Missionary Orthopod in the Making

Hey everyone. So far, my week has been alright. They had a memorial service for T.J at the Oakwood church on Monday. I didn’t go, partly because I don’t like to being at big mourning sessions and partly because I had a lot of homework to do. Anyway, from what I heard, they had a nice PowerPoint slide of his life, and a lot of his friends talked about what a nice kid he was. When I went to Volley ball class on Monday, the instructor sat us down to talk about the situation. Coach Roddy was telling us how when he heard what had happened, he was truly heart broken because he had coached T.J. when he played for our basketball team, his freshman year. He was telling us that he was over all sad about the murder, but he was even more sad because of where it happened. He said that he lost his son about 3 years ago to a brain aneurism, and the only way he and his wife coped with the situation was because their son was in another country doing the Lord’s work when it happened. So at least they know he died doing something admirable. He reminded us that he wasn’t passing judgment at all, but he wanted us to be mindful of where we find ourselves. He told us not to be places where our angels can’t protect us, hence the Oasis club where T.J. was murdered at. If Jesus wouldn’t feel comfortable there, then don’t go, he said. I agreed with him, but then I’m reminded of that text in the Bible that says that even if you make you bed in hell, Jesus will be with you. So I can’t really believe that our angels don’t follow us into the club, but I do agree that we should try to stay away from places where dangerous and sometimes sinful things occur.

On Tuesday, we had our Honors convocation, where the whole school gets together, and Oakwood recognizes the academic achievements of their students. I made the Deans List, along with a lot of other people, so they gave us Marble Pens….whoopty doo, LOL. Also, at this honors convocation, the chair of each department got up and recognized special students in their department, and they would usually give them something for their achievements. Our Biology department has different scholarships, but they also have a Wall of Fame, where each class votes for a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Student, and Worker of the Year. They have been doing this since the 70s. Well, anyway it’s a pretty cool thing to get on the wall, since its there for as long as that building stands. My girlfriend and I tied for Freshman of the Year last year, and by the grace of God, I tied with another girl, Morgan for Sophomore of the Year!!! I really wanted it, but I would have been fine if I didn’t win, since I got it last year, but its cool to know that my classmates think so much of me.

Anyway, I have 2 weeks of school left, once this week is done. Then we take our finals. My teachers are really turning up the heat. I have a master quiz in Genetics Lab today, 3 tests next week, a book review due next week, and various other stuff. I glad that my second wind is coming back, because I need it to get through these last 2 weeks. The only classes which I might not get As in is, Organic and Genetics. It depends on how I do on these next tests. Its more likely for me to pull off an A in Genetics as is, than in Organic, so I’m really studying hard for our next Organic test. The next test will be on carboxylic acids, their derivatives, benzene, and all the reactions that go along with them. I’m really trying to understand the reactions, and the connections between all of them. Anyway, pray for me yall, because it really is CRUCH TIME!!!

Man, this was really a rough 2 weeks. Last Monday, I had an Organic Chemistry test. I got a C on the last test, so I really worked hard this time. I studied really hard the day before, and was understanding the mechanisms to the best of my ability. I was ready for this test. So Monday comes, and he places the test in front of me and man, was it a doosy. By the time I finished the test, I felt like I might have done just as bad if I hadn’t studied at all. Like, the whole test was about reagents. I hadn’t really mastered the reagents like I had mastered the overall mechanisms. Stupid me. So we got the results back last week, and how did I do?….HORRIBLE. My test grade mirrored how I felt after I left the test. After the test I felt like I had been sodimized by a 7 ft , 300lb biker. It was really that bad. I got a 67%, the lowest grade in my whole college career. I could have gotten down about it, but the Lord wants me to be a doctor, so I have to put this behind me. Plus, we get to drop the lowest test grade. 🙂

There were many blessing that arose also. We had taken a Genetics test a couple of days ago, and our teacher was so pissed off about the over grades on it, that she gave us a retake of the exam. Basically it was the same kind of questions, but worded differently. I honestly believe that the retake was a good amount harder than the original test, so a lot of people didn’t do well. I’m not sure why, but genetics is coming easy to me, and I keep getting the highest grade on the tests. So we retook it on Friday, and I found out that day that I got an 88%. But one of my friends who also does well in the class knew that some of the questions were written wrong, so he went to her and went over the test, and she threw out like 3 questions, so that pushed me up like a 97%!!!

In this premed journey, you really have to get your satisfaction from the small victories. As soon as you get an A on a test in one class, you have to work on a group project in another, or you have to study for a master quiz in another class. It can get pretty overwhelming, and I’m sure that just the shear amount of studying that is required, is what drives many students away. Don’t let it, basically every field you go into, at some point you are going to have to study a lot to move up. Premeds just do it a lot earlier than most.

This past weekend, we had alumni weekend at my school, and it was a lot of fun. Basically, about 10,000 alumni come down to Oakwood, for church and friends. Everything was cool, except I became absolutely fed up with my house mates. The original plan was that we all buy food every 2 weeks (together) and we put it in the house. I think we agreed to $40 each, every 2 weeks. Well what has been happening is not that. I’ve been buying food, and they’ve been eating it. It really pisses me off, and I don’t have money to support them. Also, my housemates have friends who bum off of us, meaning that they live there (sleep on the couch) and aren’t paying rent. These people are eating my food also. I’ve tried to talk to my house mates for at least a month now, and it all came to front this past week. So I went to Wal-Mart, bought myself a nice fridge, and put it in my room. I could tell that one of my house mates was mad, but I don’t care. For those of you that decide to live off campus, beware of problems like this. It may seem all cool at first, but people get really stingy sometimes.

As this week started, I was still a little down about the Organic test. I felt like there was no way I could get a good grade in this class now. But our teacher posted our grades, and rank as we currently are in our OChem class, and I was #7 out of like 50!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was ranked 7th with a 81.4%, and this before he drops the lowest test, so that could make my grade jump up a whole letter!!! The Lord truly is good…when you feel like you are going to fail, He steps in.

Anyway, I had a no tests this week, so I got to catch up on everything, right? No, I still procrastinated, which is really pissing me off. It always seems to work out in the end, but I really could have a much less stressful experience if I just did assignments when I was supposed to. Anyway, something really cool happened to me this week. Yall remember this summer when I told you that I met Dr. Davis at UC? Well, his good friend is a chief surgeon down in Huntsville, and Dr. Davis told me to give him a ring. So after playing phone tag for about 2 weeks, we finally got in contact with each other, and I met him at his office. His name is Dr. Cason, and he is a really cool guy. He asked me about school, and talked to me about General Surgery. All in all, it was a cool meeting, and I hope to be shadowing him in the near future. But also, his partner in their office is potentially someone who could really be beneficial to me. She Adventist, she’s from Maryland, and she went to the University of Maryland SOM, my #1 choice!!! I haven’t met her yet, but I really can’t wait to.

Anyway, that is all that has been going on with me. I’m glad that Shiavo has finally passed. That is what she wanted anyway, and I can’t fathom why the government even thought of getting involved. Anyway, I’m going a on retreat this weekend to train the newbies on how to survive in the mission fields of Africa, so that should be fun. Until next time, Peace!!!

Hey everyone!!! It truly has been a trying week. Because I got nothing accomplished during spring break, and I had to practically kill myself to get back on track.

