Good Break Men! Onward!

For the last few weeks, I've been studying the following:

• Glycolysis, glycogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and all of the fun syntheses of sugars (along with around 50 enzymes to memorize using dirty pneumonics)
• The electron transport chain and how the body gets its energy (and why dinitrophenol was bad for everyone!), the pentose phosphate pathway, and beta-oxidation
• Structures and syntheses of lipids, cholesterol, steroids, and hormones
• Membrane receptor pathways for G-proteins, Serine and Tyrosine Kinase receptors, and JAK/STAT receptors (and all of the less famous receptors - my favorite being the Hedgehog receptor)
• Population genetics (which turns out to be quite similar to racial profiling...go figure), genetic screenings, and pedigree analysis
• Somewhere between thirty and fifty diseases and disorders that are associated with defective enzymes in any of the above subjects. This part was particularly cool, since it actually felt clinically relevant; we felt like we were in medical school rather than in some PhD class.

I spent the entire last two weeks studying for the exam that we had on Friday. I imagine that the exam went fairly well, but I won't know officially if my zealous study habits payed off until sometime today or Tuesday. One thing that did come of the Friday exam was...free time!

For the first time in some five weeks I actually had a full two days off with no obligations, no attachments, and nothing at all to study! Good times were had.

Everything important that needed to be done got finished. Grocery shopping? Check! Laundry done...almost! Cleaned my kitchen? Maybe next free weekend... And cleaning up my room? Eh, it's not too dirty for now.

So what did I do? My long time girlfriend came up for the weekend to spend some quality time. We climbed the highest mountain within fifteen miles of here (gas is expensive), ate at some local restaurants, and genuinely enjoyed the free time we had together.

Tomorrow I go back to the grind. We start on microtubules and actin/myosin filament structures and I know that'll have me on the edge of my seat. With a whole weekend of rest and relaxation, I feel like I can take on medical school once again. Bring it on!