Life by PJ

Hey guys! Happy Friday, yes, a very happy Friday indeed. As of yesterday at 11:30 a.m. I am done with my summer semester of D2 year! Hold the applause. Finals went pretty good, although I was getting a little burnt out by the 3rd final in 2 days, but that's not so bad. Jeff took me out to a Korean bbq restaurant to celebrate and it was DELICIOUS. We love this restaurant down the street from us that gives you raw meat and veggies and lets you cook them on a bbq that's built into your table. I know what you're thinking - I have to cook my own food? But trust me, it's so delicious and so worth it. Definitely a must-see if you ever run across a Korean bbq restaurant. Chef Jeff focusing on cooking the meat I'm a sucker for a good pot sticker My plans for today include cleaning up the apartment a bit, eating some lunch and doing my nails. *Sigh* what a busy day indeed... I don't have any plans for this 2 week break, so I'll probably be bloggin...

Cheers to the weekend, How's it going guys? It's a gloomy Saturday here. (Weather wise, that is, mood wise I feel pretty good.) Jeff is helping his friend move into his new house. I still can't believe I'm old enough to have friends who are BUYING and MOVING into new houses. What's that? Oh just the sound of my brain exploding. I guess I'm married so I can't say much, but still... Thursday and Friday night were a time to relax. I didn't get to catch the Women's All Around Final like I said I was going to because I ended up going out with friends. However, I did catch the last 5 minutes where Aly Raisman and Simone Biles were crying tears of joy - I expected it was because they had just won their medals - on a TV in a pizza shop at midnight, so yeah, you can say i'm pretty cultured. Go Blue I have something exciting in the works that I can't wait to announce to you guys. The time isn't right yet, but just know something cool is ...

Hey Guys! The wedding we went to on Saturday was so beautiful. The outdoor ceremony had a gorgeous blue sky with white fluffy clouds and it was overlooking a lake. I cried like a baby when they exchanged their vows they had written for each other. They were full of so much love for each other. I'm such a sucker... "What God has joined together, let no one separate." It's Thursday, which means I get to relax for a little bit. I had an exam and a practical on Monday morning and a final on the respiratory system yesterday. So last night was the first time I got to relax and what did I end up doing? Watching the Olympics of course! I'm super bummed I missed a lot of the female gymnastics, which is my favorite part, but I'm pretty sure there's the all-around competition tonight at 8 so I'm definitely going to check that out. Gymnastics has always been my favorite part of the summer Olympics (ice skating if we're talking winter.) I love the fl...

What's up guys! Today is Friday, which means that tomorrow is when Jeff's cousin gets married! I'm so excited. I love the couple that's getting married (plus I'm related to them) and it's going to be such a beautiful wedding. I love weddings. What's better than seeing two people in love profess their commitment to teach other to the world? (Plus there's usually cake. Except at my wedding we didn't have cake, we had cake balls. Same difference.) Our cake and cake balls  Today was my last assisting session needed to fulfill my assisting requirement for the semester. It was supposed to be a comp core, but we had a pulp exposure so now it needs a root canal. Which we kind of expected was going to happen anyway at the beginning, but we wanted to see if we could avoid a root canal first. The dental student handled it exceptionally well. Not everything goes the way you're expected it to go in the clinic, in fact, most things don't go anythi...

Hello Readers! Well, the summer semester is winding down. We've only got 2 weeks left, which boils down to 1 practical and 5 exams. Definitely the lightest finals week we've ever had, so I'm not complaining. I went out with Jeff and his co-workers last Friday night, and one of them said something that made me think about things. "You're the happiest person I know." I smiled. "Yeah, I agree, you're definitely the happiest person I know." Another one of Jeff's co-workers chimed in. Wow, the happiest person they know? Am I the happiest person they know? Am I happy? I've always felt happy; I do really enjoy my life; Jeff makes me super happy. But how often do we ask ourselves - am I happy? And how do we measure happiness? It's pretty abstract, but simple at the same time. Happiness isn't really made a priority in dental school. For most students, anyways. I always try to stay conscious about my happiness. But sometimes, I do...

TGIT Everybody! (Thank God It's Thursday!) We don't have classes on Friday for the rest of the semester, so Thursdays are my Fridays now! I'm definitely less productive now that I don't get up and do things on Fridays, but whatever, I could use the break I guess. So if you read my blog yesterday, you know that today was my first cleaning! (Not the first time I've had my teeth cleaned, but the first time I've cleaned a patient's teeth.) And it went great! I will say I was a little nervous, definitely not super frazzled, but a little on edge. There are just so many steps to remember; when do I take the blood pressure? When do I check in with faculty? When do I do the extraoral/intraoral exam? It can be really overwhelming. But it ended up going smoothly and my professor was so happy with how I was cleaning my patient's teeth that he said I "put a smile on his heart." Literally, one of the best things I've ever heard from a faculty membe...

