Amanda's Randomness

ow

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 02:34:50 GMT

I hate retracting (standing absolutely still and holding the incision open so the surgeons can see what they're doing). I did it for over 12 hours today. I got a 15 minute break. My arms and back hurt sooooooooooo bad. On the bright side, I got to cauterize an artery, hold the colon and tie some knots (ohhhh, ahhhhh). The worst part of this whole day? I was supposed to go over to Brad's for dinner and had to hold retractors instead. :(

So, Brad. Brad makes me smile, he's nice and I really like hanging out with him (and he's a good kisser--that's what the big cheesy grin post from Friday was all about)... (and I'm pretty sure he's reading this, so that's all I'm going to write for now). ;)

tonight was Friday night...

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 07:22:25 GMT

That's all I really have to say right now.

I'm going to bed.

(still smiling)

still alive

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 23:31:13 GMT

Ok, now that it's been over 6 months since my last update, I figured I should finally get around to that...

School

June-Psychiatry, my first rotation. I am not going to be a psychiatrist. I'm a little too sympathetic, and when my patients were depressed, I was depressed. However, when I had a manic patient, life was good. My favorite patient was "spidey sense". She was manic. She talked a million miles a minute. My favorite memory of her is when she was sitting relatively still talking about her cat, then jumped up, sprinted down the hall to the only window and yelled, "My spidey sense is tingling!" Great times. She also would tell me about how she could feel her colors. She was great. But not anywhere great enough for me to want to be a psychiatrist.

July-Neurology. Very, very interesting. I finally understood neuroanatomy. Unfortunately, almost all the patients had terminal diseases (Huntinton's disease, Parkinson's disease, Strokes, Multiple Sclerosis...). I don't think I could handle doing something where I could never really cure my patients, and the best I'd ever be doing would be to help them live a better life before they inevitably died a slow and painful death.

August-October-Internal Medicine. I'm not going to be an internist either. Nothing really exciting happened during these months. I spent September in Virginia at the Naval Hospital. The scenery was good (and by that, I mean there were cute boys... lots of them).

November-OB/Gyn. Awesome, awesome month. I got to scrub in on a ton of surgeries, learned to suture and... (this is the best part) deliver 3 babies. Being the first person to hold a newborn is quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever done in my life. It was so amazing. I'm seriously considering this as a career.

December-Peds. I was sick the entire month. Darn germy kids. It's not an overly interesting field... kids are cute, unless they're sick and coughing on me... which is what they did most of the time. Not going to be a pediatrician.

January-Radiology. Sit in a dark room, filled with people speaking softly, and stare at a computer screen all day. Interesting, but I didn't see a patient for the entire month. I only saw their parts on the computer screen. I really missed seeing/talking to patients. Great hours, though (unlike OB/Gyn docs who are basically on call 24/7). I'm thinking that if I'm sick of seeing people after my 4 years in the Navy, this might be the way to go.

February-Family Practice in Cadillac with Dr. Grace. I have never worked so hard in my life. It was so much fun, though. A great variety of patients, ranging from 4 weeks to 94 years, and encompassing peds, OB/Gyn, internal medicine and sports medicine. It definitely was weird being home. I saw way too many people I knew... including about 10 of my middle school teachers... some of them not clothed. Still trying to erase those mental images.

March-Surgery. Boring, boring, boring. I have another 6 weeks of this to go.

So, it looks like I might be an OB/gyn or family practice doctor when I grow up.

Love Life

The Worst Date Ever
His name was Jeff, I met him in the gym at my apartment complex. He seemed nice and normal. We went to lunch. He asked me what religion I considered myself. I told him I was agnostic. He told me, "You're going to hell! But, I'll pray for your soul." Riiiigggghhht... I was thinking that maybe he was just joking and I'd give him another chance. Bad idea. His next question was, "What do you do?" To which I told him that I'm in medical school, and I'm going to be a doctor. His reply, "Oh... So how do you plan on taking care of your husband and kids?" Yeah. It was that bad. I don't think I could have made up a worse date if I tried.

Football Guy
Football guy was nice; however, football guy was unable to hold a conversation on anything besides football. To questions about where he grew up, he told me about his lifelong passion for the Lions. His response to where he's traveled to led to a recitiation of the statistics of the Denver Broncos. All I managed to learn was that his name was Jason and he really, really, really liked football.

The Normal One
My first date with this one was last week. I thought it went fantastically, but then again... look at what I have to compare it to. :) He's nice, makes me laugh, has a job, didn't talk about football, or tell me I was going to hell. Second date scheduled for this week. I'll update on that.

Not a whole lot else to update on. I really need to keep in better touch with people. So, to my friends who read this, I do think about you and wonder how you're doing, too, but I never get around to making that phone call or writing that letter. My intentions are good, but I'm too much of a slacker.

am still alive...

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 17:09:24 GMT

Today is Sunday (also known as Lisa Cortez Hendrick's birthday--but it's probably too early for me to call her and tell her that). I'm at the hospital...I'll be here until noon tomorrow, and I'm bored out of my mind. I actually paged myself to make sure my pager was actually working. So, since nothing is going on, I figured I should do something semi-productive.

Updates (finally, I know): Presented with many, many cuts so you don't have to read a ginormous post if you don't want to. So, here we go:

I managed to make it through my last few days of the second year of med school. The mock boards were terrible though.... waaaaaayyyy too much testing. (on the bright side, I got to feel super smart as I scored 4th in my class of 220.) The last three days of school were all ACLS training. We had to learn everything about what to do in a code in 2 days... on a third day, we were tested. Since then, I've managed to forget everything... so... now I offically panic every time I hear "Code Blue" over the intercom at the hospital. :(

After the lovely ACLS test, I came back to my lovely apartment and finished throwing crap into boxes, getting ready for the big move back to the mitten state. My mom and dad showed up the next day to help me finish packing, and to load up the rental truck. The highlight of packing: my mom dumpster diving (thankfully in the "Carboard Only" dumpster) to find more boxes b/c we ran out. Then, early Friday morning, we left dreary Erie. Things I will miss: El Canelo margaritas and the B&N twins. That's it.
My new apartment is pretty "meh". In some ways it's better than the "Amazing Flooding Apartment" that I left back in Erie (like my bathroom is large enough for me to actually dry off outside the shower), but the kitchen was gross (I just got new cabinets though), and the linoleum is peeling up in places. (Random note RE: "Amazing Flooding Apartment": I never got my security deposit back because my landlord states that my cat peed on the carpet and now the apartment smells like cat pee. Bastard. The apartment smells like MILDEW because his lazy ass didn't come and clean the carpets after it flooded.) Anyhow, while we were moving stuff in, it started to pour... so basically everything from the moving truck got dumped into my living room... and pretty much stayed there until boards.

