Progress Moment

I called an old friend, who mentioned that he'd had to have his gallbladder removed due to persistent gallstones. "And I have to eat a low-fat diet, now, too. It's very distressing to a carnivore like me," he added.

And then, like magic, I knew how much I'd learned: I knew where the gallbladder is (and could picture one, since I'd seen about ten of them) and what likely caused his gallstones; I knew what the gallbladder does (it does not make bile-- the liver does that, but the gallbladder stores bile, and bile helps digest fat); I knew why he needed to eat a lowfat diet (he has a limited amount of bile available to digest fat); and I knew what would happen if he ate too much fat (everything in his digestive system would exit immediately and precipitously, and he would emerge from the experience determined not to ever do that again. I knew, before he told me so, that he'd already tried this, and I knew why: People just have to test their limits and see if what they've been told is really true.)

Call it a wax-on wax-off moment.
Oh yeah, I can make a pretty good guess about where his abdominal incision was, what muscles got cut, and what kind of physical rehab he ought to do to repair it.

Awright, it's down to brass tacks, here.

I've tried the study schedule, the grade spreadsheet, the motivational self-talk in the car on the way to school. All of those motivational strategies are losing their punch.... we're all near the end of a long, stressful module. Some of my classmates flat out don't care anymore, and have turned on the TV.

I still care. I want good grades. It's time to reach into my motivational bag of tricks and pull out two that I save for emergencies.

#1: I called up a buddy... in California... and got him to agree to treat me to an over-the-top chocolate dessert if I make the grades I'm aiming for. (No grades, no dessert. So there. And part of the motivation is that it's a treat from someone else I don't get to see often enough.)

#2: I'm telling everyone here what grades I'm aiming for, and I'll post what grades I got.

So without further ado:

3 PM Monday: Anatomy Practical. I want a B in the class overall (83-85%).
To get there, I think I need a 90% on the practical and a 75% on the written.

9 AM Tuesday: Anatomy Written. (Again, I'm aiming for 75% or better. She gives hard tests!)

1 PM Tuesday: PT Science written. I want an A- (90%) in the class. I will settle for a B+ (87-89%). To get a 90%, I have to average 90% on the written and practical tests.

8:30 AM Wednesday: musculoskeletal written. I want an A- in the class, and to do that I have to get a 93% on the final test.

1:30 PM Wednesday: Human Life Sequence (pediatrics). I need an 80% on the final to get an A- in the class.

2:30 PM Thursday: PT Science practical. I need a 90% to get an A- in the class.

3:15 PM: Musculoskeletal practical (easy-- a pass/fail video review).

5 PM Thursday: Physiology. I need a 91% in this class to get an A-. The trick will be unwinding between 3:30 PM and 5 PM.