DENNIS, I SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

My friend Dennis has decided to make a blog called "Gibberish: Part Deux." It's supposed to be a spin off of my blog. It's kind of a mix of my life, Kristina's and Dennis' lives. The blog is kind of strange but funny nonetheless. So if you ever feel like reading about my life through the eyes of Dennis, and probably Kristina, feel free to go to this site, or you can go to the right side of this blog and click on "Gibberish: Part Deux."

Like I promised Connie and Giselle, I would blog about tonight. Giselle, Connie and I met up at the Cheesecake Factory in Santa Anita mall. We had fun catching up and just being retarded. Then we went to take sticker pictures. It was a very high school-like night. Our pictures didn't exactly turn out the way we wanted them to, and we got screwed over with our second set. It was fun to see familiar faces and have it be the way it used to be.

When I got home, I had a lot of responsibilities to do since my parents are out of town for a couple weeks. It's kind of nice to have the apartment to myself, even for a couple weekends. I'm going to party it up! Studying for pharmacology and Med-Surg, yeah!

Today was my first 12 hour clinical, finally. Janet, my clinical instructor, is awesome! She makes you feel relaxed and comfortable. At first, I was really annoyed that I got the patient that I did because he had an NG tube and diarrhea. It sucked having to clean up five bowel movements, but the rest of the day was pretty great. I got to give med via NG tube, hang an IV piggyback, give a Lovenox shot (I just like giving shots), put in a Foley catheter, and watch a wound packing. I really want to pack a wound. I love guts and gore. I'm exhausted.

I got beef. Today was supposed to be the first real day for my Med-Surg clinical. I woke up at 5:30 AM to get ready. I ate a big breakfast so that I could survive my 12 hour shift, then I went to the VA. A couple of us waited there for our clinical instructor. Our regular instructor was Janet, but she couldn't make it this week so she was going to send Sunah. We get a call from Sunah saying that she can't make it, and that clinicals in canceled. All of us were angry because we have two care plans due, and we can't do them now. Gaah! I had to wake up so early, and I slept horribly last night. And now that I'm back at the dorm, I can't fall back asleep because I'm wide awake with anger. This is crap. I'm just going to read for Med-Surg.
On the bright side, I do get three days of no school (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) so I can study for Med-Surg and catch up on my reading.

I should really be reading for pharm but...

I was thinking about certain events that have happened in my life over the past few years, and some of them just escaped me. It's like there are chunks missing from my memory. (That's not very good.)So I went over previous blog entries just to see what I had to say, and I came across more embarrassing entries. Each time I go through my blog, I discover more and more embarrassment from the past. I can't believe I was so open. I am always tempted to delete it, but I just know that I'll regret it. It's all in the past now, and most of the time I get a big kick out of reading my daily ramblings.

I don't think spring break was long enough. As my as I enjoyed seeing my nursing friends again, I wish I was back at home sleeping. It was a mellow break, although much busier than I anticipated. I'm anxiously waiting for June 18 after 12 pm to come so I can start summer vacation. But that will be short lived if I take summer school.

My brain hurts. This quarter I have Med-Surg and Pharmacology. The requirements for Pharm aren't so bad, but once I got to Med-Surg, my brain started to ache while reading the syllabus. I have to completely change my study habits and be more disciplined. Gah, my head is starting to hurt just thinking about it.

I'm super fidgety right now, and I'm kind of scaring Giselle. When it comes close to a test, I get really antsy and move around a lot. I'm not sure why this happens to me, but the onset happens within 24 hours of a major test.

Today, Giselle and I took a break from studying and took a little stroll around the girls' dorm. I brought my camera, and we had a little photo shoot around the dorm. There are a lot of pretty places around the dorm. It was a good way to take a break from studying.

I haven't been studying for finals since 3. I think it's because I studied last night and this morning, giving me a total of about 7 hours. I think I should be OK, I hope.

No more classes this quarter, but I still have three finals. To celebrate, Giselle and I went to Victoria Gardens. We originally went there just to eat, but of course we ended up doing some shopping. After browsing and splurging a little, we ate at Lucille's. Aah, protein overload. I don't care. It was delicious!

Over the past couple of days I've gotten at chance to do some reading for pleasure. I have four books that I'm trying to read, but it's taking me a long time to get through them. I appreciate that I've had the time to read. I probably should be studying for finals, but I need a break from school.