I took the USMLE June 1st. It was bad. The USMLE is given on a computer, and the flourescent lights in the room made the screen seem like it was flickering... which gave me a massive headache. I managed to score above the average though, so I can't complain too much. After the USMLE... Steph and I had a drink and crammed for the COMLEX poolside.

The COMLEX was June 8 and 9. Two whole days of testing. Joy of Joys. Steph and I stayed in a hotel in E. Lansing (the test was at MSU). We were pretty darn slap happy after the thing ended... and there was much celebration. OK, not really, we were both absolutely exhausted and the only celebrating we managed to do was get A drink each at TGI Fridays after we got back to Novi.

I spent most of that Thursday attempting to move all of my crap out of my living room and start putting it away. (note: there are STILL boxes in my apartment)

Tammy and Wes's wedding was the weekend after the boards. It was a good time. They held their wedding at the Lansing Center, which involved walking down a bunch of wooden steps to a gazebo next to the river. Thankfully, I managed to not fall down all 20 wooden steps (even though they were wet and slippery b/c it was pouring), AND I managed to do my reading without calling Tammy and Wes, "Wammy and Tess". Their ceremony was very nice... but I imagine it would have been even more nice if it hadn't been pouring down rain. They had fun with it though, and that's the most important part. It was by far one of the funnest weddings I've been to. The reception was fun, too. :)

Oh!!! Am being paged!!! Yay!!!!!

phew

Thu, 05 May 2005 23:25:35 GMT

After spending countless hours on the phone, I think I've managed to get everything straightened out before I head out next week. For those of you who want to know... I'm living in Beachwalk Apartments in Novi... right across the hall from Steph--my good friend here at med school. I'm not quite sure how that happened, because there are 240 apartments in the complex, but hopefully it will be ok and we will not kill each other.

I took a 420 question MC test today... and get to do it again tomorrow. Yay mock boards. My favorite question was: "What kind of inheritance pattern is represented by the figure below?" With the figure having the following heading: "figure 2.1 X-linked dominant inheritance." I'm pretty sure I got that question right. Not so sure about the rest of the 419. :P By the last 100, I think I was just randomly picking bubbles. Ugh. Too much testing.

New phone (starting Tuesday) (248) 464-0585

brain dead

Wed, 04 May 2005 04:49:53 GMT

Yes, finally, I'm updating... but not much.

First of all: 10 things I've done that, as far as I know, nobody else on my friends list has (stolen from Elizabeth and Jody from like 3 months ago)

1. I lived in Scotland for a semester.
2. I ate sushi in Austria. On Easter.
3. I've worn nothing but a sports bra and shorts in class.
4. I've lived in an apartment that flooded... twice.
5. I took a train 8 hours (each way) just to take a test.
6. I joined the Navy.
7. I climbed a mountain. (Meikle Pap in Scotland)
8. I survived boot camp! (ok, not for real boot camp, but officer's boot camp... which was close enough for me.)
9. I wore full fireman gear and put out a real (but controlled) fire, twice.
10. I trained my cat to use the toilet.

Not much else is new here. My life has become incredibly boring... and my brain has basically ceased to function at a normal level. I put peanut butter in the microwave earlier today. Why? Good question. I found it later when I went to heat up my dinner. I'm sure I'll find more random things in random places tomorrow. My days basically consist of studying for boards... and then studying some more... I'll finally be done with studying on June 9th. Then, there will be much celebrating and imbibing of alcohol.

I'm moving to Novi in 11 days. That means no more "amazing flooding apartment," no more possessed hot-warm-cold-hot-cold shower, no more neighbors that snore loud enough for me to hear them with earplugs in, and no more neighbors upstairs with their insanely loud sex at 4AM every night. Yay!!! I can't wait to get the hell out of Dreary Erie!!!

the quarterly update

Fri, 18 Feb 2005 05:49:27 GMT

Wow, I really need to start updating more frequently.

The last month and a half have been crazy.

First of all, there was the post office crisis. For some strange reason, the post office decided to ignore the “please hold my mail while I’m on vacation” notice that I filled out and handed to the clerk before Christmas break. Instead, they decided that since I wasn’t picking up my mail, they would decorate it with little yellow stickers that say, “Moved. Left no forwarding address. Return to sender” and send it all back. Wasn’t that nice of them? It was lots of fun calling all the billing companies and trying to explain this to them. I’m still not getting around half of my mail, so if you’ve sent me something and got it back, don’t worry, I really DO still live here.

I managed to somehow turn 24 (how’d I get so old???) in January. Of course, it snowed like mad on my birthday (because that’s what it always does on my birthday… it did get me lots of days off in elementary-high school though). I got some nice flowers from my parents and a bunch of random fun things from T, Stace and Steph.

PBL managed to kick my ass for the last test. It was all almost all neuroanatomy. Amanda+Neuroanatomy=bad. For some reason, I can NOT memorize where things go (like, the retinal cells converge to form the optic nerve, which partially crosses in the optic chaism, and extends posteriorly to the lateral geniculate nucleus as optic radiations… fascinating, I know.) Anyhow, I managed to pass the test.

