Friday Night Cool

It's Friday night and I'm doing homework. Oh and posting on my blog. :}

School is tough this quarter. Still completely rewarding, but insanely stressful at the same time. We were talking the other night in class how before this we were learning important stuff, but not necessarily deadly stuff. I'm taking Veterinary Pharmacology this quarter. It's basically one giant mathematical-story-problem-of-a-class! As in figure out how much medication you need to give this animal based on their weight, then figure out how to do it over a certain time period, oh and make sure to account for any diseases, dehydration issues, temperatures, wars, crying babies, missing socks, etc. AHHHH! Yeah. We have a veterinary math competency test this week that you have to get 100% on, or you don't pass the class. It seems unfair, but when it was put to us that if you only got 98% right on an animal's treatment, you could kill it. Lovely, right? And cue stress!

I suppose things wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't set such a high bar for myself. We get four chances on the test, but I need to pass it the first time. I have volunteered, stayed late, always been the first to try something, requested extra duties, and busted my butt with studying & homework, because I want to be the best. I know I'm not that old, but I'm too old to be mediocre with this. I don't have the advantage of being super young with a lot of time on my hands to gain experience anymore.

So here I sit. Friday night. Doing homework, reading and studying. I'm missing out on a vacation this weekend, my friends' annual Halloween party and just general shenanigans, but I chose this. Lucky for me, I have the following two things going for me: I absolutely love what I'm learning and doing, and I truly believe in what I'm doing.

Worth. Every. Minute.

I just got home from school. I was supposed to be home around 9 PM, but I just spent the last two hours with Roxie. Roxie is the little, old Boston Terrier that I mentioned a couple posts ago. Roxie got to have dental surgery tonight which went well. Her recovery? Not so much. When I did my nightly walk-thru of the dog room, I noticed she was bundled up with bags of hot water surrounding her, but still shivering. When I pulled her out of her kennel, her lips were cold so I did a quick temperature check. Normal for dogs? 99.5-102.5 degrees. Roxie? 93.4 degrees. One of the other girls started rubbing her down, trying to wake her up a little so she'd move around. It helped a little, but she had super slow reflexes and had stopped shivering (not a good thing). So I grabbed her, stuck her under my scrub top, and had someone hold hot water bottles and blankets against us. I was a heating BT burrito! I spent two hours with Roxie tucked in my shirt and checking her vitals every 20 minutes. I'm happy to report that her temperature was brought up to 98 degrees - normal and safe for recovering surgical patients. :)

There's a glitch in the matrix!

(i can't believe I just quoted that)

I'm on my blog...at work. *whispering: yessss!*

Say post one more time. Post!

It's 1:46 AM. And I'm awake. Something I ate today is not agreeing with me, so here I am posting a post, just to post a post.

Say post one more time. Post! 1:49 AM. Awesome.

Earlier this afternoon (as in yesterday), I was out at my parents' house for dinner. The weather was so insanely gorgeous that I spent most of the afternoon outside with Lola and Pinner. After watching Lola run through the crunchy, gold leaves, I decided I needed my shiny new camera that I'm pretty sure Santa (read: Mom) might have gotten me for Christmas, so I could take some pretty pictures. Santa did not agree. So, here's a random one from my cell phone. Lola was hot and panting from running around so much that it was hard to get a pic with her mouth closed...mostly because of the slow shutter speed from my camera phone. Man, my life is so hard sometimes. ;)

1:54 AM.

An Evening at the Dog Park

Lola Grizzle

sunshine :)
Bo!

Toy-eating couch

This is Lola:

What you can't hear is her constant

chirping, whimpering and whining

to get her toy "unstuck" from under the couch

...for the third time tonight.

Nights off, aka WOOOO!

Lordie I love me some nights off!

• Discussion posted for online class? Check.
• Oil changed in car? Check.
• Spaghetti made and tupperware-d out for meals? Check.
• Squeeze in two "Hannah Montana" reruns from DVR? Check! (yess)
• Checking email and catching up on blogs? Check.
• Giving Lola the stink eye for losing her toy under the couch...AGAIN? Check.
• In bed by 9:00 PM for 5:00 AM wake up call? Check.

Nite! :)

It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to!

This will hopefully be a quickie post. Riiiight. I just got home from school. Another fascinating night in Pharmacology learning how to convert different units and figure out correct dosages to give correct meds. It's a lot of math. A lot. Love that class, though. :) I had Hematology last night. We learned how to make blood smears. A tiny drop of blood smeared across a slide so you can view it with a microscope. That's all it is. It is also one of the most frustrating things I've ever tried to conquer! You can't have pooling or clotting or air bubbles or tails...you have to worry about pressure and not running the spreader slide into your fingers holding the other slide...you have to control the speed and angle at which you smear the blood depending on the size of the drop...you need different levels of cells to get a correct diagnosis... GAH! We had to make 10 perfect smears before we could leave...let's just say it was a late, late night for the whole class!

