Messenger of DEATH

NOTE: This is the first post in a long line of posts to come. Some will be from last semester but don’t be confused…

Friday night was fantastic. The girls and I heard a rumor that America’s favorite pastime, beer pong, was setup in Pollock Halls. We didn’t know where so after some wandering, we stopped fighting the urge to celebrate. This involved parking ourselves in the hall of an unsuspecting dorm and drinking in the products of our hard work. Eventually, we found the elusive room. The rest of the night is summed up in these three words: drinking, dancing, dudes.

Unfortunately, Saturday came with the typical hangover satiated with a run to Tesco for delicious breakfast foods. To celebrate surviving exams (and the night before), the flatmates and I embarked on a journey…a journey through Middle Earth. That’s right, we watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I vaguely remember seeing them for the first time when my youthful self couldn’t follow a three hour movie at midnight. Now, I have been re-enlightened to awesome-ness that is LOTR. Favorite character? The Ents. Trees that can save their own arses would be extremely helpful to the present Green movement.

Sunday taunted me with the second dreaded Anatomy Lab Notebook. Yes, I put the entire thing off. Yes, I still rocked it. Some intense procrastination was involved, including a maiden voyage on the Unsinkable-the Last Word in Luxury-the Titanic! First time, I watched this movie was the night Princess Diana died. That night also marked my love affair with Leo. He and Kate Winslet are amazing…

HOLD ME JACK!!!!!



Monday morning, I started to transform. DEATH was coming for me. While putting the finishing touches on my masterpiece, the symptoms of DEATH began. With only 5 hours of sleep, I decided to take a nap. A nap turned into a 6 hour sleep, waking up to the realization that I was not fit to stuff my face at the Mezz, sip Pinot Nior at Wine Society and dance the night away at WHY NOT? Tragic indeed. Thankfully, I can be pathetic enough to convince Sami to run to Tesco and buy me sherbert and cough drops.

I spent the next days indulging in Bones and a purely liquid diet. For future reference, in case of possible contact with DEATH, the following symptoms will occur: flu-chills so cold you resort to sleeping on your radiator, swollen throat-your tonsils will merge into one, a squeaky voice-inability to communicate with members of the same species, coughing-intense you sleep in stints as you hack up a lung.

However, there are perks to being the messenger of DEATH. One: other people bring drugs to lecture. Two: no one wants to sit by a coughing, sneezing, hacking invalid. Three: when your victims have succumbed to DEATH, there is plenty of extra room.

Treasure Hunts & Kleptomania

Recently, I’ve fallen in love with Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough. I don’t eat the ice cream…truthfully, I just want the cookie dough. It’s like going on a treasure hunt!! Gotta find all the dough bits and squish them together. AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, the cookie dough has been violated by chocolate chips.

Due to laziness, the flat has become a hell hole. The major problem is lack of toilet paper. You might think ‘ewww, what is wrong with you people’. It’s just our intense library study sessions have left no time to buy frivolous material goods. There came a time in the past few days where it has become all too much. I broke down and committed a crime. I stole a toilet paper roll. Yep, that’s right I’m on the lam now. Stealing a giant roll of tp from the bathroom gave me such a thrill!

Apologies!!

Quiz is so ashamed...

To all my wonderful followers, I apologise for my lack of writing prowess. Currently, I'm back in Scotland from a wonderful vacation. I'll try to keep the blog utd (that's vet speak for 'up to date'). But, it's right back into the swing of things. Have 3 assignments due this coming week.

No worries, I will post about the happenings before vakay too!

SNOW!

5 hours wandering the depths of the Edinburgh! Half the time I had no idea where I was...bundled up to my nose which wasn't really necessary, it wasn't all that cold. I started off in King George's park. Then down to German Christmas Market and Princes Street. I managed to find the castle all by myself, walked up the Playfair steps.



















Unfortunately, the castle was closed because of the ice/snow. Got some fantastic pictures at the top!






















Walked all the way down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace and park. My toes were nice and warm until I mistook a giant mushy puddle for solid ground. Poor wet, chilly toes.
























I did stoop low...I got McDonald's. I was trying to avoid it but that Happy Meal hit the spot!! Back to Holyrood and Arthur's seat. I hiked up the hill next to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat seemed to daunting after walking so much. Gorgeous view from the top as the sun was setting.I managed to not slip and die the entire day!!

