Temporary Move for the New Semester

I've decided to move back to my mom's house on Vancouver Island for the next semester. I decided to do it because I had the opportunity to take all online courses through UBC, and in effect, it would not put me behind at all in the progress of my degree. So by moving back home, I'm saving about $4000 over the course of the four months on rent alone. The reason it's so expensive is that all the real estate close to UBC is very expensive, so the rent prices reflect what is considered to be the more desirable neighborhoods. The place I was living at for the past year and a half was a cheaper place for rent, but it was quite far from UBC, so I was planning on moving ASAP. I don't really do well with the long commutes everyday. My place was about a 35 minute bus ride to UBC.

I am coming back to Vancouver in January because I am registered in some really cool classes, which are all 'in-person' classes. So I will most definitely be back in January, barring some major financial obstacles. I think this will be a good change for me as well, since I need something new and refreshing after my breakup. Don't get me wrong, I love Vancouver and my future is definitely in Vancouver, but after doing the grind of school for a year and a half straight, it's good to go home and recharge. I mean most students do go home during the summer of each year anyways, so I figured I was due to go back home for a few months. I'm also really looking forward to my time because I can spend time with my friends and my mom. My friends from the island and I have been having so much fun together in the past little while, and I just love hanging out with them.

It won't be all fun and games though, because most of my day will still consist of studying and working out. I haven't totally decided on how many online courses I will take this semester, but I am definitely taking five courses in January. Also, I'm increasing my workouts. I'm going to more than double my cardio. I'm increasing it from 40 minutes to 2 hours of cardio a day. I'll also be doing more weight training. And if the weather is good, I'll be playing lots of tennis too.

On the schedule today, I'm going to be contacting all the gyms in town to see how much a membership is. I did a bunch of errands this morning, as I just moved back to Vancouver Island yesterday. All in all, I'm very happy with my decision, and I'm wishing luck to everyone who is starting their semester next week, as I'm really looking forward to my next 4 months in my hometown. I will miss Vancouver, but I know that I will be back there soon enough.

T-minus 10 days, Midterm Mark, and No More Sluggishness

My final exam for my biopsych course is just over 10 days. My exam is not until 6pm at night on the 18th, but I'm not counting the day of just because I might try to get all my studying done before then. I will probably keep studying right until an hour or two before though, but the ideal thing would be to finish all of my studying the night before (from weeks of studying). The exam is not cumulative so that is nice, but for this course it just means the questions will be more in depth, so it's not really easier.

I got 74% on my last midterm for biopsych. I think my mark was a bit lower because I ran out of time for my long answer essay questions and I also made a few mistakes on them. I am going to go over my exam and make sure it's marked right because there was one section that I thought I got a perfect mark on but I didn't. If I do well on the next exam I could get above 80% in the course, which would allow me to use this course as a prerequisite for UBC graduate school. I also have an opportunity to get a bonus mark, so that will help. If I get 100% on the next exam I could get bumped up to 85% in the course, which would be an A. I'd be happy with that considering how tricky the exams are for this class. Every person I've known who took this class (which is a lot for some reason) have said the exams are tricky. And this class has a low 'easiness' rating on the ratemyprof website.

I'm also trying to finish two of my online courses, and the exams for those classes will be upcoming, but I'm not sure exactly when. If I finish those by mid September, I'm thinking I'll take another online class through TRU so I can work on it over the Christmas Break. The reason is that I need all the classes I can get to get my admissions average above the cutoff for UBC medical school. It'll be hard because I'll still have quite a few failed classes, but I'll definitely be applying once I'm over the cutoff, even if I'm only .5 percent over the cutoff.

I've noticed that I feel a lot more full of energy now. In the past two years I used to have this sluggishness that would persist throughout the day until the evening. I still did above average in my courses and I would exercise once in a while, but overall I just didn't have the energy to go very hard in all aspects of life. It very well could have been a physical thing from my medication, but it may have turned into a mental thing. There is a strong body-mind connection that can't be ignored, especially given my mental health history. I could always think clearly, but the fatigue was persistent, and it would hamper my progress and consistency in both school and exercise/activities. The good news is that I don't get this anymore. I can study hard for hours and exercise hard for hours. It may be the effects from exercising, particularly being able to exercise harder so maybe the typical effects are more pronounced. In any case, I'm definitely not going to stop this pace I'm doing for exercising because I don't want to go back to feeling fatigued. I think if I didn't have the fatigue I could have done much better on the courses I passed. I won't be seeking any sort of academic concession, just because I don't know if it would be a strong enough case. But I'm more willing to take my 80% average over the past year and a bit than have to start all over. I think that was a good start and I'm only going to do better this summer and this upcoming winter. Whenever I talk to people they always say that my days are so busy, and it's true that I have been going at quite a frantic pace. There are always lots of things I have to do, as any successful student knows. But it's not a chore for me. I actually enjoy it. It makes the odd time you relax that much more sweet as well. But I do prefer to be busy and accomplishing things as well. Basically I like to work hard and still have fun too. I think that is a good balance I've finally achieved.

