I'm off at noon and my Thanksgiving break will start...for a given definition of break. When we get back there are only two weeks left, with two tests each week, and the first is Tuesday. I haven't really been keeping up with my studying...probably "all month" would be accurate. I've still been doing enough that I'm happy with my grades. The only things I'm not thrilled with are my diagnostic imaging test (which I knew I didn't know as well as I wanted to, but I kept my A in the class and I have other things to worry about right now) and my anatomy exam (which, considering that it was "the one everyone fails" and was right after break, I am pretty happy even though it's objectively lower than I usually get). I actually rocked that physio exam--well, our teacher did basically say that educated guesses based on our physiological knowledge was what he wanted!
I'm hoping our next anatomy exam won't be too bad. It's got about two (what I consider) sections less than I thought it would be, so that's nice. But I still need to learn all the little processes and foramina of the skull in addition to the actual head dissection. With the cut down information, I think it should be pretty easy to finish the dissection and have plenty of time to review. Our next exam is histology, and then at the end of the week embryology. I've typed about half the notes for embryology (more than half of the notes we've covered), but I'm going to have to do some more of that over break.
I've been feeding an owl again this week, for the last time this semester. I've got Squirt this week, my friend's favorite. He's a screech owl, and he has really bad arthritis so he is on a painkiller twice a day, which is my responsibility since I'm in charge of him this week. He is really cute. We were worried about him for a while that he's very old and wasn't doing well for a while. I'm glad I got a chance to work with him, whether or not he'll still be here next semester. Actually, I might do day birds instead of owls next semester. That's a decision for later though.
The Doctor Who special was AMAZING. If you're a fan you've probably seen it already, but I just want to say I was thrilled with it. It turned out the 3D showing wasn't until Monday, so I went to On the Border (a Mexican restaurant) with the Baton Rouge viewing group to watch it live with them, which was great. It was totally worth seeing it in the theater, too, even though I'd already seen it. Especially since the 3D had a special introduction, and some behind the scenes stuff at the end. Also, I'd never thought of it before, but 3D is really future, isn't it? I'm so glad that both times I saw it, it was with a roomful of Whovians. Watching great shows with other people is one of the things I miss most about undergrad.
Yes, I'm still working on my novel. I managed to be on target for two whole days, a record for this year, but I don't think I've written on a single Monday this month. I did one more write-in last night--probably my last one this year--and did my ~1667 words in an hour and a half. Might have been something to do with the lack of internet in the coffeeshop, heh.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
Missed me?
Hi there; Birdie here!
Excluding the physiology exam this morning (for which I hope my guesses were educated enough), today is a really great day. I had a surgery club meeting at lunch, which meant I got free Chinese food and got to learn about arthroscopy. Apparently all the time I spend playing video games is practically training to be good at arthroscopy! Then in anatomy lab, it was a bone day. I spent most of the time wandering between tables and talking with different little groups of people. We talked about a lot of random stuff, and I learned all the major bones of the skull and the hyoid apparatus. All the little tubercles and foramina can wait a little while longer. ;) Then I went with a friend to walk her roommate's dog and my roommate and her dog, to a little park where we jumped the dogs over benches and played with them. And then later I went out to dinner with a bunch of my classmates to celebrate being done with tests until after Thanksgiving break! The weekend should be good, too--see above, no tests. Plus I'm going to see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special in 3D tomorrow! I don't usually like movies in 3D, but I'm making an exception for this.