It seems that just as soon as I get money, it gets sucked away by different things. I just got a $189 check for the 2 weeks of work I did for my department. This was supposed to pay for my cell phone bill and my gas for 3 weeks, but I’ll have to hit my parents up now. Most of my check is gone because I had to pay a $100 deposit for the Kaplan course. We had to pay $100 by March 10, and then the remaining $899 is due on April 22. Even though the Kaplan course is cheaper on my campus, $899 still isn’t easy to just cough up. A good amount of my friends got into different summer programs at Yale, etc, where basically they pay you while you study for your MCAT. To me, it seems like a really good deal, but the chair of my department said that he hasn’t seen or heard of too many success stories from those programs. Have you all heard of any? Free sounds a whole lot better than $999, but its whatever.

I was listening to Alabama NPR this morning as I was driving to school, and they were talking about how President Bush has a plan to diminish America’s dependency on foreign oil. He wants to drill up in Alaska, where there is supposedly a significant amount of oil. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I’m in no way an environmentalist, but I still do have respect for this earth. Something about killing off wildlife in the area is kind of wrong. Honestly, I think that if we had the option of killing off all the polar bears in the area or having gas for our SUVs, Beemers, and Mercedes, we would choose the cars. I had to admit it, but it really seems like that is the reality of the matter. I’m not sure how this will play out, but I personally love driving my German machine, but I don’t think I want drastic amounts of animals to die so I can drive my car. Meh, whatever.

I was searching around the SDN forums today, and I found two sites that basically tell you what medical specialties fit you the best, based upon how you answer certain questions. These are the first 10 specialties that the Buffalo website ( http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/RESIDENT/CareerCounseling/interior.htm?self-assessment.htm) matched me to:

1. Urology

2. Otolaryngology

3. Plastic Surgery

4. Orthopaedic Surgery

5. Ophthalmology

6. Pediatric Surgery

7. Sports Medicine

8. Gastroenterology

9. Neurological Surgery

10. Cardiology

The only specialty I’ve thought about in this group is Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Surgery. I don’t know about the others. Here are the first 10 results from the Virginia website ( http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/):

1. emergency med

2. pulmonology

3. gastroenterology

4. general surgery

5. radiology

6. obstetrics/gynecology

7. orthopaedic surgery

8. ophthalmology

9. pathology

10. dermatology

I’ve definitely thought about emergency medicine, general surgery, and orthopaedic surgery. I don’t know about the rest. As I answered questions on both sites, I realized something about my personality. First, I’m an instant gratification kind of person, so I need to be in a specialty, where I see the results of my work pretty quickly. So I think that that takes internal medicine out. I also, HATE, meetings; meaning that I really hate sitting and talking forever about what we are going to do. I’d rather just go and do it. And I really hate repetitive jobs, where I’m doing the same thing over and over and over again. So I guess that leads me to a specialty where I’m not focusing on just one part of the body. Maybe General Surgery, Trauma Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Orthopedic Surgery, and possibly Sports Medicine. Who really knows anyway? But it is cool to kind of get an idea of what kind of doctor you might be. Do yours and tell me what your top ten were.

Today, Charlene Cole, from the Emory University Graduate School came to give a presentation to the Oakwood Biomedical Association. It was really really good. She basically gave us a presentation first about the Emory University campus, the facilities, etc. Then she talked about her research, which was actually pretty cool. She was studying two close organisms that were closely related, the meadow vole and the prairie vole. When left with others, the meadow vole would usually find an area in the corner and keep to itself, while the prairie vole will usually pair with another prairie vole, and keep each other company. She described it a little more, but basically there is a part of the brain that is related to addiction. It is usually very active in cocaine addicts and when high levels of dopamine are taken (I think). Well, she found that in the prairie vole, that area of their brain was very highly developed, but in the meadow vole, it wasn’t. And when she injected a solution that blocked activity to addiction related part of the prairie vole’s brains, they began to behave like the meadow vole in terms of keeping to themselves. So this lead her to another possible question. Is social attachment as we know it equal to addiction? Do we stay with the people that we stay with because we are addicted to them (in the scientific sense)? It was a really cool concept that she was working with. Then, after she told us all that, she gave as a disclaimer, and then told us that nothing that she just said mattered. She told us that we need to truly find what we are passionate about. Then follow that passion, whether it be graduate school or not. I don’t want to drag on, but it was really cool.

This is the last thing I’m writing for this post, LOL, I promise. I’ve been on my girlfriend for sometime, to at least think of her top ten medical schools that she would send her AMCAS to. She finally figured it out, and e-mailed it to me. I’ll list my schools first, then hers:

Columbia University College of P&S (MD/MPH) (MD/MBA)

Mount Sinai SOM

Yeshiva University (Albert Einstein)

Georgetown University (MD/MBA)

George Washington University (MD/MPH)

Johns Hopkins University

University of Maryland

Emory University (MD/MPH)

Loma Linda University

Meharry Medical College

Northwestern University (MD/MPH) (MD/MBA)

University of Cincinnati (MD/MBA)

Case Western University (MD/JD) (MD/MBA)

These are the schools she choose:

University of Maryland

Case Western Reserve

Loma Linda

Northwestern

Johns Hopkins

Georgetown

University of Miami

Mt. Sinai

MeHarry

Cincinnati

So the schools we don’t have in common are University of Miami, Columbia, Einstein, and George Washington. I know that I have 13 schools and she has 10. I think that I’ll shave some schools off once I get my scores back. I really don’t want to go to Georgetown or GW because they are too expensive, but they are close to home. And the only NY school I really want to attend it Columbia, because they have a good record for putting out future surgeons. I only put the others, because I have a lot of family in Brooklyn.

Lately I’ve been thinking of changing my major to political science or business. A major where I can actually get sleep. A major that doesn’t require my all to get good grades.

The past two weeks have been mixed with blessings and stress. I have a 10 page term paper to write in U.S. History 2, about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, and its controversies. Now I’m alright in history, but when you are focusing on Genetics, Physics, and Organic Chemistry, you really don’t have time to write a term paper. It was actually supposed to be due this past Monday, but by the grace of God, the teacher moved the due date to next Monday, so I have a little time.

We had our Physics test this past Monday and it was a %*!*# to say the least. It was over rotational kinematics, torque, etc. I understood some of it, but most of the information, NOBODY UNDERSTOOD. And for some reason, all of the Physics tutors were sick over the weekend. Anyway, I prayed, and took the test, and I hope I at least got a C.

This past Monday we also had a Genetics test, which was simply a beast. We had 50 min. to do the test, and she had 32 multiple choice, and like 48 write in questions. I felt pretty good after I left the test (I had studied like for 9 hours the day before). Despite the studying, I know the Lord helped me out, because I ended up getting the highest grade on that test, which was an 89%. As you can guess, the majority of the scores were around 40-50%, which really sucks. We have a lot of chemistry majors that are taking this class, and I noticed that they do really well on the probability stuff, but when it comes to the visual, biological part of genetics, they often don’t do well. I could be making a wide generalization, but that’s what I noticed. Anyway, so I was pretty happy about my score, I wanted an A, but you have to take what you are given.

I’m counting down the days till spring break. We start ours on February 25, and come back March 6. My girlfriend’s parents don’t trust me driving 11 hours to Maryland, so they bought her a plane ticket, lol. I’m not really beaten up about it, I’ll make the drive myself.

I’m really really tired. I just want this semester to end so I can start studying for the MCATs and get done with that. Oakwood and Kaplan have a relationship, so anyone taking the Kaplan course on our campus gets a $500 discount on the course. Meaning I only have to pay $999 for the course, instead of $1,500. It’s still a lot of money, but the discount helps. Our last day of school is April 28, then we stay home for about a month, and then the Kaplan course starts around June 1st, and we stay there till the August MCAT is taken. The course will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 6-9 p.m. Meaning I have a BUTT LOAD of time to study on my own. That could either be really bad or really good. We’ll see.

