UPDATED
GIVE ME MY PRESENTS!!

My birthday is coming up, and it's the first birthday in a long time where I've actually wanted tangible things. So I decided to make a wish list of the things I want.

- L'Oreal HiP Color Truth Cream Eyeliner – Black

- Keel’s Simple Diary in LIME

- Green Spring Vine Mug

- Lovely Scribbles Red Mug

- Apple Rooibios Tea Bags

- Panda umbrella (I might use this once or twice, but it would just be something funny to have.)

That's all I have for now. I might add others if I think of more. Perhaps I will set aside some birthday money and just buy all of these for myself as my own birthday present. =)

It's been six months since my last entry via iTouch (hence all the spelling mistakes), and I feel like I don't remember the art of blogging. It's almost the end of 2009, and this year was pretty exciting. During the past several days, I have taken the time to clean my room and simplify my life. I came across assignments from elementary school where I was required to write and illustrate a short story. I think they are pretty good for an elementary student. One even displayed my belief of utilitarianism, although I'm not so sure I fully believe in it now. I also got a chance to read over old letters from friends and previous journals. I read a few entries from a year ago which were about how I thought the year would go. I was way off about my academic life, friends, family, and in matters of the heart. But I was wrong in a good way. The year of 2009 has been quite an adventure full of surprises.

2009 consisted of:

my 22nd birthday...

my nursing dedication...

saying farewell to my old pc and saying hello to my MAC, which I paid for all by myself =)...

finally meeting my friend soulmate, Jing...

the formation of BITZ (Kristina is missing)...

the discovery of BLUE velvet cake, which makes your poop blue. But the red velvet at Le Grande Orange is still better...

LAKERS 2008-2009 NBA CHAMPIONS! This is the US Bank building lit up in purple and gold...

going to the Laker Championship parade. You can see Lamar Odom...

AFRICA bound...

"my" baby Moses in Africa. The nurses kept telling me to adopt him...

petting a cheetah in Africa...

going on an African safari...

seeing a dead carcass on safari...

the night I got the most drunk I had ever been...

experiencing the joy that comes with drinking Serendipity's Frozen Hot Chocolate...

my first slot machine experience, and of course it's a panda slot machine...

THE BEST VEGAS TRIP EVER!!!

the aftermath: we don't look so tore up...

cutting my hair...

and donating it to Locks of Love...

PASSING BOARDS!! You can look it up yourself, I'm LEGIT...

finally visiting Jenelyn in Texas after 5 years...

when in Texas...

going to a real Texas rodeo...

THE San Diego trip...

accompanying Jenelyn to a Hanson concert. Those fans are crazy...

discovering Scoops and seeing Charlyne Yi there...

the AWESOMENESS of Oktoberfest...

and our 1 gallon jug...

Halloween in Vegas...

and all the craziness that comes with it...

Vegas trip 3# which consisted of gambling, eating, sleeping and a strip club...

our annual Christmas party: #8...

As much fun as I had in 2009, I welcome 2010 with open arms. I can look forward to working, graduation, finding my own place to live, and who knows what else.

Dumela! Greetings from Africa. I love it her. I'm so glad I'm out of the country. I've been itching to leave America. I can't stay there very long or else I get anxious. The people here are so friendly. It was difficult getting used to it though. All we've been eating a lot of stew. Yum. The town close by although it's quite a hike. At least we get exercise. The hospital is interesting. Nurses are a lot more independent here which is great although they don't do as many skills. Luckily we have wireless here but I can only use my itouch since my old laptop is horrible. At least there is contact with the rest of the world. I'm trying to learn their language and it's getting better. Hopefully by the time I leave I can learn more. It doesn't help that they all speak English here. I love it here. It feels good to be away.

Also, my blood is boiling about the Shaq to the Cavs thing. Gaah!

It's been a while since I've blogged, and as nice as it would be to update o the recent going ons in my life, I don't really want to. I just finished finals this past Thursday. I started studying about a week before which is the earliest I've started studying for anything in my life. I even went to the library twice for six hours each time. Of course I wasn't focused the whole time.
This is how you study at Loma Linda...
You go crazy for a whole...
But then you buckle down and get to it...But there were some breaks from studying. I attended Kristina's residency graduation. She is officially an independent nurse. Hooray!
Giselle and I also had to bury our fish. He lasted one month. A word to the wise, don't buy your fish at Walmart. When we bought our fish, he was one of the remaining five fish that weren't dead.
We buried him in a tree on campus. It was only fitting.

For dead and finals week, our dorm provided us with an unlimited amount of popcorn, hot chocolate, apple cidar, and chai latte. But that amount of sugar, salt, studying, and late nights leads to some craziness, which Giselle proudly displays.
But the craziest thing I have seen so far in Loma Linda was this:
camels..
sheep...and a donkey.The Campus Hill Church was having a Christmas program which involved live animals. We didn't stay for the program, but we managed to take pictures with the animals.