It's been a while since I've written, hasn't it? Two Fridays ago it was our Fall Break. I'm not sure why LSU decided that we should only have two weeks between Fall Break and Thanksgiving, but that's what it is. Unfortunately, we had our anatomy exam (specifically, "the one everyone fails") the next week, but I did go home for the Thursday and Friday that we had off. Then I spent the next two days in the lab and in a study room at school. Considering the warning, I consider that it paid off--I got a B! Then last weekend I went home again. We got a coupon for tickets to the Renaissance Fair about half an hour away from my parents' house, so we all went together. Unfortunately my little brother was being a jerk for pretty much all of it and I didn't get the twisty dragon or crystal hair ornament I wanted, but I got to ride a dragon swing, see a joust, and drink a pumpkin pie smoothie. Then on Sunday night I went to see Celtic Thunder in concert! Last year one of my friends got free tickets to see them in Albany (or thereabouts) and took me and another friend, and I've loved them ever since! Ryan sang House of the Rising Sun, which got a big reaction considering that the concert was in New Orleans. Anyway, between having little school stuff to share and being busy driving on Fridays, I haven't had much time to update.
It turns out that maybe I shouldn't have bought that concert ticket, though. Did I mention how I had to get rabies vaccines back in August/September? Well, the school just cashed my check (from three months ago), so my bank account was suddenly down $600. So if you're going to start vet school and get rabies vaccines, watch out for that.
I've done a couple more wetlabs since I last wrote. One was for diagnostic imaging club: small animal ultrasound. I wound up at the hardest station first: the adrenal gland. I managed to find it really quickly, though! I guess I used up all my luck at that station, though. I couldn't quite follow the intestines or find the bladder easily. I didn't get to the liver/spleen table, either. Oh well--next time! I also did a clinical pathology wetlab, practicing mass aspiration (on banana chunks in caulk) and blood smears and dip staining. I wasn't very good at either of the clinical skills, but it was good practice, and the clinician we were working with was really cool. He spent a good bit of the time telling stories about a trip with his kids to Disney. Oh, and a much less clinical thing: there was a grad panel (with free dinner, always a plus). They had like 6 veterinarians (including a radiology resident) talking about post-graduation stuff. There was a bit of a debate about whether internships are worth it, and the whole thing took 3 hours, which I was not prepared for. I'm still glad I went though, even if I didn't have business cards to "network" yet (I'd just ordered them, and didn't get them until the next weekend or so).
If you're wondering about the novel I mentioned last time, I'm still writing it. I'm only one day behind the target word count for today, which I consider acceptable--I can pretty easily write 3,333 words (two days' worth) in a day on a weekend when I've got more than a couple of hours to write. I've also done a few write-ins; it's really nice to have a group to write with, as opposed to just doing it on my own like I did in undergrad. I've also discovered a great coffee shop in Baton Rouge: it's called Brew Ha Ha, and they're famous for cake balls. So far I've had funfetti (my personal favorite), wedding cake, pumpkin, and oreo flavors. Also, my variation of a drink (I don't like coffee, so I ordered a frozen drink with chai instead) is famous now, apparently.
Last thing: I've figured out what I'm applying for this summer. I'm applying to three things, so hopefully I get one of them. The first deadline is the end of December, and I need to submit my part of the application before I can get my recommendations in, so I'm hoping to send that in this weekend. I think that's for the serious 100% research one--but it's with NASA, so it's really cool. The other two are more directly veterinary: the Tulane Primate Research Center Fellowship and the Banfield student job program. I learned about the Banfield one when they had a lunch talk--since what I probably want to do is small animal, it would be a super great experience for me to get some real clinical skills experience, and they have great mentorship. I'm honestly really excited about whatever one I'm writing about at the moment. Hopefully I get into one of them!
Excluding the physiology exam this morning (for which I hope my guesses were educated enough), today is a really great day. I had a surgery club meeting at lunch, which meant I got free Chinese food and got to learn about arthroscopy. Apparently all the time I spend playing video games is practically training to be good at arthroscopy! Then in anatomy lab, it was a bone day. I spent most of the time wandering between tables and talking with different little groups of people. We talked about a lot of random stuff, and I learned all the major bones of the skull and the hyoid apparatus. All the little tubercles and foramina can wait a little while longer. ;) Then I went with a friend to walk her roommate's dog and my roommate and her dog, to a little park where we jumped the dogs over benches and played with them. And then later I went out to dinner with a bunch of my classmates to celebrate being done with tests until after Thanksgiving break! The weekend should be good, too--see above, no tests. Plus I'm going to see the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special in 3D tomorrow! I don't usually like movies in 3D, but I'm making an exception for this.
