A Kaleidoscopic Christmas

So, I really have nothing of import to report. Except that the Kaleidoscope Shop has an updated website, and you can actually buy online now! We are very excited. So if you know anyone interested in scopes, direct them to the website. and you yourself can browse, too. We're still working on uploading more of our 'unusual gifts' to the site, but i think all of the kaleidoscopes we have are up, as well as what my mom's gotten to of the gifts. There are some really awesome scopes (though it's never the same just looking at them online- you need to hold them and look at them in person to get the real experience).

Anyway- check it out at www.kaleidoscopeshop.com.

random side note: my laptop keyboard always randomly leaves out letters, even when i've pressed the button, i guess because i don't hit it hard enough or something. anyway, find it quite annoying. and it makes me miss my keyboard with princess stickers i have at school.

So, other than working in the kaleidoscope shop, i've done some babysitting- i got to emergency babysit for some people (oooo, aaah! i'm really important now) when the dad was out of town, and the mom got suddenly ill and took to bed. I got to go over and play mommy to a 2nd and 3rd grader. And let me tell you, it's really hard to get a 2nd grader to focus on homework when he is totally ADD. a math sheet that should have taken him 5 minutes took him at least 45, if not more. And I totally wish homework was as easy as it is for a 2nd and 3rd grader. Man. At one point they asked me what type of math I do, so I just walked the 3rd grader through some made up dosage problem (the hardest kind, like an IV med given mg/kg or something) and he was just like "oh". It made me laugh. Also, it is never a good idea to play tag with kids who can run a 7 minute mile. They will make you look like a complete fool.

It's fun being home and getting to catch up with old friends, but at the same time, I don't think I ever really stop missing school friends. It's never the same, meeting up with old friends, no matter how much you miss them and want to see them again. It's even hard to explain exactly why or how, and it feels like there really is no reason you can't have as much fun with them. It's just never quite the same as sitting in Malcom and eating a Page dinner and playing whatever random game we can actually agree on that night.

But I also am totally excited about hanging out with old friends- tomorrow morning I'm having brunch with a bunch of people from highschool, and I'm totally psyched, because, well, I like people. And brunch. And it grew from me randomly running into an old friend at the mall and saying we should have brunch, to a bunch of people, and I think it shall be fun.

Also, Jimmy and I started Heroes season 2 today. Finally.

This is what happens when I start a post as a way to pass the time before I'm ready to go to bed. Sorry! :)

Home Sweet Home

That's right- finals are finally over. The first semester of nursing clinical is finally over, and I officially only have three semester left... well, plus janterms and any summer stuff. Life moves way too fast.

On my way out of Birmingham I stopped at the lovely Bedsole abode to hang out and have dinner, which was a very good idea, if I do say so myself. Mainly because dinner at home would have been me by myself. Which would have been sad.

And Valerie lent me her old ipod which has all my christmas music on it that she stole from me, so I got to listen to lots of really good music on the way home. And I am again now. I love christmas music.

And when I got home I proceeded to talk my parent's ears off for two hours. I definitely talk more when I get home. I know people at Samford may not believe this is possible, but trust me, it is. You should feel relieved.

As most of you might remember, my family does an Advent Jesse Tree every year (though, actually, this year my parent's have been severely lacking, claiming the excuse that since they are empty nesters, there's no one home to do it with...). Anyway, when I was doing devotional the other night, I was looking at my lovely Jesse tree that is accumulating more and more ornaments, and I was thining about how weird some of the ornaments must look if you know nothing about it, but how much I love it. It is a tree of God's promises, of God's faithfulness, of God's love, even in the face of our continual stupiditiy. What could be more beautiful?


Oh, and I'm already babysitting tonight and tomorrow night. It's good to be home.

Finals week...

and I am so bored. I don't have another final until Wednesday afternoon, and then another Thursday afternoon. I need to study a little, but not *that* much. Plus, it's hard to feel motivated when the highest grade I need to make is a 79. I think... I'm assuming I did that math right.

And, to make matters worse, my computer is now randomly blocking youtube and fanfiction.net. those are the only two, so far, that i've found out, but I have no idea why! I think I'm going to have to take it by computer services tomorrow. At least I have nothing else to do tomorrow. But I also have nothing else to do now. I can't even watch stupid, pointless videos over and over again or read trashy gilmore girls fanfiction to waste my time. *sigh* whatever shall I do?

ooo! maybe I'll watch a movie... but what? decisions decisions...