Love, Success, and Jada Pinkett

Im not that into celebrity culture or tabloids, but when I heard that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett were getting a divorce, I was shocked and a bit upset. The reason is, for anyone that doesn't know, from what anyone can tell, Will  and Jada's marriage seems like such a successful marriage. You can really tell they love each other a lot and it just seems like a perfect marriage. They just seem so happy together.

Also as a 90's child, I grew up watching The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and that was one of my favourite shows when I was young. I also think most of Will Smith's movies are good too. Will Smith just has that movie-star persona. Aside from him being easily one of the highest grossing, biggest names in Hollywood, I respect him just as much for how he makes such a strong effort to love his wife. There are YouTube videos of Will Smith talking about being successful and how to achieve great success. When you hear these, you can tell that Will's fame and success were no accident. He just oozes success. So while I obviously don't know Will or Jada personally, I have a feeling that just as Will puts in a maximal amount of effort into his career, he puts the same maximal effort into his relationship with Jada. It is pretty inspiring now that I'm reflecting on it, because in every way it seems to be paying off. Will doesn't just love her, he has a passion for her. It also helps that Jada seems pretty awesome too.

So when I heard about the divorce, one of the things that went through my mind was that if Will Smith and Jada Pinkett's marriage can't last, what chance does any normal person have of a successful marriage. It may have been a bit dramatic of me to think, but the divorce along with my own breakup I went through made me inclined to think that love is dead, to a degree. Obviously my own breakup made me think pessimistically in this way. It turns out that Will and Jada aren't getting a divorce and the original report was false. I think even if they were getting divorced - as a man, Will Smith is a great example of a man doing everything to foster a thriving relationship. When I get back into a relationship, I'm going to make sure that I'm passionate about the relationship and putting in a maximal effort to achieve consistent happiness.

RESP Documents, Shin Appointment, and Assault

Today I sent in my RESP documents and so I should know if I'm eligible to receive my funds by Monday August 10th. I'm kind of concerned because these RESP companies only profit when students 'default' and don't pass their year level. I did pass my year level, but of course I've failed courses so hopefully that doesn't become an issue. But we will see.

My pain in the side of my shins still hasn't gone away and actually seems to be worst, so I saw a sports medicine doctor today. I actually thought he was a GP because I assumed all the doctors at UBC student health were GPs, but when I ended my concern to ask if he could refer me to a sports medicine doctor, he promptly smiled and said "I am a sports medicine doctor". That was convenient because it saves me time by going to one less appointment. He examined me and said that I have early signs of a stress fracture. I believe that was the term he used. Basically I did too much too fast and my bones in my shin couldn't keep up, because they haven't worked that hard in a long time. My good intentions to lose as much weight ASAP have backfired on me. The positive is that the doctor said for me to try running again in a week, but to SLOWLY incorporate running. For example do 30 seconds of jogging followed by 4 minutes of walking. I assume I can do that for like 20 minutes or 10 minutes. Hopefully once I start icing my leg and stretching, that will help me heal faster. Also the doctor in the meantime said I can go swimming or do the exercise bike at the gym. So I’ll be doing both of those to try to keep up with my cardio. My future for the track team for this September is up in the air right now. But I'm just praying that I can join the team later, in say January. If I'm fast enough, I don't see why not. Although there might be regulations in the league that they compete in, because I know there are academic requirements to be in full time studies in their league, but I'm also wondering what other requirements they have in terms of when new recruits can join the team. But I'm still going to aim for January if September is no longer a possibility. Injuries are just such a wild card, it's really annoying.


