Points of information and my attempted self portrait in MS paint.



So the downside to starting this blog a good four months before I start classes (as of today four months and one day!) is that nothing too exciting is happening yet.. it is just me getting ready and making plans. Of course, at the same time I'm not forcing anyone to read this blog (except my husband, ha!) so feel free just to hang tight and wait for August for classes to start.
A few points I wanted to discuss:

1. My deposit check has been received so I am officially official. It doesn't seem real yet. I remember when I was accepted into the residential high school I went to (SC Governor's School for Science and Math) and even after I'd been there for a couple weeks it still just felt like I was at a science oriented summer camp (Why yes, there are biotechnology oriented summer camps and cloning plants will always be cooler than whatever crafts people do at normal summer camps--yeah, I fail at thinking up examples of normal kids crafts, do people actually make macaroni pictures?). I think maybe having the full information packet with dates, fees, recommended texts, etc will go a long way towards making it seem more concrete.

2. I am a mom, this is a blog, but this is not a mommy blog. My kids will come up from time to time because wanting to give 

Mock up of acceptable children's artwork

 them a better life is one of my motivators in education/life and because I will essentially be a single parent while I am going to school so some issues might arise. But I promise, to you, the reader, never to blog in this blog about my children's pooping* habits, the cute pictures they draw (unless the pictures involve their mommy decked out in a lab coat cutting up specimens, but only the first time that happens), or the many adorable things they say.

3. I need to study anatomy this summer. I don't think I'm going to take an official class but there are a lot of useful online resources that teach anatomy that I am going to take advantage of. As much as I enjoyed learning microbiology in college it didn't give me much of a background in human biology (other than cell biology, biochem, some immunology... okay, maybe it gave me a semi-decent background but was severely lacking in anatomy, how is that? I've picked up some both by teaching the Kaplan MCAT biology course and by working in grossing, seeing organs etc. but I feel like in terms of biological foundations it is the place I am most lacking).

4. I read through the unofficial guide they sent us and found this blurb about a class I am scheduled to take next January: For the practical you will be given a brain that has been cut in the same way that it is done during brain cutting. Your job will be to put it back together and identify structures. How cool is it that I will know (or at least should know!) how to do that in less than a year?! I haven't figured out yet if I'm terrified by the amount of information I will be receiving and need to be able to pass a test on (Duke's PA students' classes are the Duke Medical students' classes and I've heard at least three people describe trying to master the first six week's worth of material as trying to drink out of a fire hose) or excited by the prospect. I think excited is okay for now, but terror might rear its head as the summer progresses. I want to do well in this program and I sure as heck want to graduate from it so as cliche as it is to say this, failure is not an option.

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I have blogged about my kids' poop in the past in my personal blog. Mostly because it was hilariously awful and I had to share it with my friends. But you guys aren't here for poop stories (or at least hope not... I mean you do get a fair number of colons in pathology but I shouldn't think it should be anyone's focus. I bet there are blogs dedicated to people's bowel habits though...I wouldn't put it past humanity), so I'll keep that stuff quiet.