Thanksgiving

I feel like I should update since it's been awhile. And I have 30 minutes to burn before I go take my Psych ATI (read: pointless nursing standardized testing to supposedly prepare us for the NCLEX). Huzzah. But, thankfully, the rest of my day after that is filled with... nothing. and then thursday again with... nothing. (well, thursday i get to enjoy office shifts, my last CEP, and Lighting of the Way!!!). All leading up to Friday: Foundations ATI. And then finals. I suppose if I was being a good, dedicated student, I would start studying for finals. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. It's hard to feel motivated, when I'm really just excited about christmas parties (those that have past, and those to come). Not sure if any of the ones to come can top getting to pretend to be pregnant for a whole evening, but we can try.

Thanksgiving update? Williamsburg was beautiful, of course. There is just something about walking down a historically reconstructed street, the smell of fires actually being used for heat, fresh, crisp, cold virginia air, and horse poop being mixed together that takes you back in time. And thinking about how great men of our country like George Washington and Patrick Henry, among many many others walked these streets. or atleast in the same latitude and longitude, maybe not actually on some of the paved streets. It does make you think about how beautiful a thing our country is, and whether or not we are still holding fast to the principles that we founded it on. We went to one thing about voting, and Patrick Henry really explained well why woman weren't allowed to vote, then, and it wasn't out of disrespect for the woman at all. If I lived back then, I would have agreed. Oh, and we ate in a tavern and drank ale (or maybe just hot chocolate for those of us disinclined to the taste of ale), and went to a concert at the capitol with a violl. And for 45 minutes my siblings and I sat around waiting for our parents, who were supposedly on their way to meet us, but got 'caught up' in a show without 'realizing'. This is what happens when your parents turn into empty nesters- they leave their children abandoned on family trips.

Other things included getting to call Tommy Thomas for most of the trip, which I never fail to enjoy, and getting to meet my Uncle's new wife, Rebecca, who was very sweet and nice. And getting to be told by Mana that she thinks I'm the granddaughter most like her (YES!) and by Amy that "no one can not like Erin!" Wow. I feel special indeed. Amy should realize though, that she is probably the most like me. Oh Amy. I like having a cousin 10 years younger than me who reminds me of me. Weird- in 10 years she'll be my age and nice and mature(ish) and in the middle of college, and I'll be 30, doing who knows what (except probably popping out babies, according to facebook comments on the Redneck Christmas Party photos).

And, of course, we got our christmas tree, and I got to set up the crèche (on the piano- and still barely enough room!) And I even hung up some of the fragile ornaments! I was so scared. hah. And we even had a meal with the whole family at the dinner table before we ran off in separate directions again.

And I suppose now I should head down to the dreaded ATI...

What's your Puritan name?

So, today was quite enjoyable, as we renamed almost everyone we know... it all started in prayership when we were joking about leaving the prayer requests up, but changing the names, and then someone said, let's change them to puritan names! like perSEVerence (notice the inflection) or prudence or something. they turned into more pilgram's progress type names as we progressed throughout the day, though... (*well, this website validates most of them!) here are some of the final results:

Me: Rejoice
Anna B.: Faith
Anna P.: Charity
Valerie: Constance
Joanna: Mercy
Michael: Steadfast
Stephen: Discernment
Josh: Meditation
Lee: Wisdom
Andrew: Judgement
Claire: Harmony
Deborah: Grace? I'm not sure if we decided...
Jordan: Perseverence
Blake (i.e. the intern): Forbearence
Linsday (i.e. the intern's wife): Truth
Jason (i.e. the campus minister): Exhortation
Susie (i.e. the campus minister's wife): Comfort

other names we never used: Obedience, Courage, Prudance, and I'm sure many more...

Next week... Native American names! I'm thinking mine will be "she-who-talks-a-lot"

That little light...