Pray for me you’ll, this crap is getting tiring, and I want to quit. Regardless of how well I seem to be doing, I look at my friends who are business majors, and they get to go out every night. Meh, whatever, I’ll talk to yall later.

Today was pretty cool. I started out kinda of late because I was up late watching ER and other shows. The episode was pretty good last night. Not much really happened today. I was watching CNN today and they were talking about something pretty disturbing to me. They were commenting on how IBM is being sold to a Chinese company. That bothers me because IBM has been responsible for building much of our supercomputers in the NSA, CIA, FBI, etc. All of that technology that has allowed the United States to stay ahead of the other countries is being sold to another country. Now mind you, I really don’t have any problems with Chinese people themselves. I don’t agree with Communism, but it is already clear that America aligns itself with whoever it needs. It just bothers me that a major American company is being sold. Damn Bush (lol, I blame everything on him).

Anyway, something kind of important has been on my mind. I’ve been thinking of pledging for the Alphas. Now I know what yall are saying, “Why would I want to get hazed, etc, just to be part of a brotherhood or something?” Trust me, I’ve never been one to like being told what to do, but the Alphas are more than a brotherhood. I’ve been doing a lot of research about them, and many of the most famous black figures in history have been Alphas, like Martin Luther King, Thurgood Marshall, W.E.B Dubois, and the list goes on. Alphas are known for playing important roles in society, and are known for their intellect, not their parties. Now while most of the fraternities say that they don’t haze, I know they all still do. I’m not ignorant to the fact that I might be paddled, made to sit in ice water tubs for hours, forced to not speak all day, etc, but its something that I’m really considering. The possibility for networking is amazing seeing as how 50% of the black doctors and 60% of the black lawyers are Alphas. I really haven’t made any decisions, but its something that I’m considering. If I pledged, I would have to pledge next school year. Do you think that medical schools would look down on me being an Alpha?

Next week, the Loma Linda University School of Public Health is coming to speak to the Oakwood Biomedical Association. I’m not really interested in that, but since I’m an officer, I have to go. I going to go and make dinner for Sabbath tomorrow. I’ll check yall later.

I’m not sure why, but I think that I’m losing momentum. I really don’t feel like being in class, if its not a science class. The science classes require so much attention that the other classes are just major annoyances. I know medical schools want their applicants to be well rounded, but I really wish there was some major at some school where you didn’t have to take general course (they are the BANE of my existence). Anyway, I’m done ranting.

Instead of posting really gigantic posts every once and awhile, I’m going to try to post more regularly so those people in high school who are reading this can see what the day to day life is of a pre-med student.

I had Genetics lab yesterday, which was pretty cool. I have to say that out of all my classes, genetics is the most interesting. It just makes sense. There aren’t arbitrary things that you need to memorize. Genetics is the most fascinating creation of God, and its really cool to study it. There are so many check points, and things we still don’t know about these chromosomes that are less than 30nm in diameter!!! I don’t know…one thing that sort of makes me happy when I study science is coming to the realization of how complicated everything in this world is, and how much time the Lord must have put into creating it. There is no way that evolution could make sure that there are cyclins and CDKs in our nucleus, where if cyclin isn’t phosphorylated, then the cell won’t go into the next phase of (G1, S, or G2). There is no way that evolution could make some of our nerves have automatic relays, where if we touch something hot, our hand will jerk back before I mind even registers that we touched something hot. How could mutations (or an increase in entropy) cause such perfection? Such seamless synergy? I’m sorry, I’m sure that hardcore soon-to-be scientists that read this are going to flame me. But the facts just don’t point to evolution. Anyway, yeah, I really like genetics. Right now we are learning about the cell cycle. We already learned that freshman year in General Biology, but now we are going more into depth about what happens at each step of mitosis. Next week we are going to start meiosis.

The biggest challenge, I feel, when your in college is learning how to study correctly. If you learn the way that is best for you, then things will go a whole lot easier. I know for me, something that has helped me is that at the end of every day, I go to my computer and type of the notes I took in class. In that way, I’m reviewing what I did that day, and I’m organizing myself, so when a test comes, I’ll be ready. Other people are different. For my girlfriend, having flash cards on her all day help her. For all those high school students out there, make sure you develop your study skills. You are automatically going to find one, you have to try different things. Try a different studying style for each test, and compare the results.

So yeah, I had Physics Lab today and Organic Chemistry Lab. Honestly yall, Physics is an absolute waste to me, especially the labs. No one really learns anything, we are just trying to get through all of the procedures so we can leave. To show you how useless it is, I was in lab for 3.5 hours this morning, and I really can’t remember what the topic of the project was. Organic Chemistry lab was pretty cool. She gave us a quiz on procedures that we would be doing that day, and I didn’t do too well. I didn’t study, I decided to watch TV instead, which wasn’t a good decision. I do feel though that every once and while you have to just let go, and relax; but choose the times wisely.

Hey everyone. One of my friends at the University of Cincinnati, said that they saw me in an article in their newspaper!!! I don’t like to boast, but I think that is so cool. He sent me a link, so you can visit it HERE . I wonder how much that would affect the chances of me getting in when I apply? Meh, whatever, I have to take the MCAT first.

The MCAT has really been on my mind lately. I really want to do well, like a 30 or a 33. that would pretty much get me into whatever medical school I apply to. The way my school does it is pretty cool though. They have a deal with Kaplan, where Kaplan comes during the summer, from June 1st till the August MCAT, and they help us review for the MCAT. Most of the people that take the review just finished their sophomore year, so everything is still fresh in their mind. Anyway, it will be cool this summer when I’m taking the Kaplan course, so you guys can read first hand what its like to be in a Kaplan review course. I know a lot of people say, screw Kaplan, and just buy the books and study. But I want to give myself every opportunity to get accepted.

I’m really tired, but I’ll write more tomorrow!!!

My my my, it sure has been a long time.

I started my second semester on January 10th, so I’m about 2 weeks into my second semester. Honestly this semester has held a plethora of new experiences. I’m off campus now, so I drive to school everyday now. I live about 10 minutes away, by Alabama A&M University, so it’s a nice drive. I live in a house with 2 other guys, and that has been cool. The only problem I’m having right now is the food situation. I’ve had to hide bread inside my room because friends of ours will just come by and eat up everything. Now I like to have people over like anyone else, but these people have meal plans on campus, I don’t, so the food they are eating is my sole means of sustaining myself. I’m venting right now, I’m sorry. For all those who are thinking of moving off campus, just take things like this into consideration. Financially it was a great move, since I only had to pay $400 instead of $5,000 to clear this semester; but it does come with its downsides.

Academically so far, this semester has been cool. This semester I’m taking:

Genetics

Genetics Lab

U.S. History II

Organic Chemistry

Organic Chemistry Lab

Physics

Physics Lab

Volleyball (lol, it’s the only PE that fit my schedule)

Health Principles

So it is a pretty packed semester. I don’t know, but I think that it is in my personality to take on too many responsibilities and extracurricular activities. I’m playing basketball intramurals, I’m developing the alumni website for my biology department, I’m working in the NAPS office, I’m still an officer for the Oakwood Biomedical Association, etc, etc. I’m not complaining, because I like to do these things, but it gets hectic sometimes. It is looking like my most challenging class this semester will be genetics. The teacher doesn’t give normal multiple choice exams. She gives multiple multiple choice exams where the answer could be A, or A, B, and C, or just B and D; and if you don’t circle all of the correct answers, then the whole question is completely wrong; no partial credit. Anyway, only 5 people in the past 6 years have gotten an A in her Genetics class, so this semester should be interesting.

