Although I am already at the end of my 3rd rotation (out of 4), this rotation seemed to have dragged a bit. Winter rotation is known to be the longest since it is broken up by Thanksgiving and Winter break. Also, having the winter rotation at the Eye Care Center (ECC) here at SCCO makes this rotation a bit longer since we work longer hours compared to outside rotation sites. The pace of the exams are a bit slower at the ECC since we have to wait for staffing a lot, and we see less patients particularly due to the downturn of the economy. Overall it's not too bad though since I get to have a re-exposure to many things that I haven't seen in my 1st and 2nd rotations, namely pediatric and contact lens patients.

I also wanted to add that I did pass my NBEO Part II exam! I'm pretty stoked about it since I did much, much better than I expected. Now the only things I have to worry about are my senior project (I'm working with a classmate to capture retinoscopy reflexes and make it into a DVD), NBEO Part III, and then graduation! Actually let me add one more thing to worry about - licensing. At this time, 4th years have to initiate their applications for licensing, and this can be burdensome since there are lots of things to take care of, namely background checks, fingerprints, paperwork, etc. And then we also have to know of the requirements of each state since optometric licenses are governed by the state. So we have to do our own homework on the subtleties of each state's licensing requirements, whether it's the need for fingerprints, an additional law exam, or any other kinds of testing/paperwork. It's a bit of a hassle for me since I want to apply for not just a California license, but I have to consider other states too since I'm not 100% sure I'll return to California after my Army obligation.

Besides these things, there aren't too many things going on really. After being so busy for the last 3.5 years, it feels strange to have very few responsibilities outside of school. So what I ended up doing is getting a video game console (Xbox 360) and picked up reading for recreation again. I admit that it felt strange to pick up a book for fun again since I initially felt like I was trying to memorize the information rather than just reading to enjoy the story. I guess that's what optometry school did to me - we just learn to read the material as thoroughly but efficiently as possible and just try to cut out the unnecessary information in order to get straight to the meat of the information. What I'm reading right now is Angels and Demons, and it's a pretty awesome story so I highly recommend that you pick it up!