So, I am pleased to announce that the light at the end of the tunnel- it still exists. I had my doubts all semester, but I feel like I can finally see the end and not feel overwhelmed by the mass amounts of work between me and there. Granted, I still have stuff to do, I still have 3 tests and 3 finals, and group projects and paperwork, but I can see the end. And this is amazing. I feel so incredibly less stressed than I have been all semester. It's pretty exciting. I like feeling like I can breathe again. Granted, this could mean that I might end up having a major lack of motivation in the rest of the work this semester, but hopefully not.

Other than that, there really is no exciting news to report. Clinicals have been good, and I've enjoyed getting to learn and see new things. I'd tell you lots of in detail stories, but I feel like people just get grossed out. But if you want to know, I'm more than happy to share. My patient last week was probably my favorite, and I already miss him a lot. He was this little 73 year old man who had had a stroke and couldn't speak, but he was so sweet. and fiesty. We had to start a new IV on him, and he hated it, and I had told him earlier his nurse was going to come in to try and start it again, and he gave me this awful face, and i was like, yeah, i know. and then she came in, he tried to shoo her out, and then turned and gave me grief, shaking his finger at me- i could just hear him saying "i told her you not to bring her in here!"

It's made me think a lot about my own grandparents and parents one day being sick and in the hospital, and how blessed I am they are all healthy right now. And how important it is that we are giving them compassionate care.

Right now, I'm just pysched about thanksgiving break. and I'm looking forward to my internship in janterm and adult and OB next semester. lots of fun stuff to look forward to. But I'm also trying to remember to live in the present.


and oh my gosh. Grey's Anatomy is RIDICULOUS!!!!

Sleep, dear friend, why are we fighting?

i slept horribly last night and i'm not really sure why. i think it started because i went to bed a little bit before i was actually really tired (9:45) so i could get close to 7 and a half hours of sleep (waking up at 5/5:15) but i was all restless, and then girls in the hall were loud in brief spurts (door bang. giggle. door bang. nothing long enough to have a chance to yell at them). and then i think i kind of fell asleep but there were screams of laughter around midnight, and i eventually sat up and yelled "girls, shut up!" i think... much meaner than i usually am because i was so frustrated i was still awake. and then i was really restless after that, there were people outside who were talking, etc. when you can't sleep, you hear like every noise in vail. around 1:15 i got out of bed and went to the bathroom and ate something and sat on my futton and cried in disbelief that i was really still awake. and then i think i finally feel asleep after 2. and now i have three hours of sleep to get me through my really really long day

6:30-12:30 hospital.
2-4 office shift
6-7 choir (in costume)
7-8 central campus pumpkin event i have to go to
8-? choir hang out after choir

the good news is hopefully i'll be able to fall asleep realyl easily tonight?

anyway, gotta get finished getting ready to head out.

Clinicals

So, I've concluded no one really reads this when I write long posts. Therefore...

started clinicals
didn't do much this week
patient was sleeping most of the time
other girls got to do way cooler stuff and i'm jealous
there's another nursing group on the floor with us- crazy!
there is way more preclinical paperwork to fill out than i think you can imagine- i worked on it for probably 7 hours yesterday
i'm procrastinating/taking a break right now
i really don't want to do my psych care plans
i feel like i have a lot to do and not a lot at the same time. conundrum. or something. i'm probably just forgetting stuff, probably because i've stopped looking ahead in the calendar because it stressed me out.

Sweet, Lovely Rest

So fall break has been awesome. Definitely a much needed break.

It started with a drive to Atlanta that about doubled, due to a wreck involving a car I remember passing me (creepy!) and literally not moving for an hour.

Friday night involved dinner with mom, dad, and jimmy, loading 9 double sized cakes into the suburban and two other cars worth of stuff to take to the church, hanging out at jimmy's awesome new apartment and watching buffy (the musical episode!) and some 12 kingdoms. I have some envy of jimmy's awesome new place. There's a pool on the roof. It doesn't get better than that...

Saturday my daddy and I went to breakfast (but not before we took my mom everything she needed to make more icing at the church... who knew you'd need more than 3 double batches for all those cakes?!) Brunch was quite good and I always love hanging out with my daddy. Then I headed to my grandparent's kaleidoscope shop and hung out with them for a while. I learned to play the L game, which I'm really not very good at... but, as granddaddy says, it takes 30 seconds to learn and a lifetime to perfect. I also looked at lots of pretty kaleidoscopes. I do love kaleidoscopes.