Having a car has completely changed my college experience. Being able to drive my girlfriend to Olive Garden, or go to the movies whenever I feel like it, is wonderful. I finally feel like a man now.

The Tsunami in Asia was such a tragedy. We better get our relationship with God right, because He is coming soon. I just can’t believe the body count over there. NAPS, the mission group that I am a part of, is leaving to give aid in Sri Lanka tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers. I really want to go, but I can’t just drop school and go. Its times like these when I wish I was a doctor, so I could help over there.

I was watching the Discovery Health Channel, and they have this show called “Trauma: Life in the ER”, where they follow a trauma doctor through the course of a normal day in their lives. Well, I was watching it the other day, and Dr. Johannigman, the doctor I shadowed at the University of Cincinnati was the doctor that the Discovery Channel was following. It was so cool to see a doctor that I had shadowed all summer, on TV!!! Anyway, I e-mailed to tell him that I saw him on TV, and he took a long time to respond, but it was for a good reason. The following is a series of e-mails that I sent him, and he sent me:

—-DoctaJay:

Hey Dr. Jay, this is DoctaJay. I was watching the Discovery Health Channel the other day, and I saw you!!! I just wanted to tell you how cool it was to see someone who I had shadowed on TV!!! Hopefully one day I’ll become big time like you,lol. Anyway, thank you for your patience with me this past summer, and I encourage you to continue mentoring people like me; you have no idea what an impact you make on our lives. Talk to you soon Dr. Jay.

—-Dr. Johannigman:

DoctaJay,

Great to hear you. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see the special since I was heading over to Iraq. I am now stationed over at an Air Force Base in central Iraq and flying medevac from the hospital here. Look forward to staying in touch with you and keep aiming high

jj

—-DoctaJay:

Hey Dr. J. I saved that segment of the show onto my computer, so I could mail you a copy (if you wanted to watch it) on a CD-R if you give me your address. I’m quite shocked to hear that you are in Iraq. I thought that once you gave your 4 years back to the military you were free…I guess that isn’t that case. Anyway Dr. Jay; please be careful, and thank you for everything you showed and taught me. Also, thank you for serving our country.

—-Dr. Johannigman

DoctaJay,

thanks for saving the segment for me; our PR folks have done the same so I’ll get a chance to see it when I come home.

With respect to me being in Iraq. I have voluntarily remained in the Reserves since my four years of active duty were over. It has been a tremendous opportunity that I would never have traded. I have been to places and been able to see and do things that I would never have experienced on the civilian side. I currently have the privilege of helping to care for the young men and women of our services and you couldn’t ask for a better job. I am assigned as a member of a CCATT team (Critical Care Aeromedical Transport Team). Our job is to move the critically injured/wounded from the far forward areas of Iraq back to more capable facilities. In the current situation this means our three person team (doc,nurse and resp therapist) takes the patient from the combat hospital here in Iraq and packages them up for a flight to Germany. The flight takes about a total of ten hours and it can be a great challenge to stay on your toes and take good care of the patient during this time.

I’ll bring home lots of pictures and will show them to you when you come out to interview for Medical School.

my new e-mail address out here is

**************@***********

best wishes

doc j

Needless to say, I was quite shocked, but then I was proud, because I knew someone who was willing to risk their life for our country. It got me thinking whether I would want to go through medical school through the military. My mom already said that she would break both of my legs if I tried to go, but it seems like a great opportunity. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I have to study, so I’ll keep my postings up to date now. O yeah, by the way, it will be me and my girlfriends 2 year anniversary on February 14th!!! I’m not exactly sure what I want to do; do any girls or guys out there have any suggestions? God Bless…Peace.

I still have a headache from my last post……….yeah ok. Things have been going well so far. Guys, I have really been PROCRASTINATING, and this is surely not the time to do it. You know what has caused this horrible procrastination. My ridiculous desire to buy another cell phone (I want the Motorola Mpx, look at it HERE. I has two hinges, so I can open like a flip phone, and it can open like a two way pager. It basically has the Microsoft Windows operating system on it, Bluetooth, wireless internet, etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been reading forum after forum, review after review. It’s just not kosher. I almost wish my computer wouldn’t turn on.

But anyway, tomorrow I have my first final. It’s in Software Tools (a pretty easy class). Since I’ve been heavily into computers for about 7 years, the class is pretty much a breeze. Our final is not even over the whole year, but over an 80 slide PowerPoint presentation on computer hardware. That final is at 10:30 a.m., and then I get the rest of the day to study for my finals (Physics and Microbiology) that will be on Wednesday. The biggest killer will be my last final (Organic Chemistry) which is on Thursday.

Today we had a review session for the Organic Chemistry final. My teacher did something really really good for the review. He gave us a word problem. He gave us ethane (and we could only start with ethane), and he told us to form either a 4 carbon aldehyde or a 4 carbon ketone. It was really cool, because in that process, we basically reviewed every mechanism that we’ve been studying all year. Today I felt like I actually got it. All the mechanisms started to make sense, and I started to feel like this final wouldn’t be as horrible as I thought. Our teacher told us that next semester, we would be basically focusing on forming different products using that method.

As for my grades, the running list is:

Software Tools : A ( I could fail the final and still get an A)

Public Speaking: A

Organic Lab: A (squeaked by with a 90%)

Organic Chem.: We shall see when he curves the grades (write now it’s a B-)

Physics: We shall see when the final is over (right now it’s a 91%)

Microbiology: We shall see when the final is over (it’s a 89% now)

I really hate being on the fence with my grades. Oh yeah, and since this blog is for premedical students, or future premed students; I have some advice for you. The only thing that separates me from my classmates academically is that when it comes to non-major classes, I always get an A. Not because I’m some genius, but because I know that the higher up I get in science courses, the less likely that I’ll get an A in the class; therefore you use these crap easy classes like Psyc 101 to pad your GPA. Also, medical schools like to see this because it shows that he aren’t just some geeky scientist, and that you can hold your own in the humanities. It shows that you are well rounded.

I’m going to study some physics. Pray for me and for my test tomorrow. Remember that the prayers of the righteous availeth much. Keep that in mind as you go through your classes, finals, etc. I know that it’s the only thing that will get me through this ridiculously long journey.

Man, the Lord is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY (get my point?) good.

You guys of course read my post about the Organic Chemistry test that I had on Wednesday, and how he made it open book. Even though it was open book, that actually ended up hindering me, and I came away from that test feeling bad. But, because of my past experiences, especially with Organic Chemistry, I just left it up to God. I told him, that I know he wants me to be a doctor, so just please work it out. Well, the Lord is truly faithful. Yesterday, when we got out test back, I got an 86%, the highest grade that I’ve every received on an Organic Chemistry test. The Lord is very good. So that pretty much made my day.

Also, today I called the University of Maryland medical school, because I had made contact with them when I was at the ABRCMS. I was actually only contacting them to see whether they could come down to Oakwood College, and give a presentation (I’m public relations officer for the pre-med club on campus). So we got to talking, and the Lord worked it out so that my girlfriend and I, when we go back to Maryland for Xmas break, will be having an interview with a head lady on the admissions committee!!! She told me that normally they are leaving for vacation around that time, and beginning to interview people for medschool, but she would make space for us to come. That is such a blessing, and such an amazing opportunity. I’ll be able to give you guys a full account of what it was like when it happens.

