Amazing little creatures

Oh man! So! The end of another semester. I have finals on Monday and Tuesday. I feel like I have been walking on hot coals for ten weeks trying to keep these two professors happy with my progress. It worked in Pediatrics, but I never felt like I satisfied my OB professor. Oh well. As long as I pass the final on Tuesday, I pass the class. Which is actually a little scary. I've never had to pass a final to pass a class before, my grades have always been higher than that. I have been studying diligently the past two weeks and hopefully I'll be ok.

I can't say the semester has lacked excitement. The highlights would have to be seeing the vaginal birth and the c-section. They were both very cool to watch... once. I have no intention of being a labor and delivery nurse, but it has been an educational experience for sure.

Pediatrics on the other hand, I could really see myself spending a lifetime doing. I've always loved kids. I understand them better than I do most adults. I think it is their honesty and curiosity that makes me love them so much. I wish adults were better at holding onto that. It's almost as if there is this unsaid rule that adults are required to be dishonest and jaded. Kids are so much better at telling the truth and accepting the truth. Amazing little creatures, I think.

Oy!

I had my second test in Obstetrics today. I made a 79.2. Bleh!! Anything below a 77.0 is failing. I haven't made a test score below a B (83) in nursing yet. I guess I should be happy to have done this well so far. But OB is kicking my butt and I'm ready to be done with it.

I know one thing, dealing with vah-jay-jays all day is not for me. The primary goal of Labor and Delivery nursing is to make sure the woman isn't bleeding to death through her vagina. Not my idea of a fun time. I think I would rather assist with an amputation. Don't you agree?

Distractions

You know how when you have something really, really important to do ALL of those other things you could be doing become really, really even More important?

I've got it BAD this semester. We just started back last week after a three week hiatus. I am taking Obstetrics and Pediatrics which I have been looking forward to since I started the program. Unfortunately, after my summer semester I am simply burned out on nursing school. I am just having a hard time mustering up a good givafuck.

Instead, I have been enjoying hanging out with my two spectacular roommates, having fun discussions with Wesley about this that and the other, and virtually anything I can find to do that doesn't involve studying or working on careplans. Truth is, I don't care how many centimeters a woman's cervix can be dilated and labor still be delayed (up to 4, by the way). Or maybe I do. I know I at least care about graduating seeing as how the rest of my life depends on it and all.

In other news, Wesley and I are going to Jackson for the weekend. It is our four year anniversary since our very first date. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting at the table next to the one we sat in on our first date at this coffeehouse (where I came to study). We are going to see my mom and step-dad, my dad and brother, my grandmother, and my surrogate family throughout high school, the Hall-Shaffery's. It should be a blast of a weekend with mimosa brunches, boat rides, barbeques, and a hot date on Saturday night. Wesley also says he has a surprise planned for me. I have no bloomin' idea what it is and am dying to find out! All I know is that it may or may not have something to do with a microwave... I know. Your guess is as good as mine.

The alarm goes off at 5:15 Monday morning. This is early. I mean, hot damn, way early. I somehow manage to get myself out of bed and into my whites knowing that it's going to be a long day. By the time I arrive at the hospital I am alert and ready to go.
I got to see all sorts of awesome-grossness and do all sorts of nursing-type things. It was a blast. I did a double-clinical so that I could have Thursday off and come to Asheville early. I didn't leave until 11:00 that night. I came so close to doing my first 16H shift. I was only slightly delirious by the time I got home although I did manage to snap at a classmate for asking a stupid question (she understood) and make a slightly lewd suggestion to my professor regarding our one male classmate. That was about the time we were let off the hook early.

After a few hours sleep I woke up at the same time on Tuesday. I was supposed to move the clothes to the dryer. I didn't. And now I have a random assortment of mismatched clothes with me. I got to school early and took my psychology midterm that was given to the rest of the class the night before. My psych professors have been graciously accommodating. I couldn't do it without their help. After that was the Med-Surg lecture at 8:30.