After that, I went to the church and put lots of ginger snaps in baskets... and then went to pick up caitlin and jimmy from their respective locations in downtown atlanta. this was made interesting with the inclusion of the BET awards traffic... and caitlin was appalled that i didn't know some new rappers name, and made sure I knew some of his music. Overall the trip took about an hour and a half. You gotta love atlanta traffic.

The 25th anniversary was so much fun, in so many ways. It was great to see the sherman's again, and lots of other old members. My dad was hilarious, and my mom's food afterward was great. I really realized this weekend how much my parent's have done for the church. I'm just amazed by their dedication and service over the years. I was thinking about how they haven't really done much missions trips or anything, but then i realized that their mission field has been the church body. They have both given so much over the years, time and energy, and still do in so many ways. They are a great model to me of what it means to serve the church. I think I appreciate it even more, because I know they have such dedication to Intown, not to Intown as long as so-and-so is a pastor. I know it's been hard on them each time major changes have happened, but their love and service to Intown has never changed, except when we've had to move out of Atlanta. But God seems to have always brought us back. I hope one day I can give and love a church as much as my parents have.

Sunday morning was filled with much more mingling, and I spent a lot of it walked around with James and David. We plays air hockey, and I definitely beat James... once...

This post is getting very long, and I'm only at Sunday morning... oh well....

Sunday night I headed to the Macon's lovely abode, and had pawpaw's tacos. Thank you pawpaw for befriending poor mexican's and getting their authentic recipes so we can eat the goodness that is mexican food.

monday we headed to cook springs (look anna, i didn't say pell city!) and spent the day lazying around. We had a very lovely pride and prejudice moment, as the Annas played piano and viola, and I listened and sewed. And apparently michael was reading in a windowsill upstairs. Who knows what Lee was doing... apparently not homework (yay!!) maybe looking up kilt sewing instructions?

We had 'smores monday night, and I'm sad to say i wasn't able to turn my marshmellow golden brown. perhaps it had something to do with it being a charcoal fire? i don't know dad... or maybe i just don't have the gift. the golden brown thumb, so to speak. I totally overcooked one of my marshmellows waiting for it to turn golden brown... but when i tried again, it was much better. michael's 'smores technique of putting peanut butter and chocolate on the marshmellow and waiting for the chocolate to melt was good for the chocolate and peanut butter, but definitely not good enough for the marshmellow. i think i'm probably a fan of the graham cracker and chocolate placed on the side of the grill thing over the fire to toast/melt a little while your marshmellow is cooking. The night made me long for blueberry mountain again, as always.

I finally got to sleep in a little last night. And now I really should start working on that care plan for psych. alas, alack, real life has to come back at some point. I have enjoyed the break while it lasted, though.

So close, yet so far.

With fall break so close, I'm having a hard time feeling any real motivation to work right now. Even though I have a revalidation tomorrow I need to practice for, and another validation on Friday that technically, we haven't really been taught- i learned the basics of it in practice lab last night. I suppose I'll practice after I finish this post... and then... I think I'll watch the office or gossip girl. Because I had three tests at the beginning of the week, and passes pharmacology, and I think with the amount of studying I did for that, that deserves a prize. Slash, I'm ready for break and too impatient for it. That's the curse of breaks, isn't it?

See, if I was being really productive, I would work on my care plan some now, so I'd have less work after the break. But that would involve me being motivated... *sigh* alas, alack, I find I am not.

I really enjoyed my community clinical today. It was at an eating disorder day program- they come in from 8:30-4, but go home at night. We sat in on different therapy sessions, and after lunch, we got to sit in with art therapy, which was really cool. It felt a lot more... positive, optimistic, hopefuly than the hospital. It felt like progress was being made and they had somewhere to go, something they were working for and they were on their way to it. And Valerie and I kept looking at each other during stuff they were talking about that both of us totally do. Just with thoughts, etc. I would have liked to engage more with the patients, but we're really only there to observe, so I never know whether I should or not and such. It is weird just sitting there listening, when so often I wanted to say "me too!" or "oh, i know!" or just anything. Like, I feel like there was no way for my to communicate to them that I totally understood and empathisized with them, and was so encouraged to hear them talking about their hope for the future and stuff, and that I wasn't sitting there thinking they were a freak or something. If I was in that position, and some random nursing student was observing me, I think I'd be placing all these negative thoughts in their brain about myself. Because I do that in general with life...

