my feet on the dash

I'm learning Scanning Electron Microscopy!

Dual screen of a leg joint & a blow-up of it (SEM), originally uploaded by redmeg8.

And it is COOL! Could you imagine the potential for subject matter? Think of the drawings I could do! The detail is simply incredible.

Here's a set of the rest of the images I've done so far. Enjoy!

You CAN go home again...

I gotta admit... a few years back, hell, even a year ago, I'm not sure I would've been able to see what the future had in store for me. Now I know. It's pretty amazing.

I've been working on my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology & Chemistry for 2 years now at Eastern Mich. University (actually, it's a 2nd Bachelors) and am going to graduate in April... well, as of last October, I have been in contact with my "old" department at Wayne State School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy.

Old? Yes. I began my graduate studies there in 2005 and left after a year filled with guilt, confusion, and regret... mostly confusion. I had never left anything in that manner before. It left me floating in uncertainty for a few years as I considered medical school, graduate school in a different discipline, being done with academia, etc.

Well, all of the sudden last fall, at 2 in the morning one night, it hit me. I admitted to myself what my pie-in-the-sky goals are and I swallowed hard realizing that I needed to go back to Wayne State, hat in hand, and ask to be reinstated in my former program.

So, I did just that and have been working on it ever since. Let me just tell you that I am a firm believer in not only 'everything happens for a reason', but that if you are honest with yourself and take chances related to what you're meant to do in life, the 'fates' will conspire to open doors and make the way for you.

I'm back into Wayne State as of this summer/fall! I'll be a second year and will need to work my butt off, but, that's ok. I can see my goals firmly and they are so exciting, scary, and revolutionary, that I can see this through now.

I'll tell you more about them sometime. For now, I think I'll keep them under my hat. Of course, if we meet up in person, I might spill it ;p 

Wish me luck!

(now if I can just do well this last semester and graduate... sigh)

See? I haven't fallen off the drawing-a-day wagon!

See? I haven't fallen off the drawing-a-day wagon!, originally uploaded by redmeg8.

Juggling so many things has me working on tasks in pieces so I can keep up and stay sane. You're seeing proof of that above - my Illustration Friday hat drawing (the theme from last week) is about 65% complete. The first day of my US Health Care System class, this was written on the board (from another class):

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small parts."
Henry Ford

Eric's been telling me to use this as a technique for a long time now... sometimes I can do it, and sometimes I just wanna throw a tantrum that it's all just too hard and I wanna revert to a simpler time... like, oh I dunno, infancy. ;p

Anyway - it's written on my notebook now and I'm trying really hard to remember it. This is by far the most challenging semester I can ever remember having. So far, though, it seems like I'm still on track to do fairly well (or OK) in all of my classes. I'm not bombing anything. I just spend ALL of my waking hours going from one task to another.

If I sleep through Xmas break, don't be surprised. :)

Presently, my life boils down to this cross-stitch...

Chemistry, originally uploaded by Quistak.

Isn't this cross-stitch the best thing ever, though? I've become totally addicted to using my Subversive Cross-Stitch book lately and I found that, of course, Flickr has a group for it. :)

I think my next one is going to be the "Don't Make Me Cut You" piece. Gonna hang that on my studio door.

 

My Knock Knock book is available...

My book is available and on the front page of the website!!, originally uploaded by redmeg8.

... AND on the front page of their website!! Woo hoo!! This was the best project. Knock Knock was a wonderful client, the subject matter was awesome, and I was constantly hearing, "Make it grosser!! More gore! More gore!" Which... hello?... is sweeeeeeeet. Honestly, I had NO idea it was a 192-page tome! Woah! I can't wait until my copy arrives here shortly.

In other news, my hell-on-wheels semester of pre-requisite med school courses started last Wednesday. Holy crap am I gonna be a busy bee. Sigh.

And, in true I'm-an-academia-addict form, I decided to go for my 2nd Bachelors while I'm completing this coursework at EMU. Why on earth would I put myself thru that, you ask? Well, because I only have 36 credits hours to achieve to garner the credential & that is pretty cool.

Honestly, despite the busy-ness, I've been extraordinarily happy this last week. Like, I'm back in my element, or something. Sure, I feel a wee bit old compared w/ most of my classmates, but, beyond that, it feels home-y being back on a campus. I'm sucha nerd, aren't I??

Anyway - wish me luck. I'm trying like hell for a kick-ass GPA this semester and I feel as if I'm going to have to be "on" almost 18 hrs. a day to achieve that. :o

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Now playing: M.I.A. - Paper Planes
via FoxyTunes   

Wha???

I got an Army recruitment email today.
It started like this, "You’ve probably already received information about the U.S. Army’s scholarships for medical students..."

How fast did I hit delete, you might be wondering?
It would stun you to know. Sigh.

"Your application has been made available to the designated medical schools."

EEP!!! The ball is rolling...

In hiding

Photobooth 365: July 11th, originally uploaded by redmeg8.

Nah, not really... in a physical sense. But DAMN is it taking a long time for my psyche to get back into the swing of things. It's pretty frustrating. I'll post more soon... but, I'm off again on another adventure next week when I head to Montana (!) for the annual Association of Medical Illustrators meeting. I'm presenting a workshop, judging the salon, and have a piece in the salon as well (no, I'm not going to be judging THAT category!).  ;)

All is well, I guess is what I'm saying...

PS> After a HUGELY frustrating experience getting my last transcript (screw you, Wayne State!), my med school application is officially IN. At least, when they receive the transcript it will be... and that should be tomorrow - gulp! Scariness!

Been there, done that... how 'bout med school?

I am totally unashamed to reveal that this is exactly how I feel at times ;)

MCAT update, etc.

So, I got me second set of MCAT scores back... amazingly, despite the dread I felt coming out of that test, I did almost EXACTLY THE SAME as the first time.

•The writing I thought was weak and lame? The same. (I got a nice high score in writing, I'm happy to report.)
•Verbal reasoning? The same. (I was kinda bummed here as I managed my time better and felt as if I'd really improved. Score still slightly above average, though, so, I'll take it.)
•Physical & biological sciences? Well... I dropped a point in each. Meh - there's really nothing I can do about that.

So. That phase of my medical school application process is complete. In the back of my mind, I have this itchy feeling about how this admissions thing is going to go down: I'll apply and get to the interview stage (which is a huge achievement, I know), and I'll either be deferred until next year, or put on the waiting list. Why do I anticipate this? Well, it pretty much comes down to my very low physical sciences score. You see, in the upcoming year I'll take all of the classes that are covered in that section of the exam and I'm thinking they'll want me to "prove" myself by taking the MCAT again in about a year.

What I'd LOVE for them to do is put me on a waiting list if they're on the fence about me. Then let me take the MCAT again (hell, third time's a charm) and await my improved scores. Then they can accept me without any lingering doubt. ;)

Anyway - this is assuming I even get to the interview stage... look at these stats:

   Admissions Summary (2006)

• Number applying in 2006: 4787
• Number interviewed: 781  <-- wow, elite!
• Number of students in the class: 170
• Science GPA range: 2.61-4.00
• Total GPA range: 2.87-4.00
• MCAT total score range: 8.00-14.33