stuff

what a fascinating title for my latest comments, eh? school started wednesday. i finished my last final on tuesday. not much of a break. i kept the status quo for my grades.

3 As (toxo, infxs dz, gen path), 2 B+ (anesth, pharm), 3 Bs (heme, sx, anesth). i'm pretty happy with my final grades, i must say. this semester, i'm aiming for straight As. ha. ha. ha. ha.

ha.

okay. the first three days of school were fairly low key. we had between 4-6 hours of lecture and a "lab". i put lab in quotes because it was more of a lecture with case-based notes instead of didactic notes. but whatever. so far, we've had lectures in nutrition (BORING!), GI diseases (vomiting and diarrhea), endocrine (Cushings and Addison diseases), and opthamology. i think optho is going to be more interesting than i expected. i think nutrition is going to be even more deadly dull than i envisioned. getting up at 6:50, when it's still dark outside, hasn't been as hard as i thought it would be. i suffer usually when trying to get back into a routine. but i'm doing okay. the drive is longer, from our new place. about 15 minutes, plus 5 for walking in, settling, etc.

saturday and sunday are the 4th annual exotics symposium. this is our school's first year hosting it. i'm pretty excited. lectures all morning from 8 till noon. then wetlabs in the afternoon. i'll be sitting in lectures for 4 hours, but i won't be tested on the material. i'm strictly there to learn learn learn - and not worry worry worry about regurgitating the material verbatim down to the tiniest, most insignificant nuance on a test. it'll be fun. my wetlabs include an avian hematology lab - hands on, and a trip to the zoo - to go see the vet clinic and take a look at the exhibits from a vet's perspective. aren't you envious? the lectures are a grab-bag of topics, with 2 lectures going on at one time, so i'll get to choose. there are tons of avian lectures offered all day, including avian orthopedics, avian anesthesia, raptor nutrition, and a wealth of others. so i'm excited to get all this info. learning without worrying about being tested every five minutes is so much more enticing. i'm not even lamenting the fact that i'm going to essentially spend my weekend at school, doing school stuff. but what's new about that anyway? and monday is a holiday. so i'll get to sleep in. unless i get called in to help with emergency equine surgery. i'm on call that day.

my grandmother had pacemaker surgery on tuesday. she's doing well. this is, i believe, her third pacemaker. this one was recalled by guidant systems. i was nervous about it - but it was an outpatient surgery, so she was home the same day. i've talked to her daily, and while tired, she seems to be doing alright. papa is taking care of her, and she hasn't been cooking -- just resting. i'm hoping to spend my spring break in lakeland with them.

i sleep a lot. i don't think that's good. i've been coming home from class and sleeping for 3-5 hours. then getting up, eating dinner, watching some light TV, and going to bed early (10-11). i've also been taking tylenol PM to help me sleep. it knocks me out and keeps me from dreaming. it's a blissful uninterrupted 7 hours usually. i haven't started studying for classes yet, even though we're already neck deep in material. next week is our first CE/ABLEs week. so no classes. i'm on clinical experience, working in the avian/exotics ward. i expect the next 7 days to be FULL of learning. i'm excited about that. CE coupled with the exotics symposium should pump my little skull full of knowledge! and then, on the next sunday (23rd?), a group of vet students is being chauffered by bus down to atlanta. we've been specially invited to visit the CDC on monday, after a welcoming reception on sunday night. i'm excited about it, i've always wanted to see the CDC. that's where they took stu redman when he and the rest of whatever texas town he lived in caught captain trips.

alright, i've blabbled enough.