Post exams, postponed surgery

First of all, done term one done term one done term one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished exams on Wednesday, now all there is to do (school related anyway) is sit back and wait for marks to roll in. Which is almost as stressful as actually writing exams. So far I only have one mark back- and if this is a prelude to the rest of them, that is perfectly fine with me! I got 14.5/15 (96%!!!) on a research paper I did on the joint supplement Glucosamine for Nutrition. Did a little happy dance for that one. What else have a I done this week.. oh ya! It was the one year anniversary of this…

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No regrets. Easy to say now that my hair is back to a reasonable length. If you asked me when I looked like a hedgehog it might have been a tougher reply. I can’t lie, I miss having long hair everyday. It was a comfort zone that I had to break out of, I guess, but one that I fully plan on returning to with no hesitation. I do believe that beauty stems from the inside- not on what we look like. A person’s confidence shouldn’t be based on how others perceive them based on appearance. This experience was just another part of the crazy year I’ve been having.

This week I’ve also been getting some riding in, not on my own horse (sorry buddy), but on my good friend Lauren’s horse Samson. Lauren rides another horse in the barn as well. It’s so nice to hang out in the barn, grooming, tacking up, riding, talking. Stuff that takes no thought to perform, just second nature. Very nice to get back to that after going like crazy for 3 months at school with no time in the saddle. Hoping this can continue throughout the holidays and maybe into next term!

As you may remember, I was supposed to have surgery over the holidays.. today actually. Well, long crazy story short, it was decided that further tests were being done (in the most dramatic way possible) before the surgery was happening. So, after a crazy morning sitting in the hospital talking to one doctor then the next and hearing many opinions, the surgery was cancelled, and I was sent for an ultrasound. Now we play the waiting game.. again. I guess. And then make more decisions. Needless to say it was not really how I planned today to go, but then again- life seems to laugh at my planning skills. Haven’t had a more frustrating day in a long time. School of life’s tests are sometimes harder then UW’s exams. Except stats. Nothing is harder than stats. Plus side- this means hopefully more riding for this kid over the next few weeks. Among other things!

This day has been going on for too long, so it’s time to say goodnight and ream of better tomorrows!

Pre-Exam Update

Ahhh it’s been a while. This is going to be short and sweet.

It’s been a pretty stressful month, what with finishing classes of my first term and all that good stuff. But, after 5 exams.. I’m done! Until January. I have survived-so far- what many thought would be the killer of all semesters.. five courses, four labs.. so pretty much 9 classes.. INSANITY. The past few months flew by. Last time I wrote I believe I was getting ready to do my presentation for biomechanics, on the posting trot. That went very well, I think, we have yet to get our feedback for that. I got asked my all time favourite question “is rider fitness important in the sport” Uhh, let me think.. YES (of course followed by a suitably intelligent sounding explanation). We finished our paper this week, and will hand it in sometime next week once it’s been proof read a few hundred times. I had Charlene read it tonight, and she seemed to think it was good. Hopefully our prof thinks the same thing! If anybody is interested in reading it, let me know- the more proof readers the better!

Tonight is the eve of what is going to be a crazy week (do I have any not crazy weeks?). Four finals await me, two on tuesday (nutrition, and stats), and then scientific principles of fitness and conditioning (I did my final case study (worth 25%) on a program for a equestrian athlete!) on Wednesday, and the big scary Biomech final exam on Friday. Biomech is definitely the only exam I’m worried about. I’m pretty determined on getting a good mark, so the pressure is on. The midterm was created by the devil, so I’m sure the final will be of the same calibre… but at least we have double the time to write. And then next week I finish off with my A&P midterm (this is a full year course). I basically have spent the last 3-4 days buried in my stats text book. Hypotheses testing, inferential statistics, and data analysis, are all things I will be very happy to be done with!

In other news.. well.. I don’t really have a life outside of school at the moment. Maybe I’ll think of something interesting to write about in the coming weeks, after my brain has recovered from what it’s about to be put through.. Wish me luck!

 

Critical Instant

Two weeks left in the term?! How did this happen!

I’ve been figuratively, and sometimes literally, smothered by projects, lab exams, and review that I’ve lost track of time. That being said, nothing is really new either. I’m almost nervous for December holidays to arrive because I’m not sure what I’ll do without the stress of having to finish a lab report, analyze a joint, calculate the probability in a two tailed hypothesis test, or finish case studies. What a crazy few months it’s been. I survived the 6 midterms in a week. I’m hoping I’ll make it through this big biomechanics project alive, and the finals. Oh the finals.

