Reading List 2011-2012

Since I am not currently employed full time or even part time, I have a lot of time to sleep, watch television, eat, shop, surf the net, blog, run and read.  Getting 8 hours of sleep is good.  Getting 10-12 hours of sleep is overkill.  Watching the morning news for an hour is useful.  Watching Ion television or USA for hours at a time is a waste of my time and not good for my circulation, unless I'm walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bicycle. Eating is good, but only in moderation.  Shopping is good stress relief, but a big stressor on my wallet.  Surfing the net can also be a good thing or a waste of time, depending on my intentions for doing so.  Blogging can be a good way do develop my communication skills, keep a journal, vent my feelings, etc; but I would have to be careful of what I blog about.  I'm putting stuff out there that everyone can see, including friends and future employers.  Running is a very good practice to implement into my daily life, but it's so difficult to start and maintain.  It also should not take up the majority of my day; it should last 30 minutes to an hour tops, at least right now at my fitness level.  Reading.  Reading is a good activity.  I can expand my knowledge and vocabulary; plus, it helps me to stop daydreaming about the future, which has become almost like a disease for me.  I believe daydreaming, at least about the things that I daydream about, can cause or increase depression. Like most things, a little bit of daydreaming is ok, but too much can be detrimental.  Back to reading.  Of course, reading while sitting for hours on end causes the same circulation problems that watching television for hours on end does.

I need to find a job, or at least more volunteer opportunities on the days that I do not have to leave the house.  I currently volunteer at Vanderbilt on Mondays, attend a martial arts class on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Running and walking could take up the other days of the week...  But I'm getting off-topic.

I have a reading list:

Books read: Animal Farm, by George Orwell; Every Patient Tells a Story, by Lisa Sanders, MD; The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Books to read: The Emperor of All Maladies, by  Siddhartha Mukherjee; The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom; God and World in the Old Testament, by Terence E. Fretheim; A Scientist's Guide to Talking with the Media, by Richard Hayes and Daniel Grossman; A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan; The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, by Kay Ryan; The Power of Half, by Kevin and Hannah Salwen; Divergent, by Veronica Roth; The Present Age, by Soren Kierkengaard; Through Painted Deserts, by Donald Miller; Seeing the Unseen, by Joe Beam; God Never Blinks, by Regina Brett

Why these books?  Well, since we're all afraid of the possibility of our current society becoming an Orwellian society, I decided to read up on what such a society would look like.  I've already read 1984 in high school, but should probably read it again; however, I had not read Animal Farm until recently and decided to read it because it was there, it was by Orwell, and it was short.  So short, in fact, that I was able to finish it in about 5 hours.  I am not a fast reader.  The book made me furious throughout its entirety.  I did let out a chuckle at the last page, though.  Earlier, I read The Hunger Games because friends recommended it, and I had listened to enough of it in audio form to become intrigued, both because of the adventurous aspect of it of because of it's depiction of a dystopian society.  I enjoyed the book, but wished it didn't end the way it did.  I'm kind of a romantic.

The next book, Every Patient Tells a Story, I had started earlier than the previous two books, but had put it down for a while while I was in my last semester of college.  It was the last book I bought from Davis Kidd before it went out of business. (sob!)  I bought it because I want to become a physician, and I thought that it would give me good insight into what today's doctors consider in the process of making diagnostic and treatment decisions and also into the way doctors and patients do and should interact.  I found the book to be very interesting and informative.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in medicine.  I started reading The Emperor of All Maladies because it's a biography of one of the most mysterious and life-altering diseases: Cancer.  It is also a Pulitzer Prize winner.

Oh goodness, If I go into detailed descriptions of why I plan to read each book, this is going to be one extremely long post. So, for brevity's sake, one-liners will be presented from now on:

The Hiding Place: Because my sister told me I had to read it.
God and World in the Old Testament: Because my dad highly recommended it.
A Scientist's Guide to Talking with the Media: Because it might be useful to me in the future as I slowly lose the ability to effectively communicate with lay-people. (oops, that's a two liner.  How about One sentencer's?)
A Visit From the Goon Squad:  Because it's a Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
The Best of It: New and Selected Poems: Because it's a Pulitzer Prize winning book of poetry written by the 2008-2010 United States Poet Laureate.
The Power of Half: because its description inspired an idealist-at-heart, like me.
Divergent: because it's supposed to be kind of like The Hunger Games, and I needed to buy more books to get free shipping from Amazon.
The Present Age: Because the cover looked pretty, and it's good to read old books you don't agree with 100%.
Through Painted Deserts: Because Donald Miller is an awesome writer.
Seeing the Unseen: Because it was used in a Bible study at my home congregation.
God Never Blinks: Because God Never Blinks.

Well, this post is still quite long, but I enjoyed writing it.  It's therapeutic.

Now I'm off to nourish my body with food in moderation.

~Shannon

On the Road to Medical School

It's been tough for me to get everything I've needed to do in applying for medical school done by the August 1st deadline for Quillen College of Medicine's early decision program because I am both a perfectionist and a procrastinator.  However, I was able to convince the wonderful members of Lipscomb's Health Professions Advisory Committee to give me an interview and write a letter of evaluation during the months of July and August, respectively.  I submitted my general application before the August 1st deadline and received a request for a supplemental application around August 3.  It took me a few weeks to get around to answering all of the questions to my liking, and then I proceeded to beg my HPAC adviser to mail the letter of evaluation to AMCAS as soon as possible.  The letter was mailed a little under a week before the August 24th deadline, but I realized that there was not enough time for the letter to be processed by AMCAS and made available to ETSU by the deadline.  HOWEVER, an AMCAS representative informed me that there was a way for the committee adviser to upload the letter of evaluation directly onto the AMCAS website, making the letter available to the designated medical school in about TEN MINUTES! Of course, I hauled myself over to Lipscomb's HPAC adviser's office, informed him of this fact, and pleaded with him to upload the letter as soon as possible (I was hoping that day, as it was the 23rd of August).  He told me that he had other things to do at that time but that he would try to upload it as soon as he could.  I thanked him and left a little worried about the possibilities of that happening.  A few hours later, though, I noticed an email from AMCAS informing me that my letter of evaluation had been processed and made available to ETSU.  I could have done a cartwheel had I had enough space.  I wondered why I had never heard of this LetterWriter program on AMCAS, the program that allows one to upload letters of evaluation/recommendation.  One would think that in this era, the ability to upload documents to websites would make mailing those same documents, which will be put on the same websites, obsolete, but who knows? Maybe there's a specific job for people at AMCAS who process those mailed documents, and they would be out of a job if uploading letters of evaluation became well known and widely used.  Well, I'm glad they have that option.  They must have been thinking of all those procrastinators out there who want to become physicians. 

Anyway, I received an invitation from Quillen College of Medicine to be interviewed by members of its admissions committee a few days after the August 24th deadline. I did a happy dance and thought about how quickly my supplementary application and letter of evaluation had been read and evaluated.  Then I remembered that I had applied for early decision, meaning that if ETSU wanted me as a medical student, it had to let me know by October 1st.  Yes, I was glad I applied early decision.  ETSU is where I want to go for medical school, and I am not the most patient person, so applying early to just ETSU and no other medical school was a good decision for me.  If I am not accepted for the 2012 year, I will apply to other medical schools as well, and if I have no luck there, then I will keep applying for the following years.  If I have to, I'll take the dreaded MCAT again.  Lord willing, I am going to be a physician!

My interview is in exactly one week.  If you read this, please pray for me!

~Shannon