Hi there; Birdie here!
It's been a long week, but it went so quickly! The parasit exam was today, and I don't think it went great. I don't think I failed, but whether I did well is going to depend a lot on how well I guessed. I thought the lab portion went better...until people were asking me about it afterwards and it turns out I totally messed up something I thought I had. I also didn't realize until a few days ago that our pharm exam is next week, and by that time I was worrying about parasit too much to deal with it, so I haven't studied that at all. Luckily I've got all weekend to work on it--I'm going to work really hard this weekend, and really look forward to next week after the exam! On Tuesday I'm doing a game night at my friend's house for her boyfriend's birthday, and then Wednesday night I'll be going home for fall break! Unfortunately, most of the reason I'm actually going home is that I have to go to the dentist because my face decided to hate me this summer. But other than that, home will be nice, and I might even go to a convention on Saturday--haven't decided yet.
Josh Project is going better than I'd hoped though, or at least asking for donations (to be prizes for the chili cookoff) did. I've gotta say, we have the greatest pitch; who doesn't want to help give cute animals to sick kids? Every place we went to, the person we spoke with seemed interested in helping us. We even got one set of items to put as a prize already. I may have gotten our first prize, too; I went to exchange my new camera (I got a sweet new camera! A really nice one.), I talked with a manager and asked for a certain electronic that would make a fantastic first prize. He said he could definitely help me out, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him since. And I'd really like to since the camera's in now and I really don't want to drive there more than I have to. It's very inconvenient. None of the other stores has gotten back to us either, as far as I know at least. Every c/o 2017 committee member's email was on the letter, so maybe they emailed someone else and I just haven't heard.
This is one of those weeks where I got free lunch every day because I went to so many meetings. I saw my li'l sib at most of them, too...I guess he's being like me and going to basically everything. "Because knowledge is power, you know?" It was kind of nice to hear him say that today, actually. I've been kind of over it and not really wanting to pay attention to the talks and stuff, but today it was better. The fact that it was interesting stories instead of farm animal stuff that's irrelevant to my life probably helped. I do want to learn how to work with farm animals, but their presentation just seemed a lot more intensely farm animal focused than I am. Also, their main club thing is rounds, which mean skipping lunch. And I'd rather do rounds on species I'll actually work with. So I'm not doing farm animal club this year.
I did join critical care club this year because (like internal med), their meetings are interesting and informative, so even if I can't make the wetlabs, it's worth it. I really hope I can make wetlabs for things other than my officer clubs, but unfortunately it seems like things keep being scheduled the same day. Technically I could do the trach tube ECC wetlab and the path wetlab that are the same day, but that's a long day and I'm not sure I can spare it. And I'm really upset about missing the surgery club wetlab AGAIN. I forget what it was last year, but this year it's the same day as the chili cookoff. And as a committee member, I'm pretty sure I need to be there to set up and not roll in late after learning how to suture.
The meeting on Wednesday was our Phi Zeta meeting with (one of) the speakers. It was actually the one whose talk I didn't go to, since I spent those 2 hours studying instead--and the new dean didn't come talk to us! That was one of the ones where I had trouble paying attention, honestly. I think that was around the time I realized how behind I was on studying for pharm. But two of my classmates placed in the poster competition, so I'm really happy for them. I also talked with someone who did summer scholars last year, because I think I'm going to apply this year. I really want to do something actually vet related this summer. And still make money, but I think the part about being able to put it on my resume is a little more important now. The only thing is that I only have (an estimate of) 10 weeks, not the whole summer--because my family is going to Italy, and I'm not going to say no to that! I'm really really excited about the trip, especially since Italy is next on my list of Places I Really Want To Go.
