Today was not conducive to blogging.

I didn't do anything...but I had to deal with a lot of stress brought on by unexpected finances and the fact that the UofA never sent my transcript (due today) to UTMB after two freaking weeks.

So if you're disappointed (I know you're not, just play along), here are some adorable baby sloths to cheer you up.

We'll try again tomorrow.

Late...again.

I'M SORRY.

To be fair, I spent most of the day grocery shopping and watching Sherlock. It was super important and I couldn't be bothered to blog during all that. You understand, right?

Also...btw...the Sherlock Season 2 finale:

 *flail*

Also this blog entry will be a bit short because I'm skyping Tyler and he is distracting.

 

 He won't even realize he's on this blog because HE DOESN'T READ IT. 

Today's topic is my debt. Because everybody wants to hear about that. 

So basically I finally found out how much I get in direct (unsubsidized) federal loans for the year (about $38,000). It's meant for 9 months (which is the length of MS1); however, after about an hour of stressful budgeting with my father (the most frugal and stressful man I know), I figured out how to stretch it out over 11 months. This will make it last until MS2 starts in July 2014. 

I also figured out that my parents will have to loan me about $3500-$4000 so that I can furnish my apartment and survive in Galveston before funding starts in July. I will hopefully be able to find somewhere to work briefly while I'm there, but that won't cover much more than food.

I am not one who enjoys owing people money. If you happen to recall an incident where I owed you money and didn't pay you back, it's definitely because I forgot. I make a point to be a lender, but not a borrower.  So the fact that I will owe somebody (parents, the federal government, etc.) money routinely for the next 30 years makes me cringe.

And the concept of interest just terrifies me.

So I guess for me that's the hardest part about "the real world". I'm used to being on my own, feeding myself (although I've never had a kitchen...so that'll be fun), getting used to a new place, and even budgeting my money (I've never overdrafted or had to ask for emergency money). But loans and debt are new. I realize that I am incredibly lucky to be in my current financial situation,  where my parents paid for any college expenses that weren't covered by scholarships and left me debt-free as a graduate. However, it's still intimidating to have to need to rely on loans for four years, defer them for residency, then start paying them off slowly with terrible interest. 

Nevertheless, I feel a bit better now that I have a plan and budget set in place. I'm still not sure how the funds will be disbursed or if I will have enough to live on (expecting a packet from UTMB any day now explaining the process...), but it's better.

Like I've said before, baby steps. 

Today's YouTube video is Charlieissocoollike. It is honestly one of my favorite videos of his, even though it's not meant to be entertaining, because it's so relatable.

Until tomorrow!

Pointless blog.

Oh hey.

It was requested (by Stacia) that I start posting earlier in the day...but as you can see, I didn't manage to get around to it early enough today...so there's always tomorrow, right?

So far none of my blog posts have really had a point to them. I just ramble about my day until I run out of things to talk about (quickly...because I'm boring). I figured I would do something a little different when my life starts being repetitive.

Therefore, it's about time I lay out everything that's happened in the last year, which was pretty much the biggest year of my life.

(Here, have an enthusiastic Niall to get you in the mood)

A little more than a year ago, things were much different from how they are now. Firstly, I had just lost all of my friends (well, not all...and not permanently...but you get the point). I had been dealing with a really killer bout of depression for several months, which had gotten worse when I suddenly had to juggle my thesis, studying for the MCAT, friends leaving, and change all at once. Instead of trying to control my emotions, I let them run wild. I lashed out at my friends and family, hurting the ones I loved and making things very difficult for myself. I wasn't fun to be around either, as I was always in a bad mood. It was horrible, and I hated myself for a long time. At one point, several of my closest friend had (understandably) had enough, and they distanced themselves from me and my problems.

To top it off, I honestly didn't see myself getting into medical school. I struggled with the MCAT especially. My baseline score was LOW. I studied and studied, but had no idea if it was helping. I had a bad habit of worrying about everything, and it killed my confidence. I also (for some idiotic reason) didn't think I could get into medical school, even if I squeaked out a fair score. I doubted myself hardcore, and I'm really surprised that that doubt didn't keep me from pursuing my dreams.