12:30 comes and it's finally time to get out of dodge. I hop in the car, find Tom Petty's Saving Grace on the Ipod, roll down the windows and hit the road. I get about fifteen miles outside of town when my car just decides that she has had enough. The engine is still running, but not getting gas. I slowly decelerate until I am stalled on the side of the highway. Need I remind you that this is Mississippi in July. It takes about 2 minutes before I am sweating like a linebacker. I wait, call Wesley, call Dad, curse my luck and try to turn the car on again. It cranks. It goes. It stops. I think I might have made the sailors on the coast blush- I'm sure they heard me. I call AAA. I call the roommate. Roommie comes to get me and take me back to the house. Mom drives from Jackson and takes me to my grandmother's never-used car, and the tow-truck picks up Jezebel (yes, that's her name). Ok, things are moving along. {Thanks Mom, Dad, and Courtney for all of your help!) and I get on the road at 6:00 PM. Luckily, Mamaw's car is a very comfy 2003 Accord and the drive was uneventful from Jackson on. I made it to Asheville around 3:30 AM, exhausted and hyped up on Sobe energy drinks.

Part II to come.

Like a virgin... Grossed out for the very first time...

Like a viiiiiiii-iiiiiiiii-rrrrrgin....

Tomorrow is going to be a big day; lots of cool things going on at the hospital. These are not all from the same patient, but I will get my first real experience with most of them in the morning. I'm pumped, Are you??

a TPN line
a Foley Catheter
MRSA infection
an open wound with wet-to-dry dressing changes
a colostomy bag
giving insulin
and an NG tube

My big question right now is 'Why in the world do they make us wear white uniforms??'

Update

Oh goodness. So much has happened. Last Monday Courtney called me and told me that roommate that was supposed to be here for the summer up and left over the weekend with nothing but a note on the counter. Courtney IM'd me around one, by five o'clock I had all of my furniture at the new place. By the next day I had most clothes, books, and things over here. The roommates are fantastic, the house is superb, and the six foot wide window looking out over the backyard gives me all the sunshine my little heart could desire.

Wednesday we 'picked up' our patients for Thursday clinical. We went to the hospital at three, dug through the charts, gleaned information and the five of us in my rotation came back to my house and worked on our clinical paperwork. I was up until 2:00 looking up drugs, analyzing lab reports, writing a careplan, and eating pizza (very important part of the process). Going through the chart was fascinating. I got to see how lab reports will correlate with each other and how they can be used to diagnose. I got to see very clearly the effects of lifestyle on one's health as aging occurs. Cool stuff.
The next morning we were at the hospital at 6:30 for pre-conference where the professor picks over our work and asks all about the information we found. By 8:30 we were on the floor. Three of us had one patient. He was the nicest, most patient, most easy-going man I could ever imagine being in a hospital. It was such a joy to work with such a pleasant patient on my first clinical. My classmates and I worked very well together and got things done quickly, effectively and with little fuss. The whole experience was very calm and will be one that I rely on to get me through the rough days that I am sure to come with clinicals.

AND THEN

Wesley came to visit me. We had a very busy but simply wonderful weekend. We went to a wedding on Saturday. It was a very nice wedding in a beautiful church but it did offer us a chance to notice some things that we don't want to happen at our wedding (oh, did I just say that?). For one, there was a very harsh woman with a clipboard standing at the church door directing people on when they should walk down the aisle. It was extremely unattractive. Then there was the industrial strength camera crew and the photographer with the clicky-noise turned on. Eesh. But when you are busy coordinating flowers to dresses to tuxes to hair styles to ring cushions to church colors I guess there will be little things that slip through the cracks. I just hope that my wedding will be personal and not look like something out of a catalog. And I plan on having a bang-up reception.
Sunday we went down to the coast and visited Wesley's dad and stepmom for Father's Day. We went to church with them and then had yummy po-boy's for lunch. I simply love this couple and always enjoy visiting with them. After that we stopped by Wesley's mom for a quick hello and then came home to start the barbecue. My dad and my brother came down and Wesley cooked some crazy-good steaks for all of us. The roommates were here too. I love having a full house and having the three main men of my life together. There were several times during the night when I just stepped back and watched for a second and let the happiness wash over me.

