Meet the Parent and then 7 Days of Death!

So, Blue's mom is coming into town (from Memphis) this weekend for the Big Dam Bridge bike race. This means that I will be meeting her for the first time. I'm a little anxious about it, not cause I don't think she'll be nice and all...it's just how I tend to react to new people. It is a tad stressful trying to get the house all clean and spiffed up, especially when my 7 Days of Death! is fast approaching.......

You may be wondering what this is. 7 Days of Death! consists of having to take four separate exams in seven days. This all starts this coming Wednesday. To top it off, one of the exams is a drug test that consists of knowing ~200 different drugs, their generic names, what they're indicated for, their dosing information, any adverse effects, etc., etc. This is one of only two exams in this class, so if you don't make a certain score on this first exam it will be mathematically impossible to pass the class! To heap on another serving of anxiety, in p-school if you end up not passing one of your classes you get to repeat the whole semester over again and since they don't offer fall classes in the spring you get to wait until next fall to repeat everything which ends up putting you a year behing. Can anyone say PRESSURE???!!!!!!

Luckily I think I'm still handling everything pretty well. There haven't been any major breakdowns......yet.

As you may have guessed you won't be hearing much out of me for the next week and a half. Have some fun in my honor and I'll be back here around the 11th.

(Um, wait a minute...its October?? When was it September??!!)

Brainorexia

During the short time that I've spent so far in pharmacy school, I've already managed to discover a new neurological disorder known as brainorexia. This disease state is characterized by decreased overall brain function due to excessive amounts of cognitive work in the specialized center of the brain dealing with learning and memory. Symptoms associated with this disorder include forgetting to pay bills on time, chronic dark circles under the eyes, almost brushing your teeth with face wash instead of toothpaste, and not having any brain cells left at the end of the day to post on your own blog. At this time there is no known cure for brainorexia, but watching Grey's Anatomy has been shown to provide some relief.

(Is it Thursday yet?)

Life Goes On...

Well, I've officially survived my first physiology exam. Actually, that's putting it lightly. I'm hoping to scrape by with a C. Now that I know what to expect on an exam I'm going to have to start studying for the next one tonight! Blahh!

My little weekend trip was good. The weather up north was glorious (for me anyway)...nice and cold with highs in the low 60's. The wedding turned out great. It was a garden wedding in the Groom's backyard. Luckily, there was no rain. It was good to see all my family and get some encouragement to help me keep going in school. It was a short and sweet trip (and it probably kept me from doing the studying I should have done), but I'm glad I went. Here are some photos:

It was a very pretty ceremony. The flowers were especially beautiful: blue hydrangeas and pale green orchids.

The groom had a ginormous backyard that backed up to a nature preserve. It was gorgeous.

The Best Dog. (He was actually in the ceremony. It was way cute!)

Mmmmm, Cake!

Smile for the Camera

I'm not trying to fall off the face of the earth...I swear!

I wish I could properly explain what it is like to be in pharm school. I've never experienced anything like it. So many emotions...I'll describe it at a later date.

It's been a crazy week and its about to be an even crazier weekend because, at great peril to my academic success, I'm flying up to Minnesota tomorrow to attend my aunt's wedding on Saturday. I get back Sunday evening. To put the icing on the cake, I have my first Physiology test on Wednesday...............I'll make it through, I can manage, I'll find a way, somehow. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but I've learned that to keep your sanity as a pharm student you have to keep giving yourself positive feedback (regardless of how empty it can feel at times). Its the only way to avoid complete and total breakdown.

Have a splendid weekend! I'll be back here late next week.

P.S. Is anyone else as pumped as I am about the Grey's Anatomy premier???? Totally can't wait. It's gonna be my one indulgence during the week this fall!

Sweet Mother, I'm Glad its a Three Day Weekend!

But not for the reasons you might think...I'm ecstatic with the prospect of having an extra day to devote to studying. Ha! Welcome to the world of a P-1.

Well, I've successfully made it through the first two weeks of p-school. It's been grueling, but I've managed to stay pretty current with my study schedule and I took my first bio-chem quiz today and I think I did okay. Only 14 more weeks left in the semester (is it bad that I'm already counting them down?)!

I have managed to not completely give my life away to the books over the past weeks. I had a fantastic time hanging out with the girls at US pizza for dollar drafts (thanks girls!). I also added some new stuff to the guest bath last weekend (see photo). I love having a house that I can actually do stuff to. I'm sure I'll add something else this weekend and I'm sure I'll have pics of it next week.

Good weekend to you all!!!

F7! I don't speak F7. (Nor do I speak Russian, Spanish, or Chinese!!)

