Not so productive

Ugh. So Wednesday has passed by long ago and I'm not sure if I accomplished much so far. I submitted my NECO application and filled out a bit of the UW application which finally came on Tuesday. Jessica helped me out with my 'Death Assignment' for Geron 255 for which I'm grateful for.

I'm a little worried about that assignment :P but we will see how it goes.

I've already gotten marks back for most of my midterms. 78 in 345, 78 in 444, and 84 in 212. All in all okay marks, averages out to 80 not taking into account how much each is worth.

I need to finish my applications... they are like big weights on my shoulder and if I just get them done I will feel much better.

Having labs every week doesn't help either. I live in B1-378 every morning it seems like. Although doing the labs isn't that bad, it's just all the little things that need to be handed in at random times. There always seems to be something to work on that interrupts your time that you have free. Shrug. Optometry school will be pretty busy anyway so I might as well get used to it, however there probably wouldn't be so many little assignments due all the time at random times. Not to mention I would actually enjoy the fact that, hey, I'm in a program that will lead somewhere in life.

I think that is what has really gotten to me now. It's not so much the workload, because it really isn't that bad, it's the looming graduation ahead without knowing what's going to happen after.

I'm also not looking forward to missing a ton of class to go for interviews in the US. I'm also not looking forward to travelling to unknown places by myself. Then again, it'll all be new experiences. Kind of like when I first flew to Toronto on my own it seemed so bizarre but now it's no big deal.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what else to say, I just figured updating would be nice.

Wednesday

Oh boy, I can't wait until Wednesday.

I've got a midterm tomorrow and a hard one on Wednesday. Once that's done with I've got an hour class after and then no midterms unil the 7th (and 8th).

I plan on getting my NECO application sent off by Wednesday and possibly my SUNY application as well. Heck, maybe my PCO one too. If not that day then by Thursday hopefully.

My week break between all my midterms will hopefully be productive. I need to catch up on some readings, do lab summaries, lab results, and maybe even start studying ahead of time. That way I won't be so damned crammed for time like now.

Speaking of which, gotta finish off reading some notes and then I think it's off to bed.

Microorganisms and Food

So the midterm for my Microorganisms and Food (Biol 345 for those that care) is tomorrow morning.

I've been racking my brain for the past few days with this course because I have no idea what can be asked. It's all written and the information has so much little tiny tidbits it's hard to see a big picture (other than the obvious one - food is spoiled by microorganisms).

I'm taking this course because I thought it would be interesting. Don't get me wrong, it is. I just should have thought about how hard it would be... but then again, I haven't actually been tested on any of it yet, so we will see after tomorrow.

In the past ten minutes or so I've had that sudden change where I feel like I know something. Suddenly all the doom and gloom disappeared and I feel like I have a chance!

In other news, I feel like I've been productive now that I've sent out some requests for letters of recommendation. My goal is to get all my stuff out there by the end of the month, ie. requested my letters, fired off the first part of the applications, sent OAT scores, transcripts, etc. Then I just have to wait for things to come back, send them off and voila. Wait.

I also just realised that going for interviews is going to be a pain. I'll be missing lots of class most likely and that isn't cool. I'm going to have to scavenge notes off people. I'll be like all those other kids that use UWAce begging for notes because they missed a class... I wonder how many of them actually get notes. Perhaps I'll be proactive and if I know what dates I'll be missing class ahead of time, I can ask before, and not after. A-ha! Clever. :P

And now, time to get a good night's sleep and do some quick review in the morning.

Tired

I'm so tired.

Not really physically but more so mentally.

I'm tired of being an undergrad. My fourth year is so useless I almost wish I had applied to US schools last year. Maybe if I did then I would finally be learning things that are a little more relevant to what I want to do - like everyone else.

I'm still waiting on Waterloo to send me the application I applied for almost a month ago. In my experience, Waterloo is well experienced in getting important things, like, acceptance letters, information packages, applications, and more, to you at the slowest pace. Maybe it just comes with being 'the most innovative' and 'among the world's best'. Who knows... or should I say, "Why not?".

Yet still I hold on to that hope that 'hey, maybe they will accept me!'

If not, I'll go to Boston. Boston seems to be my first choice.

I don't know where I'm going with this. To sum it up: Realizing I'm in my fourth year in an almost dead-end major at a school that is synonomous with crushing the dreams of many once 'top of the class' students sucks.

I still have the land of the "American Dream" as back-up though.

On another slightly related note: If I knew I could have done my science undergrad at a school that has a completely unknown science faculty, done stellar in two years, and get accepted into UW Optometry, I probably wouldn't have thought to myself "If I go to UW, it will show that I'm really determined to get into Optometry!".

I'm so bitter. Really I should be angry with myself but it's easier to blame something else. My posts always lead from, "X sucks. X sucks because of Y. Y = Waterloo." Predictable. Yet in the end it's still the goal. I'm starting to think that the only reason I want to go to Waterloo for Optometry is because now I know Jessica is there. Going to a different university is going to be hard and I'm not looking forward to it. Another problem is all I see and hear about UW Optometry is the negative. I never hear anything good about it and Waterloo doesn't have to even boast about it's program because really, Canadians have no other choice in Canada. It's either know fluent French, or pay out your unmentionable orifices to go to the US. What competition is there for UW Optometry? They have no need to attract the best students for fear they might go to another school because there isn't any. It's like a monopoly...

...and it's not nearly as fun to play.

That's enough for now. I've got more to rant and this probably isn't very coherent. Next time I should post something when I'm not so tired/disgruntled/have a bleak outlook on life (which honestly, is more often... it just doesn't make for as interesting blogs, no?).

350

Huzzah. Another record-breaking length of time has passed between updating my blog.

Not much to say, hence the no updating business. Jessica's in Optometry now, I'm not. I go to class, try to stay awake and learn more things that don't necessarily directly relate to anything that I want to do.

I live in the same place as last year, different room, same setup. Uhm...

I have a cold and it blows. I have eleven midterms but I've done one. Four quizzes, two assignments, and sevenish lab related crap. I live in B1-378. Five days a week from 9-12, fun. I think I got sick in one of my microbio labs because people that want to be doctors don't know how to sterilize things properly. Or not.

I'm applying to US Optometry schools. Also fun. New England (Boston), Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York. Waterloo as well of course. Which brings me to their application process. More like, "what application?". Supposedly they are changing the process because as everyone knows it's full of hot air and no one knows why people get in or don't get in. "We look for well rounded students and marks aren't everything (aside: except we don't care about you unless you have an 82+ average because that's all we say we've accepted in the past on our website). I'm bitter, yes. I'm also annoyed with this cold, which I think makes me bitter. Any other day I'm all, "Waterloo Optometry! Yes!" but I feel so blah. Mein Nase :P

So yes, that's what I can think of. My partial update. In a nutshell, I'm still powering on in his last year of Undergrad holding on to that goal of Optometry. Someone important should notice soon. Numbers aren't everything.