It's time to do more reading for pleasure. =D

Kristina and I got to go to the Hotel Cafe Tour at the HOB Anaheim. Most of the performers were unknown to me, but the reasons I went were because of Cary Brothers and Ingrid Michaelson. Both of them sound so much better live. I melted when Cary Brothers played "Blue Eyes." Ingrid Michaelson sang a new song called "The Chain" with two other girls. I loved it! She was really funny and entertaining. I definitely got my moneys worth that night. =D

The Chain


So for every Monday in March, Chipotle is giving away free meals to every LLU student. I went yesterday, and the line was so long. It went by quickly because no one had to pay. I wonder why they are doing this for us. I'm not complaining, I just want to know. Free Chipotle is always welcomed.

Tonight Kristina took me to Bikram yoga. I underestimated how hot and humid the room was going to be. It was 90 minutes of humid fun. While doing it, it was like torture, but after I got out of the room, I felt so good.

Now I'm going to read a David Sedaris book and drink my hot chocolate. It's dark chocolate because I hate normal hot coco. =D

My week just got a lot better. Today I had a patho test which did not go very well for me. I only started studying last night, and my focus was everywhere else but my studies. Even during the test I had a difficult time focusing. After the test, our teacher has the answers to the test, so I calculated my grade. It wasn't a horrible grade, but I was not pleased. A few minutes ago I looked online for the final results, and it turns out that she dropped a few questions which bumped my grade up 7%. I also got all of my homework done for the week so I can just focus on writing my Advance Directive paper. I am quite the happy camper. =D

It was a horrible, horrible, horrible week. HORRIBLE! Even though it was a long weekend, I was still stressed out. We had our Psych midterm this past Wednesday so I spent all Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday studying. Each day I studied for about 8 hours, and when I took the test, I was still unsure of myself. Here's the thing about this class, it's not like any other psych class. It's not like general psych or developmental psych. No, this is NURSING psych. Everything you learned in life and the logical thinking you do must be thrown out in order to pass this class. My entire class was really worried about this class because you think an answer is right but it's not. We have taken quizzes in class where the entire class misses a question and tries to argue it. But the teachers have this whacked out rationale. I do appreciate the communication skills, but most everything else I think is crap. On Tuesday night I got less than five hours of sleep so that I could study more for the test. I did get a little break on Tuesday night when Monica and Kristina came to visit, but that's all. After I took that test I was worn out. My test was from 8 to 11, and I still had class from 1 to 8. By the end of the day I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep because I had my psych processes recording due the next day. And today I had clincials from 7 to 4, where I played volleyball for two hours, do psych write up from 4 to 6, then class from 6 to 8. I was so tired that I drove to class. After my last class of the week, I was driving back to the dorm and Giselle and I just started screaming and yelling in the car to blow off some steam. I felt a lot better but still tired. The highlight of my week was getting Chipotle for dinner tonight. I am pooped. The week only lasted three days, but it was the most intense and anxious week I've had in nursing school so far. Oh! On Tuesday, for my gero clinical, I got to go to senior water aerobics and chair aerobics. Man, most of those seniors were more fit than us students. That's pretty pathetic for us, but it was fun to swim and do all that.

Happy pink, red and white hearts day! I spent a majority of it at the Chemical Dependency unit for my Psych rotation. It's the unit where people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs go to detox. Most of the people there didn't really want to talk because they were having withdrawals. Best Valentine dates ever! One of the things I got to do on the unit was get acupuncture. It's mostly for people who have chronic pain due to detoxing. The acupuncturist placed five needles on each ear. Each point was supposed to help a certain organ or part of my body. At first it didn't feel like anything, but as time progressed, I was so calm and relaxed and could block out everything around me. For the rest of the day I was in a calm and relaxed mood. I still am. =D
During lunch, our clinical instructor gave us Valentine presents, which included a chocolate covered fortune cookie. Somehow everyone went around the table reading their fortunes.

Brian: My fortune says, "Cling to a love like a the last petal on a flower."
Drew: Well that sucks because it's dying.

I'm not a big fan of the Valentine's Day, but my roommate is. Right when I woke up this morning, she greeted me a happy Valentine's Day. It's her favorite holiday. She said "Happy Valentine's Day" to me more than all of the other people combined.