I must vent.

The other morning while I was eating breakfast my oven started beeping and F7 was flashing on the display screen (it has a digital control panel). F7!??? What the heck does that mean? Needless to say, the breaker switch that powers the oven has been flipped. I feel so unstable without a working oven (even though I no longer have time to cook...but still!).

Have any of you ever had a foreign born professor with a heavy accent? Well, I currently have three. Now, I know we're supposed to be all P.C. and promote unity and equality and whatever, but I'm totally frustrated and just don't feel like it right now. I don't have anything against these people being in this country or having the jobs that they do, but I just can't figure out why the powers that be thought it would be a good idea to have these heavily accented individuals teach very complicated subjects to a large group of students who can't really understand what they are saying. Maybe I'm just spoiled, but regardless, I'm still frustrated!

On a much calmer/excited note, tomorrow is Friday! Whoo-hoo!! This has been a very long week. And.....

It's Blue's Birthday on Saturday!
(He made me promise not to put a picture)
Happy Birthday to my favorite math genius!

On Your Mark, Get Set...

So, I'm on my lunch break during my first real day of class at p-school. I'm struck by how different things are here. First of all, my campus is part of a real-life, functioning hospital...something I'm not used to being around on a daily basis. Secondly, all of my classes are held in the same room everyday (except for the one lab that I go to once a week). Most of our tests are taken outside of class time. (BTW, I was looking over the finals schedule last night and I noticed that my Bio-chem final is five hours long...that must be a misprint, right??) I have to wear a badge everyday and ride a shuttle twice everyday from and back to War Memorial Stadium where I park. (The morning bus driver drives the thing like its a nascar, so its actually turned out to be a nice early morning pick-me-up. Once this unbearable heat starts to subside, though, I'll probably start walking.) Most of my classes are team taught, which means that different doctors will come in on different days and lecture about their particular specialties. Speaking of classes, here is what I'm taking this semester:

Pharmaceutics I (basically lots of chemistry and how it relates to pharmacy)
Anatomy/Physiology/Pathology (this class has apparently caused several students to die)
Biological and Cellular Chemistry (I can't even begin to tell you how much this is going to require from my brain)
Pharmaceutical Calculations (thank the lord that Blue is my room-mate)
Pharmacy Practice I (not sure what this is going to entail just yet)

Aren't you glad you're not me? I'm still pretty stress free at this point, which is good. I just hope I can stay diligent and not fall into my bad habit of procrastinating, because apparently that is a death sentence for a pharm student.

I hope you've enjoyed this little lunch time insight into the life of a P-1 student. Join us next time for more enjoyable and enlightening tid-bits and anecdotes (and parentheses).

You Can Trust Me

The weekend has been a very nice precursor to my first official week of p-school. I got a lot of relaxation in, which included hanging out at The Rose last night, always fun. This afternoon I attended the White Coat Ceremony where we're given our snazzy little white lab jackets and we recite the pharmacist's oath...serious business. Check me out in my new digs:

They mentioned an interesting fact during orientation. Out of all the professionals out there, pharmacists are the second most trusted people behind nurses. We beat out clergy, doctors, etc. I'm starting to feel pretty powerful!! (Ha!...I probably shouldn't get too ahead of myself.)

Well, I've got one more day of orientation/registration and then class starts bright and early on Tuesday morning. Duhn, Duhn, DUUUNH!

Wah, Wah, Wah.

Orientation today was pretty uneventful. Just a lot of (boring) speakers. I did get my official UAMS badge. I feel all official now. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better. They have a scavenger hunt scheduled. (Joy.)

I'm so glad it's the weekend in less than 24 hours. Yahoo!

It's official! You can now sue me and make a ton of money.

Today I became the proud owner of a professional liability insurance policy. UAMS requires it. Luckily, the company gives a generous reduction of the premium for students. They don't so much do that once you are a professional, but that's four years away...no time to worry about it now. Ahh, the joys of the medical field!

Orientation starts tomorrow! I'm a giant ball of nerves! (In a good way (I think)).

Okay, so which one of you put an electricity hex on my house?

Our power went out again!! This time it was due to the big yet small storm that blew through Sunday afternoon. Apparently it disrupted power for about 3,500 customers including St. Vincent Hospital (cause my mom was working there at the time). This happened at about 4:30. I called Entergy and their cheerful recording stated that power will be restored sometime between now and 1AM. Needless to say, Jillian and I packed up our ingredients for Mac n' cheese and drove out to my parents house in Chenal (where it hadn't even rained!!). No more outages please!

The past weekend was good other than feeling mildly under the weather for most it.

