Do you know how nice it is to finally be able to study outside again? It's glorious. I can go over PowerPoint slides while enjoying a nice, slightly brisk breeze that works to cool me from the radiant rays of the sun. I can listen to birds chirp some jokes to each other and watch the clouds glide graciously across the smooth, icy blue sky. This is nature's way of telling me that spring is here. Better times are coming. No more having to suffer in winter's blistering cold or its short daylight hours. No more having to stay trapped indoors as the winter winds cackle at me. No more having to stare outside my window longing for warmer temperatures as the winter sun plays deceptive tricks by making it look nice and warm outside when it's really 22 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can see, I'm not a fan of the winter season.

This past week has been the warmest week we've had since like October maybe. We were steadily in the 70s and I actually didn't have to wear a sweater outside for once. And since we sprung an hour forward today with Daylight Savings, I have longer daylight hours to look forward to. 😄 In other news, I just finished my first week of the Neuroscience block, and I actually am enjoying it so far! Sure there's an ungodly amount of information coming at me at a supersonic rate, but it's highly relevant to our everyday lives and super interesting to me. Plus, the information that we're learning is going to be continuously reinforced to us throughout these 10 weeks of the block so we're going to see much of what we learned already again and again. I've also realized how many resources there are for learning this material…this is going to be a great block. I'm speaking it into existence. Looking back though, it really is insane how much I learned this past week alone. There are soooo many little intricacies in the brain that many people wouldn't even begin to know how to comprehend. Our brains are a masterpiece man. Now every time I make an action or think about doing something, I find myself trying to make out what structures in my brain is working at that time. Slightly annoying, but cool at the same time. However, nobody told me we were going to the anatomy lab again…I found myself up there at 8 in the morning last Friday examining a brain. Not the way I wanted to spend my Friday morning…but I think that's the only time we're going to be going back up there this block. Works for me.

On another note, there's a national SNMA (Student National Medical Association) conference coming up in a couple of weeks in Austin, TX…and I CAN'T GO! 😭😭😭 I REALLY wanted to network with a ton of medical students around the country and experience what the conference had to offer. But airfare to Austin is expensive as hell. Not to mention finding a place to sleep. And apart from all that, I have my first Neuroscience test the Monday after the conference weekend. It's soooo unfortunate man. Sigh. I guess I got another three years to possibly go. However, I did get to go to a scholarship gala last Friday night and it was pretty damn fancy. A ton of scholarship donors showed up and it was real nice being able to talk to some of them about their experiences in medical school and what they are doing now in their lives. The food was real good too. Especially the salmon. They said it was all buffet-style…but I swear they took up those food trays so fast, there was no chance in hell anyone could go up for a second plate. Also I know I've said this before, but a major goal in my life is to be well off enough to create meaningful scholarships for students in the future. It's so necessary yo, I wouldn't be the man I am today without the scholarships I was so graciously gifted with. I'm really going to do it one day, I'm speaking this into existence as well!

Have a spectacular week y'all!

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. – Zig Ziglar

– Black Man, M.D.