Speaking of the test, I have this little theory that I’ve seriously pissed off the medical school test gods. I manage to have a mini-crisis before every test. For this test, my apartment flooded. Again. Around 5 AM on the Sunday morning before the test, I was awoken by a “SQUOOSH!” and I rolled over to find water pouring out my wall in a nice stream. Then, there was a loud “SPLAT!” as a big chunk of plaster fell from my ceiling and water started gushing down onto my bed (which I was still in, staring confusedly at the water pouring out of my wall). Then, there was much rushed rearranging of furniture, a mad dash for bowls and pans to hold some of the water and a furious call to my landlord.. In the meantime, I flipped on the light switch in my bathroom and noticed that both light fixtures were filling rapidly with water, and water was pouring out of the bathroom side of the bathroom/bedroom wall. My landlord didn’t show up until noon to shut off the hot water. By then, the flood had managed to claim the only two rooms not affected by the original September flood. Fabulouso! So, it was the day before a big ass nasty neuroanatomy test, and my bedroom and bed were not inhabitable, and because the hot water was shut off, I wouldn’t be able to shower in my apartment for at least another 48 hours. I was beyond stressed out. Thankfully, Steph let me come borrow her shower Sunday night, and my spare bedroom with the twin bed were spared. Unfortunately, wet carpets are NOT good. Even after the carpet was professionally cleaned, my room still smells like it’s inhabited by someone who hasn’t showered for over a week. I’m still sleeping in the twin bed, and bruising the hell out of myself because the bed is next to the wall and I’m a sleep-flailer (future boyfriends, beware). Anyhow, I’ve attempted to deodorize my room with every freshening method I could come up with (febreeze, carpet deodorizer, candles and plug-ins), and maybe by tomorrow, it will be again be inhabitable.

I got assigned a new OMM partner. Hottie Josh from the Navy. Steph and I call him Adonis (but only behind his back). He’s gorgeous, and a really cool guy… and married… did I mention he gorgeous?, OMM has become awkward as hell now… because for the first time, I actually know my OMM partner. Usually it’s just some random person from my class that I’ve never really met/probably won’t see again, but this time, it’s Josh. I spent all summer at Navy camp with him, and there’s a really good chance we’ll be doing our residencies in the same place. Now, we have to touch each other’s ischial tuberosities (those are your butt bones for those of you who don’t know), pubic symphisises (think pubic bone… nice eh?), and we actually have to adjust each other’s pants/shorts so that we see the PSIS (those two dimples in your back above your butt), so we regularly get to see what the brand and color of underwear the other person is wearing… and it’s really weird. Touching complete strangers is fine; touching close friends is fine (but only when you’re practicing for OMM practicals… I promise my friends and I don’t go around feeling each other up), but touching someone I know, who isn’t a close friend is really awkward. It’s done on a completely professional basis, but it just doesn’t feel right…

On a completely crazy change of subject, I’ve been having a really rough time the last few weeks. A good friend has been diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer at 24 years old. Stage IV is the worst diagnosis you can get, and the 5 year survival rate is approximately 13%. There’s a little better than a 1 in 10 chance that I’ll still have my friend in 5 years. This scares the hell out of me. Breast cancer does NOT happen to 24 year olds. She did everything right in terms of BSE’s every month, reporting that she had found a mass, etc., yet somewhere along the line, a mistake was made and everything has gone terribly wrong. I know she’ll fight like crazy, but with the odds being what they are, I’m terrified that I’m going to lose a friend and I’m very upset that this has happened. I’ve finally had a good cry about it, and I’m starting to accept that it has happened and the best thing to do is try to be there for her, but I don’t think the "something bad is going to happen" feeling in the pit of my stomach will ever go away.

Another crazy change of subject: I have lecture ADD. I CAN NOT pay attention in lecture. After 5 minutes of someone reading off their powerpoint slides in a monotone voice, I lose focus. I start counting random things (for instance, red was today’s color. There were 23 people in front of me in red tops. Black was a close second with 20 people wearing this color. Exactly 9 people that I could see (out of a class of over 200) were paying attention to the lecture. AIM seemed to be the most popular distracter. This is all very relevant doctorish material. Honest.), then I just end up tuning the lecturer out and studying for my next test. I don’t understand why lectures are mandatory. The powerpoints are available on the web. It’s not like there’s any new information added to them. All the lecturers do is read the slides word for word. I learn better on my own anyway. Geez.

I’m absolutely shattered (thank you, obscenely loud upstairs neighbors who were at it until 4 AM), so I’m going to go find my earplugs and crawl into bed. Hopefully I can get more than 2 hours of sleep tonight. I PROMISE I will try to get some real emails and letters out soon. :)

boys are dumb

Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:48:09 GMT

Yet another massive update:

Christmas was fun. I got my digital camera! Yay! and a few other small things that I wanted. The day after Christmas (my mom's b-day), we went down to Mt. Pleasant for the Ted Nugent concert. Never, ever again will I volunteer to go to a concert put on by this man. It was HORRIBLE!!!! First of all, my mom and I were surrounded by people in camoflauge and hunter's orange... then Ted comes on stage in his, "Ditch the Bitch-Ted for Govenor" T-shirt and a racoon tail pinned on his ass... Then... instead of playing music, he starts in on politics... which really pissed me off. I especially enjoyed his comments like, "Let's turn this blue state back into a red one!!!" and "Democrats can kiss my ass, gun control laws can kiss my ass, homos can kiss my ass" and "I dressed up as Santa Claus, and I went to the mall and asked the little kiddies, 'What kind of gun do you want?'" All of this elicited major cheers from the audience... I restrained myself b/c I was afraid the big scary men in camoflauge might hurt me... the music wasn't bad... but I just couldn't deal with being surrounded by people who were so intolerant of others...

After that, I hung out w/Beth, Jill and Amy from high school. It was good times. We went to the bar and had a mini high-school reunion with the "I'm better than you" kids... who really didn't talk to us, but whatever.

The day before NYE, my dad and I drove my brother down to Detroit, and I looked at apartments. I think I found one in Novi. It's going to be expensive ($565/mo+$50 extra a month for Callie), but I think I can manage. I got dropped of in GR afterwards.

New Years Eve ended up being awesome. Definitely my best NYE by far. Amy, Jen H, Jenn, Jenn's friend and Jenn's sister and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings b/c they had a all you can drink/eat special. Good times. We had a champagne at the stroke of midnight and I got new years smooches on the cheecks from some of my oldest friends. I got really drunk... and a few times during the night, Jen decided I wasn't showing enough cleavage, so she kept pulling my tank top down. Apparently, this is a good way to pick up boys... because that's what I did... he was cute too! :) I hadn't made out with a boy since Albion, so I definitely deserved it. :)

Anyhow, the boy has my number... and I texted him a few nights ago... but I have not heard back. Sadness. But at least I got to kiss a cute boy on New Year's. :)

So, now I'm back in Erie and I'm slammed with work... which I should probably get back to doing. Stupid Neuroanatomy!

