Unified Grades are in!!!

So, today I have "officially" received all the grades for the three subjects on the unifieds. I went in with an apprehensive feeling comparable to your gut falling out your ass at the speed of light. That was because I was behind on all the subjects and due to time constraints (and lack of interest and patience) I had to skip a lot of stuff.

Gross Anatomy & Embryology - I finished the lungs and the first part of the heart stuff in 2 days. I skipped Mediastinum (lack of interest) and autonomics (time constraint). I also didn't get a chance to review the stuff on the back and the arms untill 3 hours before the exam itself . Oh and let's not forget that I skipped the entire Embryology stuff that we have learned so far -- Grade: 80%

Biochemistry - I was up to date on the first few lectures but I had to catch up on all of Dr. Trotz's lectures (about 8 lectures) in two days. I had to skip Dr. Davidson's lectures on Bioenergetics and intro to metabolism -- Grade: 80%

Histology - Oh God, this was bad. I was up to date on the lectures on epithelium, connective tissue and cartilage. I went to most of the lectures and retained what I could when not falling asleep. I went over more than half the stuff (bone, blood & hematopoesis, muscles) the day of the exam, around 6:00 AM and had to skip the nervous system -- Grade: 84%

So, the moral of the story is KEEP UP WITH YOUR CLASSES!!! I can't emphasize that enough for myself. I was afraid I failed the exams simple because there were so many questions that I wasn't sure of and really had to reach in order to get the answer. But I was lucky and did not end up as being part of Dr. Davidson's statistics of kids who failed the unifieds.

I have been good since the exam and have managed to keep up with anatomy and biochemistry. I hope to do a decent amount of embryo this weekend simply because the embryo stuff are easy "gimme" points. That said, midterm is in 2 weeks...as I type this, I have soiled myself at the thought of the midterm. I hope the unifieds were an accurate representation of the midterm or future exams.

I am going to go take a power nap and then it's off to the books.

Incognegro GN Review

So, in between studying for the Unifieds that's on Monday, I gave myself a much-deserved break. I mean, you can only read about the damn enzymes and lungs and the heart for only so long.

Incognegro came out last week but I've been waiting to read this ever since I first saw it on the solicits. It's an exploration of racial identity and tension set in the 1930's. The main character is Zen Pinchback, a journalist who has a syndicated weekly column. Zen is also a Black man who is "light-skinned" enough to pass as White and does investigative reportings on lynchings in the deep South that usually went unreported.

The main plot is that Zen's brother, Alonzo has been accused of murdering a White girl and according to Southern justice, he's all set to be lynched. Now, it is up to Zen to try and save him.

I am not going to reveal the ending of the story. The story is well-paced and is layered with twists and turns. The author Mat Johnson, based this story somewhat on his own experience. He stated in the intro of the book that he too has the physical similarities that Zen possesses and growing up in a mainly Black neighborhood, he felt out of place. So, he used to invent and "incognegro" identity for himself and pretend he was a spy in the war against White Supremacists. The story is also inspired by former head of the NAACP, Walter White who also did his own "incognegro" investigations.

Johnson doesn't restrict his story to dealing with racial identities but instead deals with identities as a whole. It is a very well-crafted story and will stay with you long after you have finished reading the book. Warren Fleece's art is done entirely in black & white (what else?) and suites the story well. It's not grandoise in any scale but complements the story perfectly well. He is also adapt at capturing the different facial expressions that too many of today's artists seem to sacrifice in the favor of style.

Since I am not in the United States, I was unable to purchase this and had to resort to downloading it and reading it on my computer. But you better believe that as soon as I get back to the States, I am buying this.

Unifieds.....AARGH!

So, there's this little thing called the unifieds are coming up...coming up as in it's next Monday. It's 25 questions from each of the three classes and it's basically designed to see how well you've been studying and if you've been studying right. It's a figurative kick in the nutsack for those who hasn't been keeping up with the class. I would like to think that I have been somewhat keeping up but nonetheless I am still behind 1 or 2 or 4 lectures (thank you anatomy), so I might be getting a kick in my sack.

At any rate, I think I've become acclimated to the tropical weather as evident by the fact that I sweat less...and here I am speaking of buckets of sweat. Anyways, time's up and I have to get back to studying.