Welcome back to a peek into my life.
I’ve gotten over most of the bitterness regarding the failed class, and now have settled into boredom. After all, I got B’s in Microanatomy and Nutrition and a C in Anatomy I. There’s no reason that I can’t get A’s in them now with minimal studying… I remember a LOT of the information. More than I ever thought I knew in the first place. My biggest fear with repeating the semester is the fact that I’m going to fall into bad study habits again, because I don’t HAVE to put the hours into the studying that I did during the first run through.
A friend of mine worded things very nicely for when any of us lose motivation:
”Everytime I get bogged down in how much crap I have to do and how behind I am and unmotivated, I think about all those years working for vets, wanting it so bad I could have cried, all the extra classes I took, all those times I got frustrated researching cases because I didn't have the knowledge, and think about how lucky I am that I finally made it. It shuts me up.”
Classes are rather dull and redundant so far, and I feel like I should stay mostly quiet so that the rest of the class has an opportunity to learn the material. Even in anatomy, I find myself trying to be as quiet as I can… but it’s hard, especially when they struggle to get information. I’ve volunteered in the Microanatomy labs to help teach the labs on Koehler illumination. We get a point on the final grade if we can walk through it. It’s an easy brownie-point system to get to know Dr. Bogdanovic and Dr. Zibrin. Luckily, the registrar still allowed me to take the elective course in lab animal medicine, so I get some information on the little cuddly critters that I’d see in an exotics practice (hamsters, ferrets, etc.).
I’ve joined a few clubs once again:
PAWS (People for Animal Welfare on St. Kitts): It’s basically a model shelter. I’ve volunteered to do the website design once I finish this semester working alongside the current webdesigner, Holly. You can check it out at
RossPAWS.com. We have lots of cute puppies and kittens!
ZEW (Zoo/Exotics/Wildlife) Club: We’re in charge of the island’s zoo and we do a lot of work with “exotic” animals. One of the biggest perks to the club is the fact that we accrue points and have the opportunity to apply them to the cost of a trip to Africa to work on the conservation of big cats.
Scuba Club: Katie, Heather, Lexi, and I are working on our certification (we start Sunday with our first contained-water dive in a pool!) and they go on a lot of trips throughout the semester. It’s a good chance to build up the dive resume.
AAV (Association of Avian Veterinarians): It’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s a bird club… we take care of the campus aviary and have extra lectures on birds and bird medicine.
Pathology Club: We’re the crazy ones that get the necropsy duty. Good way to practice histology and start learning pathways of disease.
AAFP (American Association of Feline Practitioners): Another self-explanatory one... Steven dragged me into it. :P
And, also, just for the hell of it, I’m trying to run for the first semester class representative. I doubt I’d get it, but it’d be something else to do and keep involved/busy.
Steven (roommate), Lolly, Lexi, Kristi, and I went to the zoo to feed this week… and we’ll be doing every other Thursday feeding at the zoo again, once they get a schedule assigned out. Percy was his normal jerkish-goose self, but for some reason, he quite likes Steven. He even let him try to scrub off some spaghetti sauce off of his chest while Lexi sprayed the hose over many things in the enclosure. Steven also got attacked by the meanest rooster in the place… and had some nice little punctures in his leg from him. I lucked out and only had a duck nibbling at my ankle every few minutes. I wish I had a camera that time from all those fun attempts.
I’ve been working on losing more weight and toning up some more with a program called P90X. It’s an insane workout for an hour a day, but it’s fun… and I get to do it from the comfort and privacy of my room. I started it on the first, so today marks day 10 of it. I already can see improvements in my balance and stretching abilities, so we’ll see how things end up at the end of 90 days. I’m only doing the Lean version now, but I can at least get 3 weeks into the Classic program once I finish up this one.
Seems like everything is on strike with me today (my coffee pot didn’t want to work, Reigo headbutted a bowl of water out of my hands this morning, etc.), and I’m not feeling so well, so I’m going to wrap things up here and go get some rest before our pizza party tonight (glorious nerd-fest of games, movies, and foodstuffs). See you all next week.