But anyway, I enjoyed it more than the hospital, at least for psych stuff, because in psych the hospital is more for stabilization so that you can be moved into a program like that, it's not really where the bulk of the healing happens. I think I'm going to a support group tonight, too, so that should be interesting.

Pray for my revalidation tomorrow! and the one on Friday. Pray that I stay really really sterile. Or at least really observant of when I've broken it, and that I have confidence.

Sickness of a different sort.

I am so sick of studying. In that I now find it ridiculously hard to focus at all, even when I know I really need to, and I know I don't have enough time to waste time just staring at stuff or playing spider solitaire. Let's just say fall break could not be coming any faster. Seriously. I am ready to get this next week and two days over with, so I can spend some days just not thinking.

And that's about all I have time to post... or at least all the time I should take.... *sigh*. Of course, let's be honest, I'm not going to get much done before I go to bed in a few minutes. I suppose I should maybe look over the vocab words for tomorrow one more time... eh.

Good news is that I'm done with my last IPA! Of course, I have my careplan I'll need to work on... and, well... yeah, that's probably what i'm going to be doing fall break. wow, fun.

and even though i'm going to spend a good majority of the RUF retreat this weekend studying for the 3 tests i have on monday and tuesday, especially pharm (who doesn't want to learn about 42 drugs?!), I'm really looking forward to getting off campus and away into nature. Even pharmocology can't ruing my relaxing! (well, it can... but I won't let it! haha! besides, isn't go in control of my life and grades? hmm... maybe I shouldn't start down that road... I can't fail pharm, I'd basically be put a year behind in nursing school. Of course, that would mean maybe I could fit in my psych minor in that free time I'd have next semester... hmm....)

Sick Day

So, I was forced into taking a sick day today, because I woke up with a fever, and you aren't allowed to go in to the hospital if you have a fever. I still have mixed feelings about this. In one way, it's kind of nice to have a lazy day, and get to sleep in more (especially since i woke up every 30 minutes since 3 am). However, this means next Wednesday I need to have a particularly stellar patient, because I'll have to do my care plan and IPA on them. And, I feel weird not going, because I don't really feel *that* bad. It's basically just a cold. My throat was killing me, but now it's stopped. I was feeling feverish (obviously...) and now my head and back ache a little...

I suppose this means I technically got more time to study....? but I really didn't study all that much... I slept, and I started typing up some more prototype drugs for the pharm test, but I was having a hard time concentrating. so I watched full house! woohooo... and I finally ate some food. The tomato soup I heated up first did not taste very appetizing... finally I went with the banana I stole from the caf a couple days ago, and then some creamy chicken soup, which tasted much better.

Overall, I'm not a fan of sick days, especially when I feel like I didn't really need to take it that much. It's like the curse of nursing school. You don't have time to get sick, but because you're stressed and busy, it makes it more likely, and then, when you do get sick, if you're going into the hospital, you can't go if you're feverish, but you really can't afford to miss any days. When you are a nurse, even more so, because someone has to take care of those patients.

Of course, I'm also cursed with my father's idea that you make yourself sicker by staying home and wallowing in your sickness. Which means that whenever I get sick, I always feel like it's not that bad, and I'm just being lazy if I stay home.

Now I just want my head to stop hurting everytime I move.

Wasting Time...

So, I've decided that I definitely want to collect a bunch of nursing stuff- like figurines, vintage nursing clothes, etc. i mean, how cool is that?! Who doesn't want to have a nursing outfit from WWII? I can definitely see having a corner of my house dedicated to nursing stuff. And life will be merry.

I probably maybe should be studying for my pscyh exam tomorrow, and I'm sure once I sit down to take it, I will regret that I'm not studying right now... but such is life. I'm having a hard time feeling like I need to.

maybe i'll go study a little...

there really is nothing of interest to comment about on my life. i've been studying, or doing one of the other tons of things I have going on. That's about it... I feel like I don't get to see my friends as much as I used too, and probably see more of the nursing majors than I'd sometimes like, but such is life.

