WooHoo!

Yay! So I got a 4.o in A&P!

Help, if you can!

So, in order to get unemployment to pay for my nursing assistant class I have to complete this really lame packet of paperwork. One of the things i have to do is interview 3 potential employers (not necessarily people I expect to work for, just 3 employers in general) about the likelihood of my getting a job once my "retraining" program is complete. I have absolutely no idea who to call or who to speak to once I do call. Plus, if you know me then you know I hate cold calling strangers...I won't even order pizza! So please, if you know any HR people at a hospital, nursing home etc., who might be willing to speak with me let me know!

End of the Quarter Update...

So I've been lame about keeping you updated on my studies lately, sorry! Anyway, just to get you up to speed...

I totally aced my muscles lab pratical, got a 99.5% on my third exam, rocked my cranial nerves practical, and breezed through my cumulative final exam. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I got another 4.0 (with any normal teacher I'd bee 100% sure), but my teacher is a very strange grader and I may end up with a 3.99 or something wierd like that. Anyway, lets keep our fingers crossed for that 4.0!

Next quarter I'm taking the second half of my A&P class; we only made it through half the book this quarter. I'm excited about this class because we get to delve deeper into all the different body systems! Also, in an effort to make myself more marketable, I'm taking my NAC training class starting January 19th. This is an 8 week class, and when I'm finished I will be eligible to take the state nursing assistant exam...then I can work! Yay, income is always nice!

That's all for now!

I Rock!

I swear I don't have a big head, but I totally rock! Ha Ha! Anyway, I got my test back that I took last week...102%, yay! I was apparently having a good guessing day because there were several multiple choice questions that I guessed on, but I ended up getting them all correct.

Starting now I'm on extreme muscle memorization mode; I have a muscle practical next wednesday. The muscles are turing out to be much harder to memorize than the bones. Their names are crazy ridiculous!!! For example, corrugator supercilii, extensor pollicis longus, & levator labii superioris just to name a few. How are you supposed to remember that?! I guess that's what flashcards & coloring books are for. In addition to knowing the names, I have to know each muscles origin(s) & insertion, and what action/movement the muscle facilitates. AHHH! I better get to work! :)

Bones Practical!

So I've been furiously studying my bones & bone markings for the past week; I had serious doubts about my ability to memorize that much information all at once. However all my hard work paid off, and I totally aced my bones practical! There was not one answer I even questioned, so that is a major relief. Too bad I can't relax! I've got my regular test, covering bones, muscles, and nerves, tomorrow, and I'm freaking out...again! I spent so much time memorizing bone stuff that I have yet to study any of the physiological stuff. EEK! Cram session starts now!

Test Update!

Good news! My teacher accidentally keyed in one of the answers incorrectly on the scantron machine thingy, thus I got one more answer right....bringing my score up to 100.5%. Yay! I'm definately not disappointed about that in any way.

Wish me luck. I have a quiz today that I absolutely did not study for. I had good intentions of studying all day yesterday, but got sidetracked by a new book and by "The Biggest Loser." I studied a bit today; hopefully it's enough! Strangely, I don't feel all that concerned about it so maybe I know the material better than I think. Ha Ha! Wishful thinking!

Later!

I Got My Test Back

As I expected, I did really well on my first A&P test...99.5%!!! I have to admit, even though you all will think I'm nuts & will want to strangle me, I was kind of disappointed that I didn't get 100%. I know, that's so lame, but that's me. You know you love me!

LAB PRACTICAL NUMERO UNO

The histology lab practical was super easy! All the slides that were shown were ones that we'd prevously seen & reviewed with the prof., so that was really helpful. There were 29 questions plus 2 bonus questions, and I got them all right!!! YAY! The next practical is bones, so I bought my flashcards today & I'm ready to start memorizing. Without looking, I know there are 206 bones in the human body!

Ugg...It's Always Nerves with Me!

I hate that I get so nervous for every single test. It never gets better even though I always do well. I don't know, maybe i need the nerves in order to do well; I think if I didn't get nervous I'd become complacent. Still, I could do with a bit less nerves! Anyway, I've got my histology practical today & I've been studying slides like crazy. They pretty much all look the same, so I'm worried, but hopeful that I can pull my usual "A." Now if I could just remember where to find all the tissues I'd be in great shape!

It's Over...

I'm all finished with my first A&P test, it's over, relief...

The test was definately not as difficult as I was thinking it was going to be. I was never worried about the multiple choice questions, but I was letting the 2 short answer/essay questions freak me out. In part the freak out was due to the study focus questions that we were given. They made me think I was going to need to know every minute detail about everything...that was very stressful, and not the case. But all is well that ends well. I did have to guess on two multiple choice questions, but I had no difficulty with the short answers, and was able to answer 3 of 4 bonus questions. Let's keep our fingers crossed, I want no less than 95%.

Next up, Lab Practical Exam, Monday, Covering Histology...my weekend is sure looking fun!

MELANIN

I found out some neat things about melanin this week, and just thought I'd pass it on. In case you don't already know, melanin is the main pigment which comprises your skin color (your hair color too, but today I'm talking about skin). What's interesting is that all humans produce the same relative number of melanocytes (melanin producing cells), regardless of their skin color. What counts in determining skin color is the relative kind and amount of melanin made and retained. Darker skinned people produce many more and darker melanin pigments than do fair skinned people, and these pigments are retained longer by the keratin cells in the skin. Another interesting thing is that melanin is a major player in protecting us from UV rays. Your melanin producing cells send out melanin pigments in vesicles that migrate toward keratin cells in your skin. Once located, these vesicles hover over the keratin cells, protecting them from the sun by absorbing light and dissipating it off as heat. By doing this, melanin is protecting the DNA in the keratin cells from becoming damaged and mutated, which can cause some types of skin cancer. Other pigments that contribute to skin color are carotene, from the foods you eat (yes, you can turn yourself orange by eating too many carrots!), and hemoglobin from your blood, which gives fair skinned people a pinkish tint!

NERVES....

I've got my first big A&P exam tomorrow and I am so nervous! There is so much information and I feel way behind on my studying. Also, I keep freaking out about my lab practical exam next week, and that's disrupting my concentration for this exam. We did some review/practice yesterday in class; It seems I really need to focus my studying on the tissues; especially knowing where different tissues are found in the body & all the different cell types found in connective tissues. On a more positive note, I received another 10/10 on the quiz I took last week, no surprise there. Super study session starts now...

P.S. Check out my other blog! www.bblivinlarge.blogspot.com

Hooray For Connective Tissue!

So I really overstudied for yesterday's quiz...no joke! It was so easy, I don't think I needed to have studied at all. Everyone on the class finished in less than 10 minutes! I am absolutely, 100% positive that I aced this quiz. Now its time to start getting ready for next week's exam, which will cover chapters 1-5 (Intro stuff, chemistry/biology, cells, histology, & skin)...that's a ton of information to remember, but fortunately the instructor makes really good study guides that tell you exactly what you need to study. So that's what I will be focusing on this weekend.

As for lab yesterday, we did exactly what I was expecting...we looked at all sorts of connective tissue, muscle tissue, nervous tissue, etc. Here are some great pictures of what I was looking at yesterday.

Areolar Connective Tissue

Adipose Connective Tissue

Reticular Connective Tissue

Dense Regular Connective Tissue & Dense Irregular Connective Tissue

Hyaline Cartilage, Fibrocartilage, & Elastic Cartilage

Bone Tissue & Nervous Tissue

Smooth Muscle, Cardiac Muscle, & Skeletal Muscle

Blood Tissue (The blue spot is a White Blood Cell)


That's All Folks!

Quiz Update & Other Stuff

I scored a 10 out of 10 on last week's quiz, so YAY! A perfect score is always great news...especially since I thought I made a stupid error. Turns out I didn't! I have another quiz today. I am definately a little less confident about the quiz material this time; there are a lot of seemingly insignificant details that I must remember. I believe the majority of this quiz is going to be covering epithelial & connective tissues, and all things associated with each. There may be some stuff on the cell life cycle & mitosis, since we hadn't quite covered that in time for the last quiz. I'm good with mitosis, it's all the tissue details I'm have some trouble remembering. I think I'll do fine though...

For lab on Monday, we looked at a gagillion slides of epithelial tissue...simple squamous, simple cuboidal, simple columnar, stratifed squamous, cuboidal, & columnar, transitional, etc... Today we are moving on to slides of connective tissue. Sure to be another fun filled lab!

Ciao!

One Quiz Under the Belt & Another Duplicated Lab

It turns out my confidence for yesterday's quiz was not misguided, I believe I did really well. If I made any errors it was only through haste. For some reason I had it in my head that I was taking a really long time to finish, and that everyone was waiting just for me. So I started scribbling as fast as I could, and I think I may have switched two very similar words around...which was a totally stupid, preventable mistake. Hopefully I didn't actually make that error, but if I did, well that's the way the cookie crumbles & it'll teach me to slow down.

I'm very disappointed in yesterday's lab; it was another that I have already done, and not a very interesting one at that. We had to get two deshelled eggs (when you put a whole egg in vinegar to soak, the shell dissolves completely and you're left with only the membanous egg) and place them in two different solutions; one a hypertonic solution & the other a hypotonic solution. We then weighed the eggs at various intervals to see if they had taken on or lost water weight. The point of this lab is to show how different types of solutions effect the diffusion of water in and out of a membrane. On the plus side, we did do a slight variation in that we also looked at sheep's blood under the microscope. We prepared three different slides; on the first we put the blood in an isotonic solution, thus the blood cells retained their normal shape. On the second slide we put the blood in a hypertonic solution in which the cells noticeably shriveled (crenated). On the third slide we put the blood in a hypotonic solution in which the cells swelled and eventually burst (lysed). Overall, this was much more interesting than weighing the eggs.

Sorry, no pictures of this one! I didn't have to do any drawings.

FIRST QUIZ TODAY!

WISH ME LUCK!!! I feel pretty confident about this quiz since it should only be covering review stuff from Biology...which I just took & thus is still fresh in my head. I've got another lab tonight too; details later!

As Promised, Pictures!

OKAY, THESE AREN'T VERY GOOD PHOTOS BUT IT WAS THE BEST I COULD DO...

LAB #1

HERE ARE MY BEAUTIFUL "E" DRAWINGS...

LAB #2

HERE ARE MY TOTALLY AWESOME CELL DRAWINGS!

NO LAUGHING! JUST KIDDING, I KNOW THEY'RE BAD!

LABS!

We've done two labs so far for A&P, and although neither were dissections the 2nd lab was really intersting.

LAB #1
Okay, so we did this exact same lab in Bio & I pretty much hope I never have to do it again...I don't want to draw any more upside down, newsprint "e's", thank you very much. Basically this lab is done to teach you how to use a microscope; where the parts are, what they are called, how to focus, etc. I have to admit, I think all this practice is helping my microscope focusing abilities. The first thing we looked at was a newsprint "e", then some colored strings and cheek cells, woo hoo! Then we answered a whole bunch of questions about how the "e",the strings, and the cheek cells looked under the microscope, and we drew some pictures too. Sounds exciting! I know you're all jealous! I'll try to put up some pictures of my exciting drawings!

LAB #2
This lab was a bit more interesting than the first, probably only because I'd never done it before. This lab was all about cells, so we looked at samples of a bunch of different types of cells under the microscope. We looked at red blood cells, sperm cells (they are very cute), smooth muscle cells, epithelial cells, neurons, and whitefish blastula. The point of this lab was to note that all cells do not look the same & we were trying to identify some of the different cell parts; mainly the plasma membrane, the nucleus, and if we were lucky maybe some mitochondria or other organelles. I wasn't lucky, all I saw were plasma membranes & nuclei. We also did some more drawings and answered some more questions. I will try to post these drawings as well. Overall, the cells were all very interesting to look at, but the sperm and the red blood cells were my favorites!

