Someone stole my brain...
I think it might be in a jar, in a room...somewhere. Most likely on a shelf with a little label on it "Shortstopicus Brain, very rare and very tired. Replace at the end of term."
Finals are nearly upon me and try as I might the motivation is lacking. I sit down to study and I immediately see something far more interesting to do - like make little paper aeroplanes. It's happened before and generally I get a surge (ooer missus) of work ethic 72hrs before my first exam and start stuffing the information into my head. In the meantime, whilst waiting for this, I sit...and I ponder...and I read nonsense on the internet.
Tomorrow I call Glasgow and ask them if I have an interview. They've sent letters out, but the post it taking up to a month to get here - so I think a phone call is in order. If they say no I will do my best not to sob down the phone and wail "Whhhhyyyyyyyy??!!".
It's cold here right now. Very bloody cold. Like, fingers so cold you can't feel them until you accidently hit them on the metal part of your seat belt and then they hurt like hell on earth.
I think my problem this term is that I've been...bored. A terrible thing to admit, but I think it's true. My courses haven't exactly grasped me and they contain no new information to me. Next term will be different - a host of new courses and much, much, much work! It will be madness...of my mind...
Did my world cave in? Was there a nuclear strike? No - I just totally forgot to update my blog. Awesome.
Ok, so I have 1 whole year of Uni under my belt. I have a GPA of 88.5% and I've received awards, scholarships and general praise. Let's all take a moment to allow my ego a moment to itself.
Lovely. Now I'm about to embark on my 2nd year of pre-veterinary medicine and I'd like to think I'm wiser and more responsible than I was a year ago. Thinking and reality are two very different things.
The summer has been long, it started well, was very good in the middle and became a little rocky towards the end. Now I have to see what the future holds. I'm writing my UCAS application and that will wing its way to England soon. I wave goodbye to someone on Monday and will learn what it means to miss again. They're coming back, but who knows where my brain will be when they do.
I don't feel my brain has died too much over this summer and I'm very ready to return to school. I miss the structure and the goals to aim for.
I'm fitter and healthier than I've ever been. I had a scare last term and I've learn from it - and I don't want to have to learn from it again.
Things I have learnt as a student
In no particular order (although at this precise moment, number 1 holds a special place)
1) You can make 1 pizza last three meals. Mmm...re-heated pizza. It tastes better with each round.
2) If a nice man at the check-in desk announces "We are looking for volunteers to get off this flight in return for compensation." - you run. You run like crazy to that desk (elbowing old ladies if necessary) and you grab that man and you say "Me! I will take the money!!"
3) If your roomate goes away you do NOT let the cat into their room. The cat will find bad things and bring them out. Bad kitty, bad.
4) It is possible to survive on mars bars, diet coke and all-season crisps during high pressure exam times. You may develop scurvy, but you will be alive.
5) The prospect of getting a summer job is highly over-rated. Work like a b'stard for 8 months - take the damn summer off!
6) When someone looks at you and says "Oooh, you look a bit stressed and peaky." - you are. Stop and listen and for heavens sake have a lie down.
7) It is perfectly ok to sleep until 11am during spring break. Absorb the pleasure....mmm....pleeeasssure. Enough of that - disgusting.
8) Learn to love your fellow lab partners. Not too much. Just enough so that you think twice about smashing them over the head with a microscope or inserting a petri dish somewhere painful.
9) Don't trust your lab partners. They *will* smash you over the head with a microscope and insert petri dishes somewhere painful. Dog eat dog, i tell thee.
10) There is nothing to compare with British Chinese take-out. Nothing.
Danger! Sheep!
Little fluffy sheep. How cute are they? Not so damn cute, I can tell you. This week I've been:
1) Pinned against a wall by a ram. Trust me, they are strong!
2) Thrown to the floor by a miffed ewe
3) Had sheep vomit splatter on my boots (sorry!)
4) Sliced my hands numerous times on sheep hoof clippers.
5) Had my wrist twisted round about 360 degrees by a grumpy sheep.
The last item in my list saw me take a visit to the emergency room, where I sat for 4 hours before being seen by a hacked off doctor. I was shoved through to x-ray...where a woman was in the queue before me. I'd like to break here to say she was a far more deserving case than me. She'd just been run over by a train. She was remarkably perky despite this fact.
The x-ray showed no breaks (according to hacked off doctor, though he said he would get a radiologist to double check...ah confidence!). He then shipped me off to the pharmacy for some lovely painkillers and a bizare wrist splint contraption.
Sheep - they may look fluffy, but they're damn 'ard!
Bad me. Bad, bad me.
Poor little blog. Abandonded and unloved by its creator. Shed a tear with me now, if you will.
Ever since getting back to college my life has been on some weird kind of fast forward. Time has totally flown by and I'm slap bang in the middle of...well...midterms. The workload this term is intense - lab reports due every week, papers to be read, notes to be made, exams to study for. Just as you get through one set of exams, there's another just around the corner waiting to bite you.