I rode the same horse twice now! His name is Krewe, and he reminds me of my favorite horse at the barn I rode at in high school--mostly because he also likes to hold his head up higher than normal horses. He's very good, and I think I was on him again because my instructor wants me to ride him in the student show coming up in October. She told me about the show and about a clinic that are coming up this semester that she wants me to ride in, which makes me feel pretty good. We've also been doing a little more complex stuff in my lessons, like a bending line and a sort of mini course with a gymnastic around to a single jump. Yesterday she had me go around in half seat at the walk with no stirrups--I think that might be even harder than posting without stirrups! We also did a thing where the 4 people in my group did the course one at a time and then the others said something they liked about the ride and something they didn't. I'm still kind of frustrated sometimes at being worse than I was before I didn't ride for a year, so hearing the positives made me feel somewhat better! I heard some bad news, though, about another horse at the barn, Omega, who colicked and died. I never got to ride him, but I wanted to, and I'm sad for him.
One happier note so I don't end my post on that: I got to go see The Maze Runner with a couple of my friends from school, and that was a lot of fun (even if the book was, as always, better). Now I'm going to try and get some studying done. Local anesthetics and autonomic nervous system, here I come!
Friday, September 26, 2014
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Deep breath
Hi there; Birdie here!
Yesterday was our first systemic path exam, and our next exam isn't until next Friday (parasitology), so I'm enjoying a bit of a breather. Yesterday I pretty much aggressively did nothing useful (youtube and video games ftw) and ordered Chinese food for dinner. It was a nice break, and I kind of need it after a marathon of Parasit Friday-Pharm Tuesday-Endocrine Friday-Path Tuesday. Welcome to second year? That's definitely going to be happening a few more times this semester...
The pharm exam was kind of a mess. We only had 50 minutes for the exam, when literally every other class gives us 2 hours even if we really don't need it. AND we had 51 questions--less than a minute per question, and 12 questions more than that exam's had in previous years. AND a good deal of the questions were intense critical thinking, like "which of the following is composed of only true statements?" which is basically 4 true or false questions in one. It was not great. We got the grades for that yesterday, and the course coordinator gave us 6 points back on it, and we're all really grateful for that. I'm actually happy with my grade now with those added points!
The weekend I mostly spent studying, because pharm is a big deal. But I did have a nice surprise--my dad was in town, so we got to meet up for breakfast. That was really nice. We also tried to get my new phone, but I want to try out the iPhone 6 before I decide if I'm going to get a 5 or a 6 and they didn't have a demo yet. Oh, and on Friday we had a spontaneous movie night! We made brownies and a frozen pizza and watched The Black Swan--me and my first year roommate and another friend. I wound up not going to the football game, though, and I didn't even manage to give my ticket to anyone. Maybe I'll go this weekend? I am also going shopping with my sister on Saturday, too, so I'm not sure if I'll be ready to leave for football two hours before kickoff like I need to to get parking.
Last week, Aimee rode with me at my lesson! She was on a cute old bay named Jesse, and I had a cranky mare named Baby. Baby did not like being near other horses, so it was a little stressful keeping her away from everyone else, especially since we were all in the indoor. My instructor said she liked the way I rode Baby, though!
I'm pretty happy with how our first pathology club meeting went! A pretty good number of people showed up (not like surgery club levels of attendance, but still) and we had good food and I was able to get the drinks and I think the pathologists did a good job selling why pathology is important even if you don't want to specialize. I know we gained at least one member, too--my little sib!
Speaking of my little sib, the first years are having their first anatomy exam today and yesterday. Apparently my test file was pretty helpful--when I texted my li'l sib Good luck, he said I was the best big sib! So that makes me really happy.
There were a bunch of club meetings, too, since I've last written. Surgery club--I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make it to the suture wetlab this year, either; I think it's the same day as the Josh Project chili cookoff. VBMA--a very uplifting (sarcasm) talk about life insurance and disability insurance. Also a lab animal club meeting I went to mostly for the food, and it didn't change my mind at all about not being in that club.
And speaking of Josh Project...I'm kind of regretting being on the committee. But I'm basically the only one from my class who consistently shows up, so if I don't do it, no one else will. We have to start working on the chili cookoff approximately now; in fact, the second year members are having a meeting about it today at lunch.
Tonight I'm going to work on studying parasitology (because, of course, we still have a quiz on Friday), and (hopefully, if it works out) chatting with my undergrad friends. I'm looking forward to spending this weekend doing some things that aren't studying! Even if I should probably get started studying for my next couple of exams...that'll happen, too.
