Doogie Howser

I have always had big plans for my life.  When I was eight, I read about Oxford University in England and decided that I would go to college there.  I told one of my parents' friends that, and they were like, "Oh, Mississippi.  That's a great school."  I was insulted, but instead of correcting him, I just smiled and nodded.  One of my biggest inspirations as a child, was Doogie Howser, M.D.  Sixteen and a doctor, what a hunk.  I knew that 16 was a stretch, but I came up with a plan to get it done in only a few more years than that.  I would skip 4th, 6th, and 8th grades; go to 2 years of high school; finish college in 2 years; and then do 4 years of med school.  This would put me graduating from medical school at the age of 19.  Not quite as good as Douglas, but much more realistic.  When I got to skip the 4th grade, I thought I was on my way, but then the man got in my way.  I came to realize that you are not allowed to learn at your own pace in school or elect to cut out topics that are of no significance to your interests.  Despite all of my hard work, they held me down.  As the years have passed, I have come to see the value in taking your time in life (even though I still would have liked to skip some of that dumb stuff they made me learn, ie. whisker plots).  I think that if Doogie were still Doogie and not Barney Stinson, he would say to young me, "I may be the youngest doctor of all time, but I do not have as many friends or experiences as I could have had if I had a normal childhood."