Abbott’s Preparation Week 28 (Medic)

This week I have made major headway in not just my current cycle, but also in the rest of my pursuits as well.

To start, I’ve started soloing locally, which means flying solo only around the airport itself (pretty self explanatory), and from there I’ll start checking off the rest of my requirements pretty quickly. Before my checkride, I still need solos to Hemet airport, Ramona airport, Brackett airport and then a long solo from Fallbrook to Brackett then all the way back to Ramona. After I complete that list, I’ll start checkride prep, and once I pass my FAA checkride, I’ll have my pilot’s license. It seems simple, but I need to put aside the time to study for the checkride, as I will need to perform in skill and also be knowledgeable in mind, and that has always been difficult for me. I can usually perform well when it comes to the task at hand, but I can’t explain how or why I’m doing it the way I am. So, I’ll have to take all that into account when I get closer to that point.

Additionally, I started my next Great Courses class: Medical School For Everyone: Emergency Medicine, the next set of lectures in the series of the Med School for Everyone courses. While this course is taught by the same doctor who spoke in the course prior to this one, I don’t find it quite as enjoyable. There aren’t any witty comments or thoughtful quotes, it’s much more pure hard and fast data, but there are some insightful takeaways and this course pretty much follows the structure of the one I mentioned last week, so I would still recommend it. Of course it covers vastly different topics, being about emergency medicine as opposed to general rounds, and while there is some overlap (as there is bound to be in any subject), most of these lessons focus on the ED (emergency department) and how a physician ought to think under pressure and with little time. I think this course has helped prepare me, especially as it shows the more realistic, gritty side of medicine, which is exactly what I’d face working in the field as an EMT.

On another topic, I’m now halfway through the Cave Man Chemistry book, and while I hate to use emphasisers as a discourse marker, I have to say, wow, this is a cool book! I have been enjoying this book immensely, as it takes studying something extremely dull like chemistry (no offense to all you science nerds out there) and makes it wonderfully interesting. First, each chapter has a narrative which is written as a personification of the chapter’s topic, and it associates them with people from all different periods of time and stations of class, making each learning point feel as if it were a gleam of knowledge from earth, fire, air or water themselves. Whatever isn’t personified like this is instead in the author’s own personal style of writing is also brilliant, and connects with the reader on so many levels, it elevates what could be reading technical jargon out of a government issued textbook into an enthralling, enjoyable experience. Even more so, every chapter has a real world experiment that’s outlined in detail in the book, which adds even more understanding and mastery to the subjects at hand, and also is the perfect junction for people who learn in a more hands-on style to join in this parade of knowledge. If none of what I just wrote made sense to you, just think of it like those cool pop-up books about animals and stuff that your parents gave you in first grade in the hopes you would actually try and do something constructive other than pick your nose. Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is naturally curious in life or who enjoys science.

I also have gotten back into working out regularly, as I didn’t really have the opportunity to exercise while I was in Italy (and honestly I also just didn’t want to). But this has been helping me stay more active, grow some muscles other than my brain muscle, and has helped burn off all the extra gelato weight.

All in all, it’s been another very eventful week, and I’m one step closer to both EMT school and also getting my pilot’s licence. So I hope you have a wonderful week, and until next time,

• Abbott Springston