I never fully accomplished unpacking my room after moving in in September, so maybe that will get finished during break. I’ll definitely be working because not having income kind of sucks. I’ll hopefully be riding because I’m missing that part of my life like crazy. But, first I have to get through the next two weeks.

On the docket this week is the presentation of my Biomechanics research project. Which, if you’ll remember, I did on the posting trot as a unskilled vs skilled analysis. I had two awesome subjects who let me tape them up and make them trot around a ring until I got the shots I needed. Since then, my partner and I, have been breaking down their movements into phases, measuring the angles of their joints, and deciding what would be the best aspect to present to our class and professor. We are required to discuss one qualitative (what you can observe) and one quantitative (calculations and what they mean in relation to what you previously observed) aspect of the project (the paper itself will involve many more of these aspects, including many more calculations yay). Our qualitative aspect is simply showing the difference between the skilled and unskilled subject in the critical instant of the movement, i.e.. when the rider is up out of the saddle, mid-post, with a straight line from their shoulder, hip, to ankle joints. All riders know this as it’s drilled into our heads day in and day out by coaches, for good reason. We found that there was only a small difference between our riders, being a deviation in the placement of the ankle joint. The skilled rider had great alignment, while the unskilled’s ankle was just ahead of the vertical. This would suggest less stability in the lower leg. Our quantitative analysis was based on the velocity (speed) of the rider’s hip joint during the follow through phase, ie.. as they sink back into the saddle after critical instant. To calculate this we used the change in degrees of the hip joint, divided by the time it took them (calculated by the number of frames over the amount of frames per second the camera filmed at).

Why is this important?

Well, you know how coaches sometimes say to slow down the rhythm of your posting? This is exactly what we’re looking at. We found that the skilled rider had about 18degrees/second and our skilled rider had about 19degrees/second in their hip joint. Not a huge difference, but enough of one to prove our point. The slower velocity supports a controlled follow through phase, which in all sports is necessary for injury prevention- probably less of an issue in this case, but a controlled movement is pretty important to create balance, support the horse’s movement, remain stable in the saddle, and flow with the movement. Plus the more controlled and stable the rider is in their follow through, the less jarring on the horse’s back. In that slower velocity of the skilled rider we can show that she is able to control her body as it sinks down into the saddle, and maintain a better rhythm while being stable in the saddle- allowing her to follow the horse’s stride. Of course there is also the aesthetic portion to this part of the skill. The more balanced and stable you are in the saddle, the less you interfere with your horses natural movements and the better the entire picture looks.

Anyone asleep yet?

This is only a small part of the project. As I mentioned earlier the paper will include all that and more. We’ll be calculating almost everything there is to to calculate based on the information we have in the videos. Can’t wait. But for right now, our main focus is getting this presentation done. Probably the biggest challenge will be trying to get all of what I just wrote above across to a room full of people who have basically no understanding of the equestrian sport. Sometimes even my partner has to stop me when I’m talking through some of this stuff and ask me to explain in english. I have honestly never thought about the posting trot in such depth before. Who knew it 30% of my final mark in a University course would be riding on a movement I don’t, or never used to, really even give a second thought to? Education, gotta love it.

Wish me luck!

 

The Student Games

A thought popped into my head today while I was trying to decide between the $1.89/lb apples that I wanted, and the $.99/lb ones on sale that looked half as good (I picked the cheap, bruised ones), and again when I was watering down my cranberry juice (that I got on sale)) as to make it last longer,  that students lead quite interesting lives.  And as my roommate just pointed out, in between mouthfuls of carrot, that her supper is just that. A carrot. “With dirt on it”.

“University doesn’t test your knowledge and the amount you have learned, it tests your stamina, study skills and sanity. What will you give up to keep up?”

That quote makes it sound like we live in the Hunger Games trilogy.

It’s not all that bad. Usually. Most of the time.. Actually, we do tend to be hungry a lot… But it definitely is an acquired lifestyle, between study sessions turned into tv show marathons, screaming “I don’t waaaaannnt to studddddyyyy”, flash cards, notes, bus passes, cramming information into your head (even if you don’t understand any of it), debating which subject needs your attention most based on the due date and complexity of the assignment, writing blog posts, yelling at printers, and Facebook.

