Hmmmm....

I just logged onto my school's website to see if any new grades have been posted.  (Just waiting on one more class.  At least I know I passed the one I felt the worst about!)

Anyway, after logging in, this screen popped up.

You know, because a person's race just constantly changes, and needs to be updated on a regular basis.  

What is it about public speaking...

That makes you go from eloquent and well spoken to jittery and barely able to form a coherent sentence?

I had to give a presentation today for my population health & production class, and it did not go well.  Practiced the night before, no problems.  Get up in front of a whole nine or ten people, and my brain suddenly decides that it will no longer be able to keep a straight thought, voice starts shaking, the works.  So frustrating.  It's even more frustrating when I compare it to other things.  When my band was together, playing gigs wasn't intimidating.  3000 people and a bass?  No problem.  10 people and a powerpoint?  Bomb it.  Grr.

I have my 3rd year presentation in December.  I really need to fix this by then.

I almost made it through the semester without a trip to the emergency vet

I swear, there's a vet school curse.  For the past 5 semesters, each semester there has been one emergency.  This one was luckily minor.  Skwissgaar and Izmere were playing, Skwissgaar got a little too hyper, and Izzy got crabby and bit him in the face.  Now he's missing about a square centimeter of skin right below his eye.  My poor pup.  The past month he's spent 2 days at Banfield for a cardiac workup.  He managed to skin his nose while he was there, and picked up kennel cough.  Now this.

I'm currently getting spoiled in class.  I'm taking population health and production, and it's basically just practice working epidemiology problems.  I'm spoiled because we're only in class from 8:30 to noon.  That will change next week when we begin our next course, but it's a nice break from being at the equine hospital from 7:30 to 5.

You're Welcome

http://catsthatlooklikepinupgirls.tumblr.com/

CTRL-R, CTRL-R, CTRL-R

I finished up my exams for large animal block friday morning.  Ever since then, I've been obsessively opening blackboard every couple hours, and refreshing to see if my grades have posted.  I have never felt worse after taking tests than I did last week, and I'm terrified I'm going to fail and have to repeat one or more large animal rotations.  On the plus side, even the smart kids on the same rotations feel the same way after those tests, so at least we're all in the same boat.  

I've spent the weekend trying to actually have fun, and take my mind off things.  Friday night, I went out with some classmates to Knotts Scary Farm for their halloween nights.  I had a blast, but I killed my cell phone battery constantly refreshing blackboard.  

Saturday, my neighbor and I went to Universal Studios, then to a vegan bakery in LA that was in an area so sketchy that it looked like a generic "skid row" movie set.  

I kind of feel like I need to go to Disney Land today to round out my amusement park themed weekend.  

It's been awhile since I've had a problem with my crazy-cat-lady superpowers, but it looks like they're flaring up again.  Last year, an outdoor cat started showing up on my porch, and we had a good deal going on.  I fed her, and she kept other random strays from showing up on my doorstep.  Well, now a new cat has moved in, and has been chasing her off.  This new cat is beautiful - he's a white tabby with ice blue eyes, and he's friendly.  I've had to "sneak" into my house, because he tries to bolt in the front door behind me.  But he's un-neutered, and he's beating up Nuke.  He's gotta go.  If anybody's interested in what seems like a great cat, let me know (leave your email address in the comments section,) otherwise he's going to have to go to the shelter.  I'll post more pictures next time he shows up.  You know you want him......

Four exams down, one to go.

I've been lost in the fog that is exam week.  Livestock (meat and fiber,) Livestock (dairy) and Equine I and II tests have all been taken.  I was the most freaked out for the equine tests beforehand, but those tests seemed really reasonable.  Now I'm freaked out about both the livestock tests, because I felt like I did a hell of a lot of guessing on multiple choice exams that covered things in way more detail than I read about.  On the plus side, every single person I talked to feels that way, so at least it's not just me.

I have one (ok, two, but I'm counting them together) more exam tomorrow - a clinical skills exam for both livestock and horses.  I'm not really sure what to expect will be on it.  Not really sure how to prepare for it.  There's a good chance that I will be tested on things that I haven't physically done before, but have only read about.  Eek!

After my equine exam, I stopped by Dr. Diniz's office today to transfer Skwissgaar's ECG readings to a flash drive, and he's convinced that there's zero evidence of cardiac pathology in my pup aside from a decreased fractional index.  A 48 hour ECG, and no evidence of ventricular premature complexes, just a couple slightly weird, probably physiological Mobitz type 1 AV blocks.  I can only imagine how long it took to go through 48 hours of ECG tracings, even with a computer's help, and I'm so grateful that he has been so great to me and my puppy.  We're really lucky here to have so many amazing faculty members.