so i was driving home from class today and thinking perhaps i should go for a jog before going to interpret, because sitting in these damn classes all day on thursdays really sucks the life out of me. and because i didn't have a chance to go yesterday because i wanted to meet with the purls instead, and then had to finish my paper. so anyways, i get home and realize my ipod is dead! i thought i had charged it while i was sitting in class, but i must have plugged it in before my computer was actually booted up, so i don't think it recognized that it was plugged in. and i couldn't bear the thought of jogging without music, so i'm not going. possibly later tonight after interpreting? or it can wait til tomorrow. laziness triumphs, but i did have good intentions! lol.

i guess i'll be forced to eat snacks and knit and stuff instead of jogging. ;)

my journal posting is really suffering this semester! it's almost the half-way point for fall semester already! i have a mid-term for my adult health class tomorrow. everyone is freaking out about it, but i am not too worried. i have actually been doing pretty well in there thus far. which is not to say i don't need to review some more, but i've kind of surprised myself with the quizzes in there up until now. of course, there are other things that are more similar to the NCLEX that i'm not doing as well on, but oh well. the NCLEX isn't something you get a grade on, anyways. you either get 70% or more and pass, or you get less and have to take it again. and actually, i think i've been doing above a 70% on the tests that are supposed to be helping us prepare for NCLEX, it's just that i'm not making 90% or above, which is still where i *think* i should be scoring. it is a thoroughly ingrained thought that doesn't go away easily. but at least all my classmates feel the same way, so i am not the only freak. hahaha. actually, my friend/classmate nena always jokes that we are a class full of "chicken littles." we are always anxious and freaking out about something that is really no big deal (you know, as in "the sky is falling!"). actually, caitlin agreed to create a chicken little graphic for us so we can make some tshirts. lol.

everything is moving along in clinicals too. i think everyone knows i started an IV last week, which was cool. my confidence is building. not that i feel like i'm ready, but i don't have to yet. really, even after graduation, when you're a new nurse on the floor, you have someone who mentors you as you learn the job and gets used to whichever hospital you get hired at. but i'm starting to be more familiar with different kinds of meds and stuff, which definitely boosts confidence too.

today i'm scheduled to go to school and give out H1N1 vaccines, so that'll be good practice. i've given more subcutaneous injections at the hospital, because you give things like insulin and heparin most often there. but these vaccines are intramuscular, of course, so now i'll get more comfortable with that.

on a non-school note, i started my second go-round with the couch to 5K plan on monday. i'm trying to do it a lot faster this time. we'll see how it goes. my legs and my butt were kinda sore at the hospital yesterday! of course, it didn't help that i had taken probably 2 weeks off because of my buffalo trip and having a cold for a week straight. :-P but my nike + ipod sensor thing did, in fact, tell me that i'd done my personal best on the mile thus far! :) considering that i've started back at the beginning of the program and that involved quite a bit of walking in between bursts of the faster jogging pace, i thought that was a good sign. i don't know if i'll ever get down to a really competitive speed, but if i can do the whole 5K in the 30 minutes of the plan, that would make me happy. i'm definitely not there yet! i think i'm covering closer to 2 miles than 3. oh well, it's something to keep working on.

when i say long weekend, i mean it in the opposite way you normally think of it. today is my first day off since last wednesday, because i had clinicals at the rehab hospital over the weekend. they were 8-hour shifts instead of 12, but it still made for a long and tiring run of busy days. but i'm hangin in there. :) i did well on my tests last week (one A, one high B), and i'm studying for another quiz in the morning. everyone keep your fingers crossed that the really high grade i got on the last one for this class showed that i am really getting the hang of thinking like a nurse and was not simply a fluke. hahaha.

