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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
9:00 PM
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?Labels: career, future, spazz, vet med
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Thursday, April 24, 2008
9:17 PM
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. :)Labels: beach, food, guns
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
10:04 AM
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!Labels: random
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Wednesday, April 09, 2008
6:36 PM
I think after four months in Florida I am now fully qualified to make certain observations about the average Floridian. I live with two of them and spend quite a lot of time with one at work, and I have discussed Floridian unique behaviors and habits at length with other "visitors" here in Florida. Of all their strange and mysterious ways, we visitors tend to agree that their most bothersome behavior (and the one that bothers and affects me the most) is their obsession with health.
Granted, I think it is extraordinarily important to be physically fit and eat healthy. I probably don’t think about it nearly as much as I should (although now I do, as you’ll see after reading this post), but I am quite thankful that I do not err on the other extreme either. Floridians tend to do just this.
In Ohio, whole days passed quite happily without my thoughts ever once wandering toward what I should or should not be eating. Trips to the grocery store lasted half an hour at most, and even though I was careful to balance the "healthies" with the "unhealthies" I rarely studied nutrition labels for any length of time. Guilt rarely penetrated my mood if I skipped a day at the gym, and I observed both those skinnier and heavier than me with indifference.
Florida is a different world. It’s hard to remain unaffected when day after day conversation in the apartment revolves around calorie counting, healthy food prep, and exercise regimes. The glares and raised eyebrows I get when I choose to prepare myself a bowl of ice cream are disconcerting at least, and discouraging at worst. Discouraging, I mean, in that I’ve actually put the ice cream back in the freezer and retreated to my room to dream of the ice cream I could be eating.
A trip to Panera with one Floridian friend ended in deep depression, as this woman knew exactly how many calories were in each food item and made sure I knew it, too. If you know me at all, you know that I deeply love Panera. I used to go there after especially long, trying days to cheer myself up. Now I’m just depressed after I eat there, because all I can think about are the calories I’ve just consumed...
Grocery shopping now takes me 1.5 hours, because I have to read every single nutrition label. Anything over 300 calories doesn’t go near my shopping cart. For awhile I went to the gym every single day, spending close to an hour on an elliptical. I quickly burnt out, especially since my evenings were then shot. It was depressing - coming home from work, going to the gym, coming home, showering, and then going straight to bed. There was no time to enjoy the blissful Florida winter weather, not too hot but delightfully temperate. Only exercise, exercise, exercise, and guilt, guilt, guilt.
Never in my life has my self esteem regarding my weight been lower. I think there is such a thing as being too health conscious... it’s a little self-absorbed, don’t you think? I don’t know, maybe I’m being too sensitive. All I do now is that I’ve seen a definite change in my attitude and shopping habits, and not necessarily for the better.
I think the challenge will be to find the right balance. I haven’t gone to the gym once this week (to be fair though, I am sick), and I’ve been a bit indulgent in my dessert choices. Maybe I should start going three, maybe four times a week, and pack the chocolate pudding in my lunch every other day. Still, one of the many reasons I look forward to returning to Ohio is to escape this Floridian obsessive health insanity. Hopefully it hasn’t done too much damage. :P
P.S. I love how earlier this evening I lamented how much I was craving ice cream, and now two of my roommates have left to go get some without inviting me along. Glad to know I’m not invisible or anything.Labels: exercise, Florida
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Sunday, April 06, 2008
6:04 PM
It looks easy enough, doesn't it? Until you have 15 minutes to find an unmarked location and realize you have absolutely no frickin' clue how to get from point A to point B...
Last Tuesday I decided to work "Pirate and Princess Party" parade control. Well why not? I only get to interact with guests once a week in my current role, and I thought it might be fun to see what it's like on the "front lines". I picked up my lady-in-waiting costume and scouted out the Magic Kingdom cast parking situation well ahead of time. I was completely psyched to experience first hand the thrill of working IN Magic Kingdom.
My shift started at 6pm, and I thought two hours would be plenty of time to eat dinner and make it to cast deployment (my regular job ends at 4pm). However, I didn't take into account two things: 1) DAK's cast cafeteria closed at 4, BEFORE I made it there, and 2) Florida traffic. I had to grab a quick bite to eat at Wendy's, drive back to the Animal Programs building, change into my costume, and navigate traffic to the Magic Kingdom cast parking lot...where I promptly discovered that parking spots aren't so easy to come by. Once parked (phew!) I managed to find my way onto the right bus to take me to the tunnel entrance...
The tunnel. Here was the moment I was both dreading and so so excited about. For years I had wondered what it was like in the tunnels beneath the Magic Kingdom, and here I finally was! I wandered around wide-eyed for around 5 minutes, bumping into a character here and there, until I finally decided that there was just no way I was going to find cast deployment on my own. It wasn't me - it just wasn't marked on the map! Thank goodness my roommate Katie works down in the tunnels, so I called her for help. She found me and helped me find where I was supposed to go. I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't there, because let me tell you...it's a scary frickin' city down there!
As for the rest of the evening? Holy cow, what a disaster. I had no idea where I was supposed to be or what I was supposed to be doing half the time, and they put me with another girl who also had never work a Pirate and Princess Party before. It was the blind leading the blind! For the first half of the evening we had to check wristbands and ask those guests without tickets (or wristbands) to please leave the park. Simple enough, except I can't tell you how many times I had guests yell at me and demand to see someone in charge because they didn't know the park was closing early. Yeah, because it wasn't like there were huge signs everywhere, posted hours at the park entrance, and announcements made all day...
And then there were the guests that didn't speak a word of english. I gave up half the time, because there was just no communicating the fact that the park was c-l-o-s-e-d unless they had purchased a Pirate and Princess ticket.
The last half of the evening was parade control. My spot was directly in front of the castle, an area known as "Castle 3". Basically I just made sure people stayed on the "red cement" so they wouldn't get run over by a float or anything. Simple enough, until the parade starts and parents don't watch as their kids float further and further out into the street. Nevermind the huge float heading straight for the child. I call it natural selection, but Disney calls it a lawsuit. And so I did my job.
But of course it rained for the last half of the evening, so I was cold, wet, and tired whilst coralling children back behind the line. Ah, Florida weather. Gotta love it.
Let's see...what else to say about the evening? Well the parade was through my area by 9:10pm, and my shift wasn't supposed to end until 9:45pm. I basically hung out backstage and watched the parade exit "on stage". Very cool. :) Except for the rain. :P
I signed up for another shift the following Friday, but after the stress of that first parade control shift decided to drop it. I'd do it again, and it would probably be much easier now that I'd have some clue of what to do, but just not so soon. Maybe next month. After all, I have this sexy lady-in-waiting costume (or pirate wench) hang in my closet and nowhere to wear it. Except to the Magic Kingdom, that is. :)Labels: disney, work
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