My work pretty much cut off all of our internet access. No more email, Facebook, MirandaLambert.com...and no blog. :( I'm the first to admit I was on the internet a lot at work, but it was never at the expense of my work. When I have stuff to do, I drop everything, I complete it and I sometimes do it better than anyone else could have - hence my "exceeds expectations" reviews. I know the internet is generally a no-no at work, but when there's nothing else to do... Come on! This, of course, comes after a year of layoffs, salary freezes and increased health benefits. Damn. Can I graduate and just go save ponies already?!?!

I got a little teary tonight at school. I covered another girl's clinic shift because she was sick. When I walked into the dog room, I spotted a new dog: a little Boston Terrier. Bleh! She's a quiet, sweet, little, old BT...and she broke my heart. Lola will be her before I know it. She laid her head down on my arm while I took her pulse. She's kenneled right next to Zeke, a happy, TRAINED black lab that lays down for me when I need to draw his blood. Zeke is across from Moe, a cute Cocker Spaniel mix that will lay in your lap for days just to get his neck scratched. I do what I can to help and that gets me through things, but it still hurts to see such cute, loving animals go through there. Save a life, people. Adopt a shelter pet.

That is all for tonight. With no internet access at work, it will be hard for me to update my blog as much. I just laughed out loud wondering if I really write anything with substance anways. Oh well...it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to. HA! :P Despite everything, life is quite lovely. It always is. Even when I'm super busy and tired and cranky, I never forget how lucky I am. Oh and how much I'm looking forward to the new Assassin's Creed game on xBox. Two more paychecks, baby! WOO! BUWAHAHAHA!

xoxoxAC

sshhhhh

Lola's concentrating and helping me do homework:

Bring it.

I like plans and organization, but I also realize that life can be a fickle bitch. What-ever.

WHEEE! Weekend's here! :D

Jump for joy!

The weekend's here! YES!

I have big plans of sleeping past 5 AM,

doing homework, sewing

and whatever else I feel like!

Awww...weekends! XD

Keep being AWESOME!

BUWAHAHAHAHA!

Pharm?! *heh* Good luck.

I had my first Pharmacology class last night.

pharm- : relating to drugs or medicine
-ology : the study of
( HA! Take that former-medical-terminology-class! :P )

I started getting a little nervous about this class when random students would walk in, ask what class we were in, then laugh a little and say, "Good luck." HAHA! "Uh...thanks?" It's apparently one of the toughest classes in the program! And that was pretty much confirmed last night when we simply went over what we would be learning. I think my head might actually get a little bigger this quarter with all of the information I'm about to cram into it!

I am super excited about this class, though. And yes, I know I say that about every class I take! I just feel like I'm really getting into the thick of things now! When people ask me why their veterinarian prescribed certain meds or can I help them with different treatments, I can start saying, "YES!" and, "Would you like a full blood workup with that because I'm awesome at hitting veins the first time!!" BHAAAA!

Seriously, life rules the cool school. La la laaaaaa!

"1, 2, 3...Stick!"

First Hematology (blood) class last night. We hit the ground running and spent our first lab doing venapunctures, aka blood draws. When our professor asked who wanted to go first, I stood on my tippy-toes and shot my hand in the air. I know I looked like a dork and the teacher's pet and whatever else you wanna call it, but I don't care. I told myself when I started, I would try everything and not be bashful about it. I'd like to report that I hit a vein every time...the first try...on all three vein sites - cephalic, lateral saphenous AND...jugular. YES! Go me. :)

busy busy busy

Drapes hemmed and hung, towels and rugs washed, desk organized, school books lined up, scrubs layed out, laundry done, duvet cover sewed, and Miss Grizzle passed out on her bed at 7:09 PM. Awww...accomplishment. :)

"White Liar" video, Miranda Lambert

Love this song AND the video! Some of the guys they zoom in on are from Miranda's band - Katie and I got to meet these guys last year in Primm and they were so nice and cool! Also, Miranda's parents are both in the video - her dad's walking her down the aisle. I've even gotten a couple emails from Miranda's mom before - seriously like the sweetest person ever! AND...the preacher? JAMEY JOHNSON! Loooove his music! He's seriously bad-ass! XD

Miranda's new CD is still playing in all of my CD players - LOVE IT! :D

Grownup Cosmic Wisdom

I got an email from an ex a couple days ago and another one last night. While it was a little shocking to see something from him, that part really doesn't phase me so much. It's the reflection on how much my life has changed since I knew him. I've spent the last two days thinking back to the places I've lived, friends I've made, friends I've lost, doggies (awww...Lola), boys I've dated, the fact that I drink coffee now (haha!), job changes... Phew! It's crazy to think how much I've experienced in just a short five years! Even crazier is how I've changed as a person. Dare I say it, I've grown up a little! I always laugh at how much I thought knew back then, only to realize that I was kinda just...dumb. LOL! I'm sure there is much more cosmic wisdom I could philosophize on here, but...it's early, I need coffee and I'm still a blonde. Heh. At least some things never change. ;)