Megan, 22/F. Ohio, USA.
University student. Christian. Zoologist. Animal Lover. Pre-Vet. Reader. Aspiring author.
Enjoys a myriad of obsessions, including random anime, Harry Potter, and
Broadway musicals. More?
So here I am. A graduate student, pursuing a Master's degree in Public Health, and yet unsatisfied still. Last month I submitted by application to veterinary school, and all I can do now is wait to hear whether or not I'll get an interview. In the meantime, it's all I can do to maintain some sort of sanity while studying health care policy, health behavior, biostatics, and zoonotic diseases.
And tonight, it's health policy that wears so roughly on my mental stability. I have a 1200-1500 word paper due Wednesday, and I've been doing research all night...
Brain. Fried.
Tomorrow is Veteran's day, and so no classes! A welcome reprieve? Unfortunately no, but rather a day to catch up on all the school work I haven't had time to complete (including that paper I just mentioned). Maybe I'll shoot for a solid 8 hours of sleep tonight, a rare thing indeed in this life of mine.
At least my birthday is coming up.
Oh! I did go to the Columbus Art Museum Sunday afternoon with Quincy. I forgot how much I enjoy museums and making fun of art I don't get. This museum has a rather amusing section called "Objects of Wonder" that captivated us for a solid 1.5 hours. Lots of bug collections, taxidermy, and kinematic devices. Whatever those are.
I'm still depressed that "A Tale of Two Cities" closed Sunday evening. On the upside, James and several other "Tale" cast members are now in rehearsals for the new "Count of Monte Cristo" musical. I really enjoy period pieces, and this one promises to be wonderful! I can't wait to hear the score, seeing as the music is being composed by Frank Wildhorn. I love his "Jekyll and Hyde", so I have high hopes for this musical!
Because I'm still in morning, I'll leave you with a video of the delicious and AMAZINGLY talented James singing "I Can't Recall" (from "A Tale of Two Cities"), complete with his sexy Sydney Carton trench coat. This song brought me to tears when I saw him perform it in person... :_(
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Apparently it's the worst of times.
My parents took me to New York City this past September for several days to celebrate my graduation from Ohio State. While there, we saw a brand new Broadway musical called "A Tale of Two Cities", based on the book of the same name by Charles Dickens. Though still in previews, all three of us were absolutely blown away and deeply moved by the production.
Sadly, due to an ailing economy and vicious critics, this show is closing tomorrow night. Thank you, stuffy, cynical, out-of-touch Broadway critics for killing any chance this show had to do well. The lights on Broadway just got a little dimmer.
I'm still holding out for a Broadway cast recording, and James Barbour had better get a Tony nomination for his role as Sydney Carton. My heart still flutters and my legs get a little wobbly just remembering his voice.
Here's what James had to say on his blog yesterday:
When I'm on stage at night looking out at the audience standing on their feet at the end of the show, I know that we've done something good. I know that we have moved folks in a positive way. I know that we have taken people on a journey that they will hopefully remember for a long time to come.
I made a promise to myself a long time ago that my work, whatever it is, be a catalyst for positive change in the world. If I can affect one person in a positive way then I've done something good.
Tale's message of love and hope is one that is universal in our world. It is one that I take each night as I don the character of Carton and is a journey that I am truly grateful to have trekked.
But most importantly grateful to have shared it with all of you.
Here's to a few more performances and a few more moments to cherish.
"Tale" is everything a Broadway musical is supposed to be. It was the first and only show I've ever seen on Broadway, and I couldn't have chosen better. It's just too bad more people won't get to experience it.
Be very glad my friends that I am in Florida and you are, well, wherever you are, and therefore don't have to deal with my spastic-ness in person. As a matter of fact if you wish to spare yourself the pain of venturing into the mind of a very stressed, very anxious Megan, then I suggest you stop reading. Still with me? Well, you were warned.
So I'm graduating this August. Originally my plan was to return to Columbus and take classes this summer and autumn, with the intent to graduate in December. However, housing complications have arisen, and now (simply put) I have nowhere to live come September. Not a big deal, right? I have been looking forward to getting my own place for awhile, and this simply pushes up the date by about three months.
...Except it's not so simple. I never intended to take classes full time AND pay rent on my own, but that's exactly what I would have to do if I stuck with my original plan.
And so what options am I left with? This is where things get messy, because I'm going to have a full year to do whatever prior to (hopefully) vet school in September 2009. And that's assuming I get in.
So here are my options, come September:
1) Move back home with mom and dad, and acquire a full time job in a veterinary hospital to rack up some experience for vet school.
Advantages: -Save money on rent! -Mom and dad want me home -Close to family
Disadvantages: -Can't bring Mutu (third cat) -I'll be living with my mom and dad... -Fewer vet opportunities in Cuyahoga Falls -Necessity of finding a new fellowship. Goodbye Columbus friends/church!
2) Stay in Columbus and find a full time job
Advantages: -Keep Mutu!!! -Stay in fellowship -More vet opportunities
Disadvantages: -Far from family :( :( -Expensive! -Will need to find a new place to stay
3) Apply to OSU's College of Public Health, for matriculation into the Master's in Public Health program this fall (with a veterinary public health specialization).
Advantages: -Financial aid -I would stay in Columbus...see option 2 above. -I would be in school for a full year prior to vet school! :) I'm a little worried about taking a full year off... -I would really like my MPH (very advantageous for vet school/career)
Disadvantages: -Applications are due by the end of May, which would require me to retake the GRE and find letters of recommendation by then. -More debt. -...Far from family, etc.
