Thursday, March 22, 2007

MCAT - or - Mike Charging At Test

Hi Dear Friends,

I hope this note finds you well and enjoying the little perennial surprises crawling out the ends of dogwood branches and cherry trees.

I am in the final stretch of my studying for the Medical College Admissions Test, which I have registered to write on April 7th in Augusta. I started studying when I was living in Ecuador last fall, thanks to Oon Cho's gently worn Kaplan books with distracting korean notes in the margin. When I got back I (more legitimately) started with Kaplan's prep course in November with weekly classes.

Lately I've been living a bit more of a monastic lifestyle. Simply reading, eating and sleeping, with days full of contemplative practices of the scientific persuasion. Some of you know that I thought pretty seriously about joining a monastery for a while, (to learn to make the world's best beer if nothing else) so I've been quite comfortable in this routine and have yet to notice any sign of stress aside from the annual assault of plant lovemaking that makes my eyes itch a bit.

I've been working at Caribou Coffee to placate my belly and buddy landlord, and have more than enough caffeine to maintain directed attention, so I don't really need much.

That said, I'll probably be pretty scarce for the next couple of weeks, but I'll still be thinking of y'all a lot. And if you subscribe to that sort of thing, I'd appreciate your thoughts too. It's a long road, but I'm really excited about finding more and more how well medicine fits with how I see myself being in the world.

I look forward to seeing/talking with y'all soon after my test, and cutting loose until things really gear up again in the Fall of 2008.

Do well, Be well,

-Mike Holmes

No comments: