At Least One Good Thing Comes From Finals

I'll never forget the first time I ever received one of these lovely bouquets from my mom. I was at Hardin-Simmons in the freshman dorms taking finals when my RA told me I had a "package." I was really confused because all packages went to our mailboxes, but went downstairs anyway. Waiting for me was a yummy cookie bouquet!! I think they were cheerleaders (to cheer me on to victory, of course). Ever since then (with a few exceptions of times where I wanted to be healthy- - boo) I have gotten a little something-something made of sugar. Having been out of school for a year, I forgot how much joy something so trivial can bring me. I think these are my favorite cookies so far- they are too cute! I absolutely love my mom- she is the best!

The question is, are sugar cookies really the best thing for a dental student?

Who cares?!!?

Lauren, you are more than welcome to a tooth- it will make studying better, I promise!!

Still Laughing

This happened a few days ago and I didn't get a chance to blog about it., but I still laugh out loud when I think about it, so I think it's worth sharing.

I went to class (for once) and my professor came in with a very odd appearance: a dress shirt and wind pants. He proceeded to apologize and lift his pant leg up to show us a HUGE scar running down the middle of his right knee. Apparently his quadricep muscle had completely come unattached and had to be reattached. OUCH!! At that point, I think we were all very impressed that he was even lecturing to us.

About fifteen minutes into the lecture, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence and said, "Excuse me! My pants just fell down!" He bent down all the way to the floor to pick up his pants... that had fallen.... in front of 97 dental students... to the floor. This is a true story, people- no lies!

Thankfully, he is a very outgoing, jolly man, who laughed just as hard as us. It didn't even bother him that 10 minutes after the "incident," one of my friends was still laughing so hard he had to get up and walk out of class. If we thought he won the teacher of the year award before- he definitely has it now! He continued to lecture for the rest of the hour, even as random giggles broke out through the class. At the end he said, "I would lecture for another hour, but I don't think I could keep my pants up!"

Like any good class would, we bought him a pair of suspenders and a sympathy card for his tragic loss- his pants.

Pimping

When I looked at dictionary.com, this is what I got for "pimping":

intr.v. pimped, pimp·ing, pimps: To serve as a procurer of prostitutes.



This is always what I had invisioned:

However, in the medical and dental school world it means something much different. I heard it for the first time yesterday in a video about how hard school can be and how God can help us through it... my thoughts were, "excuse me?! What did he just say??" Because apparently it is when professors and attending doctors corner a student and ask them questions -basically- until they cry. We've all seen it on TV, and yes it really does happen. I did not, however, know there was a specific name for it, and I especially didn't think it was "pimping." The thought a professor "pimping" me makes me a little uncomfortable on many levels. So, if I come home crying and tell you I've been "pimped," don't worry, I haven't quit school to be a prostitute.

Ugh

Reason #132,976 why I hate Biochemistry:

Words like perhydrocyclopentanophenanthrene

Really?!?!

Gross Anatomy Final

I survived.

Cariology Rap

You must.. must... watch this video. This is probably the best thing I've experienced all year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIXhIHUPyvo

If this link doesn't work, go to youtube.com and type in "cariology rap." It will be the first video on the list. Who said dentistry wasn't hip and cool??

Gross Anatomy Grades

I finally got back my official Gross Anatomy scores:

Lecture- 87.5

Lab- 93

Histology is cool.

Ok, so I know I'm a dork, but I wanted to share a couple of pictures that I think are amazing from my lab today. Well, one is amazing, the other is funny. The first is of brain sand. Yes, brain sand. This is the term we were given. The picture comes from the pineal gland and the dark spots are the brain sand. I thought they looked more like blobs, but hey, who asked me? The next is a picture of a vein in the adrenal gland. I just thought this picture was really pretty and showed red blood cells really well. If you want to know what any of your organs look like under the microscope, just ask me and I'll show you. The body is amazing and God is such a creative creator!!

Don't get your hopes up.

I don't have anything too exciting to share, so I'm sorry. I literally have been spending all my time outside of school studying. I've had 3 huge tests in the last 3 weeks and here are the -unofficial- scores:

Histology- 85

Gross Anatomy- 77

Biochemistry- 82

I have another test tomorrow morning and another one on Tuesday. This is my life.
I guess I should take this time to give "shout outs" to a few people who's feelings I hurt by not mentioning them on my blog. If you also feel the same way, let me know and I'll write about you, too.

First, my parents- B-Diddy and Rennizzle (aka Barry and Renna). I basically have the best parents in the whole wide world and wouldn't be where I am without them. My mom is my best friend and my dad is my supporter. I definitely wouldn't be in dental school if it weren't for my dad, and I definitely wouldn't be as cool if it weren't for my mom. Just kidding, I'm not cool. But she is... It has been about 3 weeks since I've seen them and I hate it. I love you guys!

Second, my best friend, Traci. She is super cool.. and smart and pretty and talented and another reason I am in dental school. I first met her in Zoology, my first class ever at Hardin-Simmons. We didn't really know each other until the next year, but I always remember thinking she was really pretty (with gorgeous long hair) and really smart. Then we wre partners in Organic Chemistry lab and the rest is history. I wish we would have become friends right off the bat b/c maybe, just maybe, I could have been in her wedding, too. (considering that now she and James are Jordan and I's best friends) She is a year ahead of me in dental school and has 2 kids, yes 2... freak. Elaina and Madelynn are my little adopted nieces and they are so cute. Jordan is Elaina's boyfriend!

So there you have it. In the future I will write about all my family members, so don't cry just yet. I only have time for a few at a time.

Peace!

Life is like a tea-jug of milk

Indeed, life was like a tea-jug of milk yesterday and here is why:

I had my first Gross Anatomy test. I studied more than I've ever studied for any test in my whole life. I felt pretty confident I would do well, and by well, I mean a "C". There are 2 portions to the test: a lab practical, which is purely identification, and written, which is complete bull crap. (Excuse me, I'm still angry.) I had the lab portion first, and felt good about it. The professors tagged ridiculous examples that were extremely poor choices, but all in all, I did well. Then... there was... lecture. I had taken years' past tests to see how well I knew my material and had done extremely well, contributing to my confidence. This confidence was immediately shattered by the first page of my 17 page test. I have never felt so angry during a test. It was ludicris! After an hour and fifteen minutes of guessing, I turned my test in, defeated. Not only was I angry, but I was worn out physically. My poor little mind had just spent an hour banging on the walls of my skull, and I was tired. Being the fat kid that I am, I chose Freebird's to cheer me up- which it did- for a while.

So how does this relate to milk? Well, I will tell you. After Freebird's, Jordan and I went to HEB to get 2 things: dessert and milk. We are big cereal eaters and had been out of milk for a week, so you can only guess at how excited we were to buy a big ol' gallon of the white goodness. What goes well as a post-burrito snack? Lucky Charms of course!! As with my test, I was confident and -relatively- excited about my milk being wonderful. I had prepared myself for a week and now it was time. So what happened?? The freaking carton cracked on the way home, leaking milk on our back seat!! I mean really.. can the day get any worse??

So like my broken spirit, the broken milk jug spilled everywhere. Although I couldn't put my spirit in a tea jug, I could our milk. And so now we are not pouring our milk, but holding our bowls under a faucet.

I hate Gross Anatomy.

Stella, I will miss you.

I recently lost a wonderful woman in my life. One that has taught me many things. More like 500 things. 500 microscopic, hard-to-find, hard-to-name, looks-nothing-like-the-video-or-book things.

Yes, she was my group's perfect cadaver, Stella.

As other groups fought to find structures that were burried under inches of fat, our lovely, fat-free Stella had every structure right where they were supposed to be. This isn't to say we didn't have to search for 3 hours... but other groups had to search for 4 or 5. For the last 6 weeks, Lauren, Alexandra, James, Christian, and I have spent our Tuesday and Friday afternoons together with Stella, and now she's gone. Starting next Tuesday, we'll have a new body, which will probably be horrible. We had way too much luck with Stella, so we are doomed for the worst part of the course, head and neck. Friday we had a good-bye ceremony.. and even sang a little song. "So Long- Farewell- Until We Meet Again..." It was nice.

Ok, seriously. Gross Anatomy is so hard. I have a test on Tuesday and have spent 6+ hours studying everyday since last Wednesday. (Unfortunately, I'm not exaggerating) I did however, take half a day out yesterday (Saturday) to go watch my rockstar husband play guitar at our church's Family Retreat. Otherwise, I've been studying. So for the next few days, unless something extraordinary happens, I will still be studying. I hope you all have better things going on!