Week in Review (week 12)

85 days until I'm finished with school! Not that anyone is counting.

Nothing too majorly exciting happened since my last post. The puppy is phenomenal, very smart and sweet. She already has an arsenal of tricks and walks on the leash like a champ.

Hit 30k on my WIP this morning. Starting to enter that murky middle-ground territory where I have to keep reminding myself it's a first draft and it's okay if events aren't perfect this time around.

I've been reading Stacia Kane's Downside Ghosts series recently. It's urban fantasy, but completely unique and wonderful. I'm seriously addicted. The first three books are really cheap for Kindle right now. If you want to read some masterful world-building and voice, do yourself a favor and buy.

Hubby and I started watching American Horror Story. I'm a huge weenie with scary things, but now we're more intrigued by the story and our wild speculations as to what's happening/happened that the scary stuff is just something to get through for the plot.

I'm going to a birthing class tonight. Hold me.

And tomorrow I'm doing half my hours for service learning (community service). I'm teaching for half an hour on "general health." What a topic! I spent about 8 hours writing material and putting together a tri-fold board. I have so much to print for handouts that I'm going to have to go to the college, because my printer won't handle it. I'm nervous, but excited. I won't say what type of facility I'm going to, for privacy's sake, but it's something close to my heart.

Happy February!

Ripley hanging out with her Scottish Terrier friend. 

Week in Review (Week 13)

Things that have happened:


1. Passed the 25k mark on my WIP.

2. Really enjoyed the newborn transition rotation & I saw a cesarean section. I gave a one-hour-old baby vaccines and I bathed him. Awesome! I guess I have a hard heart (not) because I didn't mind giving a baby a shot. Not one bit.

3. Making some strides on the future job hunt.

4. Hubby and I got a puppy!

Ripley

Week in Review (Week 15)

15 weeks until I'm a registered nurse!


What's been happening this week?

Well, I've started back to class fully. I had a long, adventurous day in Atlanta for my pediatric clinical orientation. I think it's going to be interesting, and my clinical instructor seems awesome.

Yesterday, I was traumatized all day by my obstetrics orientation. Including a still-frame slideshow of a live birth. It was amusing, watching the groups of students go in and out of the different stations. Amidst the smiles were a few faces of horror and despair (including my own). Fortunately, my OB clinical is 12 hours, so I only have to go 6 times this semester!

The job hunt is gearing up. I try not to think about it too often (what a joke), because it stresses me out worse than anything school-related. They advise graduating nurses to start applying in early February. It's a weird thought to be applying for something that requires licensure, knowing you won't have the opportunity to obtain that licensure for 3-5 more months. But I'm tinkering with my resume and making a bookmark list of all the hospitals in the area I'm interested in and trying to think of my answers to potential interview questions.

Getting up early to write is going well! My progress on the current book is surprising. The story seems to be just falling into place, with me only having to think about the details.

Current wordcount: 18,915
Current weather: rainy
Current music: Yoshida Brothers Pandora station


How has your week been? Tell me!

For Love of the Game

Isn't that a movie? I'm sure Hubby would know it instantly--not just the title, but all the actors and the entire plot. He's good like that.

So today is my first day back to class. And even though it's my last semester of nursing school and I'll be free soon enough, I made a personal goal to try to work on my writing more during school. Since reading/studying takes up pretty much all my time during the day, and I try to at least look at Hubby during the evenings, I concluded that I have but one option for finding writing time: get up early.

Oh, it pains me! I've decided that on non-clinical days (T, W, Th), I will get up at 5:00am and write for either an hour or until it's time for the day. I already have to get up at 4:00am for clinical days, so this really is just keeping me in the habit, I suppose. I do love my sleep, but sacrifice is necessary for all things.

This morning I got up at 5:30 and managed to write almost 600 words in 45 minutes. I'm happy with that. And now I won't feel the lingering guilt and desire to write in the evenings instead of doing stuff with Hubby.

Win-win. Right?

Let's hope so.

As for this semester, my classes are officially titled "Care of the Maternal/Child Client" and "Care of the Pediatric Client." So, you know, pregnancy, babies, and kids.

*sigh*

We'll see, folks.

Getting off on the wrong foot.

Literally.

So far, the year 2013 isn't being so nice to hubby and me. Hopefully this is some negativity hitting us early, so the rest of the year will open up to great things like raises and jobs and all that jazz.

1. On New Year's Eve, while displaying my Kinect Adventures jumping prowess to assembled friends, I landed wrong on my foot and sprained my ankle/bruised the 5th metatarsal. So I haven't gone running once this new year.

2. On January 1, we discovered that a car problem we thought was resolved is, in fact, not.

3. On January 2, I had to argue with my university for the rest of my loan money to cover my last semester of school. (Granted, that worked out fine, but it pissed me off really supremely, thus making it a bad day.)

4. On January 3, I finally made a dentist appointment to see what is up with this jaw pain I've been having. Turns out, I somehow have an abscessed molar and will need both a root canal and a crown in the next few weeks. Even better, my dental insurance covers less than half the cost of the procedure, meaning hubby and I will be paying some big bucks out of pocket.


Now, believe me, I do see some silver linings. For instance, I've been turning my ankle a little every time I trail run, so I'm not surprised it gave so easily. I'm grateful it didn't break while I was running.