I'm still pretty relaxed and don't want to do any homework. I think the four day weekend I am having also contributes to that.

The past 7 days have been really fun due to the fact that it was my 21st birthday. Celebrations started on Sunday when Briggitte randomly came to my dorm and took me out to eat at CPK. We watched the Super Bowl half time show there then went to Monica's apartment to watch the rest. Three-fourths into the game, we thought that it would be a good idea to pick a team to root for. We picked the Giants because they were the underdogs and the Patriots had that whole cheating scandal. It was a good pick. After the game, Brig, Giselle and I went to eat at Ocean Blue for a pre-birthday dinner. They have really good gyoza. It was nice to reunite the LSU roomies. All we were missing was Connie.
The next day was my actual birthday. Thanks to everyone who greeted me. =D Pathophysiology was my only class, and we learned about the heart. I would want to be a cardiac nurse. I think I would kick ass in it. It was a beautiful day so Giselle and I took some pictures outside of the dorm. It took us forever to get a shot we actually liked, but it pumped us up.
For my birthday dinner, I went to Cheesecake Factory in Riverside.

It was really fun. There's no need to elaborate any further. =D

The birthday wishes were still trickling in as the week progressed, and tomorrow is my birthday dinner with my family. But we will be celebrating a lot of things besides my birthday, like my parent's 35th anniversary (which was on my birthday), my cousin's birthday, and my aunt's birthday. February is always a big month for my family. I love it.

It has been a great day! I did well on my pathophysiology test, finished all my psych video assignments, found out gero clinicals is canceled tomorrow so I have absolutely nothing tomorrow, found a site with all the Scrubs episodes, and got to go to Panera Bread. Apparently Panera Bread is the new study spot, at least in Loma Linda it is. I've been there numerous time, but never to the one near school. Not many people go to Starbucks, but Panera gets really packed. I saw a bunch of LLU people there today. I really like their food there and their hot chocolate. Normally I am not a big fan of hot chocolate, but there's is bomb.

Chelsea: I didn't get all of my information for the Client Report Form.
Drew: BS it. Just make it up.
Chelsea: No. I'm an honest person.
Drew: Me too! I honestly make it up.

It has been a short week. Psych clinicals was the highlight of my week. I got to go to Alcoholics Anonymous and introduce myself. "Jennifer, student nurse." "Hi Jennifer. Welcome." I've only seen it on TV, but it's so different experiencing it in real life.

My family came over today, and my cousin got a Pleo. I don't know why she got it, but she did. It's cool but kind of creepy.

Now it's time to do more studying.

This long weekend was nice. I got to relax a lot and also got to do a lot of homework and studying. It's the most productive I've been since I started nursing school.
I had my geriatric clinical today. I feel so useless. By the time I get to my patient, she is dressed and ready to go. I just end up talking and watching TV with her for three two hours. Today we watched Nash and Walker Texas Ranger. After clinicals I made some macaroni and cheese. Mmm... It made me feel like a little kid again.

I'm loving this quarter so far. Seriously. Nothing has really changed since last quarter, but it just feels like a better quarter. Pathophysiology is increasingly becoming my favorite class. Disease processes, ah yeah! I think that Nursing Psych is going to bore me, but the clinical should be fun. This Thursday I get to play volleyball, and next Thursday I get to go to Alcoholics Anonymous. Today I had my first geriatric clinical. I like my patient, but I anticipate a lot of sitting around.
I think that having a roommate makes a difference. I go out a lot more, even though it's not with Giselle. It also got me to cook more. Mmm tapsilog.
And this quarter has a lot of off days, like this Monday. Four day weekends!

Since I have no class tomorrow, I decided to watch one of Giselle's Filipino movies. I watched The Promise. The stupid movie made me cry. I hate things that make me cry, even if they are tears of joy. I hate crying. I don't usually cry in movies, even Filipino movies which are the most dramatic and the easiest to cry to. But for some reason I did for this movie. Stupid crap. Yes, I'm very bitter about this. I'm going to watch something funny and eat a piece of chocolate. Hah.

I think it's funny that some of the new nursing students spent $500 to $700 on books. We kept telling them that they don't need all those books, but some are just really paranoid. Just borrow your books. It's the best thing you can do.