Climbing

Climbing was great, although I may have pushed it a little too hard. My wrist still isn't fixed from bowling, but it'll be better soon. I also managed to over-exert my digital flexors if there is such a thing in the human body. On the plus side I got up a few 6a graded climbs with no trouble as well as a difficult overhang and some blob style climbs. There isn't a lot of time to train in the next few weeks, but I'll be there when I can.

So for the rest of the night I'm going to a friend's house party for a couple of hours, and then I may go to another pub, but the DVD and a beer at home is looking so much nicer right now.

Oh and I also just tried to put the kettle in a kitchen cupboard when making tea. Silly. Very silly.

Finished!

All done! I'm very happy it's over and now I plan to relax by climbing and visiting friends tonight. For the next 30 minutes however I'm going to sit and vegitate.

Running

I just signed up to do the Great North Run in September for the Guide Dogs. I must be mad.

Bowling

I just went bowling as a bit of a break from revision and managed to screw up my wrist. It now hurts when I move it and makes some lovely crunching sounds. Bugger. Come to me tubigrip!

More Revision

Nearly there! Only 1 exam to go then it's summer time. Woo! Now I just have to concentrate on reproduction, neurology and large animal anatomy.

The last exam on Friday was evil. It was the spot exam from the course Introductory Pathology and Infectious Disease - kind of a practical exam where there are various stations with things relevant to the course. We were told there would mainly be parasitology questions, for example there would be a station with a microscope and a parasite such as:

An Ixodes tick

With questions like "What is this?" and "What is it a vector for" expected. We were also told there would be a few bacteriology and virology questions, but no more than a couple of each. Turns out most of the exam was bacteriology, which I hadn't revised too much. Many people, including myself, were put off our step by this. Not impressed. It was difficult enough without losing the memory of all those bacteria names. Staphylococcus equi was on the tip of my frontal lobes so many times.

At least it's over now. Until the resit. Hopefully there will be exam results soon and I can find out exactly how badly it went

Happy Birthday

Yes I have survived another year. Strange to think this time last year I had finished my exams and my degree and was basking in the rain. Or I think I was building a garage.

This year is less fun. I have managed to pick up a cold and have exams. Not amused.

3 Peaks

During my last visit to Wales I was asked by the vets I was working with if I would like to join them on the 3 peaks challenge this year. I decided this sounded like fun and I've always wanted to try it. I got a call last week asking if I was still up for it.

It's not going to be easy, especially given my week of work previously and the travel involved, but it does mean I get free transport home! We are planning to do this on June 30th. I'm working on a chicken farm until June 29th. And I need to move house.

The plan so far:

• Monday 25th - Start chicken work. Also start to tidy flat and get ready to move out.
• Thursday 28th - Finish moving things out of the flat. This could be an issue as I don't have anywhere else to live yet. Or anywhere to store stuff. I shall sleep in a sleeping bag tonight.
• Friday 29th - Go to work. Get back home around 1800. Eat. Finish cleaning. Change kit load from smelly boiler suit to many thin layers. Load up with mars bars. The Welsh team are possibly coming to find me around midnight.
• Saturday 30th - 0400. Start climbing Ben Nevis.
• Saturday 30th - 0900. Get off Ben Nevis and drive south. Sleep in the car.
  
• Saturday 30th - Unknown. Climb Scarfell Pike. Drive south and west. Sleep in the car.
• Saturday 30th - Late. Climb Snowdon.
• Saturday 30th - No later than 2300. Get off Snowdon. Get in to pub. Sleep in the car.
• Sunday 1st - Die.
• Monday 2nd - Start 3 weeks work with horses.

We shall see. Updates as and when I get more organised. The big thing is finding somewhere to store my stuff and somewhere to live. If all else fails I can store bits of kit in various locations around Edinburgh. Going to be a pain to get it back though.

Resit

Had the horse husbandry resit today, and I think it went rather well. I had to deal with the external examiner and an annoyed horse in the rain, but I'm getting a good feeling. If I had failed I will not be happy. The resit was much harder than the first time around, there were many questions on horses and bits of horse, as well as diets, bedding etc. We shall see.

Shambo

I've been reading over the past few days about a bull in South Wales which has tested positive for TB. Usually these animals are slaughtered in order to prevent the spread of disease. The animal in this case, Shambo, belongs to a a Hindu group who believe he is sacred and refuse to let him be put down. To me this is rather a silly idea. This bull is a resevoir for disease and could potentially infect others. Animal welfare is extremely important, but some people just take it too far.

Parasites

My next challenge, apart from evil equids, is parasitology. It's been a while since I last looked over this stuff, but most of it seems to be in my brain somewhere. Revision seems to be working in this case, now I just need to get on with it. Today was mites, fleas and ticks. Fairly easy stuff to remember, these parasites are pretty boring apart from the diseases they can transmit. Lyme's disease, Yersinia pestis, tapeworms etc etc. All great fun.

After parasites comes viruses and bacteria. I may have the upper hand in these exams though. More about that at a later date. Then finally on May 31st comes "Body System 2" with the joy and excitement that is reproduction, large animal anatomy, neurology and something else I've possibly forgotten. This is possibly not the best of starts.

Work

I have escaped work, yay! I am a member of the bar staff (some say senior bar staff) here in Edinburgh. It's a really fun job. We pride ourselves on being the best of the chain of pubs in the area. Where other bars have 4 bar staff on, we have 2. We do not only work bar, we cook food, tend to the building, be security for the building and other things besides. To put it blunty we are great. We do however finish earlier than the other pubs so we do get a chance at going out for a pint. For 2 years now we have been saying we would visit other pubs post-shift. Tonight it happened. It was fun but tiring. I'm due back in a few hours and am mildly inebriated. Whoops!

Horses

Today was the horse revision session before the practical exam next week. There is so much stuff to remember! We spent over an hour going through various bits and pieces ranging from breeds to aging by teeth to bedding and feeding. I'm feeling more confident about this resit and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable around horses in general, although they are still evil evil creatures, unlike turtles. We like turtles.

Climbing!

I finally got to go climbing today and really really enjoyed it. Managed a few 6a's and even a 6b which is bloody amazing considering how sore I was from my run last night. I got slightly bored and ran up the Crags here in Edinburgh, then around various other bits before struggling up a big bloody hill into a pub. It was great fun!

It's not all fun though. I spend some hours today looking over some neuro stuff. I also need to revise reproduction. And arrange EMS for horses and check on the chicken EMS I have planned. So much to do and almost no time.

Work

I just finished work for the night. I'm back again in a few hours too. Yay! It was fairly busy, but not too bad. My crazy colleagues made it all fine for me. I'm now watching Eddie Izzard and slowing down post-work and pre-bed. It may only leave me with 4 hours sleep, but thats all I need. Although I do hope to climb tomorrow after work. We shall see.

Results

Results from the practical exams from last week are out already. I managed to pass everything (sheep, cattle, cat & dog, and exotics) except for horses. I pretty much knew I had failed horses due to some very silly mistakes. This next week we are learning neurology so not much time to practice before the resit. I may have to hunt horses to play with over the weekend.

All done

Finished for now. Today was my large animal anatomy oral exam, and it went suprisingly ok. I was shocked to realise that I do actually know some anatomy, especially concerning the abdomen. I'm not so hot on my cranial nerves, but we have neurology lectures starting next week.

I'm not too sure what to do with myself now. I was fairly near the start of the orals, so most people I know haven't finished yet. It's too early to have a celebratory pint, and I can't go climbing as no partner. I'm just going to sit in and watch All Creatures Great And Small I think.