Happy Wednesday! The D1s have started showing up around our school and I literally could not be more excited. I see them walking with their articulators to the pre-clinic and I just shudder thinking about when that was me last year. Ugh. Waxing. So glad those days are over. Oh wait, I'm waxing a molar on Monday. Well, that'll be Monday's problem. Anyway, I have my first perio patient tomorrow, meaning I will be cleaning someone's teeth for the first time. I'm excited, even more so than nervous. I figure if I can do a filling on someone I can clean their teeth... We'll find out tomorrow, won't we?! I guess it's true what they say about summer in dental school; it's pretty chill. Dental school, chill? Not two words I will probably ever say together in the same sentence. (Unless the sentence is "I need to chill out about how hard dental school is.") I guess the professors are taking pity on us since it's the beautiful summer and we'r...

I broke my promise to you guys.  I said I wouldn't leave you again and then I did. It's a combination of being busy, lazy in my sparse free time, not feeling like anyone's reading this (although you are), and feeling like I don't have important stuff to say.  But I'm really going to try guys, like really really try. And honestly, I can say that when you all leave me comments it really motivates me to get back to writing. And writing is something that I truly enjoy doing, so here I am, trying to keep writing once more. So, it finally happened.  I HAD MY FIRST PATIENT. It was basically a nightmare scenario.I didn't know about my patient until 5 mins before it was time for the appointment because of a scheduling error. It was a filling on a front tooth - something that everyone would see every time my patient talked. And my patient was unhappy with having to wait so long (for issues that I'm not going to get into because they're unimportant.) But th...

Oh My Lanta Everyone, I just decided to check if anyone still reads this blog on a whim and by golly, yes! A LOT of you still do! I'm sorry I abandoned you! I got married, I started dental school (I'm almost done with my D1 year!) Things have really, seriously changed. Dental school is about as hard as I was expecting. There are tons of exams, the hand-skills are mind-boggling and you basically feel stupid 24/7. But I'm trying to keep a good attitude about things, and I think I'm pretty much succeeding at it. I have break-downs every now and again, thinking that there's no way I'll ever be a real life dentist - but the best thing is to remember that I have to take everything one day at a time. One day at a time. It's basically my mantra. I'll start thinking about the exam I have tomorrow, the project sheet I have due after that, the exam the next day, the clinical practical the next, and then I stop myself. One day at a time. Did I accomplish what ...

Finals are over. Over, people! Fin! Done! Complete! The last couple weeks have been pretty rough, but I only managed to have one complete breakdown so I'm taking that as a win! Anyway, I am officially on winter break, and I have to say this might be the best winter break of my life. My responsibilities this break boil down to one word: nothing. I am free to do whatever I want. Last winter break I was studying for the DAT for 6-8 hours almost every day and it was not fun. At all. I kinda feel like I didn't really have a Christmas last year and I am more than making up for that this year. I am watching the stupid Christmas movies, baking Christmas cookies, doing an insane amount of online Christmas shopping - I'm doing it up. 'Tis the season! So with all this spare time, I thought I would write a guide to interviewing. Dental School interviews can be pretty stressful, so it helps to read about it from someone who's already been through the process. Also...

Monday morning at exactly 9:00 a.m. my phone's screen lit up. An unknown number had dialed my phone, and I almost broke down when I saw the town it was from: Ann Arbor, Michigan. I picked up the phone in a state of full-on panic, my breath escaping me. Yes, I was Patricia. Yes, I was having a good day. And then the voice at the other end of the line told me I was in. At this point in time, I wanted to break down but I knew I couldn't. I thanked her graciously. And then there was more news - a scholarship. A very, very big scholarship. It took everything I had to not cry and quickly get off the phone before making a fool of myself. I squeaked out a thank you, hung up the phone, and lost it. I completely lost it, I don't remember the last time I've cried that much and I just couldn't help it. Thank goodness I was in my apartment getting ready for the day and not in public or else I would've been sent to some sort of therapist. As I've been explaining i...

Today I am thankful for many things. Thanksgiving is always a time to reflect on the things we are thankful for, but I feel like this year I have so, so many reasons to express my gratitude. Even more than usual. My life is basically a dream. Don't get me wrong, I'm not prancing around like Princess Middleton with people waiting on me hand and foot, but I can't even express how happy I am right now. I have a family who loves me and supports me unconditionally, I have friends who are always there for me, and I have an amazing fiancé who makes me happy to be alive every time I'm with him. Most importantly, I have my Grandma B. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago and has been battling it ever since. So above all, I am thankful for every holiday I get to spend with her. It's cliche but you really don't appreciate people for who they are until you're scared you might not be able to anymore. Reflecting on all these things in my life, it makes m...