It's been a good term though (sort of!). Met a bunch of new people who I either didn't know existed last term or I was so blind I never saw them. Makes quite a difference to have people to do projects with, write lab reports etc. Also good to share a damn good moan about Profs with other students!
Slowly I'm begginning to decorate the house - but on a strict timescale. In other words, I don't have the time! Christmas holidays is when that's all going to start - with major work being done over the summer next year.
That'll do for now, it's way past my bedtime and I have to be at college for 8:30am tomorrow. The utter disgrace of it all!
Oh brain, where for art thou?
EDIT - This post has spelling errors in it. It's past my bedtime and that means they're gonna stay!
I'm back in Canada and therefore back in college - and whoa, who stole my brain? The four months off have seriously eaten away at the old grey matter. However I have learnt one thing in Genetics about this very fact. Your brain creates brand new neurons (previously it was thought you didn't get any new ones as time went by) - but tests show that if you don't exercise your brain, they die! They did the tests with apes aparantly - give them food and provide everything for them...neuron death. Make them hunt for the food and generally make their lives difficult - neurons live! So there you go - my neurons have been dying like flies in a gas storm this summer.
I snuck out of the UK last week - apologies to those I didn't see...I was under time constraints and I also didn't fancy the goodbyes again. ;o)
My house, here in Canada, is still in a state of chaos. I've tried to create a mini study within my study. I attempted to build my desk, got it horribly wrong but will have to make do with it for now! It has a top to it and a vague drawer unit (ok, there are no actual draws in it and it's upside down) - but it's functional.
Grand plans for decorating have been put on hold and the lawn looks like a wheat field. My timetable this term doesn't allow for all that much domestic stuff! I've also taken on a tutoring job which means I do 6 hours of teaching a week - all to the same one individual, but it pays well and helps me with my learning. I'm also marking Chemistry assignments this term - which will be a joy!
The cats are here and safe - having flown across the day after me. I sat in customs for 3 hours waiting for them to come through, getting more and more irate as time went by. No reason was given for the delay, but I was very glad to eventually get them. They were generally fine and have settled in well. Ruoert has developed new (and very annoying) thieving techniques. I came home the other day to find cake wrappers strewn across the floor. He'd got into a cupboard and scoffed the lot! I'm going to have to kitty proof the kitchen. Shortstop has spent his time trying to find holes and found one that leads into the wall cavities. Thankfully I saw him in time...just before he was about to clamber in.
When my brain comes back online (let's not hold our breath) I'll get some piccies up of the house and how it currently looks - i.e. messy.
All good things...
apparently must come to an end! To this I say - pah!
My summer in the UK is nearly over. I've got just about 2 weeks left here before I jet off to New Zealand for 2 weeks...then I'm back in the UK for a matter of days before I head back to Canada.
It's absolutely flown by. Well, that's not entirely true - it seems ages ago that it was April and I was flying home! The first part went by slowly, but now it seems to be flying. It must be because it's near the end.
I've seen, done and experienced quite a lot this summer. Some good, some bad, some sad. To list but a few...
1) Worked at a hawk conservation park. Top rate experience. I battled with a tiny owl that wanted to eat me rather than the tasty chicken morsel I was offering. I now bear the first scars of what will no doubt be many throughout my career.
2) Spent time alone (and not always alone) in Scotland. Met some great people and had some great nights out. Got to know a friend better and now understand his goals more than I ever did. A committed man :o)
3) Experienced a funeral that, for the first time, really hurt. A remarkable woman tried to fight but had to relinquish her flame far too soon. I saw groups of people moved by what they were experiencing and realised that I was one of them.
4) Met some wicked people in London and got drunk with my brother. The journey home was long and perilous as I had to stop him from trying to depart the train too soon! Photographic evidence is available...if blogger actually worked!
5) Welcomed two new people into the world - my friends are all having babies. One made quite a dramatic entrance, but is going strong now. The other delayed his entrance but makes up for lost time now.
6) Decided to sell my car. Gutted.
7) Bought my house in Canada - flew back to check all was ok and remembered why I'd chosen it. Perfect home. It also now has a lovely car sat outside the front of it.
8) Spoke at a dinner for my Godfather - never been so nervous in all my life. Kept the emotion in check until the very end...
9) Remembered that I love Superman and found joy again.
10) Got my cats back (hurrah!)
A list of ten will do. I'm looking forward to going back to Canada. It's going to be different to last term. I'm living off campus, I have a full class schedule, a job to do, I'm the marker for Chemistry and most likely a tutor too. I've had time to reflect on the people I met last term and what that will mean for the next.
But best of all...oh yes the most wonderful thing...I am no longer a newbie. My place is taken by fresh fish and it will be my job to terrify them. Especially if they're in the Chemistry class I mark!
