A Year of Nothing...

As most of you know, I'm taking a year off. I finished up my Masters last May and I'm starting medical school this coming August....so that means I'm taking this year to focus on me. That sounds incredibly selfish doesn't it? What I mean is that I'm taking time to, in my own opinion, better myself. I'm getting in shape, I'm reading books that I've been compulsively buying for the past few years, I'm focusing on my faith, I'm watching all kinds of movies, etc.. Basically, I'm doing stuff that I've been telling myself that I was going to do but just never had the time (or desire) to actually do.
From 1st grade until I graduated high school, I devoured books. I was always reading something and I don't think that I went anywhere without a paperback shoved in my bag/pocket/pants. Yeah, I was the kid who took a flashlight too the movie theater because I didn't really want to see the movie that my parents were forcing me to watch (Dad and I got into a huge fight during Tombstone...not fun times). I remember one time when my dad punished me by making me watch TV. Yeah, he MADE me watch TV. I'm sure that I had said some snarky thing to him, but I actually remember him yelling, "Tara, put that book down, come out of your room, and watch this TV." It was professional wrestling. I'm still dealing with the emotional damage that watching Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage caused. I'm pretty sure that if I ever turn into a serial killer, I can just point to this one point in my childhood and any jury will acquit. Back to my point...Once I got involved in my actual college coursework, reading for pleasure became something of the past. By the time I finished pouring over a 1000 page biochem textbook, the last thing that I wanted to do was read more. I'd just sit in front of the TV not really paying attention and hoping that my brain would stop hurting. Grad school wasn't much better because in addition to the awful textbooks, we had journal articles. Scientific journal articles are so interesting, let me tell you. I mean the fact that I'd have to read them 3 times just to get an idea of what they were talking about should give you a hint of their awesomeness. When people say that scientists are boring and lack a personality, all you have to do is read their published work to know that this statement is absolutely true. Science is so cool but scientists make it seem just God-awful boring. Most of them are just so awkward in any type of social situation that you're kind of glad that they spend most of their time holed up in a lab. Well I digress...
Now that I have my 9-5 job, I have time AND desire to read actual novels. Right now I'm reading 3 books. Yeah, 3. I couldn't decide on just one so I started all 3. Out of the 3, I'm really only enjoying 1 of them but I'm too stubborn to quit reading the other two. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is full of mid 70s philosophical psycho babble and I spend most of my time wishing that I could enter the book and strangle the narrator. I'm also reading a collection of short stories by good ole Willie Faulkner. Granted, I love his stories but there's only so much stream of consciousness that any given person can handle in one sitting. I can usually only read one story at a time before I start having flashbacks to 10th grade English class. I'm also reading Mere Christianity and I have to say that I just adore C.S. Lewis. I read this book a few years ago but I think it deserves a re-read. I usually try to throw a book on religion into the mix when I'm doing the multiple book thing and I think this one balances out the other two quite well. C.S. Lewis knew how to talk to actual people...unlike the authors of the other two books. After I finish these 3, I think that I'm going to throw a little Jane Austen into the mix. It's been awhile. She makes me wish for days when women wore corsets and men wore tight pants.

I've also been on a big TV on DVD kick. I really hate watching TV shows with commercials. Yeah, DVR spoiled me. For the past few years people have been talking about Big Love so I've started that one. All I have to say is that HBO knows how to make the shows. So good. I'm also watching The United States of Tara. Hilarious and it has my future husband in it (John Corbett makes my teeth sweat *wink* ). This show almost makes me wish that I have multiple personalities...almost.



As for the getting in shape part of my year long goal, I'm getting there. I may kill myself along the way but I'm getting there. I think that I have a broken bone in my foot because of the pounding that it takes on the treadmill, but what's a few broken bones, right? I'm not letting a bum foot stand in the way of a new pair of JCREW chinos. Yes, I am that vain.