yesterday i was in the critical care unit instead of the regular med-surg floor we normally go to. specifically, i was in the "open heart recovery" area. which is just what it sounds like, people go to this area after having open heart surgery. they stay there a couple days until they are stable enough to go up to the regular floor. i don't know what critical care is normally like, but this was a pretty low key day. i really liked my nurse, and she encouraged me to be really "hands-on." we only had 2 patients (that's typical for that area because they can sometimes need a lot more care). i got to see the nurse take out one lady's chest tube (put in for drainage after surgery). really, i did most of the same kinds of things you'd do on a regular floor. but i guess the potential for problems higher, so these patients need closer monitoring.

next week, i go to observe the OR! i'm pretty excited about that, since i think i might want to do that kind of nursing later. i hope i get to see some kind of heart case! some of my friends have seen bypass surgeries and valve replacements, which are pretty major. not that something less major, like an appendectomy, isn't important. anyways, we'll see. :)

today i'll do the last workout of the couch-to-5K plan, woo hoo! i went ahead and bought my new shoes already, because i had a bit of pain in my back during one of my workouts last week. i'm hoping it meant that i just needed new shoes and not that i need to go to the chiropractor again. i have a really awesome one in jax that i went to for a similar (but much more serious and long-lasting) problem a few years ago. he fixed the problem in just a few sessions. i have insurance and everything, but i don't have the time to go! :-P anyways, as for the goal of a 5K, i still have some work to do. i am running the 30 minutes, but not fast enough to cover 3 miles in that time. so i have to work on that. not sure if it will be better/easier to first work up to the full 3.1 miles (which means running for a longer time) and then try to improve speed, or if i should just start working on speed, which will increase the distance i cover in 30 minutes, of course. marissa and i discussed doing the whole couch-to-5K plan again, but this time with running/jogging sessions instead of jogging/ walking, if that makes sense. it seems like a good idea; i'll have to do a little research to see if i find any better suggestions.

i still think i might buy an ipod touch (with a special sensor to track distance and speed) to help motivate me. but i haven't ordered it yet. maybe i'll get brave and/or decisive and do that today! :)

i did manage to get up and get to interpreting on time this morning. though i'm sad to report that the classes i'm interpreting this semester are pretty darn boring, for the most part. this is the first time i haven't been relatively interested in what's going on and the lectures. i mean, they're not horribly excruciating every moment, but i don't much enjoy myself either.

after work, i had lunch at joe's, which was leftover homemade pizza i had made for dinner last night. i did something a little different than my usual veggie ones: since i was making it for joe, i sauteed some onion and garlic with ground turkey and put that on top. the sauce was total cheap-o, hunt's from a can, but the pizza was delicious anyways! :) i shall have to make it again in the future.

after lunch i had a bit of a nap on joe's couch. nice.

when he had to leave to go to work, i came home and did a little bit of schoolwork, but don't feel like i accomplished all that much. i stopped to go to publix so i could make some dinner. i made turkey burgers on the grill!!! this was my first time using a gas grill. and i've probably only used a charcoal grill once before, about 15 years ago, and that was relatively unsuccessful. so we can just call this my first time at grilling. yay for me! emily helped me light it and helped me determine that they were done. and they were totally pre-made burgers from the store. but i bought some yummy rolls from publix bakery and an avocado to go on top and was very pleased with myself! :)

i was planning to go for a jog and/or get some more schoolwork done after dinner, but i've just been hangin out with emily a little bit, and now i think i'll go to bed early. so i kinda feel like a big ole slacker, but i think i'll get over it. ;)

i have not, and will not, jog at some point today. i did some studying for my quiz, but i have otherwise been pretty lazy today. and i'm okay with that. ;) i think i have been tired pretty much the entire day. i suspect i have not been drinking enough water lately, which contributes to fatigue. and i'm sure if i had gone jogging, i would have felt like i had more energy. but whatever. i'm planning to to a little more studying, then go to bed early. my quiz is at 7:30 in the morning. my favorite. lol.

it's amazing how grateful i am for a day off today, after only one day at the hospital yesterday. i seem to remember that before that i had an entire 3 day weekend to rest. but i totally feel like i need today to recover.

