Getting Though it All, Or Story Tellers, Or Finals Again.

Hello Dear Readers, I Have been writing this blog for over a year now, I obviously plan on keeping it up as long as I am here, vis-à-vis finals are coming up and as per my usual I am not sure how I am going to make it though them. I am not as bad off as I have been in the past, Pharm and anatomy lab are going to kill me, they are pretty much straight memorization and there is a lot there to remember plus this weekend was one of those where I try to do something like study but my brain says no lets wonder off and do something else and then by the time I lay down to sleep it snaps back and says "you didn't get enough done your going to fail so" I lay awake clear in the knowledge that I am a worthless idiot who has no right to be here, and the sane part of my mind is saying that the best thing to do now is to get some sleep and get up and get some work done, then by 2:30am I am finally able to fall asleep. I wish I was one of those people who could just sit down and study all day, oh while at lest vet school is getting better, not easier mind you just better what does that mean you ask, well I am getting used to the level of work and stress, which means that I am enjoying my time here a bit more it is not as strange and foreign as it was before. So hopefully I can make it though finals and move on to term 3, and as long as I can I think there might be some changes made to this blog, since the last couple of posts have been very short and frankly stupid. I can do better but apparently not weekly so since you dear Readers deserve the best I can muster I will probable make it into a Bi weekly post. Something else that I think would be interesting for this blog is adding your the Readers story's to it, I know that some of you probable have better things to talk about then I do. So we will see how finals works out and then I will figure out how that would work and go from there. Anyway I think this will be it for me this term, hopefully though the grace of god I will be back next term, till then...

 TTFN

Trying to be a Pirate Or Draw me a Blank

Hello Dear Readers, So I had a idea for a post early last week but then after sitting on it for 5 days I changed my mind and decided that that would have been a stupid post! And now I don't have anything even remotely interesting to write about, which usually means that I would just say "hey its going to be a short one this week" but I did say that last week so I feel like I should at lest try and write something interesting for you so here goes I am literally going to just dig up some of my old projects and ideas, to throw at the post this week and we will see how that goes? (spoiler it goes bad so you might as while stop reading now and save yourself)

Well this went not great turns out that I don't have the documents that I thought I did and I do not have time to recreate them, so here is my pet project this term.
Being a vet student in the Caribbean means that you absolutely need one thing, a pirate flag! Now obviously I don't have just buckets of free time so it takes some time for me to decide what works and what looks good, now this started because 1. I felt like it would be fun to have a pirate flag hanging on my apartment, 2. since there is a large banner of Nic cage hanging in one of the buildings on campus, I wanted to make a Nic cage flag since he is the patron saint of SGU.
This is what came from that endeavor

This one is pretty bad but I liked the skull

 This one was better but still not great

Since I already had the stuff together I had another Idea for a more vet/Grenada and this one is what came out of that, (this took about 8 weeks of very very rarely working on it)

but this still looked like crap but I let it sit for a couple of weeks during midterms and the following weeks, but we had that long weekend so I jumped back on this purely selfish project and see if I could sort this out.






So I started by figuring out the V I wanted it to be a bit more medical while still trying to keep a realistic feel, so this is what came of that.
Then I turned to the center peace the Heartskull (fun fact I used a dog heart as a base) then I needed a bit more behind that in the center I started with just lines but I didn't like how clean that looked so I went with period fishing spears and that fit so nicely.
Finally I needed to put all of this together and make a flag (or at least a mock up of a flag) which lead to another small problem where do I put everything, I liked that fraction look that the last prototype, but I wanted to have a better balance so I staggered them across the flag, I really like the way this one turned out.
Sorry this one was pretty random, the next week will hopefully be better, it will also be the last scheduled post this term so I will make sure it is on time. TTFN

Varrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

If I Go Crazy, Or My own Little Night Time

Hello Dear Readers, today will be a short one so let's just jump in.
This last week has been a extremely rough one for me, having two hard exams and a final today, between all of that sleeping and eating get all out of wack which leaves one feeling drained, tired, sleep deprived, ready for a beak where I don't have to study like a crazed mongoose fighting a cobra. Now let the record show that no one, and I mean no human ever in the history of the veterinarians has said that vet school would be easy, however what everyone fails to mention is why vet school is so hard, and while there is a answer to this question it like most vet work depends on the history. everyone struggles in vet school it doesn't matter if it has to do with classes, stress, personal, or some other problem. The impotent thing is that this happens to everyone at some point in vet school, it is how people deal with this moment of highest struggle that shows how great of a Vet you could be (or whatever other career path you choose), I have struggled with a lot in vet school but every time it happens I try to learn and better myself though the struggles.

I know that things get crazy, but that's okay since I am already a bit crazy. TTFN

Easter a Time to Remember Or, Always Check the Mouth of a Gift Horse

Hello Dear Readers, firstly sorry I am a day late yesterday was still a "day off" which I spent studying and feeling kinda off so I just decided to wait till today to write. So Easter is a great time of year first and foremost because of what it represents Jesus dying and rising from the dead 3 days later, 2ndly because here at SGU we get a four day weekend, which I spent trying to relax and have some fun but also studying for 3 upcoming exams.
So in my sad sad attempt to relax which only succeed in making me feel like the lazy, good for nothing, procrastinator that I am. I also found myself reminiscing, which seem to be happening more and more to me, if it happens with anymore frequency I be seeing my life flashing before my eyes, so I suppose I could be dying, or it could just be the hardcore sleep depredation. Ether way it is slightly interesting to see what things I look back on with such fondness and longing to go back to that time just for a visit, and the things that I kinda don't care about or almost wish had never happened. Now I am not going to get into any specific memories, but I will say that I am surprised by the number of specific exact moments that have shaped my life.