It's been a while since I've written, hasn't it? Two Fridays ago it was our Fall Break. I'm not sure why LSU decided that we should only have two weeks between Fall Break and Thanksgiving, but that's what it is. Unfortunately, we had our anatomy exam (specifically, "the one everyone fails") the next week, but I did go home for the Thursday and Friday that we had off. Then I spent the next two days in the lab and in a study room at school. Considering the warning, I consider that it paid off--I got a B! Then last weekend I went home again. We got a coupon for tickets to the Renaissance Fair about half an hour away from my parents' house, so we all went together. Unfortunately my little brother was being a jerk for pretty much all of it and I didn't get the twisty dragon or crystal hair ornament I wanted, but I got to ride a dragon swing, see a joust, and drink a pumpkin pie smoothie. Then on Sunday night I went to see Celtic Thunder in concert! Last year one of my friends got free tickets to see them in Albany (or thereabouts) and took me and another friend, and I've loved them ever since! Ryan sang House of the Rising Sun, which got a big reaction considering that the concert was in New Orleans. Anyway, between having little school stuff to share and being busy driving on Fridays, I haven't had much time to update.
It turns out that maybe I shouldn't have bought that concert ticket, though. Did I mention how I had to get rabies vaccines back in August/September? Well, the school just cashed my check (from three months ago), so my bank account was suddenly down $600. So if you're going to start vet school and get rabies vaccines, watch out for that.
I've done a couple more wetlabs since I last wrote. One was for diagnostic imaging club: small animal ultrasound. I wound up at the hardest station first: the adrenal gland. I managed to find it really quickly, though! I guess I used up all my luck at that station, though. I couldn't quite follow the intestines or find the bladder easily. I didn't get to the liver/spleen table, either. Oh well--next time! I also did a clinical pathology wetlab, practicing mass aspiration (on banana chunks in caulk) and blood smears and dip staining. I wasn't very good at either of the clinical skills, but it was good practice, and the clinician we were working with was really cool. He spent a good bit of the time telling stories about a trip with his kids to Disney. Oh, and a much less clinical thing: there was a grad panel (with free dinner, always a plus). They had like 6 veterinarians (including a radiology resident) talking about post-graduation stuff. There was a bit of a debate about whether internships are worth it, and the whole thing took 3 hours, which I was not prepared for. I'm still glad I went though, even if I didn't have business cards to "network" yet (I'd just ordered them, and didn't get them until the next weekend or so).
If you're wondering about the novel I mentioned last time, I'm still writing it. I'm only one day behind the target word count for today, which I consider acceptable--I can pretty easily write 3,333 words (two days' worth) in a day on a weekend when I've got more than a couple of hours to write. I've also done a few write-ins; it's really nice to have a group to write with, as opposed to just doing it on my own like I did in undergrad. I've also discovered a great coffee shop in Baton Rouge: it's called Brew Ha Ha, and they're famous for cake balls. So far I've had funfetti (my personal favorite), wedding cake, pumpkin, and oreo flavors. Also, my variation of a drink (I don't like coffee, so I ordered a frozen drink with chai instead) is famous now, apparently.
Last thing: I've figured out what I'm applying for this summer. I'm applying to three things, so hopefully I get one of them. The first deadline is the end of December, and I need to submit my part of the application before I can get my recommendations in, so I'm hoping to send that in this weekend. I think that's for the serious 100% research one--but it's with NASA, so it's really cool. The other two are more directly veterinary: the Tulane Primate Research Center Fellowship and the Banfield student job program. I learned about the Banfield one when they had a lunch talk--since what I probably want to do is small animal, it would be a super great experience for me to get some real clinical skills experience, and they have great mentorship. I'm honestly really excited about whatever one I'm writing about at the moment. Hopefully I get into one of them!
Friday, November 1, 2013
This is probably a bad idea
Hi there; Birdie here!
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
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