which is not to say it was a bad day; it was really pretty good. i felt like i stayed pretty busy and had a super nice nurse i was working with. i think i'm improving on getting done what i am supposed to be getting done. :) and i really like our teacher that's with us at Memorial. we've never had her before, and she's not teaching any of our classroom courses. but she always ties things back to the patients to help us understand better, and she explains things in a way that's simple enough for us to grasp the basic concept without wading through a ton of information (like in our textbooks) and being overwhelmed.

and i have plenty of work i need to do for school today: studying for my quiz, starting on some assignments that will be due later but i will need to space things out so as to not get overwhelmed, etc.

but for the moment, i'm just gonna drink coffee and chill. :)

and i'll go jogging later today too. but right now, my feet still feel a little abused from yesterday, hahaha. my shoes for wearing to the hospital are Nike "Max Air" or something, but i'm wondering if they're not cushioned enough. i dunno, probably no amount of cushioning is enough to be on your feet all day if you aren't used to it.

i've been wondering if i need new running shoes too. when i started the couch-to-5K, i didn't buy new shoes. i just used the ones i had already, which i didn't think were worn out because i hadn't been jogging. i'm not really sure how to tell. sometimes my feet feel tired or ache-y after jogging, but i think it's only when i'm trying to do a faster pace, which i can't really do for these longer runs anyways. but i guess that means they are at least starting to be worn out. anyways, i was thinking of waiting until i graduate the program (about 2 more weeks) and then celebrating by getting new shoes. :) this has the added benefit of occurring after my financial aid will have been deposited for this semester (which should happen friday, i believe). not that i'm so broke i can't buy new shoes now, but the bank balance is pretty low. :-/ oh well, i'm a student, right? c'est la vie de l'etudiante.

anyways, time for more coffee...

i've been trying to do more studying and stuff for school this morning, but i'd really like to chuck it all out the window. i'm trying to prepare for a quiz on thursday that will be partly on stuff covered in class and partly on stuff we won't cover until after the quiz, so we're responsible for looking over everything beforehand. i don't know why the class is designed that way; it just is. but even for the stuff we've already covered, the questions are generally not just "here is your patient: is the problem A, B, C, or D?" that would be far too easy. they are much more applied and critical thinking kinds of questions, such as "you have patients X, Y, and Z and they have problems A, B, C; D, E, F; and G, H, I, respectively. Which one should you address first?" i might be exaggerating a little, but they are fairly complicated sometimes. so even though i've been trying to study, i'm not sure i'll ever really feel prepared. :-P

but whatever. i'm planning to jog at some point later today. i'll be doing day 1 of week 8, so the time gets bumped up yo 28 minutes, instead of 25. hopefully that will be manageable.

i've also been thinking of going shopping. there are supposed to be good sales on labor day, right? except my problem is that i want to go shopping for things that i don't need, like more shoes, instead of things that i do need, like jeans that aren't all saggy. i tried to go yesterday on my way home from jax, but i just wasn't feelin it. i went to st johns town center. i stopped at ross, thinking they might have some nice discount prices, which they didn't. so i figured if i was going to pay $30 for jeans, i'd go to old navy, which is where i usually get them. except nothing i saw seemed too particularly cute. and i was planning to try on both an 8 and a 6, to see if my current ones are saggy because i've lost enough weight for them to be saggy, or if they're just old and stretched out. but they didn't have any in the shorter length, for us short girls. so i'm definitely not going to spend $30 on jeans that are too long. so i didn't try any on. but maybe i'll try ross here in town or Marshall's or something. emily suggested the outlet mall, which is convenient, but has way too many options. it's kind of overwhelming, i think.

i need to do laundry too. i don't feel like it. i think i am just grouchy but i don't really know why. well, maybe i kind of know. there's the usual stressors related to joe, as always. and i visited an old friend who was in town from NYC yesterday (that's why i went to jax) and she doesn't seem to be doing well. plus i think i have a minor headache from studying on the computer earlier today. perhaps i should go jogging sooner, rather than later. it will at least distract me, if not actually put me in a better mood.

