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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

 

three things

Third Degree Nurse tagged me!

Three screen names that you have had:
I'm totally boring when it comes to screen names - I use mles, mlesskinner, and emilysk for different places.

Three things you like about yourself:
My green eyes. My speed-reading skills. My ability to connect with people.

Three things you don't like about yourself:
I don't like being barely 5 feet tall - it would be nice to be a towering 5'4"! I don't like that I cry so easily - I feel like it makes me seem weak when I'm not. I really don't like my excessive anxiety.

Three parts of your heritage:
German and West Virginia hillbilly on one side, Polish on the other.

Three things that scare you:
The thought of my parents dying. Flying during bad weather. Heights.

Three of your everyday essentials:
Sunscreen (yes, even though I live in Seattle. Stop laughing. I am a delicate flower.) Chanel Coco perfume. Burt's Bees lip balm.

Three things you are wearing right now:
Jeans that used to be too tight but now are perfectly comfortable. My trusty Dansko clogs that I got on eBay. The cute Fossil watch that my dad gave me for my birthday last year.

Three of your favorite songs:
"One" - U2. "Portland Oregon" - Loretta Lynn. All of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.

Three new things you want to try in the next 12 months:
Snowshoeing. Getting accepted to nursing school! Kayaking.

Three things I want in a relationship:
Honesty. Affection. Smart conversation.

Two truths and a lie:
I love the rain. I'm a morning person. Running is not my strong suit. (Spotted the lie yet?)

Three things you can't do without:
Books. Coffee. Internet.

Three places you want to go on vacation:
Ireland. Japan. New Orleans (I've been there before but not as an adult.) Germany. Italy. Austria. New Zealand. San Francisco. Northern Vancouver Island. Yes, I know that's way more than three.

Three things you just can't do:
Eat liver and onions. Go bungie-jumping or anything else that involves being really high off the ground and then FALLING. Successfully pee standing up.

Three kids' names:
Louisa. Tristan. Thelonius (no, I wouldn't name a human child that. That's a kitten name.)

Three things you want to do before you die:
Tour Europe. Learn a new language (French? Italian? German? Japanese?). Hike the Appalachian Trail.

Three Celeb crushes:
Ewan McGregor. Orlando Bloom. Johnny Depp.

Three people you want to know these things about:
Scott at Scoop Stories, Goodbye, Feet... and, um, I don't know of anyone else who would be interested in playing along!

Friday, May 27, 2005

 

you've got questions

I've got answers.

Scott asked me what I thought of Star Wars Ep. 3. And, well, it was okay. I liked the beginning, and I liked the ending quite a bit, but I got bored during the middle. The special effects were pretty cool. But the dialog was LAME. And the acting was WOODEN. I know Natalie Portman can act, but in this film she seemed like a robot. I don't know if Hayden Christensen can act or not, but he was a pretty one-note character in this film as well.

However! I liked the action sequences, especially the Obi-Wan rides a dragon part. And the storyline definitely makes Darth Vader a more three-dimensional character, explaining how he came to be the big evil guy in a black outfit. Oh, and Yoda had more personality than any of the human characters. Mostly, I just wish Lucas had let someone else write the dialog so it wasn't so stiff. Finally, this film suffered from a lack of Harrision Ford. :)

Cindy asked in a comment about applying to nursing school and taking CNA training in Seattle. Hi Cindy! Welcome to Seattle! Here are some bits & pieces of information that might help you out.

Schools in the area that offer degrees that will make you an RN:


As for CNA training, I found a list of places online somewhere (the state site? the King County site? I can't remember) that offer CNA classes or traning. Without further ado:

Seattle Nursing Assistant Academy
NURSING ASSISTANT TRAINING INSTITUTE
CASCADE VISTA CONVALESCENT CENTER
KINDRED HEALTHCARE CORPORATION
FIRCREST in Shoreline
FOSS HOME AND VILLAGE (although my friend called them and they told her they don't do CNA traning anymore)
MERCER ISLAND CARE & REHABILITATION
PROVIDENCE MT ST VINCENT
QUEEN ANN HEALTH CARE

I haven't called any of these places myself to make any inquiries. If anyone out there knows anything further or makes some phone calls, please leave a comment!

