Christmas vacations

2006-12-29

Hello one and all!

Hope that you are doing well, enjoying some down time with friends and family, and relaxing. I am in the process of unwinding, just so that I can get rewound. What a crazy system. 🙂

Let’s see… in the month that I was dead to the world… I wrote 4 finals (one worth 80% and one worth 60%) plus 2 midterm exams. I got the results back from my learning assessment which said that I’m brilliantly borderline retarded – ie of superior intelligence but I can’t process fast enough to keep up in addition to being dyslexic, and because I’m also ADHD I don’t concentrate long enough either.

So I get my own little rooms for exams, where they check on me frequently to make sure I’m okay (I haven’t figured out if this is to make sure I haven’t slit my wrists, or I’m not cheating). It means I can pace when I need to think which is good… of course, during my BChem exam (the horrible 80% exam) I had to choose 8 out of 10 questions to write. Because of all the tutoring I did fine for the first 7. And then I got stuck. For 10 minutes I paced, going over everything I could think of… and nothing. I decided a little blood flow to my brain might help – I would do some yoga! I had just been checked on, so I thought it would be at least 30 minutes before the next check. And just as I went up into my headstand the door opened, and there was the Student Affairs Coordinator – Karen. After explaining what I was doing she left, but I’m not sure that she fully understood! 😉 I did manage to finish the exam though… now I just wait for the mark. 😛

Apparently our scariest quarter ever is coming up – Immunology, Neurology,Embryology, and Nutrition are all taught to us in just 8 weeks. Plus we’re still taking Anatomy, Physiology, and Rounds. So I decided to do some pre-reading (that whole processing thing affects my reading speed) in the mornings while Jay is still asleep. Hopefully it helps! On that note, between Mum and I, we managed to contact my old Embryology prof from U of C. He’s such a nice guy that he is sending me a copy of the CD that they give students as a resource (there is no good textbook still in print for animal embryology). Yay for knowing people!

Speaking of Jay – have I mentioned what an amazing husband I have? He came out the day after his last exam (Dec 12th!!!) just to clean for me, feed me, and keep me calm. He’s wonderful… 🙂 Of course he didn’t keep the cats calm, so they got all wound up and I had to deal with more “misbehaviours” but sometimes there are sacrifices right? Speaking of which… I have given in… the cats are going back to sandy beaches. I can’t handle anymore ‘surprises’. Hopefully they will wait to have GIT disorders until I have graduated and can do the surgeries myself!

So I go back to school on the 3rd (my anniversary! Can you believe – 4 years!). Jay flies home on the 7th and starts his focus on the 10th (we think). He’s doing it in the community since he already works on an Acute Medical, Oncology and Hematology unit and he specialised in Cardiology. This will give him broader scope. But it means he’s not sure where he’ll be exactly yet. Fingers crossed that he can get done soon and come back to me. 🙂 His convocations (he gets 2, the lucky boy, because he’s in a conjoint program) are the 7th and 9th of June.

Anyway, I should go get some reading done! Take care everyone and happy holidays. Best wishes for the new year!

love j ox

ps I’ve attached my family’s annual Christmas letter – you should check it out.