Block 1 grades and old home videos

Grades are back!

Grades are great!

Might actually get into medical school this time!

I got an A in both histo and biostats (there is no A+) and above the medical student mean on everything that was graded. We took a nationalized test that I got a 94% on...a 90% is the 97th percentile so I am quite pleased with myself. My dad said "When you apply schools are trying to guess how you are going to do in medical school but now they have proof that you can do well" so yey for that.

Also, I've been watching a LOT of old home videos over the past couple of days and it is SO interesting to me...watching my parents with their same personalities as they have now interacting with me when I had no CLUE what their personalities were...hearing all the random background conversations between my aunts and uncles...watching Emmy be the big sister and showing me how to do stuff....some gold nuggets:

5-year old Emmy running up to my mom who was pregnant with Thomas and saying "Mommy when the baby comes out of your belly I'm going to grab its head and dance with it!"

My first day of preschool I did NOT want to go, Mom says "well we are going" and I said to her "well I am going to punch you in the belly" (she was NOT pregnant!) haha. So many things I'd forgotten...so many toys I remember having years later...so many toys I thought were Emmy's because she TOLD ME THEY WERE but I watched myself open them for my first birthday...haha.

It's also awesome seeing the house as I don't remember it...when we first moved in and tere wasn't even a second story, and when the kitchen was this tiny little thing stuffed with an enormous amount of stuff...and then as I do remember it- with the upstairs playroom and that weird blue flowery linoleum on the kitchen floor. I can see elements of my current self in my 4-year old self, and same with Emmy. It's just a very interesting thing.

So now I'm on break until thanksgiving. I havent done anything I was planning on doing yet...things keep happening! Eventually I will get around to pre-studying some biochem and physio, but for now I have to go downstairs and stain a billion pieces of molding for the door frames upstairs. things that should have been done 10 years ago when we put the extension on the house...but we are nothing if not procrastinators in this family (except of course Mommy).

Finals Week and the NBME!

So Monday and Tuesday I have things that are sort of like finals.

Monday is my histology exam #3, which is "cumulative" in that it "builds on what you've learned already" but not actually cumulative in that I don't have to remember the detail-y details from earlier in the year.

(As a side note, I HATE when professors give that speech about everything being cumulative because it builds. When I ask if a test is cumulative or not, I want to know if there will be specific questions on already-tested material or not. Maybe they do it on purpose so nobody can come up and say "but you said this wouldn't be on the test!" when really basic things are required as background)

anyway. That's Monday. Morning: Go sit in the lab with my microscope, get 10 slides with "unknown" tissue on them. Identify (just for myself) what each slide is and then answer a bunch of multiple choice questions like "On which slide would you find Brunner's Glands?"

Then a professor comes in and gives everyone a piece of paper with (the same) three things on it, and we have to find it, stick the microscope pointer on it, and call him over to check if we got it right.

Afternoon we take a long multiple choice test.

THEN TUESDAY is the part I'm slightly concerned about...the NMBE Histology (National board of medical examiners, or something) It's a standardized test which means I have no idea what the questions are going to be like or IF I WILL HAVE BEEN TAUGHT WHAT IS ON IT!

we just sort of have to hope we know enough to do well on it.

I have this book that's supposed to be a review for it and I'm looking at these questions going "Ihave never heard of this before. I was never taught that. what are they talking about??" and then they give you questions that go on and on about this 14-month old having lower respiratory tract infections and diarrhea and his mom used to have that when she was little and here's the lab tests they did, here are the results, here are normal values, it's probably involved with this protein that bla bla bla interacts with the negative charge on the cell membrane. What is responsible for the negative charge on the cell membrane?

Which is an easy question but you have to sift through a NOVEL to get to the question.

So here I am sitting on my bed reading through this book fa-reaking out so I decided to go complain to one of my roommates and her friend, who are 2nd years. Best idea ever, because they told me that's a typical question, just skip to the end and read the last sentence, you will never have to know the other stuff... and this particular book I have is known to be harder than the actual test, just go through it and if you're able to eliminate some of the answers and get a couple right you will be okay because the actual test is much easier.

So now I am okay.

Plus they had chocolate that someone probably stole from a small child's Halloween stash (how else do you explain a 24 year old guy with a candy bag with "Skylar" written on it?? :-P) so that made me feel better too.

Then I made coffee (also good) and decided I'm going to order myself Thai food tonight (win again!) so this day just keeps getting better. Also it was SO nice and warm today I shut the heat off and opened all the windows. This is how I know Jesus loves me.