Yuzu gives an update!

Heyyyyyyyyyy!

It's been a really long time! If I open up my calendar, I think the last time I was truly active on NUF was probably February? I remember this clearly because I started studying for the USMLE Step 1 (medical school board exam, round 1) on March 1st.

After all that studying, I took my medical school boards in mid-April and I did okay o7

The week after that, I started clinical rotations in the hospital. During this block, I rotated in Neurology and Internal Medicine across 3 sites, and it was really mentally exhausting! I saw a lot of stuff and a I learned a lot, and it's hard to pinpoint precisely where I've changed apart from the fact that I've probably changed a lot. >.<

Now that I've finished my Block 1 and taken that shelf exam, it's now onwards to the next phase of my super duper long education path -- I'm exiting the medical school to pursue a PhD! It might sound kind of ridiculous to get this much education but it's part of the program that I'm in. I actually don't have to pay for medical school because the NIH (US National Institutes of Health) funds a couple hundred people every year to get MD/PhD degrees so I don't have to pay tuition (which is around $60k a year for medical school). On the other hand, the full program is 8 years (minimum) long, which means I'll be 30 by the time I finish medical school!

Transitioning to lab life is rough. I joined an immunology lab, which means I basically don't understand anything because immunology is complicated and there's a zillion clusters of differentiation and pathways and really esoteric stuff that I need to catch up on. I'm basically buried in papers all the time. It's also transitioning to an environment where I have to drive my own research and schedule, and I don't want to slack because a 4 year PhD can easily turn into a 7 year PhD depending on your ability to be lazy (or how unlucky you are).

So it's actually quite a bit of pressure I didn't really realize there was.

I haven't had too much of an urge to utilize NUF as a diversion, and that's probably a good thing because I should be spending my time research papers. Instead of socializing on NUF, the activities I've done in the past 8 months include:

1. I tried writing a story that didn't get past chapter 4
2. I joined a few special-interest discord communities like a medical server and a LGBT server, but my personality doesn't really mesh that well. Interestingly, one of the doctors on the medical servers reads chinese novels on NU, but I don't think she's active in the forums. XD
3. I'm not renting anymore because my parents bought a house for me... which is awesome... but I think they're hinting that I should get married soon since I'm co-habitating with my love. Uhh... I dunno how ready I am yet. Maybe in a year or two possibly?
4. Home-making is a lot of work! Haru got promoted, but now the commute is a 1 hour for him so he often doesn't get home until midnight. Sometimes it feels like I cook twice every day because I don't want Haru's food to be cold. Thankfully, nothing has broken yet.......
5. Oh I tried a few games too. Mostly just Stellaris but I think I'm done with that game now.
6. I haven't read any novels or translated at all.

I need to go back to doing work.......