Another thing that happened today was that I saw an altercation with a guy bicyclist and a guy in a truck near my house. That got me thinking about what would happen if I got into an altercation like that, not now, but when I'm older and say I had a prominent medical position within the community. The guy in the truck and the male bicyclist were stopped at a crosswalk activated intersection light, and I guess they were very close to each other on the road, with neither one of them giving each other space. The guy in the truck rolled down his window and the biker said "why are you not giving me enough space" I couldn't hear what the guy in the truck said, but they then both went straight when the red light had traffic stopped in the perpendicular road, and then the biker hit the guys truck with his hand and then kicked the truck with one foot as he was on the bike. The guy in the truck then cut off the biker and got out of his truck and pushed the biker and then threw one punch that didn't really connect. The biker comically made a lot of noise so that people would stop and help him from getting beat up, although I'm not sure what he was expecting when he decided to try to damage the other guy's truck and be very disrespectful to him. The guy in the truck just drove away after he threw one of the punches. Now I don't condone violence unless it is to defend yourself or someone else. But as a man, I'm not sure if I would react differently from the guy in the truck. I mean I wouldn't try to knock someone out because if they fall and hit their head they could get brain damage or die. But I mean, if someone clearly disrespects you and your property, at what point do you say enough is enough? I mean you can't just let people walk all over you. The analogy I like to make is with Germany and England pre WW2. Germany was invading all of the smaller countries as well as committing other atrocities and England finally said enough is enough. I think getting physical has a time and a place. But here's where things get tricky, what if I have a very prominent position within the community? Let's say I'm the chief of surgery at BC Children's Hospital? That obviously wouldn't look good if I basically assaulted another man. I mean it could easily get in the news and there could be public backlash if people didn't know the whole story. I also wouldn't want my patients to think that I intentionally hurt someone else. But on the flip side, I would want everyone to know, including my patients, that I will stand up for myself and others when I am "wronged". So I don't know? I'd love to hear people's opinions, and maybe enlighten me if this sounds like it might be extreme. I just want to get a better sense of what to do in these situations. I grew up in a semi rough neighbourhood, so the 'old me' is saying to stand up for myself. But the new educated me and future physician and hopefully 'prominent member of the community'-one-day-me is telling myself to just stay calm and think of my career and reputation. Is it better to stand up for yourself even if no one was harmed simply because they disrespected you? Or is it the old saying to be the bigger and better man and to just walk away? I'd love to hear people's opinions, just because as I said, I am probably very bias because of the way I was raised (by mostly men) and also the rougher than average environment that I'm from. So please enlighten me everyone! Leave a comment or email me at premedpostfailure@gmail.com

Sports Massage

I've been going to the gym with a friend, and when we were stretching she mentioned to me that I felt a little tight in my muscles. She recommended that a massage should help, and I had already heard about the beneficial effects of massage on sports injuries, so I figured a registered massage therapist could help me out. I've kind of developed this soreness in the front of my shins just medial to the front bone. It did affect my running last week as it was hampering my run. Sports injuries are nothing new to me, but I think I was a bit naive thinking I would be able to do all of this training without my legs saying that all of this is too much. To be proactive against my soreness and injuries, I decided to get a sports massage. Note that I'm calling this soreness an injury because it is affecting my speed when I run, and it's also in kind of an unusual place to be just a 'regular kind of sore'.  I went to a place in Burnaby called Fortius, which is part of a larger sports medicine center. This place is a real top of the line facility and you can tell all their practitioners are highly trained. They have every type of practitioner you can think of, including sports medicine physicians, orthopaedic surgeons, and registered massage therapists. I only saw a registered massage therapist at my appointment.

The massage itself was fantastic. It felt so good when she pushed on the pressure points near my hips. Those must've been tight, and I could tell they really needed that. I chose the therapist I chose because her past clients have included the Canadian National Track team, as well as professional sports teams.

On the Mayo Clinic website, it mentioned that massages are no longer about 'pampering yourself', and that they actually have a lot of health benefits. I haven't done the research on the health benefits myself yet though, but I'm inclined to believe it from what I already know. If I had a partner I'd suggest that we give each other massages semi regularly. Aside from the health benefits and the intimate connection, we would also save some money. Then once in a while we could augment it with a professional massage from a registered massage therapist. I'll probably go back for another massage at Fortius in about 2-3 weeks, hopefully that should help me out a lot.

