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The Autistic Pre-Vet Student is ending! Listen to find out why (if you don't already know, which, many of my original listeners do, since I procrastinated doing this update for SO long).

How to describe this episode... I've been slacking on the podcast front for December, so this episode is all over the place. I talk about the sad fate of my laptop (laptops cannot have a little Starbucks, not even as a treat), being sick and gaining the power of crackly pre-pubescent boy vocal abilities, saying goodbye to the decade, and greeting the new decade. I talk about aging and my planned rebellion/celebration of aging this year, and Multiple Mini Interview preparations. Plus some sadness about a cat. Enjoy, and Happy New Years! Bye bye 2019. 

I have trouble saying no, and I've had this problem for a while. It kind of made me get in trouble at work recently, and it leads me to keep taking on too many things, risking getting overwhelmed and burnt out. Do I have a solution? Absolutely not! This is a rambling episode with no satisfying conclusion, so if you want a tight narrative with a happy ending, look elsewhere. In addition, how about I tell you about llamas orgling and MMI "secrets"? Note: I forgot to put one of my cats away, and was hyperfocused on recording. Because of this there are a lot of super annoying background noises (especially in the first ~5m) as she was scratching on the dog's bed to try and get my attention. Also yodeling. Sorry. 

Just a quickie! A short update on life, what I got up to last week, and some fun and terrible This Week I Learned facts. Brace for awful wordplay, courtesy of my very punny boss. 

In this episode I'll explain why I missed the last two episodes (sort of...) Over the past two weeks I got the unique experience of being able to interview volunteer applicants! It was mostly fun, although at times stressful. I learned a lot from it, and am really glad I had the opportunity. Some of the lessons I learned include... why interviewers might include super cheesy and cliche questions in their interviews, why interviewers may make you feel as though you definitely have the job (when you don't), and (maybe), why interviewers so often ghost applicants they want to reject instead of actually rejecting them?? (Maybe. Still not sure I really get that aspect of interviewing). It's a bit of a longer episode, and I wanted to condense it more, but didn't have a ton of time to edit the script before recording. Thank you in advance for your patience if you listen to the whole thing! 

This episode is about midterms, which I am in the middle of right now. Spoilers: they aren't going great. I literally made the worst mistake I've ever made, on an exam, this past week. And then my next exam wasn't much better, due to some miscommunication. Hopefully the next couple go... better. 

In this episode I delve shallowly into a question that's been bothering me for a while. So many of my pre-veterinary peers and veterinary student friends are very happy to proclaim that they have a Type A personality! I don't think I do, and it has made me question if I'll succeed in the veterinary profession. I was hoping to do a longer, academic/literature based episode, but sadly am in the middle of a semester, and won't have time to do that till December or later. Also note: sound quality is really off/volume inconsistent. There were some issues recording this episode. 

I'm a firm believer in the cheesy mantra that "there's no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone." This means I'm always pushing my own boundaries (while balancing my sanity / avoiding burnouts or meltdowns), and working to improve myself. Two of the comfort zones I pushed in the past couple weeks resulted in my discovering that not all discomfort leads to growth. Some discomfort just leads to... more discomfort, mild disappointment, and feelings of unease. On the plus side, applications for the vet school I'm applying to opened today, so that is a new and exciting thing that I'm dedicating a good portion of my mind to! I'm also beginning dedicated preparations for the interviews themselves, as, despite being almost 6 months away, I feel like I need to begin preparing now. I'd rather prepare a tiny bit each week for 6 months, than leave it all to cram into the last month or weeks.

I don't have a single day off this September. This means lots of shifts at my vet clinics, which means lots of adventures and stories to tell! This past weekend began with a dog having a series of scary and severe seizures; moved into a post-mortem exam (of a bull) which started with a bit of a twist; and ended with a surprising discovery of the medical records of a "strange" cat, who was not a stranger- the discovery was the result of a long string of coincidental occurrences, and kind of broke my brain.  

This episode is just a quick weekly check in episode, going over what's new in the semester so far, but mainly just to keep myself on my goal of a weekly release schedule. It's hard to believe I'm so close to actually being done my undergraduate degree, and will have a Bachelors degree in under a year! I'm tired, excited, and nervous. One of my cats makes an unplanned (and sort of annoying) guest appearance, and the fridge begins making a weird buzzing sound near the end of the recording. Oh well, I need sleep more than I need excellent audio quality. 

In this episode I cover some of the tools and techniques I've gained over the past few years that have allowed me to improve my grades from mediocre to competitive. I discuss accommodations, both formal and informal (or self imposed); adjustments within daily life; and routines (including some weird obsessive use of excel sheets, the existence of which have angered everyone who have learned about them) which I have adopted in my life and studies, and how these have helped me succeed in my academic career.Academic success can be achieved many different ways, and for those of us who struggle academically, I firmly believe we need to experiment with open minds to find tools and techniques which will work for us. Learning is a lot more of a variable process than the education system is structured for. 

In this episode I talk about making connections with people and places, and the sudden loss of one of those connections. The episode is a little messier than I usually aim for, as I was rather grief-stricken during recording. 

In this episode I pick up near the end of Episode 1, and chronologically go through all the vet-related experiences I've had since returning to University as a BSc student, up until the present day. This is sort of an expanded introduction, with a little bit less about autism, and a lot more about pre-vet stuff.