Steampunk Taxidermy

Hallo all!

After my brain imploded from an hour and a half of reviewing antivirals. "Reviewing" means "seeing for the first time ever because you skipped those lectures in both micro and pharm because the names had a minimum of five syllables, a mishmash of Qs and Zs, and all end in 'vir'. Damn you, drug companies!), I got to Stumbling as my break, which like all random-find internet engines, introduces you to a subsubniche of weird just when you thought you'd grown jaded from every bizarre fetish Japan had to offer. And there's a lot of them!

As a result of my newfound tour into sub-subcultures, I discovered my new "if I wash out of medicine career": steampunk taxidermist!

I mentally ventured into being an Alaskan crab fisherwoman because I like the ocean and they make serious bank, but the last election left me less enamored with Alaska, plus I get seasick and am a giant chicken. Plus, living in the Caribbean has destroyed my years of nerve-numbing ice skating talent, so now I shiver when there's a cool breeze. I'm told all of these traits would affect my earning potential as an Alaskan crabfisherwoman. So that's out.

I've also played with being a Tahitian pearl diver, but I've kind of had my fill of living on small islands for a while, and see above about being a green-gill coward. So probably not. Oh, and I'm not wild about pearls.

But with steampunk taxidermy, using only the family dog and parts from a rusted out car engine, you can be a master.

I was uncertain about what "steampunk" was, since Grenada doesn't exactly have a huge variety of subcultures, I'm guessing due to the small population, huge price of importing anything, and the climate's proclivity to make wearing anything more interesting than "shorts and a t-shirt, possibly not the t-shirt" ill advised.

Fortunately, google prevailed:



For some reason, probably due to intense bouts of cabin fever wrapped insomnia, I find this all absolutely fascinating.

So what's new? Uhhh... let's see... I started having sleep problems again, though fortunately not psycho ones, which have been alleviated by a nice doctor in Aurora as a bonus to my mandatory physical/titers/TB test/anal probe (just kidding, or AM I?? yeah, I am... maybe)/questionnaire that the school makes us do so they won't be releasing foam-dripping consumptive suicidal typhoid marys on the unsuspecting patient population. Nope, just scared, book-smart, experience-dumb twelve-thumbed medical students. Mwa ha ha ha.

Anyway, Aurora is a town which is dropped in the middle of scenic nothingness, thus I was confused as to *why* there is a town there, until the phlebotomist informed me that there's a phosphorus mine where they dig up tons and tons of fossils.

So my dork-radar fully turned on, and as I jabbered about bones, she directed me back to the nurse who had done my vitals who has an extremely extensive fossil collection, which she gently explained to me in idiot mode because as an anthro major, I am to her what archeologists are to physical anthro people. "Oh... you like NEW stuff. Well...", and she showed me all the pictures and a few of the real deal that she has at work, AND gave me a sand tiger shark tooth to make into a necklace.

Yeah, so I'll definitely be going back to Aurora. Nice! Oh, and they were all very colleague professional cool, with the doc (who had actually taken the USMLE versus the one I went to before who apparently got certed back in the days of state boards, and genuinely asked "well, why would you be stressed about taking that?"), who gave me the time honored advice: "After you take the test, you'll feel like you failed, so try to stay away from sharp objects".

Hmm, expert medical care, short wait times, fossil museum adjacent, and appreciative of irony? Oh, Aurora.

Oh, but speaking of that whole make you or break you test, what have I been doing? I'm still embedded in micro, but on the last night of it, FINALLY, which has honestly been hanging on me for so long that I'm looking forward to immuno. I've been doing USMLE World practice questions, and am finally getting good at the micro area, since apparently phoning it in during fourth term to focus on path didn't really score me a lot on the "long term recall" scale. Whoda thought?

That, and of course, googling "steampunk". Cuz you gotta prioritize.

Remember kids, if I don't pass the boards, come right back here for your own modded out family pet. The longtime readers will get a half off special.