Still going strong.

Things are still pretty much the same everyday. I get up, walk to the bus, study at school till lunch, take a break, study more till 6 pm, come home, go to the gym, read/watch t.v. sleep. Repeat. As monotonous as it sounds, I’m actually enjoying myself. Shocking.

I get in about 6 good solid hours of studying daily, and the rest of the time is goofing off, with my two study buddies, Rami and Jen. We have to do something to break up this stress: Rami shows Jen and me funny videos on YouTube. Jen and I beat each other up sometimes (it helps the pent up aggression). We conspire against Rami, forever playing practical jokes on him... it’s a good time.

For example, the other day Rami fell asleep and instead of nudging him to wake, him I splashed water on his face. He then proceeded to hold me down as Jen wrote on my face. Traitor.

As you can see, without our normal responsibilities, we have reverted back to junior high. The security guard hates us. He hung a QUIET STUDY! Sign above where we used to sit. We moved.

One of these days I’m going to take pictures of us studying. As retarded as it sounds, we’re making memories and have a ton of inside jokes now.

OK. Goal. Picts to come!

I looked out the window and what did I see...

So, I just finished my workout at the gym. I run upstairs to put my swimsuit on so I can go up for a quick swim before I hit the books again. However, I look out the window and I realize that it is raining... Boo... I can't swim in the rain, I might get electrocuted...

Oh well. So, instead, I shower and put on some pj’s... When I’m finished I go out to the living room to read some fascinating literature on Organic Chemistry. Before I sit, I happen to glance outside. Lo and behold, seriously, the most beautiful rainbow of my 25 years on Earth, existing right out side my window! I immediately run for my camera and start hanging halfway out my apartment trying to get a good shot. Then I realize, “I bet this is a full rainbow, I should go to the roof!”

I’m like geeking out, talking to myself up there, in total disbelief that nobody else is on the roof marveling at this sight to behold. I look down on the ground and still, I see no one! Can it be? Is this rainbow just for me!? I have to laugh at myself too, b/c meanwhile, I am almost having a conversation with God that goes something like this “Ok, could you really stop with the distractions?... I’m trying to study here...remember?...the DAT?!..... OK, fine...YAY RAINBOWS! Thanks God!”

Clouds

When I was a kid, I used to love to lay on the grass in my front yard and look for shapes in the clouds. However, as the years have gone by I've looked up at them less and less. If it's not lightning and thundering, or directly pouring rain down on me, demanding my attention, my gaze is more in the forward direction.

I have this special friend who gets ridiculously giddy when he sees fluffy clouds and he's often in a bad mood when they're grey or not out for the day. As a result, I have found myself beginning to look up more often; and when I see a great bubbly cloud, I get excited and want to tell him about it. They really are peaceful bodies that encourage pause.

This post is dedicated to him and our mutual affection for those cumulus wonders in the sky.

(I took pictures of these clouds on my way home from Idaho to Richmond last month)

busy, busy, busy!

So, I have 2 full weeks of DAT study under my belt and I have 4 more to go; and good thing, b/c I'm still miles away from being ready.

Here is my daily schedule:

6:00 am wakeup/read/yoga/get ready

7:30 am walk 9 blocks to the Dental school to catch the bus to the undergrad campus (I'm saving the environment and gas money by not using my car anymore!)

7:50 am
get to the library and find a private group study room

8:00 am
Study with Jennifer and Rami

12:30 pm
lunch break (I've been packing a lunch mostly, trying not to eat out as much! Good girl!)

1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
study more...

7:00 pm
Go to the gym and make my attempt at building muscle tone on this skinny bod.

9:00 pm
watch t.v./read

10:30 pm
sleep! Dang, I love to sleep.

It sounds monotonous and hard... and it can be, but studying with Rami and Jennifer makes it fun. We laugh a lot and have a pretty good time. I'm so grateful to have them both. I just hope that all 3 of us get in to the VCU d-school together so we can continue this on for another 5 years!
We took a full length diagnostic Saturday and it was not great. It made us realize that we need to improve exponentially on our timing.

In other, more interesting news, I moved into this fantastic apartment last week. For the first time in 5 years since moving to Richmond I feel at home. At the end of the day, I look forward to being there. It's bright and cheery, not to mention walking distance to the D school. There's a pool on the roof and a gym on the first floor. What's crazy is I have been paying the same amount of rent in every place I've lived, but they've all been dumps. This one is a real gem and for the same price! I think I'm going to stay here for a long time.


