Eh....It's Not Really that Bad

So after a week of insanity, I made some very important decisions.

1. It's ok to be behind. Just a little bit. Because then the wet lab will clear out and you won't lose your mind in the hustle bustle of the people that insist on being the first to get checked off. Who needs that? And there's PLENTY of time to catch up. Plenty.

2. Organization is key to success. Because success requires that you turn things in on time and don't get behind. 15 mins saved here and there can add up!

3. It's important to stop working and eat lunch.

4. Working in a group is always a plus.

5. Going in on the weekend is ok. Just for a little bit.

Top 10 Reasons I'd Rather Be Studying Gross Anatomy

10. You can study gross anywhere: couch, bed, Starbucks, bathtub.

9. You can watch the olympics while studying gross.

8. Studying gross anatomy doesn't involve the phrase "Crap, now I have to retake the impression."

7. The brachial plexus is way more interesting than scraping alginate out of your rubber bowl for the 15th time.

6. You can study gross while eating or drinking (well, except in the cadaver lab).

5. Working in the cadaver lab may smell funny, but does not smell like defeat.

4. Listening to Dr. Hutchins' sound effects is more entertaining than the screech of the trimmer.

3. My gross notes are way more organized than my lab station.

2. My sim head isn't slimy and wet, but he can't provide hours of endless dissecting fun, either.

1. Surgical blade beats buffalo knife anyday.

D2- Day 1

Today was good but a little crazy. It started a little early for me...6:15! I left the house at 7:00 and got to school around 7:30 with time to spare even though it was raining and there was a little traffic. I also broke my back windshield wiper - turned it on and it snapped in two! I parked in the D2 lot - what a blessing - so much closer to school and less 6 floors of parking garage to go up! - and lugged a bunch of stuff to my desk. I took a lot of it to Lauren's desk and left her a piece of brown paper and a note + the books she bought from me and some other goodies I just wanted to get rid of. Good fun. So then I rushed to grab some tea and a granola bar which I couldn't eat before class started so I hid them in my drawer and tried to catch my breath (they're really being sticklers about this no eating in the lab thing this year...)

Sitting way in the back of the room, I could get away with quietly transferring my D1 tackle boxes into my new ones since the old ones don't fit in these drawers (go figure!) Turns out Monday mornings will be a bit of a blow off and we'll actually get to sleep in some - YAY! We got out early and I had time to get my parking permit and a hole punched in my ID card. Went to make some hot chocolate because my new citrus green tea was uber nasty and got "caught" by Moira *roll my eyes* getting water out of the hot water tap in the D1 lab. Why can't we have a hot water tap in our lab? I miss it so much.

Next was 2 hours of pathology and I must admit...I dozed. Just a little during the second hour. I'm not used to sitting and doing nothing for extended periods of time.

A long lunch followed with a no show from Karen (probably stuck in clinic) but a lot of others came and joined. We then had fixed for an hour before group B got to leave early.

So, I went to Walmart. Needed a few office supplies and some more storage solutions and some bread and parmesan for dinner tonight. I lost my ID badge somewhere in the store and I'm hoping I'll get a call tonight that someone turned it in. If not, oh well.

A lot of us are a little nervous about jumping into all of this, but probably not as nervous as the D3s who had fillings and root canals to perform on real patients this morning. Yikes!

But I Don't Wanna Go...

Ok, it's not so bad. School hasn't even really started, and I've already loved seeing everybody again (we had a side-splitting, wrinkle-making get-together last night) and getting my STUFF ready to go. I'm such a sucker for organization. In fact, while I was up at the school all afternoon getting the insane amounts of supplies we got on Friday in some semblance of order, I noted that several of my classmates had gone and bought label makers. As crazy as it may be, I have always eyed and envied those little devices that print out those neat little stickers that can say whatever you want and stick on whatever you want. Every end-of-summer trip to Target consisted of a few moments in front of the label makers trying to justify the need for one in the lab *and it really would have been GREAT in the lab* and I would always back down and just buy more markers or scissors or something. So now I'm really tempted. I mean, really. So far, the term "orientation" in dental school means "we have 7 HUGE boxes of expensive stuff that you need to come and account for and then cram into the 2 lockers and 4 little drawers that we have for you." It's always a task to figure out which upperclassman to believe when it comes to what to buy, and I've done a pretty good job so far feeling out which way to go. I have a few things to return, but we'll see. I might actually end up using some of it since I can't use any of what I bought last year. But that's ok, too. See, I got to buy the really cool scrapbooking organizer I've also eyed for a while now. So this "Christmas in August" is over and almost all of my new dental goodies are carefully tucked away in the closet ready for me to play with them on Monday.

So Long 11138 Wyatt

You were hard to study in with romping dogs and kids and hard to sleep in with lawn mowers, romping dogs and kids. But man, you were so close to school. Therefore, you will be missed. On to bigger and better things...including gasoline bills (bigger, not better).

Arrrgh....Boards

Kaplan study books have reared their ugly heads once again. I got my book for boards and I'm not exactly thrilled. I have continued my attempt to go through my gross notes and the process has proved easier now that I've gotten to the sections where I started outlining and summarizing each section. So my notes continue to go digital and maybe they'll help somebody. I feel like I'm back in my old habit of prepping lessons during the summer like I did when I taught. Don' know if I'll exactly make it through gross this summer, but it's a big deal, so I'm working on it. I think I'll do biochem next...that seems like the other big class I need a refresher in from the fall. I really don't know when I'm going to take boards. I keep flip-flopping and Erik would love it if I set a date, officially. Cause then I would study. I don't know. I'll finish test 1 from gross this week and move on to the next. I may start trying to crack this book in the evenings and save the decks for a little bit closer to D-day.

