Topsy Turvy

Life is unpredictable. Need proof, do you??!?

Would you ever have predicted that I was going to show you an image of sister clams with pigtails jumping on a trampoline? Okay, so it’s not as if I’m going out on a limb by pointing out the randomness of life. I’m maybe the 4 billionth person to say this; however, I still find myself acting surprised whenever things don’t go according to plan. For instance, I envisioned my second year of optometry school going a little something like this :

Each day I would enter school and the first year students would remove my chinchilla fur coat, replace it with my academically appropriate Powerpuff Girl’s bathrobe, and hand me a tall latte in preparation for the day. As the first years complimented my appearance and made hyperbolic statements about my greatness, I would walk to class where I was greeted with applause from my adoring classmates. I would then proceed to ace every test and proficiency as my distinguished professors held back their tears of pride. To everyone’s dismay, I would leave at the end of the day for a quick 3 hour workout, a kale and celery dinner, and a 4 hour snuggle session with my 50 cats.

Despite anchoring my expectations in reality, my actual experience so far has wildly veered off course. It all began to fall apart early in the semester when I came down with an upper respiratory tract infection. At first, the infection was a minor inconvenience that I figured would pass. After a few days however, my sickness progressed and began zapping me of my energy. Suddenly, my mental faculties began to suffer and I started to fall behind with my studies. By the tenth day of my sickness, I was convinced that I was marching towards my inevitable death. In the middle of drafting my last will and testament, my body regrouped and devised a brilliant, but risky strategy upon where it attempted to learn how to identify the virus based upon unique viral markers. My body then mounted an attack on the enemy and to my surprise, reigned victorious! That night, I feasted in celebration of a battle successfully won and I prepared for my semester to get back on the idyllic track I originally envisioned. However, whether it was struggling to learn a new clinical skill or almost dying several times in a Lyft while travelling around Chicago for a conference thanks to Shahira the insane Lyft driver (If you’re out there reading this Shahira, please stop driving forever), things never seemed to work out quite right.

When life is super chaotic, I like to have one constant that I can depend on. That constant USED to be Mr. Business, the lovable alley cat that likes to visit my house on occasion. However, Mr. Business recently slaughtered an innocent bunny that I grew to love when it began to use my backyard for shelter. It’s been almost a month since the incident occurred and I STILL can’t look into Mr. Business’ cold soulless eyes.

Despite the fact that things could be going more smoothly, I’m actually really happy with how my second semester has turned out so far. Perfection is boring and overcoming unexpected obstacles makes my experience in school a lot more interesting. Some degree of chaos is inevitable with all the various responsibilities that optometry school entails; so, the next time things don’t go exactly as I hope, I’ll try not to act so surprised.