Well Blogosphere, I am home. Home sweet home. Home is where the heart is. Home is where I don't have to change out of my pajamas all day. (Don't act like you don't do that too.) Thanksgiving is upon us, which means that I can feast on my Grandma's delicious homemade food and pretend like I care about football for 4 hours. But really, Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. After dinner, my family and I quiz each other with turkey day trivia - something we've been doing for as long as I can remember. And even though the questions are the same every year, I still am just as bad as the year before. There's just something about turkey trivia that just doesn't stick with me. By the way, did you know that t urkeys are the only breed of poultry native to the Western Hemisphere? Well now you do! Go...team? It is now 6 days until December 1st. On the one hand, I want the day to come as soon as possible so I can stop freaking out. (And I...

Where's Kelly Rowland? Because I'm in need of some motivation. (Ha! See what I did there?) I've finished two exams this week, and now I have to study for my third one on Friday. Needless to say after my exam today, I am exhausted. I was in the library until 12:30 last night and I got up early to go back to the library at 9:00 this morning to study for Immunology before my exam. I don't know of any of you have taken Immunology, but it is not a good time. I took Immunology because a dental student recommended that I take it, since it's such a challenging course in dental school and any exposure I could get to it before then would be beneficial. So I took it! And really, it is really interesting! And I have an awesome professor, which always helps. But oh my goodness. The human body is an extremely complex system, as I'm sure you all know, and your immune system is ESPECIALLY complicated. As I was telling a friend the other day, after taking this class, I have n...

How's it going team? You hanging in there? Going strong? I have 3 exams this week; I look at it like a preliminary finals week- you know, just giving me a fun little taste of what's to come. So don't mind me if I seem a little... loopy. I was at Club Library for about 12 hours yesterday. At one point, I looked up and was startled by the wall behind me. That's when I left. (You have to watch those sneaky walls! They'll get you!) Last weekend was my sorority's semi-formal, which was a super fun night. I enjoyed being able to dance and forget about all of the stressors in my life for a little while. Plus my fiancé (I have to use that term whenever possible, since it's just so much fun!) came up for the weekend to be my date. He also helped me out when I was at the library by doing a Burger King run, because does everyone get super hungry when they're studying or is that just me? In whatever case, it was much appreciated, because nothing can soothe my anxi...

Tired of waiting for December 1st? Is every minute lazily passing by a million times slower than the one before? Have you studied every thread on the Student Doctor Network forums so many times your eyes have gone crossed? Never fear! I've put together a list of ways you can make those 26 days (I'm not counting) before the first day of Dental School decisions are released pass by in a flash! 1.) Take up a new hobby! Ever thought about picking up a musical instrument? Well, there's no time like the present. Now you can finally be the harpist, flutist, or acoustic guitar player you've always known you could be! 2.) Solve a jigsaw puzzle. The more pieces the better. Buy one with a peaceful, serene theme, such as boats on a river, or palm trees swaying in the wind. Best to stay away from anything emotionally stirring. 3.) Express yourself creatively. A great way to get out some of those feelings is materializing them . Paint a picture, sculpt a statue, make some pottery.  ...

Remember me? I feel like I always start my blog posts out by apologizing for how long its been since I've last written, so in keeping with this tradition, I'm sorry it took so long to get this out here. Moving on. My life is crazy. Absolutely crazy. But, I wouldn't want to have it any other way. So what has happened since I've last checked in? Well, probably the biggest thing has been that I got engaged! When my boyfri, er, fiance... and I visited Canada last July, he popped the question! We've set a date, which is June 13th, 2015. Now I know what you're thinking, "Wow that's super fast!" And to respond to you a.) we've been dating for five years this November, b.) I've been wanting to marry him for around 4 years (what can I say? I know what I want!), and c.) we really wanted to get married before I started dental school. So as if planning a wedding doesn't add enough stress (fun stress, but still stress) to this semester, the...

Hello all, and sorry for the extended absence!  After finals week rolls around, I'm usually so caught up in my summer plans that my blogging goes by the wayside, which is exactly what happened a couple months ago. But, I'm back! And ready to type. After my last final in April, I immediately went home and got busy working on my personal statement. (Some people say type-A, I just say well prepared.) And boy did that personal statement take me longer than I thought it would. I had written many drafts, beginning as early as last summer at SMDEP, but none of them resonated with me. But when it came down to crunch time, I became inspired as all writers do with an impending deadline, and drafted something that came directly from my heart (and my keyboard.) I'm so proud of it, it makes me giddy. I never expected to have one 4500 character document explain me so perfectly. But I'm not going to say it was all sunshine and rainbows - it was pretty difficult at points trying to...