I've had a very blessed week and I hope you all have as well.

An explanation

It is a beautiful afternoon and I'm sitting outside at the local coffeeshop quasi-working on school work. I started out studying for my Dosages final that I have tomorrow and moved on to reading ahead for my Med-Surg I class next semester. Summer classes don't even start for another three weeks and I'm already diving head-first into it. Some would think that I'm just a really devoted student- which I am- but there's more too it.

Nursing is the stable thing in my life right now. My love is roughly 564 miles away, my family is well...anyways, my friends have the bad habit of moving off to bigger and better things, and my cats just aren't the conversationalists they should be. My life isn't bad, don't get me wrong. It's just that school gives me something to really focus on, and be distracted by. It's good to feel like I am accomplishing something. With each line of the highlighter the light at the end of this academic tunnel gets a little brighter. I know I bug my professors and my classmates probably thing I am a know-it-all little brat but I don't care. I'm not there for them, I am there for me. And you know what, I'm going to be one hell of a nurse. So if it takes a little solitude to get me there then so be it.

The Gala

The gala was a blast. I got dolled up and went down there determined to meet some cool people. Boy did I! I ended up seated next to a couple in their fifties. I'll call them W and C. She is a nursing professor from another school in the state and he is a lawyer. We hit it off and cut up throughout the whole dinner- totally ignoring all the "Nurses are great, yadda yadda" speeches. Those women could talk all they wanted as long as the waiters kept bringing us more wine. And did they!

Afterwards the three of us went to a bar in the casino and had another drink. While there, I spotted a flock of men who were ALL extremely attractive. I mean, not one wingman in the group. I told W go get them and bring them back to the table so I could see why so many hot men were in one group. (Never challenge a lawyer). He brought them back and thanks to some liquid courage I asked them right away "Why are ALL of you attractive. The ratio isn't right. What's the story?" Get this. They were models! Ha. They were at the casino doing a shoot for billboards and mailers. At least I know I've got good taste. Heh. So we chatted for a little bit (they were a bit dull) and I sent them on their way.

After that W, C, and I played the dollar slots for a little while. We won $200! Granted, they put $100 in- that's still ahead of the game. When you play slots there is a woman who comes around and takes your drink order and comes back with your drink about 10 minutes later so that you will stay at the machine. Let me share a secret with you: Free drinks get you drunk faster. I swear they do!

W and C let me stay in their hotel room since I was in no shape to drive. Don't get all creative with what you think happened. It wasn't that kind of evening, don't you worry. I will say, it was strange walking through the lobby the next morning with bed-head and wearing an evening gown. W and C walked me out and I can only IMAGINE how scandalous it looked. One woman recognized us and you should have seen the quizzical disgust on her face. Priceless. People always assume the worst, don't they?

Plans

I've got an exciting week ahead of me. I am attending a black-tie Nursing Gala at the Beau Rivage in Gulport tomorrow night. I tried to find other nursing students to go with me but they were all too wrapped up in school work to do it. I will be going stag. One of these days I'm going to get to wear a pretty dress and NOT be all by my lonesome (although not anytime soon, it appears). I don't really know what to expect tomorrow night but it will be fun to get dolled up and go out on the town.

This weekend I am going to Displace Me, an event associated with the people who made the video on the Invisible Children that I posted below. There are 15 locations around the country where people will band together to 'experience displacement' being fed rationed saltines and water and sleeping under cardboard boxes. Documentaries will be shown and letters to senators will be written. It stands to be a very unique experience. I am taking my camera and my video camera and I hope to be able to capture some inspiring photos. The plight in Africa is always a tear-jerker for me, so any pictures of myself will definitely be taken early on in the evening.

