What A Week!!

Been wanting to write for awhile but was completely swamped. Still am actually. Supposed to be studying for my next paper which is the day after tomorrow.

After a whole semester of slackness and relaxing, I finally got bombarded in my final week of class at my soon to be ex-faculty building. Moving to a new complex next semester.

So it all started on Monday when after waiting a whole semester, it was finally my group's turn to do the parasite presentation. Seminar number 21 to be exact. That was also the day I found out I got kicked out of kolej for having not enough merit. To be honest I wasn't expecting it at all as I thought I had enough merit. Oh, I had a Pathology test that morning too.

The next day, my coursemate YY tells me that she won't be joining us next year, and will be taking half a year off to recuperate from her operation. Poor thing had a messed up appendectomy and now has a huge incision line all the way down her abdomen. Didn't see that one coming either, as I thought she was getting better.... She is actually, just can't keep up, having been gone a month and missed all the papers and presentations and with finals coming up and all. And still quite weak too. Sigh.... She was one of the 4 members of the Dogathon money-making team, where together we faced all sorts of company bigwigs and PR people and bonded as a group as we explored KL and many of its nooks and crannies. We were also in the same group for our 3 week adventure into Sitiawan, which has holds plenty of fond memories. Not to mention the countless chats about just everything. I was really really sad she had to go.

The next day I had another test.

The next day I had 2 tests. That night we also held a farewell party of sorts for my coursemate, but we had to eat at home cause she couldn't eat outside food, so there was buying groceries and preparations and cooking involved, and it took about 3 hours for the cooking to be concluded so we could have dinner. Was super tired out after the days activities, but still had to prepare and study for my clinical pathology presentation the next day. Also one which I had been waiting all semester for. Dunno why I was so unlucky to get both in the same week and the last week at that.

The next day, after the 3 hour clinical pathology presentation, went to Melaka for the Melaka Grand Invitational Endurance Ride. Horses, for those of you not in the know. We were to be the vet assistants, or the scribes, for the line vets at the event. Damn tiring especially after the week I had but really really a lot of fun and a lot of stuff to see and learn. So glad I decided to go. Friday afternoon, we helped with the pre-ride examination, then it was back to the hotel and try to study for the parasite final, but finally succumbing to the very comfortable hotel bed and air-conditioning.

Saturday we left at 11.30am, and after a quick jaunt about town and some yummy coconut shakes with ice cream, we set off to the track. There we helped set up the clinic by lugging boxes and boxes of 3 liter packs of fluids (boy do horses need a lot of fluids) and setting up the IV lines and also performing other sorts of lugging tasks. The first flag-off was at 5.30pm (there was 40 km, 80 km and 120 km events that day), and the horses go into a loop which is about 20 to 30km, come back and get checked by the vets to see if they are still fit to continue, take a 50 minute break, and then go out again. So the 120 km horses would have to come in at least 5 times (there are compulsory re-exams at the end of some breaks) and would end their ride at about 6 am the next morning.

The first horses started coming back around 7.30pm, and from then on there was not much pause with the horses coming and going and trotting up and down to be checked for lameness and us going back and forth getting their log books and time slips. By the time there was a lull, they remembered it was time to feed us and the food arrived. But you couldn't take more than 2 mouthfuls before another horse arrived and we had to get back in position. I must say though, the race organisers must think we eat like horses, as they gave us so much food that they could, as my dean said, 'feed the whole stadium'. Every 2 hours another mountain of food would arrive and we would happily go inspect the offerings.

It was that night that I finally began to be able to regularly detect abnormalities in a horses gait. Previously it was like, uhh how come I can't see anything?? But only the most obvious ones lah. An improvement nevertheless. When alls said and done it was a pretty awesome weekend with the girls and also very enriching, talking with all the vets and looking at all the pretty horses.

By the time I got back to my kolej it was 1pm and I still had to study for my finals which was going to begin the next day (today)! But went to sleep till 6.30pm anyway. Cannot tahan.

So you see what a week it had been. 4 tests, two presentations, 2 unexpected and not very welcome surprises, and one looong night at the races. Still vague on whether I should appeal and try to get a place in kolej or just forget about it and move out. Still waiting for this to end (I still have 2 finals papers this week). Still wondering whether I should laugh or cry (or just go to sleep) after this terribly long and slightly dream-like week.