"Want a kid? I'll give you one of mine"

Wed, 22 Dec 2004 05:12:36 GMT

Two days, two entries. Amazing. :)

My cousin Jenny called me today. She's 21 and a half with 2 kids (Taylor is two and Cameron is a little over a month). As soon as I said 'hello,' she tried to pawn one of the kids off on me... I can't imagine being that young and having 2 kids, even if they're both super cuties. I can't imagine having two kids now at almost 24! (which my mom so kindly reminded me was the age at which she had me... and then I got, 'When are you going to have kids?') Anyhow, she managed to pawn her munchkins off on her grandma, and we went horseback riding at her parents. I think it was the first time I was ever on a horse that wasn't a pay and ride horse. She managed to saddle up two horses all by herself (I was really impressed... she's only been riding for a little over a month) Then we had to get on them. Note: When seriously bundled up (long underwear, jeans and snowpants), it is almost impossible lift one's leg high enough to reach the stirrups. I had to convince the horse to walk over to their back porch and stand still (this was difficult) so that I could stand on the edge to get my foot in the stirrup. It was actually a lot of fun... cold, but fun.

Afterwards, I visited w/my aunt and uncle... and again got the "When are you going to have kids?" question. I will also get this question when I visit my grandparents later this break... Geez people, give me a break! I'm only 23 (24 next month)... I still have 2.5 years of school left, THEN I have year of internship, THEN a residency, THEN I have to pay at least 4 years back to the Navy. And if we put in the fact that I don't have a boyfriend, and I probably won't have one until I get out of school and have some time to concentrate on something besides studying... it's going to be a LOOOOONNNGGG time. So, STOP ASKING!

Ok, that's it. :)

I can't put my arms down!

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 04:51:14 GMT

So, it's been a good long time since I've updated this thing, and since then, not much has happened. Here's a quick rundown:

My October PBL test went fantastically (100%--after the curve, hell yeah!). Afterwards, Stace, T and Steph came over for pizza and cosmopolitans and we got ready for the LECOM Halloween party. I decided to be a greek goddess this year... I even made my own toga. :) The Halloween party wasn't the greatest. Music was crazy loud and there was a verrrryyy skewed girl to guy ratio, so I only ended up staying to a little past one.

Sometime in the middle of November, I went to San Francisco for the Student Osteopathic Medical Association/American Osteopathic Association conference. It was… um… interesting. Drug reps like students, and therefore I got lots of nifty free things. Lynn (the girl I roomed with) drove me absolutely insane because she treated me like I was a complete idiot. I was the only one who bought a map, so every time I’d read the map and say, “Oh, we need to turn left here,” she’d take the map from me and say, “no, we need to turn right…” only to be vetoed by the rest of the group. Give me a break, I KNOW how to read a damn map. And she stopped and talked to EVERY SINGLE homeless person in San Fran. Every single one!!!! Arrgghh!!! Ok, enough of that. I did meet a really cool first year who was in England the same time I was in Scotland, so we had loads of fun talking about cheezy dance music and pub quizes. :) I got to ride on a cable car (think Rice-a-Roni commercial), go to Alcatraz and eat a very, very yummy Ghiradelli chocolate sundae, so that part was way fun.

I survived yet another Thanksgiving with my family. Fortunately, I missed the extended family thanksgiving dinner b/c it was on the Saturday before my test. Apparently, all hell broke loose and there were many a kind word screamed at a few family members. Lovely. Anyhow, I drove home that Monday (9+ hours in the car! Yay traffic jams!), and slept almost all day Tuesday. Wednesday, my grandpa had surgery up in TC for a AAA (abdominal aortic aneurism) and two internal iliac aneurisms, so I got to go and play interpreter. The surgery went really well, and he's doing fine now.

The last 3 weeks of school were insanely boring... which was nice. I've never had to not study so much. :) I taught Steph how to knit (at Starbucks... while we were drunk off of El Canelo margaritas), and I massively cleaned my apartment.

I made the 9 hour drive back to C-town on Thursday, and I'm now offically bored out of my mind. Eric and I went shopping in TC today (the roads were a wreck and it took forever to get there, but we have almost all of our shopping done). It's so freezing cold here, that whenever I go outside, I'm so bundled up that I feel like Ralphie's little brother from the Christmas Story ("I can't put my arms down"). My mom is forcing me to go to a Ted Nugent (yes, Ted Nugent) concert with her for her birthday... so that should be very... interesting, seeing as I can name only one song that I think he sings and I absolutely hate it. After that, I get to see my girls from high school, which will definitely be fun times... since I haven't seen any of them in a looonnng time. I have absolutely no plans for New Years so far, except for driving Eric down to Detroit. Then, I will drive back to Cadillac, and probably watch the ball drop while my parents fall asleep on the couch. Sounds fun, right? :(

Basically, that's by boring life up until this point. I hope everyone has a very happy holiday!!!

insomnia

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 07:09:21 GMT

I don't know what my deal is lately, but I really can't fall asleep at night. This is not good... because I hit a "can't study" point around 2AM... but then I can't sleep... so I just sit here at the computer and goof off until I'm actually tired. (I've tried laying in bed... but then I just stare at the ceiling...) So, by the time I actually fall asleep, it's like 4AM... which means I can't wake up until sometime around 10... (or later...), then I usually have something to do during the afternoon, and by the time I get home and make dinner, I can only get 5-6 hours of studying in before my brain shuts down.

I wish I could have a normal sleeping pattern again! I've tried everything I could think of... Working out in the mornings causes me to crash mid-afternoon (it's like narcolepsy... one minute I'm awake, the next, it's 45 minutes later and I'm wondering how I got highlighter on my forehead...), and working out in the afternoon makes me WIDE AWAKE until the middle of the night. :( It's not like I'm consuming massive amounts of caffiene. I only had 1 cup of coffee today, and that was at noon. Yesterday, I didn't have any caffiene at all, and I still didn't sleep until 3:30. Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

I am also very stressed out about the PBL test next Monday. I seriously need to crack down and study, but I never seem to have time. Ugh. Anyhow... I'm going to go back, snuggle under my covers and stare at my ceiling some more....

so, what's new with you?

Sun, 10 Oct 2004 05:49:29 GMT

It was another fun-filled, action-packed, exciting week here in my world. Or not. I miss having a life outside of studying.