Anatomy & Physiology Day 1

After finishing my first day of anatomy, all I have to say is that this quarter is going to be intense...but fun! My teacher seems really awesome, and I've never heard someone who can make complicated concepts seem so simple, in such a short amount of time. No kidding, she explained all types of chemical bonding in about 5 minutes, and I've got a better grasp on them now,than I ever did during the whole 2 weeks my biology prof. spent talking about them. On the down side, we don't get to do very many dissection labs, but the ones we do get to do should be fun...and very slimy! We're doing a sheep brain, a spinal cord, and a chicken leg. Good times!

Classes Start Today!

Sorry for the long hiatus; I've been on break from classes. The new quarter starts today & up first is Anatomy & Physiology. This is a lab class, so I'm super excited about that and can't wait to keep you posted on how my stomach handles dissection. I haven't been good in the past, so I'm hoping I can get past my fear of touching slimy, smelly dead things. I'm also hoping to incoporporate photos into my blog, so it should be a bit more interesting this time around.

As for last quarter, I ended well. I'm not sure what my grade was on the final exam, but I passed the class and am ready to move on to intermediate algebra...which I start on Saturday.

That's it for now, I should have something posted about the first day of class soon!

Let's Breath a Sigh of Relief

Yay! So summer quarter is finally over & I've successfully managed to get math 97 under my belt. Next up Math 98. Last night I took my final & I realized before the test that I didn't need to score any points on it to still pass the class, so that was a good feeling & helped ease the butterflies in my stomach. That being said, I think I did fairly well anyway. And in case you're wondering, I scored a 90% on the test I took last week. So though it wasn't my usual 4.0 quarter, I am pleased that I made it through math, and that If I were getting a grade rather than a pass/fail, I would still be getting an A. I think I'll give myself a pat on the back!

Okay, enough with that, let's move on. Next quarter doesn't start until the end of September, so I've got a month to relax and get mentally prepared to take two classes. Up to this point I've been concentrating on one class at a time; which makes it much easier to get a 4.0. It will be interesting to see how well I can balance the two classes & hopefull still get a 4.0 in A&P...I'm just looking for another A in math, I don't care if it's a 4.0.

Later,

So how did it go?

Well, that was a freakin' hard test! I don't think I flunked or anything, but boy do I suck at story problems. And I knew prior to that I suck at story problems, so I studied them really hard! Did I know how to do either of the ones asked on my test, of course not. Oh well, I can't be good at everything!

Okay, so as for why I'm taking notes for a girl who comes to class and takes her own notes, the story continues & gets wierder. My teacher has absolutely no idea why I'm taking notes for this girl. Apparently the girl spoke to her about it on the first day of class and provides all of the carbon paper, but she never asked why, she just said okay. Also, I realized last night that this girl never takes her tests with us in class, but always gets a graded test back the next class. My only thought is that she has some kind of learning disability, but who knows....

What the @*$%?!!!

Okay, so at the beginning of the quarter my teacher very sweetly asked me if I would take class notes on some carbon paper (that she provided) for someone in the class, who I assumed couldn't make there, or something. Anyway, I've been taking these notes all quarter & I finally found out who they are for. This is the kicker. The notes I've been taking are for a perfectly regular girl who comes to class everyday and takes her own notes as well. Why the @*$% am I taking notes for her too?! Besides being severly underweight, she is a seemingly normal girl. She asks questions, I've had coversations with her, she reads, she writes; why am I taking her notes?!!!!! I seriously don't get it.

P.S. I have my third test today! Wish me luck!

I GOT 98%!!!!!

That's all I wanted to say! I got 98% on the math test I took last wednesday. I'm so excited!!!

So It Went Much Better This Time...

Yay! I didn't have to leave any answers blank on my test this time. I knew how to do every problem! Hopefully I didn't make any stupid arithmetic errors, or mix up any signs. I think I have a definite shot at gettin an "A" on this exam. As long as my teacher doesn't lose my test again, I should find out the results on Monday. I'll keep you posted...ha ha, I didn't mean that to be a joke.

Test Number 2

My second math test is today. I'm not even going to try to predict how I'll do this time. Like last time, I've had no issue understanding in class or when doing my homework. I totally get it...too bad that doesn't mean anything! We'll see though, I'm very hopeful I'll do well. I really want 90% or better.

