No news is good news.

Let's hear it, guys. "Marina, you're gross. I hate you"

This isn't real news to anyone other than me... but my first hissing cockroach (Sully Cilantro) had yet another molt. I'm still on the fence as to whether it's a male or female, though.

Also, all of my evaluators have submitted their evaluations to VMCAS so other than the supplemental application that Wisconsin sends out in November, I can now stop thinking about veterinary school applications and start thinking about biochem, microbio, and veterinary school interviews.

I have been having persistent bursts of suffocating anxiety, but have been controlling it fairly well. I've been practicing dealing with the overwhelmingness of WORLD by convincing myself that every time I walk through a doorway, I'll die. Suffice it to say, not dying has helped.

Opposite hour in heartbeat land

As of 12:36 AM, I am 99% done with my veterinary school applications UNTIL November when Wisconsin will send me their supplemental application.

I submitted my North Carolina application, all the essays, and the payment just a minute ago :)

I struggled with my final essay topic that discussed an interpersonal interaction that significantly impacted me, and finally chose to write about a wonderful friend I met on the lovely Governor's Island, and how our meeting impacted my life.

Now, the waiting game begins...

I'm a bad person.

Having taken Gen Chem in 2008 (which in my world is like a BILLION years ago), I'm kind of having internal panic attacks about Biochemistry. I forgot all about the Henderson Hasselbalch equation and how to do titrations and all that shit so I've spent the last week and a half relearning that. In case anyone else is in my boat, here's how to bring back old memories.

Water dissociates into H+ and OH- ions.

At 25' C, the concentration [H+] ions (what we worry about) is 10^-7 M

Apparently, pH is the negative log of the [H+] and using log rules, you can calculate the pH.

Here's some more crap.

Talking about Equilibrium Constants this time (ratio of concentrations of crap in solution when the equilibrium gets to tell you that the rate of the reaction going in one direction = rate of reaction going in reverse direction)

Kw (equilibrium constant) calculated by [Products]/[Reactants], with H20 being 1, is 10^-14

Then we use some logs again to get the pkw, log calculation to the side for anyone who isn't log-savvy, and we end up with a pkw = 14

Some more very basic crap. Getting the pH of a 1M solution of a strong acid.

Overly complicated way to solve a very quick issue...getting the pH of a 1.5M solution of HF, given the Ka value.

Do the Ka = Products/Reactants, the icebox to the lower left afterwards.

You start out with 1.5M HF, and 0 of H+, F-

You use up "x" of the HF, meaning you gain "x" of H+ and F-

Final concentrations are 1.5-x of HF and x of H+ and x of F-

Plug that all into the Ka = Products/Reactants formula, neglect x for the denominator, and do some really simple algebraic crap. pH you get is about 1.49.

Whole purpose of that is to just show relationship between pka and pkb

It's unfortunate that this is so blurry since I definitely remember in gen chem that my life felt like it depended on knowing how to go from the Ka to the pH using the Products/Reactants crap.

This is REALLY important. 

Once I get back on my feet, there will be a LOT more where this came from.

The Joy of Being (Almost!) Done with Vet School Apps

My summer consisted mostly of working, not climbing enough, Precalculus, and veterinary school apps.

I rocked the shit out of precalc with my A+, and it's almost entirely due to the fact that the professor was extremely good at making the material understandable. It's great to see the difference a good professor really makes for people.

For my VMCAS App, it took at least two months to get my personal statement written. I had so many doctors from work look over it (multiple times) until I got it right. Still waiting on two evaluators to submit their letters for VMCAS. 

The most annoying part was having to calculate my GPA in a million different ways. Last 30 credits? Last 45 credits? Last 70 credits? Science credits? Extra credits? Hah. I also need to, of course, submit transcript for Fall 2013 when I come to that part o' my life. 

As far as the individual supplemental applications go...

Auburn: I had the greatest difficulty with this one, even though it was technically the shortest one. Their essay involved something like a cost/benefit analysis of the rising costs of a veterinary education, which was actually very interesting for me to read up on. I looked up the starting salaries for shelter, food animal, and research veterinarians across the US. It's crazy how much higher the starting salaries are on the west coast. It was also pretty disheartening to find that the debt you're left with after graduating veterinary school is 200% of your starting intern salary. Disheartening, but certainly not discouraging. Also, Auburn wanted a passport sized photo...and there ARE no photos of me, so I had to improvise last second with this gem:

How. AWFUL. I look like I'm a million years old.

