satan's spawn and other creatures

hello!

i should be writing my lit review right about now, but instead i will take this time to jot down a few things here.

to quote a friend's facebook status, "i am a pro at this crastination thing."

Satan's Spawn:

this past weekend was spent looking after a friend's brother's dog. let's call him "satan's spawn": a 2 year old yorkshire terrier who's tries to bite your face off when he's not pestering you for cuddles. freakin' weirdo dog.

a part of me feels for him because he's pretty much stuck at home all day and hardly gets taken out for walks; because of this, he doesn't interact with other people and other dogs, aside from his two owners. he also isn't disciplined very well, so this adds up to a dog that freaks out whenever he meets someone new.

friday and saturday were spent with him basically hiding from me when he wasn't all up in my grill trying to rip it off with his tiny teeth. i gave him his food and tried to play with him but he wasn't having any of it. fine, i say, then leave me alone to my writing and procrastination. by saturday afternoon he was coming around a bit; he finally allowed me to put the leash on him and take him for a walk. god knows i needed it as much as he did, after being stuck in front of a computer all day. i think that was our "breakthrough" because afterwards he was pretty much putty in my hands for the rest of the weekend. am i london's version of the "dog whisperer?" perhaps. :o)

i even taught him how to sit and stay! pretty good for someone he wanted to kill just a few days earlier.

anyhoo, chili dog he ain't but it was nice to have a pet for the weekend, plus it was a paying gig that also came with a surpise bottle of latour and a box of chocolates! bonus.

This Thing I Call My Future:

so i've hinted here and there about going to interviews and such...basically i've decided to give licensing as a pharmacist in the UK a shot, before returning home to get licensed in canada. the way things are going though, i don't think the UK wants me to practice pharmacy here!

i'm of two minds on this subject; when i first came over to do my degree i was adamant that i would return home as soon as i finished. it was never my intention to come to england to study pharmacy in the first place but i suppose the fates conspired to bring me here; if i haven't detailed the full story in a previous post (i don't remember if i have or not) then i won't get into it now. suffice it to say that i wanted to return home after this degree PRONTO.

don't get me wrong, i have LOVED my time here in london and wouldn't trade it for the world - i don't regret a second of it - but after moving here, there and everywhere since the age of 18 i think i am ready stay in one place for a while, and that place is canada. anyhoo...

studying here has provided me with an opportunity to get licensed here; if i get offered a great hospital training placement i would be hard-pressed to turn it down. i applied to four hospitals in london and the general NHS training scheme in scotland; here's my current status:

NHS scotland: had the interview, am waiting for their decision to come in the post;
london, hospital #1: turned me down without even granting me an interview;
london, hospital #2: had an interview and they turned me down;
london, hospital #3: had an interview, still don't know their decision;
london, hospital #4: haven't heard anything from them yet.

so my odds look pretty grim. i want to start my career in hospital so am not applying to any community pharmacies; if i stayed in the UK for another year or two it would be for hospital only. i would rather go home and get licensed in canada than spend a year plus in a community pharmacy in the UK.

if i don't get anything here i won't be too disappointed, as that would mean i would be going home! i had nothing to lose by trying and everything to gain so i thought "why not?" and decided to give it the good ol' college try.

i did get feedback from one of the interviewers; she said i babbled on too much (which i knew i did) and that some of my answers to her questions were a bit weak, which showed that i didn't do enough research about the placement itself. hey, the criticism was constructive and appreciated. they interviewed over 150 students for 2 to 9 places so she said if you didn't perform well on the interview day your chances were pretty much slim to none, if they weren't already. i can live with that.

anyhoo, i'll keep you posted on what happens with the other places i still haven't heard from. i have a feeling i won't get anything but we'll see.

okay, okay, back to the lit review.

CET :o)