Came home on my bike, about 9:15 pm after finishing my security shift at the school. Kitten greeted me in the driveway, but then the invader cat (that I threw down the stairs yesterday) was on MY porch. It came out making its rough sound and kitten ran off, hissing. She's scared of THAT thing? Bummer. I chased it off---it really ran this time--and eventually, after I had the door unlocked and was halfway in, the kitten showed up again. Once inside I turned on the fan to bring the night air into my hot attic box (aka the Crow's nest), and gave the kitten a thorough petting, but then feeling impatient with the heat and the small space I headed up onto the roof for some night air. Ahhh. Sat down with my backside against the chimney and looked west to lights of the city and the University buildings up on the West Hills. The train horn in the distance was a familiar tone. Kitten came out and joined me. For the first time that I know of, she jumped up onto the brick chimney, and sat down right over my head. I sat there for a while cooling off mentally and physically, and she stayed on the chimney. I stood up and walked around on the roof, feeling soft spots in the tarpaper cover. I came back to the chimney and petted the kitten. I came down in here and turned on the computer.

That's the first time today I've turned on this computer. I can see already that my time will be all eaten up by school. When there is just an hour or two between classes, it disappears so quickly I don't believe there was really an hour there. I did get a lot done today, though. Printed and made copies of things, got my government check (student aid from Fannie Mae, bailed out by you and me) and deposited it in my bank. Got some antifungal stuff at the local drugstore for my funky raft guide toenails. One of which has been really bothering me. Worked a 4+ hour shift at the "information desk". And first thing in the morning I went to a class called Clinical Physical Diagnosis and later to Lab Diagnosis Lab. There's a Lab Diagnosis Lecture too, haven't been to that yet. I also spent a little time sunning up on the roof, but the sun felt low and weak and was behind a veil of clouds at 3:30pm today. Already it seems like fall.

Lab Diagnosis Lab is called "Stab Lab" by the students, with a mixture of affection and dread. I get the idea that most of these students have no intention of becoming proficient at drawing blood or evaluating urine, but this is EXACTLY what I am in medical school to learn. I fully intend to have my own microscope and centrifuge and a few other odds and ends that allow me to assess people's fluids and tissues, and culture microbes, without having to send it off and await someone else's assessment. I was pleased to find that using the tourniquette it is much easier to palpate veins. So THAT is why they use it!

I am so happy to now spend a year studying diagnosis instead of basic science. Phew. I think I may have made it past the hardest part for me....the drudgery of the basics, the drumming in of basic scientific and medical language that the youth in my group were learning for the first time. Oh, if I had only known this was what I wanted to study in 1989, when I became a raft guide with a new bachelor's degree. I would have such a lead on where I am now.....but it must have happened for a reason. I must trust that those years I spent cooking in the sun and floating on the cold clear waters did something for me that no other experience could have.