 Moving on to a slightly more lighthearted look at what happens on a long weekend in vet school, and the answer to that is very easy nothing happens, ether you chill hangout with friends and you get no studying done, or you study everyday and you have no fun and you relax 0%, or you try to both have some fun and get some studying done. Which ends with nothing happening since your fun is spooled by think that you should be studying and your study suffers because you just want to be done so you can have fun, it's lose lose but since this is vet school nothing can be easy so we had/have two of the hardest quiz's this week and then Monday we have a final, A Final! just writing this I could feel my stress levels rising.
So whats the take away here, Days off are a form of mental warfare designed to break students who are already losing it. and thank God because without him I would never have a shot at make it though this mine field. TTFN

P.S. Photo is a bit of reminiscing

Boomerang , Or How we all Stay Sane

Hello Dear Readers, It's kinda getting crazy with only about 4 weeks till finals start, also I have 4 quiz's and a final that will happen before then, a four day weekend for Easter and I alter from feeling like I can't possibly get though, understand and remember all the material for the tests and beyond. and feeling like I might be able to pull off high marks on some of the test, and a confidence that I can beat this term, but we will see how it goes, all I can do is my best and that will just have to be good enough.
On to the core of this post, this last week in physio 2 we have been going over a lot of "review" of bio-chem, at the same time I got a Facebook memory of some notes that I had posted when I was in bio-chem which I promptly used to help complete some homework, I am honestly surprised by how much of my undergrad classes have come back to me and helped me to better understand some of my classes, I will also say that there are also classes and lectures that seem to have nothing to do with my classes, this is mostly since the whole of my undergrad is covered in the first slide set, vet school is hard their is no doubt about that.
Now you maybe wondering with all this stress how does one stay sane (or at the very lest, not go more crazy), well that's a bit of a tricky question mostly since there is a different answer for each individual, the advise I received a long time ago was to be a good vet you need a hobby that has nothing to do with animals, for me it was racing cars but since I can't really do that on Grenada (unfortunately), however I was lucky enough to find Improv Club here and now when I am on island that is how I deal with my stress, the big thing for me is not the actual improv (although I think I am getting the hang of it and it is very fun), the big thing is that I have friends that I can have fun with.
Friends really good friends that you can talk about anything, your problems, your success, the stuff that they don't really care about, someone who makes who makes you go to a beach front restaurant, a Friend, BFF, Confidant, a Best Vet School Buddy. TTFN 

Finals or Nothing, Or Kick 'em Jenny

Hello Dear Readers, you might have noticed that I did not post anything yesterday (Monday) this was because I had a PD (Physical Diagnosis) final, this final is more of a performance based test (OSCE) i.e. we had to be able to preform a number of tests and explain what your doing and why, everyone had 3 of these stations and you get 3 min to complete each test, in general it was pretty interesting, kinda stressful (especially since its only been a week since midterms), maybe even a little fun.

So I don't have anything else inextricably interesting to talk about expect that Kick 'em Jenny (the submarine volcano off the east cost of Grenada) was raised from yellow to an orange alert level, what does that mean, well KeJ is about 180m down so even if it erupts we won't be covered in fire and ash, the biggest danger is for ships which could suddenly sink if they get caught in a cloud of gas escaping from KeJ which would low the water density, so the orange alert ups the 1 mile exclusion zone to a 3 mile exclusion zone. Kick 'em Jenny is one of the most active volcanoes in the indies, however since it is so far down most of the potentially devastating results are mitigated making it a safe-ish volcano.

I know where I am going to go if the volcano blows, do you? TTFN   

Fight Or Flight, Or Thoughts of the Future

Hello Dear Readers,
I feel like I had several plans pertaining  to this weeks post, however I can't seem to remember any of them, Such is the nature of Midterms week.
As the title suggest Midterms is a week of Fight or Flight still studding trying to review info trying to learn the stuff that professors give days before the exam, it is a week of wake up study, take test, study, go to sleep and repeat it for the next 7 days. Some how I made it though this terms gantlet of stress, despair, triumph, depression, sleep depredation with only small mental wounds to show for it.
Enough about the worst weeks of vet school, let's talk about the future and not the terrifying one where we all have flying cars (shudder) just imagine a small fender bender ending with both party's plummeting 100ft to the ground, no I am talking about my future Lord willing I will graduate vet school and then what be a vet? Yes of course but what kind of vet, since vet pretty much can get you any number of jobs ranging from Lab work to wildlife conservation work part of vet school is figuring out what you want to do after vet school, now most people come in to vet school knowing exactly what they want to do with their degree, and I have a general idea of what I would like to accomplish. The thing for me is that in high school and undergrad despite my outward confidence I honestly figured that I would never get into vet school, and then last year I was fairly certain that I would fail out of vet school, it's only been this term that I have allowed myself to dream of the future and what it might hold. Be that Struggles, Joy, Tears, Love, Pain, Success, or a bit of all of those, the future is no longer shrouded in a fog of self doubt for me and no matter what happens it's looking pretty bright. TTFN