Week 16

As you can see I gave up on the week numbers being in different languages, got old. I am now reporting to you as an almost P1.5! I have taken three finals and only have two more to go! Very exciting, I am not gonna lie though, this week has been very stressful, but as Marie says, I wasn't forced to go to pharmacy school so no point in biotching about it.

Comprehensive pharmacy phinals (as us cool kids call it) kind of suck. Okay, they suck pretty bad, I am not gonna lie, but they are doable, especially in some classes where they let you know what you need to focus on. Of course these last two tests I have no such luck, so I am going through hundreds of slides worth of material trying to pull out the gems from the crap. I don't know where that analogy came from, but I am gonna roll with it.

This week has also been killer to my sleep schedule, staying up until 3 or 4 and then getting up at 6 is no bueno. I am going to sleep for a day after this semester is over! Which is in only 3 days!!!! Passing this semester (hopefully) is going to be the best thing ever. I cannot wait to get my life back. I miss hanging out with Marie, that's for sure. So all you pre-pharmacy kidz, get your family and friend time in now, cause it pretty much goes bye-bye when you step into the realm of a PharmD candidate. And be prepared to stay up late and get up early! It's not uncommon to pull multiple all nighters in a row. Caffeine pills will be your best friend!

Okay, back to studying now, sorry the PharmD life hasn't been very interesting lately, but when all you literally do is eat, sleep (HAHA), and study, not much can happen.

I'll leave with some advice from a P2, "In pharmacy you have to learn to adapt, or else you're not gonna make it. If that means sitting in the same spot for a day studying or sleeping only two or three hours at a time, then you just do it. Carry a toothbrush on you and get it done." -Frank Da Tank

Seis Semananas!

My Dear Readers, today is a joyous day, it is the end of the school week! We had our first exam this week. Some people thought it to be easy, others challenging, and some even cried. I myself though the material was fair, but the questions were a little rough. Almost every question had a none of the above, all of the above, A and C but not B, A on Tuesday B on Wednesday, and all other crazy types of combinations. It completely defeated the purpose of having multiple choice which, upon reflection, may be a good thing. However, being the red-blooded American that I am, I always wanted there to be an answer so I wasn't comfortable putting none of the above, I missed a question because the answer was "Not enough information given", and I just thought I was doing the problem wrong and chose the answer closest to my worked out answer. When I saw that I just about puked in frustration. It was a learning experience and I now know to expect there to be answers like that on the test. So now we have begun the crazy loop-to-loop, corkscrew, sharp turn, head banging, chest slamming, scream filled decent, of our roller coaster ride that I call pharmacy school. We finally made it past the ka-chink phase and so far have survived. Five tests in the next two weeks! May the force be with you my PharmD seeking brethren.

In other news, I did a volunteer stint at the American Heart Walk this morning. We did a health screening and it was very fun and enlightening. I took blood pressures and directed traffic. Put listen and ask a lot of advice from you if you wear a white coat while doing it. Pretty neat. I didn't get to do the glucose and cholesterol checks this time, but next time I will be sticking folks like a porcupine! I was also interviewed by someone from the American Heart Walk Association and she said she is putting it up on the national website! Now I just have to wait to be discovered! I always told Marie I would be famous one day.

I have decided that sleep is going to be something that pharmacy students are not allowed and hopefully I get used to that soon. For now I will just pop caffeine pills like they're Tic-Tacs. I realize why a lot of pharmacists have trouble sleeping after they graduate. This is a rough life style to get back out of afterwards. Hopefully Marie will understand. By the way if you don't read her blog, you should fool! It's good! Lot's of arts and crafts and great recipes. Also she has a very cheerful disposition and it's a good read. And this is coming from a completely unbiased third party. Here's the link  http://marieeliz.blogspot.com/. 

I will leave you with a picture of one of the few things that brings me pure unadulterated joy.

Is she not the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen? No doubt about it, her and Greg are our babies!

I hope this next week treats you well my homies! I will hit you up again in seven days. Peace be with you!

Fourth Week.....

So today marks the end of another week in school. I am not gonna lie, I wish it could go by even faster! I have been staying up late and getting up early everyday of the week. Except today, I had off and finally got to sleep in! Too bad I have to study! School has been pretty rough and I can tell all my friends are starting to feel the pressure also. Our first test is in a two weeks and we are all nervous as to how it's going to be. After that test it's non-stop until finals week. I am kind of ready for it though. I feel like I am at the part on a roller coaster where it is slowly bringing you up to the peak before you go flying down the other side. The "Ka-chink, Ka-chink" part. And I have that feeling where I am excited for it, but also kind of regretting getting on the ride. Hopefully all goes well.

So I decided to transfer back to my old store in Dripping Springs. It's a longer drive but a lot less stressful of an environment. I called and told my pharmacist and she said she started jumping up and down. Apparently they miss me and things haven't been going to well since I left, though I am pretty sure it's just because school started and business picked up. So we'll see if I make any difference. I wouldn't mind working over there as a pharmacist when I graduate, the people can be a little rude, but the area is very nice and lots of land equals lots of fun!