Shadowfeet

So, I was thinking about what I wanted to post about next, and how nothing I write will be as eloquent or fun to read as Anna Bedsole's posts (alas, alack, but such is life). Sometimes I pretend to be Anna though, and life is merry. At least, my written words are. But not really. Oh well. We can't all be blessed with the gift of words. I suspect I was over-gifted in that area, which has really led to an impairment.

Anyway, then I decided maybe I should tell you where the title of my blog came from. So here's the story:

This summer I was searching around the itunes store trying to find some artist I found in a store in LA whose cd I wanted to buy. I never found that artist again, but in my search, I found this artist (maybe providentially? heh) Brooke Fraser, whose work I've really come to enjoy. What caught my eye first was her song called "C.S. Lewis Song" because of course I love C.S. Lewis. So I sampled a few of her songs. This first one starts immediately with walking, stumbling, on these shadowfeet toward home, a land I've never seen. Well, again, I was immediately drawn in, shadowfeet, shadow lands. All the sudden I'm thinking about going further in and further up! Later in the song she sings There's distractions, buzzing in my head, saying in the shadows its easier to stay, but I've heard rumors of true reality, whispers of a well-lit way. So, obviously, while thinking up names for my blogs, I went through songs I'm currently enjoying a lot. Because my life is basically defined by music. And the phrase 'rumors of true relaity' just sounded cool. We are not yet in true reality; nothing is yet in it's true form. What a beautiful truth that is. If this life was all the reality there was, that would be a depressing thought indeed.

Anyway... so I've enjoyed Brooke Fraser's cd Albertine a lot. From "Love is Waiting" reminding that love is waiting 'til we're ready, 'til it's right, to "Faithful" reminding us to reach out for God even when he's not there, because as I wait for you [God] maybe I'm made more faithful, to a simple hymn asking God to continually pursue us until we only dwell in him. It's good stuff. At least, I think so. Of course, I also think Harry Potter and the Pirate's soundtrack are good stuff. Maybe my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt? But I am a passionate believer of finding the gospel in everything.

Somehow I think I've digressed... not much of a surprise really. Maybe that should be the title of my blog "I digress" That would definitely be an accurate summary of most of my posts.

In other news, I have a test in an hour and a half, a date with Anna B. in 30 minutes (not to mention the date I have with Anna P. tomorrow night... I love dates with my girlfriends, but I hate that it's turning into the only way I'll know I'll see them that week), my second psych clinical tomorrow, a vocab test and sterile technique validation on thursday, and a foundations test on friday. life is moving along, that's for sure.

Now the real burning question in my mind is will I have time to watch Gossip Girl from last night sometime tonight or not?

Getting Started...

So, I made a blogspot, because all the cool kids are doing it. We'll see what happens...

Below I've posted (changing them to the correct time) some of the most recent posts from my other blog, just to catch things up a bit... :)

Hi, have you been abducted?

well, after that last post, i typed a long e-mail to dr. westmoreland, and then tried to send it, only to find out i'd been logged out of outlook due to inactivity. so i lost the whole thing. *sigh* oh well... i'm too lazy to type up another one now. then i got back in bed and managed to fall back asleep until around 10:30 or 11. because i was definitely still really tired.

and yes, that banging noise is *still* going on. sooo annoying. and i'm pretty sure no one can hear it as badly as i can, since i'm on the top of a hill on the top floor. it's like how i can hear the tornado siren really really well in my room, too. val can't hear it in her room, since she's not on top of the hill. just like none of the other sections of campus hear the tornado warnings at 3 am. just another downfall of living on the 6th floor, i suppose.

the wind is whistling through my windows, again, too. i need to get some cheap towels to put on top of it again.


in other news, a few minutes ago i got a call from val asking if i'd talked to anna p today. i was like, yeah, an hour and a half ago or so. and she was like, well, stephen tried to call her a bit ago and a man with a strange accent answered, and now her phone keeps going to voicemail. so obviously, we're a little concerned. i knew she was thinking of going to the caf with her sister, so i called joanna, who might be in the caf, and i called amanda and melissa to see if they had emily (anna's sis) number. melissa was like, no, but i just saw her, and i asked if she'd seen anna with her, and she was like, no, but i just saw her in the fishbowl. hurrah. so i call val back, and she wanted me to walk down there to make sure, so i did, but she wasn't there, but i called her again and she answered and was like, did you get sucked into that rumor, too?? um, yeah! turns out she was in the library, and somehow stephen's call just went to the wrong number. she kept wondering why all these people kept calling her. lesson to us all- when your friends keep calling you back to back, you should answer.

and now it's back to studying. so for pharm stuff on this first test doesn't feel too hard, but i dunno. i guess we'll find out...

