lol hi! Been a while since I posted, and things have changed a bit for me so I figured I should write something in here. I wouldn't call this my triumphant return to blogging or anything, I mean you can fully expect me to disappear for another... *counts* ... six months after I post this XD;; but who knows! Maybe not. I dunno.
Anyway wtf was happening last time I updated...oh right, I was doing freelance and enrolled at DeVry University. Well, that went to shit because my car decided it wanted to be a defiant SOB and it began to develop an overheating issue, and when I went to get it looked at I found out there was not only a leaking transmission but also the head gaskets needed to be replaced. Which would have ended up costing more than my car was worth...so basically I was told that I was driving a car that could expire on me at any time, and since DeVry was almost an hour away it was just not a risk I felt like taking, and so I had to drop my classes there.
It wasn't so bad in retrospect, I wasn't really digging DeVry. They had a weird way of doing things, and because I was commuting some of the classes were only once a week so if you missed one class it was like missing two weeks of a regular class @_@ Plus, despite meeting in-class we still had to do stupid online crap like forum discussions and quizzes, which I find impossible to keep up with due to all the distractions of the internet.
So yeah, I actually dropped my classes shortly after my last post. I've still been doing some freelance, working with the same company I mentioned previously, but all of these failed college experiences thus far have taught me that I should never try to take a hobby and turn it into a career. I'm sure it works out great for many people, but evidently not for me. Every time, it just starts to feel like a chore and it sucks all the fun out of it and I end up not even wanting to do these things on my own time let alone for other people. I don't know why I thought web design would be different. I still love it, but I don't want a career out of it anymore. I'm fine doing a little on the side for some extra cash, but yeah, not really wanting to do this for the rest of my life anymore.
Expensive lesson, but you can't know these things unless you try. So then, what
am I doing now, anyway? Well for one thing I told myself I shouldn't aim so high. I have been trying this whole time, like I said, to turn a hobby of mine into a career so that it would feel like I never had to work. So I thought that instead, I should focus on a job that I would NOT be doing outside of work, something that is not really a hobby, and for a while I didn't really know what the hell that would be.
And then my mom was telling me that I should do some volunteer work to get out of the house and maybe I would find some job opportunities through connections I'd make with other people, so I remembered the Fort Collins Cat Rescue, the shelter I had planned on volunteering at in 2009 (and then missed the meeting because I had the flu). At that point I was also considering getting into a vet tech program somewhere, but I wanted to be sure that this time I wasn't going to make another mistake. The shelter also has a Spay/Neuter clinic and I figured if I could get some work there, I could gain some experience and get an idea of what I would be getting into. Not only that, but if I did decide that being a vet tech is what I wanted to do, the volunteering would look really awesome on my resume.
That was a month ago, and I've been doing a lot of volunteer work at the clinic since then. Things have worked out SO much better than I
ever thought they would, everyone at the clinic is SO NICE and the techs are always teaching me how to do things. I've learned a lot from them so far, you'd really be surprised what they let volunteers do! o_o
My first day there, I walked in and basically one of the techs held up a thermometer to me and another volunteer and was like "Who wants to take this dog's temp?! 8D"
I did it, haha. Typically whenever I go there I can expect to help restrain animals, take temps, draw up vaccines, run heartworm tests, and help out with any miscellaneous task that they need me to do. I've also been taught how to give injections (microchips and vaccinations, although only employees are allowed to give the rabies vaccinations so I haven't done that, but I've given a distemper shot! XD) and I've drawn blood samples a few times, too.
I am never unsupervised while doing these things, of course, because I'm still learning. But everyone seems more than willing to teach me this stuff, it's SO awesome, like I said I've learned so much in just one month there. I've seen a few surgeries, too. The veterinarians don't mind when volunteers watch, and today I was watching a dog being spayed and the vet was super nice and was explaining things to me as she was doing them, it was just so cool :D
One of the techs was also telling me that if I kept volunteering regularly, like a couple times each week, then there's a good chance that I could get hired there because apparently they will teach you all of the things you need to know to work there (which I believe, for sure, LOL). She said one of the employees is leaving in August, so that might be when I could get in, which would be BEYOND awesome!!
I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket or anything, I mean fully intend to get into the vet tech program at the community college whether I can get the job there or not, because I just want to have the entire education regardless. But I was talking to my sister (who IS a vet tech) and she said that all the stuff I've been doing/seeing is basically what the job normally consists of. So I'm pretty much halfway there already! Crazy, right??
But really, I am loving it, I enjoy being there and I'm not even getting paid for it. I find it totally rewarding and I love getting to see all of the animals that come in, all shapes and sizes. I got to hold the CUTEST LAB PUPPY EVER last week, omg his owners are so lucky I decided to give him back ;D I've seen the angriest cat on the planet get vaccinated, a dog that lost a lot of weight and had these big skin folds draped over her tail (THAT was strange o_O) and...a kitty abortion...well, they weren't kittens by any means and didn't look like anything remotely recognizable, but it was still a bit jarring to realize what I was seeing, you know?
I'm just glad that I'm not at all squeamish. I can compartmentalize pretty well, too. For example, stitches CREEP ME THE FUCK OUT but I was watching the vet stitch up that dog earlier and had no ill reaction at all, until I got home and started thinking back on it XD
So anyway, I'm really thinking that this is it, this is what I want to do. I've always loved animals, often times more than people, and I remember as a child I was always saying that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I don't think I want to be a full-on doctor, just because it seems so high-pressure and I don't want to kill an animal by accident o_O ...but being a tech is definitely something that I can do.
I'm going to the meeting at the community college in April, it's the first Wednesday of each month and I missed last month's meeting by ONE DAY agh! But anyway, it's a separate meeting to get into the vet tech program so I'm aiming to get into the Fall semester, and spend the summer semester making sure that I've got all my prerequisites done. I think I might only need the Medical Terminology course, but we'll see :3
So anyway, there's a big fat update for ya. Other than that, I've been playing a lot of Dragon Age 2~ omnomnom.
Also, I couldn't fit this in anywhere, but we did end up getting a new car. It's a 1999 Saturn, affordable and it's been okay so far XD
mmkay, I have to go and finish my sink-full of dishes. BLARGH D:
*poofs*
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