Last Sunday, Stace, T and I explored the wineries of Northeast. I was expecting climate controlled rooms full of barrels of wine. I got: 8 vats, and a store room. Ohhh.... ahhh.... the wine was good though. I have a bottle of some yummy reisling sitting on my counter... only I can't open it b/c I don't have a corkscrew. I should probably get one... After the winery, we went to the apple orchard, which was also kind of disappointing. I was expecting tall, climb-able trees. I got: shrub-like trees that were maybe a foot taller than me, but the apples were good. :) I think I may have a problem with expecting things to be bigger than they are... hmmm... maybe this is why I don't have a boyfriend.... (kidding)

I had a really nice IM conversation with Eric Benson this week. We talked about what a conservative place good old Cadillac is... even though I disagreed with him... until I got my absentee ballot and realized almost every single person running for office (even unopposed) was republican. I think I saw it as otherwise because the people at the church my family goes/went (I'll explain this another time...) to are uber-liberal (for you Cadillac people, the people at church include the Bunce-Shippers and Lakin-Smiths). But, now, looking at this ballot, I remember all these other Cadillac people, and I can see that my home town is very conservative.

I finally got to meet Steph's boyfriend. I'm pleased to say that he really does exist, he's a nice guy, and I've never, ever seen Steph smile so much. Yay for Steph. :)

I saw my first patient today. It was scary. I did okay with taking the history, but my hands were shaking the whole time I tried to do the exam. :( The patient was really helpful and understanding, so that made it a LOT easier. I'm sooooooooooo glad I didn't get a psych patient my first time!!!!! I think I did ok... and if not, I'm sure I'll get lots of practice over the next few years. :)

The "crush" (from waaaaayyyy back at Navy camp) is a crush no more. Officially. Nice guy, cute, makes me laugh, but lives too far away. Oh well. NYC is still on my list of places to visit, though. (Yes, I've been to London, Paris and Rome, twice, but never NYC)

Random Erie Stories: 1. Last week on my way back from the Y, I got cut off and given the finger by a car with bumper stickers that said, "Be nice" and "Commit random acts of kindness". I wasn't sure if I should laugh or yell back... 2. I saw another "ERIEsistable" T-shirt... I think I need to get one of those. 3. Today, while I was at the hospital, there were around four pages for "Dr. Suess"... at least he wasn't called to pediatrics. :P I'm glad I'm getting out of Erie next year!!!

I really like this Kelly Clarkston song, and since I don't really have much else to say, I'm going to post the lyrics here so that it looks like I wrote something. :)

Grew up in a small town,
And when the rain would fall down,
I'd just stare out my window.
Dreaming of what could be,
And if I'd end up happy,
I would pray.

Try not to reach out,
But when I tried to speak out,
Felt like no one could hear me.
Wanted to belong here,
But something felt so wrong here.
So I'd pray,
I could break away.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly,
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky,
And I'll make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun,
But I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I'll take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.

Wanna feel the warm breeze,
Sleep under a palm tree,
Feel the rush of the ocean,
Get on board a fast train,
Travel on a jetplane,
Far away, and break away.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly,
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky,
And I'll make a wish, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun,
I won't forget all the ones that I love.
I've gotta take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.

Buildings with a 100 floors,
Swinging around revolving doors,
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me.
But I gotta keep moving on, moving on,
Fly away, break away.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly,
Though its not easy to tell you goodbye.
Gotta take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.
Out of the darkness and into the sun,
But I won't forget the place I come from.
I've gotta take a risk, take a chance,
Make a change, and break away.

hirsudism

Fri, 01 Oct 2004 03:04:51 GMT

PBL has turned into PBhelL. Dr. Crane is possibly the most obnoxious person in the world. Tuesday evening, he looked at me and said, "Amanda, you will the patient for the next case. It's perfect for you". The patient is a 21 year old female who is mildly retarded, has facial hair (hirsudism), and who has fat in her upper back and shoulders. Apparently, that fits me perfectly.

I ended up taking Callie to the vet last week b/c she wasn't even holding water down... so they gave her fluids overnight... and then she still wasn't better, so they did x-rays and blood work... which ended up costing me a small fortune, but my cat is ok now, so all is good.

I finally decided where I'm doing my rotations (as of about 10 minutes ago b/c they had to be in before midnight). I'll be moving to the Commerce area in May, and I'll be doing almost all of my rotations at Huron Valley Sinai hospital... I'm still a little freaked out about it b/c where I do my rotations will likely lead to where I do my residency, and therefore what I do with the rest of my life. Scary.

I realized the other day that I really don't have any close guy friends anymore. I have Eric from high school... and that's pretty much it. I love my circle of friends, but it needs to be expanded to include some testosterone. Maybe I'll meet some cool guys next year.

I really need to study. I've slacked off wayyyyyyy too much lately.

randomness

Fri, 24 Sep 2004 04:05:40 GMT

You know those annoying people who say, "That was such a terrible test! I know I did really bad!" then they turn around and get the higest score? I'm one of them. I didn't think the PBL test went the greatest. My raw score was 79.7%, which isn't too bad, but it was definitely the worst I've done so far (not counting anatomy)... then lots of questions got dropped and double keyed. Our grades were emailed out Monday, and I was expecting to get around an 85% or so, but ended up with a 95.9%. The highest score on the test was a 95.9%. There were only 4 people who got an A. Steph was one, and I was one... and I beat the annoying guys who refuse to help anyone else study. I am sooooo happy about that!!!! I'm still kind of in shock, but I feel really smart! :)

I am definitely moving back to MI next year. I still don't know which hospital yet though. It's St. Josephs of Macomb, St. Johns, Henry Ford or Huron Valley Sinai. I'll be deciding sometime in October, so if anyone has any input on that, let me know!

Our new PBL facilitator is the biggest jackass in the world. His name is Dr. Crane. For our first meeting, he waddled in, pulled out a chair, slouched down and mumbled, "I am Dr. Crane. I'm sure my reputation precedes me..." Then he passed around a role of masking tape and said, "I can't take the time to learn all of your names, so you will wear nametags every session" Nice. There are only 8 of us... and he'll have us for 7 weeks... but he's not going to learn our names. He mumbles, talks forever about irrelevant things, and he's mean! Plus, the only times he can meet are from 5-7 on Fridays and Mondays, so I now have to go to class at 5 on Friday.