I dreaming of a white....thanksgiving?

Despite the fact that I wasn't home to eat delicious food with my family, my Thanksgiving was fantastic!!!

It was venture time because it SNOWED!!! Started snowing on Friday evening as I was walking out of Tesco's. I giggled like a little girl the entire way home! Anywho, I headed down to the Farmer's Market to scope it out. It was a quaint little thing. I ran into Cristina and her brother, Miguel! We went shopping on the Royal Mile. Yay, souvenir shopping!!!

Melissa was kind enough not only to invite us for potluck Thanksgiving but also cook the turkeys. Of course, I made the much loved and wholly consumed Heideman mashed potatoes. Green bean casserole, rolls, turkeys, corn, peas, 8 different pies, fantabulous! All of the smart corner people were there too, including the Canadians despite the fact their Thanksgiving was end of October.



Lots of drinking, story telling and eating. These people are the some of the best I've ever met. By the end of 5 years, we'll be able to finish each others' sentences. Creepy...

Got Milk?

(While perusing my posts, I found this draft all alone waiting to be published. I think it is too good to not reveal to the public so I hope you enjoy!)



I got shat on today...

thankfully, I was wearing a lovely bonnet to protect my head from the inevitable. The poo comes from being in the Langhill milking parlour.

The parlour is a 28-28 herring bone. Herring bone refers to the cow's positions in the stall at a 45 degree angle. 28-28 means that all 28 cows can be milked at the same time rather than a 28-14 where one cluster is switched between two cows.

Diana and I were hoping to see our cows. Luckily, I remembered my girl's number, 331. Sure enough she was the first cow in!! I was so excited to see her and her freeze-branded arse. The milk maid let me milk her for an example to the others. I didn't fail horribly and it was fun!

So the goal for today's mission was to avoid poo projectiles. Kind of a difficult feat when you're in a limited space with 10 other students but somehow I managed to avoid flying debris and splatter zones...at least from what I could tell. The cows all have a microchip collar that identifies the ID number of the cow, any current udder problems, her expected milk yield, and so on. We learned how to use the machines and checked to see if the cow has a teat that we shouldn't draw out milk due to being under antibiotic treatment for whatever reason. You really don't want to mix milk with antibiotics into the big milk holding tank. It could cause all sorts of health problems for the consumer plus you won't be able to make cheese. So the process of milking is as follows: you clean the teats, snap on the suction cups, and when they automatically come off you spray the teats with iodine to prevent mastitis infection. Sounds easy? Well..yea in a way it is if you know what you're doing. I kind of knew what I was doing but the sheer size of the heifer can be quite daunting when you're at eye level to her rack.

The hardest part of milking was applying the suction cups. Two will go on perfectly. While you're getting the next two situated, the line will kink and the cups will lose suction. Then, you have to start all over!

Because the cows inhale their concentrates, they get antsy. When they get antsy, they start dancing around like a two-year old with a full bladder. Why? Because they do ALL THE TIME! Due to their extreme elimination, it's like a war zone in the pit--shit is literally flying. In times like these, it's helpful (and sanitary) to keep your mouth shut! When I heard the sounds of wet goo plopping on the floor, I performed a maneuver similar to bomb's duck and cover. Unfortunately, I did receive some poo-ey shrapnel. But my fellow students/victims took over my post until I was clean enough to resume action.

If I could get over smelling like poo everyday, I would be an awesome dairy farmer but alas, I prefer to be minty fresh!

A practical in which they let me handle a hacksaw...

Today, Dr. Jaws had us performing a hemimandibular-ectomy, also known as removing half half the lower jaw. Pretty brutal stuff! Less delicate than our first 2 dissections...literally, we carved off muscles of the head.

At A&M, the cadaver head was cut in half with a bandsaw! Crazy, but a great view of the inside the dog's head. However, at dick vet, they do things a little differently...no bandsaw :( but a hacksaw was employed! Probably a good thing, the youngins were not expected to handle power tools. Haha! Anywho, the two halves of the mandible join at the front of the mouth forming the mandibular symphasis. After carving out the muscles, I had to saw through this ossification (bony joint) then remove the jaw. Underneath the jawline, the muscles of the tongue are clearly visible. And I had no idea what they were!! It was nice to have think and learn something new.