Numbers Don't Mean Everything

But I was really glad to get these in the mail yesterday. It represents a lot of hard work in an insane class of overachievers. Erik's still trying to coach me into letting it all slide so I can have more fun. I think next year will be different enough anyway so that can happen more easily. We'll see. You hear lots of things in dental school and I've found so far that there's not even a unit of a crystal of salt in most of them.

On a side note, while I was up at the school setting up my new laptop and printing out some things, I went and checked my Micro grade. You know, the test I decided it wasn't worth studying for, so I would just take my C and be done with it? Well, I didn't study, at least the way I should have, and survived with an 80 on the test. Whew! B in the class is a gift from God because I didn't do anything to get it. At least at the end of it all. :) Maybe studying isn't all that it's cracked up to be after all....

D1-Done!

This is the first time I can remember that I turned in a test where I know I guessed on at least 1/2 of it. But so be it....because I am done. I didn't finish all gloriously with an all-nighter full of coffee and energy drinks and highlighters. I went home and watched some t.v. and organized my school stuff. Thought I'd go to bed early, but ended up transferring all my files from my laptop (well, no longer-my-latptop) to the desktop on the study. It was mesmerizing and really relaxing compared to the crazy night most of my classmates probably had. I discovered a whole cache of music I forgot that I transferred and enjoyed it this morning as I pseudo-looked over some last minute notes. This anti-climax to my year may seem kinda odd, and not very characteristic of the OCD, type A kinda personality most of us dentite types are. But I needed it. I liken it to training for a marathon, getting to -oh, say- mile 24 of the big race and finding this really nice bench under a pretty tree with a view of the lake - and sitting down. Just for a while. Of course, I got up and walked across the finish, but no running or crawling for me. A nice, quiet finish with a peaceful satisfaction that I completed a really big task and that I will never have to do it again.

Winding Down

14 days left and still a lot to do, but reflect I will. I think that I (only though the power of God) have handled the first year of dental school fairly well. (1 minor meltdown, only a handful of pseudo-all-nighters, and the lining of my stomach is still intact! - the extra gray hairs and wrinkles are, however evident) There will always be things I could have done better, lessons I could have learned faster, or more I could have done, but what has happened brought God glory in many ways, taught me lessons in a lot of ways, and laid the foundation for the future. That is productive. Right now, it's really tempting to think about the summer and all the things I want to do that I was really bad at during school...like exercise, and quiet times, and Bible study, and cleaning, and hobbies, and just plain fun times with Erik. I really want those things to become such a part of my life in my time off that I can't as easily neglect them during my "piece of cake", "joke" of a 2nd year. I'm excited for the 1st years coming in and LOVE answering their questions on SDN and can't wait for orientation week in August. It's such and exciting time that fades all too quickly, but I can't wait to get a buzz off it. Ya know, get excited about dentistry again - at least in that fresh, unadulterated, naive way they still look at it. How soon reality sets in. Apart from the cyinicism that unfortunately befalls most of us post year one, I still am excited about how God can use dentistry in my life and the mission trip completely instilled that in me again. I feel that our decision to wait for kids so I can be obedient to this using of my talents is still worth it and the 3 more years it will take to finish this stage will fly by just as fast as this one has. I know that God will teach me everything I need to know - in life and in dentistry - to see that happen. Way exciting!

Random Thoughts

This may sound a little stupid and definitely naive, but Facebook has taught me something today. With a looming 10 year high school reunion a lot of old and familiar faces have been resurfacing and it's fun to read everyone's story and hear what they've been up to. It's so amazing how at that point of high school graduation, we all had a basic story that was outlined for us by society as far as growing up goes. Big generalities, mind you...We went to elementary school. We went to jr. high. We went to high school. In the midst of that, we learned how to read and write, we lost teeth and got brand new ones, then came cars and boys/girls and braces and proms and the big day of graduation. After that...well, we got to decide. Some stayed on the traditional path of college...wedding...job...now kids....in some form or fashion. Others had their own plans, or were just along for a different sort of ride, maybe one they didn't plan on. But after 10 years a lot can happen since that parting of ways and it's so easy to "expect" people to be in a certain place in life when that's the stupidest thing to ever assume. That's society for ya. So if/when you find yourself on a path you didn't expect, you can bet there are quite a few right along side you because in all reality, that normal path, ain't so normal anymore...we grew up.

Spring Memories

I got a case of Spring Fever today, being the first day of Spring and a beautiful one at that...so I decided to write out some of my favorite Spring things/memories in honor of it (in no particular order):

1. The all-important shorts wearing temperature that mom set at 70 degrees.
2. Making Easter eggs.
3. Aggie baseball. (Also where Erik and I first held hands...collective awwww....)
4. Studying at Research Park.
5. My first dates with Erik.
6. Island Party. Whoop!
7. Spring Break camping with the gang.
8. My daffodils and roses coming to life.
9. The first mow.
10. Moving to Lago and watching the baby deers move about.
11. Beautiful clear days walking across campus.
12. Camping when it's still just a little cold at night.
13. The first flip-flop day.
14. The Easter I decided to get baptized.
15. Movies in the park season.
16. Drives through the Hill Country in the Wrangler.
17. Moving into our first house.
18. My favorite outfit: shorts and a long sleeve shirt.
19. Green peeking through the dry grass.
20. The Capitol 10K!
21. Tai chi in the park.
22. The first BBQ.

Of course my favorite of all happened this weekend about 2000 years ago. Thank you, Jesus for spring and new life and enjoying Your creation....and for dying for my sins and rising again so I can enjoy You.