Love this Picture!

A bit of strong language, but honestly, I've heard my chosen specialty of OB/GYN described time and time again this way. Apparently, really intense people go into it, Type A, a little obsessive-compulsive etc.

In fact, at an AED meeting (Pre-med Honor Society), a doctor came in and someone asked him about specialty choice and personality, and when he described OB/GYN in a comical fashion, he had one of my really close UGA friends hysterically laughing nearly falling out of her chair. She told me that I really just had to become an OB/GYN. There was no other sector for me that fit so well. Ha! Anyway - it is really funny, and I don't mind being a crazy, intense person that thrives on adrenaline and stress. Someone has to. Might as well be me!

Sick Sucks!

There is nothing more miserable than being sick. I have been sick since Thursday, and this is completely miserable. Not only have I not been able to run, because I have some weird respiratory virus and cough thing, but it is definitely impacting my ability to stay focused and learn, which is unfortunate, since I have so much studying to do.

On the plus side, not running has not impacted my eating lifestyle. I am still 128 pounds and a size four, and this also means I've lost 20 percent of my body weight since June. So exciting! I really want to get to around 120, which at my height (5'6" or 5'7" depending on who is measuring) is about as lean as I want to take it.

I can't wait to exercise again, and I am still hoping to make it to my 10K this weekend at Callaway Gardens. They are lighting up their Fantasy in Lights early and doing a 10K straight through it. I've looked forward to this for about a month, and I am going to be so disappointed if I have to miss it. Plus, I've been invited along to a Halloween party on Friday night, and I'd love to go to that since so little my time is ever free for parties. It's just Murphy's Law that I am sick through all this!

Even last weekend on Friday night, I was so sick but still trying to find a way to have a date night with my husband. He even got in the shower to get ready to take me out, but by the time he was out and dressed, I was huddled in bed coughing and with a terrible sore throat asking for a few more minutes - then I'd for sure be able to get up and go. He just looked at my sad, pathetic face and got in bed with me. Yeah, I was sick through our date night.

I am still thinking that I should have taken my grad student friend, Karen, up on letting her swab my throat and streak some plates with it to culture it. I am in the major that does have all these crazy agar plates around that will select for certain bacteria present. I'm still not convinced this is a stupid virus!

Next Summer...hmmm

Ok, so a big discussion around the Overmon house has been where are we going to go for our big trip. Big trip i.e. - last hoorah before Micah and I live separately for medical school except for the weekends.

We finally found a trip with Intrepid Travel for an Active Turkey vacation complete with exploring, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking - all right up our alley. I'm a runner, Micah's a biker, together - we are super active people. Well, except for this weekend. I have some kind of weird virus, but I am finally going to get to run again tomorrow.

Anyway, after deciding we would go there, it just didn't sit well. We have both always felt called to missions, but we've never had to chance to go anywhere. I told him that it wasn't feeling right, and that really what I wanted to do was serve in Africa - where my heart has always been. In fact, African women immigrants are who I directly want to work with when I become a doctor. I intend to specialize in gyn surgery and heal female genital mutilation difficulties. We talked about it extensively, and he said if that is where my heart is it doesn't make any sense in spending a lot of money to go anywhere else. So now, we are praying. I think we are going to spend two weeks in Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan or Kenya. I'm leaning towards Uganda. We're going to see where God leads us, but I'm feeling led to do work at an orphanage. Although it sounds cliche, there is no way to describe how incredibly high the orphan numbers are in Uganda especially. I know we're going to do this, but now it is a matter of where. We are both adamant we volunteer at a Christian orphanage, so we're going to start praying and looking into them. I also want to build my own trip not travel with an organization. I don't want to pay their overhead when I can manage my own travel for the trip myself.

I'm excited about it! We'll see where this goes, but this is the first step towards what we eventually want to do. I intend to start a nonprofit clinic in Atlanta for immigrant women needing GYN surgery here, but I also want to set up a partner clinic in Africa for them there. Although this is an unrelated area, I want to go over and experience and learn more about the culture. I also know for sure Micah and I are going to be adopting at some point, so I'd like to work in that environment. We'll see what happens!