While I was with NAPS over the Thanksgiving break, our president (of NAPS) and a couple other guys flew to India, to survey our future mission there. You see, there are about 100 million black people in India. They were dropped off during the slave trade, but to this day, they really aren’t in any better shape. They have been deemed the my oppressed people in the world. India is on a strong class system, where if you are considered lower class, you aren’t even considered to really be human. The African Indians there are oppressed so much that they aren’t even on the class system. They weren’t deemed worthy to be lower class. All of them live in a jungle area, where they aren’t allowed to even cut their own grass. 90 year old women are picking cotton for .60 cents a day, and there is only one man in town, an Indian man, that they can sell their cotton to. So if that man doesn’t feel like paying them the .60 cents, they get paid less. Many times their young girls are taken away and are forced to work as servants for the Indians in the city. Often times they are raped, and in that culture, if you are raped you are no longer pure, and are often ostracized or killed. The racism is so strong against these African Indians that they are called the “Untouchables”. Meaning that if an African Indian is walking, and his shadow is cast, the Indians don’t even want the African Indian shadow to touch them, and they will walk around it. Families are killed, husbands are shot, house are burned down, all without the Indian law enforcement even coming to write a report. The only religion they have is what they see, so they worship everything from elephants to rocks. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. This is the year 2004, and all this foolishness and evil is still taking place. The reason why you don’t hear much about this is because India, doesn’t want you to know what is taking place. That is why NAPS is going there this upcoming summer. Just imagine how many can be baptized if we bring them the truth about Jesus Christ. It will be amazing. So pray for us, that we can raise the funds to go to India, and further God’s work. Once again, if you want to find out more about NAPS, visit our website www.napsoc.org

I’m so sorry for not writing for so long, but it’s been a rough week.

Last Friday through Tuesday was college days at my school. That’s where highschool seniors come on campus and check it out, stay with people and campus and decide whether Oakwood is for them. My sister came (she’s a senior in high school) and she told me that she will never come here (sniff sniff). It’s okay thought, Oakwood doesn’t have her major (political science), so I guess it will be better for her to go else where.

As for me, my college days weekend sucked because we had a Organic Chemistry test on that Monday. I saw my sister like twice, because I was studying so much. Everyone was freaking out about the test because of it’s shear range information it would cover. The test would be over chirality, stereoisomers, mesocompounds, naming using the R,S system, carbocations, acid/base reaction in terms of molecule shape, everything you could think of about alkenes (naming, etc.), ALL THE REACTION MECHANISMS, the reagents for all the reaction mechanisms, the end products, etc., the E,Z system of name alkenes, etc. I’m sure that there is more, but crap, everyone was freaking out because he didn’t really give us too much “teaching” in class, so we had to learn most of it from the book. So Monday came and I had been up almost all night studying for it (please don’t do this, get rest the night before and wake up early to study for it). We took the test and everyone basically cussed out loud. It was so freaking out of left field. I mean, I recognized the concepts, but we had never been asked questions like that before. I saw a lot of people after awhile just filling in the circles and leaving. I was determined to at least think about each question (I was praying to God on each question). So I leave the test feeling raped and trampled, and we wouldn’t get the results until Wednesday. Well, we got the results back, and I got a 73%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now normally I don’t get excited about a C, but judging from that fact that most of the class got 60’s and below, I’m pretty happy. The Lord is so good, because I know that there is no way I would have gotten through that test without Him.

So now that I’m past that hurdle, more crap is piling on. The teachers are looking at how many days are left in the semester, and they are looking at what they have left to teach, and they are getting the shovel and piling it on. A lot of my fellow biology majors are getting discouraged and are thinking about changing majors. Freshman year was challenging with Chemistry and Biology, but the jump from Chemistry and Biology to Organic Chemistry, Microbiology, and Physics is exponential. It’s easy to come to the conclusion that medicine isn’t for you, but as I encouraged them, stick with it. It will only get worse, but as long as you know that, then your expectations won’t be high. The farther I go through this process, the more respect I have for doctors because of all the crap they have to go through. But when we get out, it will be wonderful, and people will be calling us “doctor”.

Today was pretty interesting. I don’t know if I told you, but I ran for office in the Oakwood Bio-Medical Association (OBMA) (the equivalent of a pre-med and research club combined). I ran for public relations and I won, so that was pretty cool. Today, guess who came to do a presentation at the OBMA meeting? The University of Cincinnati!!! I got a chance to see the people that I was in contact with like everyday this summer so that was great.

Well I’ve bought a new cell phone. It is the Motorola v710 carried by Verizon. It so cool!!! It has Bluetooth and it can take 3 min. videos!!! Some one else has to be excited about that. Other than that, nothing really interesting is happening.

I have realized that I really need to go to tutoring in Organic Chemistry. I know that I can do alright without it, but I want to do GREAT, and in order to do that I’ll have to humble myself and go to tutoring. For some reason I’ve had this feeling in the back of mind that tutoring was for people that just weren’t cut for being a doctor, but I was definitely wrong. So that is what I’ll be going to this upcoming week. This week was kind of dull. Tomorrow I’m going out with NAPS to the local ghetto to give bible studies and pray with people so that should be cool. Until something more interesting happens, I’ll HOLLA.

P.S.- the Answer to the question in my last post is “4.2m/s”

The week is over and the Sabbath is coming, and I feel a peace that is almost indescribable. This week was pretty rough but I got through.

Thursday I was in Lab basically all day, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. I wanted to study but I ended up talking to my advisor about my schedule and she basically mapped out my schedule until I graduate; so that’s cool. Even though I had a Physics and a Software Tools test the next day, I wasn’t being very serious. But you know, at times you just have to stop and do nothing. Being in sixth gear non-stop can really burn you out. So I chilled for awhile, knowing that I could pass the Software Tools test without studying and then reviewing as much as I could for the Physics test. Thank God that we had a review session on Wednesday with this high school physics teacher who comes in every Wednesday to help us with physics. Now I know it might seem weird that a high school teacher comes in on his free time to help us with physics, but the guy is so tight!!! Our physics teachers really can’t teach and explain well, so they bring him in to give us another view of the material. Mr. Mulleins (the high school teacher) taught us so much and I know that I would have failed if I tried to take the Physics test without going to the review session. Yeah, so the Physics test went well. It had a total of 25 questions; the first 16 were multiple choice and the last 5 were work out problems. I was only unsure about 2 multiple choice questions so hopefully I did well; I keep you guys posted when I get my score.

I don’t want to sound giddy but Donn (the surgery resident that I shadowed this summer who allowed me to get all the shadowing experience that I did) e-mailed me back and gave me come cool info. Here’s the e-mail he wrote to me:

DoctaJay, What’s up Doc. Glad to hear your year is starting off well. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. As you witnessed when you were here my life tends to be a little hectic. I am just finishing up this week at the Christ Hospital and getting ready to go back to trauma for another tour.

No sweat on the summer. It was a pleasure having you. I hope that if nothing else you had a glimpse into a world that can easily be yours with a little hard work. Undergrad will be over before you know it so make sure you continue to take advantage of every opportunity and keep your eyes on the prize. When I was in medical school at Northwestern, me and the two other black guys in my class (out of 173 students!!) used to live by two sayings.