At this point last year, I was seeing things improve slightly. The semester had ended well grade-wise (despite the fact that most everything else fell apart) and I saw an increase in my practice MCAT scores (because apparently that's what happens when you study).  I had pushed back my MCAT exam by a month, so that also helped relieve some of the pressure. I hung out with Tyler mostly, as he was pretty much the only person whom I hadn't alienated and he lived in the Quad with me during summer school. I attended summer school, studied for the MCAT, and went to counseling...and everything slowly got better. At the end of June, I took the MCAT (which was satisfactory) and left the country.

Since then, I've accomplished a buttload. I traveled all around Costa Rica, applied to 12 medical schools (while in Costa Rica), received 5 interviews and 4 acceptances, earned a research grant, completed an honors thesis, presented at a conference, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. All while continuing to be an influential student leader. On top of that, I rebuilt my social life and discovered some of the best and closest friends I've ever had (I'm looking at YOU Tyler, Conrad, Savannah, Rachel, and Ashton), to whom I owe everything. I also reconnected with those friends that I thought I had lost...because true friendships aren't so easily destroyed.

Moral of the story: Even when things seem completely ruined, hopeless, helpless, etc., there are much better things down the line, so use the situation as an opportunity to improve yourself.

Yeah, I know: tl;dr. BUT IT'S A GOOD STORY OK

And it's better than the story of my day...which was the usual: lying about and stressing out over my federal loans.

Today's YouTube video is in honor of my hero John Green, whose wife gave birth to their daughter Alice today.

As John would say, DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome), y'all!

P.S. I'm currently on Spotify accidentally getting addicted to Muse (a.k.a. turning more into Dan than I already was)...so that's a thing.

P.P.S. You can tell I'm getting lazy with the gifs when most or all of them are Dan or Phil or both.

P.P.S. Stop talking about Dan and get a life, Jill you obsessed crazy woman.

I SIGNED A LEASE TODAY

That could go on for a while...but I must remind myself that this is not Tumblr.

Yeah, so you know that condo we randomly called about yesterday after finding the flyer? We looked at that this morning before we were supposed to meet with the other condo owner. The property was definitely much nicer and a better deal: cleaner, newer appliances, lower rent, no pet deposit, friendly and considerate owners. We knew right away that we would rather sign with that condo than the other one.

As an added bonus, my landlord is a DO/MPH who is licensed in both internal medicine and preventive medicine...she works at a community health clinic in Houston.

If you didn't figure it out already...that means she pretty much has my dream job. I was sold.

As my Arkansas mentor Adam put it:

After awkwardly running into them again while at brunch at the Sunflower Cafe, which they had recommended to us (and it was DELICIOUS), we told them we wanted the condo and signed the lease.

So it all went to plan in the end. Now I'm back home to find a car and start furnishing the thing. I will move down there at the end of the month. YEAH

Btw...I'm looking for a way to decorate my apartment (with pictures and other nice things) without spending a crapload of money. Let me know if you have any cheap, Pinterest-y ideas.

Today's YouTube video is--you guessed it!--Dan's new video. Which is worth the watch, even if you are not unhealthily enamored with the man.

After watching this, I unsurprisingly found myself enjoying the things I use ironically...like run-on sentences...and caps lock...and the abbreviations "bb" or "omg"...and reading Internet drama on Tumblr...

Oh gosh.

See y'all tomorrow, when my life will be much less exciting!

GOODBYE from one precious angel (Phil, not me) to another.

I'm running on 3 hours of sleep! YEAH!

Don't judge me. I was leaving town in the morning and Silver Linings Playbook, which my family rented and very rudely watched without me, was only going to be available for 44 more hours. I hadn't seen it yet. I had no choice in the matter.

It was worth it ok.

...Anyway. Today I woke up at 6am and traveled to Galveston with my dad. When we got into town, we went over to the condo first. It looked fine, even though the carpets definitely need to be replaced like the owner is planning. The complex itself is great and super close to campus. We also found out--because my dad was clever enough to look for flyers at the mailboxes--that the condo right above it is also available. This one is slightly cheaper, has brand new appliances, seems a little nicer (at least what we could see looking through the window...we'll be seeing it tomorrow), and is on the second level rather than the first (avoids floods). It's also owned by a former UTMB student who really wants a current student to rent out the property.

Needless to say, I have BARGAINING POWER.

That'll be tomorrow's task.