Speaking of which, I was planning on going home to Cadillac last weekend, but then had a group meeting at 5 on Friday. There were 5 people in the group who had plans for Friday, but Dr. Crane refused to reschedule. So, I left for home at 8 on Saturday morning, drove the over 8 hours to Cadillac, saw my family, then turned around and drove 8 hours on Monday to make it back for my meeting. It sucked. Home was good though... I just wish I would have had more than 36 hours there.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot new. Callie is sick. She's been puking since last night. I really hope she'll keep something down by morning. :(

sigh

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 05:19:45 GMT

Well, my apartment is slowly, but surely drying out. I called my landlord Saturday morning b/c it smelled really, really bad (like stinky feet!) in here (apparently heat+wet carpet=not good), and he completely blew me off ("It will dry on it's own, give it time)... so then I called back and left a really bitchy message (Hey, I was pissed. My carpets were soaked, my apartment smelled really bad and I couldn't study there, not that there was anywhere for me to sit anyway.. and how it was unsafe b/c I could slip and fall again) Amazingly, he called me back later and told me that he was having the professional carpet cleaners come, try to suck up excess water and clean the carpets. I'm glad my carpets are cleaned and my apartment smells WAY better, but I'm really annoyed that it took a lot of bitchiness to get it done.

I basically spent the last few days studying my butt off... well, not really studying it off... but at least sitting on it and studying. During the time I spent studying at Mercyhurst College's library, I saw more LECOM people than actual Mercyhurst students... which is really sad. We basically take over their library... there are actually signs on certain tables and study rooms that say "Reserved for Mercyhurst Students Only!" Anyhow, it's just a cool place. They have a "reading room," which is a big room full of tables with lamps on them and people studying that looks like the libraries on the movies, plus the room has a wood ceiling with big widows that just reminds me of the "great halls" in castles. Pretty nifty. Plus, the main entrance to the college really reminds me of Windsor Castle... it's gorgeous.

I had my PBL test today. It went badly. That's all I'm going to say about it.

This afternoon, I indulged in some retail therapy (I needed something to wear tonight!) and relaxed. T, Steph, Stace and I had our once a semester, 'post-really big test, dress cute/classy and go out to a nice dinner' night. We went to Paper Moon, which was awesome... and our waitress actually paid attention to us. (Everytime before this that we'd go out, our waitstaff would completely ignore us, which sucked), and it was just fun. Afterwards, we went to the Plymouth and caught up with pretty much the rest of the class.

Anyhow, it was really fun going out. I like getting dressed up, spending time doing my hair and makeup and going out. It's not something I want to do everyday (wayyyyy to much work), but I look(ed) good, and the compliments (esp. from members of the opposite sex) were worth it. Yay for stilletos, curly hair, sparkly earrings, going-out jeans, a cute shirt and the new blazer-type-thing. :)

I want a new crush... but I haven't met anyone crush worthy. I had a little one on a guy who's repeating last year... but then I talked to him tonight and came to the conclusion that he's a nice guy, but I'm not really attracted to him. Oh well. It's not like a crush is vital to my survivial; it's just fun to look forward to seeing or talking to a certain person.

I am absolutely exhausted now, so I'm off to bed.

when it rains, it pours, and when it pours...

Thu, 09 Sep 2004 15:03:51 GMT

and I thought yesterday was bad...

Last night, I was awoken by the sound of rain pitter-pattering outside my window... oh wait... did I say outside? because I meant inside. Yeah. The tops of my windows were leaking water. No big deal though. I picked up all the pictures on my windowsill, threw a towel up there to catch the water, then grabbed my pillow and went and slept in the spare bed.

Around 2AM, the power went out and woke me up. I decided it would be a good idea to go find a candle and my cell phone to use as an alarm clock... So, I started heading toward the living room to retrieve said items, and as I entered my kitchen, I stepped in a puddle, slipped and fell. Great. Thankfully, I wasn't hurt... but I was wet and really confused as to why there was water in my kitchen (Maybe Callie knocked her water bowl over?). Anyhow, I made it to the living room and as I was standing in front of the dresser feeling around for the aim-n-flame, I noticed that my feet were getting wet... I finally found the lighter and lit some candles.

Here's what I saw: my kitchen floor was an entire sheet of water and the water was spreading along my carpet... FABULOUS! So, I huriedly unplugged everything, picked up everything I could off the floor, threw it onto the couches and table and pulled the couches away from the windows... but wait... the water wasn't coming in from the windows... it was coming in from the wall! So then I had to try to move the furniture back toward the other wall! Yay! Keep in mind that it's now like 2:30 AM... then I had to go do that in the other rooms. Stellar. Around 2:30, I finally got back into bed... when I again heard the pitter patter of rain inside my window, again. So then I had to get up and move more stuff around! Ugh. I finally got back to sleep around 3:30, and had to get up at 8 to call my landlord.

My landlord's input: "Oh shit." Apparently all the wind and rain have gotten past the seal on the foundation... and all the rain from the entire side of the building is running into my apartment. Nice. His solution: He's bringing a dehumidifier... which should get rid of the water... in a week or two.

As of now, walking inside my apartment is like walking on a sponge. I tried to find a dry spot of floor earlier, but it turns wet as soon as I step on it (apparently the water is under the carpeting.... yummy). On the bright side, I'm wearing capris, which as of now, are not only stylish but also functional (Hah! take that, people who make fun of capris!) It's supposed to keep on raining until around 6 pm... which means my apartment is going to be even MORE spongey... :(

This is so not good. The carpet will most likely mold and mildew... both of which I'm allergic to... and I will be miserable b/c I do not have any allergy drugs left. I also need study, but I can't until my landlord gets back with the magical dehumidfier (and hopefully a shop vac so some of the water can get sucked up)... and I really have no place in my apartment to study as everything is stacked on top of furniture.

I am so stressed out and I'm utterly exhausted. I really need a hug!!!! :(

GRRRRRRR!!!!

Thu, 09 Sep 2004 00:03:25 GMT

I am having a bad day.