That door on the right is our washer and dryer! (Yay for not having to use friends and community laundry mats anymore!!!)








Here's the door to my roomies room, she has her own bathroom too, it's wonderful!




Love the high ceilings!!










Here's our funky view. It's not the best, and doesn't adequately represent Richmond... it looks like I live in the ghetto...which I kind of do, but not really. The front side of our building faces the city and is a nicer view. The apartments on that side get to watch the sun set, but I get to watch the sun rise, which I think is beautiful to wake up to.
Also that tallest building in the background is part of the medical school and hospital, right behind it is the dental school!






Here's my bathroom. Finally, I have my own bathroom again!





As you can see, my bedroom is a bed in a room. I love it that way! I will probably put some art on the wall, and some bright pillows on the bed. These pillows actually belong on the couch and I don't like the colors (they're perfect for the living room, but not my bed). I want to put yellows, reds, oranges, and aqua colored pillows with different patterns on my bed. Bright!



This is my closet packed full of only the essentials. I love moving b/c I always get rid of like half of my stuff that I don't want or need.

Everything else won't fit in my tiny bedroom, so I have my dresser and small shoe shelves for my gym shoes and shoes that I wear to school, along with all my handbags in the entry way...kind of like a mud room.






I love it! Don't you!? I just realized that I didn't really showcase the kitchen...you can see it in the background. It's actually super small, but who cares? It works.

One step closer...

I just completed my AADSAS application. For those of you who don't know, that acronym stands for American Associated Dental Application Service. When one applies to dental school one does so through this on-line service; paying a large fee for each school applied to.

I applied to ten.

I feel like I just handed over my adult life and am awaiting reply on how successful I've been at this life. It's unnerving.
There are 16 detailed sections of this application. They literally do want to know everything.

I have toiled over this application nearly everyday for the past two months, averaging two hours a day. That is like sixty hours. I swear it feels more like a thousand. Filling that thing out, checking it, changing it, and rechecking it has been a part time job, one that I don't get paid for. (This is not taking into account the hours and hours spent working on my personal statement.)

Anyways.

So my next step is to rock the DAT. All I have to do is remember all the General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology, Quantitative Reasoning (math), and Reading Comprehension that I've ever learned. In addition to that I have a section called the Perceptual Ability Test (the PAT), where they test me on how well I can think in 3D; Folding, and unfolding pieces of paper in my head etc...

I take my exam July 11th at 8am. I am studying eight hours a day until then.

July 12th I go to Florida to celebrate, cause I am going to destroy that DAT.

update on my disease

So, I just got back from the doc...and it was just as I expected: They don't know what it is, and they don't know what to do for me; I just have to wait it out. They want to see me again Wednesday.
They think maybe I have aggravated reactions to poison ivy or something, but I was at the BEACH all week, not the mountains, or even near plants...
This happens to some degree every year. The worst was 5 years ago when it covered my entire bod and I ended up in the emergency room twice. This year it's all just concentrated in one ugly hideoser spot.
I think I'm just allergic to summer and need time to adjust. My body is so adapted to the dark, sterile, air-conditioned corners of the library that it freaks when I am in nature.

view at your own risk

I've debated for hours about whether I should blog about this disgusting growth that I have on my leg... I've decided on yes.

OK, so this is the situation:

-I've been at the beach for a week.
-I never once saw a mosquito.
-I was only in contact with backyard shrubs one time, retrieving a volleyball. (I got scratched on my finger and my upper leg, but nothing like this popped up on those places)
-I saw maybe two horse flies the entire time. (There again, I felt like I only got bit on my upper leg and nothing is there!)

My thinking is that I had an allergic reaction to being bitten by horseflies...

Some peeps at the beach thought that it was an inflamed/aggravated heat rash...

What do you think?

So far, over the past few days it has progressively gotten redder and more swollen, however, less itchy, more tolerable.
I've kept a large bandage on it to spare onlookers of the horror. Though, I don't know if that's helping. It prevents things from rubbing up against it, but it also keeps in the heat.
Other than the bandages, I have put nothing on it. I just run it under cold water every 6 hours.

Any suggestions? Products?




I'm sorry if I have made any of you lose your appetite... I know it's awful!