Yesterday was our first systemic path exam, and our next exam isn't until next Friday (parasitology), so I'm enjoying a bit of a breather. Yesterday I pretty much aggressively did nothing useful (youtube and video games ftw) and ordered Chinese food for dinner. It was a nice break, and I kind of need it after a marathon of Parasit Friday-Pharm Tuesday-Endocrine Friday-Path Tuesday. Welcome to second year? That's definitely going to be happening a few more times this semester...
The pharm exam was kind of a mess. We only had 50 minutes for the exam, when literally every other class gives us 2 hours even if we really don't need it. AND we had 51 questions--less than a minute per question, and 12 questions more than that exam's had in previous years. AND a good deal of the questions were intense critical thinking, like "which of the following is composed of only true statements?" which is basically 4 true or false questions in one. It was not great. We got the grades for that yesterday, and the course coordinator gave us 6 points back on it, and we're all really grateful for that. I'm actually happy with my grade now with those added points!
The weekend I mostly spent studying, because pharm is a big deal. But I did have a nice surprise--my dad was in town, so we got to meet up for breakfast. That was really nice. We also tried to get my new phone, but I want to try out the iPhone 6 before I decide if I'm going to get a 5 or a 6 and they didn't have a demo yet. Oh, and on Friday we had a spontaneous movie night! We made brownies and a frozen pizza and watched The Black Swan--me and my first year roommate and another friend. I wound up not going to the football game, though, and I didn't even manage to give my ticket to anyone. Maybe I'll go this weekend? I am also going shopping with my sister on Saturday, too, so I'm not sure if I'll be ready to leave for football two hours before kickoff like I need to to get parking.
Last week, Aimee rode with me at my lesson! She was on a cute old bay named Jesse, and I had a cranky mare named Baby. Baby did not like being near other horses, so it was a little stressful keeping her away from everyone else, especially since we were all in the indoor. My instructor said she liked the way I rode Baby, though!
I'm pretty happy with how our first pathology club meeting went! A pretty good number of people showed up (not like surgery club levels of attendance, but still) and we had good food and I was able to get the drinks and I think the pathologists did a good job selling why pathology is important even if you don't want to specialize. I know we gained at least one member, too--my little sib!
Speaking of my little sib, the first years are having their first anatomy exam today and yesterday. Apparently my test file was pretty helpful--when I texted my li'l sib Good luck, he said I was the best big sib! So that makes me really happy.
There were a bunch of club meetings, too, since I've last written. Surgery club--I'm not sure whether I'll be able to make it to the suture wetlab this year, either; I think it's the same day as the Josh Project chili cookoff. VBMA--a very uplifting (sarcasm) talk about life insurance and disability insurance. Also a lab animal club meeting I went to mostly for the food, and it didn't change my mind at all about not being in that club.
And speaking of Josh Project...I'm kind of regretting being on the committee. But I'm basically the only one from my class who consistently shows up, so if I don't do it, no one else will. We have to start working on the chili cookoff approximately now; in fact, the second year members are having a meeting about it today at lunch.
Tonight I'm going to work on studying parasitology (because, of course, we still have a quiz on Friday), and (hopefully, if it works out) chatting with my undergrad friends. I'm looking forward to spending this weekend doing some things that aren't studying! Even if I should probably get started studying for my next couple of exams...that'll happen, too.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Oh yes, this is second year
Hi there; Birdie here!
Today we had our first parasitology exam. Two exams, kind of, because we had a written in the morning and a lab practical in the afternoon. Neither of them was that bad, really, and I think I did pretty well on both of them. But I spent a lot of time on that class (especially if you count the time I spent studying for the 2 weekly quizzes on some of that material), and I don't really want to spend this evening studying, too. BUT since this is second year and we have two tests nearly every week, and at least one test every week but two (and one of them was last week), I already need to get on that. Especially since next week we have our first exam in Pharmacology, which as I understand it is basically the anatomy of second year. So I'm pretty worried about it. I haven't actually gotten to that studying yet...but I should at least get something done tonight.