First of all... I am really annoyed with the post office. When I get packages, they leave them in front of my door... which is NOT good because anyone can just walk by and take them. A few weeks ago, someone opened a CD I ordered, threw away the packaging, must have decided they didn't want it, then left it in front of my door. (I know someone opened it because it was just a CD in a plain envelope (no address, no postage, no anything) in front of my door.) I called the Post Office about it, filed a complaint, and asked that they hold my packages. Now, my allergy drugs are missing. They were shipped 2 weeks ago, and I don't have them and neither does the Post Office. I'm guessing that my wonderful postman left the package in front of my door, and someone walked by and thought, "Oh! A package! I think I'll take it!" Which sucks. Fall+allergies=bad. What in the hell is someone going to do with my Zyrtec? It's not like you can hawk it on the street ("Hey man, wanna score some Zyrtec?")! Why couldn't they have just dumped it in front of my door again? Grr... The package has the paperwork that I have to fill out to get a reimbursement... so I'm out the money I paid for it that I should get back, and I'm going to have a stuffy nose, watery eyes and a sinus headache until I get more. The worst part is... it was my last refill (90 days worth), and the drug company won't resend it (even though I never got it!)... and the allergist is a jackass and won't rewrite a perscription until I have an appointment... which I don't have time to do until after my test, but he doesn't seem understand that I'm in med school and need to study. :( I'm hoping it will come tomorrow, but it's not looking very promising as it was only supposed to take 3 days to get here...

Next, I got my paycheck for TAing. You would think this would be a good thing, but it's really not. At the beginning of the year when I signed up to TA, they told us we'd be getting paid $7.00/hour... which is decent. Apparently, they changed their minds and now they're paying us minimum wage. I called the TA coordinator about it... and she swore that the pay for TAs had ALWAYS been minimum wage. I really wish I hadn't deleted the email where it said they were going to pay us what they said they would! So, basically I'm just annoyed because I thought I had more money coming than I really did.

Lastly, don't feel good. I can't sleep. I'm super stressed about my PBL exam on Monday.

I need a really big hug.

Good news: I passed my OMM exam and practical.

blah-dom

Mon, 06 Sep 2004 03:17:48 GMT

I wish I had something fun and/or exciting to put here!!! But, all I've done for the last few days is study... which doesn't make for very exciting journal updates.

Things are going here. I've got my OMM exam on Wednesday and then PBL next Monday... neither of which I'm looking forward too. I have a really bad feeling about the PBL one... and it's still a week away. :(

Hmm... oh, I saw a secret service agent, yesterday! Pretty neat, huh? I didn't see the president though. I ran away before he got to Erie b/c they were closing down my street to cars AND people, so I wouldn't have even been allowed to go outside during the visit... and there was NO WAY I could have stayed inside my apartment all day long. I did, however, get to see the B&N twins instead... and their topiary hats entertained me much more than the president probably would have... the skirts helped too. :)

About the B&N twins... I know I've mentioned them before, but I don't know if I've ever described them. They are two older, flamboyant, obviously gay men--Jesse and Ricardo. They dress exactly the same. They make most of their own clothes, and they know that no outfit is complete without accessories... the most important of those being the hat. The topiary hat is among my favorities, but there are also the skull caps w/fake dreadlocks, large blue sombreros w/fish attached, cat-in-the-hat-esque tophats, and other random headgear. They also ride a tandem bike around town, all year long. The are almost always at B&N arguing over the pronuciation of various French words ("no, no, NO! It's 'je SUIS' not JE suis"). Always, always entertaining... the best part is when you see someone who has never seen them before do a double take. So, now you know what I'm talking about when I mention the B&N twins.

I had an entertaining conversation w/my parents today: "So, do you know what happens to baked potatoes when you forget to poke holes in them?"-Mom, "No, what?"-Me "They explode"-Mom, "Really? How do you know that?"-Me "Well... um..."-Mom "Let's just say we made baked potato suprise... boy were we suprised"-Dad

Oh... I will NOT be moving to Florida next year b/c there are no hospitals in Florida that are accepting LECOM students. It looks like I'll be heading back to Michigan. Right now, I'm looking at St. Joseph's Mercy of Macomb. If anyone knows anything about the area (I think it's kinda by you, MB) or the hospital, please let me know!

I also need to stick this in here, as I'm changing my AOL profile and I think this needs to be immortalized. :)

The 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon--Amanda Style!

1. I am the older sister of Eric Kent
2. Eric Kent gave tennis lessons to Alan Greenspan-Chairman of the Federal Reserve
3. Alan Greenspan works with George W. Bush
4. George W. Bush knows California Govenor Arnold Schwarzenegger
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Read Heat (movie) with Peter Boyle
6. Peter Boyle was in Imagine New York with... Kevin Bacon

I'm off to do more studying... have a good night!

oblivious

Fri, 03 Sep 2004 02:36:49 GMT

I live in a bubble. I have NO IDEA what is going on in the real world!

So, I knew that the president was planning on making a campaign stop in Erie this weekend, because I got an email about it.

Today, I come home from class and look around and see all these "Temporary Police Order: No Parking Saturday". I was really excited because I thought they were going to put another coat of asphalt on my street because when they repaved it earlier this summer/fall they did a really crappy job and it's like 6 inches below the other roads in the area. Then, I noticed that the stadium across the street from my apartment had "Erie Welcomes President Bush" on their sign. I mentioned it to Steph (because I was in the car with her), and said, "Oh yeah, the president is coming this weekend, I wonder where they're going to have his speech". She told me it was some "Veteran's Place" THEN, I started to notice a lot of traffic going by... specifically, big buses and trucks with American Flags and GOP painted on the side... and I made the connection that the stadium outside my window is "Veterans Memorial Stadium"

Apparently, the President will be speaking approximately 200 feet from my apartment. If I open my windows on Saturday, I will be able to hear him. If I go up to the second floor and look out the window (I can only see the stadium wall from my window) I will be able to see the president. Yeah. I also won't be able to leave my apartment on Saturday as my road and all of the roads around me will be blocked. This does not make me happy. Then, to make me even happier, Steph let me know that if there was a terrorist attack, then I'd be right in the middle of it! Fab.

Hmm... I wonder if they will post a secret service agent in my apartment building, as you can quite easily see down into the stadium from the second and third floors... wow. Weirdness.

