Track Dreams

This year has been a crazy year for me. I developed a novel research target, ran a sub 4 minute mile, met and conversed with researchers, got invited to labs and grad programs, re-entered not just the lecture hall, but also the laboratory. And to top it off, I had a ton of fun doing it all too.

But now I am entering a period of transition. To me, my track dreams are too strong to ignore right now. I can run in the Olympics and win. I actually can’t believe I got this damn good at track just like this. The way my life is turning out is unlike anything I could’ve ever imagined would unfold in the way it did. The experiences I have made me stronger. I love myself, I love my institutions and my family and friends and this past week I applied to be on the national team. I’ll update as soon as I hear back. I want to run all the short distances in track and dominate international competition, and if I could do my honours thesis and travel for research at the same time, I don’t even know what to write anymore. It is the ambitions in my mind and fostered by the environment that drive me. I am a strong contributor to science, but I want to continue onwards with science to receive a PhD. Graduate studies would be impeccable for me. Medicine may still be in the cards, as if I am able to publish, my work would be right up there with the others that came before me. Medicine is fine and dandy, but is rife with inherent problems, many of which are avoidable. My research aims to correct at least some of the world’s disease burden. 

I really hope the national team coaches get back to me this month about track development. I was offered to train with a decorated Canadian athletics program, but I have essentially turned it down for now. 

Also I applied for a pretty special scholarship today. Hoping they get back to me as well. 

I’ve got some exams in December but I can’t wait for January. My number 1 priority are finances then track and then school. I need to perform this coming year to put myself in contention for the Pan Am games. This is the life I’ve always wanted and now I’m in the process of doing it. Factually speaking, only a small percentage of humans have ever accomplished what I have. After my groin heals up, I’m looking to run hard. I’m going to attend a track meet in January in the US, and potentially one in December too if I can get right for it. 

I am elated with goals and my life so far. I will continue on with my coursework, research, financial commitments, and track dreams. 

Research Project Proposal

So I just finished applying for a research award, it was tiring because it’s 3am (had dinner out w/ family at a fancy smancy place then just powered through that award application pretty well.

Something really disheartening I heard today is that a researcher I spoke with fund so his lab out of his own pocket. If this stays the way it is, I may not enter graduate school. Why the research budget is so low is a bit troublesome. This is one of the things that concerns me. I’ve had a hectic few months, so tomorrow I’m gonna deal with emails and calls, clean my place and then just watch whatever football game is on. Oh and I’ll push some weight at the gym so I’ll do that since it’s so good for my brain. I might just recharge and study again on Friday. But I might get an hour or two complete tomorrow if there’s something I have to sort out.

So about that

So remember all that stuff about athletic training? Well all of that came true. I can run a world class time pretty easily. So I may pursue this route a bit further. I’m pretty happy and pretty grateful. I have to get some American coaches videotape of me running ( gonna need someone to record me too). I may not run another time like that for 3 months. The reason is to save my body for the stress that will be exhibited. Here’s my plan..Olympics in 2020, no joke. It’s just a bit tricky navigating this process because a lot is at stake. But I’m just wondering, how hard would med school be on my body. I’m not sure if the answer but I’m pretty tired. I’ll post my thoughts on the novel prizes this week as well.

Goodnight and take care.

First day back in the lab

So today is my first day back in the lab. This lab will have implications for my research project. I know oftentimes not everything is black or white, but I really feel like I have to succeed here. Just a bit nervous because I have a busy morning this morning, but I will consolidate my learning before my lab. A lot of the processes I have done, but it's a) been a while and b) pretty rigorous

Nonetheless my game plan is to do some lab prep for an hour or two. In this hour I will determine all of the processes and then write them out from memory. Then after that I will write the quiz, go to the gym, then go see who is in the lab help dropin room. It's been 6 years so I need this right now. But onwards and upwards people. I will never have enough time in medicine. There will be patients' lives that depend upon my diligence and time management skills, either alone or as a part of the team. But I'll try out this lab and see how it goes, after 6 long hard years, I'm ready for this.