4) Look for another internship with a starting date in September, preferably in the zoo field.
Advantages: -Continued investigation in careers outside of veterinary medicine -I love conservation biology! :) :) Bring on the zooooooooos!
Disadvantages: -A lot. (money, leaving Columbus/family, what to do with pets, etc. etc.)
5) Join the secretive ninja asassination squad that has been trying to recruit me for the past several years.
Advantages: -I would make a kick-ass asassin
Disadvantages: -I have a problem with killing people. -Unless they're poachers. Must remember to ask about possible openings in Africa...
I guess the trick will be survive until the conclusion of this internship, and then figure out what I want to do. Unless, of course, I decide on option 3 (MPH), in which case I have a heck of a lot to do and not a lot of time in which to do it.
Sigh. Would someone please just tell me what to do?
Okay, note to self: It is NOT a good idea to first gorge one's self on a meal from the Bear Rock Cafe and then immediately take a long walk around the neighborhood. I swear, there really is something to the old rule that says you should wait so long after you eat before engaging in strenuous physical activity. Granted, walking isn't exactly strenuous, but it can be when you've just eaten really heavy food...
Enough complaining. :P My stomach ache will go away in time, and I'm thinking sleep is just the cure I need.
Today is my "Sunday", the end of my weekend, and tomorrow it's back to work. I'm not particularly looking forward to waking up at 6am tomorrow morning, but I had a really great weekend and am feeling pretty refreshed. Yesterday I drove to Daytona Beach to visit my sister and Ryan (her husband). They flew in to Orlando yesterday morning for a week long vacation in an ocean front motel in Daytona Beach. So yes, I finally made my beach sojourn, although it hardly counted as such. It was way too windy and cold to actually venture into the ocean, so we resorted to simply walking along the ocean with sunglasses and tightly closed mouths - lest the sand blow into our mouths and eyes!
I didn't mind the weather though...I was just so damn happy to see Kel and Ryan! I haven't laughed as hard as I laughed with them yesterday since I was back in Ohio. It was so nice, so refreshing, and so damn difficult to say goodbye! I really hope the weather clears up for them, because it would be pretty disappointing to travel all this way, only to enjoy ocean views instead of ocean swims and sunbathing.
As for today...well I made my first trip to the gun range with Dan, Deb's husband (Deb = my coworker and friend). Last week was my no-ammo lesson, when we covered gun safety, grip, and mechanisms. Today I actually got to shoot guns. Lots of guns. I learned how to shoot a revolver, 21, and 9mm (semi-automatic) all in one morning! Yes, I am a bad-ass. :) I think I did pretty well for my first in-range lesson, and even hit the bullseye a few times! The revolver was much more difficult to shoot, because the "kick" was significantly more substantial and the pull a little stiffer. I am such a geek...at one point I imagined myself as Anita Blake, landing a few silver bullets in some rogue werewolf...
Yes, I'm not normal. :) But normalcy is soooo overrated, don't you think?
Dan and Deb are leaving for a cruise this Saturday, and I am house/pet-sitting for them while they're gone. They have three dogs and two cats: Tika, Sterm, and Keira are the dogs; Imp and Myth are the cats. I am REALLY looking forward to some "fur time" because I miss my own "fur children" so much! Plus it will be nice to have a whole house to myself for a few days. I'm especially looking forward to Wednesday and Thursday, my days off, because there won't be any roommates to wake me up ungodly early when I don't have to be up. I was up at 7am both today and yesterday thanks to they-who-speak-loudly. Gosh how I would love to sleep in past 7am just one morning! Is that really so unreasonable?
Alas, tomorrow it's a 6am wake-up call. Work awaits... Although nothing ever feels like work at Disney World. Not really. :)
Please...don't call me at 8am from an unlisted number on my day off and NOT leave a message. It's just not something I appreciate. As a matter of fact it makes me downright hostile. Yeah, you have a great day too.
>_< GRRRRRRRRRRRR!
So Mozilla Firefox is officially my new favorite browser. It is SO much faster than Internet Explorer! I used to think my computer was just crapping out on me, but now I wonder if the boggy-ness of doom I'm always complaining about is really a result of IE crappiness. That would be lovely, because I really can't afford a new computer right now.
Actually, I really can't afford anything right now. My bank account is shrinking instead of growing, which is a major major problem seeing as finances are going to be tight enough as it is when I return to Columbus... So no more unnecessary purchases for me. (Yeah, we'll see how long this goes.)
This really wasn't supposed to turn into a full post, but I'm feeling chatty and have absolutely nothing planned for today (my Saturday). Disney is always an option, but Disney = gas = money on gas = money I don't have. Shit, I'm turning into a stressed out high octane adult who worries incessantly about money whilst hyped up on too much caffeine. Sigh.
Oh, and CBS's show "Moonlight", FYI, is by far the best bit of television I've seen in awhile. I refuse to watch reality television, and my tastes have always wandered toward the fantastic and supernatural. "Moonlight" caters to my more eccentric sensibilities and fills the void Buffy left a few years ago. The show certainly doesn't reach Buffy standards, but A) it features a hot vampire, B) the story lines are actually interesting, C) the acting is quite good, and D) it features a hot vampire. Oh, and did I mention it features a hot vampire?
Like all good television that randomly surfaces nowadays, "Moonlight" too will probably be canceled after a few more episodes. Because it, like, takes like a few more brain cells to, like, you know, follow. :P These are indeed dark times in television history, my friends.
Off to do something productive................maybe!
