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Anonymous asked: Just out of curiosity, would you be able to share with us in the tumblr world why you have decided to study to become a doctor? And how has the journey been thus far? I'm going to be starting pre-med soon, I have always wanted to be a doctor as far back as I can remember.

Sure!

In short: I have a desire to serve others and become so educated to deliver such care in a medical context. I believe I have the head to do the job and the heart to do the job well.

My route is a bit nontraditional because my first degree is in design. My pre-college route was typical pre-pre-med— I enjoyed and did well in my maths and sciences. I was a well-rounded student with a lot of interests, though, so I saw myself doing any number of things as a career. I didn’t have the one leading candidate that so many other kids had. On the other hand, maybe I had it, but I could not yet identify it. This is an important distinction.

Medicine was the most common suggestion from others, but I chose to be an art major because it was a strong interest of mine. In hindsight, I think it was easier to see my skill set emerge in art than in medicine because the art process was both immediate and portable.

You begin with [drawing/painting/sculpting/etc] skills at a certain level and you can produce work immediately. With practice and time, your skills improve. You can see it yourself!— just look at your body of work. Additionally, you can [art] nearly anywhere.

But what about medicine? You can’t just medicine anywhere. And how do you know what skills you need? Okay, make good grades, but what else? Entering college, I did not yet have an experience through which I could see my skill set emerge in a medical context. However, during and after college, I became involved in activities that developed and highlighted elements of my personality and ability— and things began to click.

I grew and learned. I grew (and am growing) into who I will become, and I learned more about what I like, what I am good at, and what I want to do. I use the phrase medical context a lot because I believe this skill set translates into a number of careers— teaching, nursing, medicine, coaching, etc. It is up to you to determine how and where you want to use your skills.

When things clicked for me, I began to see how the events in my past came together to bring me to now. I was able to take my experiences and learn from them. I integrated them. I deconstructed them. I analyzed them. I spoke with professors and friends in medicine and I kept arriving at the same conclusion: medicine.

Using my talents and skills to help others gives me a deeper, richer, and different sense of fulfillment than design ever did. That being said, my design background is an asset, not a liability. There is overlap. You must work with a patient (client) to tailor a solution to a particular problem. I believe a successful physician must be able to work with others, communicate, and think creatively. I am also very interested in merging medicine and design to develop new products that improve the patient experience.

At the core of it all, I am studying to become a doctor because I want to help others. I believe it’s where I should be. My classes are going very well, I’m studying, thinking, and learning in new ways, and I believe hunger and hard work will pay off.

Good luck in your journey! Everyone has her/his own story, but I think we can learn from each other. My response was fairly broad, so if you have any questions or want me to describe something in more detail, just send me an email!

I haven’t written many personal posts lately. This is mostly an effect of a busy spring semester.

My semester has been busy, but it’s a good busy, and I thrive on good busy. I’m doing very well in my classes, I’m adding extracurricular activities, I like the people around me (in person and online), and I feel very much back. I’ve always tried to establish balance, so it’s more than just being back— I feel like I’m doing it better than I did before. I’m learning, retaining, and integrating new things every day. I’ve developed new study methods that are thorough and efficient and somehow reduce my stress. I tutored a student in my Biology class who made a 70 on her first test. She made a 98 on the next test! I think the key was reorganizing chapters of information into edible chunks that overlap and interact in logical ways. I think that’s the difference between memorizing and learning.

And I’m still tapping into my creative side. I’m still drawing and designing, but I’ve also committed myself to developing something new each week. For now, I’m more concerned with developing ideas and thinking of new ways to think of new things, but the eventual goal is to go from idea to product (and maybe pay for school).

I’m confident in what I can do and I’m willing to take risks that I wouldn’t have in the past. Personal growth and learning doesn’t stop after college. I really like who I am right now and I’m very hopeful for the future. 

GfM2k12jr

micro-supplement to Girlfriend Material 2010 to close the Valentine’s Day posts:

1. teach me things and let me teach you things. I love learning.

2. communicate freely and openly (verbally or non-verbally)

3. loyalty

4. must not be opposed to occasionally singing and dancing to oldies in the kitchen with the FutureChildren and me. I’m not in any rush for FutureChildren (I want to finish medical school first), but I would like to be a father eventually.

5. make bad puns without shame

6. no stranger to sarcasm

7. receptive to acts of love from cheesy to this (and beyond~)

8. (wink)

9. if you do something well (write, draw, sing, dance, cook, juggle, breathe, anything, it doesn’t matter), I will adore it

———

I’ll write a more substantial post when I have enough free time.

active

I read a post today about a girl’s inability to decipher crush/love signs and the incredible stress that resulted from her overthinking.

I love overthinking as much as the next guy (just ask me!), but I don’t understand why people choose to play games and beat around the bush instead of coming out with their true feelings.

By games, I don’t mean flirting (flirting is great). I mean:

1. hot/cold treatment
2. hiding your feelings by being anything BUT nice/warm to your crush
3. flirting with someone in front of your crush to see if you can make your crush jealous enough to make the first move (so aggressively passive-aggressive!)

I don’t have time for those games.

Well, I understand why people don’t share their true feelings. I used to be more passive than active when it came to pursuing relationships. I didn’t like vulnerability or the risk of rejection. But I changed once I realized things don’t just fall in your lap. You have to try. Forget the tradition of one person being expected to make the first move— you make the first move, guy or girl. If you want it, go get it, and pursue it at a level appropriate for the situation. Don’t organize a flash mob if she prefers more any subtlety.