Hey yeah

Hey yeah hey hows it going, yeah so blog stuff I don't know. I'm working on a research project. Can't give details. Hoping to lock down some funding for the research. I know I can lock it down but i don't want to wait any longer to lock it down. Working out was going incredibly well before I started the research, and I ran a very fast mile time one day. I have no idea if anyone I've met even reads this blog, but hey yeah life is life and things happen. I can't help but miss certain people in my life. Anyways I have an exam that I'm going to ace this weekend. But the main thing going on in my life is that I'm looking to steer my research project and complete the project. It's looking promising to be honest but I'm aware of how everything can come crashing down in an instant. Anyways I'm up because I ate some junk food around midnight, but aside from once a week, I only eat plants. All food is bad for you. Except plants. And I take a few supppemnts now too. Honestly if you're reading this blog of mine and we have met then you should email me. Just email me to say hi, I'd appreciate talking to you.

Anyways ok so is everyone gearing up for September?
Why do it sound like everyone wants to put it off as long as possible?

Ok so I'll just come out and say it. I am not applying to any Canadian med school except maybe uoft or McGill. I'm going to apply to medical school in the US as that is the country I will enter and live and work in. Studying at a prominent US institution is a dream of mine. But I seriously should work out. I would if it want 3am. Ok also if anyone in Vancouver wants to try a workout buddy like myself then email me.

The research I've done has been incredible so far. It's been an intense few weeks but it feels like years have passed. Does anyone know of any good molecular bio workshops? I can travel anywhere for it. Anyways message me for any variety of things. Except fruit I have no fruit.

Also I've been meeting some Canadian doctors and have not been impressed by everyone. That confirmed my hypothesis that I knew all along. Anyways I'm starting a tutor service message me if you are unable to find the answers yourself. But if you are unable to even send the message then the tutoring might not be worth it. I can't wait to teach in resdiency. I'm such a leader that it's noteve funny (ok that was funny). Vanilla ice cream is delicious by the way.

I'm looking forward to my postbacc (next year?). But anyways I'm doing courses at Harvard that start on aug 28th but depending on the research I may move down ther or somewhere else in the US. (L) take care stay strong in the face of adversity. you'll be doing it every day as a doctor.

All moved in, but not quite settled in

Hey everybody! So I just moved back to Vancouver and boy was moving all of our stuff from our family house a big job. We had lived there for 14 years and I definitely underestimated how big of a move it was. Luckily we saved thousands because we just did all the moving ourselves. But it sure did take a lot of time. 

I did email about 3 faculty asking if any research oppportubities might be available to me. Only one got back to me and he very succinctly said no current opportunities exist. I know 3 is not very many, but i was planning on doing it in a staggered way, in descending order of my preference for the lab. These 3 seemed so great so I was definitely disappointed with the result. I'm not sure if putting that I'm a mature student puts me at a disadvantage or not. I thought one of the professors would've been open to it.

Anyways I'm feeling a little bit apprehensive of if I should get involved with some ECs right away now or wait to have some more courses under my belt in a month. I LOVE the idea of getting involved in ECs again because it has been so long since I did any! I had what I think to be a really great idea for an EC volunteering activity. It's definitely time intensive for a volunteering pursuit, but I'm hoping that that time and dedication will be evident in my application too. But I was certifiably excited to do this EC because it seemed like a really awesome idea to me.

But I'm really hoping I get a volunteer research position by September. By then I'll have all of general Chem and two semesters of organic chem under my belt as well. And I'm hoping to be done a genetics course or two as well. I'm living in downtown Vancouver so if I could get a position at St. Paul's Hospital that would be incredible. I think that'll be my reward, if I finish enough math this week with high enough marks then I might start sending out emails for volunteer research positions at St. Paul's. I think if I read into their research in an in depth way AND email every single researcher then I may stand a chance lol. That'll be my goal for this week. I also have to finish some more of my anatomy course by Monday too. The course is an advanced anatomy course so I figured if I get an A+ that will quell any concerns about my lat B- in my last anatomy and physiology course. I'll post an update at the end of the week. 