Erin and the incessant banging noise

oh my goodness. you have got to be kidding me. they've been doing this really annoying, loud construction all week. i think over near the stadium, but I really have no idea where. all i know is that it involves banging some loud pole, and having the sound echo across campus. it's a little annoying, but hey, they've got to do what they've got to do, right? yesterday, they started doing it around 8:30, and i was like, hey, cool, that's alright, it's when i was planning on getting up anyway, and half the world might already be in class. this morning- 7 am. seriously. 7 am. on a saturday morning. hello?!!! do you not realize that this might be a college students only day to sleep in just a little bit? do you not realize that most of us probably didn't go to bed until after midnight, and were planning on sleeping til around 9 or 9:30, maybe 8:30 if i happened to wake up, and maybe later if i kept sleeping. do you not realize this?!

I really think i'm going to send an e-mail to someone to complain. the problem is i don't know who. i might send one to president westmoreland, since i also want to mention the soon to be missing caf trays and the missing newspapers (as if samford wasn't enough of a bubble already, let's remove another connection from the outside world)

i mean, seriously!!! i got less sleep than i do on a normal weekday. usually i try to get 7 and a half to 8 hours of sleep. if not that, then 6, but i really try not to. last night i got like 6 and a half or 7. why?!!! even worse, hello- i was in the middle of a sleep cycle! and it's terrible, it will start banging, and will bang for like 3 or 4 minutes, and then it will stop, and you'll be all excited. but just wait. 5 minutes later- it starts at it again.

i have no idea what they're doing, but you'd think they could respect quiet hours. just maybe. please. i really want to get back and bed and try to sleep, because i'm tired, but i don't know if i can. the pillow over the ear only helps so much.


i guess on the postive side, now i have more time to study?

This past week...

i feel like this week went by soo fast. my first two exams went really well, and my first day of psych clinical went well, too. i turned in my firt ipa for that today (contains a general mental assessment of patient, as close to the word-for-word convo as possible, with analysis and evaluation of what i said, placing them in erikson's stages of development, autodiagnosing myself with how i felt and how i may have stalled the client because of my own personal feelings, etc, and then all the meds their on, what they do, why they're on them, side effects and nursing implications of the side effects) it probably took my about 5 hours, which isn't too bad. my convo wasn't that word for word, but i got the main gist. my client was definitely in a more manic phase, so he was raelly talkative, so he said *a lot* and i know i didn't get down every word he said. we talked about the zoo for about 15 minutes... and i'm not exactly sure how we got there... heh.

today i had a short day- just had to validate on my physical assessment, which went well. and now i'm practicing my sterile technique for next thursday's validation. exciting stuff. i keep repacking my stuff as well as i can to make it as realistic as possible when i practice. my 'sterile' gloves have this weird color on them now, though. obviously, they aren't sterile anymore.

i have a psych test monday, including a bunch of drug stuff, and then a pharm test tuesday... which i have no idea how hard that will be. i'll facebook an older nursing major to find out... and then another clinical with another IPA and then another validation and a foundations test friday. lots lots lots of stuff. once you're finished with one thing you move straight to something else. but it's interesting and fun. just busy busy busy.

okay, well, with that being said, i'm off to study for some of these tests.

Happy List!

happy thoughts really fast before bed:

1. i have awesome and amazing friends who love and support me. they cook me dinner, they let me take their blood pressure and perform physical assessments on them countless times. they continually amaze me and teach me so much about who relationships are a mess worth making (i think that's a book val is reading right now... anyway...)

2. i have awesome parent's and family who i love so much, and love me so much. i mean, my dad listens to me ramble on about nothing so much. i don't think i appreciate that nearly as much as i should.

3. the moon tonight was really pretty, and had a lovely halo through the clouds and such.