Other than lots of studying, our first and uneventful DIC meeting, and a therio club meeting I attended purely for the free pizza, this week wasn't too exciting. I did order coveralls, though--therio club is selling embroidered coveralls as a fundraiser, and once we get them I can probably wear them to path club's big wetlabs, too. So that's cool.
This year my big sib didn't pass on anything, so I'm compiling a bunch of virtual resources onto a flash drive for my li'l sib. Today I actually got an email, though, from a friend in 4th year with a bunch of electronic resources that should be super helpful! I'm really glad for that. It's nice to not constantly have to rely on what other people put on dropbox.
I went to the Doctor Who viewing at the Mexican restaurant, too. I've probably mentioned it before, since I went for the 50th and also last week. I haven't found a good way to watch online, and since Certain People like to give me random comments about the episodes on Saturdays when they come out, I want to watch them as soon as possible. Which is apparently on Tuesdays at dinner. For the 50th and the first episode with the 12th doctor, it was a really good experience. Everyone was really excited, and it helped me get into the episode. This week, though, it was less great. I missed a bit of the beginning due to being stuck in traffic, and then people were kind of loud and made it harder to watch. One guy even wanted to do introductions and stuff in the middle of the episode. Like, I thought this was a Doctor Who viewing group? I'm not against a bit of commentary, but can we respect the show enough to not carry on unrelated conversations while I'm watching the new episode for the first time? So I don't know if I'm going back next Tuesday. When I was driving home, I was thinking definitely not. But, well, I still don't have a good alternative to watch the episode. So we'll see.
I also had my second riding lesson. This time I was on a bay mare named Lily, and all the lessons rode inside because it was raining. I will never get over being thankful for having an indoor arena--before I went to college, the barn where I rode had a few different rings, but none that were covered. So I've had several lessons canceled just because it rained. But this week, I still got to ride! There was a little gymnastic set up with 3 pretty low jumps that we went over a few times. We were pretty good, except that Lily kept landing on the wrong lead...even though the correct lead was the one she usually picks up automatically. So that's on me. I got the correct lead a few times, but mostly it was wrong. Especially at the end when I was jumping with one hand behind my back. At the very end of the lesson, my instructor asked me to post the trot with no stirrups for half a lap. I used to do no-stirrups work all the time in undergrad, and I really want to be good at it (and to get my muscle back)...plus, even in the huge ring we were working in, half a lap isn't much. So I did a lap and a half. I probably could have finished a full two laps except that my instructor asked me to come back in. So that, at least, made me feel pretty good about myself.
You know how last weekend was the first LSU football game? This weekend is the first home game. I've got a ticket, because my dad made me buy the season pass, and it's surprising how difficult it is to get rid of! I've messaged two people already who were looking to get a ticket, but one meant for next weekend and the other already decided not to go. So now I've got a couple more facebook messages waiting in the ether for the person to hopefully see it and respond...hopefully both of them don't try to take me up on it! And no, I really don't want to actually go to the game. See: pharm test on Tuesday.
Despite all that studying, I've also been doing some reading just for myself. I don't usually go for nonfiction (although there's a lot more of it on my to-read list now than there has been in the past), but I'm currently reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I'm about halfway to 2/3 of the way through it now, and it's really interesting. Sometimes I get kind of irritated, but generally the author seems to realize the importance of balance more than pushing an "Introvert Ideal" to counter the Extrovert Ideal she talks about. It also brings up a lot of questions that I find interesting, especially with my psych major background. Sometimes I wish I were having a conversation with her about this stuff instead of just reading it so I could ask her a bunch of questions (though, admittedly, frequently those questions are about what the control group was or how significance was calculated, for experiments she didn't even run). I haven't finished it yet, but I'm hoping to read the rest this weekend probably. You know, in between all the studying that also needs to happen.
Today we had our first parasitology exam. Two exams, kind of, because we had a written in the morning and a lab practical in the afternoon. Neither of them was that bad, really, and I think I did pretty well on both of them. But I spent a lot of time on that class (especially if you count the time I spent studying for the 2 weekly quizzes on some of that material), and I don't really want to spend this evening studying, too. BUT since this is second year and we have two tests nearly every week, and at least one test every week but two (and one of them was last week), I already need to get on that. Especially since next week we have our first exam in Pharmacology, which as I understand it is basically the anatomy of second year. So I'm pretty worried about it. I haven't actually gotten to that studying yet...but I should at least get something done tonight.