Minnesota: Had no supplemental application. Take my money!

Missouri: Surprisingly enough, no essays. Just some fill ins. 

Ohio: I feel like this was a bouncy application. I had to fill out different things in different places. Very roundabout way of getting things done.

Washington State U: This was the neatest application setup of all. I genuinely enjoyed filling it out. Very aesthetically appealing. 

Virginia-Maryland Regency: Not entirely sure why it took me so long to get this one done. It wasn't that involved.

UPenn: Very short application, over in one single hit. And that's why it took me as long as it did to submit it, I guess. John Falco, an old friend (and co-eboard member from Rutgers) is at this school.

Cornell: Lots of essays that were mentally stimulating, only submitted this one about a week ago.

Tufts: :) Just submitted this application today. Finally completed all my essays and was able to get all my evaluator letters in. Had to send in my transcripts very last minute because I kept forgetting that Tufts and VMCAS aren't actually in communication with each other. Everything you do for VMCAS means nothing for Tufts. Everything's done individually.

Wisconsin: Waiting to be contacted in November regarding their supplemental application. That's also when you pay the fee.

North Carolina: Still working on this one. One more essay to go! NC's essays are also pretty involved. 

Saturday, Alex, Nicki, and I went climbing at the gunks. Here's some photos Alex took of me.

We did the multipitch Three Pines. It's supposed to be three pitches, but because communication was bad because of caves, we turned it into four. Think this is me starting the first pitch of Three Pines. First pitch was the first run of the day and I haven't even been to the climbing gym this summer. Had some trouble here and there with placing my feet in positions I considered safe.

Up the first pitch I go.

My ass on the first pitch :)

Nicki took these next two photos of me and Alex after all three of us were at the top of the first pitch. I forgot how to smile, apparently. At this point I was still super scared (the height thing) and it wasn't until after the third pitch that I got over the fear of heights. I started looking out (into the world) and even down a bit!

Photos got out of order, but this is a different run we did after three pines. This one is apparently two pitches but someone said most people do it in one pitch. That's what we did. That's my dumb ass that wore a fleece sweater and got extremely uncomfortable.

I have a really hard time with these open face things. Apparently, hanging suspended over nothingness makes me severely uncomfortable.

Going around that bend was a traverse, but a terrifying one in which I constantly didn't know how to keep from just hanging on with my hands. Not very many places to put your feet when you're too scared to look down at them.

From about where I am in this photo, to the rest of the way up, I was still shaking with fear from going over the face (traverse). I kept wanting to sit back on the rope and take a break but I was too scared to let go of the wall. 

This is Nicki, our fearless leader, leading the Horseman run. 

This is the third pitch of Three Pines. It starts with a very easy traverse and ends in a much more psychologically taxing one. Traversing over that overhang was probably the second most terrifying moment of the day, second only to having to do my first rappel down. 

Starting the last bit of that traverse. Honestly, getting over that probably took longer than getting TO it.

Wrapping my right hand around the side of that was very psychologically taxing. The entire time I was entirely too aware of the WORLD and how much nothingness there was below me. I really, REALLY did not want to fall.

Having gotten good hand-grips and mediocre footing, finally making it over to Nicki.

Rappelling was definitely the hardest part of the entire day. We had to do two rappels from three pines, and the first one was shell-shockingly traumatizing. Mostly because it was my first time rappelling, I still couldn't get the proper hand motions, walking BACKWARDS off a cliff is immensely terrifying, and losing footing after rappelling down from overhangs causes you to swing around in circles, forcing you to look out into the world instead of directly at the face of the mountain. The second rappel down was far easier, and went a lot faster.

Definitely cannot wait to go climbing again. Alex bought me my first harness, so now we can do more top-roping if we feel like it. Definitely cannot wait to go climbing again :)

I'll leave you with this picture:

Smelly dog on my bed.