One day I hope to go to Africa and offer humanitarian aid. I want to vaccinate and educate on how to stay healthy. I want to help build infrastructure, even if it is only in one small village. I want to help one child get the education needed to help the people in his or her home pull themselves out of the mire. Lofty, dreamy goals, I know. Reality has never stopped me from pursuing my dreams before, why should it with something as important as this?

Alcohol Study

Right now I am in the alcohol studies lab at USM. They are testing to see if there is a genetic component to how alcohol effects your motor skills. I am in a little room with two computers, two chairs, and blank walls. There is another person in a similar room and a grad student giving the tests. We will be playing against each other to see who has the faster reaction time in computer games. So far I have peed in a cup, taken psych battery tests, and started to drink spiked OJ. They don't tell us how much we are getting, but I'd imagine I have a shot of alcohol in there. I've been given permission to goof around on the computer while I drink, so here we are.

In other news, I went to a conference yesterday for the Mississippi Student Nurse Association. There were five keynote speakers (four were interesting, one was useful) and recruiters from several Mississippi hospitals. I can't remember the word for the trinkets they give out, but I got lots of those. I'm such a sucker for that stuff. I still have all of the pamphlets and goodies from Episcopal General Convention last summer that I swear I'm going to read 'one of these days.'

I visited with Mamaw and my mom's parents whom I refer to as Dranmomma and Roy C. It was great to see them all.

There is a chance that I will be going to California for the National Student Nurse Association Conference in a week. I'll post more about that later. Until then, bottoms up!

Update

I got to see snow- real, powdery snow- for the first time. Saturday night it snowed in Asheville. Wesley and I had gone walking around downtown when it first started coming down. It was soft and subtle, and I dare say, romantic. We went to see Casino Royale (awesome, btw) later on in the evening and then stayed up playing poker (for chips, not clothes) until around 3AM when I noticed that the snow was really starting to accumulate. Wesley was so sweet. He put on his coat and hat and took me outside to play in the fluffy white goodness. He even let me hurl a few snowballs in his general direction and made a snow angel for our amusement. The whole experience was had a dreamy quality to it.

I drove home to face reality yesterday. My first class of the new semester was last night. I can't believe I am taking 14 (which counts out to 19) hours this trimester. I must have lost my effing mind.

This is the semester I have to retake Dosages and Calculations, the class that put me six months behind when I made an 86 on the first test thereby failing the class. Today was the second day of the semester. I spent all morning in class and all afternoon in the library. Then I came home and did some more work tonight. I haven't even touched my Dosages yet (don't worry, the first test isn't for another 2 1/2 weeks).

Not one to leave well enough alone, I am flying to California at 5:45 Thursday morning. I will drive the hour and a half to the airport early in the AM and I will be gone until Monday night. I am looking forward to the trip and seeing my friends that I met at the Episcopal General Convention last summer. I am also looking forward to seeing Wesley again so soon and getting to see what the other side of the country looks like. The furthest west I have ever been was Dallas, TX and Lincoln, NE.

Oh! And I got my grades in. I made A's in Pathophysiology and Professional Nursing. I worked very hard for those A's and was ecstatic to see it pay off. Claire, I made an 88 on the APA paper. All of my red marks were on the References page because I used the wrong style example for my online journals. Not too bad for my first APA paper, if I do say so myself.

Acid and Base

I have a test tomorrow on acid-base balance and renal function. I've been told that teaching something is the best way to learn it. You all get to be my students. Don't you feel lucky? Now pay attention, there will be a question at the end.

pH is determined by how many hydrogen atoms you have floating around in your plasma, which is the part of the blood that is not red and white blood cells. pH can also be measured in the urine, cerebro-spinal fluid, and GI tract for medical analysis.

We are going to focus on blood plasma pH, because that is what is measured in an ABG (aterial blood gas). If the hydrogen atoms are high, the pH is low. If there are not enough free hydrogen atoms, the pH reads high. The normal range for pH in the blood is between 7.35 and 7.45, with 7.4 (obviously, but importantly) being the dividing line.