1)”Perseverance and endurance insure success” and

2) “Noci corrundum illegitimus”- Never let the bastards grind you down (in Latin)”

On that note, I gotta jet for now. I’ll catch you later. Keep me updated on things and let me know if there is anything you need related to school, careers, life..etc. -Donn

Once again, I don’t want to sound giddy, but isn’t that SO COOL!!! Lol, I just can’t help it I guess; he kinda became a big brother/mentor to me. But yeah, I really like the two sayings that he and his friends used during medical school, especially the second one. I printed it out and put it above my desk so that when I’m studying organic, or when I’m stressed out by microbiology or physics I can repeat it.

I’m selling my Samsung i700 pocket pc cell phone on EBAY. I plan on buying the Motorola v710. Even though the pda/phone I have now is really cool, I really want Bluetooth, and the Motorola v710 is the only Verizon phone that has it. (my fellow gadget geeks will understand). I’m actually just waiting until they HTC XDAIII comes out. Now that is going to be a cool phone. Check it out HERE

Sorry guys that this post is so long, but a lot has happened. My friend has the MSAR (Medical School Application Requirements) book that has all the info you would want to know about all the medical schools, and she let me borrow it. So during my boring public speaking class I was flipping through it, and I’ve narrowed my medical school list down to 14 schools!!! Once I take my MCAT, depending on my score, I’ll narrow it down some more:

New york

Columbia University College of P&S

Mount Sinai SOM

New York University

Yeshiva University (Albert Einstein)

Washington, D.C.

Georgetown University

George Washington University

Howard University

Maryland

Johns Hopkins University

University of Maryland

Various

Emory University

Loma Linda University

Meharry Medical College

Northwestern University

University of Cincinnati

I know that I definetly want to go to medical school in a big city because I be able to get exposed to as much trauma as possible. And the other’s are chosen for other reasons. But yeah, I’ve ran out of stuff to talk about, see yall lata!!!

ANSWER FOR LAST’S POST POLL QUESTION: Lipids (that is why acid-fast bacterium must be heated, to break down the lipids )

I got a 71% on my Organic Chemistry test. I was a little mad at first, but I know that that is part of life. I’d be very stupid to think that this year is going to go like last year. Our organic chemistry teacher allows us to correct the problems on our tests and receive half of the points we missed back. So I got a chance to review the questions I got wrong, and it turned out that I made little stupid mistakes. But I think that bouncing back quickly is the most important quality for a pre-med student. Because you will get bad grades on tests, you will fail quizzes, you will at times feel like you don’t grasp the information at all, but if you bounce back quickly from your disappointments and your sulking, you’ll do better in the end.

What I’ve learned primarily from this experience is to do your “own” best and don’t worry about how you measure up to others. Since I had a 4.0 GPA last year (the only bio major that did) and I was freshman biology student of the year; I felt that I had to live up to those achievements. That was a problem; I wasn’t so much worried about getting a 71% as I was worried about people thinking that I had fell off. That just isn’t healthy, and I thank God for finally slapping me in the face and showing me the foolishness of it. I’m going to get into medical school because I did the best “I” could do; not because I did the best my classmates thought I could do. I hope I’m making sense.

Anyway, so that is the grade that I got on my Organic Chemistry test. After the test corrections, I can earn up to a 80% (I think). Today I also had a speech in public speaking. It was supposed to be a demonstration speech where we demonstrated something. My speech was on how to remove and how to install a cdrom drive. It went well, and then I had microbiology lab after that. Lab was actually pretty fun; we learned how to make bacterial smears, how to do negative staining, and how make simple stains. I’m actually getting MUCH better at finding things with a microscope, which is cool.

There are some pretty interesting things happening right now. First off, THERE IS NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The reason is because of Hurricane Ivan. It’s going to mess up Mobile, Alabama pretty bad, and Huntsville (where I’m at) is only 2 hours away; so they cancelled classes. Now as you guys know, I’m in a relief group called NAPS (The National Association for the Prevention of Starvation). We were there after 9/11, we were in Florida last week when the hurricane hit, and now we are planning to go to Mobile to help there. I want to go, but I have a Physics test tomorrow, and the teacher won’t excuse me. I hope school is cancelled tomorrow too.

Just as a side note; I was pretty depressed this afternoon because of my test grade and because….I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling good. I was walking and kind of complaining to God, asking Him why I had received the grade I did, and if He knew I wasn’t ready, why didn’t He urge me to study more. And something told me to turn around, and in the sky I saw a beautiful rainbow. I shut my mouth and thanked God for the reassurance that the rainbow provided. (Just so you guys know, the rainbow is a symbol of God’s promise to us that He will never again destroy the world with a flood. I see it generally as a symbol of a promise). When I saw that rainbow, I remembered the promise that He gave us in His Word, the promise that He always has our back, and will never let us fall. I just want to encourage you guys, that whenever you feel like the world is coming down on you, give it all to Jesus. Trust me, He made organic chemistry, biology, physics, biochemistry, embryology, immunology, physiology, etc. He made all those things, so He can definitely get you through your classes and your struggles in general. Be encouraged.

BY THE WAY THE ANSWER FOR MY LAST POLL QUESTION IS “THE VALENCE BOND THEORY”. The VESPR Theory simply explains the bond angles.

Well, I had my Organic Chemistry test today, and I have to admit that I was caught off guard on a lot of the questions. I mean I studied tremendously for the test, but the way he worded the questions threw me off a little. Even though I don’t feel good about the Organic chemistry test, I know that it will be alright because I’ve left it up to God. I also had a public speaking test today, and this guy really made is harder than it had to be. He ask us questions that were so incredibly stupid and hard to find (it was an open book test); but what ever.

I received a letter today congratulating me on my acceptance into the RISE –I CARE program at my school. It stands for a really long name, but basically they are paying me like $5000 to do research during the school year (aint bad huh?). Even though the money will be great, I’m still worried that I won’t be able to handle the extra time spent with it.

I think that if I had done it all over again I would have been a political science major and just taken the prerequisites to get into medical school. I don’t know, maybe once I get my organic chemistry test scores back, I’ll feel a little be more happy. Until then pray for me yall.

Someone left me a comment saying “Where did you go?”. AWWWHHH, I FEEL LOVED! Lol, just kidding. For real though thanks for looking out for me guys. It has been an interesting week.

The last time I wrote I was about to fly home for my birthday, which was Sept. 4 (last Saturday). Well that went GREAT!!! My grandma made me curry chicken, rice & peas, jerk chicken, macaroni and cheese, meatballs, home-baked rolls, and it goes on. I ate like a complete pig to say the least. I got a chance to see a lot of family and it was great, and now I’m back at school, eating the vegetarian slop they feed us.

It has been a pretty good week overall. I flew back into Huntsville on Tuesday morning at about 12:43 a.m. We were supposed to arrived at 11:00 p.m. but we connected in Atlanta and the flights were delayed because of Hurricane Francis. Thank God I didn’t have any classes on Tuesday because I partied all weekend and did now work, so it was catch up time. I did work from 9 a.m. to 12:23 a.m.; went to sleep, woke up at 4:00 a.m. and did work until my microbiology class at 9 a.m. We had an Organic Chemistry quiz on Wednesday and I did alright, I got an 8/10. Basically the test was over nomenclature, but I got thrown off by 2 structures he had us name. One was a line diagram and another was a bicycle structure. Now I know how to identify these things, and I knew the names of them, but I had never seem them on printed paper, only drawn, so when I saw the structure (the computer made one on the quiz) it threw me completely off. I think that will be my only problem in this part of organic; recognizing exactly what the structure is.

