Your grandest plans thread

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-Judo black belt

I love me some Judo. I've got a knee that like to give out now, but I can still get my newaza going once in a while. Looking forward to really getting back into Judo and swimming once I get back to the states.

Zoidberg's List o' Dreams:

1. Get a journalism degree, hope to never use it
2. Become Dr. Zoidberg
3. Do a year of Doctors' Without Borders?
4. Become awesome at grappling
5. (finally) beat my 270 lb. bjj friend, consistently
6. Stay alive and well-off until at least 75
7. Punch a camel, Conan-style
8. seonagi someone on national television (really well), and be praised for it
9. own a pool, or live right on the beach
10. Sky dive...in a tuxedo
11. Own a tuxedo
12. Visit Russia (randori with Putin?)
13. Become an esteemed member of whatever community I settle down in.
 
Chem---
I make a fabulous mint chocolate chip cheesecake and I use thin mints for the crust!! If you want the recipe let me know!

So. Much. Want. No...need!

Thin mints are one of the best things on the planet. I dam near threw a party the day I finally found Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream in my new town (even the Ben and Jerry's store often doesn't have it). I know that's not exactly the same, but it's very reminiscent for non-GS cookie season AND it's a massive improvement over mint chocolate chip icecream, where the chocolate loses all its flavor and texture from being too cold, so you can't enjoy both flavors at once!

Of course, when I actually have thin mints in stock, I usually save them for the ultimate treat: a double of 1 part Bailey's, 2 parts Jamesons followed by a thin mint 😀

So, yeah...to be added to the dream list: find a thin mint analogue for non GS season (I've tried making them myself, but it's just not the same) OR make enough $$ to buy a year's stash each season (requires learning self-control). On the plus side, I'd make one girl's sales quota in a single purchase! :laugh:
 
I had always been a "planner" but learned that things rarely go according to plan so i take it one day at a time. But here are some of my goals/dreams:

-Get into med school in northern CA
-Get into residency in CA as well, would be nice to live there close to the eucalyptus trees, redwoods, mountains, and ocean.
-I'd love to do research and might do a phd too
-once practicing volunteer for disaster relief like my husband already does
-volunteer at a free clinic
-make my husband retire early so he can open a dive shop or get that marine biology degree he wanted
-help my ill mother as she ages
- travel and climb mountains like many above 🙂
- do a lot more diving too
- visit Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea
- better and educate myself each and every day in order to be an amazing physician
 
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This is my first post and I'm (hopefully) bringing this thread back to life for a moment!

My list of goals:

-Show my boyfriend how much I truly appreciate him more often
-Start running with my Husky
-Start volunteering
-Try like hell to bring my GPA to a 3.3-3.5
-FINALLY get my Bachelor's degree
-Take the MCAT and get an awesome score
-Start med school in 2017 (2016 if I can manage the MCAT early)
-Survive med school and all training that follows!

Once I am Dr. Wonderful, my goals are:
-Help the less fortunate
-Adopt a child and maybe make them a sibling.
-Teach as well as practice(If I go DO/MS route)
-Start an animal shelter/sanctuary
-Travel everywhere I possibly can
-Retire and buy an Island.😀
 
Big dreams. Well, there are the ones I absolutely WILL accomplish, and ones I would LOVE to accomplish:

1. finish residency.

2. find a job.

3. sell my house in Maine.

4. Buy a house where I have a job. The house has to have land. Alternative:

5. Buy at least 10 acres of land and build a house. I'd love to have a Deltec house. They're just cool looking.

6. Build two small apartment/suite buildings on the property, attached to the main house with covered corridors. One for my in-laws, one for my parents. They're both retired and will need to be closer to family soon, and my husband and I are the only viable options for both.

7. Buy a cheap car that doesn't work for my daughter and have her restore it so she has something to drive now that she's got her learner's permit. I hope my car survives her learning. I also need a second auto restore project for my son.

8. A new car for me. Mine is 15 years old, and it's the newer one in our family.

9. A new truck for my husband.

10. A woodshop for my husband to play in.

11. A garden/greenhouse to grow veggies year round.

12. Help pay for my childrens' education.

13. Go on a real vacation just once. Egypt would be lovely once the area settles down.

14. A trip to Scotland and Ireland for my 25th year wedding anniversary.

15. A beautiful gourmet kitchen. With LOTS of storage space. I love to cook.

16. Save enough money for retirement to live comfortably and leave my children more than debt.

17. Speaking of debt, I want to be out of it. ASAP.


Now for the ultimate stupid big dream:
I wanna win powerball so I can do some of the above NOW. I still want to work, I'd still do 80 hours a week in residency. But it would be nice to pay my husband and my family back for supporting me all these years with some things they would like to have. Unfortunately, to do this I would actually have to get a powerball ticket and I don't buy them. So I'd have to have someone give a winning ticket to me somehow. Then I'd buy a 60 foot yacht and live there on weekends. *ahhhh* heavenly!

