Class of 2020... how you doin?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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RoryCat said:
My mother, sister, 92 yr old grandmother and their 4 cats are evacuating because of hurricane Matthew. It should be interesting. Wish I could be a fly on the wall just in the car ride north....
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Meanwhile I'm considering driving to Florida with my 2 cats tomorrow...lol
 
Hey everyone,

I'm not sure where to ask this question, but I was hoping you all could help since most of you (if not all) were accepted this past cycle.

In short, I applied this cycle for the class of 2021. I applied to 14 schools (all in the U.S.), and 2 of them (UF and U Penn) require Calculus. The rest only require up to statistics (which I have already taken), or a higher level math like college algebra (which only a few schools require. I can easily take this winter or spring). I am currently taking Precalculus because it is a prereq for Calculus (which UF and U Penn require). So my plan was to take precalc now in the fall (which I am), and calculus in the spring. However, precalculus is not going well at all. I have a positively awful teacher who does not teach and goes WAY too fast. I am also taking two other classes, so it has been difficult devoting all of my time to precalculus.

I have a couple options and I need help. If I drop precalc, I will get my third W (not in a row), and have to find another option for taking precalculus now or over the winter to be able to start calculus in the spring. I fear if I stay in the class I will not pass it (which I cannot afford to do for my gpa). The other option is to continue with the class and hope that I am somehow able to pull off a B or A. I do not want anything lower than that. My other option would be to drop it, and take college algebra in the winter or spring instead (since it is easier and only a few schools require it). The downside to that is I would no longer be eligible for UF or U Penn. Any help would be appreciated, and please only good constructive comments! Thank you!
 
WildZoo said:
I sorry 🙁 Do you guys go straight through to Thanksgiving? At my undergrad we had fall break as well but it was only one day, here it's two. The tradeoff is we don't get the day before Thanksgiving off.
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Yeah, we go straight through to Thanksgiving before we have a break. I had an actual fall break in October in undergrad, but we don't get anything like that here.
 
WildZoo said:
Meanwhile I'm considering driving to Florida with my 2 cats tomorrow...lol
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Don't know where you are heading, but Matthew is moving more inward by the minute it seems.... (My fam is on east coast so kinda a problem....)
I think my mom's main concern is my grandma. Being without power would make things more difficult for taking care of her. Plus, when they loose power they also loose water since they are on a private well. It's one thing to have no power for a week, it gets really difficult to not have any water too. We hunkered down a decade ago when Florida was hit by its last round of hurricanes and "survived" but I also told my self that i would not want to ride out anything much stronger.
If you do decide to head to Florida be safe!
 
I think we get Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. Have a test and lab on veterans day, and then straight until end of semester the 3rd week of December
 
RoryCat said:
Don't know where you are heading, but Matthew is moving more inward by the minute it seems.... (My fam is on east coast so kinda a problem....)
I think my mom's main concern is my grandma. Being without power would make things more difficult for taking care of her. Plus, when they loose power they also loose water since they are on a private well. It's one thing to have no power for a week, it gets really difficult to not have any water too. We hunkered down a decade ago when Florida was hit by its last round of hurricanes and "survived" but I also told my self that i would not want to ride out anything much stronger.
If you do decide to head to Florida be safe!
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In all honesty I probably won't be going. I would likely beat the eye there (Jacksonville), but it's hard to tell how spread out the bad weather would be.
 
SandstormDVM said:
Yeah, we go straight through to Thanksgiving before we have a break. I had an actual fall break in October in undergrad, but we don't get anything like that here.
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That's awful! I have been looking forward to next Friday off since the end of the first week, lol. Though, I was feeling shortchanged as I had two days off in undergrad, but now I guess I won't complain - one days better than no days.
 
WildZoo said:
Ugh, that's so rough.
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RoryCat said:
That's awful! I have been looking forward to next Friday off since the end of the first week, lol. Though, I was feeling shortchanged as I had two days off in undergrad, but now I guess I won't complain - one days better than no days.
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Heh. Admittedly I may be a little bitter since we have an anatomy test tomorrow... and tests for nutrition and cell bio next week. Like, I am legitimately afraid that I am going to just completely fail. Le sigh.
 
RoryCat said:
That's awesome! 😀
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Thanks! 😀

Anatomy was the class I had been studying the most for, so when I just barely passed I was really worried about my other classes.