“I’m going to get a cupcake, and then I’m going to study….. I’m probably not going to study…. yes I am…maybe…” – Christine

Every year we enter into our respective schools, quickly spend all our funds on books, of which 50% of which are actually used in classwatch our care for personal appearance dissapate, wish we were at Hogwarts, procrastinate, somehow get through midterm season- relax, panic, write finals and finish final projects, anxiously await marks, and repeat. Public naps happen often. There are rooms at our school where every person inside them is napping. It’s like that scene from Inception where all you can hear are people sleep breathing.

I’ve had friends who aren’t in school ask me what movie I want to go see, and I’ll have absolutely no idea what is playing, or what has played for the past few months. The outside world doesn’t exist to a University student, especially from 2nd year onwards, and for those having more then 4 classes. We get our news from Facebook, our ideas from Pinterest, and as a result lose a lot of sleep on news and ideas. 

Grocery shopping is put off too long, at the same time as cleaning the fridge is put off. I think there is still left overs in our fridge from the first week of school- which I am now afraid to touch. There a numerous empty granola bar boxes in the cupboard, which I still reach into every morning hoping that there is one in there. We learned quickly that IF we buy fresh vegetables, putting them in the crisper drawer is NOT the best idea. Because they get forgotten about. Then, 4 weeks later, we are left with a very unspeakable things that are not crisp, or fresh. Whether or not you are a vegetarian, sometimes that is what you’re diet turns into. Let’s face it. Meat is expensive, not always on sale, and time consuming to cook. Sidekicks are a fancy meal, because they are the closet thing to a complete meal you’ll be eating all week. Whenever I do find myself relaxing into thinking I have free time, it is quickly overcome by a fear that I’ve forgotten something. In lieu of having a can opener, I’ve been know to try desperately to open a can of soup with a screw driver (it doesn’t work, by the way). I’ve also been known to bribe myself through papers by making the deal of one paragraph, 5 minutes of nap time. Sometimes that same bribe gets me through 3 hr lectures. Listen for 5 minutes, sleep for 5.

If you want me to go somewhere, mention free food, and I’ll fit it into my schedule.

We live in a world where skipping class is reasonable for two reasons- being extremely sleep deprived, or staying home to do homework for said class. No matter how excited you get over a great midterm mark, beware, because the higher the class average, the harder the final will be. Do not try and communicate with a student who is pre, mid, or post- midterm or any other exam. Never underestimate our ability to write a 15 page research paper the night before it’s due, and still somehow get a decent mark. It IS possible.

I’ve found that school and travelling (my kind of travelling anyway) have a lot in common. The views are certainly less spectacular, depending on how you define spectacular, but there is a the similar money and food scarceness, and a equal amount of dirty laundry.

I start somewhere around the 3rd phase..

However, there is not as much panic, while travelling, as there is as a student when you forget your pencil case at home and you have 3 lectures and a lab to get through on no writing utensils, protractors, calculators, or rulers. There is, though, a great deal of wondering what you’re doing, where you’re going, and various other universal questions, in both areas of life.

I can go from feeling like I’ll never be out of school, ever ever ever, to holy sh** I’m already half done a degree in 2 seconds flat. Same amount of time about that it takes me to open and close the fridge in the morning and see that I have no juice to water down, therefore I’m stuck with just tap water.

As students we learn what each prof wants to see from us, and how to adapt to their varying personalities. Know which classes to come wide awake for, and well rested, and which ones are okay to maybe nod off for a few minutes in the middle (they do exist). Mix those two up though, and you won’t know what hit you come exam time. Some like to fool you into thinking they teach an easy class, and then test you on everything they said, posted, and thought.

**Holds up text book full of post it book marks* “Look at it, isn’t it pretty?? It’s like a rainbow”

“Christine, study.”

Somehow, no matter how hard we will ourselves, we cannot help procrastination. Sometimes we procrastinate in ways that indirectly could possible sort of maybe relate to our studies. Grey’s Anatomy episodes taught me some stuff about Anatomy.. It has anatomy in the title anyway. And I’ve also convinced myself that gym time is equal to study time. But by some miracle, we make it through. We don’t melt into the puddle we would rather be come exam time, usually, anyway, and our brains sometimes help us out with exams, but even when they leave us as blank as the answer sheet- we come up with something and live to write another paper. Then, by who knows what cause, we come back for another semester. The will to make something of our lives is greater then the will of Facebook. In the long run. Procrastination does eventually lead to getting things done. In the most stressful way possible, but they do get finished. Being a student would be just too easy otherwise. And, those hard earned marks wouldn’t feel as good if we did the work and had no stress going along with it. Right now I’m wondering how I managed to write 1300 words this quickly, when it takes me a week to do the same for something much more important.

 

It’s an vicious cycle.