Accomplishments of 2010
People have been posting all sorts of interesting things they've done this year, leaving me to feel thoroughly uncool. I think part of that is that I'm really starting to pine for a proposal... I don't try to keep up with the Joneses in too many things, but I am really starting to feel envious of friends and acquaintances getting engaged, often with fewer years under their belts than Ben and I have. On the one hand I definitely did not want to get engaged in the first half of vet school; I did not want to do things Pam-and-Roy style and be engaged for years with no end in sight. I've told Ben that. We've talked about marriage for ages now, just haven't made it official yet. But now that I have only a year and a half left I'm really starting to get antsy. It didn't help that last night we visited with one of Ben's childhood friends and he announced his engagement, then today one of my friends from high school got engaged as well. So it's been on my mind, and I'm sitting here with 5+ years of relationship thinking "When is it my turn?" For Ben's part, he's often depressed, cranky or exhausted in Los Angeles (in much greater proportions than when he is in Oregon) and he's told me he doesn't want to do a crappy job of proposing and wants to do it when he's really happy, not just when everyone else thinks it's about time. Which I do think is a valid point. But on the other hand... I am deeply, deeply impatient.
Anyway, enough whinging on that topic.
What did I actually do this year?
- Went to San Francisco, presented research on avian mycobacteriosis, and met Betty White. Booyah, Grandma!
- Visited Portland in May and December. God I miss that city, and the people and places and creatures therein.
- Worked at Banfield over the summer. The doctors and coworkers were good people, and I got to do a dog neuter by myself, but I'm starting to think of moving away from small animal medicine into exotic pets, mixed practice or public health. It's like... there's families whose whole livelihoods are their goats. If there is a way I could help them keep their goats healthy, and keep them from getting zoonotic diseases from their goats, and therefore help them have an income and a healthier family... that seems a far, far more valuable use of my time than seeing Bongo the Chihuahua for his umpteenth case of stress diarrhea. Zoonotic disease prevention seems really interesting to me. And I have to admit that while seeing clinical skills in action is awesome, I'm always hesitant to do them myself, instead of leaping in with gusto. So maybe it would be better if I just left that to someone who was more excited to do it.
- I found out I'm not a horse person. Or at least, I'm definitely not a horse medicine person. Going up to a horse and letting it nuzzle me is perfectly fine and dandy. Restraining it for procedures, watching its owner turn into a gibbering nut over it, or seeing it spook over dumbass shit... yeah, it's not for me. Let alone the fact that they can break their legs or knot their guts at the drop of a hat, and yeah, thanks but no thanks. Sorry flax! ;)
- I found out that I adore dairy cows and that they are utterly sweet, wonderful creatures. I eat beef and drink milk with much greater thanks now. They are really fun patients and I could see myself doing something with the USDA in terms of protecting our national herds from foreign animal disease, or helping to eradicate diseases in them that we have now.
- I dressed up as a zombie dairy veterinarian for Halloween, performed glow poi in front of 150 people (so that's me in the first half of the video), and danced the Thriller dance with three other zombies and a zombie hunter.
- I'm up to 80,000 words on my story about an immortal being charged with the destruction of humanity and being quite put out about the whole thing.
- I spent Thanksgiving on the beach with Ben building a sandcastle called Nerdminster Seahenge out of two disposable coffee cups, a couple of straws, and a shovel donated by a passing child who saw that our need was greater than hers.
- I traveled to the Central Valley of California for dairy cows, Nebraska for beef cows, and San Diego for horses, and had a blast in all three places. Basically anything that wasn't Los Angeles thrilled me to pieces.
- I'm up to 205 birds identified for my life list. Visiting my parents we got Varied Thrushes (a pair), several Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and a Bewick's Wren showing up in the backyard for the first time ever.
- I've kept up with the friends who are important to me (and I to them) and am learning to let the other ones go. Old memories are not enough to keep friendships going forever, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- I started exercising in late June at 160 lbs and almost zero cardio fitness. Running 30 seconds at a time was really difficult. Now, I routinely do runs of 3-4 miles and can make it at least a mile without walking, often more than that. I have lost nearly 20 lbs; today I weighed in at 141.2 clothed. So. Um. That's kind of awesome. I never thought I'd be able to lose weight but once I got started, it was fairly easy to maintain. Starting was definitely the hardest part. Now I enjoy feeling super buff, and slimmer than I've been since probably ever. In the next year I want to get up to running 10K comfortably and maybe take a few baby steps towards the half-marathon distance. It was great coming home and having my parents instantly notice the difference. My classmates, alas, mostly have not. Yes I'm a narcissist and want to be complimented incessantly for my hard work, what of it?
