Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry from McGill. I’m gonna learn French! Montreal, here I come.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the only option, The other 9 are just back-ups.

So, I haven’t scheduled my exams yet, it all pivots upon the fulcrum of the sale of my house. I am, however, studying like mad for my General and Biochem, Cellular and Molecular Biology subject GRE exams. Biochemists and biophysicists do it better.

For what? Well, here is the list of schools where my scores will be sent. The board is set and the pieces are in motion. Time to get busy!

1. McGill
2. Columbia
3. Stanford
4. Cornell
5. University of Pennsylvania
6. Duke
7. Princeton
8. Northwestern
9. Yale
10. U.N.C. Chapel Hill

You really can’t beat that list.

On Wednesdays My coworkers and I meet and discuss departmental, safety, procedural and other issues surrounding our collective work at the college. It’s just a meeting where we bitch and moan about the latest safety faux pas or engineering mistake.

This meeting I announced to everyone that I intend to make next academic year my last year at the college so that I can pursue a graduate degree.  I pretty much committed to the venture with the announcement, which is probably the best commitment I could make at this point in my life. I’ll take the MCAT as soon as I can (August) and apply to the OHSU MD/MPH program in Portland where I’ll spend the following six years training as a medical doctor and epidemiologist.

As of a month ago, those weren’t my plans – I was totally convinced that I’d found my place with a beautiful woman as my partner and was extraordinarily excited about it, too. Things change – sometimes out of the blue – and now I guess this gives me the perfect opportunity to pick my life back up and achieve my own goals before (or concurrent with) meeting my real partner, if she exists.

For now I think I’ll just sell the house,  hunker down, punch cash into savings, prepare for becoming a student again and have a good time living.

Last night I went out with friends for drinks and let other people buy me a few beers, then I went out for dinner with a girl who owed me dinner from last week and then we went for a walk around the lake. I really needed to continue to do this stuff, so it was good that I did. By the time I got home at 9:30 I was so tired I fell into bed and fell asleep in my clothes. It was nice because I havent been able to sleep without turning a movie on to distract me in nearly a month since Girl and I split. Progress I suppose. Today is a much better day than any I’ve had since then so life is moving in the right direction.

Tomorrow I’m going to visit with another friend and we’re going to plant a quince tree. Symbolic? Nah, not really. I spent money on it and I want it to live.