Re: The Last Few Months

Hi.

The past three months, really, have been a blur. November and December were a scheduling nightmare from a tutoring perspective, trying to balance the different holiday schedules of four independent schools, and to plan for the craziness that has been January.


The day after Christmas I took off for two weeks in New Zealand to be in the wedding of my good mate Luke Amundson. It was a great trip, with lots of friends and loved ones all around to celebrate a beautiful couple. New Zealand wasn't a bad place to get a tan, either! We had amazing, gracious hosts the entire time, and were able to see a pretty good chunk of the countryside.


So great a trip, however, has its costs; for the past three weeks I've been charging full speed ahead. Not only did I miss the first week of school, but I also missed a week of work, which I have been fighting with all my might to make up. Why? Because we project a certain number of tutoring sessions for each month, which we need to meet by the end of the month or bad things happen. Sooooooo... I've just completed one of the more hectic three-week periods in recent memory, cramming four weeks of insane scheduling into an already-straining schedule. My evenings, after working until 8 or 9pm (there were finals in mid-February) consisted in reading biochemistry and watching podcasted lectures.


Speaking of which, in case I haven't mentioned it before, I have been taking the University of Washington's 440-level biochemistry course this year. I took BIOC440 last quarter and it went really well, and now I'm in BIOC441. Next quarter, Lord willing, I'll make a pass at BIOC 442. So far I'm loving it. We had the first midterm of the quarter today, so we'll have to see how it went.


PERSONALLY: I have felt drained by life lately, and I really feel the need to slow things down. There are many old commitments that I have made but failed to follow through on. There are many people that I need to spend time with, but have been too hurried. There are many people that I need to thank in writing, or to encourage with a quick hello.


In December I lost an old friend, Justin Key, to a pulmonary embolism. He was only 26, a graduate student at the University of Virginia in the Darden Business School MBA program, with a full life ahead of him. Or so we all thought... since his passing I've been thinking a lot about how short and fleeting life is. Why do YOU think that you will wake up tomorrow? Why do I? God has numbered our days, so we should make the most of every opportunity. Thank you, Justin, for being a good friend over these fifteen (or however long) years, for living your life to the fullest, and for leaving behind the legacy of a good name.


More to come. Here's a good one of JK, from another old friend.