Other than lots of studying, our first and uneventful DIC meeting, and a therio club meeting I attended purely for the free pizza, this week wasn't too exciting. I did order coveralls, though--therio club is selling embroidered coveralls as a fundraiser, and once we get them I can probably wear them to path club's big wetlabs, too. So that's cool.
This year my big sib didn't pass on anything, so I'm compiling a bunch of virtual resources onto a flash drive for my li'l sib. Today I actually got an email, though, from a friend in 4th year with a bunch of electronic resources that should be super helpful! I'm really glad for that. It's nice to not constantly have to rely on what other people put on dropbox.
I went to the Doctor Who viewing at the Mexican restaurant, too. I've probably mentioned it before, since I went for the 50th and also last week. I haven't found a good way to watch online, and since Certain People like to give me random comments about the episodes on Saturdays when they come out, I want to watch them as soon as possible. Which is apparently on Tuesdays at dinner. For the 50th and the first episode with the 12th doctor, it was a really good experience. Everyone was really excited, and it helped me get into the episode. This week, though, it was less great. I missed a bit of the beginning due to being stuck in traffic, and then people were kind of loud and made it harder to watch. One guy even wanted to do introductions and stuff in the middle of the episode. Like, I thought this was a Doctor Who viewing group? I'm not against a bit of commentary, but can we respect the show enough to not carry on unrelated conversations while I'm watching the new episode for the first time? So I don't know if I'm going back next Tuesday. When I was driving home, I was thinking definitely not. But, well, I still don't have a good alternative to watch the episode. So we'll see.
I also had my second riding lesson. This time I was on a bay mare named Lily, and all the lessons rode inside because it was raining. I will never get over being thankful for having an indoor arena--before I went to college, the barn where I rode had a few different rings, but none that were covered. So I've had several lessons canceled just because it rained. But this week, I still got to ride! There was a little gymnastic set up with 3 pretty low jumps that we went over a few times. We were pretty good, except that Lily kept landing on the wrong lead...even though the correct lead was the one she usually picks up automatically. So that's on me. I got the correct lead a few times, but mostly it was wrong. Especially at the end when I was jumping with one hand behind my back. At the very end of the lesson, my instructor asked me to post the trot with no stirrups for half a lap. I used to do no-stirrups work all the time in undergrad, and I really want to be good at it (and to get my muscle back)...plus, even in the huge ring we were working in, half a lap isn't much. So I did a lap and a half. I probably could have finished a full two laps except that my instructor asked me to come back in. So that, at least, made me feel pretty good about myself.
You know how last weekend was the first LSU football game? This weekend is the first home game. I've got a ticket, because my dad made me buy the season pass, and it's surprising how difficult it is to get rid of! I've messaged two people already who were looking to get a ticket, but one meant for next weekend and the other already decided not to go. So now I've got a couple more facebook messages waiting in the ether for the person to hopefully see it and respond...hopefully both of them don't try to take me up on it! And no, I really don't want to actually go to the game. See: pharm test on Tuesday.
Despite all that studying, I've also been doing some reading just for myself. I don't usually go for nonfiction (although there's a lot more of it on my to-read list now than there has been in the past), but I'm currently reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. I'm about halfway to 2/3 of the way through it now, and it's really interesting. Sometimes I get kind of irritated, but generally the author seems to realize the importance of balance more than pushing an "Introvert Ideal" to counter the Extrovert Ideal she talks about. It also brings up a lot of questions that I find interesting, especially with my psych major background. Sometimes I wish I were having a conversation with her about this stuff instead of just reading it so I could ask her a bunch of questions (though, admittedly, frequently those questions are about what the control group was or how significance was calculated, for experiments she didn't even run). I haven't finished it yet, but I'm hoping to read the rest this weekend probably. You know, in between all the studying that also needs to happen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)