The Game

It's a unique pleasure to return from winter break and find a foot of snow on the ground. I'm told that this sort of weather has only begun, and that January in State College is like the District before the last glacier receded. Set in my Christmas-gifted slippers, my feet are resilient to the cold and my mind is refreshed and ready to take on the second half of this postbac.

It is an interesting transformation. Spending three weeks watching movies and lounging managed to send my brain back to where it was in July when the program seemed more like an adventure or a game than anything else. Organic, for which I have already begun studying, does not seem like such drudgery as second semester chemistry did. In fact, going through the problems and drills was almost fun-- it felt good to be dealing with new material again.

Herein lies the difficulty. My performance over the last semester, while sufficient to get me into a decent medical school, was marked by a dangerous drop in interest and enthusiasm and a volatile correlation between the amount I give a shit and my grade point average. How, then, do I generate shit-giving? The first semester went pretty well and was powered almost entirely by childish enthusiasm and the sheer absurdity of my endeavor, the second was less successful and relied mostly on the fear of failure. I'm going to be careful over the coming months to cultivate more of that enthusiasm and absurdity to see how far that will get me. It shouldn't be too hard. This semester includes physiology as well as a position with the PSU Institute for Diabetes Research, both of which may actually be of use to me as a physician.

Stay tuned, folks. If one thing's for sure it's that this semester will be interesting.