How am I doing so far?

1. Done
2. Done
3. Not done. But we have a renter which almost covers the mortgage.
4, 5, 6. Not yet.
7. Got her a 1970 vw bug. She has completely replaced the entire wiring harness, all engine seals, torn apart the brakes, overhaul of the engine. Still needs a new axle, body work, body seals, new interior, headlights, tail lights and new tires. No broken car yet for my son. Still looking for the right project for him.
8. Just bought a new nissan rogue. I love it. Love love love love it. My first brand new car in 25 years. The radio works!!!!!
The rest not yet. Retirement is being worked on via work and salary. Children's education is in process... My daughter is off to college next week...eek! New house we are looking at perhaps January? Gotta clean up some debt first to get a good mortgage deal.

I still don't buy lottery tickets.
 
Goals:
Bring my GPA up to a 3.4 (3.5 if possible)
Learn my new scribe job ASAP
Rock the MCAT
Apply to the UC Davis premed surgical program :xf:
Use ^ as an excuse to give my letter writers an early deadline :meanie:
Get into med school!! :xf:

Less immediate:
Travel to a spanish speaking country the summer before med school so I can immerse myself and hopefully regain the fluency I've lost after 6+ years of barely using it
Get back into frisbee
Regain at least a little of my cello-playing skillz
Move back to the East coast (or at least escape california)
Find a way to avoid excessive med school debt

Long term
Do doctors without borders at least once (or something similar)
 
This thread seems to have subsided, which makes me sad, so...here goes an update on my own grandest plans!
It's literally the last post, and also I'm copying it below to add comments.
Goals:
Bring my GPA up to a 3.4 (3.5 if possible) I seem to have plateaued at around a 3.3, which doesn't surprise me, if disappointing. Still, 8 straight 4.0s woot!
Learn my new scribe job ASAP Check. Double check. Rocking it. Plus I got some OR shadowing in which was AWESOME!
Rock the MCAT Weelllll....score report won't be in for another 26d minimum (not that I'm counting). But my FL average was a 41, so :xf:
Apply to the UC Davis premed surgical program :xf:Got in!!! :soexcited:
Use ^ as an excuse to give my letter writers an early deadline :smuggrin: That's 3 LORs down, 1 to go...I should have swapped out one of my three, though, as I know one prof wrote my letter as soon as class ended, so I should have used someone else so I had 4 ready to go come app time:smack:
Get into med school!! :xf: Still dreaming...

Less immediate:
Travel to a spanish speaking country the summer before med school so I can immerse myself and hopefully regain the fluency I've lost after 6+ years of barely using it Can't do this until I get in, but my Spanish is coming back an incredible amount just working in the hospital!
Get back into frisbee Little by little...
Regain at least a little of my cello-playing skillz Hhahahaha, nope.
Move back to the East coast (or at least escape california) Oh god, please someday this will happen
Find a way to avoid excessive med school debt

Long term
Do doctors without borders at least once (or something similar)
 
As the thread starter, I'll start this off...

First, I just gave notice to remove myself from my comfortable, well paying former career job because it provided no excitement, motivation, or means to succeed as a doctor.

Second, I accepted a position as a wildland firefighter, which is what I did to put myself through undergrad. It was something I developed a strong passion for, and since leaving, a yearning to return to. It will also put me in stellar physical shape, allow me to save a significant amount of money to fund my post-bacc, and also afford me some time to travel between lay-off in the fall and the start of school the following semester.

Finally, travel. I've been dreaming of a South America trek for years; backpacking, bussing, training it from Colombia to Patagonia, summitting the highest mountain in each country I visit along the way. I'll also be volunteering in communities and clinics to get a real account of the culture and aid in my building an intriguing application.

Aside from that, complete my post-bacc with a 4.0, rack-up 300 or more volunteer hours with the Disabled Sports adaptive ski program and VA hospital, and then... get accepted.

Wow, surprisingly great to see this thread resurface and still alive... Not long after it started I shipped off to fight wildfire with a hotshot crew, leaving it in the dust with a lack of steady internet connection.

As per the goals above...

After two seasons fighting fire with a Forest Service hotshot crew, I checked off the first and moved beyond the second. I had resigned from my former company with their support and good graces and joined the Tahoe Hotshots. The firefighting experience changed my entire physique from an office slouch to a broad shouldered, tall standing, toe running beast of the woods. It was tough, really tough. In some of those hardest moments on the fireline while getting dizzy spells from heat exhaustion, being completely out of water with hours left in the shift, the simple words "mental fortitude" repeated to myself kept my body driving when it wanted to seize up and shrivel into a the fetal position under a shade tree. Those two words had a much bigger meaning than just getting through the day's assignment, but registered everything I expected myself to accomplish through the coming years while on this adventure and in the medical career.

