Nature calling

 

Things are just happening so quickly that I have not felt like blogging about work or school lately. However, after practicing in the skills lab this morning I went outside to find that the fog had cleared and it was a nice day.

Walking or anything that resembles exercise has not been a regular part of my routine over the past few months. Therefore, it was nice to get some fresh air and sunshine before heading home. Not sure if I want to stay in the city after graduation, because I like having nature a little closer than a two-hour drive. A patch of grass among the high-rise buildings might work for some, but not me.

This little girl was having some fun, but I could not decide if I was amused or disgusted as I watched her run amongst the pigeons. Not the kind of nature I grew up with.

A truth be told

This was part of the speech given by Steve Jobs at the commencement ceremony at Stanford in 2005, and it was after he was diagnosed with cancer. It kind of motivated me, especially the second paragraph.


No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.


Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

Overwhelmed

To say this quarter has been tough is an understatement and I don't know if I have ever felt this overwhelmed. Remember that feeling of being a young hormone induced teenager. That peer pressure and feeling of needing to be accepted, of being wanted and liked by that certain person in the front row who maturated a little earlier. Well, that is how out of control, stressed and overwhelmed these six classes have me feeling right now. At times an internal debate is happening as to whether this stress is worth it.

Study Groups

Never been a big fan of study groups because they always seem to turn into gossip sessions instead of productive time to learn. Although a couple of weeks ago, a few us tried to get together and it worked well for the sessions we met. However, now a couple of people decided to make it an open invitation for anyone who wants to join us. FYI, when a study group hits double digits in attendance, it is no longer is a study group. It has now morphed into an accumulation of people wasting time with different ideas of how to accomplish the same thing.  

Where are my flashcards?

Substance Theory

Being around all these students and with the majority of them women, this has its pros and cons. I am reminded of something a co-worker said to me about 10 years ago. While asking me about an acquaintance one morning she said, you won't be happy with her, you need someone with substance. She didn’t go into detail, but I knew what she meant.

Many guys are content with looking at, fantasizing and dating women strictly based on looks.
Don't get me wrong I like to look at beautiful women too. Honestly though, there is something about a woman who can hold an intelligence conversation and has a passion for something in life, besides herself. To me that makes a woman ten times more attractive.  Now that does not mean she needs degrees or a high IQ, she just needs to have some substance, if you know what I mean.



You need a tune-up

Sometimes I am not the brightest bulb in the tree. My car has been sitting for a few days because I take the train into school during the week. Getting home, I decided to run to the grocery store and jumped in my car starting it up. Just then, it starts shaking and I look behind thinking someone is joking around rocking my bumper. Nobody there so I think it is idling rough, but then it stops.

Only at the store when someone comments on the earthquake did it all make sense. It happened over the hill in Berkeley and was only a 3.8, to the 4.0 that happened earlier in the day. I never felt that one either. Only in California would I confuse my rough running car to an earthquake.

To Change Your Future Alter Your Decisions Today

It has been a long time since I have felt this overwhelmed. On top of that, I am making stupid decisions by picking up shifts at the hospital. Staffing knows my school schedule, so they call me on my days off begging and saying we are short can you come in. News flash, you are always short quit being so cheap and hire some more nurses. It is hard to give up the easy money, but just picking up a shift burns you out for the day and makes it almost impossible to study after work. So finally, yesterday I told them I would not be working for at least the next 2 weeks.


I need to smarten up, because over the past two years I planned and budgeted so I would not have to work much once I got to this point.

In addition, I need to start taking care of my old brain cells and body, because I will not even go into how I have sabotaged and turned my eating, exercise and intermittent personal life into shit since school started. Time to get organized and refocused.

F.I.N.O

 Only two weeks ago I was wishing for school to start again because the three months off seemed like an eternity. However, be careful what you wish for. It is not the seven different classes I am taking, the weekly quizzes or the time constraints of it all. It is getting my mind and a daily routine established to the new chaos of this journey. It is freaking me out that books and papers are already in piles on the table, shelf and floor, I need to take a deep breath, get organized and remember.

Remember that this is doable and that hundreds have done it before me, feeling the same stressful feeling of what the hell did I get myself into.

One instructor said to take the philosophy of Failure Is Not an Option. I like that mentality and will fight through until I find my new routine.

Finally

Finally school is starting tomorrow, well at least orientation for new grad students will be tomorrow. Because I really need something different to focus on outside of the generalized bullshit and daily activities that have been going on around me. Ten years ago I never would have thought it, but I am actually looking forward to learning and filling my head with subjects like physical examinations, psychiatry and advanced pathophysiology.

Minnesota, you have to love it

Don't know who the author was, but having spent 15 years in MN and considering it home away from home, it must be a someone who can laugh at themselves because they know the State and people too well.

In case you didn't know...

Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858 and was originally settled by a lost tribe of Norwegians seeking refuge from the searing heat of Wisconsin 's winters.

Minnesota gets its name from the Sioux Indian word "mah-nee-soo-tah," meaning, "No, really... They eat fish soaked in lye."

The state song of Minnesota is "Someday the Vikings will... Aw, never mind."

The Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota covers 9.5 million square feet and has enough space to hold 185,000 idiot teenagers yapping away on cell phones.

Madison , Minnesota is known as "the lutefisk capital of the world." Avoid this city at all costs.

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was Mary's first real acting job since leaving the "Dick van Dyke Show. The show about a single woman's struggle to find happiness in the big city was originally titled "Life Without Dick," but that was changed for some reason.

Downtown Minneapolis has an enclosed skyway system covering 52 blocks, allowing people to live, work, eat, and sleep without ever going outside. The only downside to this is that a Norwegian occasionally turns up missing.

Cartoonist Charles M. Shultz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in St. Paul. He was the only artist to accurately depict the perfectly circular heads of Minnesota natives.

The Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota produces 6 million cans of Spam a year, even though no one actually eats it. Spam is a prized food in Japan & Hawaii--Spam sushi!!

Minnesota license plates are blue & white and contain the phrase "Blizzards on the 4th of July - you get used to it."

Frank C. Mars, founder of the Mars Candy Co. Was born in Newport, Minnesota. His 3 Musketeers candy bar originally contained three bars in one wrapper, each filled with a different flavor of nougat - chocolate, Spam and lutefisk.

Tonka trucks continue to be manufactured in Minnetonka, Minnesota, despite the thousands of GI Joe dolls killed by them annually in rollover accidents. No airbags, no seat belts. These things are deathtraps, I tell ya!

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was raised at Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and was famous for writing the "Little House" series of books, as well as inventing the "Spam diet" which consists of looking at a plate of Spam until you lose your appetite. Much like the "lutefisk diet."

The snowmobile was invented in Roseau , Minnesota to allow families a means of attending 4th of July picnics.

Minnesotans are almost indistinguishable from Wisconsinites. The only way to tell them apart is to ask if they voted for Mondale in '84.

Now... it is up to you to forward this to all your friends. If one of them does not forward it to others, he/she will be given an entrance pin to attend the Eelpout Festival in Walker, MN, February 18-20, 2012.

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Now, COLD is a relative thing

65° outside
Arizonans turn on the heat.
People in Minnesota plant gardens.

60° outside
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Minnesota sunbathe.

50° outside
Italian & English cars will not start.
People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.

40°
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, and wool hats.
People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt.

35°
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

20°
People in Miami all die.
Minnesotans close their windows.

Zero°
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Minnesota get out their winter coats.

10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door.

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Minnesota let their dogs sleep indoors.

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the snowmobile.

40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold enough for ya?"

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late