Two compounds control pH through their respective body mechanisms. Let me explain. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is retained or 'blown off' by the lungs. The measure of CO2 in the ABG tells you if the lungs are functioning like they should, therefore it is the respiratory element of the puzzle. A change in CO2 reflects a problem with respiration; unless it is a compensatory mechanism, which I will discuss later. The normal range for CO2 is 35-45 (just like the decimal points in pH).

Bicarbonate (HCO3) is the other compound we look at in an ABG analysis. It is the metabolic element of an ABG analysis. It shows how well the kidneys are doing their job. It could also be out of normal range as a compensetory act for a respiratory problem. The normal range for HCO3 is 22-26.

These values can give you a plethora of information about a patient's state of health and possible causes for the medical problem.

pH: acid-7.35-normal-7.45-base
CO2- base-35-normal-45-acid
HCO3- acid-22-normal-26-base

Still with me? If so, you're a champ. Ok, onward we go.

If you will notice, there is a much wider range for CO2 than there is for HCO3. Respiratory compensation for acid-base imbalance is much quicker than metabolic and so less exact. It is also not quite as powerful as metabolic (think kidneys) compensation.

There are four main pH imbalances. They are:

1. Respiratory acidosis- pH will be <7.35, CO2 will be >45, and HCO3 will be WNL (within normal limits).
Here is an example.

pH- 7.20
CO2- 47
HCO3- 24

Respiratory acidosis is caused by a retention of CO2. This is an easy one to observe. The person will not be breathing. This can be caused by suffocation, barbituate overdose, trauma, pneumonia, sleep apnea, CHF (congestive heart failure), obesity, pulmonary embolism, and other problem that affect the lungs. You get the point. You don't breath, you get respiratory acidosis. To solve the problem, I suggest breathing again.

2. Respiratory alkalosis- pH will be >7.45, CO2 will be <35, and HCO3 will be WNL.

pH- 7.48
CO2- 31
HCO3- 25

Respiratory alkalosis is caused by hyperventilation. A person flips out over seeing a spider, starts breathing too fast, the lungs 'blow-off' too much CO2 and the blood becomes too alkaline. To solve this problem, kill the spider. Aspirin overdose can also cause respiratory alkalosis.

3. Metabolic acidosis- pH will be <7.35, CO2 will be WNL, and HCO3 will be <22.

The lab values could look like this:

pH- 7.33
CO2- 36
HCO3- 20

Metabolic acidosis (remember it's renal) can be caused by diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), starvation, dehydration, diarrhea, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), hyperkalemia, or lactic acidosis.

4. Metabolic alkalosis- pH will be >7.45, CO2 will be WNL, and HCO3 will be >26.

pH- 7.48
CO2- 40
HCO3- 29

Metabolic alkalosis can be caused by persistant vomiting, gastric suction (getting your stomach pumped), kidney failure, use of a potassium-wasting duiretic, severe burns, or hypovolemia (blood loss, lack of fluids).

Is your head spinning yet? If not, stay with me and I'll tell you about all that compensation mess I mentioned earlier.

This is fairly simple to understand. If the lungs are causing too much acidity, the kidneys will respond with a more alkaline value. If the metabolic value is too acidic, the lungs will try to 'blow-off' more CO2, causing deep, rapid breathing known as Kussmaul's respirations.

If the lungs are causing the blood to be too alkaline, the bicarbonate value will become more acidic. If the kidneys aren't working right and the bicarbonate value becomes to alkaline, the lungs will compensate with a lower CO2 value.

Fascinating, isn't it?

Now for the question...

Do you like spiders?

APA can bite my arse.

I'm polishing (more like re-writing) my APA paper for Introduction to Professional Nursing, aka NUR306. It's due tomorrow and while my content is all there, I have yet to write the title page or source page. I still have to go back and correct my internal documentation which is at the moment written in code. Man, I do take the long way around, don't I? When is it due, you ask? Tomorrow at 1PM CST.