We also got cell phys back an hour later, and I did well on it too! Today's a good day 😀
 
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We go straight through until Thanksgiving break too. At least week after next we somehow don't have any exams, so we get a "break" even though we still have classes! And then we have the entire week of Thanksgiving off.

@RoryCat and @WildZoo I hope your families stay safe!
 
I didn't even know fall break was a thing! I'm jealous haha we have nothing till Thanksgiving.
 
Something that's going to be really hard for me to come to terms with is not getting a Mardis Gras break next semester. Apparently that's not a thing everywhere 🙁
 
rockatiel said:
Something that's going to be really hard for me to come to terms with is not getting a Mardis Gras break next semester. Apparently that's not a thing everywhere 🙁
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Whaaaattt 😱

I didn't realize breaks other than Thanksgiving, Winter, Spring and Summer where a thing :laugh:
 
SandstormDVM said:
Heh. Admittedly I may be a little bitter since we have an anatomy test tomorrow... and tests for nutrition and cell bio next week. Like, I am legitimately afraid that I am going to just completely fail. Le sigh.
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You can do it! Go knock that anatomy exam dead tomorrow!
 
katashark said:
:wideyed:
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The SEC is something else. Home opener was on a Thursday so of course classes couldn't happen because all the parking lots are used for tailgating. Heh.

It comes back to bite us though. We have a Saturday final at the end of the semester.
 
ImageUploadedBySDN1475722333.115849.jpg


The latest episode in "Aloha's Extremely Intelligent Note Taking"
 
Lupin21 said:
This is why I never take/took notes
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If I didn't take notes, my attention span would be zero and I would totally Facebook/sleep my way through this entire section of vet school and never learn the nervous system...... not that neuro is at all my strong suit even when I do take notes
 
alohacat319 said:
If I didn't take notes, my attention span would be zero and I would totally Facebook/sleep my way through this entire section of vet school and never learn the nervous system...... not that neuro is at all my strong suit even when I do take notes
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haha! Echo is friend. Very good friend. I thank dog every day I am able to learn via audio/book reading. Makes life much better in my case.
 
Lupin21 said:
haha! Echo is friend. Very good friend. I thank dog every day I am able to learn via audio/book reading. Makes life much better in my case.
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Echo =

I relisten to most lectures. Pretty sure I actually took that ridiculous note while echoing though... which makes it even more idiotic.
 
alohacat319 said:
Echo =

I relisten to most lectures. Pretty sure I actually took that ridiculous note while echoing though... which makes it even more idiotic.
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bahahahhaa! That is what happens when you echo and multitask. I bought chrome cast so I could have echo playing on tv while I sdn etc. 😎
 
rockatiel said:
Something that's going to be really hard for me to come to terms with is not getting a Mardis Gras break next semester. Apparently that's not a thing everywhere 🙁
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Have to admit I find the Mardi Gras break a bit odd, but I'll take any chance I can get to catch up. Since you don't have Mardi Gras break, do you have a mid-semester spring break? Ours isn't until April, which is much later than I'm used to and fairly close to the end of the semester.
We did not have fall breaks back home, but I'm loving this four day weekend to dig myself out of the hole that was the past week.
 
I just got creamed by an anatomy test. Like, I'm pretty confident that I failed... urgh. Seriously starting to doubt I can handle vet school at this point and am thinking about leaving. :bang::boom:
 
SandstormDVM said:
I just got creamed by an anatomy test. Like, I'm pretty confident that I failed... urgh. Seriously starting to doubt I can handle vet school at this point and am thinking about leaving. :bang::boom:
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Take a deep breath! Even if you fail, you can bounce back from it (Trust me, it's possible). Right now getting angry or depressed at a score that may not even exist isn't going to help you.

Now, if you do end up failing, there are ways to combat it. Once you get your score back, analyze it. What were your weak points? If you don't know where to begin, email your professor. Set up a meeting time and see if you can piece together what went wrong and what you can do differently for next time. You can also consider a tutor or extra sessions with the prof, which a lot of my classmates utilized and did really well with.

Right now, I know it's hard, but try not to dwell. Keep your head up, find out what you need to do to improve when the time comes, but in the meantime just keep swimming 🙂.
 
SandstormDVM said:
I just got creamed by an anatomy test. Like, I'm pretty confident that I failed... urgh. Seriously starting to doubt I can handle vet school at this point and am thinking about leaving. :bang::boom:
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Breathe, go take a nap, shake it off and wait until you get results. I've felt like I've failed before and did fine. Do something fun today.
 