but i think my tummy is still too full from lunch to go right now. i made a yummy quesadilla that was a recreation of one that i ate in key west for lunch one day. black bean and spinach with cheddar cheese. :) i added garlic and onion too. pretty tasty!

i'm definitely back in school mode - i woke up a couple times this morning, afraid that i was going to be late to class/clinicals. but it's not as bad as it sounds, since every time i realized it was saturday, it was a really good feeling. hahaha.

i've been avoiding actually doing any homework this morning by looking at calendars and trying to make sure i have everything integrated into my phone. and then downloading an updated version of open office so i'll be able to open the new MS Word files that have docx extension in open office instead of stupid Word. :-P

and drinking coffee, of course.

i need to go to the post office either before or after the purls meeting today so i can finally send that package to hopey! (ooh, don't you wonder what's inside?!) i didn't finish all the projects i had ideas for, but i'll go ahead and send this one and then work on the other ones for a later package. :)

i did the first workout of week 4 last night. it's getting tougher, but i'm still hangin in there. :) as long as i keep my pace slow, i'm good. i did have to chuckle at myself last night though - instead of getting a cramp or "stitch" in my side, which i think is the norm, i got a cramp in my diaphragm. right in the middle! and yes, i do mean the muscle that controls your breathing. it wasn't bad, and i didn't have any trouble breathing or continuing to jog, but i thought it was kinda funny. i don't think i've ever gotten a cramp there before. :-P

oh, and i recently added the couch to 5K things to my Facebook, and saw a discussion about podcasts. there are a few different ones that have a voice cue for when you're supposed to start walking or running, along with music. i thought i might give it a try. could be really cool, depending on the music. it could also really suck, depending on the music. hahaha.

let's see, what else is new? i finished my crocheted market bag. i don't like it as much as the knit one. because the holes in the mesh are bigger, things want to get stuck as you're putting them in. i'm sure it didn't help that i made the bag fairly narrow. but i thought it would stretch more than it actually does. i may end up ripping it out (again!) to make it more like the other one. or maybe it can have a crochet bottom and knit sides or something.

i'm also working on a stolen moments wrap. it's yarn that i had originally started using for a wrap in fishtail lace, but i wasn't liking it - not drapey enough. so we'll see how this goes. i had a rocky start, since the pattern suggests a certain CO number if you are using a smaller gauge than called for, and the number is totally wrong! lol. but i figured it out now. i'm still not sure it'll be too fabulous, considering the yarn is mostly acrylic (paton's shetland chunky tweeds - acrylic, wool, and viscose. pretty similar to wool ease), but we'll see. at least with the lace it should be more drapey. i'm really just trying to use up stash before buying more yarn. though i still plan to buy something new to make Ms. Marigold and maybe February Lady. and there's also a super cute pattern for an ivy cap that looks MUCH easier than the one published in knitty a couple issues ago, so i think i'll try it.

either this afternoon or tomorrow, i'm going to jax to stop at UNF and do some financial aid paperwork and get books for next semester. i have most of them, but there's 2 or 3 i need. and then go to the navy recruiting office to talk to them. i feel like i should have a ton of questions, but don't really know what to ask. my friend belinda is considering the reserves, and is going to with me, i think.

i'm supposed to have lunch with my friend dan either today or tomorrow, though i haven't heard back from him for sure which day. he is planning to do the "cash for clunkers" thing and trade his truck on a little honda sedan or something. which is a good idea, considering he'll soon be commuting either to orange park or UNF.

hmm,i think that's everything for now.

