Today, I thought to myself "Epinephrine has the most ridiculous half-life I've ever seen." And then I had no clue what I'm doing anymore. How does a day start out so great and end in such apathy?

Back in the spirit

Well, 3rd semester started off like a rocket. Definitely a lot of material (but no anatomy!) and as I filled out my schedule book, I was somewhat startled by the number of mandatory meetings and labs we have.

As far as weight restriction goes, I've been counting the calories as best I can, though sometimes I'm stuck with Shack food that doesn't come with any information. I've started avoiding the calorie-heavier foods, and have stopped gorging myself at night, right before bed. In fact, one of the best improvements I've made so far is having a meal of frozen vegetables before differ (30 calories from 1 cup of veggies + 60 calories from cooking oil). I just need to get my butt over to the gym a few times a week and I'll be golden.

Speaking of the gym, I found last semester that as the day went on, I'd have to drink increasingly higher amounts of caffeine, which resulted in more jitters and less energy as time went on. This semester, instead of buying food between breaks, I jog up and down the stairs in our 10-minute breaks between class to get the blood pumping. I no longer need a large coffee in the morning, and get by with a small. There is a definite boost in attentiveness and energy, which is why I try to run everywhere (when I remember).

The other big change this semester is going laptop-minimal. While I'm not blogging via morse code anytime soon, I've begun printing out most of my notes and taking them with me to class. I've also started making flash cards, which is a horrendously slow but more beneficial. There's less distraction during class, less light shining into my eyes (and thus, less headaches), and an easier time going to sleep at night.

Finally, I changed up my window/door configuration when sleeping, so that my A/C is a lot more constant, instead of going from sauna to freezing and back. Sleep isn't perfect yet, but its a start.

Well readers, today is the start of 3rd Semester. You know what that means?

Photos for everybody!

View more Here.


In other news, my goal for this semester is to include

• an hour of exercise daily 
• try and maintain an all-vegetable dinner at night
• more time spent reviewing old material that I have already memorized

Pharm and microbiology require constantly revisiting material. This means more mnemonics, stories, study groups, and flash cards. Its like throwing words at a wall and seeing what sticks; those that don't stick are dipped in another kind of glue and thrown again until they stick. 

Until next time!

Campus

Campus, a photo by Mind The Gap on Flickr.

More Shacks!

More Shacks!, a photo by Mind The Gap on Flickr.