Ashgirl said:
Take a deep breath! Even if you fail, you can bounce back from it (Trust me, it's possible). Right now getting angry or depressed at a score that may not even exist isn't going to help you.

Now, if you do end up failing, there are ways to combat it. Once you get your score back, analyze it. What were your weak points? If you don't know where to begin, email your professor. Set up a meeting time and see if you can piece together what went wrong and what you can do differently for next time. You can also consider a tutor or extra sessions with the prof, which a lot of my classmates utilized and did really well with.

Right now, I know it's hard, but try not to dwell. Keep your head up, find out what you need to do to improve when the time comes, but in the meantime just keep swimming 🙂.
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This. Saying all the things I meant to say but couldn't come up with the words.
 
SandstormDVM said:
I just got creamed by an anatomy test. Like, I'm pretty confident that I failed... urgh. Seriously starting to doubt I can handle vet school at this point and am thinking about leaving. :bang::boom:
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You can do this! It's hard and it sucks but you can. I got a D on my first anatomy practical because I just wasn't used to studying for a practical exam and bounced back and aced the next one, so @Ashgirl is 100% right that you can come back from this. Set up a meeting with your prof. They have fantastic tips. Just know you're not alone!
 
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Ashgirl said:
Take a deep breath! Even if you fail, you can bounce back from it (Trust me, it's possible). Right now getting angry or depressed at a score that may not even exist isn't going to help you.

Now, if you do end up failing, there are ways to combat it. Once you get your score back, analyze it. What were your weak points? If you don't know where to begin, email your professor. Set up a meeting time and see if you can piece together what went wrong and what you can do differently for next time. You can also consider a tutor or extra sessions with the prof, which a lot of my classmates utilized and did really well with.

Right now, I know it's hard, but try not to dwell. Keep your head up, find out what you need to do to improve when the time comes, but in the meantime just keep swimming 🙂.
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DVMDream said:
Breathe, go take a nap, shake it off and wait until you get results. I've felt like I've failed before and did fine. Do something fun today.
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alohacat319 said:
You can do this! It's hard and it sucks but you can. I got a D on my first anatomy practical because I just wasn't used to studying for a practical exam and bounced back and aced the next one, so @Ashgirl is 100% right that you can come back from this. Set up a meeting with your prof. They have fantastic tips. Just know you're not alone!
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Thanks, guys. <3 It's just been a rough week and this certainly didn't help. Outside of my first molecular bio test (where I pulled an A), I've gotten Cs on every test up until this point, so I am very, very worried about the possibility of today's exam, if I did badly enough, knocking my grade too far down to be able to recover. I guess what happens happens and I can't exactly do anything about the test now, but I still can't help but shake the feeling that I am somehow less dedicated or not as smart as my classmates.

I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and am taking tonight and tomorrow night off from studying... I'm hoping having that small break will help improve my mood and focus when I start cramming for the two tests I've got next week.
 
SandstormDVM said:
Thanks, guys. <3 It's just been a rough week and this certainly didn't help. Outside of my first molecular bio test (where I pulled an A), I've gotten Cs on every test up until this point, so I am very, very worried about the possibility of today's exam, if I did badly enough, knocking my grade too far down to be able to recover. I guess what happens happens and I can't exactly do anything about the test now, but I still can't help but shake the feeling that I am somehow less dedicated or not as smart as my classmates.

I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and am taking tonight and tomorrow night off from studying... I'm hoping having that small break will help improve my mood and focus when I start cramming for the two tests I've got next week.
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If it makes you feel better, I definitely (like already have the grade back) failed a physiology test this week. Every one is going to fail at some point. Even then, there's no reason to fret over a grade you don't have back 🙂
 
SandstormDVM said:
Thanks, guys. <3 It's just been a rough week and this certainly didn't help. Outside of my first molecular bio test (where I pulled an A), I've gotten Cs on every test up until this point, so I am very, very worried about the possibility of today's exam, if I did badly enough, knocking my grade too far down to be able to recover. I guess what happens happens and I can't exactly do anything about the test now, but I still can't help but shake the feeling that I am somehow less dedicated or not as smart as my classmates.

I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and am taking tonight and tomorrow night off from studying... I'm hoping having that small break will help improve my mood and focus when I start cramming for the two tests I've got next week.
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For what it's worth, I actually DID fail the test you took today last year, and I still managed a B in the class (didn't pull A's on the others, either. The prof who taught that section (I'm going to leave his name off of here) is likeable but very, very tricky on exams. Don't beat yourself up. I'm going to PM you a couple other notes (pointers for next week, etc).
 