(Or maybe you should, what do I know?)

If I like you, I’m going to tell you and we’ll take it from there. You may not feel the same way I do. I’ll have to get over it. On the other hand, you might share my feelings— and we could use that overthinking-energy for something more productive.

9/11 — Where were you?

I was a junior in high school in Dallas, Texas.

My first class of the day was Theology III. I sat next to my friend, Megan. Our teacher had barely finished passing out our Buddhism tests before the Academic Dean ran into the classroom and turned the television on. At that point, all we knew was a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Many of us had never heard of the WTC before. A message was relayed to the entire school over the intercom. I think we said a brief prayer. 

There wasn’t much instruction in school that day. We were locked onto the news. No one knew what was going on. I remember jotting down times and trying to see if there was a mathematical pattern to the attacks. One classmate’s father was in NYC that day on business. She was unable to get in touch with him but later learned he was safe.

By that afternoon’s Spanish III class, the news channels cut to scenes of celebration in the Middle East. One hawkish classmate was ready to fly halfway around the world to dole out indiscriminate payback. Another classmate told him to shut up because he was 15 and didn’t know what was going on or who did it.

I remember waiting with friends at the circular driveway for our parents to pick us up. I remember the silence. No one spoke unless they had to. The skies were perfectly still. It was very eerie.

I went home with Jeff to work on Physics homework. We bought a newspaper every day that week. 

perfectly random, perfectly perfect

» attended Diocesan college fair for Catholic high schools in Dallas
» checked out ND’s presentation
» applied senior year
» accepted
» assigned to a random residence hall
» befriended a classmate (and hallmate) who would be my next roommate
» selected a 4th floor room in dorm room draft
» came home from class one spring day and passed by the only flier advertising the camp in my hall. Where? 4th floor, of course
» attended informational meeting on a whim
» interviewed and hired that night
» experienced first summer at camp
» hooked
» worked four summers
» remained in close contact three additional summers

If you were to change any event in that sequence, I believe the entire sequence would be different. I do not believe I would be who I am today. I would not have met some of my favorite people. I would not have learned more about who I am, what I can do, and what I want in life. And I certainly would not have spent my Wednesday evening enjoying the company of some people I have built relationships with over the past seven summers.

Times are not always easy, but I’m incredibly thankful things worked out the way they did. An incredible sense of peace fills you when you realize you are exactly where you should be at a given moment.

Thank you, God, Universe, and associates.

And good night.

( A ( C ) B )

Venn diagram

A. Nursing: faster

B. Medicine: autonomy

C. both: use your skills to work with/ help/ care for people

—————

Earlier this week, I was accepted to my top-choice nursing school, which was a fantastic relief. If I accept, I will start in January 2012.

Over this past year of prerequisites, though, I’ve been giving more and more consideration to medical school.

—————

This is my story.

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weekend highlights

Great weekend out with friends!

Read More

$$$$$$$$$$

Big Business does not care about you.
Big Insurance does not care about you.
Big Pharma does not care about you.

The name of the game is make money.

——

Imagine if we lived in a society that never heard of insurance. If you were sick and needed medicine, you went to a doctor, got a prescription, and paid for it. Businesses made profit— though not exorbitant, hand-over-fist profit— and found a way to live comfortably while doing good for the people.

Now pretend some guy gets an idea: create a position for a middle-man.

Convince the general population to make monthly payments to a middle-man for a piece of paper that allows them to receive care and medicine for a reasonable amount of money.

Convince the medical and pharmaceutical industries to go along with this. In fact, reveal to them the obscene profit to be had! It’s easy: charge people who don’t have this piece of paper a ridiculous amount of money. Meanwhile, those people who have the piece of paper— they’ll still be charged enough to make a profit, but it’s not noticeable because it’s so much cheaper for them. Because they have the piece of paper.

Allow the system to take root. Let it become an institution. People will forget what life was like before they had that piece of paper. And then start charging them progressively higher monthly fees. Don’t worry, med/pharm— charge them progressively more on your end, too. In fact, reject a few people here and there. What good is a product if it’s not a little exclusive? Exclusivity increases need. And need means $$$ in wallets. You can let the general public get in on it, too— convince them to call people without this piece of paper lazy or moochers.

Congratulations! You have just introduced a brand-new problem and devised its solution! See, it’s win-win!

That piece of paper needs a name, by the way. How about insurance?

——

You’ll excuse me if I’m more than a little upset that I’m paying a ridiculous amount of money a month for the privilege of paying a ridiculous amount of money for service and med. It’s better than the alternative, I’m told.

I got some sort of bite or infection on my jaw/chin/neck. The ointment costs $15 if your copayment is under $50. If your copay exceeds $50, you pay the balance. Conveniently, my copay exceeds $50. Which means the ointment would cost me $175.

Pharm isn’t in the business of just giving away medicine. If they’re charging $15, it’s because they’re making an acceptable amount of profit at that price. Which means they’re making an even more acceptable profit (over 10x more acceptable!) when they charge you $175 instead of $15. Good for them.

I didn’t get the $175 ointment. Doc told me the samples should be enough since I’m on the rebound.

I haven’t shaved since last Sunday, when I first noticed the marks. I can’t shave for at least another week, and I don’t like facial hair (itchy). It’s too bad I don’t live in Portland.