The tragedy of Vucko

To those of you who have not yet seen or heard of Vucko- he was a German Shepherd in Bosnia who had most of his face blown-off by a firecracker thanks to two very cruel, drunken teenage boys.

I will not put an uncensored photo of him up on this blog- you can easily find photos on Google if you wish to see. There is also a short video of the veterinary examination done on him- here is the link for it but i warn you- it is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC.
Vucko's Exam

Apparently his mouth was taped shut with the firecracker inside by the boys and the dog was left to wander for 5 days in unimaginable pain, unable to eat or drink until authorities finally brought him in for veterinary attention. They were obviously unable to reconstruct his face and he was euthanized. It's amazing, and also quite disheartening, that he survived the explosion in the first place- especially that he lived for that long before finally being given peace.

It serves as a reminder that there is still a lot of animal cruelty out there- so please support organizations like the ASPCA, Humane Societies and others that seek to prevent cruelty and care for those that have been abused. 

It was only just a dream...

I got an acceptance letter! Unfortunately, it was only in my dream last night... very vivid, I was sure if I just looked hard enough for it this morning it would be around here somewhere! haha

No word yet from Iowa or Oregon. Should be in about a month *fingers crossed*

I have plenty to keep me busy until then- maxed out credit load! Statistics, Physics II Lecture & Lab, Immunology Lecture & Lab, Principles of Economics, Intro to Theatre, Senior Art Seminar, and my online Animal Nutrition course. YIKES! And physics II is kicking my butt already...

Not much else going on for me right now. My cat is going through a rough patch- he's 17 1/2 years old so it's not a surprise. He developed thyroid problems last March and since then he'll have "bad nights" where he's up all night vomiting and having diarrhea, it takes him some time to recover from these bad nights but he's having a particularly rough time bouncing back from the one he had at the start of the week. Starting to think it'll be time to put him down sometime this year. I've pretty much spent the entire year since March being prepared for it so at this point it will almost be more of a relief to me. Love him to pieces, he's my little old man.

Keep you all posted on any news! Busy with preparing for the Spring Gallery Opening next month, teaching belly dance classes every Friday and keeping the Art Club active. :)

Semester II begins! Boggled as ever...

Sorry for the delay in posting- I was on a family vacation to Disney World the first week of January. We go there every Christmas break for the last 6 years or so, and this was probably the worst trip to date- most of were sick for part or most of the trip.

I got two more letters of rejection while I was on vacay- an email from Minnesota and a letter from Washington :( That leaves just 2 more replies! I have yet to hear anything from Oregon and I won't hear back from Iowa about my interview until mid-Feb. I sent off my Fall transcripts to each of them on Monday. *fingers crossed*

I have begun the second and possibly final semester of my undergrad career. I say possibly because I have no idea what I'm doing... Not just not knowing if I'm going to get into veterinary school this cycle but I am also completely second-guessing my Plan B. I am unsure whether I should continue with my Clinical Laboratory Science degree next year if I don't get accepted this time around to vet school. I am already accepted into the CLS program and will get my clinical site assignment mid-Feb as well. I'm just not sure that's what I want to do anymore. If I go that route I don't graduate yet, I do a summer session at an affiliate university in ND then I do a 9-month clinical training/internship session and then finally graduate from undergrad next spring and would then take my licensing exam.

Originally I figured it would allow me to boost my GPA, show I could do well in a medical/professional program, give me the opportunity to get a decent paying job that would allow me to work just about anywhere, it would max my income for the few hours I will have available to work in vet school and there are shifts available day or night so it would be flexible- and not to mention just give me something to do haha

But now I'm thinking it really won't have that great of an effect on my GPA other than maybe the last 45 calculation, it is difficult to find a job opening for this right now because labs are cutting back to the bare number of staff needed and most of the people in the field are not old enough to be retiring yet so there is not a fast turn-over rate, I would be trained in to work at the clinical site but I wouldn't be staying there so I'd have to get retrained wherever I went, it's not what I want to do- as much as i LOVE the information and the lab work!, and it wouldn't leave me much time to increase my vet experience hours - which is a very weak point of mine that I CAN do something about.

I am beginning to think I might be better off graduating this Spring with just my Art major and spending next year trying to do some internships to expand on the variety of my animal experience and to increase my veterinary experience hours- I think maybe actively trying to improve my credentials it probably the better use of my time in the long run.

I just don't know-- I'm torn. I just wish I knew from Iowa and Oregon already so I knew if I needed to revamp my Plan B or not for sure!! Does anyone have any helpful suggestions/advice?