So I set out to read 5 books about a couple months ago and didnt quite hit the mark..

The progress..

The Kite Runner – Read about half of it…but it was super heavy at the start and really didnt want super heavy, so i put it down for now.

Atlas Shrugged – Read approximately 200 pages…Incredible prose, and very detailed, the latter of which made my head hurt.  I put it down too..

Rats, A history of NYC – The book is still on hold from Amazon..

Catch 22 – Haven’t opened it yet, but I did receive it

Influence – I read the preface.  It seems to be similar to a couple other titles that I have picked up before, but I honestly cannot report, given I didnt REALLy read it.

Crush It – This was not on the 30 challenge list, but I read it anyway…cover to cover.  It was good.  It was a tail of Gary’s [Vaynerchuck] journey, which is also a manual to replicate his efforts.  Solid!

I listened to the first two chapters of the Audacity of Hope (Barack Obama) and plan to listen to the rest very soon.  This is good stuff.  I appreciate any man whose approach to adversity is to mediate peacefully, with consideration for all.  It seems as though his ditractors are more interested in whipping him, personally, instead of his ideas, which to me, seems quite backward.  I also appreciate his vocabulary.

I watched Driving Miss Daisy, Zombieland, Where the Wild Things Are, Flashdance, Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Motorcycle Diaries, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Gifted Hands, Julie and Julia, The Ugly Truth, Tyson, 300, The Wrestler, and The Alexandra Project.  I was having trouble focusing long enough to really read, so I resorted to a few movies which proved to be a good idea.

This past jaunt is highlighted in having become an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), which was a result of reading close to 1,200 pages.  This stuff is hard.  Not so much that it is extermely complicated, but more that it is different than anything I have ever studied.  I have always been keen to business.  I appreciate the ability to use creativity to solve complex problems.  Logic. Process of elimination. Case study. Robust imagination.  It runs the spectrum.

With medicine, you know it or you certainly do not.  There is one right answer to the length of time one must wait between doses of nitroglycerin to geriatric patient.  5 minutes and that is only if their BP is above 100mm Hg.  There is only one word for the main vein that is posterior and inferior to the heart. The inferior vena ceva.  Not much room for grey area here..it makes my brain hurt sometimes..

I have finished.  The scope of practice, where I showed the proctors that I can perform and not simply recite the book, included a medical emergency that ended up being a a pediatric anaphaylaxis (extreme allergic reaction) and an adult trauma.  The child (18 months old) had eaten something that they were allergic to and their airway had closed and the trauma  was an adult female that had broken her tibia and fibia, detached several ribs on the left chest wall, and had abrasisions to her forehead.  Her level of consciousness was decreased and her vitals were indicative of major shock.  I walked in the room and the instructors said something like this “You have been dispatched to a femlae complaining of chest pain” or “You have been dispatched to a mother who has a 18 month old that isn’t breathing.”…”Go to work.”  They both needed to be assessed and in transport, if such was needed, in under 10 minutes….I was diaphoretic (sweating), myself, by the time it was over.  We did know if we passed or not until the entire class had gone.  We just had to sit there and play mindless games and talk amongst ourselves, but not about the scopes (because that would be cheating) and wait…the hours crept by..if we failed we had one opportunity to try again the next day.

The final, which covered the entire text (1200+ pages), was reduced to 100 questions.  Shit!  That wasn’t easy..The entire class was given the test results while everyone was sitting there.  It didnt matter what one’s cumulative grade was for the entirety of the course (mine was 93, I believe), if you scored less than 80 on the final..oops, you have to take the whole fucking course again.  When the grades were given back, people cheered, laughed, wept, danced, bitched…a plethora of emotion filled the room, mostly in celebration as we knew it was finally over.  A day could now pass without hours spent in front of that dreaded text.

I passed.  I did really well on the scope’s and was pleased (I got an 83) with my performance on the final.  I will now shamelessly pat myself on the back.  I have convinced myself that I can do anything I set my mind to.  Flattery, perhaps, but fair to myself, given the frequency of thinking how poor of an idea it was to try to run a company, learn emergency medicine, and read a handful of books at the same time…never mind my social life, which did in fact evaporate, short of a few drinks and consoling from my dear friend, JL.

I think that I am due for a drink..What’s next?