I finally understand it. Live the gospel til your dying breath. I always thought, "Why would some old person want to stop trying to live the gospel? They're so close! Why not just keep going until you're ACTUALLY done?"
I'M THAT OLD PERSON.
Laugh. Laugh all you want. I know a lot of you have done what I'm doing and maybe more. But let me tell ya. Ugh...it's hard to endure.
Boards. Start in 4 days. End in 5 weeks. Holy crap.
Thursday is Local Anesthesia. I get a person numb for no reason other than to show I know where to put the sharp pointy needle and how to squirt it out so they talk like a retard. Okay, so that part I'm kinda excited about. Oh wait, the 50-question written test about it...not so much.
Then mid-April I fly down to California (USC) and clean a quadrant of a complete stranger's mouth (THANKS UNCLE MARK!!) and get graded on that... let's not even get started on how stressful that is..."should i drive/fly out there before the test to meet him and make sure he meets the criteria? what if he doesn't meet all the qualifications? what if he's...? what if he has...?" the possibilities are endless, and not knowing the answers (and being the control-freak-of-a-Packard-who-HAS-to-have-all-the-answers that I am) for my $1000 test is...well, let's call it...unnerving.
Then just four days after THAT...the eight-hour, 300/400 question national board exam. studying pretty much every spare minute I have. taking practice tests. failing them. studying more. hard to remind yourself you actually DID learn something during the last four years of your life. YOU DID! they just don't want to ask you those questions...the ones you DO know the answers to... no, they want to ask when you're supposed to cure the gold crown...when it's red-hot, prickled, or back to its original shade...WHEN AM I EVER GOING TO CURE A GOLD CROWN?? I just want to make money cleaning people's frickin teeth! Ask me whether the Gracey 11/12 is for the mesial or distal surfaces, I can tell you that! AND show you how!
Needless to say, I'm neglecting my husband. Good thing he loves me.
2024 Moments: Week 45
1 week ago
Oh Emily...! A lot of stuff ahead of you. While I don't understand what it's like from the dental point of view, we had similar types of seemingly endless exams, papers, practicals, and lastly--my least favorite--the big oral defense where you had to defend your months and entire college experience in front of the entire class... and four experts grilling you for an hour. I'm alive, and the moment I stepped out of there was one of the happiest of my life! You'll feel it sooner than you think my dear. You can do it!
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