Sum o' the Week

We had our first module final on Friday - over everything we've learned on the kidneys and lungs. It's a great deal of information to learn, and very odd to have one question per lecture on things we're supposed to retain for essentially the rest of our careers.

I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but studying got a bit waylaid this week as I kept getting in fights on the internet and that's always a major point of anxiety for me. I realize I'll never change anyone's mind, that it's the internet and doesn't matter, but I get quite worked up when something is wrong and I know it's wrong. Luckily I've managed to cease contact with the major people/forums that get me worked up, so let's hope that continues. Judicious reading of Don Quixote in the bath and realizing that I've essentially been jousting at windmills (and not even fun ones) as well as a lecture from a good friend are steeling my resolve to not get involved.

Anyway, back on school - now we're wading through coagulation cascades and all of the drugs therein (many of which sound like awesome name for dinosaurs. Seriously. Ticagrelor, anyone?). I may have spent the better portion of Friday's lecture drawing a drug dinosaur stomping on platelets and yelling about P2Y12 receptors . . . pictures may be forthcoming. I'm finding this much easier to study than the pulmonary/renal stuff as it interests me more. It's also rather surreal to go into work and suddenly know so much more about what's actually wrong with the patients as I'm giving them their medication.

As we had that exam and won't have another for two weeks, I decided to relax this weekend and worked some on my blanket. I've been knitting a blanket all summer and it's almost finished. It'll be a big, lovely blue throw for my couch. I'm only a mere 25 rows away! After that, I'll be starting a gorgeous sweater - can't work on it now because I only have one set of circular needles and the blanket is freaking huge. It'll be really pretty when it's finished though.

A side note: I realize that I was asking for trouble when I came to school in southeastern Idaho, but I am getting really, really tired of the general way men treat women around here. Listen, old men in the pharmacy, I do not appreciate random comments about how relatively small my chest is. I do not appreciate the winks and dirty jokes. Listen, my boobs are not here for your perusal, least of all when you interrupt a conversation I'm having to take your fill.

A friend told me to cut them some slack because "it's not like they ever get to see boobs". Last time I checked, I was not the keeper of the boobie zoo for all those poor souls who can't get a girlfriend. Were I in a bar or some other situation generally intended to be set up for attracting the opposite sex, I wouldn't be protesting as much, but this was at school from a colleague. And not the first time it's happened with this particular piece of work. I realize that to most men around here I'm not much more than a prop because, let's face it, I'm not married or popping out babies, and we all know women have no place in professional fields, but a bit of common decency would be nice.

Don't get me wrong - this really is an excellent pharmacy school and I absolutely feel that what I'm learning is of the highest standards. I love my classes and the professors. I'm just tired of the area and the inherent attitudes toward the relative worth of women.

I was going to end this here, but a cricket somehow made its way onto my bed and is now crawling down the side nearest the wall. As it's relatively small for a cricket and black, I may have initially thought it was a hobo and thrown a book on opera at it. I'm feeling merciful, as I haven't the slightest idea how this little guy found his way here, so I shall name him Magellan and not murder him. If he's on me when I wake up, though, Magellan dies.

- SqueezeBox