-Friday I met up with the gang at Ciao Baci for some drinks and then proceeded with half of the group to go hang out downtown. It was a blast. Good times, my friends, good times.

-Saturday Blue and I hiked through the wilderness outside of Batesville with Trevor and Brooke and found a pretty cool climbing site. It was pretty hot and we were quite parched after the four miles we did, but it was good to get outside and do something that we haven't done much this summer (cause its been so stinkin' hot!).

-Sunday Jill came over and well, you already know the drama that ensued.

Now I'm just counting down the days until I give my life away to the pursuit of a doctorate. I've got two more days of freedom left before p-school orientations starts. I'd better go take advantage!!

We Didn't Start the Fire

So, last night around 7:20 (right in the middle of Big Brother!) there is this startlingly loud explosion just outside our house. You guessed it. A transformer blew. I never knew how loud those things actually were. It was shocking. Anyway, we look outside and low and behold our neighbor's (who is an older, single lady) yard is on fire, and its a fire that is growing and spreading quite fast. Blue heads outside as do about 20 other neighbors who come running down the street to try and put it out. I call the fire department and this black lady in a robe starts banging on my neighbors door because she's not outside yet (turns out she had had cataract surgery and was all doped up, so it took her a while to get out of bed). All the people in the street ended up putting out the fire with hoses right before two giant fire engines arrived. (The fireman did not look happy. According to Blue's sister who is a firefighter, whenever they take the trucks out of the station they have to wash them when they get back.) Amazingly enough, Entergy had the power back on by about 8:00pm. All's well that ends well.

Yea! It's Friday...but also not yea! because that means I'm one day closer to starting pharm school. It's not that I don't want to go. I'm just starting to get a little anxious is all. I started a bio-chem reveiw this morning to hopefully give myself a head start.

Jillian and I are going shopping and out to lunch today. Then tomorrow Blue and I are heading up to Batesville to visit Brooke and Trevor and go hiking and climbing. Then on Sunday Jillian is coming over for a super sister sleepover. We're making home-made macaroni and cheese and renting girly movies. Yahoo!

I'm sure I'll see most of you at some point this weekend, otherwise have a good one!

Just Call Me Bob Vila

A couple weeks before we moved to LR I decided to take on the task of stripping and refinishing an old hand-me-down dresser for the new bedroom. It was much cheaper than buying a new one and I tend to enjoy those kind of projects anyway. Well, it took a week and a half as well as some minor chemical burns and dead brain cells from toxic fume inhalation, but I'm pretty pleased with the end product. It's certainly not perfect, but for my first try at wood refinishing I think I did okay. Here are the before and after shots:

Before:















After:














I've also been spending lots of time the past few days during my vacatioin doing little projects around the new house. Yesterday I made some valances for my bedroom windows. Blue thought it was weird that they weren't gathered, but I'm going for a modern, minimalistic like feel in the room so I think I like the way that they turned out. What's your verdict?

Babies are like tequila shots: They seem fun and exciting, but then you realize you've got yourself into way more than you bargained for.

Much of my time at the lodge was spent playing with and taking care of my new twin cousins, Josh and Kyle. They're six months old and incredibly cute. They are so cute that they almost fooled me into thinking that maybe I'd like to have one in a few years. Don't worry though. After a couple days I came to my senses.

How adorable are they? I'm holding Kyle and Jillian is holding Josh (aka wittle Joshy).














This is by far the best picture of the trip.















I had to include this picture of one of our canoe trips just to show off how pretty the lake is. Also check out the blue sky with the puffy white clouds. We just don't get those kind of clouds down here. Up there that is what the sky looks like everyday!









Another thing that I've never seen down here are water lillies. They're gorgeous and the lake was covered in them.

One viral cold, several choice purchases, and 6,000 familial arguments later....

I'm Back! I had a nice time on my recent trip up North to visit my Mom's family and celebrate my Grandfather's 70th birthday. It was quite relaxing spending several days at the family "lodge." We spent lots of time outdoors canoeing, swimming, etc. and I don't think I got one mosquito bite (they tend not to like me).

This is the lodge:














We also spent two days in Minneapolis doing some serious shopping. Though the Mall of America may seem ostentatious, it is quite impressive once you're in it. It's like Las Vegas for gamblers...nothing compares.

Last but not least, we spent copious amounts of time playing with and taking care of my new twin cousins. They're six months old and cute as buttons. My sister has hijacked the camera that has all of the pictures of them on it so I'll try and post some tomorrow.

And Finally, I want to do some hanging out this week...dollar draft night, margaritas and cheese dip, happy hour, anything! Whose down?