What is this Fall stuff

Its been a while since I've been on here, but thanks to the blogs of my sisters and the Hensons I have regained my interest in posting something, and hopefully it will be something worth reading. A lot has changed in the past few months, I took USMLE step 1, and completed 3 months worth of Surgery as a 3rd year. Neither of them was easy, nor particularly enjoyable.
I won't bore you with my specific likes and dislikes of Surgery now, but I will say that I'm not really considering it anymore. I am now on Family Med, which has a good schedule and I really enjoy working with the docs in College Station, but it is a little boring.
I picked up Donald Miller's new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Once again I can't put a book he has written down. He really has some interesting thoughts on God and on life. I'd like to think it would be fun to be a writer and to write about your life and your thoughts on God, but I think that requires actually having some interesting thoughts that someone might want to read. I've only read a few chapters so far and of course this book is just as good as the others, but from all the reviews I've read its supposed to be even better. The way he writes makes you feel like there is so much more to this life than getting a job that pays well, buying a house in suburbia and having 2.5 kids and a dog. He doesn't buy into the life of accumulating things to make yourself happy. I want to be like him in that way, to enjoy the beauty of this world and see my life as a story that God is telling and living through me and that its not really about me.
One part of the book I particularly enjoy is about the death of his uncle. "My Uncle told a good story with his life, but I think there was such a sadness at his funeral because his story wasn't finished. if you aren't telling a good story nobody thinks you died too soon: they just think you died, but my uncle died too soon."

Audience of One

It is April, I know its been a while since my last post, but I have an excuse right? I mean this is the worst semester of my life school-wise, but in another way it has been the best semester of my life. I have really learned to enjoy what free time I do get and have been trying to spend it doing more meaningful things than just watching tv. There are always ways that we can be more efficient with our time, and I may be one of the worst people I know when it comes to time management.

The thing about this semester is that I've been doing a lot of reading that has made me think about life outside of medicine. It has made me think about getting out of the house, the value of friendships, camping, fishing, life, and God. I'll admit that I had not thought about God much since about sophmore year of college. I thought that I could do everything myself and that God had more to worry about than me, that maybe he didn't care about all of those things they teach us in Sunday School because he had to worry about war, poverty, and disease. God had bigger fish to fry than stomping out the sin and carelessness in my life. It has been in this semester that I have made close friends who know and care about God, and my journey with him is starting up again. I have embraced it at times and fought it at other times, but he keeps coming back, just nudging me however he can to get me to pay attention.

I am going to try something new this week, a good friend of mine invited me to a men's christian group this Thursday, the group is made up of mostly older men (older than me anyway.) I think this could turn out to be something I really needed for guidance in many areas. I'll let you know how it goes.
P.S. I titled this Audience of One for two reasons- because God is the only audience that truly matters and also because I only have one person who follows this blog.

Renal is done, phew

So Renal and Emergency Preparedness came and went extremely quickly. I did well on both exams, I think Emergency Preparedness was the easiest exam of medical school. Now on to GI/Nutrition.

The River Why is quickly turning into one of my favorite books. I would recommend it to any guy looking for a good book to read. Instead of getting started on GI stuff tonight I think I will just keep reading.

Third year is coming quickly and this weekend I'm going to go home and look for a place to live next year in Temple. Kind of scary and exciting.
Not much else going on so I'll see ya next time.

Looking forward to this summer.

So I am two weeks into my last semester here in College Station. It will be a stressful one, trying to do well in classes and preparing for the USMLE. I have figured out what I will be doing this summer after taking step 1. We will be heading to Whistler in British Columbia for some mountain biking. Whistler is one of the best places in the world to mountain bike, and here is a video of what it is like there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko3gyMT00jc&feature=related

Renal block is over and now onto emergency preparedness. 3rd year will be here before we know it and right now I have a 3 day weekend thanks to MLK. I'll will be spending part of it studying, but today I am going for a road ride with my buddy Justin and tomorrow and Monday I will spend some time on the dirt at Lake Bryan. Tonight I think we are going to watch A River Runs Through It and we may go see a movie tomorrow, something like Gran Torino. 

I have been reading The River Why, and it is a great book so far. It is something that just about any guy should like, especially those with some interest in fishing, but I have a lot more to read.

You don't want to have to use to much of an imaginoscope

So the first week of the worst semester of my life is over and today I went to Barnes and Noble to buy two new books. The River Why, a book about life lessons from fly fishing (similar to a river runs through it) and Through Painted Deserts, a book by Donald Miller who wrote Blue Like Jazz, one of my favorite books. I'm not to sure why I bought them though I'm sure they will both be great books, I definitely don't have the time to read them. I guess I'm looking to these books for some life guidance. 

As much as school does suck, especially all of the studying, it is what I have a passion for so I can put up with one more semester of books. I know next year will be tough, but I'm still looking forward to it while trying not to get caught looking ahead. 

I've heard that people really learn who they are/want to be during their early 20s. I am definitely going through that same process right now. I have lost a lot of interest in keeping up with the sports I have played most of my life and have grown a true love of the outdoors. I really want to have some of those life experiences that my grandkids will be amazed by one day.