4. i have some really great, nice girls on my hall, even if i sometimes feel like i can't hang out with them as much as i'd like, they still love me all the same.

5. i have a great staff to work with in central campus

6. i also have a great team of officers to work with in choir, who are so awesome and fun to be around

7. i'm not feeling that stressed right now about school work, and i really think i have a handle on things. at least for this week... we'll see how that goes

8. i'm going to the hospital this week! i'm nervous, but so excited!!!

9. i have some great teachers, and really great clinical instructors. they are all really nice and helpful

10. i'm enjoying and getting to know the girls in my clinical group better, which is good, because i'll be spending a lot of time with them.

11. my god is an awesome god. he loves me and hears me even when i am not reaching out to him like i should. he has blessed me more than i could ever deserve. i can't wait for the day that i can run up to him and dance before him, singing glories to his name. i know this sounds kind of cheesy, but seriously. i can't wait to dance around in heaven. i can't wait to be freed from my sin and selfishness, and all the brokenness that is intertwined with my being and my life. i can't wait to be restored, and to see all my friend's restored, and to full be able to reflect god's glory and beauty the way i was meant to. i can't believe sometimes that this even happens on earth, and i rejoice that god is so amazing that he does shine through us. gah, i can't express my feelings very well really, but yes. god is good.

Complaining...

oh dear. i realized i wanted to post a bunch of things, and they're all complaints. well, maybe later tonight i'll post a happy list.


1. i really don't like the new facebook. maybe i just don't like change, but i just don't like how it's setup. i don't see why they felt the need to change it, except to be 'new' and 'cutting edge' or whatever. stupid. i feel like i have a love/hate relationship with facebook.

2. today in the caf one of the guys got all mad at me! okay, so i love omelets in the caf, but even more so when there's also a breakfast bar, because i love potato omelets. when they're a breakfast bar i usually grab the potato square things, or sometimes the tator tots or hash browns if that's the starch choice they have instead, and bring it up to them to put in my omelet. i see no problem with this- i'm bringing it to them, so they just dump it in like they'd dump anything else in. this is the 'action' station. they're making the food in front of us, i thought, how we wanted it. well, usually anthony works the action station, and he totally likes me, and makes me an omelet no problem and is really sweet. he's even gone in the back and gotten me a potato before when there was no one else in line. but i obviously don't expect anyone to do that normally. that's why i get so excited when there's a breakfast line, because i have the potatoes right there all ready to just put in the omelet. well, the guy at the omelet station today got all angry with me for asking to put in potatoes, like- what? no! i can't do that. and asked someone and they were just like, i mean... why are you asking? we aren't supposed to do that, why are you being so rude and annoying and particular? like, he was really mad at me for asking. i wasn't trying to make him mad, i just really like potato omelets. it's one of my caf highlights, and i don't get it very often. and he was like, fine, i'll do it this once but i'm not supposed to, all huffy and puffy. and i told him that i also didn't want any cheese on it, and he got all huffy about that! um, i'm sorry, if i don't want cheese in my omelet, it's not that big of a deal. seriously. who gets upset about that? probably because he was already all upset i wanted a potato. oh, and he put ham in my omelet, and he didn't even check to see if i wanted it. what if i was a vegetarian? it's not that weird to like an omelet plain. i mean, i know i'm odd or whatever, but still. anyway. i've never had a caf worker get so mad at me before. anthony is always so sweet. i will obviously appreciate him a lot more now.

3. apparently going green includes getting rid of the caf trays. what?! to save water. i'm sorry, but caf trays are very useful and sometimes necessary. what if you're trying to get spaghetti, and what a side of broccoli, but don't want it to get mixed in with the spaghetti, so you get it in a little side bowl. and then you get a drink. you don't have that many hands!! or if you want to get cereal, pizza, and a salad. again, lots of things, not enough hands. all the more reason that i almost want to be anti-green. i'm going to go pink instead. i always felt more like a glinda anyway.

4. i don't like doing laundry in vail. because there's always too many people. oh, and it's on the first floor and i'm on the 6th. and people forget about their laundry and leave it in their forever.


okay, wow. lots of complaints. i think i really will need to write a happy list so that people don't think i've stopped being an optimist. but i'll have to save that for later, because i have to run to babysit.