Today was the first day back for me at class. I was stuck in bed from Saturday to Wednesday because it was unsafe for me to be sitting in my chair. Yesterday I traveled to the wheelchair cushion company; they are pretty much the most amazing people on this planet. I was evaluated for their really hardcore cushion, so the ball's rolling with that. Because of my situation, and honestly being very close to having to withdrawal, they spent hours rebuilding my chair, adding new parts, and adapting my current cushion to make it safe for me to sit on temporarily. To make a long story short, the original person who made this cushion for me in Arizona made it incorrectly, and doomed me from the start. I was sitting on a cushion that was doing nothing but damage to my body. Slow, but steady damage. I didn't know because I couldn't feel it, until it was too late.

I am so lucky and blessed to be living 1.5 hours away from this cushion company. If I was at any other vet school, I would be ****ed. I went back to class today and have a blow up mattress that I'm laying on in class so I can be there. I have to be out of my chair as much as possible to heal, I basically turned the classroom into a slumber party. I love my class, everyone was so thoughtful during the week texting me and sending me messages, and I was so happy to see everyone.

I've missed a lot of material but I'm working with a tutor this weekend and taking the anatomy exam next week (actual test was today). I'm going to keep fighting, not done yet!
 
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SandstormDVM said:
Thanks, guys. <3 It's just been a rough week and this certainly didn't help. Outside of my first molecular bio test (where I pulled an A), I've gotten Cs on every test up until this point, so I am very, very worried about the possibility of today's exam, if I did badly enough, knocking my grade too far down to be able to recover. I guess what happens happens and I can't exactly do anything about the test now, but I still can't help but shake the feeling that I am somehow less dedicated or not as smart as my classmates.

I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner and am taking tonight and tomorrow night off from studying... I'm hoping having that small break will help improve my mood and focus when I start cramming for the two tests I've got next week.
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Hang in there! I often felt exactly like you did during first year. I had several mental break downs and often just felt plain stupid compared to everyone else. I felt like I wasn't retaining anything and it was just hard for me. I failed my first anatomy test followed by my first dev bio test and was pulling low-mid Cs on most other tests. Managed to pass anatomy, pulled the D up to a B in Dev bio and then got my crap together by second year. Still failed a test or two send year but it become significantly less stressfull and by third year I was killing it and never looked back.

First year is a major adjustment period and some just adapt more quickly. I've always been one to struggle a little initially (hence my withdrawing of Gen Chem freshman year of college) and that's okay but the important part is figuring what to do to move up from there.


Health is also super important!!! I was super sick during the first set of midterms so take care of yourself people!
 
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wheelin2vetmed said:
Today was the first day back for me at class. I was stuck in bed from Saturday to Wednesday because it was unsafe for me to be sitting in my chair. Yesterday I traveled to the wheelchair cushion company; they are pretty much the most amazing people on this planet. I was evaluated for their really hardcore cushion, so the ball's rolling with that. Because of my situation, and honestly being very close to having to withdrawal, they spent hours rebuilding my chair, adding new parts, and adapting my current cushion to make it safe for me to sit on temporarily. To make a long story short, the original person who made this cushion for me in Arizona made it incorrectly, and doomed me from the start. I was sitting on a cushion that was doing nothing but damage to my body. Slow, but steady damage. I didn't know because I couldn't feel it, until it was too late.

I am so lucky and blessed to be living 1.5 hours away from this cushion company. If I was at any other vet school, I would be ****ed. I went back to class today and have a blow up mattress that I'm laying on in class so I can be there. I have to be out of my chair as much as possible to heal, I basically turned the classroom into a slumber party. I love my class, everyone was so thoughtful during the week texting me and sending me messages, and I was so happy to see everyone.

