The first week of exams...

In all honesty, I am having a ridiculously hard time justifying my time spent on writing this blog. You see, about five minutes previous to this moment, I had put my finishing touches (in my humble and incredibly biased opinion) on a spectacular post. Ironically, I was just patting myself on the back for how little of time spent on it. So karma obviously had to give me a good one, two punch and allow me to delete it in my “Notes” section of my iPhone. And no I did not have it saved anywhere else. And yes, I am the only one who actually uses their “Notes” app for extended paragraphs… WHICH OBVIOUSLY IS A HORRIBLE IDEA. In a last ditch effort to save my work, I googled “undo” actions for the iPhone. Turns out if you shake it hard enough, an option comes up to undo the last action. Too bad the last action I made was to angrily type random letters, in toddler tantrum fashion. Touche karma, Touche. So, to much adui, this is my shortened and less fabulous blog post. It is hard to recreate pure genius.. but I did my best  :P

“Freaking out is an understatement. I was so consumed with thinking about it, I left the stove on and almost added salt to my chai.” - Anita Jacob

It's hard to imagine we are entering our fifth week of optometry school. It seems like just yesterday we sheepishly arrived, ignorant to the eminent torture we chose to self inflict. Though overwhelming at first, we all seemed to find a rhythm of normalcy. Laden with trepidation, our inbox received the first blow to this established existence: our very first exam schedule. Instantaneously, a shadow was cast over the lecture hall. It was enough to make even the most prepared student feel the urge to cringe. The countdown was on. All of a sudden, It was as though school was put in fast forward, each day passing by more quickly than the next. The days left to study loomed over my head like a dark cloud ready to drench me in anxiety.The dreaded test week begins on Wednesday. With ten exams in seven school days, it is hard to do much of anything non-academic without being ridden with guilt. Even simple tasks such as showering and eating are considered time consuming. Basically, if it is not relevant to exam week it feel like, for all intensive purposes, cheating on optometry school. 

Before starting optometry school, I could spend hours on end pinning DIY projects, and makeup tips on Pinterest. To quench this thirst and satisfy my detrimental need for studying, I have started to use Pinterest to supplement my in class materials. Now among my fashionista style and holiday decorations lies a board for histology and neuroanatomy. Talk about killing two birds with one social media stone. A girl is got to get her fix somehow! If you haven't checked it out as a resource, I recommend you do so. And if you need a starting place, you can check out my educational (and not so educational) pinterest board here:

http://www.pinterest.com/spiccolo/boards/

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Another sneaky study trick that I enjoy is Youtubing. And no, I am not talking about "Charlie Bit Me" or “What does the fox say",  though who doesn’t enjoy a vicious toddler or a man shamelessly dancing as a woodland creature. In all honesty, I have found some great physiology and neuroanatomy videos that can really simplify topics when text just isn't doing it. Here are some of my favorite physiology videos thus far:

Primary and Secondary Active Transport
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGF6ry0SWPs

Molarity/Molality/Osmolarity/Osmolality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Bb43LApog

Tonicity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MWl3DCa2uM

Endocytosis (Clathrin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZFnO5RY1cU

Endocytosis/Exocytosis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8vAWJIxeyE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWoByoiDAL4

Graded Potential
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy7_o4_3YD4

EPSP/IPSP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rhj8ZTMwSI

Action Potential
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfZq-gQvKkI

Action Potential (longer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifD1YG07fB8

A.P. (even longer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnKMB11ih2o

Ionotropic Receptor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yF0LPQT8Ic

Metabotropic Receptor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNv92siprWs

Second Messengers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDSh1jFB2U8

G-Coupled (Basic)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB7YfAvez3o

Heterotrimeric G-Protein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_0EcUr_txk

G Prot, PPC, IP3, DAG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bbBrpgeheY

Motor neuron action at neuromuscular junction:
http://youtu.be/L2p73iuKJGY

Step by Step details of events at neuromuscular junction:
http://youtu.be/y7X7IZ_ubg4

How a muscle cell is signalled and then contracted:
http://youtu.be/CepeYFvqmk4

Muscle Contraction Animation:
http://youtu.be/WVuW560nRII

Cross Bridge (Step By Step):
http://youtu.be/Ct8AbZn_A8A

Well, as much as I love procrastinating… I must get back to the all important and time consuming task of studying. Happy test week everyone!