Week 3 of couch-to-5K is complete! Only twice that left to go! Hahaha. The real challenge is going to be to keep it up when school starts again. I seriously doubt I'll be willing to run on days when I've got a 12-hour shift @ the hospital. Then on thursdays, I took an intepreting assignment after classes. But mondays mornings, friday afternoons, and weekends are still free. That 4 potential workout days, right? Granted, they're all back to back, but beggars can't be choosers, right?

i could get used to being off for the summer and sitting around in my jammies until noon. this morning, i was mostly crocheting my market bag, though i did a little reading too. :) speaking of the market bag, i think it needs an overhaul. i wasn't following a pattern, just making it up as i go along. and i think i made the bottom too big. and possibly i should have made it round, or at least a rectangle instead of square. as the sides are getting taller, it just hangs funny. but i don't mind ripping it out and having another go.

joe and i went to the beach today. we took my kayak and tried surfing again. unfortunately, the tide was pretty far out and the waves were breaking pretty short. so every time i'd catch one, it would only be for a few feet or something. i've yet to recreate the experience of that first time i caught that wave and the ride was so long and exhilarating. but oh well, another day, i suppose. i did have a somewhat spectacular wipeout while coming back to shore. i had gotten turned kinda sideways to the surf and when a wave came, it totally flipped me over. luckily, the kayak went over my head and and past me, onto the sand. the water was pretty shallow where i was "deposited," so i was able to just come up on my knees and be upright and out of the water and get the water out of my eyes and stuff. i like to think it was pretty graceful, or at least as graceful as one can be, having just been dumped unceremoniously out of one's kayak. hahaha. it made me laugh, anyways.

and then after dinner this evening, and after a rain to cool things off, i went for another jog. that's the 2nd workout of week 3, so i'm back where i left off. yay! i'm starting to build more confidence that if i just keep it slow, i can do the longer runs without keeling over. i just have to follow my own advice i've been giving to marissa: work on endurance first, then worry about speed. i don't think i intentionally run too fast, but sometimes i think i just get excited to be out and jogging and tire myself out too quickly. but i guess that's a relatively pleasant problem to have. :)

surprisingly, my jog yesterday did NOT kick my ass, like i thought it would. i'm sure the fact that the weather had cooled off after a storm passed through helped. and also the fact that i probably jogged much slower than i do usually. but hey, i figure you're still technically jogging as long as your back foot is leaving the ground before your front foot hits. right?

anyways, i'm satisfied. and that's a good thing. :)

i just looked at my calendar and my journal and realized i have now been "on hold" with the couch to 5K plan for a month! which is longer than i was on it to begin with! jeez! but i'm going to jog this evening, probably shortly after i finish this entry. i think i'll just try to pick back up with week 3 of the plan, if it doesn't kill me. haha.

i finished my noro hat. it is definitely on the large side, but i think i like it. earlier today, i was wearing it over to joe's to show him, and i was wearing it high on my head (like a baseball cap), instead of low, covering my ears (like i would wear it for cold weather). it was really too big for this, but it was still kinda cute. perhaps i'll make another one with the leftover yarn that is smaller and shorter and intended to be just for covering up my hair when it is being stupid. :)

i started a crochet market bag too. i made a granny square for the base, and now i'm starting on the sides in a mesh-y kind of stitch. i think i'll do the handles/strap a little differently on this one. i ended up needing to shorten the strap on the other one, after only using it once because it stretches more than i expected when you put stuff in the bag. however, the cashier and bagger at publix were quite impressed with it when they saw it. :)

my break is off to a fabulous start. :) after our test on friday, my class all got together at the jacksonville alehouse and celebrated for a bit. $1 margaritas and nachos, onion rings, and other delicious bar foods were featured prominently. it was really neat: a few of us were missing of the 24 total, but we had more than 20, i'd say.