On another note, today PVP said that people who listen to Damien Rice are pretentious. I like Damien Rice. This makes me sad. He's good music for those melancholy days that we all encounter every once in a while. Luckily, I haven't had to pull him off the shelf in quite some time now.

Anyways... back to the grindstone.

The Long Road Home

"Coming joys, like tropical shores, throw over the immensity before them their inborn softness, an odorous wind, and we are lulled by this intoxication without a thought of the horizon that we do not even know."
Madame Bovary, by Flaubert

Wesley and I are reading this novel in sections sent to us each day by email. This line in particular has caught my attention.

I feel like I am living two lives. One that is so firmly rooted in the present that it not only feels 'grounded' but as if my feet were stuck in the quagmire. It is the lonely existence of a nursing student living with her two cats in a dumpy little town in Mississippi. This life revolves around medical terms, unpaid bills, neighbors, and cats. The good thing about it is that it is real, it is Present. I can dig my heels in and live it. The downside is knowing that my other life feels just as much like home, but isn't yet mine to have.

My second, more ethereal, life is an existence here in Asheville. It's where my love lies. It is where I feel free and limitless. Here I am comfortable and happy, loved and cared for. When I am here, my plans for the future seem obtainable. Asheville is a beautiful place and feels more like home each time I visit. This is partly due to my love and bond with Wesley, which grows stronger each time we are together. It is enhanced by my familiarity with the town as I spend more time exploring it. My 'tropical shores' are hidden in these mountains, sending me faint signals of what life has in store for me if I can only grab hold of it for myself.

I've been in the clouds for the past week and it has been amazing. But I know that my path to the life I want is a trail laid on the ground, full of roots and stones. I think that I am prepared to go back tomorrow and take on my reality because I know that sooner or later that path will lead me back here.

~I have posted pictures of waterfalls and of the highest point east of the Mississippi.

Random Health Facts

I've been in the nursing program for four and a half months now and I don't thing I've made one single post about the things I've learned; which was my intention when I created nursewholvdme. So, without further ado I present:

Cool Facts I've Learned in Nursing School

• Ibuprofen is a very good anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic (fever-reducer). It works by blocking prostaglandins and is a great prophylactic treatment of menstrual cramps.
• Tylenol has no anti-inflammatory powers and is relatively ineffective for relief of aches and pains for this reason. Arthritis strength Tylenol does nothing to relieve the cause of arthritic pain (inflammation).
• Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and psoriasis are all auto-immune diseases where the body's own immune system attacks cells of Self.
• Eczema is simply a chronic allergy condition. Find out what the allergy is to (my brother's was nickel) and relieve the allergy.
• Zinc helps considerably with wound healing.
• Asparagus is one of the most nutritious vegetables common in American diet.
• Vitamins C and E are antioxidants.
• Natural Killer Cells (NKC's) are cancer-eating cells found in the human body.
• Cigarette smoke changes the cells in the respiratory tract so that they no longer have cilia hairs to push out phlegm. They become tough and misshapen, making them susceptible to cancer.
• The reason many alcoholics are overweight is due to edema because of chronic liver failure. In reality, most alcoholics are malnourished.

~

Wrap-up

::deep breath::

I did it! I finished my first semester of nursing school! Granted there were a few bumps in the road, namely not passing dosages; but I consider the past ten weeks a grand success.
Why, you ask? Well, I've done a lot of thinking over the past week and I might just be ready to answer that.

The first and foremost reason that I feel it was a success is because of the changes in who I am. I learned to have compassion for strangers; something I was afraid I would never find. This isn't to say I was never concerned about people I wasn't close to, but it's just different now. I am no longer just curious, or wanting to help for my own benefit; I think I learned to care. I think I can be that good nurse who cleans the dentures when they need it and know what to do when a person can't breath due to COPD.