I've finally registered for fall quarter; here's the lineup! I'll be taking math 98! Yay! I'm on to intermediate algebra. Also, I will be taking the first class in my anatomy & physiology series. I've checked out the book lists for my classes & it sucks!!!! Tuition for the quarter is $970 & books are another $600!!!! I really hope I get my job back soon!

AND THE RESULTS ARE IN!

YAY! I DIDN'T FLUNK MY TEST...I GOT AN 84%; I'LL TAKE THAT!

AHHHHHH!!!!

So tell me this isn't the most annoying thing ever! Last night at class my teacher brought everyone's graded tests except mine!!!! My test was left at home, or at the hospital, she couldn't remember. So everyone knows how poorly they did (& everyone did poorly) except me! I tried to be very gracious about it, but inside I was like "find my damn test!" Anyway, hopefully I will have my grade by wednesday. Until then....

Finally Something to Blog About...

Hi! So I haven't really had much to say since the quarter started; in general I don't have a lot to say about math other than that I don't like it. That is still true! Mainly because it sucks, but also because I have some kind of disconnect when it comes math and I can't figure out what it is. I always understand what the teacher is lecturing about, and I never have any trouble doing my homework; I always get it. But come time for the test, I cannot do it. I suddenly forget how to do everything, even very simple math that I'm sure I know. Then, the second I hand the test in, suddenly it all comes flooding back to me. I would think it was some kind of test anxiety, but I don't have this kind of trouble on any other kind of test. Help! What's wrong with me? I am not a stupid girl, but I cannot do simple math! AHHH! I'm going crazy! Anyway, that's the end of my rant...which was completely brought on by the fact that I totally flunked my first math test on Wednesday. Later!

FIRST DAY OF CLASS

Summer vacation is officially over and I had my first day of class yesterday. I didn't finish any of the items on my vacation "to do" list, but I've got three of them started & should hopefully finish up this week since I've still got time off from work.

As for class, ugg! It sucked. Apparently I still hate math after all of these years. My class is three hours long and barely keeps my attention; math is so boring! If anyone knows any tips/tricks to make listening to a math lecture less boring, PLEASE let me know. Also, the teacher assigned like a billion problems for homework already & I have no clue about fractions, which apparently I should already know. Any tips about adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing fractions would also be helpful! Or just a link to where I can find help.

The other class I was taking, psychology, is now out...there was some kind of mix up with the registration office & now I'm on a waitlist; we'll see how that goes, but I don't have hope.

Later!

Summer Vacation!

So I'm on break this week; nothing school related to blog about...other than the fact that I have definately decided to take two classes during summer quarter. I'm all registered & paid up (the second class is generously being funded my my dad & step-mom) & just need to go buy my books. Speaking of books, text books are so overpriced; what a racket! My math book for this quarter is $300!!!! That's almost as much as the class itself. Anyway, here is my to do list for vacation...

1. Re-finish the dresser I bought at Goodwill a couple weeks ago
2. Clean/re-organize my bedroom; including going through all my clothes & getting rid of stuff I never wear
3. Clean/re-organize my closet; including going through all my shoes & getting rid of ones I never wear
4. Prep the bathroom for re-painting

It's not a very long list, but as it's already wednesday & I haven't started anything yet, we'll see what I can accomplish. If you saw my bedroom & closet, you'd know those two things were giant tasks! Also, I don't have a very long attention span & can never finish things I start...lucky for my husband!

That's all for now!

Grades!

My Bio professor posted grades early! I got a 4.0, YAY! For my final exam grade I got 105%, which actually I'm suprised about since I didn't think I answered that final essay very well. And overall for the class I averaged 103%. I don't like to gloat (ha ha, okay I do) but I had the best grade in the entire class! I am so happy with this, especially in light of the fact that I always thought I was dumb at science. But I'm not! Maybe I'm not stupid at math either...I guess we'll find out.

P.S. In addition to math I have also decided to register for Psychology 100 (General Psych). It is an online class; I've never taken one of those before & I'm a bit nervous.