Today was cool. We had a NAPS meeting at 6 a.m., and then I went to physics lab at 8 a.m. Now let me tell you guys about Physics; the guy CAN’T teach. He knows his stuff, and can probably hang with the big dogs at Harvard, but he can’t clearly relay the information to us. I think picking my nose for 50 min. would be more productive than the time I spend in that class period. So I’m in college now, and that means that if the teacher doesn’t teach you what you need to know, you learn it yourself from the book. So that is what I’ve done, I’m teaching myself, and things are looking up. The problem that I was having was that I didn’t know how to figure out which equation to use for the problem. Once I got the equation, everything was good, but get is hard for me. I need some kind of guidance in figuring that out, but I guess self-study does the trick sometimes. So back Physics Lab; it was pretty cool. We were studying kinematics and got to use up motion detectors to the computers and analyze the velocity graphs that were produced. After lab, I graded the lab reports so they could be handed back to the students tonight, and I also typed up my Bio so I could turn it in to the OPMA (Oakwood Pre-Medical Association) I’m turning in my bio so I can run for the office of Public Relations. One day my real goal is to be President, but I’m too swamped right now, plus I’m too lazy right now for that kind of responsibility. But yeah, then I had Organic lab at 1 p.m. and that was fairly straight-forward. We were distilling hexane and toluene.

I must say that I really love being a lab instructor, even though it gets annoying when they ask you questions that are answerable if they only read their lab packet. I really feel like I’m helping them, and I get to get to know the freshman biology majors. Many of them won’t pass the class or will drop out, but I have faith in most of them. I entered my abstract from my research this summer to the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS). The conference is on Nov. 10 and a couple of people from my school are going. For some reason (maybe my distaste for research) I don’t feel like going, but I was strongly encouraged (forced) to enter my abstract in by one of my teachers, so I’m doing. I’ll keep you guys posted on whether it gets accepted or not. I’m extremely tired, but thank God for the Sabbath, it truly is a day of rest; away from school, life’s troubles, the world, sadness, etc.

Well, this post is of a happier tone than my last one. We got our first homework assignment in physics graded and given back to us today, and a lot of people got their feelings hurt. It was out of 22 points and a lot of people got 11s or lower. It’s not because they didn’t know how to do it, but it was more so because he wants us to show ALL our work. I got a 17/22, which isn’t good in my book, but it was better than most of the class.

We had a microbiology quiz this morning and I got a 4.5/5, which I’m not happy about. The question that I got half off on was: “Eli Melchnikoff discovered _______ , which is a normal reaction of the body foreign bacteria.” Now I put phagocytes, the answer was phagocytosis. Now in retrospect, after thinking about the question, phagocytosis makes a lot more sense, but come on!!!!!! Anyway, after microbiology was Software Tools, and it was really easy. We had a quick quiz on what the bar at the bottom of the desktop screen was called, and then we could leave. After that was Organic Chemistry and it was actually really fun. We finally finished all the GChem review and we jumped into Organic today. We talked about the nomenclature of the alkanes and their structures and all the structures of the functional groups. It looks like its going to be a lot of memorization, but its very visual, so I should be alright. I love organic so far compared to general chemistry. The rest of my day went alright, except for the fact that I found out (after the fact) that as a lab instructor I just don’t work during lab, but I have to put in 5 more hours of general biology work hours. So I worked from 3 – 5 p.m. today and basically did all scut work like categorizing and taking inventory of all the chemicals.

The way the biology lab works is that the students have to turn in a lab report for every lab. Their lab is on Thursday and their lab report is due the following Monday at 5:00 p.m. sharp; not 5:00 p.m. and 1 second, but 5:00 p.m. exactly. The lab report usually takes about 4 to 6 hours total to complete so its a lot of work and a lot of typing. So in the biology dept., on Mondays around 5:00 p.m. you will usually see freshman biology lab students running across campus or all throughout the biology department to hand in their lab report on time. Since today was their first time having to turn one in, it was especially fun. Half of them couldn’t find the room that it was supposed to be handed in, and most of them came about 2 mins. before 5 p.m. Nothing is accepted after exactly 5 p.m. and some people I guess didn’t take the policy seriously and came in at 5 p.m. and 2 seconds to find that they had already received a zero. I may sound nonchalant about this but I had to go through this so I have no sympathy for the freshman.; your best bet is to turn it in a couple hours before.

There was a meeting today for every Oakwood student that did research this past summer. So I went and basically they are having a symposium in October where we can present our poster boards. And the winners from that will get an all expense paid trip to Dallas to present their poster at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. So that should be cool.

That’s really all that happened today. MY BIRTHDAY IS ON SEPTEMBER 4th, and I’m flying home on Friday since it’s a three day weekend. I’ll talk to you guys soon!

Well, I took my first Organic Chemistry quiz today….and I completely failed it. I mean I got the biggest ZERO you could get on a 10 point quiz. It didn’t fail it because it was too hard, I didn’t fail it because I didn’t study, I failed it because I subtracted “24 – 18” wrong. I said it equaled 8 instead of 6. We were basically writing the Lewis structure of Ozone (O3), and before you can do that, you have to find the number of shared electrons between the 3 oxygens. Well, because of a stupid subtraction error, I had 2 extra bonds, and since all the questions after that were based on the first, even though I completed each question, I was using the wrong data so they were all wrong. I wanted to leave the class because I failed the first and easiest quiz we would ever take, just because I didn’t recheck my answers. Piece of advice to the other pre-meds, ALWAYS check your answers, no matter how confident you feel. Something in the back of my mind told me something was wrong when I was calculating the formal charges for the atoms and one of the oxygens had a formal charge of 2+. The O3 molecule is nonpolar, so it wouldn’t make sense for it to have a charge, but I didn’t recheck my stuff, so this is what happens. I wanted to leave the class and sulk for the whole day, but my girlfriend cheered me up and told me that this was just one quiz and I can do well on the rest of them if I just get over this one. So, that’s where I am right now. It was a really long day of class. Wednesdays are alright except for my Microbiology lab from 2:30 – 5:30 p.m. The lady is crazy; she kept us in the lab for the whole time. She doesn’t believe in letting us out early, regardless of whether she had anything else to teach us. UUUUgggggghhhhhhhhhhh!!!! So yeah once we watched a video on microbiology (from the 70’s) for 1 hour then we went on with other useless crap. I worked on some physics homework, it was pretty fun actually. I like physics because it’s visual. You can draw diagrams to help yourself solve the problem, and that always helps. Tomorrow is going to be crazy. I have a NAPS meeting from 6 a.m. – 7:45 a.m., then I have Physics Lab from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m., then I have Organic Lab from 1:00 – 5:15 p.m., then I’ll be the lab instructor at the general biology lab from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. WHAT A DAY, pray for me yall!!!!

I truly do love Tuesdays. I don’t have any classes on Tuesday and it is such a relief after being blasted by all my classes on Mondays.

