happiness is......

- the sun shining, the windows open and wearing t-shirts
- being able to laugh at things
- taking care of a cat that loved sitting on my lap/chest/shoulder even though she had just met me
- The Tony Awards
- knowing that "afterboards" is coming soon
- that it's only 2:30 in the afternoon and I still have another useable 18 hours to study/cram

I've had several moments in the past two days that have left me able to do nothing but laugh. It could be that I'm overtired, and probably has something to do with my waning motivation, but when I got to this question (in a practice set) yesterday, it was all I could do to regain my composure:

"The supracallosal portion of the hippocampus is called the:
a. indusium griseum
b. subiculum
c. calcin avis
d. fimbria"

I know that the hippocampus (in the brain) is important for memory (esp. long term) and know the general area it's refering to when it says "supracallosal," but those possible answers? they look greek. I know that Avis is a car company, and sub- usually means "below" and "griseum" could mean gray, and I thought a fimbria had something to do with the ovary/fallopian tubes; but none of that knowledge helped me answer the question. (the answer is a, and I haven't made time to actually look up what any of those terms mean.)

Another one I found myself rolling my eyes at, and then sighing/laughing?

"What are the names of the three distinct segments of a spermatazoa?"
I picked "head, center and tail" which while close to the correct answer, wasn't close enough. The correct answer is "head, midpiece and tail." I can't explain to you how happy I am to know this - it's as though my life were previously incomplete.

If these are the sorts of questions they're going to throw at me, I'm up a creek with no paddle....or stuck in a fully stocked yarn store with an amazing sale and no credit card. Screwed essentially. I understand the idea of a standardized exam that every osteopathic med student in the US takes and has to pass, but I can't believe that my score on this exam is actually relative to what I know.

Taking care of Scully the cat served as a nice break; she wasted no time in claiming a spot on my lap, and then inched her way upward until her head was nestled up near my neck. She purred the whole time, and later I realized even drooled a bit on my shirt. Studying with her around was pointless - whichever hand was holding the book was the hand she needed to be pet with, and when I set the book down she did the only logical thing: she sat on it, and refused to get up. I didn't spend as much time at her place as I wanted to because I didn't get a whole lot of studying done, but I always left feeling a bit more human. I can't wait to have a cat (or cats) of my own.

People who have spoken with me in person have gotten used to hearing the term "afterboards." It represents life after Wednesday at 5:00pm EST, and doesn't include mass ammounts of studying. If I need to (heaven forbid) take the boards again in October I'll bring the term up again, but otherwise (hopefully) this is a one-time term that will live up to my expectations.

Enjoy the pictures of Scully and I; they are heavily edited with a "cartoon" effect (Cara, I'm sorry. I really really really am sorry) because I look like a pasty white girl who has been stuck inside for too many months and has both pms and test-stress induced breakouts all over my face. It isn't pretty. I also look like I have a double chin because my posture hasn't been up to par and I'm very slouched on the couch; seeing these pics will be a good motivator to get my butt in gear and start walking/working out again! (as much as I like my camera it's a bit heavy for one handed pictures. I need to work on it.)