The Quarter is Finally Over!!!

Okay, so yay! The quarter is over! I worked super hard, learned a ton, and had a great teacher, but I sure am glad it's done!!!! I now have one week to relax, and maybe paint my bathroom, before I start summer quarter and what is sure to be a grueling math experience. My final Bio exam went reasonable well; I admit that after all the multiple choice questions and three essay questions I was getting extremely bored of the test & did not give the final essay my full effort or usual attention to detail. I think I got in most of the pertinent details, but it was definately a very poorly written essay & I didn't answer the final part of the question (oops! missed some points there!). Oh well! I did so well on everything else this quarter I don't think that this one poorly written essay will hinder my getting a 4.0....I hope. I'll let you know once grades are posted!

Quiz Update & Final Exam

So I decided I better take the quiz seriously & not bomb it on purpose. It would just be too humiliating to get a bad score on something so easy. I got 100% again, making my total quiz score for the quarter 100% as well. So I'm pretty good with that score! I'm not sure how I could have done better...ha ha! Also, my good friend Nathan pointed out that it's always better to do your best so that you can potentially get a killer recommendation from the professor. Thanks Nathan! Anyway, all I've got left this quarter is the final exam, which is tomorrow. I'm frantically studying everything I can about evolutionary theory, biodiversity, and animals. Wish me luck!

Another Quiz!

I've got another quiz today; this time I made sure to study! The subject matter is not difficult, so I'm not expecting this to be a very hard quiz. It's the final quiz of the quarter & we get to drop our lowest score, however I got 100% on every quiz so I'm wondering why I would want to drop one of those scores. Maybe I should bomb this final quiz on purpose just to make it worth dropping one of the scores. I don't think I get any extra points for getting 100% on every quiz, I still have to drop one. What do you all think? I don't really like the idea of getting a bad score, but I don't like the idea of having to drop a good one either! UGG!

Some Bad News

So this post is entirely unrelated to school, but I received some bad news today. I got notice from my boss that I am being temporarily laid off, until business picks up. Suck! Anyway, I guess I'm going to have a lot of free time for studying! I should totally ace my math class next quarter. Maybe I'll even register for another class since I'll have some extra time. What do you all think?

Quiz Update...

Just wanted to let you all know that despite my lack of studying, the quiz went fine! I got 100%. I guess that's like positive reinforcement for my bad behavior. I don't think that's a good thing.

Quiz Today!!!

Okay, so I've got a biology quiz today that I totally didn't study for...UGG! I hate it when I make bad decisions like that. I had absolutely every intention of studying last night after work, but once I got home & made dinner, all I wanted to do was play The Sims 2...and that is exactly what I did all evening. Hopefully I will have some free time at work today so I can study, but if I do poorly it will be my own fault! We'll see how it goes...

Just To Get You Up To Speed

Since this is my first post, I want to take a minute to let you all know what's been going on so far in my nursing endeavor. I am currently in the midst of my second quarter of pre-requisites; I am taking Biology 101. I previously took an introductory Anatomy & Physiology course. I am completely loving all this science, which is a very novel thing for me! All through high school and college I thought I hated science, and that I was "not smart" at it, which made me hate it even more. However, I'm not stupid at science! I'm finding I can do very well at it & I actually like it. It's way more interesting than English or History (and I love history)...who knew!

As for my Bio 101, it's going extremely well. I just got back the results of my 3rd exam & I got a perfect score! I have done this on the previous two exams as well, but I was really worried about this one since I didn't put in my usual amount of studying. I was in Texas the week before the exam visiting my sisters, and studing just didn't seem like a very fun thing to do on my vacation. However, all is well that ends well and I am ready to step up my game for the final next week!

Next quarter I'm taking Math 97; yes, that is Elementary Algebra...UGG! I don't like math at all, and apparently I didn't retain any knowledge of any math I ever took because I did not do well on the math placement test the I recently took. On a side note, I totally aced the English one! It's a bit embarrasing that I have to start below college level math because I have a degree in economics...I'm wondering at this point how I ever managed that! Oh well, maybe I'll actually learn something this time around!

That's all for now...