- I started the Wheel of Time series and devoured them at a rate of 1.5 books a week until I finished the 11th book. Can't wait to read the rest, ahhh! Loved it. It was quite the endeavor though. Poor Ben had to deal with several weekends of me with my head shoved in those books.
- Celebrated my 26th birthday in style with laser tag, sushi and sake bombs with friends.
So in the end, I guess I did do a fair amount, it was just hard to recall all at once when my friends are doing the big stuff (getting engaged or married, having kids). I have to admit I'm at least slightly cool, looking at all that.
Happy new year!
Anyway, enough whinging on that topic.
What did I actually do this year?
- Went to San Francisco, presented research on avian mycobacteriosis, and met Betty White. Booyah, Grandma!
- Visited Portland in May and December. God I miss that city, and the people and places and creatures therein.
- Worked at Banfield over the summer. The doctors and coworkers were good people, and I got to do a dog neuter by myself, but I'm starting to think of moving away from small animal medicine into exotic pets, mixed practice or public health. It's like... there's families whose whole livelihoods are their goats. If there is a way I could help them keep their goats healthy, and keep them from getting zoonotic diseases from their goats, and therefore help them have an income and a healthier family... that seems a far, far more valuable use of my time than seeing Bongo the Chihuahua for his umpteenth case of stress diarrhea. Zoonotic disease prevention seems really interesting to me. And I have to admit that while seeing clinical skills in action is awesome, I'm always hesitant to do them myself, instead of leaping in with gusto. So maybe it would be better if I just left that to someone who was more excited to do it.
- I found out I'm not a horse person. Or at least, I'm definitely not a horse medicine person. Going up to a horse and letting it nuzzle me is perfectly fine and dandy. Restraining it for procedures, watching its owner turn into a gibbering nut over it, or seeing it spook over dumbass shit... yeah, it's not for me. Let alone the fact that they can break their legs or knot their guts at the drop of a hat, and yeah, thanks but no thanks. Sorry flax! ;)
- I found out that I adore dairy cows and that they are utterly sweet, wonderful creatures. I eat beef and drink milk with much greater thanks now. They are really fun patients and I could see myself doing something with the USDA in terms of protecting our national herds from foreign animal disease, or helping to eradicate diseases in them that we have now.
- I dressed up as a zombie dairy veterinarian for Halloween, performed glow poi in front of 150 people (so that's me in the first half of the video), and danced the Thriller dance with three other zombies and a zombie hunter.
Click to view- I'm up to 80,000 words on my story about an immortal being charged with the destruction of humanity and being quite put out about the whole thing.
- I spent Thanksgiving on the beach with Ben building a sandcastle called Nerdminster Seahenge out of two disposable coffee cups, a couple of straws, and a shovel donated by a passing child who saw that our need was greater than hers.
- I traveled to the Central Valley of California for dairy cows, Nebraska for beef cows, and San Diego for horses, and had a blast in all three places. Basically anything that wasn't Los Angeles thrilled me to pieces.
- I'm up to 205 birds identified for my life list. Visiting my parents we got Varied Thrushes (a pair), several Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and a Bewick's Wren showing up in the backyard for the first time ever.
- I've kept up with the friends who are important to me (and I to them) and am learning to let the other ones go. Old memories are not enough to keep friendships going forever, and there's nothing wrong with that.
- I started exercising in late June at 160 lbs and almost zero cardio fitness. Running 30 seconds at a time was really difficult. Now, I routinely do runs of 3-4 miles and can make it at least a mile without walking, often more than that. I have lost nearly 20 lbs; today I weighed in at 141.2 clothed. So. Um. That's kind of awesome. I never thought I'd be able to lose weight but once I got started, it was fairly easy to maintain. Starting was definitely the hardest part. Now I enjoy feeling super buff, and slimmer than I've been since probably ever. In the next year I want to get up to running 10K comfortably and maybe take a few baby steps towards the half-marathon distance. It was great coming home and having my parents instantly notice the difference. My classmates, alas, mostly have not. Yes I'm a narcissist and want to be complimented incessantly for my hard work, what of it?
- I started the Wheel of Time series and devoured them at a rate of 1.5 books a week until I finished the 11th book. Can't wait to read the rest, ahhh! Loved it. It was quite the endeavor though. Poor Ben had to deal with several weekends of me with my head shoved in those books.
- Celebrated my 26th birthday in style with laser tag, sushi and sake bombs with friends.
So in the end, I guess I did do a fair amount, it was just hard to recall all at once when my friends are doing the big stuff (getting engaged or married, having kids). I have to admit I'm at least slightly cool, looking at all that.
Happy new year!