I only had two finals this quarter, one was really easy and the other was not so easy. Actually, the other one, Med-Surg II, I freaked out about. I had that final on Thursday, and I was really nervous and anxious while starting to take it. It's a 120 question final, and around question 17 or 19 I start to have an anxiety attack. My heart starts beating fast and irregularly, my breathing is fast and shallow, my skin feels clammy, my eyes fill with tears, I feel dizzy and feel like collapsing to the floor. I was really nervous that I would fail this test and have to retake the class. I even thought about fake fainting, but realized that everyone would be looking at me and would probably be sent to the ER. My symptoms passed after a few minutes, and I finished the test. It turns out that I did just fine of the test. That's the second anxiety attack I've had. The first one was more minor than this one, but both of them were in nursing school. That's not too good. But now it's over, and according to others, I'm over the hump and it gets better from here. I counted how many pages of lectures notes I had for Med-Surg II alone, and I had 852 pages. That does not include supplemental notes or reading material. That is just 852 pages of notes for 36 hours of lecture. Wow.

After finals, I got to relax by going shopping and to a Christmas party. It was a La Sierra party, but 50% or more were SGA people, especially '05ers.
There are more people but they were MIA for the pictures.
After the party, Jen and I went to IHOP. We made a graph that showed how much we hung out with each other each year we've known each other. It's so pretty.
So there it is. I figured I'd write a longer one with pictures since I don't know when I'll have time to blog again. Hasta luego!

mLast night Giselle and I decided to get a fish. It was a random topic that popped up yesterday afternoon. I had always wanted a betta fish in a plant vase, but we thought we should wait a little and get a practice fish first. But at about 10:30 PM we decided to go to Walmart and pick out a fish and ended up getting our very own betta fish.
That's the best picture we could get of him, but it doesn't do his colors justice.
We wanted to give him a pretty home so we bought and decorated this vase. So that's the new addition to our little family.

I love this kid! He's singing "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.



The very beginning and towards the end are my favorite parts. My family and I spent so much time watch this kid since my aunts and uncles are big Beatles fans. Na na na na na na na!!

I've been awake for 36 hours. And I'll probably be awake for another hour or two. This is my story: I woke up Sunday at noon. Yeah, I know, that's late. I get back to the dorm that night and attempt to sleep at 8 PM since I have to get up at 4:30 AM for clinicals. The thing is, I can't sleep at all. So I'm tossing and turning all night and the next thing I know, it's 4:30 AM and my alarm is going off. I'm not sure why I can't sleep. I roll out of bed, get ready, and do a 12 hour shift (6 AM-6PM.) And now I just got back from doing some cardio and weights. How I am still awake and have energy to spare for some studying? I have no idea.

Of the personal blogs that I try to read on a regular basis, less and less people are posting, including myself. But I wonder how many people still read my blog. Some feedback would be nice.
So far this quarter is very busy busy busy. It's not a particularly difficult quarter, but one of my classes requires a great deal of busy work. I'm hoping that by October 26 I'll be done with all of my things for the rest of the quarter, with the exception of one or two minor assignments. People used to tell me that when you go to nursing school, you disappear for the next two years until you are finished. I know exactly what they are talking about now. But I like it.
I have been watching a lot of British programming and have gotten used to British accents. The problem is that I have gotten so used to it that I start thinking in a British accent. It's quite mad!

Oh epidemiology, why are you so difficult? Yesterday I took my epi midterm. I think that even if I studied every single lecture 20 times, I would still have no clue what the test was about. I don't know where he got some of those questions or what they were even talking about. It's not very comforting when people who have taken the class tell me, "I have no idea how I passed that class." The most messed up part about it is that it's not even a nursing class. But I'm glad I'm taking this in the summer because I don't think I could stand 10 weeks of this class.

I've neglected my blog over the summer for a number for reasons. I have summer school, been busy hanging out and catching up with friends and family, other responsibilities, and I just haven't felt like it.
Summer has been going well so far. I just finished one session of summer school and will start another one tomorrow. Class hasn't even started yet, and I already have homework. I hate epidemiology already. Everyone keeps asking me what epidemiology is, and I don't really know how to explain it. According to Wikipedia, "Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventative medicine. It is considered a cornerstone methodology of public health research, and is highly regarded in evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease and determining optimal treatment approaches to clinical practice." So there. I have five wonderful weeks of learning about that.
There is approximately two more months of summer vacation left. I must make the most out of it.

To Connie.

This weekend has been pretty awesome, for the most part. Last night I laughed for 4 hours straight which made my throat sore, but it was worth it.
Then tonight I got to talk to the old roomies. For most of the conversation we talked about condom dresses and looked at pictures online. Connie really wanted to get one and wondered how they felt when you tried them on. Giselle fell in love with a particular off the should ensemble, and Briggitte and I just agreed that it would be cool if we all had one. Ah yes, the dress that protects.

It all started when I wondered whether 'ballsy' was a legit word to use in Scrabble and decided to look it up. That's when I came across this blog. Now, I have no idea who this girl is, but I found her blog interesting. I especially liked the statement "If the God of the universe created us, and knows us inside and out, and calls us worthy and beautiful and captivating, then honestly, what else do we need?"
And no, 'ballsy' cannot be used in Scrabble.

I am so unmotivated. Being at home and on vacation has made me very lazy. There are little things that I should be doing in order to make life a little bit more organized, but I keep putting them off. When I'm home, all I do is lounge around or go online. And that's when I found this: The Condom Wedding Gown.

According to my calculations, that dress should cost about $3100. It's quite an interesting dress, and apparently there are more of them. It's to commemorate World AIDS Day.

It's in China...
and are very colorful...
They even have hats...
I admit that this is very crass, but I am very bored. I can't wait until summer school. The one hour commute back and forth will probably kill me, but I think it's worth it. It's cheaper than dorming. As much as I complain when I'm in school about being in school, I do like it.