EDITED TO ADD:
I've put another post up here with some further information.

Monday, May 23, 2005

 

big huge update

Everything still very busy.

Work: We're all going to see Star Wars Ep. III during the workday on Wednesday. I have low expectations. I do look forward to eating popcorn for lunch, however. Apart from fun outings and the people I like, my job is really chapping my ass. I just don't want to be here and it probably shows.

House: House painting is nearly done. It looks great. I'll put up some pictures when it's all completed. Inside the house is another story - I have a lot of cleaning to do! And, making the outside look so good is making me want to do some work inside as well... there are lots of rooms that need to be painted. And some new curtains would look nice. And of course there are lots of outdoor projects yet to be done, like replacing the fence and tearing out the ugly bushes in the front yard and putting in a fountain and installing a path across the front yard and fixing the rippling brick patio and and and...

School: The quarter is drawing to a close. I've registered for summer (a multicultural issues class) but can't afford to buy my textbooks yet! I've got a Microbiology exam tomorrow, another quiz on Thursday, an exam on June... um... 6th? And the cumulative final exam on June... um... 8th? Clearly I need to look at my calendar before that week arrives. I also have to give a presentation (not a big deal) and write a paper about the outcome of our double-unknown lab experiment. I believe that experiment will be concluded tomorrow! Not a moment too soon.

Weekend: R* and I spent the weekend at the Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal, to celebrate our third anniversary. We had a nice time. It was relaxing and romantic. We had massage appointments both Friday and Saturday, and I happened to have the same therapist both days - she took a shine to me and gave me a tip about a restaurant down the road that was better than the resort's dining room for dinner. So I called for a reservation and I'm glad I did - dinner was fantastic. We ate loads of fresh seafood. It's a shame I don't like oysters, because there were billions of them growing on the beach outside the resort, and unsurprisingly they were all over the menu.

Health stuff: I've been stuck at 20 pounds lost for the last week. I probably blew any chance I had of losing weight for the next several days by eating all kinds of things that aren't on the plan over the weekend. Tuna melt! Crab melt! Chocolate cake! But hey, at least I didn't gain any weight, either. And now I'm back on the program. And, we worked out both Saturday and Sunday at the resort's fitness center and that must have burned some calories! This week the dietician has us eating all the previous stuff as well as whole grain in small amounts. I have a growing fear that I am allergic to wheat. My eczema has been going nuts, and my weight loss is stuck. Stay tuned.

 

screw you, Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise, MD


Tuesday, May 17, 2005

 

class and health

Life at the Top in America Isn't Just Better, It's Longer - New York Times

This is a long, interesting article detailing the experience of three New Yorkers who suffered heart attacks. It examines the difference in their treatment and their prognoses in light of their class. One is a wealthy man, one is a middle-class working man, and one is a working class immigrant woman. Very interesting. And sad.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

 

high-velocity pork

Dirty Line Dancin'

The funniest thing I've read all day. And yes, thanks for asking, I did grow up in Kansas and I have been out line dancing. I don't remember it being anywhere near this much fun, however.

 

book twenty-two

Postcards
by E. Annie Proulx

When I first read Proulx's "The Shipping News" I was absolutely stunned by her writing. That book was so sad and so moving - I was just riveted. But then I read "Accordion Crimes" and was completely underwhelmed. Proulx has great skill as a writer, in the sense of having authoritative control over the language... but "Accordion Crimes" was pure drudgery to read. The plot skipped along from character to character and never gave the reader a chance to identify with any of them.