Mondays are now going to suck pretty bad, as the lab we have is fairly ridiculous. It took three hours to go over 10 problems. And that was with us just copying down the answers. I still need to go back through and re-do them all for the quiz on Monday. Thank god for Tuesdays and Thursdays, it's very pleasant to get out after only two classes, they are my "I'm not gonna freak out on everyone" days. Wednesdays aren't too bad and well Fridays, Fridays are the days I get to come home, after nine hours of class, and have a beer and reflect on the week. It's the little things that help you make it through pharmacy school. So Rule# 39: Enjoy the little things.

For those of you out there reading this that plan on going to pharmacy school, don't let this blog discourage you. Just be prepared for a very hectic and slightly depressing four years! It will be worth it once I have that beautiful doctorate and a nice number from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy though! If only I were master HP, then I'd use a wine out of nothing spell and enjoy a nice glass right now. So long Dear Readers, see you next week.

Oh my gosh! I almost forgot! We went to Ikea yesterday, and there was a family of hipsters there. One of their kids name was "Satchel"! WTF!!!!! What is wrong with people! How is that poor kid not going to be made fun of, and why would you as a parent name them that. SOOOOOOOOO DUMB! It's people like that, that make my heart sad for the future of this world. "Satchel". (Shaking my head slowly) I guess their next kids will be "Fanny Pack" and "Beach Tote". Pathetic! Also, Ikea screwed us again. They never have everything in stock that we need. We got the book shelf but they were out of extra shelves for it! Even Marie was saying "F Ikea". And they are never close enough to where it's like, "Ok, I'll just drive ten minutes to come back another time." It's always forty-five minutes away!

Second week

Alrighty then! Who would have thought life could get even busier! It's totally insane! I know that if it weren't for Marie I would never eat anything more than a frozen dinner. Have you ever had so much on your mind that you literally aren't hungry because you can't think about it? So the loving wife cooks and forces food down my gullet. She's beautiful.

On to the good stuff, so we still haven't started one of the labs, Physical and Chemical properties of drugs (VOMIT), so Monday wasn't too bad. But it'll get there. The rest of the week up until Friday was just like undergrad, maybe a little more intense, but not too bad. Thursday I had to go to an event for UT-APhA-ASP, short name huh? It was fun but time consuming. But the duties of Historian call! It's really funny to play games like Taboo and Apples to Apples with a whole bunch of nerds. We use drugs as clues, for example, the word is allergies, first thing out of my mouth "You take diphenhydramine for it!". We are super fly!

Friday, Friday, please kill me on Friday! Get there at 830am leave at 630pm. Oh and no breaks! Literally class-class-class-to god kill me-class. Then a lab! Three hours in the same room listening to someone explain Arrow Pushing is not my idea of fun. Then you're supposed to go home and study? NO WAY! Applebee's and cheap beer to the rescue. So Marie and I got to enjoy some us time that night, Bridget Jones' Diary, Marie says I kind of look like Collin Firth and she has a mad old man crush on him. So I guess it could have been worse. I do know that Fridays my brain will be too full to add more info after I leave school.

Then that brings us to today. Work my butt off, but at least the time goes by quickly. So check it, the pharmacist I work with is the wife to one of my professors! What are the odds of that? Out of all the CVSs we happen to work at the same one. So of course I threatened to make her life hard if she didn't tell her husband to give me an A. You know the norm.

Our cats are crazy! Greg tried to jump up on my shoulder and instead sunk his claws into my neck. I spanked him and then felt bad about it as he gazed at me with the "Big Eyes". Such a douche! But so damn cute! Sophie is asleep on my socks, freak.

Well that was another week in the PharmD life. Pretty soon Dear Reader, you will graduate with me and we can practice pharmacy together! Wouldn't that be nice! Now time to write my paper! Elderly People and Why we shouldn't not care.

Peace

First Week of School

Alright so here is my blog for pharmacy school. So last week was the first week of school, two days orientation and three half class days. Monday and Tuesday ended up lasting about 12 hours each. We learned about what to expect and did touristy stuff. Easy but tiring. Oh and Monday we had a White Coat Ceremony, give us our coats and put everyone to sleep with a talk on the history of pharmacy. Mine is a little too small and looks like on Tommy Boy when he puts on David Spade's coat, "Fat guy in a little coat!" 

Then Wednesday the fun began, we had two short classes and a lecture on Alzheimer's. Or was that Thursday? Oh no! Early dementia, seriously though I think my mom my have dementia, though mild. Then Friday we got done early and Marie commandeered me, even though there was a Luau with free BBQ, she wanted to have some alone time and we went to a sushi place for dinner. It was happy hour and we got a ton of sushi for cheap, not to mention two pints! Then we went to bed at....... 830pm! We were both so worn out from the week, and we ended up sleeping for twelve hours. 

Saturday and Sunday weren't too eventful, just hung out then did school work. And now it's Monday! Time to start the real schooling, I am starting on my research paper and then I am going to study for two hours. Greg is being the baby face and rubbing on everything on my desk, because he loves to help! 

Oh and Target and Old Navy both sold out of polos, so we'll have to go back another time I guess. How do you sell out of polos! Stupid school starting and what not! Oh and I got my hair cut at a super nice place, you may have heard of it, "Super Cuts". I think it's French or something. 

Any ways, I will try and update once a week so all of y'all wanting to go to pharmacy school can see what it's like. Oh the best thing about pharmacy school is that 125 of us have to do the same thing at the same time, so we have crashed two website servers and counting! Just another week in the PharmD Life.