The Gold Standard

  The Gold Standard? What is that? A nice level to reach in one's job? An example of how to treat others?

    No. no. noooo.

    It's an MCAT study book that weighs, eh, give or take, 20 pounds. It's ginormous! Bigger than my biggest cook book. (By like 10 pounds!) I felt like I was drowning in a sea of thousands of potential paper-cuts. It's one of those books that you would look at, and push as far across the room as you can. Hide it under a blanket, and then take that blanket and bury it in your backyard. Yes, one of thooose books. So, I planted myself on the couch last night to give it a little love. Maybe try and give it a shot instead of running in shear horror from the room.
    Needless to say, I made it through a handful of pages and immediately fell asleep. Zonked. Out. Possibly drooling on the book? Who knows. My roommate even looked terrified when I brought the book out to the living room. She fled the room. Don't blame her. It's scary-looking.
    What I came to realize very quickly, is that this whole 'studying' thing shall never happen after eight o'clock at night. If I do pull out the book of death, it has to be in a location where immediate sleep will not occur. Granted, this will take some time to figure out. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere. Couch? No brainer. Living room floor? five minutes. Kitchen table? Eh, give or take ten minutes. See? This could be challenging! But I will find a study location. It will happen. It must happen. Sometime. Soon...
    The Gold Standard. Maybe the hideous book is telling me something. It's telling me to open it up. Read. Research. Study. Learn. Because I will find hidden nuggets of gold between the thousands of pages. Nuggets that will help tackle each mountain of chemistry, biology, physics, and organic chemistry that lie ahead.

    So I will keep the beast close. Even though it's ugly. And big.... So that I can be reminded of the large, beastly mountain of studying I have ahead of me. And that the sooner I use it, learn from it, and explain contents from it on a daily basis, I can wrap it in a blanket and bury it in the backyard.