then yesterday i went kayaking with my friends jamie (former boss) and dan (not the one from sjrcc, but a classmate from unf). jamie had been asking me to take him kayaking for a while because he'd never done it, but was interested. i invited dan along because i wanted to introduce him to jamie because i thought they might hit it off. i never try to play matchmaker, but they were both agreeable, so i thought it would be worth a try. it wasn't a love-at-first-sight deal like in the movies, where they immediately fall into each others' arms, but we all chatted comfortably while kayaking. maybe they will want to get together again later? i dunno. but at any rate, we all had a great time kayaking. it was BEAUTIFUL out there. we launched from anastasia so the guys could rent kayaks. we went down past the lighthouse, past the conch house, to the point where the "intersection" to go to the inlet at vilano to the ocean is on one side and the channel to the bayfront is on the other. then we turned around and went back. and OF COURSE the winds picked up and we were paddling home against strong winds. that ALWAYS happens to me. but i guess it makes for a good workout. :)

afterwards, dan and i (we had ridden together from my house) stopped and carmelo's for a slice, where poor bethee was waiting as the only purl at the meeting. but cousin jesse and kris were with her, so she wasn't too lonely. besides, she had internets, what more could she want?! haha. and after pizza and running home for a shower, i did come back to knit for a bit, so there technically was a purls meeting. :) and my market bag est fini! yay! i wove in the ends last night after i got home from joe's. i have the yarn for another one too, a leftover hemp/cotton blend. i think i may try crocheting the next one to see how i like one vs. the other. but first i think i'll try to finish the noro hat. (as if i really need to finish a 100% wool hat in the middle of summer?! why does inspiration always seem to strike inappropriately like that?)

i've got some other sewing, jewelry, and maybe paper craft project ideas in mind too, so it may have to be a crafty sunday. and i'll have to pick a new knitting project, to take with me to the keys.

aaahh. yes, definitely a good start. :)

i'm proud of myself because...

all of my laundry is put away. for the first time in ... a long time. possibly since i started nursing school. (okay, i might be exaggerating a little, but it's at least been several weeks.) but i even cleaned all the crap that had been sitting on top of the hope chest at the foot of my bed for quite some time now. :)

i've also studied for my test for tomorrow and was done early. as in, i'm not staying up late to study. i may not know it all backwards and forwards, but i think i know it well enough. and i'm not freaking out about it.

my market bag is almost finished too. i'm doing the band around the top, then i'll just have the strap left. i'm taking a little break from the noro hat because i kept feeling unsure about it. so i thought finishing the market bag might give me some impetus to finish the hat and/or make a decision about what to do with it.

that's all for now, folks. :)

So I decided to make that noro hat in seed stitch after all, but not until I'd swatched a ton of different stitch patterns. I decided to do it from the top down, because I'm lazy that way. : ) I CO this morning and did most of the decreases while meeting with the purls. Unfortunately, I'd realized my cable for my Denise set that makes the 16" circular is broken. They come with a warranty, so it shouldn't be a problem to get a replacement, I just haven't done it yet. Ana said she'd bring me a 16" #8 next weekend, but I wanted to work on it now. So I broke down and went to hobby lobby and got a new circ. :)

It looks super cute thus far. Though these new circs feel way different from my denises.

While at hobby lobby, I saw they have a ton of really cute cotton print fabrics. I think emily and I are going tomorrow to pick out some to make some new summer dresses. Yay!

i just looked at my journal and realized i haven't posted since july 5th. wow. i mean, i know i've been busy, but geez...

school is starting to wind down for the semester. i made an A in the class that was sucking up so much of my time and causing me so much stress, so i guess it was worth it. the rest of them go one for another week and a half or so. but i'm less stressed about them. i still have some tests and practicals and stuff, but nothing that seems overwhelming. at least, not at the moment, anyways.

we practiced starting IVs on our lab partners on wednesday. it took me 3 tries. :-/ and on the 3rd try, the teacher was literally holding my hand (to guide me) until the last second when i put the needle in. so i guess i technically did it myself. though i joked that the first time i was at the hospital trying to put one in, i'd say, "no, i can't start this without ms. comeaux here to hold my hand!" hahaha. anyways, here's some pics of that:





yesterday i went kayaking with joe and a friend from school, linh. it was really pretty. i put pics up on facebook (yes, i finally gave in a joined facebook). on the way back, we ended up facing some pretty fierce winds (as usual for me!). it was pretty tiring, but it was worth it. joe says we did 8 miles round trip, though that just seems crazy to me. i feel like it has to have been less. anyways, we went from the dam at guana to this "wildlife viewing tower" on the western bank. i don't know how far it really is, but we felt pretty accomplished at having gotten there. linh brews beer at home and he brought a bottle of mead for each of us. we drank it in celebration of reaching that tower and it was mighty tasty.

