The Original Haus of Ron Abuse

LJ, you ugly. I'm crossposting my stuff to Dreamwidth.
You can comment wherever; I'm not leaving - too many of you here and too many memories. Add me and stuff.

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DeathSchool is not over yet- my month for taking the Great Big Death Test is August. That's all I'd like to say about that matter.Until then, more interning, more reading, and most importantly, driving lessons. Lots and lots of those. We're not even allowed jobs unless we have those. Lucky for me, I found a school that specializes in drivers with varying issues, like nerves and stuff. My driving teacher is super nice. He says he's the one who specializes in anxious cases.

More importantly, I'm looking for a really fantastic Windows XP installation disk or program so I can fix my main lappy. It got... sick somehow and has been sick for a year. I've got my netbook, but I can't run my tablet on it, which means no drawing (among other things). Everything's on external hard drives, so it wouldn't be so bad if I had to reinstall XP, but I would rather not.

Researching other solutions to the problem, but I'd really like to get this fixed by March. I can do this... if I can go through those million pain-and-a-half steps and successfully root my friggin HTC Rezound then I can do this.

This Story from Morgue that might Upset You

On my last day at Morgue, and I had one of my surreal dreams come true.

Background: I've had a few dreams where my mouth is full of dry skin, like the kind from chapped lips. I keep spitting it out, but it's endless. Not just lip, but parts of the insides of my mouth. I also have the bad habit of chewing the insides of my mouth. If my nerves are bad enough, I can tear tiny strips off.

So as you know, we practice embalming on unclaimed corpses. We clean them up, find the appropriate arteries for injection, and prepare them to be buried in Potter's Field.

My group was cleaning up a woman who had been dead for three months. She had skin slip really, really bad- that's when there's water beneath the top layer of skin and the skin kinda peels off. It's not strictly for the dead- You might'a had it on the soles of your feet at some point.

After we were done and moving her into a body bag, I was told to grab her feet (nobody else in my group wanted to, but it was necessary to move her in a dignified way). I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

We never communicate very well in morgue (I mean, five students are all working on one body), so while I had her feet, two classmates were moving her by her arms. As they pulled at an inopportune time, I felt a super slimy sensation going on, and when I looked, my black mortuary gloves were totally covered in clumped up wet skin.

I just stopped and stared at my hands. I wasn't grossed out or fascinated. I was just like "...hu." That's the only way I can describe my feeling, just "...hu". And I thought This is just like in those dreams.. And Miss, I am so, so sorry. I really am.

I wanted to share that with you guys because it was just... strange. And I tried to tell one of my classmates, but she was utterly squicked and revolted. She doesn't like going to morgue.

It's finals week, and I'm not going to be OK until Friday. Each test is 200 Questions and if it's a continuation(ish) of last semester's class, stuff from January up until now will appear on the tests.

We started with Microbiology and Funeral Home Directing. The Micro final was described as "nasty", and it sure was. The first 100 Questions were from Semester One, thankfully, but the second set came from the 100+ microbes, their pathogenicities, common names, AKAs, portals of entry/exit, modes of transmission, and the AKAs for their pathogenicities. Stuff like

-The organism Yeseria Pestis's mode of transmission is?
-What is the AKA for the disease given by Aspergillus Fumigatus?
-Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is caused by (choices are not the names of organisms, but "Bacillus? Streptococci? Streptococcus? Staphylococcus?)
- Q-Fever is caused by (A Rickettsia? A bacteria? A Virus? A Chlamidia? A Spore Former? Two of these? None of these?)
- Psittacosis is transmitted how?
- Franciella Tularensis is (Viscerotrophic? Pneumotrophic? Three more Like This? Two of these answers are correct? None of these are correct?)

I think I did alright enough.
( More on Finals, Mood, Frowning Times )

I'm not optimistic about those last three finals. I realize that in these entries it's customary to comment with the "you can do it!" messages, and that's very kind, but I'm not going to take them well. I'm doing my best, but fully expecting a Bad News Phone Call on Monday or Tuesday saying either

(A)"second chance final?"
This is the preferable of the two, I suppose. Since these finals are literally One Half of our Final Grade, if the final wasn't high enough for a passing grade (75%) then a student can take a second chance final. That's if you failed, at maximum, two subjects. Three Subjects and forget it. And lest we forget, Even if a student got A's in everything else, if their final grade in one class is, say, a 73? That's the end of the line; they'll have to re-take that entire semester. I'm thinking that the Dreaded Phone Call will come about Anatomy and/or Path.

(B) "See ya in January!"
And even this I'm gearing up to face. Yeah, it's that bad.

I've got so many feelings about how this all came to pass, and they're the type that unless explained in tl;dr detail, look really, really bad. I'll let them out on the 9th or so, when I know my Final Disposition.

I sure could use some Hardcore Lovely Distraction on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, so I'm camping on Gtalk on that day. Except maybe Sunday. Sunday, I'm thinking of taking a Soma Vacation, so that at least if Hell comes on Monday, I'll be too doped up to care much.

#1- Thank you so much, violet_eyes for not only putting out a survey, but taking the time to type it and send it to me. It was regarding how British school boys felt about American accents, and it was both hilarious and fascinating. With the prevalence of American TV and movies, I never would've guessed that they'd latch on to the stereotypical Southern one. That's hilarious.