In order to reduce impact I might do more of the elliptical at the gym instead of running at the track. I thought it'd be cool to get my body to the point where I can do cardio twice a day. Depending on how much stress consistent elliptical work puts on my legs, I may be able to incorporate 'two-a-days' sooner rather than later. That would be great. It'd also be great if I could get in the pool to do some laps too. When I was doing my cardio today I noticed that my cardiovascular and respiratory systems felt a lot more efficient than even a few weeks ago. Even though my body getting more efficient will mean it is burning less calories and thus it is harder to lose drastic amounts of weight, I need to be more efficient so that I can run faster for track. Also I'm sure that the weight will all come off eventually. When I saw my aunt on Sunday, she said I had lost a lot of weight from stomach area. Despite everyone saying I look good and have lost a lot of weight, I'm not letting up. It's all about the end game for me. 

Speaking of two-a-days, I should be in pretty prime shape by the time the NFL season starts. Whenever I think I'm training hard, I just watch videos on the NFL training (or college football videos or Kobe or LeBron videos) and I truely believe that they are some of the most prime physical specimens in the world. It is actually so inspiring for me. I've felt this way about the NFL for so long, and I'm so happy that I'm finally strongly acting on my athletic dreams and ideals so that I can then make my dreams into goals and my goals into reality.

Still Alive and The Colour Green

Well I made it home safely and am happy that I'm still alive after two nights of camping on the west coast of the island. I really thought I was going to see a bear though because there were warning signs saying that the site is in black bear country. Plus I was sleeping in a tent with food in it as well. I realized after that you're supposed to keep food that isn't being used in the vehicle or food cache. It was a great beach we camped on and I had a great time with my friends and we had a lot of laughs, so it was an all around good time. I loved the drive, and especially loved the nights on the beach. I slept so well with the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach at night. I really love the ocean and being right on the Pacific is so beautiful. I didn't take any pictures though because I had my phone off because there was no cell service. But I'd highly recommend camping at Sombrio Beach to anyone who is interested in camping in BC.

The colour green in the title doesn't refer to the forest when I went camping, (there was a forest by the beach) it refers to my money situation. Despite the fact that I don't currently have a student loan this semester, I still have a decent amount of funds for the summer, a lot of which was from grants. In addition, I got my first payment from the rental of my grandpa's from my aunt and uncle. The only caveat is that the house is going to be empty next month, and I won't be getting any money until it is rented again, which could be a couple days or a few months. I did post about potential rental income last year, but the thing is that the house is so old that we had to spend all of the profits on upgrades to the house. But still, the upgrades are essentials like roofing and plumbing, not things that increase the rental value like a new kitchen or bathroom. As such, the rent is quite low because the house is old and no one wants to put significant capital into the house and I don't have the money to do so. Maybe when I'm in residency I will though. If not, definitely when I'm an attending though. But anyways it's good to see that my agreement with my family is being honoured and that I'm getting at least some money. I noticied myself getting significantly thriftier though with this rental money, as opposed to my student loan money. Maybe that's a good thing. I think I'm going to be putting the money into a fund to save up to buy some real estate. I think that would be a smart investment. And it's also quite practical too because I'm not the sole owner of any real estate yet. Given these Vancouver real estate prices, I might be waiting a while though.

Another green thing is that I should be getting an RESP payment within the next month. It should be about $6600. I haven't had that much of my own un-loaned cash since I was working in 2013. It will definitely be nice to have that as well. I may just lump this RESP money with my rental income money from this month ( and hopefully future months! *knocks on wood*) and have a decent amount of cash available, if need be. I actually also have a small share as a minority owner in some real estate that my mom, brother, grandpa and I bought a few years ago. My share only comes out to a minimum of $5000 but it could be more than that.

If I add all of this up, I'm well on my way towards a down payment. A down payment is important because having my own place (that I owned) would allow me to go to university and take classes as much as I need to. If I want to pursue any higher education, having more money will also allow me to do that, in addition to any potential medical school line of credit I get.

All in all it's been a great day. I used to have a significant amount of money stress, but I feel like that has kind of melted away. This is obviously a great thing for me, although, I'm not going to fully relax until the RESP money is deposited into my account. So I'll post any ongoing activity for that once I know.

Out in the Wilderness

So I'm going camping this weekend. I haven't been camping overnight in 13 years. Most people I meet think that I'm into camping and outdoorsy stuff since I'm from a small rural town. I am somewhat into outdoorsy stuff like hiking, but I'm not really into camping overnight. I'd say beaches are my favourite outdoor activity. I'm not exactly sure where we are camping yet though, although we did talk about camping on a beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Sombrio Beach. Despite the fact that I'm not that into camping, I actually am looking forward to going. I think it should be pretty fun since I'm going with my friends. I think we are only going for 1 or 2 nights so it won't be that bad.