kai studies

19 june 2026 // friday

study setup this morning. started the day at the dining room table so i can enjoy the mini split. i have the day to "work remotely" but there's nothing i can continue with from home so it's a day to study. i picked up mcdonalds for breakfast because that's the only place that offer options without eggs (no hate from me, just hate from my digestive system). pictured is the salted caramel iced coffee with milk, 10/10 for cheap iced coffee.

so far today i've managed to get through three and a half sections. i realized that i accidentally chunked an entire chapter after the midterm instead of before so now i have to somehow get through that in the next eight days on top of finishing my assignment and reviewing for the exam. i really don't want to have to move it.

the rest of the day is going to focus on that assignment and a scholarship/bursary/award application that i started. i hope to get the assignment submitted before i go to bed.

12 june 2026 // friday

ch: 17, 18, affix, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28 i am on section 21.3 and over halfway through my course content. i have to book my midterm soon and am working on assignment 1 at the moment. time flies when you're having fun. i'm actually really enjoying ochem now!!

i finally know what my autoimmune disease is. after seven years of struggling so much and become increasingly disabled i have an answer. i have psoriatic arthritis. as someone who was worked in dermatology i never ever expected it to be me?? i saw people who were much much worse off than me from all sides of it. but i happen to be one of those who got the arthritis before the psoriasis, and now i finally have visible plaques. i don't know whether i feel relieved to have an answer and a treatment plan going forward or if i'm grieving the confirmation that the disability is real. add onto that, i have told some people close to me and one of the responses was "at least it's just psoriasis!" but you know, that would have been mine too before i worked in derm and saw that it's never just psoriasis.

work is going pretty well. i have a bunch of data collected and i've hard to start my qualitative coding because i had to pause data collection due to IT issues. i've had so many great conversations, some that have moved me to tears in all honesty. i am so excited to keep chugging along and to eventually present my findings at a conference in november. i think we've already got a lot of good stuff.

my faculty released a form to fill out if you want to apply/nominate someone for an award or scholarship and my friend and i are nominating each other. there's a renewable for the remainder of my degree that i would love to get and is the only thing like this i've ever felt like i deserved honestly. i am working so hard this time around. (and if i don't get it, i 100% know the person who will deserved it just as much. we are a small cohort and know each other and faculty members well).

23 may 2026 // saturday

today i am one fifth of the way through my ochem course. i finished the first two chapters (17 and 18) and did the first self test this morning. i scored 66% on the first try, closed book. i feel kind of bad about it because i've been working so hard but i'm also trying to remind myself that is triple what i accomplished winter semester (yes, it went that badly). all i can do is keep working hard and keep moving. i finished 19.1 and tomorrow i'll start the background readings i need to do for 19.2.

work is going so well. i was really nervous this week because i had to submit my research protocol but my supervisor told me it was really good work and she was impressed!!! and multiple people have said i have so many skills. 🥹 honestly this praise is healing my inner child who was convinced he was never good enough no matter what (but possible because i have done so much therapy since then to allow myself to accept and believe it).

i have made it all the way to 18.2! which doesn't seem like a lot but i started my research position this week and that is a typical 9 to 5 sort of deal. i come home exhausted, make/eat supper, and then start grinding out the ochem notes. on top of that, i am still in that flare up and the overhead lights in my office made it worse (though i thought to start wearing sunscreen and long sleeves, and today it seemed to help) so i have to spend some time trying to get my fever to settle so i can study.

11 may 2026 // monday

my class doesn't start until june 1 officially but i made myself a schedule and started last week to try and get ahead. i am already falling behind on that schedule (thank you flare up) so i'm glad i made time for that, especially because my research position starts on wednesday.

so far i've covered 17.0 to 17.7. i've gotten into a rhythm where i read the course content, the textbook (which was written by the prof) and take notes from that. the examples in the black box are given for you to complete as you're reading. after that i switch to doing the practice exercises at the end of the topic. i have time scheduled for review as well as for assignments but it's no use for me to work on the first one yet since it's on the first half of the course (chapters 17-21), so i will start looking at the questions when i get to the end of chapter 18.