in knitting news, of which there has been precious little lately, i am still working on the market bag with the leftover filati that i made my razor cami with. and i'm swatching for the hat i want to make with the noro i got from bethee. i had envisioned it with the "trinity" or "berry" stitch. the entire idea for the hat is really a rip-off of one i saw a girl at school wearing. it was textured and had a little brim. and the colors reminded me of noro, which was what prompted me to think i could make a pretty close replica. but as i'm swatching in trinity stitch, the clusters pull together so much that it leaves kinda lacy areas in between where stitches are kind of stretched out. i could try it on a smaller needle, but the stitch itself is kind of a pain to make. i've also played with double seed stitch, stockinette (i actually liked the reverse stockinette better) and seed stitch in the swatch. thus far, i think i like the reverse stockinette and the seed stitch best. but i'm not entirely ready to give up on the trinity stitch. i dunno. doing it in reverse stockinette would be easiest. but if i'm going through the trouble to recreate the other aspects of this hat, it might be worth it to do that part too. i'll keep pondering it, and we'll see.

i finally went for the 2nd jog of week 3, nearly a week after doing the first. i did a better job of pacing myself this time, but it was still kinda tough. i'm sure i'm spacing the workouts too much. i've been so busy with school, and not wanting to run in the heat of the day isn't helping, either. i wonder if i should repeat this week, with the workout closer together, before i go on to the next one? all i know if that my face was as red as tomato when i was done. although, that's probably true of any time i exercise, not just when i push myself and/or exercise in the heat.

but at least i did it, and haven't given up, right?

i had a really nice day yesterday. i've been joking about being on "vacation" at joe's this weekend, but it really feels kinda like i am. i know if i was at home, i'd be on my computer and working on school stuff as soon as i got up in the morning. but yesterday, i did some shopping and just generally felt pretty relaxed. i bought some school-related stuff (a small notebook and small drug guide to fit in my scrubs pockets), but i also got fun stuff like a new purse and a dress and shoes to wear to my mom's wedding. it just felt good to have a day off and not be going to school. which sounds funny, since i always have weekends off. but that's still how i felt.

so i'm a little bummed because my classmate that i thought might be carpooling with me to TN is not going to do that after all. no drama or anything, it's just that another friend of hers is going with her, and wants to stop in atlanta or somewhere too. so i guess i'll still be renting a car and driving up; i'll just be by myself. unless by some miracle joe is able to take the weekend off after all. but i don't think he can afford to do that, considering our keys trip is coming up in august, and we're going to buffalo in october. but oh well. i'll make it. it's 8 1/2 hours from jacksonville to knoxville. and my mom says i can stay with her, and she lives right off the interstate. it'll be boring, but i've actually never drove up 95 into TN; i've always been on 75/85 on my way to kentucky. so at least it'll be a novel experience.

i've got a paper i have to write this weekend, but it should be relatively easy. we were supposed to pick a movie from a list the teacher provided and then analyze the family that's portrayed and write about strengths and "challenges." i picked Lars and the Real Girl, which was really pretty funny. then i need to make cards on a few drugs that one of my patients at the hospital is on, to show that i understand how they work and why they've been prescribed. and then i have to write a "nursing care plan" for the same patient. i've never done it before, so i hope it doesn't take too long. that's not actually due until tuesday or wednesday, so i have time. then i have a pathophysiology/pharmacology test on friday. not too bad; it seems more manageable now that i don't have that monday/thursday class sucking up a lot of my time.

anyways, i'm having some coffee and waiting for marissa. we're going to have lunch at flavors today and hang out downtown and see fireworks later. :) yay for pseudo-vacations!

