Originally I had intended to take a brief blogging hiatus until finals were done. I didn't want to burden anyone who reads this with my trials and tribulations (read: whining). But I realized today that a big part of vet school and life is how you deal with what stresses you. Plus this is a blog about my life, not just about vet school, and I don't need to justify writing a more personal post now and again. So I'm not going to go into hibernation just to spare you all the details. Here you have it:

School is winding down. Finals start tomorrow (although we've already had two practical exams) and I have two weeks of exams before I can go home. Which seems nice - plenty of time to study! But it drags and I lose focus after a few days because all I can think of is home. So I've barely studied for my first written exam tomorrow. I'm lucky that it's "just" fish health.

I'm getting married one month from tomorrow. While I have no qualms whatsoever with the actual marriage part, it's becoming planning crunch time. I am so, so lucky to have my family and SO back home handling the day to day stuff, meeting with people, planning, etc, but there's still so much required of me and I really want it to be a great day for everyone involved - including myself.

My dog's health isn't great. She's old so it isn't unexpected, but I've been wrestling with how to proceed with her and it's a sad thing to consider. Moving 1200 miles back home will be an immense stress on her, as will leaving her for a week for my honeymoon, but I don't want to give up on her just yet. There are still some non-invasive things we can try to address her issues, so I'm trying to stay optimistic.

The amazing summer experience I had lined up fell through. Not only was I looking forward to spending my summer doing lab animal stuff, but I was hoping to use it to boost my (eventual) residency application; pair it with the fact that I would really like to be close to home with my residency and I feel like I've shot myself in the foot in one fell swoop. It's disheartening.

There are other smaller details that are thorns in my side, but that's the bulk of it. I've been moping around the past few weeks feeling super stressed - grumpy, sad, frustrated, angry, etc in turns. But I have to get a handle on it all. Pretty much everything resolves itself with the right amount of time - "this too shall pass" - but I can maybe make it a bit less painful by being proactive. Hopefully I can post in two weeks when I'm home from school and being more light-hearted.

Life is so chaotic right now. With so much on my plate I don't have much time or attention span for writing a decent blog post and anything I do write is essentially whining and not much fun to read. So I apologize ahead of time for the scarcity and quality of posts in the next few weeks. If I manage to write anything anyway, which would be either downright miraculous or blatant procrastination ;)

I've started and re-started this blog post a few times mostly because I have so much on my mind that I want to say but know if I say it all this post will be gigantic and rambling.

So suffice to say that I'm feeling equal parts sad, bored, dejected and excited. I feel like I have too much to process/deal with right now but I know it all needs my attention. So instead of trying to make a cohesive, read-able blog post, I'm going to continue to work on what needs to be worked on. I hope I'll be able to untangle my thoughts a bit better in another few days. Sorry this post was lame.

Got my electric bill the other day, and I think I can safely say that March's resolution (to be more eco-friendly) was a success. My bill for Februrary was $44; my bill for March was $27! And since March has been barely warmer than February (thanks, Canadian weather) I think a lot of that can be chalked up to my efforts. Yay :)

Onto the month of April. My current idea -  to volunteer my time to a good cause (TBD) - isn't exactly feasible right now. I have four clin path quizzes, two lab practicals and finals all between now and the end of the month. At the end of the semester I have to pack and move home. Nevermind that I'm getting married in six weeks and have to line up everything for my summer experience at a lab animal place. I don't exactly have time to spare at the moment, so that's off my plate until at least the summer (most likely June).

Anyway, I was thinking about all of the crap I have to do in the next few weeks and I thought: what if my April resolution was to be more organized? It isn't exactly in the most selfless resolution, but I think there are a few things I can do to make it apply to others and not just myself. For example:

• Clean my house regularly to keep dust/dog hair/etc down and keep things neat; I think my landlord would appreciate me taking extra good care of his property.
• Keep vendors and family up to date on wedding information (providing schedules, etc) to minimize chaos. (This may be wishful thinking...)
• Prepare for ahead of time for my clin path labs so I can contribute to my group more.

That's about as far as I can stretch it, but I think it will be a good thing to practice this month, especially with so many important things going on. Next month's resolution will be stronger, I promise! :) Until then, off I go to make a calender!

Sorry to have disappeared for a little while, but Danny was in town for my Easter break! I picked him up from the airport Wednesday afternoon and dropped him back off today. It was so nice both to see him and to have a few days break from school (including no pending midterms to loom over me)! We watched NCAA basketball tournament games, went to a class potluck on Saturday night and visited the national park up the road twice - once to walk on the beach and once to walk the trails that I normally run on in nicer weather. (Spring is slowly approaching for PEI - it actually rained today, with temps just below 40F - but it's still cold and there is still plenty of snow on the ground. I want it to warm up and be sunny and green, although I'm pretty sure such nice weather would suck away any motivation I might find for studying for finals.)

Speaking of finals, we only have three more weeks of class until finals start. In those three weeks we have two lab practical exams for surgery and anesthesia as well as three clinical pathology quizzes. Then two weeks of finals, packing and heading home! (Oh yeah, and then two more weeks until I get married - ack!)

Also, don't want to forget...today is the first day of April and that means a new monthly resolution. To recap, my March resolution was to be more eco-friendly. I Googled tips for being eco-friendly and found some great ideas. (Some of the suggestions I found didn't really apply. For example, PEI already composts province-wide. I already had plenty of laundry detergent and cleaning supplies so I didn't spend the money to make my own more eco-friendly blend. I'm already signed up for paperless billing back home.)

I had some successes: I didn't heat up my car in the mornings; I kept my heat two degrees lower than previously and just used an extra blanket on my bed; I didn't jack up the heat before bed or after waking up in the morning; I kept the lights off as long as possible in the evenings and just used natural light; I drove the speed limit; I even remembered to bring my extra plastic grocery bags to the store twice so as not to use more grocery bags. I had some difficulty limiting the amount of hot water I used for my showers, I ended up driving into town more frequently for various events, and I forgot my extra plastic baggies a couple of times. I'm waiting to get my electric bill for the month to gauge how I did more quantitatively but overall I'm pleased with my efforts.

As for April's goal, I'm stumped. I'll have to get back to you on that as soon as I think up something satisfactory!