During the winter break between the end of fire season and the start of spring semester, I set off to South America landing in Cartagena, Colombia. I started the trip solo and met many friends and travel companions along the way. I had given myself only two months to reach Santiago, Chile, but right before the two month mark just after visiting Machu Picchu, I extended my trip an additional 3 months as many circumstances had changed back home. This meant I wouldn't be back in school that semester, but I would be able to complete the adventure (with enough time) that I had planned for so long. I reversed my course over 36 hours by bus back into a small coastal town called Olon, Ecuador, where I had heard of an orphanage always seeking help from travelers. I walked through the gates of the orphanage, and after a very quick discussion, was asked to join them for as long as I could stay, mentoring, teaching, and caring for five young boys. I taught them to surf, how to read at least five words in english, how to use a professional camera, and how to share and take turns with whatever one object we were using that day. After a month volunteering at the orphanage, surfing every sunrise and working at a beachside bar with a sand floor in front of one of the most scenic sunsets over a world class point break, I hit the road again heading south for Patagonia. I rode a ferry through the Fjords of Patagonia to Puerto Natales, Chile, and hiked an eight day trek around the 93 mile circuit of Torres del Paine. I rode a bus another 24 hours north into Cerro Torre National Park in Argentina, home to the infamous mountain climb Fitz Roy, ate the most incredible steak. I found a crossable mountain pass and raced an oncoming snowstorm in a trek over the Andes from Argentina back into Chile. After arriving in Chile, I began regaining the 20 pounds I had lost over the course of the 5 month adventure, before I returned to fire season desperately needing the muscle mass.

During the next fire season I met a girl that I thought I might one day make my wife, and with the thought of building for a family, tried one more shot at the environmental career. I started an environmental consulting company providing stormwater planning and experienced tremendous, almost unexpected success, but confirmed what I already knew that the life behind a desk writing environmental plans for corporate projects was not where my heart was. A year later with a handful of contracts still on the books, I returned to school, have had my residency reclassification approved for in-state tuition and medical school consideration, and will be application ready by June.
 
All I want in the world is to be an ER doctor and a mommy. I just wish I weren't going to be emerging from residency at 35 </3

Edit: Also, I want a loving and supportive spouse.
 
So, it's 2 a.m., I'm wide awake contemplating the meaning of my life and came across this thread in pre-allo

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/a-year-ago-a-year-from-now.642322/page-4

which is actually pretty neat for pre-allo and I debated making a nontrad version here. But I just couldn't bring myself to cross that line 😛

Then I remembered this awesome thread that Quik started and decided to bump it so all the newbies can add to it and us longtimers can update how we're doing on our grandest plans.
 
Holy thread rez, Batman!

As a newbie, I appreciate having someone else do the resurrection!

Goals:
Bring up GPA--I failed and withdrew from lots of classes when I was 18/19. I'm back now getting A's but after inputting my info into an ACMAS GPA calculator spreadsheet yesterday, it looks like by the time I finish my Biology BS, I'll have ~3.35 GPA. That's assuming almost entirely 4.0 in all classes since I've been back in school. Eesh. I'm hoping that even though my cGPA will be low, my sGPA will be high enough that top tier universities will at least read my personal statement where I hope to explain away my youthful indiscretions.
Get into my local state school (at CC now)
Prioritize family life while in school so my wife and son don't miss me more than they already do.
In the same vein, continue to get better at time management so I continue to succeed at work and school and spend more time with my family.
Have another child (hopefully a little girl!)
Continue to work full time during undergrad. Maybe down to 20 hours if I must. But I'd like to keep this "extracurricular".
Assume no debt for undergrad.
Continue to save so that medical school loans are minimally taken out or largely paid off before they begin to accrue interest.

A little longer term:
Get into Med school: Stanford or UCSF. I understand what that means. Fortunately I am ~4.5ish years from completing undergrad so I have time to get in my research and more volunteering and some shadowing.
Keep my family in a coastal city. Preferably CA Bay Area but if one of the above schools doesn't happen, I'd prefer to be somewhere near the ocean.
Take my family backpacking in Yosemite again.
Road trip around the US because I've seen very little of my own country.

Dreams:
Fully bank roll myself through med school.
Be able to work during medical school 20 hours (2 days/week). I know I'm dreaming here but that's what this section is about, right?
Be a (boxing) ringside doctor
Train youth boxers
Work in a volunteer medical clinic the equivalent of 1 day/week. As career/finances are more secured, transition to more and more time doing this
Earn enough that my wife can retire or go per diem as soon as I'm out of residency/fellowship. This is later than I originally planned before deciding on medicine but still likely about 50 years old for her.
 
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