got a new patient today with a really interesting wound. got to see the wound care specialist nurse come in and take care of it. there's a machine called a wound vac that you hook up to it, which it exactly what it sounds like - it creates suction, to help the wound heal and close from the bottom up instead of closing over at the top first and creating an abscess. so hospital is still going good. tomorrow, the teacher wants us to make sure we take vitals, which we know how to do, but haven't been doing in the hospital yet. surprising how something so simple becomes a little intimidating when you're working with a real patient instead of your classmate. but my patient is really nice and jokes with everybody. then i'm supposed to do a "focused assessment" and write and care plan. and learn about some of his meds (of which there are probably 15- 20). that's a little more intimidating, but i'm sure i can manage. but i can kinda feel the beginnings of the "oh i wish i could just relax instead of going to clinicals" feeling, instead of the "i'm excited to go to clinicals" feeling. which is not to say that i don't really want to go - it's just that it gets scarier as time goes on and more is expected of us. on the first day, when all we did was follow our nurses and the techs around and watch whatever they're doing and help wherever they let you, it was pretty darn easy. as you get expected to know and do more independently, it's more daunting. but i'll be okay. i'll deal with it as it comes. :)

also have a quiz on calculating dosages tomorrow, which i think i'm all set for. did all the practice problems without difficulty. then on thursday, i have both a practical and a multiple choice exam. nervous about both. the practical because we're not allowed to have notes to help us remember every detail, just a general outline that we fill out. and it's not like forgetting one thing will cause us to fail (it's a pass/fail test), but of course i want to do well. i practiced on my partner on monday, and on joe today. will probably try to practice once or twice more before the real deal. everyone send me good karmic vibes on thursday at 11:00 a.m.! and then the final is nerve-wracking because it's 32% of the grade and it's the same type of questions (or possibly even the exact same bank of questions?) that we've had on our quizzes all along. which i've been passing, but sometimes not doing as well as i would like. i've never made less than a 70% on any of them, which is the grade required to pass, but still... you all know i won't be able to deal with getting a 70%. although i should just calm down, since i think my average on all of them put together is about an 88. i would just really like to make an A in this class. ... we'll see. so send me good karmic vibes for that on thursday at 1:00 p.m.!

after thursday, i'm off until monday. though i have a paper due on tuesday. and a big test on friday in the class where the teacher isn't actually teaching us, just having us discuss things on blackboard. ugh. i hope i pick up all the info i need about drugs while i'm at the hospitals!

jogging is on track. i did the first workout of week 3 yesterday. it was harder than i expected, but i think i might have been jogging at a quicker pace than i normally do. hopefully i'll have time to run again tomorrow, and we'll see how that goes.

tonight i tried out that new shower puff/loofah i had crocheted. i don't really like it. too floppy/squishy. i'm used to the nylon ones you buy at the store, so this one didn't really meet my expectations. doesn't lather as well. kind of a bummer, since it's really cute and i was excited about making one so easily. :( but i'm working on a market bag that's going well thus far, and i have plans for a hat with the noro i got from bethee. :)

i finally got around to running at about 9 p.m. last night. it was still hot as ballz (lol) and i sweat (sweated?) like you wouldn't believe. but that's 5/27ths down! haha.

did well on my quiz this morning, made it to my screening on time. took a bunch of BPs, did a bunch of heights and weights, and a few eye screenings. now i have to make sure i'm ready for class tomorrow afternoon before i go to bed (early) tonight because i have to get up insanely early to be at the hospital on time. and then go straight to school. unless we get out early since it's orientation and maybe we won't stay the whole time? if so, perhaps i can take my car to the VW place to have them look at it and have their shuttle drop me at school? keep your fingers crossed for me, everyone! because OMG did i sweat a lot in that uniform while driving around today. yicky pants! though it could be worse - one of the other girls said one day hers were making her sweat so bad she had sweat rings on the backs of her knees. blech! hahaha.