It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Well hello!

Somehow December has arrived. Yes, I've swapped out my shorts for pants, my sandals for wool socks and shoes, my t-shirts for Cabela's coat, but all of these choices were made with a desire to stay warm in the cold weather without the concurrent realization that 2011 is almost over. It's just hit me: it's December.

Associated with December are so many wonderful tings: Lights, music, friends, and family. Potlucks, concerts, snow, and gift-giving. In the past week I've eaten with friends five nights, watched the Messiah and the London Philharmonic, and visited with a friend from Hope who was in town for a race. This coming weekend the Christian Medical Association Christmas Party is being hosted at our apartment. (Cookies, a Christmas Movie, White Elephant Gift Exchange, Ugly Sweaters, and the like - it's going to be a wonderful time!) Indeed, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Academically these next two weeks are relatively light; we're learning about the Kidney. The difficulty in medical school is not in the nature of the material, but in the quantity. As such a two week sequence is roughly a quarter as difficult as a four week sequence - there is simply less that needs to be remembered.

The most eventful happening of the past week was the Intermural Broomball Championships. I was on the M1 team, the Not Docs. We rolled through the playoffs, shutting out every team that we played. Yet the competition that we faced was not too stiff - waiting on the other side of the bracket was the formidable M2 Broomball team. We met last night at midnight in the championships. Despite a valiant fight, the M1 team fell in a battle, losing 4-1. We held on 2-1 until the last 5 minutes, at which point our aggressive play led to two easy goals. To fire up the team and fans (there were around 25 M1's as 15 M2's at the game to support their respective classes) I got a haircut for the game. And Dad, don't worry - I "fixed" the haircut this morning.

On an aside, I'm going to be home on the 17th!

Cheers,

John