I've missed a lot of material but I'm working with a tutor this weekend and taking the anatomy exam next week (actual test was today). I'm going to keep fighting, not done yet!
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I am so happy for you w2vm!! So glad you were able to go to class and that your new cushion is in the works. We're all rooting for you and it sounds like your classmates and professors are too, which is just awesome. :biglove:
 
I'm so happy for you, w2vm! Sounds like things are finally starting to look up for you; I hope that you can now continue excelling in your classes! Awesome to hear about how tremendously supportive everyone has been, too. 🙂

Well, turns out that I actually did fail the lecture/theory part of our anatomy test (by TWO measly points, urgh!), but I did at least scrape by with a passing grade on the lab/practical. My grade in the class right now is a high D, though, which I am not pleased with in the slightest. I'm going to try to arrange a meeting with the professor who taught this section and see if I can perhaps get some extra tips or guidance going forward. I do also think that a change in study habits is in order. I study almost every minute outside of school, but evidently not all of it is sticking. I really need to go out and do more in terms of having fun and decompressing, so that I can focus and better utilize the study times that I do schedule out. Would probably improve my mental health, too, which currently isn't in the best state, not going to lie.

I made it here; I can make it through. Just have to keep swimming and keep adapting.
 
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SandstormDVM said:
I do also think that a change in study habits is in order. I study almost every minute outside of school, but evidently not all of it is sticking. I really need to go out and do more in terms of having fun and decompressing, so that I can focus and better utilize the study times that I do schedule out. Would probably improve my mental health, too, which currently isn't in the best state, not going to lie.
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Definitely agree you need to make sure you are taking time off! Your brain can't work efficiently if you're keeping it in focus mode every waking moment.
 
SandstormDVM said:
I'm so happy for you, w2vm! Sounds like things are finally starting to look up for you; I hope that you can now continue excelling in your classes! Awesome to hear about how tremendously supportive everyone has been, too. 🙂

Well, turns out that I actually did fail the lecture/theory part of our anatomy test (by TWO measly points, urgh!), but I did at least scrape by with a passing grade on the lab/practical. My grade in the class right now is a high D, though, which I am not pleased with in the slightest. I'm going to try to arrange a meeting with the professor who taught this section and see if I can perhaps get some extra tips or guidance going forward. I do also think that a change in study habits is in order. I study almost every minute outside of school, but evidently not all of it is sticking. I really need to go out and do more in terms of having fun and decompressing, so that I can focus and better utilize the study times that I do schedule out. Would probably improve my mental health, too, which currently isn't in the best state, not going to lie.

I made it here; I can make it through. Just have to keep swimming and keep adapting.
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One of my professors is very into educational research, how people learn, how brains process information, etc. She always presents the first years with research about how important it is to decompress. I think I maintained pretty healthy study methods year one and most of year two and I think a lot of that is because I gave myself freedom to do something fun or have a day off and it made my study time that much more impactful. I always gave myself at least 30 minutes in the morning to have a cup of coffee and surf the web before I looked at anything school related and I never studied on Friday afternoons after school. If it had been a long Friday, I'd take half of Saturday off. You may also want to look into the Pomodoro study method, which is something I played around with for a bit.
 
Rwwilliams said:
One of my professors is very into educational research, how people learn, how brains process information, etc. She always presents the first years with research about how important it is to decompress. I think I maintained pretty healthy study methods year one and most of year two and I think a lot of that is because I gave myself freedom to do something fun or have a day off and it made my study time that much more impactful. I always gave myself at least 30 minutes in the morning to have a cup of coffee and surf the web before I looked at anything school related and I never studied on Friday afternoons after school. If it had been a long Friday, I'd take half of Saturday off. You may also want to look into the Pomodoro study method, which is something I played around with for a bit.
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I love this method! I have a short attention span so I do 30 minutes of focused studying and 10 minutes off, with a longer break (30 min to 1.5 hrs) after around 4-5 of these cycles. It really keeps me focused but allows me to decompress too.

Finding efficient study methods is hard, so don't give up if you are struggling with it. Ever since undergrad I really like the "recall" method of stopping every slide, covering it up, and forcing myself to either say or write out the important facts. But you might prefer group study or flashcards or teaching your dog etc. Just keep trying out different things and you will eventually find the one that works for you!
 
Ashgirl said:
I love this method! I have a short attention span so I do 30 minutes of focused studying and 10 minutes off, with a longer break (30 min to 1.5 hrs) after around 4-5 of these cycles. It really keeps me focused but allows me to decompress too.

Finding efficient study methods is hard, so don't give up if you are struggling with it. Ever since undergrad I really like the "recall" method of stopping every slide, covering it up, and forcing myself to either say or write out the important facts. But you might prefer group study or flashcards or teaching your dog etc. Just keep trying out different things and you will eventually find the one that works for you!
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The hardest thing about pomodoro is that the breaks are just never long enough :arghh:
 
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