Sarah Mclachlan, you kill me.

We all know this tug-on-your-heartstrings and force you to go rescue a dog or cat commercial...

To the average person, this is an extremely sad commercial, but you generally go on living your life after seeing it.  I unfortunately, am not so lucky.  I cannot watch this commercial without crying, literally.  I don't known if it's the combination of Sarah's sweet sweet song and the sad puppy faces, but it opens the floodgates, without fail. I have mentioned this to a few selected individuals, and Chris has seen it now and can prove that it is impossible for me to sit in the room without crying.  He laughed.  After much consideration, I decided what I thought was once a flaw is in actuality hard evidence that I am meant to be a) going into veterinary medicine, though others may disagree with me there and b) I will try my hardest to become a shelter medicine specialist, since dinosaurs are no longer living. 
It is too hard to say now what I will be good at and what will be my calling in school, or if I can even pass and graduate (fingers crossed).  But as we get closer to the start date, I am getting so excited that I, like Sarah Mclachlan, can help the animals.  Just not with my beautiful singing voice.

26 days until departure and struggling with the question "What will you do with Ozzie!?"  Please if you see me, do not ask me about this.

The Land Before Time

In a futile attempt to become computer-literate as well as to keeps those up to date on my chosen career path, I have officially decided to start a blog.  My inspiration comes from a fellow blogger (of the sweaty kind) as well as "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog".  If you do not know either, you are missing out.  The name for my blog obviously stems from the Neil Patrick Harris show (see previous statement) and my attempt to honour (working on my UK spelling) him.  The chosen name, Dr. Smelly, will probably be what my future clients refer to me as.  Or maybe Dr. Smellhausen to be a bit more formal?  And naturally, I plan to focus my studies on creatures that have fascinated me since childhood.  You (if you do in fact know me) are probably thinking, "oh... Deer?  Horses?"  And to you I say, good guess, good guess indeed.  I will now digress as to share a favourite childhood activity of mine: playing deer.  To put it simply, I would run around on all fours throughout the house, as a family member would shine a flashlight on me.  Once spotted, I would freeze and stare wide-eyed into the light.  A deer in headlights.  Sometimes, I would be "hit by a car" and fall to my side, only to be rescued by the driver (a tolerable family member).  And the game would begin again.  But no, I do not necessarily want to specialise with deer.  What I would love to do most?  Orthopedic surgery on a great tyranosaurus rex.  I would settle for even a Hesperonychus elizabethae.  Sadly, my imagination is wilder than my actual dreams.  In my search to find a dino-friendly DVM program, I stumbled upon the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.  Headquarters: Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Okay I lied, my gentleman friend (copyright "Encounters of a Sweaty Kind") got me looking into vet schools abroad.  No, they are not a back up plan if you did not get into any schools in the states (I got waitlisted, thank you very much).  Look at said gentleman friend.  He did not get turned down by ANY vet school here in America (Cornell, Colorado, etc).  Edinbrugh is the place to be.  There are castles,  and it is the place where they cloned Dolly. 

So I welcome you aboard for this epic journey of an easily-frazzled, highly stressed but of course loveable vet-wannabe.  Buckle up, it is going to be a bumpy ride.