We also looked at my top apartment choice. It looked fine and there were several units available. It's a little bit cheaper than the condos, but the rooms are tiny and not super appealing. Regardless, I have myself a Plan C if Plan A (Condo 1) and Plan B (Condo 2) don't work out for some reason!

So our day ended pretty early and we were able to go to Murphy's Pub (apparently the place where a lot of locals/students hang out, drink, and eat the most delicious white pizza in the world), which is just off The Strand (the touristy, mediocre, Galvestonian version of Fayetteville's Dickson Street). We also drove around the island a bit. Then we went to check into our hotel up by the Texas Medical Center.

By the way...we drove through the TMC and I kept staring at all the hospitals, imagining my dream job, and thinking...

I'm ridiculous.

Finally, we had Buffalo Wild Wings and went to see a movie. After Earth. Which was...special. It's not Will Smith's best movie, and the story was a bit strange and full of nothing but convenient plot devices. Jaden did well though. Overall, it was a mediocre movie. Here's probably why...

 

Yupp.

Today's YouTube video was going to be Dan's new video, but he couldn't manage to upload it because he's a turd. So I'll just show you my favorite video in the whole world instead:

You're welcome.

Dad's already asleep, so I should probably get off the Internet now.

BYE!

Wow! Look how early I'm posting this blog!

I don't know about you, but...I got up rather recently.

Oh, and obviously I'm feeling...

 hahahahahahaha...*ahem*

So upon getting my lazy rear out of bed at 2:00pm and making myself an egg sandwich, I received a call from the owner of the condo that I've been eying (apparently that's the correct spelling for that word) for a couple weeks now. I thought it was going to be something horrible because, you know, that's just how my life works...but it turned out that she just wanted to let me know that she plans on getting the carpets changed and faucet fixed, so that I wouldn't be concerned when I looked at it tomorrow. We then planned a time to meet up on Sunday and sign paperwork.

Then it hit me. I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET THIS CONDO FOR REAL.

The complex is really nice from what I know/have heard and is super close to campus. I'll take pictures while I'm there.

My dad and I will leave early tomorrow morning to head to Galveston so that we can look at some apartment complexes, meet with some owners, and look at the condo. If everything looks good, we'll likely snag that condo this weekend. If not, we'll pick an apartment and go with it. I just need to get this done.

Here's to hoping that I'm not just getting my hopes up.

It will be nice to go back to Galveston. I do like it a lot...it's a nice place, and it reminds me a little of Fayetteville (except with beaches and tourists). It's also close to some family and my favorite place in the world, the Texas Medical Center.

Galveston from the top floor of one of UTMB's research buildings.

The TMC in Houston.

 Tomorrow's post will probably be up late, but I will probably have more to say. So...

Today's YouTube video is of these precious little angels prank-calling a fellow BBC Radio 1 DJ, which is just perfect.

Gooooodbye.

Gettin' there

Hi! *Grace Face*

Today gave me a bit of hope that things are moving forward. My dad and I officially decided that we are going to Galveston this weekend. I got a hold of a condo owner who I have been talking to and established a day that we could meet and sign paperwork, if everything looks okay when we have a look around. I also looked at another apartment option, which is actually a house a couple of blocks away from campus.

So it looks like I'll have some things to talk about this weekend. It'll be nice to secure housing. It's probably the biggest thing that's stressing me out. Once I have a place to live, everything else will fall into place.

My dad also found a couple of used car options in the area and even made an offer on one of them. So it looks like we're moving forward with that. Even though I hate driving, am expecting a high insurance cost, and not looking forward to having to pay gas again, it will be nice to finally have a car after a year and a half. One crucial step toward independence that I've gone without for a while.

So yay!

Oh...and I watched more Sherlock.

In other news, my beloved microblogging website Tumblr is definitely in trouble. The CEO of Yahoo proved that she doesn't know the point of Tumblr when she said "Tumblr prides itself on being a home for brands."

And the reblog button is on the bottom instead of the top now and it's annoying.

The daily struggles of an Internet addict.

Speaking of Internet addiction, I have no choice to repeat dailygrace as the YouTube Video of the Day because this is genius:

...That's strange. Where are the Dan gifs in today's post?

 

 Oh, there he is! Trying to kill me with his stupid face, as usual.


BYE!