This change was brought about by my professor Mrs. Berry. With her devotionals before class, her glowing spirit, and her encouragement, she influenced me in a way that no one else ever has. She pushed us, challenged us, cared for us, and shared her stories with us. I still think it's more than that though. I think that just by being who she was, she changed me. That's closer to the truth.

This semester feels like such an accomplishment because I finally did what I set out to do three years ago. It took me so long to get here and the simple act of walking into that nursing building at orientation changed me. I proved to myself that I really can do anything I put my mind to. It gave me the courage to pursue every other dream that I have.

And last but not least, the academic change. I didn't miss a single class (which some of you will know is a flat-out miracle) and I studied every. single. day. Sometimes I just glanced at one thing I had a question about or flipped through my Taber's for things I heard in class earlier; other days I spent hours upon hours writing note cards, reading chapters, and answering questions. All of those years of school finally paid off because when it came down to it, I KNEW how to study, when so many others did not. That I actually DID study is the change.

Success feels good.

art walk

It was a pretty good weekend. I got my reading done for classes this week, but didn't get much studying done for the finals, which are in two weeks.
I also steam cleaned my carpet this weekend. It was disgusting to see how much dirt I pulled out of my carpet. My apartment almost feels less clean now than it did before, just because I now know how filthy the carpet was, when it looked relatively clean. Ick.
I went to Hattiesburg's Art Walk downtown last night. I had fun playing with the camera. I know so little about how to use it's features I wasn't very happy with the pictures that I got. I still put them up on the website Art walk photos because some of them turned out okay and it's documentation of a fun evening.

Light shirts

While you're at it, check this crazy mess out. It reminds me of those shirts that changed color in the sunlight.

I don't know how to fix the font and it's late. So there. :)


Cogs and wheels

Today I could feel the dirt between the cogs falling away. New gears are being put into motion. I am finally doing something with the ideas that have been brewing in my head.
I signed up for my next semester's classes today. Nothing spectacular, but it feels good to have that done. I will be full time and still have time to work a prn job.
Therefore, after advisement I went to Wesley Hospital and applied for a job as PT tech; something a classmate does. She is going to try and help me get my foot in the door.
I also set the wheels in motion for the U2charist today. I called and left a message for my priest asking to speak with her about it; and I sent an email to the college chaplain asking if he would like to celebrate.
It's a start. It's several starts, actually. And I love new beginnings.


Also, I wanted to share this comic strip. This guy has it down.
Girl Time

paper mountains

"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here's where the things grow."
~Robert M. Prisig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I've been reading this book off and on since school started. It starts out as a story about a man and his son on a motorcycle road-trip. Before you know it, he has you contemplating Reason, Education, Quality and many other concepts of the higher altitudes, as he would say.
I was reading it just now to calm my nerves about this test I have in an hour. It was that gem that I quoted above that did it for me. I try to remember that I am learning this material so that I will be a safe nurse, and not so that I will pass the test. Today I wasn't able to get past the test. I have been a nervous wreck for some reason.
I now feel like I am ready to take this test and put it behind me. The test is just a few sheets of paper. It's the quality of what I have learned that will make a difference in the end.

(I wrote this before class this morning, but the website was being a little screwy, so I am reposting it now.)

dear diary...

I woke up this morning at a reasonable hour and read my chapters for a little bit. Then I started feeling icky and fell asleep in the Big Yellow Chair which now resides in my bedroom. I slept until 2:00. Ridiculous. I can't believe I did that. I feel like my whole day is shot. Meh. And such a pretty day too.
The camera should arrive on Monday. I hope it comes in the morning; I have class in the afternoon. I am ready to start snapping pictures. I am planning a day trip to New Orleans soon to take photos. One of my neighbors, Gabe, is also an amateur photographer and has expressed interest in going. I'm sure others will come along as well.
Tomorrow night I am going to watch "Me, You, and Everyone We Know" downtown at the film festival. I am interested in the movie, but truth be told, I am really looking forward to the chance to play dress up. It should be a fun evening.

gratitude: cool weather