There are many things on my plate and since the new year is over and all my family has left there is no more putting it off. The order of operations for the next few months is as follows:
1) Find an internship or a job. Since moving home I have been jobless. Over the past couple weeks my delayed paychecks from Maggiano's have come in very handy. They have given me some hope on surviving until I can locate and apply for the jobs I want and will enjoy doing. As of right now I am thinking that an internship is the most logical choice because I can then continue planning my bike trip and make that a reality. I am not saying that I will not actually accept a job if offered to me but then my bike trip may be delayed for a year until Spring 2009.
2) Study for the MCAT. In mid-late March I will attempt round two of the MCAT. The first round did not go as well as I had hoped so I am enthusiastic about now being familiar with the format and test prep. I plan on beginning a 4-5 hours per day/6 days per week starting on January 22nd when I come back from Saint Louis. Until then I will spend about 2 hours per day studying, although this will not happen until I feel confident that I can find or have a job.
3) Planning and training for the bike tour. In May I am going to be embarking on a 9000-mile tour of the United States of America. The trip will last approximately 3 ½ months. The goal is to average 100 miles a day for the duration of the trip but there are some places that I will be wanting to stop at and spend some extra time with friends. I started planning this last summer but the planning process was interrupted by my last semester of school. I have spent numerous hours planning this out but there is still so much more to be done because it is a philanthropy event. I am going to be raising money for Cancer Research and Autism. The fine details of the planning will of course be discussed later on. Training begins on Saturday January 12. Friday the 11th will be spend deciding a training regimen which will allow me to ride 100 miles a day for 90 days.
4) On January 17th-22nd I will be on a road trip to Chicago and Saint Louis. This was originally going to be only stopping in STL for a trivia night and to see my friends again but Chicago was quickly added because I have been dying to see Wicked and see my friends in CHI town. Sadly, one Molly Oliver will not be in town because of her Boyfriend. Damn you Andrew Millard, I knew her first!
5) Start planning for my trip to Europe. I am so excited to have the chance to go to Europe. There has been little planned with this trip besides the possibility of going over with a friend from college. I need to get in contact with her to see what is going on with that. The big issue here will be money and how much I will be able to spend which is dependant on a finding a job.
That is what is on my plate at the moment. I know it is not much but what can I do... I am no longer in college allowing all the time in the world to do any extracurricular that I desire. I have found that since moving home I have lost much of my physical endurance. I brought my brother to a soccer camp today and was dribbling around kicking the ball and got winded just with a small little run to the end of the field and back while kicking a soccer ball. This makes me a little worried about how long it is going to take me to get into good enough shape to do the bike trip. Surely 5 months of training will suffice!
