Last month...

Well, that was an interesting month. I don't know if it was as miserable as I thought it was going to be (studying for boards, taking boards). Definitely studying was worse than the actual test... except that the bubbles we had to fill in on the test were OVALS instead of CIRCLES. That really threw me off my game. And yeah, there were plenty of questions I didn't know and some that really confused me, but I'm pretty sure I passed, and most of the questions were pretty fair... the obscure questions that no one has heard of before don't really bother me because the whole test is curved and you only have to get a 65% or something to pass. They like to keep us in suspense... I won't know my scores until September 22nd. But hey, don't think that I'm going to tell YOU my score... As far as I'm concerned, this is a PASS/NO PASS kind of test.

Studying.... I heard about people studying 8 to 10 hours a day and i thought it was nuts. Until I started doing it... it's really not that bad, especially when you think that there's 16 waking hours in a day. That's still 6 hours of break-time! Makes a person sound like a slacker when you put it that way. I know it sounds incredibly nerdy, but studying wasn't all that bad... it was kinda nice to go over all the stuff we've learned; it definitely 'geled' more, (or maybe that was my brain turning to jell-o). In any case, I did actually learn some stuff while studying, and about 10% might have stuck with me... which is better than nothing. It was also nice to have someone to study with... Paul and I studied together about half the time, and sometimes we would quiz eachother and go over some little fact we came across during hte day. I know that for both of us, there were many questions that we got correct on the test because the other person told us some bit of info or some mneumonic or something like that. I can't imagine going through it alone... I think i would have been a stress case. But since Paul is a vacuum for stress and anxiety (because he is so laid-back he's about to fall over), it was physically impossible to get stressed out around him.

So after boards...

Wednesday afternoon and evening were spent trying to grasp the idea that we were actually finished with boards. In pusuit of this realization, we went for a bike ride to Hagg lake and proceeded to jump in the lake and swim for a while. (I must be a witch, because I float much better than Paul does. Or maybe it's just cause i'm a girl...) Then we rode home.... something about swimming that totally drains you, i don't know, but that was a long, slow ride home. That evening we went out to McMenamins and ended up hanging out with some 'locals', talking about everything but optometry. We played pool and I met this girl who was so obnoxiously girly it was hilarious. She was a diamondologist and talked like she was from Orange County, and I switched into girly-girl mode and tried to keep up. I kicked her butt at pool, but she coulda opened a can of whoop-ass with her spike heels....

After that, the summer break has been kind of a blur. I met Paul's mom, then went to colorado, then came home, and now I have three more days until I'm off on a camping trip with Greg (yah, camping!). When I get home from that, it will be another week until school starts. Ug, can't think about that. I still have my boards stuff piled in the corner of my apartment. I'd rather eat hairballs than organize that stuff right now....

And now that you're totally grossed out... (sorry... i do that to people sometimes), here are some pictures from colorado:

















Dad, Kira and I went on a hike nearby Longmont. Colorado = endless hiking...

















I got to watch Kira play softball! You couldn't pay me enough to get solid ball-like objects thrown at me.... uck, gives me willies just thinking about it.






















Paul took me to NEW BELGIUM brewing company!!! It was just as cool as I had imagined, and we tasted for free... so many yummy beers, so little time!!! I was definitly chatty/hyper/silly when I left...

















Speaking of silly... look at this guy! I guess putting up with me can do horrible things to your binocular vision system....

















The sunrise in Longmont the day I left. Kinda makes it worth getting up super-early...

Actually, I'm up kinda early right now.... couldn't sleep after 6am, so instead of having half-awake dreams where I'm busily doing stuff, I thought I'd get up and actually get some stuff done. I like mornings... yep, I do. I'm already set to get old and wear knee socks rolled down and complain that my kids never call... i am pretty sure that getting up early (and liking it) is a prerequisite for elderly-hood.

Well, I think I've wore out my welcome. I'll just give a brief preview of what's to come, and then I'll leave you to your internet surfing and distracted wanderings. This next semester is going to be a mess. I'm taking two electives (1. Imaging and 2. Neurorehabilitative Optometry), and I have conferences flying at me from all sides. I think I've mentioned this before... Western Regional Conference, our school is putting on (specifically, AOSA, of which I am the treasurer), which is quite a beast, with neverending busy work and stress. That will be over October 1st. Then theres GWCO, of which i will be far-too involved (again, because I'm in AOSA). Then I have to go to Denver in December for an AAO conference since I'm the liason for AAO, and that happens to be the weekend before finals. I also will be tutoring for systemic and TAing for anatomy (nothing new), climbing, biking, running, and generally trying to maximize my free time. I hope there will be enough to do to keep me busy, but not so much to make me freak out. That's where I like to live life... in that zone between moderately busy and incredibly stressed out.

Freaky: 9 months until I leave for rotations.

Okay, that's enough out of me. More randomness later....