I got a B!

So it's not an A...however, a B on my Calc test is an achievement for me. If I can work hard and get an A on my next test and a B on the final - my B is definitely earned in the class. I should be able to pull a C out no problem. I don't know why math is so hard for me, but I am glad I don't have to withdraw or retake this class. I'm pretty thrilled actually. Ugh - the pressure is on for sure - I'm just hoping I can cut it. There is a whole lot on the line for me.

Anyway - if you are reading this - keep me in your prayers.

Tonight, I'm drinking a little red wine, watching some really bad B TV, and I plan on maybe studying something that I actually don't hate - maybe Pathogenic Bacteria. And yes, I really do like that class! Come on, I'm a future doctor! Let's hope I like it!

:)

Running

This has quickly become my favorite activity. Not only do I most enjoy running about six miles on average - my favorite distance, but I really enjoy even longer runs. My body gets into a comfortable pace that seems to keep going even when your head says to sit down. It's really empowering in a lot of ways. Not only is my weight finally under control and at a healthy BMI, I am finally down to a size four, and I am also able to handle a lot of physical activity that I normally wouldn't be able to - it's so great!

The half marathon is rapidly approaching, and Thanskgiving Day will be here before I know it. I had to run without my running partner last weekend, and I will have to do it again this weekend. It is so much harder without Alicia! It's really nice to have someone there with you as you add distance, and 11 miles this Sunday morning will be so much harder without her. As I add distance, I am sure I am going to be showing up more and more with wet hair and no make-up running in five minutes late to the last church service too! Kind of funny, but I refuse to give up my schedule. I just really like doing my long runs on Sunday mornings. It's almost a reverent time for me anyway.

I'm projecting doing the Snicker's Energy Marathon Bar marathon in Albany in March of 2009. I"m pretty excited about it. I'm waiting til I finish the half so I'll know what pace to estimate my final time with, but I'm averaging about a 10 to 10:30 pace right now for my longest runs (10 etc.), so I'm hoping that I'll finish with a 4 hour 30 min pace group or so for the marathon in the spring. We'll see!

Micah and I are also trying to plan our big trip. We always said we would go somewhere big if I got into medical school, and we are definitely still doing that. I'm torn between doing a marathon on the Australia cost and seeing things there, or taking Micah backpacking through Europe for a few weeks. He's never been, and I would love to show him around. I loved my time there. Anybody have any good ideas?

So what happens after the acceptance?

I figured I would start a new blog to chronicle my life after I was accepted to medical school. For so incredibly long, everything revolved around getting that acceptance. Now that I have it, what happens next?

Well, first things first, I have to get through Calc. I really really dislike math, and I have a very very hard time with it, which really doesn't make much sense since I ended up doing very well in other hard classes like Ochem 2 and Biochem. Oh well, can't make much sense of things like that, I suppose.

I am usually so incredibly demanding of myself - making sure I have nothing but A's in everything, but this semester, I am really trying to do the best I can still, but I am making more time for some friends of mine in crisis, as well as family that has experienced crisis as well as joy. I think this has been really good for me, as I will be looking for a bit of a balance in the future, and it is high time I figure out how to get great grades and still be there for my friends/family in tragic events. Suffice to say - there has been a bunch of car rides with studying going on! (Is that really a balance?) Who knows!

Macon next year...Wow. I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it. Micah is going to keep his job, as he loves it so incredibly much, and we really do need that money coming in. Not only that, we're uncertain how good it would look for him to leave his job after only being there for such a short time - so we will be facing what many couples in our predicament face - married and in love, but living separately for work/school except for the weekends. At least for now.


I know we will do it well, but I am going to be lonely during the week without him. Although we don't have much time right now, just having him poke his head into the room where I'm studying to say hi...I am forever grateful he loves his job so much, though, and it is good for us to have that money coming in right now.

I guess this is the beginning of everything else for us. This is what happens afterwards...