Adventures in Dentistry, Lord of the Rings, and School

Be prepared for kind of a long blog post.

So many of you know that I'm interested in going into dentistry. I want to go to dental school and will start the application process this summer to get in for Fall 2012. I've been to school-sponsored pre-dental informational meetings, a pre-dental conference at the LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans, and reading up on what I need to do to attain this goal. Some of the things I need to do are to prepare for and take the Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) before May, keep up my good grades, get letters of recommendation from professors, do service for my community, and shadow at dental offices.

I've done a bit of all of these over the break, since having all of this free time makes is easier to get these done, especially shadowing dentists. Early last week, I googled "dentists in Baton Rouge" and found a few that are within a few miles of where I live. I called a few of them, telling them my name and that I want to go to dental school so could I come observe and gain some experience. The first two I called, the receptionists were very professional and brisk, saying "Well, I'll have to run it by Dr. So-and-so. What is your number? I'll ask him and we'll call you back." This seemed reasonable, so I did so and kept calling. The third that I called, however, was WAY different! The receptionist told me after I asked to shadow "Oh sure! How about you come in tomorrow morning just to meet Dr. Shea, and you can shadow on Thursday?" I was shocked! I guess he must have people come shadow enough that the receptionist scheduled me to come shadow before asking him... (I found out later that he had taught at the LSU School of Dentistry before, so I suppose that explains him not being abject to people coming in.)

Last Thursday, observing Dr. Shea was my first time shadowing a dentist. It was a much easier ordeal than I had imagined. Their office is very modern (unlike the office I shadowed earlier this week. I got spoiled at Dr. Shea's!). I got to see some fillings, an extraction, a crown prep, your basic check-up, take some x-rays, hold the suction tube in someone's mouth, and more. The people who work there are also very easy to get along with. Dr. Shea, the receptionist Ashley, the hygienist Renee, and the assistant Erin are so easygoing and friendly! To top is off, at the end of the day....I WAS OFFERED A JOB!!! Holy cow! They were so impressed with me and how I just jumped right into it on my first day ever observing that they wanted me to train as a dental assistant and work for them a couple days a week. Wow. So great. :)

On Wednesday, two days ago, I came in after lunch and Erin gave me some basic training--what instruments are which, how to set up a room for different procedures, how to use the computers, how to sterilize instruments, how to take down a room after a patient leaves, how to close up for the day, and more. It was a little overwhelming, but luckily Dr. Shea has easy names for all of the instruments he uses, most of which either depend on its shape or color. I start work on Monday.

Now that I'll be working in a dental office, I'm going to be working less at Raising Cane's. It's making me kind of sad in a way. It hit me that eventually I'm going to leave Cane's. It's kind of obvious that I'll have to leave some day since I want to be a dentist and working at a dental office prepares me more for my future than a quick-service restaurant (Cane's is not "fast food," my manager will correct you if you call it that!) will. I never expected that I was going to work there as long as I have, though--I've been there for almost a year and a half now. I've so enjoyed working at that chicken joint. Mostly I love the people I work with. Being part of the Raising Cane's crew has been so much fun and is the best part about working there. That'll be the worst part about leaving: having to tell these people good bye. I will miss the days of making lemonade, grilling toast, cleaning up after a game day, prepping Cane's Sauce cups, mixing coleslaw, trying not to burn yourself when putting hot food into boxes...but most importantly, it'll be making customers and fellow crew members smile. So will I be out of Cane's by the end of the semester and working exclusively for Dr. Shea? Or will I keep Cane's as my weekend job for a while longer while still working most days a week as a dental assistant? I don't know yet.

In other news, yesterday was incredibly awesome. We finally got around to our Lord of the Rings extended edition marathon!! Last year we wanted to do it, but people's schedules never matched up, so only a few people got together for it. The others who couldn't (myself included) so wanted to be part of it, though, so all of Fall 2010, we tried to coordinate a day to do it. Never found a good day: I usually worked on the weekends, and the Saturdays I was free someone else wasn't, or I had tests I needed to study for, and yadda yadda... We put it off for Winter Break. It almost didn't happen, even over the break! Work schedules conflicted, but yesterday everyone was good except for me. I ended up finding someone to take my shift (even though I wanted the money--watching Lord of the Rings before Spring semester starts is worth it), and the movie-ing commenced. What an awesome trilogy! Peter Jackson directed a work of art. Those movies are so good. I understood more of the story and the depth of the characters than I ever have. (This makes me want to read the books now.) I can't wait for the two Hobbit movies to come out, so we can have our "pentalogy" marathon. :) That won't be for another two years or so...but it's something to look forward to! (and as a side note, if I'm going to end up with Michael, I'm going to eventually know everything about LotR. He's so obsessed with it. bahahah.)

School starts on Tuesday. This break has been really long and also incredibly short at the same time. I wish I had another week. I've got to study up on my Chinese before the semester starts. My room needs to get clean. I don't want to start studying again! booooo. Some good news, though. At first this was unpleasant news. I ordered my textbooks two weeks ago, expecting that they'd be here for the start of the semester. One of my books, a $75 book for Cell Biology, was refunded a few days ago!! My point of buying books two weeks ago was to get them cheaper and not have to scramble to buy them when classes started. The cheapest cell bio book I found was $92. Ick, almost $20 more! That $20 could pay for other school supplies. Luckily, my roommate, who is also a biology major, had this book. And gave it to me. For free!! I offered to pay her, and she wouldn't take it. How nice!! So I have an extra $75 that I'm using to buy ink for my printer, get a Physics lab notebook, and do something EXTREMELY nice for my roommate.

That's all I have for now, other than the fact that Mike & I are going on a date to the zoo today. :D I haven't been to the zoo in ages! I love that kid. I also had a dream last night that Square Enix and Nintendo were mortal enemies in this movie that came out in theaters, with Square being the "bad guy" and Nintendo the "good guy." Then there was something about Homestar Runner. Why are all my dreams so nerdy? :P Ciao!