As far as my loan money goes, it did go through, as I said. And I feel bad for being a little sharp with the student worker I was talking with, but he was very wrong in his information. Later that evening, hubby and I went to Bonefish Grill for dinner on a gift card from his boss, had an excellent meal, and left a huge tip for our nice server after talking with her about the horrible serving jobs we've had in the past. That felt good.

For my tooth...well, I have been in a lot of pain. Obviously, an abscess isn't something you want to let stay. So it's good that they found it, and it's good that it'll be removed. I'm grateful that I have insurance that's paying at least a chunk of the bill, so we don't have to pay the whole thing. I'm grateful that they have crowns and such, and they don't just have to pull out my tooth. Yikes. And the dentist said other than the mysterious abscess, I have really health teeth (I swear, that tooth isn't all bajanked and rotten. There seems to be nothing wrong with it at all, but the dentist thinks it may have been too late for the root when I got my filling 2 years ago).

But in good news, I'm making fantastic progress on my new WIP. I'm on such a downhill slide toward graduation that I'm kinda scared. And I have my best friend and life partner holding my hand through all these tribulations.

Happy new year, folks! I hope yours is getting off to a good start. :)

Look at this picture of my fat cat:

The year.

Time for that customary year-in-review post.

2012 was, in all, a pretty great year.

Some highlights:

1) Finished 3/4 of nursing school with a 3.9 GPA.
2) Worked as a nurse extern at my #1 choice hospital, where hopefully I paved a foundation for a job after graduation.
3) Started running seriously, and consequently ran my first half-marathon in October.
4) Finished my 5th novel, which I queried for a while before setting it aside due to school. Learned a lot.
5) Finally convinced Hubby that we're getting a dog after I graduate. :)
6) One of my best friends moved back within an hour visiting distance.
7) Possibly discovered where I want my nursing career to begin and flourish (critical care).
8) This one is a mixed bag, but I lost my grandmother in March. She was only 69 years old, but she'd been in an off-and-on fight with breast cancer for many years. We all hated for her to leave us, but I like to think she's at peace now, with my grandfather who passed in 2010. Her death was the catalyst for my dedication to running, which I began the day after she passed.

Our health is a gift and the only thing we can truly control is what we choose to do with it. At the hospital, I see people who have chosen to squander and abuse themselves, and others who treated their lives and bodies with respect, but still suffered from uncontrollable disease. It may be easy to leave things to Fate or chance or luck, but I believe that improving your own odds is the best gamble to take, and it makes your life much more enjoyable in the meantime.

If you're considering weight loss or health living New Year's resolutions, let me just urge you to make sure you do your research thoroughly on what avenue to approach. Personally, I believe in eating wholely, within proper portion and calorie/carb/fat/protein/fiber ratios, and exercising. They really do go hand-in-hand. Also remember that any commitment worth pursuing is going to require hard work and dedication. There will be bad days. Don't let them derail any of your success. One bad day isn't going to undo all the previous good days. Start slow and build up. Don't expect phenomenal results in weeks. Our bodies just don't work that way, and you should be thankful for it. The body is an amazing machine. Remember that.

*steps off soapbox*

Most of all, I hope you and I both find or continue to enjoy true happiness and contentment in the year 2013.   I usually set a few resolutions for myself, and this year will be no different, though they may be shorter:

1) Finish my last semester of nursing school with a 4.0
2) Find a job.
3) Finish my current WIP.
4) Be able to do 20 regular-style pushups by the end of the year (what? I have to be strong!)
5) Hubby doesn't know this yet, but I'm going to try to convert 4/7 of our meals per week to vegetarian or vegan. We do pretty well already, but sometimes I let him talk me into throwing in some chicken. He won't be thrilled about this, but I think it's for the best.

If you're celebrating tonight, I hope you have fun, reflect well, and ring in the new year in the manner that best suits you! I know I will be!

Ends, Beginnings, and all the In-Between

Hi Friends.

   For exactly 10 days, this blog was deleted. I downloaded its contents first, of course--can't be that hasty. I've also deleted my Twitter account, which won't be getting rebooted.

   Why?

   Because these things were stressing me out. And it's okay. It's okay to admit that seeing other people either constantly promoting their or their friends' successes grates on you when you're not in the place to be working toward that yourself. It's okay to admit that seeing just one more pithy, self-indulgent tweet from an agent is going to make you shoot a hole in your computer screen (though I wouldn't recommend it.) And it's okay to admit that you may not be sure how to remove yourself from these stressors.

   But this blog has brought me a lot of joy over these past almost 3 years. I've met new friends and acquaintances, some who have become very dear friends in real life. I've learned a lot about writing and publishing, some which I wish I could forget. And I've learned a lot about myself, and how I feel interacting through this type of public forum, and what sorts of things I feel compelled to blog about. Just count yourselves lucky I'm restraining from most of what I want to say concerning your health, because I can go on for hours about that (sorry, hubby).

   Anyway. Just wanted to get that off my chest. I know I'm not alone--so many people talk about feeling burned out, but there's not much talk about what you can do about it when terribly long hiatuses don't do a thing. And it's all well and good to say you're not going to worry about it, but if you're anything like me, that's just a waste of hot air. I'm the kind of person who holds on to things and nibbles at them worryingly for many years. It doesn't matter how hard  try to "let go"--because believe me, I do try--I can't shake the thoughts and obsessions. I won't get much deeper into that, because you don't want to hear me regurgitate an entire semester's worth of self-insight I gained from my psychiatric rotation, but let me say I have gained a lot.

   So. I'm not okay, but I'm not going anywhere.


   Here's a picture of my cats:

You're welcome!