I woke up nice and early and made it to breakfast (my girlfriend has been complaining that she wants to eat with me at breakfast, so I made a effort of getting up on time; even though I had no classes today). After that I went to the bookstore to buy my Microbiology lab book. Now let me tell you the story about this. I bought my Microbiology lab book already online, but online I saw that they hadn’t even shipped it out. So I knew that I wouldn’t have the lab book in time for the lab, so I went to Dr. Schmidt to ask her what I should do. She kindly told me that that is my problem, and no one told me to buy it online, even though it was $30 cheaper. She also told me that I couldn’t copy some else’s lab book, because if I did, I would get a ZERO and the person who let me copy their lab book would get a ZERO. Don’t you just love teachers that work with you? So I gritted my teeth, cancelled my order online, and went to the campus book store so I could get my book in time for lab tomorrow. Now, as with most black run institutions, Oakwood is administratively slow and unorganized, and the bookstore isn’t exempt from this. They only have 3 registers that can actually help you. At these 3 registers, you find out the prices for your books, you check on the availability of your books, and you buy your books. Now my campus is small, but 3 registers still isn’t enough. None of the books are out on the shelves except for the Bible books (who wants to steal those); so you have to wait in line to do everything. The line basically stretched out the bookstore doors. Thank God I didn’t have any classes today, because I was standing in line for a hour and 30 minutes. That’s not even the worst part; I stood in line for 1 h and 30 min. just to find out at one of the registers that they didn’t have my lab book in stock. Well I was livid to say the least, but slightly relieved because now I had a valid excuse for not having the book. I paid for it and brought the receipt to Dr. Schmidt, she accepted it and told me that I have some leeway for the upcoming lab.

My motto this year is to “READ WITHOUT CEASING”. And so keeping with that motto, I went to the library to read over chapter one in organic and review my microbiology notes. Tomorrow I have a quiz in organic, possibly micro, physics, and software tools; so I studied for those. I’m liking organic so far, or at least what I’ve seen so far. Chapter 1 starts off with a review of resonance hybrids, sp, sp2, sp3, sp3d, and spd2 hybrid orbitals, functional groups, chemical bonding, dipole moments, etc. Basically it’s the more interesting and better yet visual part of general chemistry. I know that everything I’m reading right now is review and we haven’t really gotten into organic yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Now as you guys already know, I have a pretty heavy load this year, not to mention with the added responsibility of NAPS and being a biology lab instructor. But for some reason I think I also want to be a officers in Oakwood’s SNMA (Student National Medical Association). Nothing high up, probably just publications officer. I want to ask you guys opinion as to whether you think I should run? They have officer’s meetings every week and SNMA meetings every 2 weeks.

Everything has been going pretty well since I last posted. Let me try to recall some stuff that has happened so far.

Last Thursday was a pretty good day. Since there aren’t any labs the first week at my school I didn’t have to go to my physics lab that is on Thursday from 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. and then my organic lab which is from 1 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. So that day I basically chilled and bought all my books online. Although there weren’t any actual labs on the first Thursday, the freshman biology lab did have their orientation. So me being a lab instructor was required to be there so they would know who we were. That was a pretty interesting experience. I walked into the auditorium and all the general biology (honors) and regular general biology students were sitting in their seats. They all looked a tad timid and were talking low. All the lab instructors went to the front of the auditorium including the lab coordinator Lieza Burtton. Now a little bit of info about Lieza, she truly is a nice person at heart. We began the orientation with prayer then worship and then we went into the orientation. We handed out their syllabus for the lab and their first lab report packet with instructions attached on how to do the lab reports. Liza began to go through the syllabus and then lab report instruction packet, and then she stopped, turned around and said, “I’m tired of talking, DoctaJay you explain the rest of the lab to them.” Now I was quite startled about this because first off, this is my first year being a lab instructor while others there have been there for about 3 years, also I hardly remembered how to do those things. But I went up there and did it anyway, and it turned out alright.

The only thing that I don’t like now is that a lot of attention is on me as a lab instructor more so than others. Firstly because at the orientation, the biology department chair gave a little speech to the freshman bio majors. Everything was going fine until he said, “You guys have very able lab instructors, some more than others. I would like to point out DoctaJay, he was top of his class last year, blah blah blah blah blah (and it went on from there). As flattering as this all was, I still didn’t like it. Mainly because now, all the lab students come up to me and ask me for advice on everything. Now I’m very happy to help, but I just don’t like the attention, there are much more senior and knowledgeable biology majors who could help too. It’s whatever though, I’ll just grit my teeth and help wherever I can.

Saturday was pretty cool. We had Sabbath dinner over our biology chair’s house and it was pretty good. Really it was a meeting to get all the NAPS members together again, and it was fun seeing everyone. Some freshman who were interested in NAPS came and it was great to see some new people interested in doing the Lord’s work. Sunday went by wwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too fast. After getting an A on my first microbiology quiz on Friday, we were piled on with more work. I ordered all of my books online, but they are taking FOREVER to arrive. I would highly recommended buying from www.ecampus.com, they got my stuff here very fast. Anyway, I spent most of Sunday studying. My motto for this year is “READ WITHOUT CEASING”. This way I’ll always be on top of things and I won’t have to cram for a test when it comes time.

Today went pretty well. Mondays are just killers for me. We had a quiz again today in microbiology class. She told us that she can give us a quiz whenever she feels like it and it could be every class period or no class periods. I didn’t think she was for real, but she is, and we had another quiz. I got a 4/5 on the quiz and so did basically everyone in the class. Everyone got the question wrong that asked (and I’m paraphrasing), “ Who was responsible for the biochemical evidence that there is DNA in transformation.” The answer was Avery and some other people but the reason why everyone got it wrong was because the answer was found in a timeline of great microbiological events. There were about 200 dates and this date and event was hidden in between. Who in God’s names would look over all 200, let alone pick that one event out of all of them. It’s whatever though, I’ll settle for an 80%.

Every year at Oakwood for the first 2 weeks, we have a back to school revival. And this is basically where we have a sermon every night for 2 weeks to get our spiritual life in check. It’s good, but I have way too much work to be there every night. I played basketball tonight and got the old jumper back; it feels good to get the blood pumping again. I’m tired, but tomorrow I have no classes, so it’ll be a good day for study. See yall later!!!

Wassup everyone. I’m currently writing this entry in my chair in my house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I flew out of Cincinnati at 5:55 and arrived in Maryland at 7:30’ it feels good to be home. Research is over, and I have to admit that although I hated it, it was still a very good experience. You never know whether you like something until you do it, and I did it, and I hated it. My girlfriend’s research is over too and she just flew out of California, but she’s flying straight to Huntsville. I won’t be home long, I’ll basically be here tonight, Saturday, and early Sunday, and then we drive down Huntsville.

My final powerpoint presentation went really well. Everyone in the program did really well. After the presentation, we all went to the Marriott Kingsgate Hotel to eat (it was bangin!!!!). I went to shadow for one last time last night, but it was really slow so I turned in my trauma pager and left early. I really have to praise God for the experiences that I’ve gained this summer. Not only has He allowed me to do mission work, but He’s allowed me to do research, not to mentione the shadowing experience. Trust me guys, if you put your future in His hands, only good things can come of it.

Well in other news, I’ve lost my ffffffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaakkkkkkkkkkiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn poster. I’m really not happy about this at all. I got that thing printed for free, and transported it all the way from Cincinnati to Baltimore. And while I’m loading all my suitcases in my dad’s truck, I forget the poster tube lying on the bench that I was sitting on. I still have to present at Oakwood when I get down there, that’s why I’m so pressed. I call the TSA lost & found, so hopefully I’ll get it back, but pray for me that I get it back. That event kind of ruined my night really. But I just found out that all my family came up so see me before I go back to college so I feel loved. Registration is on Monday and Tuesday, and school starts on Wednesday, so my next entry will be on Monday after I go through the first round of registration. See yall then!!!!