Nausea!

There's something really elemental and apparently gut-wrenching about lab practicals.  They're not multiple choice tests, where you at least have a chance of getting things right if you're struck clueless.  They're not essay tests, where you can at least feel semi-good about yourself for employing the "baffle 'em with bullshit" tactic (not that it works) if you don't really know what to say.  No, you're presented with whatever - in today's case, bones - and asked very specific things, which you have to describe in the correct manner.  Basically, you know the instant you lay eyes on the bone if you know it and that's it - you know it or, well, not.  I don't know what it is about them, but many of us find ourselves extremely nervous and nauseous prior to walking into the lab.  It's like all the studying is behind a very flimsy damn that really wants to break, and is afraid of breaking at the same time.

I went in there feeling like I knew my shit but wouldn't you know?  I seem to have tried to invent a new way to screw up.  We were given a bone (or set of bones, such as part of a skull, or a hand, or a foot), and asked to name four specific parts of it.  Well, I caught myself twice simply naming things in the order in which they spilled out of my head, rather than in the order in which they were asked.  So I had, say, radial tuberosity where I should have had troclear notch, hamate where I should have had fifth proximal phalanx, etc.  I caught a THIRD instance of my doing this when I went back over my test, and am hoping I caught them all.  Jesus H. Christ.  The results of that exam may be way more interesting that I'd like them to be.

Speaking of which, I got a 101 on my psych exam.  I'll take it.

Today was back to the hills.  I strung my route together a bit differently, essentially doing the key/hardest hills the opposite way from what I usually do.  (Incidentally, reversing a route is a great way to freshen up any run.)  Usually I route my hill runs for maximum uphill steepage, and for just about all of the hills I have, the normal down side is generally of a gentler grade than the up.  But, since running down a steep hill is actually pretty challenging in its own right (as is running up those long grades), it made for a nice change of pace and a good reminder to self to do that more often.  Tonight will be karate, as usual.