Congratulations and good luck on that exam!

--Fil

And you KNOW IT *hic*

Don't worry about me, I've only had 2....3....4..... glasses of
champagne.

But i DESERVE IT!!!!  Lemme give ya a review of my journey......

Spring 2003

The first class i took was Animal Sciences 501, Introduction to Animal
Sciences.  Great class, great professor, but a ton of useless
information.  We learned the basics of studying animals and learned
mostly about livestock.  We learned abou cows, chickens and stuff, but
we had the most LAME questions on our exam.  We had to memorize a chart
stating the 'rough' numbers of animals in certain countries.

I'm sorry, but I don't think i really need to know how many ducks there
are in China. I'm not kidding that was a question.  I remember studying
my butt off for this class, and i couldn't pull off anything better
than a B.  Like I said, awesome professer, (a notorius joker) but lame
questions, so I just got a B

Also I took Vet Tech 401, which was ALL terminology.  Learning things
like gastro- =stomach, cepha- = brain, -itis = inflammation.  Easy
stuff so i pulled an A

BTW, in January of 2003, I was working at a mobile vaccination clinic,
and fell victim to the many cat adoptions.  Imp came home with me mid
January.

April 2003 - I found a cat drinking out of the swimming pool in my
apartment complex.  I picked her up with the intention of putting her
up for adoption.  Three weeks later, the cat, now named Mischief was
curled up at my feet, purring loudly

Fall 2003

Time to take all the sciences courses I avoided at UCLA,  Biology and
Chemisty.  It was weird.  I remember being 15 and crying my eyes out as
I stressed to pull a C in AP Biology in high school.

I also took Animal Diseases.  Tough course at first, but I managed to
figure out how the professor tests were written.
I also started helping out on the farm at school and in October I
helped be midwife to a pregnat sow, who produced three squirming
piglets.

It was the November of this year that my roommate's father passed away
from liver failure due to Hepatis C.  I was there with my roomie the
WHOLE way and it was not pretty.  A week after he died I had to take
THREE exams in Biology, Chemistry and Animal Diseases.  I got C's on
all of them.  Fortunately, I had done so well all semester that they
didn't drop my overall grades that much.

Spring 2004

Took Anatomy and Physiology and Into to Vet Tech 402.  I spent so much
time on campus taking care of the farm animals, that my grades
suffered.  I remember going in 402 ready to take a quiz and had crammed
for 24 hours on Chapters 11 and 12.  When I got the quiz, I found out
it was on Chapters 12 and 13.  Grrrrrrrrrrr.......  But yet I found my
first job in a vet clinic where i could apply my skills.

Fall 2004 *hic*

I 'officially' joined the Vet Tech program and was a 'senior' student.
My classes were Small Animal Nursing 1, Clinical Procedures 1 and
Laboratory Animals.  Small Animal and Clin Pro were rumored to be the
BIG HARD classes and I spent so much time on them that I almost flunked
Lab Animal. But somehow i managed to pull through.  It was also this
semester i found the love for springboard diving and managed to get on
the team.

Spring 2005

Large Animal Nursing was an easy course since in the previous semesters
I had spent so much time on the farm with the goats, sheep and pigs.
It was the horses that was tough for me.  Sorry, I LOVE horses, but I
have a hard time relaxing around an animal that has the potential to
kill me.   I still would love to have the opportunity to work with
horses, but I lack the experience and the ranch I volunteered at for 2
months was 30 miles from my house.  Sheesh!

Small Animal 2 and Clinical Procedures 2, the ULTIMATE hard classes.
This was where we studied phamacology and surgery, and I remember
getting a D on the antibiotics exam. But yet again i rallied in the
face of opposition and PREVAILED.  I also remember getting 5 points off
the Small Animal Lab exam because i put the pulse oximeter upside down
on the tongue of the model (BTW, it does NOT MATTER WHICH WAY the pulse
oximeter sits on the tongue, from what i've learned and seen, since the
pulse oximeter reads both ways)

In August of 2005, Mischief was going nuts over a furry gray and white
cat that was sitting on the wall outside my apartment.  I decided to
feed it.   After eating voraciously, i fed her some more.  Then i
decided to bring her inside.  Some of your will remember my "I'm such a
sucker posts" and me saying "I'm NOT gonna keep her".  I named her
Mayhem (Okay I gave her a name, but 'm NOT going to keep her)

Fall 2005

Time for Radiology, Clinical Pathology and the first semester of my
work experience.  For some reason I had a VERY laid back attitude
towards the classes.  I don't know why.  I think it might have been a
case of senior-itis.  And the semester of work experience was just to
keep a log of my hours and turn in a case report,  EXTREMELY EASY.
Most of the information I had already learned while at work and yet for
some reason I had a 'I JUST DON'T GIVE A F***!' attitude and couldn't
get rid of it.  And somehow i still managed to pull off B's in both
classes.\

I 'donated' Mayhem to the RVT program where she spent her time in a
large Cat room with another cat, and was poked, prodded and x-rayed by
the other RVT students.  But when December and the end of the semester
came around, a lot of the students loved her, but NO ONE was willing to
commit to adopting her.  I rememeber looking in on her, and she looked
up at me with close cute green eyes, and I melted.  Mayhem now
CONSTANTLY wants attention and loves to jump on my bed every night to
tell me that she loves me (or is she telling me to pet her, i can't
tell)

Spring 2006

The LAST semester.  All that's left is ONE semester of work study.
EASY?  OH NO.... The teacher of the work study has suddenly gone to the
RVT professor and she  declares that we must not only complete the
required hours but ÅLSO complete a list of required activites during
the semster. (Activities which include procedures that cannot be
prediced or scheduled, like orogastric tubings, which are only done in
poisonings.  What are we to do? Sit around and HOPE that some dog eats
rat poison?)

And then in March another wrench is thrown in my works.  My fellow
co-workers are angry that I was alwasy pushing to be involved in
procedures.  They refused to understand that I was pushing because I
HAD A STUPID LIST to complete for SCHOOL.  So the clinic fires me, and
for six weeks, I'm stressing over trying to find not only a vet clinic,
but a clinic where i can complete my requirements.

Then 2 weeks before the semester ends, I find a job, and by the skin of
my teeth, turn in my final work study report, which was only 90%
complete.

Then I spend a week stressing over whether i passed the course or not,
and what I would have to do if I had to take another semester of school

YET IN THE DARKNESS A SPARK OF LIGHT LIVES!!!!!!!  AGAINST ALL ODDS I
STILL MANAGE TO PASS!!!!

Do I deserve to celebrate? *HIC*

Damn right I do.

*pours another glass of champagne*

Cheers, *HIC*

Kristi

How cool! We'll have our own resident vet on rpca.  
So...you gonna travel the country and take care of our babies?

lol

Jane
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