lots to do

yesterday about 8:15 am panic for monday's anatomy test started in. OK i thought to myself dr. jackson's optics lecture next will bring you back down. false. he lectured at approx. a mile/minute. then neuroanatomy. AH. glassy eyed. even theory with dr. newman didn't help get me out of the funk. luckily (i think). everyone has it. the OH CRAP what did i get myself into bit.
i had a really great group in optics lab. one of my UNL friends, my friend kaila, and another girl, molly from iowa. it was easy, and almost fun.

then. i went to theory lab to practice for our practical. and couldn't get anything right. finally. i stepped back. grabbed different lenses. switched sides and tried a new method. phew. i got 5 done in 15 minutes. we have to do 10 in 30. i'm going to head back in this afternoon to make sure i still have it. but after those 5 my extraocular muscles started spasming and i decided to get the H outta there.

I drove home funked but then called my friend Kevin to see how things were going and if he'd heard from tfa. we got to chat for about an hour which i needed. A LOT, though I think the B.Light Lime and chips and salsa I snacked on during the chat helped a little too... i also grabbed the mail and in it were 3 cards- well, a thank-you and two cards from friends at home which couldn't have come on a better day. I got some studying done, not too intense, but i don't feel like i was slacking either.

this morning i slept "in" until 8ish and "worked out" for a little... now breakfast, shower, study at the coffee shoppe, head to school, retinoscope, library, and maybe, if i'm a good girl, watch the game at the Fox and Hound with Memphis Area Nebraskans.
GBR!

ps- a classmate of mine that sits near me in class went to LA-Lafayette... Hopefully I can give her a really hard time on Monday!

HUMAN EYES!

We've officially began working with "Human Eyes" in lab, no longer the schematics which we swear were scheming against us. I had a nice, married Morman guy as my "doctor" and subsequent patient. He apologized nearly 20 times in the 30 minutes he was taking acuities and such. It's really awesome. I feel like such a dork, but it's awesome to learn how to use the projector lamp to throw the letters up on the wall and to know how/why OD's do the things they do in the exam... We haven't started refracting yet, but that's sooooooon to come!!

In other news:

I think I fared quite well on the first round of tests. We haven't gotten our Theory and Methods test back yet, but it didn't seem to go too poorly. I got a 94.5 on my first Optics test. Being the perfectionist that I am, of course, I want to see which question I got wrong and where I lost the point on the ray tracing, but ya'll know me!

I tore a contact lens 3.5-4 weeks ago. Of course, it was in my right eye, the eye that I didn't have accurate spare contact lenses. It hurt to wear it, so I stopped. I had an eye exam 3 weeks ago. They didn't order the contacts for nearly 10 days after (oversight because the student doctor didn't seem overly competetant and there was all sorts of miscommunication between her and the staff doctor.) They came in yesterday- year supply using the Rx that Josh (Doc Engel) did before I left... BUT the script was off... which eye, well of course! the right. Oh well. I've got a pair of glasses I like wearing.

I also spoke with Dr. Eubank about vision therapy. I asked her if it was okay that I could detect when my focus shifted as I was reading. I can tell my brain "switches" which eye it's using. I have a smart brain that cuts off vision from one eye so that I don't see double. She recommended that I have a vision therapy consult sometime soon to see if they can get me strengthened or "fixed" so my eyes aren't so screwed up.

Well, anatomy and neuroanatomy and WHITE COAT ceremony next week! Blah blah SWEET! Mom and Dad are coming out to see me get my doctor coat!! This also means that I will no longer have to fa-reeeze in lab anymore.

Well, supper is needing my attention! Love you all!

PS if you could pray for my patience with one of my roommates, I'd appreciate it. She got engaged and that's been the only thing on her mind... she's on the phone all the time and wonders why she doesn't do well on her Optics test... even though she "had it" a couple years ago.. Sorry, Charlie! This ain't Optics at UNK anymore!! : ) Let's just say she has not been very pleasant lately and I'm starting to not like her anymore... : S

test day.

sleep: 6 hours. not terrible
studying: sufficient.
breakfast: orange juice and a bowl of Special K Red Berries
wearing: confortable, yet nice clothes
confidence: present.

I don't feel too uneasy about this first test... It's more the threat of a pop neuroanatomy quiz that is freaking me out. However, C = O.D. I just have to pass, but I think ya'll know me too well to know that I'd settle for getting a C because that's all I need...

TGIF!

first test(s) coming soooooon.

i think i'll be okay. but. prayers would be appreciated. mainly to have confidence in my knowledge going in and to keep my stress levels down.
friday. optics quiz and optical theory and methods test.
monday. optics test.

my new friends...

Kaila (Hawkeye fan) Jessie (Tarheel fan) and Me (HUSKAH!)

...for Heather- a super fan of all three!

another one bites the dust...

My roommate went home this weekend and got engaged. She's been crazy the last 2 weeks thinking she had it all figured out and he would... wouldn't... would... wouldn't... hopefully this will calm her down a little. Likely not, now we'll have "wedding this" and "wedding that." I care about her and we get along most of the time, but I'm glad to have a break from her sometimes. She's a lot to handle at times and we don't have really any time apart. It's not like in undergrad where you have different classes and work, or you can leave to go somewhere by yourself... Oh well, it could be worse. : )

Life really is good down here. Friday was just an icky day, remedied with a quiet night in with a little studying, a glass of wine, and tv. Yesterday I, along with 7 classmates, played in a sand volleyball tournament. A team of 3rd years KILLED us and then we played a team of other 1st years pretty evenly, but still won. I listened to the game on the internet instead of going to the Hound to watch it with Memphians for Nebraska. By the time I got over there, it would have been 2:00. Eh- I'll watch next week's VATech game.

