I'm calling it a night.

Scott