Swine flu?

This whole swine flu craziness is getting so ridiculous. Yes, it's a new strain. Yes, it has now gone global. But do you know how many thousands of people die each year from the regular flu? In comparison this swine flu outbreak is not a big deal. 300 schools have closed nationwide because the administrators are afraid of the spread. Seriously, people? Calm down. If you start to feel sick, go to the doctor. If it turns out to be swine flu, take the anti-virals and you're good to go. It's not the end of world. Everyone is freaking out about contracting the virus - Just cover your mouth if you cough/sneeze and always wash your hands. (and FYI, these are things you should be doing anyway!! You should not have to be told to wash your hands!) ...And dont go kissing any pigs.

(thanks to Danielle/Mr. V-S for the pic)


And Danielle, learn this now: if handwashing is an answer choice, the answer is always handwashing. (Just like the priority for any situation is always Safety)

Jacobyyyyy

I could talk about the fact that the Caps came from behind and forced Game 7!... Or that even though I dont like the NBA, watching the Bulls beat the Celtics in 2OT was ridiculous... Or that I'm loving that the Yankees' bullpen blows (hehehe)... That the Sox have won 10 straight, including a 3-game sweep of the Yankees... Or that I am going to a Sox/Nats game in June (yay!!)..... But I think mainly I'd like to point out that JACOBY STOLE HOME. Amazing.


(yes, the announcer says, "Jacoby Ellsbury has stole home." and yes, the grammar drives me crazy.)

Free Time

Well school will be ending very soon (yay!) and seeing as this will be the first time since I was 3 that I wont be taking classes and I'll only be working 3 days a week, I will most likely be bored out of mind. So, I'm trying to think of possible hobbies/interests that can occupy my time. Here is what I've come up with:

- POOL... um, obviously. Unfortunately, I cant be at the pool EVERY day. My body would not appreciate that, and sometimes the pool just gets too crowded (and those are the days I'd sit on my pool-view balcony watching and silently judging everyone laying out, which is actually a fun activity in itself. what, you would do it too.)

- Learn to play tennis...

- Join a softball team and/or a volleyball team... anyone who knows how to make this happen or is interested in joining me, let me know!

- Learn to play poker... because I dont even know where to begin and from what I hear its a fairly popular card game

- Start another scrapbook... I havent made a post-college one yet so it's probably time I started documenting

- Learn to cook... because right now I have about a 4-dish repertoire that I rotate through so I should probably expand that


That seems like quite the list, but we'll see how many of those I actually end up doing. Hmm, any other suggestions?

Major case of the Mondays...

Today is gloomy and rainy (and cold!) which always makes me just want to lay in bed all day, but alas, I still have classes this week. Whoever thought it was a good idea for us to take that ATI test before classes finished clearly did not think things through. I've completely mentally checked out of school mode and now being in a classroom seems like a gigantic waste of time and I find myself resenting it. I am also so not a fan of feeling like I have no control over my life, which is a frequent sentiment lately. But I guess "we cant change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." (Randy Pausch reference, anyone? I know, I'm so lame, but he was a great speaker - look him up. :)) SO, instead of giving in to this yucky feeling, these are my current happy thoughts:

• Mom comes home tomorrow, which means I'll go home this weekend and I get to see the family (hopefully the cousins too!), i get presents :), see the newly painted house, hang out with the bro, and play the piano (yay!!)
  
• Our last day of clinical is this week and its only a half day!
• Three weeks from today, I'll officially be done and have a BSN.
• I finally have time to read again. I picked up a book that I started back in January and never got around to finishing. I almost forgot how much I enjoy leisurely reading.
  
• I work tomorrow for the first time in 2 weeks -- yes, this is a good thing. Work always has a way of getting me to forget whatever else is going on. You know that saying, "the best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer someone else up"? SO true! Taking care of patients is probably the best thing I can do when feeling kinda down. I dont know if its b/c you have no choice but to be cheery around them, or if being around sick people puts your life into perspective, or if taking care of people really does just genuinely make me happy. Probably a combination of all of the above. Regardless, I'm looking forward to it.
• Summer is just around the corner, and with summer comes vacations, possibly an Ocho gathering of some sort, and of course, POOL TIME. :)

Meh. Anyone else with a case of the Mondays? Or have happy thoughts to share? :)

79.3

I PASSED! :)

I have honestly never been so nervous during a test in my life! (If you know me, you know I never get stressed about taking tests, so clearly its a big deal if I had crazy anxiety about this one!) And it didnt help that we started late b/c the computer labs were still locked and THEN 20 questions into the test, the internet cut out so our tests were frozen for about 10 minutes. I mean, geez! Come on. But its over now! Such a relief. AND my test results predicted a 98% chance of passing the NCLEX on the first try, which is definitely encouraging. But we'll see! Gotta wait at least another month before I can tackle that one. ok, time for a nap followed by massive amounts of celebratory drinking. :)

new form of procrastination

Well, around 10pm tonight I decided I did not want to study anymore for this ATI test I have coming up on Saturday. Now, I say "anymore" even though I havent actually done any studying today. Regardless, I'm sick of it, or at least sick of contemplating it. So, I decided I'd try this whole "blogging" thing. Quite a few of my friends have one so we'll see if it sparks an interest, or if I even have the attention span to keep up with it. But if anything, it'd serve as another way to procrastinate. :)

Anyway, this ATI test coming up... For those of you who dont know, ATI stands for Assessment Technologies Institute (which I probably should've known, but didnt since I havent touched the book till just now when I went to look it up). It's basically an NCLEX prep. My school requires every senior nursing student to score at least 70% on the comprehensive ATI exam in order to graduate. 70% sounds totally manageable, right? Ha. ...I guess we'll find out at noon on Saturday...

What else... I have 2 weeks left of school; Mom's in the Philippines, so I've been going home more frequently since Dad's home by himself; we're painting our house - my room is purple; my little cousins are absolutely adorable but thats nothing new :) ; I forgot how much I miss staying up late chatting with DJ; and I dont know what I'd do without my friends (Ocho, I heart you). Been feeling a little overwhelmed with the way things are going right now, so just taking it day by day. Thankfully the days go by quickly - I cant believe its already mid-April! :)