Last night, Omega Delta (OD ha!) had their first gathering of the year at Neil's. It was fun. We dressed in support of our favorite team. There are a TON of Huskers down here. I saw probably 10 or so, which, doesn't seem like a lot, but I know that there are others that weren't there. I met a couple of them, and discussed with the Carolinans the beauty that is God' Country. "Ocean? We have corn fields!" They didn't buy it, but they had never been to Nebraska either. I went over there with Kaila and Jessie, my new friends. They are awesome girls, a little crazy, but good crazy, like me! Kaila is Catholic and is going to go to mass with me- I never much like going to mass alone. Later, we're going to go to school to practice retinoscopy with the phoropter. I'll be spinnin' the dials like a REAL doctor!!

Also, Jessie since Jessie has a boyfriend at home, she is looking for guys for Kaila. Kaila is from Iowa (I know, crazy how you move south and Iowans can be your best friends!). Jessie gives potential guys "Cornpicker" statuses if she thinks they are worthy of dating her friend. After getting to know her, she is using it for me too. Kaila came up with "Detassler" for guys that are on the boarder, that may need a little work and a couple seconds later, I decided that guys that aren't worth our time are "Silage." Told ya, a little crazy! But someone in my dorm freshman year said it best- "A little crazy keeps ya sane!"

comfort of papa john's crust dunked/saturated in garlic butter

WARNING: BAD DAY: LOTS OF WHINING AHEAD...

so it was a long day today, class dragged forever. lab prof was late. i was stuck at a the lab bench with a girl i don't really like (party going, flirty, brag about being drunk all weekend and not studying, not real bright, and worst of all: a "know it all" that doesn't.... compound that with looking at various distances through a +5.00sph, -5.00sph, -5.00cyl, and a 5D prism while sitting next to her for two hours, you can see why i'd be in "a mood." just wait... get's better.

leaving school, decide to go to the bank. which is only a few blocks from school, but since it is difficult to make a left turn, had to drive nearly a mile out of the way to get there and also, to get back. decided to drive to west memphis, AR because they have cheaper gas... it's only a couple miles, besides, i wouldn't stop anywhere near here to get gas anyway... as we are getting near the river, the heavens OPEN UP and it starts POURING rain. stuck behind a semi. grrr. can't find the walmart and nearby kroger gas with 3cents/gal off... figure that if i keep driving around looking, i'll end up having to put in that much more gas so that the 3 cents don't much matter... after i fill up, my car sounds lethargic and starts... leave west memphis to get back on the interstate and the heavens cut loose again... great. get home. sunshine. i open the hood to check the date on the battery... covered with a black thingy. came to the conclusing that i hate memphis... except for school and my apartment and little community surrounding it. called dad. best advice: replace it... where? no idea... on a list of things to do. then i drove my roommate to the airport so she can go back home (omaha) and to the husker game tomorrow with her boyfriend. i agreed before i knew it was going to be during rush hour. grrrr.... slightly jealous that she gets to go home.

now i'm home. and ate leftover pizza- saying to h-e-double-hockey sticks with being healthy and soaked the crust in the garlic butter sauce. now, i almost feel better. i think i'm going to stretch out, and get out the books so that i can play sand vb tomorrow... hopefully the sun'll come out and tomorrow i'll blog about how i was overly dramatic today and it's not as bad as i made it seem.

week 2...

*sigh*
week 2 started off... interesting. a couple friends of mine and I went to the baseball game (memphis redbirds in the cardinals organization) Sunday night. They had fireworks afterwards which were AWESOME! then we walked down to Beale St to catch up with some other classmates, but we didn't really like the choice of establishment, so we went back to their apartment. I parked in the resident area, close to their apartment even though I'm not a resident at their complex. When I got back to my car, I realized it wasn't there.... TOWED... crap. 165 bucks later and 13 miles to the tow yard, I get my car back... It's a lot of money when you figure it into "how many groceries could I buy with 165 bucks...?" oh well. I'm not even going to figure out what it will cost with interest...

School is school. I really like Methods lab. We are doing retinoscopy- shining a light and watching the reflex of the light in our schematic eye's "pupil" and neutralizing it -- finding the Rx to make it emmetropic OR corrected to 20/20 so it can "see" clearly... that is if a black cylinder with a red paper "retina" in the back of it can see. We are actually doing optometry... not just learning histology and physiology and stupid things like that... Dr. Newman reminded us why we have to learn anatomy... the eye is part of the body and connected with everything else- joints, blood pressure. so even though we couldn't give a rat's behind about the foramen spinosum and the nerves that run through it, we have to know just a little less neuroanatomy than a neurologist - as we can see brain tissue by looking in the pupil through to the retina.

It's really warm down here again. It was nice for a while with a little cooler temperatures, but now it's muggy and icky as ever. But, I think I should head to bed... We don't have class or lab tomorrow, but I need to get some studying done bright and early in the morning...