#2- Death School So Far
( Death School just got Real Real )

P.S- when I got home, this was waiting for me right beside my door. It startled me a little, but I got a picture. Wonder what kind it is.

This is another Death!School entry. Since there's no more "did I pass?!" anxiety, I wanted to tell you about my embalming final. We can all have a laugh about it.

As you know, Embalming is the most important class I have, since I don't want to own my own funeral home. So of course, I studied like crazy for this final. Our teacher's one of those jovial-yet-eccentric types- imagine Ralph Kramden in a good, confident mood and if he ran a funeral home. Let me tell you about this final exam he gave us. I am not exaggerating or kidding about any of this.

We start off "easy" with a question any teacher would give to make sure someone is paying attention. What is the standard rate of pressure for a normal embalming case?
Two answers with the number 16 in them. One says "pounds per hour", though, when it should be "pounds per minute".

But then we get into stuff like this-

Question: What is the tool used for raising an artery or vein?
The answer is "an aneurysm hook". These were the answers we had to choose from:
a. Anuerysm hook
b. Anyuresm hook
c. Aneurysm hook
d. Anurysm hook

If you didn't look away, go to a separate page, and write "aneurysm" the way you knew how to spell it, you could get pretty confused. Especially considering there were other little typos in the exam.

Here's what's so scary about typos + questions like that.

We learned the term "Agonal algor", which is a pre-death drop in temperature. On the final exam, we were faced with this question in the true/false section:

True/False: Algonal Algor is a pre-death drop in temperature

... Did he mean to write it that way? We know it's "Agonal Algor", and it's easy to see how he could've slipped, but... if we write "true" is he gonna think we think it's "algonal"? If we write false, is he going to know it's because of the typo? And he wasn't even in the room giving us our final, so we couldn't ask. To complicate things further, right at the start of the exam, our proctors told us "For the embalming final, mark down D for question 65" so maybe he checked it for errors and maybe...

Every time I take one of his tests, I feel like if I look up at him, he'll somehow have trollface superimposed over his head and he'll be wearing a shirt that says "problem?"

And I'm studying like a mad eejit with these self-quizzes I made.

Expectations:





And then watch as the reality is:


:( Save me, Santa Muerte.

Good news: We got a mock Anatomy final. I was convinced, on leaving, that I'd gotten a 60 at best. A few days later, Professor MicroBio Teacher came in and said that the grades were abysmal and that she was worried for us.
Got back my grade, fully expecting a big ol' F. Instead, got an 86. Which is my lowest grade in anatomy, but far better than I expected. Guess I do know the stuff and I don't need to puke myself sick over that final, at least.

Ah well, back to Biz Law. Don't take offense if I'm wickedly silent until the 10th.

I bet we get a new anatomy teacher next year, especially if they merge our class with the group that started in September. I hope they do, because trying to self-teach anatomy is getting exhausting. For everyone! Our first circulation test was so bad (one person passed) that a re-test was given Friday.

"Yeah, I don't even pay attention in class anymore. I tune it out and read it by myself while she talks."
- Unnamed classmate from "the A-Team"

The Psychology test on Thursday was a lot of fun, though. It was scantron, which means nothing we write on the exam paper will be counted.

Answer the following with A for Grief Therapy, B for Grief Counseling, C for Grief Support Group
#34. A young hospice worker who had been working with a patient every Tuesday is trying to come to terms with the death of her patient before she is assigned a new one. What would you recommend?
Scantron Answer- A
Written on the paper: "Tuesdays With Maury". It might not help, but it's a good book, and she might appreciate the irony.
Trollface.jpg

The Etymology Psychic is coming, and the predictions are upsetting.

Good lord, I hate Business Law and Small Business management. I don't even want to open my own funeral home, not in a billion, squillion years. Just want to be an embalmer. Work for an established funeral home, have an embalming lab down in the basement decorated with glass jars on a shelf. Listen to audio books during work. >:C

But it's required, those dumb classes, since most people want their own funeral homes. A million pain-in-the steps and forms, people try to sue you, property taxes, re-ordering inventory, having to set up the whole thing, insurance, employees, blegh. What's the appeal in that? Money, I guess. For them. But if I'm getting paid enough for rent, internet, and a cat (and food, I suppose?), the rest is just emergency money.

Tunica Adventitia, Pleural Cavity, Aponeurosis
There's so darn much anatomy to do. Tuesday: A test on everything we've learned since January. In theory, it's not too bad, but I'm not sure what I don't know. If that makes sense. I feel like I know everything I need to know, which makes me wonder what I'm not...

I'm boring myself with this entry even. Jeez.

Distal Thoughts
No art for a while. My computer has something most dreadfully wrong with it and will not go past the start screen, and if I tried fixing it now, I'd just end up upsetting myself big time, so it's the Netbook for now. Un/fortunately, netbook doesn't have a tablet hookup.

You were all right about not being paranoid about The A-Team Deathschool Clique. They wouldn't shun a person if they slipped up. Still, I don't want to slip up. Imagine if every single one of them gets inducted into the Death Eaters and I don't? Of all the worst things that could happen that wou-

no.

This entry is tl;dr bo-ring me ranting about Anatomy I class, so instead, why don't you LOL at some RP inside(ish) jokes?

( Feel it, Breathe it, Believe it, And you'll be walking on air )