End of a pretty good Week, and Lab Cold-Calling

So I have been doing really well of late on staying focused on my courses...like studying all day and all night type of thing. Earlier this year I decided to just step back from other things like the business and just focus on school. I know there is enough time in a week to technically manage both, but I just decided not to make it so hard on myself. I have to walk before I can run anyways, so to speak. But wow the first year sciences are tiring! I forgot how hard these were, and I definitely underestimated them. I've been working on a couple since December, which right now is Gen Chem 1 and Calc 1. And I've been working on Orgo 1 much prior to that as well, but I put that on hold to try to finish Gen Chem 1 first. I don't know if I've posted this on here, but I haven't completed or passed a science course since October of 2011. I did finish a year of first year anatomy and physiology a couple years ago, but I found those courses to be a little bit on the easy side. No math involved. But it feels so good doing these science courses, I got away from them in the past, just to try to get some confidence in other courses because I felt like maybe science was too hard for me. But now I'm definitely getting it pretty well. I'm getting around an 85 in both gen chem 1 and calc 1. But I still have quite  a few marks to get with some more assignments in both, and of course both final exams which are worth 50%. So my mark could literally be anything. I have been chipping away at these courses for some time, but this week felt like a good strong week, because the hours put in of pure learning were strong. There was somewhere around 20-25 hours of pure learning. But that figure doesn't include the "in-between" sort of stuff. The in-between stuff being googling concepts I don't understand and other small things like definitions of words or figuring out their context in how it plays in the big picture of the bigger concept and of the unit of the course, and then relating that to how it fits in biologically for the MCAT. So I don't count all the hours that I'm technically doing homework. But I've just started to write down the amount of hours that are high yield learning. My total school work hours this week are easily over 40 hours because it is all I've been doing all day and all night. And the week isn't even over yet for me!

I really like writing about the "machanics" of studying, specifically in the sciences. Just because I don't think most people talk about this stuff. We might all see the A grade at the end of the semester that someone gets, but for me, I'm so curious as to not just how, but specifically how. What is the process like? What were the exact things you did? It seems to be summed up with practice questions and reading the concepts. But I don't know what the disconnect is, because it has proven to be difficult for so many students who enter first year university, and it will continue to be so. So a great deal of people must end up doing the whole school thing the wrong way. We all know about how in first year bio the prof may ask how many of you want to go to med school and 90% of the class raises their hand. But the attrition rate is pretty high in my experience. That being at a general science program at a general Canadian university. I suppose Mac health sci puts high numbers into medicine, and maybe a couple others at lower rates than Mac health sci? But I'm really thankful for the general default pathway to medicine being at least some courses in the sciences. In the states it's pretty well accepted you have to do first year bio, chem, physics and second year organic chem. You can't really get away from that. And then they will calculate a second "science GPA" which is it's own seperate weighting factor aside from cumulative GPA. Here in Canada prereqs aren't universal, and some people never took the sciences and have just studied the MCAT prep books and have found success. But I don't think that is a formula for success. I'm not saying it is impossible for it to work. But it will hardly be predictably successful for all types of students. At least I don't think so.

My study week isn't over though. I'm going to try to have a really good study day tomorrow on Sunday. And then start it all over again on Monday. I have plans tonight with some friends around 5, and after I eat lunch right now (soup and grilled sandwich is getting cold as we speak!), I haven't totally decided whether I'm going to study until then or if I'm going to email profs asking for lab/research opportunities. The reason why emailing will take me a while is because I like to learn about the searchers' field and their research, and try to write something meaningful in my emails, instead of a general "hey do you need free help" email. Because after-all, I am looking for a lab that would give me increasingly more responsibility and opportunities. I am actually incredibly excited for this though! I would love to volunteer in a lab that I like. But I'm just worried that no prof will get back to me haha. It is really close to summer already, but my timeline didn't start in September. And I don't want to have no ECs this entire summer. The ECs are definitely needed to break up the studying. I personally love the traditional ECs. Clinical experience would be nice, and I'm really excited to get involved with research. I've actually been thinking about getting an EMT certification, or something along those lines. I got the idea because the Duke post-bacc program offers the certification as part of their master's degree curriculum. Unfortunately they don't accept Canadians though so I had to cross that off the list. But I still thought it was a good idea so I might explore that option more. I think it would be great experience, but I don't know anything about the field or their training. I took standard first aid many years ago, but I don't know about which certifications to pick and what not. Because I think there is EMT, EMR, and of course paramedic. I wouldn't have the time to be a full blown paramedic, and I'm not sure what the process is like in Canada. But in the US the process seemed easier because the EMT program is very short, and there were plenty of EMT job postings. I don't know if you have to be a full blown paramedic everywhere in Canada, or if you can get away with one of these shorter training periods? It's something I'd like to look in to. I'm not set on it yet, but I want to explore it. I think it would be quite exciting, which is a major plus for me. Might be a good contrast with the lab and the coursework. Just to give me some diversity in my week.

Happy Saturday to everyone and I hope everyone has a good rest of the weekend!