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Thursday, July 29, 2004

 

almost here

My friend from Thailand will be here in approximately 9 hours. I think we're ready. The house is marginally less of a sty and I have a bed made up for her.
 
In case anyone was wondering? Going to college is harder when you're older. Those chairs with the attached desk part hurt my poor tender ass. I gracefully fell down the stairs and smashed my tailbone a couple of years ago, and it's never been the same. I may need to start taking an old-lady donut pillow to class with me.

 

more breathing occurring

Got an update from R* on the work situation - he seems to think the crisis has passed. This is an incredible relief for me. We talked everything through in therapy last night, but honestly I didn't feel much better afterwards - it seemed like things were going to suck no matter what he decided to do. Now, I'm hoping he can stick it out a bit longer, long enough for us to get our ducks in a row.
 
In other news, our friend from Thailand is arriving at the airport early tomorrow morning. This is going to be a challenge - I've got class tonight and the house is a mess. I'm guessing that the first thing she'll want to do upon arriving here is shower, eat, and sleep. I foresee a late night of cleaning house and making up a bed.

 

watching the weight

I'm doing Weight Watchers with the online tools. I can't abide the idea of going to meetings - I can't handle aggressive cheerfulness, especially not in large groups of women! I'm on week 7 and I've lost 6ish pounds. Which is all right, I guess. I could be following the plan more closely but it's difficult when I'm at work, aka Land of Evil Snacks all day,  and then in class at night. When I neglect to pack appropriate lunch and snacks, I lose all willpower and find myself snarfing down whatever is handy, or alternatively, being afraid to eat anything and feeling my blood sugar nosedive. Happily, the campus vending machine has yummy yummy Diet Dr Pepper on hand.  I love you, Diet Dr Pepper.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004

 

pick one: quitting or institutionalizing

R* is talking again about quitting his job. I understand that he hates it. I understand that it stresses him out. But if he quits before March 1st, he has to give back the $10K signing bonus they gave him and that will more than wipe out our resources.
 
I've felt sick to my stomach all day about this. There's not a damn thing I can do - it's completely his decision. Of course it would be extremely upsetting if he just quit on the spot - besides the $10k, there's the small matter of, oh, the mortgage... but on the other hand, if he blows a blood vessel in his brain from stress, that's no good either.
 
I wish he could just take it less seriously. He's not the kind of person who can say, "Sure, I'll do that" and then not do it like a normal GenXer slacker.  I try to say that to him but he can't seem to hear me - he says "People will just yell at me if I don't get everything done."
 
Thank goodness we have a counseling appointment tonight. We've been thinking about stopping the counseling sessions for financial reasons, but I'm hoping this one will give us a chance to really talk about the quitting vs. not quitting.

 

if I don't love money, how did it get so evil?

The number one issue with going to nursing school is our goddamn money issues.  I completely fail to understand how two professionals with more than adequate salaries can be so worried about money. Actually, scratch that, I do understand. We charged up our credit cards back when we were poor and now we spend our money on stuff and things and eating out instead of paying off debt aggressively. Plus, R* is supporting his music biz out of his paycheck, which in effect halves his salary.
 
There are a bunch of factors:
-credit card debt
-whether to buy another car (as car loan #1 will be paid off in a few months)
-how to pay for the next big house project (painting the outside)
-whether R* is going to snap under the stress of his Big Fancy Job and walk out
 
I wish I knew more about financial management. Right now I'm working on saving up tuition so when I go to school, I at least won't have to worry about that. But I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do, or if I should be much more concerned about paying off our stupid debts, or if I should be looking into taking out a low-interest loan to pay off the credit cards, or what.  I guess the first thing I should do is write to all our credit cards and ask for a reduction in the interest rate... it's somewhere to start, at least.
 
Off to write some letters!
 
 

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

 

get thyself to a nursing school, go!

I'm planning on applying to nursing school next year.  Why nursing? I've been working in the high-tech industry for several years and frankly I am BORED. And, I'm rapidly approaching 30 and feel like I am ready to have a "real job".  In most other areas of my life, I feel like a grown-up: I'm happily married, I own a home, I have a good adult relationship with my family, I have good adult relationships with my friends, I eat enough vegetables... but my job still seems like I'm just out of school. I send marketing emails to people. It's not very inspiring, nor do I feel like I'm making a difference to anyone. I want to do something meaningful!

School I want to attend:
Shoreline Community College
Nursing department
Requirements for admission
Point system for judging applications
Dates to submit application for Fall quarter: January 15-April 10

How am I doing so far? 

Classes
Biology 201: Biology class from KSU - 10 points
Chemistry 101: Chemistry class from KSU - 10 points
Match 99 or higher: Alegbra and Calculus from KSU - 0 points
English 101: English class from KSU - 8 points
Biosc 210, Anatomy: enrolled for fall quarter -
Biosc 211, Physiology: still need to take -
Psych 204, Lifespan Development: currently enrolled -
Biosc 215, Microbiology: still need to take -
NDF 110, Nutrition: completed - 8 points
Quantitative Reasoning: Calculus class from KSU - 7.5 points
Multicultural Issues: still need to take  -

 
Other requirements/options
Science bonus (completed Biosc 210, 211, 215) -
Extra bonus science courses -
Current Health Care Provider CPR -
Current First Aid Card -
Work experience: any regular job w/ documentation - 7 points

Volunteer in health care w/ documentation -

 
I conclude that I've got a long way to go, plus about $8,000 to save up in tuition.


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