"Postcards" is more like "Accordion Crimes" than it is like "The Shipping News." Although "Postcards" does have a main character in Loyal Blood, the son who runs away from home after accidentally killing his girlfriend in the throes of passion (which, huh?! how does that happen?), we never really get inside him. We see from the outside how his life progresses, but it's hard to see what makes him tick. The novel also suffers from an overload of characters. The main characters are Loyal, his mother and father, and his sister and brother... but there are lots of ancilliary characters who just sort of flit by.

I've come to the conclusion that I just don't like this kind of writing. It reminded me ever so slightly of why I don't like Hemingway's writing - there's presumably a lot going on under the surface of the story, but I can't see it! And that makes me batty.

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next

Okay. I've been thinking about what to do next, considering that I'm not going to school this fall. I've got an appointment with the Health Occupations advisor at the school on June 2, which should help me nail down the rest of the plan.

I'll finish Microbiology, obviously. I'll enroll in a sociology class or something for summer to fulfill the college's multicultural requirement. I'll take a first aid course to get my first aid card - it's only one point on the nursing application but I'll need every point I can get!

Then... I'm seriously thinking that I'm going to quit my dumb day job in like July or August and take CNA training through a nursing home. I'd be able to work the rest of the year as a CNA, and it should add enough points to my application to get me in for sure in the winter. And I would be able to pick up some shifts while I'm in school fulltime, which would settle my question about how I'm going to earn any money in the next couple years. There is a nursing home between my house and the school that is accredited to teach CNAs - I need to call them and find out how often they take new CNA students and when I'd need to start in order to be finished before October 3 (the closing date for applications for winter quarter's nursing class).

Monday, May 09, 2005

 

book twenty-one

Sushi For Beginners
by Marian Keyes

Another fluff chicklit book. This book is about Lisa, a tough-as-nails magazine editor who gets "promoted" from London to Ireland to start up a new Irish fashion magazine. She thinks it's the end of the world because she was counting on getting a job in Manhattan.

Ashling works for Lisa at the Irish magazine. She has a good friend Tom who decides to become a stand-up comedian in order to meet girls. Through him, Ashling meets Marcus Valentine...

Anyway, the storyline is pretty complex, but the upshot is, people's lives change and it's funny. Plus, they use "pants" as sort of a mild swear word, which is beyond amusing!!

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um....no.

I got a rejection letter from the nursing department yesterday. I'm not going to school this fall. The next application deadline, for the nursing class starting January 2006, is October 3. So I have that long to transform myself into a winning candidate!

I'm disappointed, but not hurt... mostly I'm angry that I have to stay at my dumb job that much longer.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

 

instead of blogging

Here are some things I have been doing instead of blogging:

  • Taking a Microbiology midterm. I got 91%. This is not bad!
  • Playing with makeup. Putting on liquid eyeliner is harder than it looks.
  • Figuring out how to pay lots and lots of money to painters to sand all the old crappy paint off our house, thereby creating lots and lots of dust that is moving into our house with us. It better look absolutely incredible when it's done.
  • Getting into a huge blowup with R* yesterday, which was so shitty it occasioned a midday visit to our counselor. (This isn't as extreme as it sounds - we've been seeing a counselor since before we got engaged, for relationship maintenance and enhancement.)
  • Working out. I've really lost steam on the working out. I think it's just because I'm usually tired. I'm still going to the gym just as often, I'm just having trouble working hard.
  • Losing weight: I'm down 16 1/2 pounds.
  • Doing battle with the dandelions in my yard.
  • Preparing for a big lab project in Microbiology - today we got a tube containing a double unknown, as in two species of bacteria mixed together. We have to isolate them and attack them with a battery of tests. I am dorky enough to think this is fun, and made a flowchart in Visio to plan out my strategy.
  • Eating actual food. I am so happy that beans are back on the list of things I can eat.
  • Working: my beloved coworker L* was out on vacation for 4 days, which meant I actually had to work pretty hard. Which is fine, it just kept me away from blogging.
  • Reading: there are several new books I need to write up for the 50 Books project.

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