Thank goodness my mom never paid for music lessons.

Because if she did, I'd be a starving artist right now. My inner nerd would have been beaten, shoved, and shut up inside a high school locker by my punk artsy side. With no musical talent in my repertoire, I'm stuck here singing along to the Sara Bareilles station on Pandora pretending to play the piano, tapping my pen on my desk, and strumming an air guitar.

That's how my study breaks go. If I actually get up from my seat, there's a good chance I'm dancing all the way into the kitchen for a snack or to the bathroom for a potty break.

And that will be my life for the next couple of months. If I do well on the January MCATs, I can start living a social life. If not, well the study schedule continues until April when I plan on retaking the exam. If second time around comes and I'm still not satisfied with my score, it will be time to reconsider this pre-med route.

For those not familiar with the MCAT scoring system, there are four sections: physical science, biological science, verbal reasoning, and a writing sample. The first three sections are graded on a scale from 1-15 (therefore, highest score is a 45) while the writing sample is given a letter grade of J-T. To put the numbers into better prospective, the top medical schools generally admit students that average about an 11 in each of the subjects. My goal? Mid-30s.

So things are looking okay (I did better than expected on my off-line MCAT practice test.) Actually things are better than okay right now.

Thank you everyone for the encouraging comments and the boost of confidence.

Really, because I don't get any of it in real life. Lion laughs at the idea of blogging and doesn't understand my need for a creative outlet. Pen talks more about Popeye's fried chicken and Rock Band than she does about getting into pharmacy school (she's suppose to be applying for the same cycle as I am.) Mom is always telling me to go to sleep because I have to wake up early for work... if only she knew how many all-nighters it took to finish college.

This lack of support isn't because they don't agree with what I'm doing, but more from a lack of understanding of what it takes. Hence why I'm always bitching about San Jose. It feels like stepping into a world where time stands still. No progress is made here. People just simply live. Which can sound good, to simply live, but for someone who is trying to make something of her life, San Jose isn't the right place to be.