Anyhow, I just thought it was pretty odd that something pretty big was going down outside of my apartment, and I honestly had no idea. I've got to get back to studying.

bored

Wed, 01 Sep 2004 03:43:48 GMT

I am very bored. It's not just a temporary boredness, it's been going on for a good 2 weeks now. My days consist of waking up, finding somewhere to study, then studying and occasionally going to class. The same thing, day after day after day. I still get to see my friends, and hang out with them (which makes me happy), but I'm just oh so very bored.

I'm not enjoying spending every day studying. I know that what I'm learning will someday be important in order for me to be a good doctor, but it's hard to just sit and read all the time. I don't feel like I'm doing anything good. I don't feel like I'm alive. I just feel like I'm existing for the next year, cramming everything into my head that I can so that I can pass the boards and next year on rotations, I can go out and interact with patients. I have no doubt in my mind that in the long run, I'm doing what I want to do with my life, but right now, it just seems like I'm stuck.

These are my 20's. I'm supposed to be out enjoying my life... and right now, I feel like it's just flying by while I sit here and study.

I need change. Something to shake up the monotony of my days. The "crush" worked for a while, but I've given up on him. He's an awesome guy, but it's no fun crushing on someone when it seems like they're not really interested... and when they're a long ways away and you know there's no potential for anything anyway.

In summary, I'm bored. I also seem to be at a low point on the Amanda emotional-rollercoaster. Blah.

life...

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:25:50 GMT

"Take a breath and hold on tight
Spin around one more time
And gracefully fall back to the arms of grace"

This summer at Navy Camp, we had to take the Meyers-Briggs personality test. I came out as an ESFP (extroverted, sensing, feeling, perceiving), and basically, nothing in personality type seemed to fit me (it's called the "diva" personality), until I hit the paragraph that said, "ESFPs are likely to be very practical, although they hate structure and routine. They like to "go with the flow", trusting in their ability to improvise in any situation presented to them... the motto of the ESFP is, "You only get to live once"" This is me. I'm on the "non-plan" plan. I do have long term goals, but I'm not entirely focused on them. I know I'll get to them someday, but right now, I'm too busy living today. I'm basically just going where life takes me and trying to take every opportunity that comes my way... I only get to live once, right? :) (these are the things I think about while I'm supposed to be studying... )

In other news, we learned to start IV's on each other in H&P today... I have a pretty bruise. I also inflicted an equally beautiful bruise on Ann. :( Next month, I get to go do it on people in the hospital.

hmmm....

Wed, 25 Aug 2004 03:32:26 GMT

Not a whole lot new in the world of Amanda. There have been vast amounts of reading... and that's about it.

Highlights of the prior week:

Seeing the B&N Twins again. I missed seeing them, their tandem bike and their "creative" outfits
Lunch w/Garry, Renee and PBL Jen. I have determined that Garry is just weird. Sometimes he acknowledges my existence and he's fun... other times, not so much. Hanging out with new people (and El Canelo margaritas) was a lot of fun though.
Dinner w/the girls (ie, the Friday night ritual). Nice, but not like it used to be. It seems like T and Stace don't really want to hang out w/Steph and I anymore. At most, I see them once or twice a week now. :(

We have another meeting about rotations this week. I think I'm moving to Florida... there are too many people wanting rotations in Michigan, and most of the sites are in the Detroit area anyway, so it's not like I could live at home and do them. I don't really want to stay in Erie for the next 2 years, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to move to Ohio or Indiana, so Florida sounds like a good idea. It's debatable though. :) I'll be doing military rotations in San Diego, Bethesda and hopefully Portsmouth, VA too.

That's about it.

entirely too much coffee

Sat, 14 Aug 2004 06:34:44 GMT

Not a whole lot new in the past few days.

Apparently, a majority of the MS-I class all know who I am... and that I passed the practice boards last year... so now they all think I'm super smart (which is completely untrue... I passed by lucky guessing) and find it necessary to ask me really hard questions that I don't know the answer to. :( I liked being an undercover smart person better... because then people were pleasantly suprised when you had the right answer... being the super smart person means that people expect you to know the right answer, and are disappointed when you don't and I don't deserve super smart status. Yeah...

On another note, I love how I can be me with my friends. I can just blurt out whatever randomness pops into my head and they still want to be my friend. :) Or they actually appreciate my dorkiness (today, I impressed/frightened Steph with my 80's jingle and theme song knowledge--like, "Transformers--more than meets the eye" and "Dance your cares away, worries for another day, let the music play, down in Fraggle Rock!"). I love that my friends understand that I try really hard to be poised, but sometimes I'm still really shy, or I don't know the right things to say, and sometimes I just get the giggles... and I'm a klutz and I always manage to find new ways to embarass myself and the people I'm with. :) It makes me happy.

Today, I rearranged my room AND bought a new bedspread... my room looks way brighter because I moved my dresser and now the mirror on it reflects more light from the windows. The bedspread is shiny and red. After I got it home, I realized that it actually looks like my sleeping bag... it's even the same color... but it has purple and gold embroidery and my sleeping bag definitely doesn't have that. Plus it's pretty. :)

Oh yeah, I also went to see "Princess Diaries: Royal Engagement" with Steph, Lynn, Renee and Zeina... Lynn has this thing for teenage/middle-school girl movies and generally drags (it doesn't take much dragging) us to them. It actually wasn't too bad... of course, becuase it was a Disney movie, it had a Julie Andrew's song (definitely not as good as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious). The previews for the movie were exciting though. I want to see "National Treasure"--it looks kind of like an Indiana Jones movie only with Nicholas Cage trying to steal the Declaration of Indepencence because it has a treasure map on the back.

Ok, my randomness is getting to be too much for even me. There were a million and one things that I was going to write in here tonight, but my caffiene high (from about 2 this afternoon) is FINALLY starting to wear off, so I'm going to crawl into bed under my new shiny/sleeping-bag-esque comforter and sleep. Yay sleep!

relationships

Wed, 11 Aug 2004 03:19:47 GMT

I've been thinking about this a lot lately... mainly because I'm supposed to be studying, and daydreaming and contemplating what goes on in my head is much more fun.

I've decided that if there was an opportunity for me to have a relationship (purely hypothetical, there is no guy), I wouldn't know what I want. I know I definitely don't want to meet Mr. Right at this point in my life. I don't want a serious relationship right now, either. I've got way too much going on to put energy into a serious relationship, and there are way too many things I want to do in my life as a relatively unattached person. I don't want to be so wrapped up in someone else that I forget to live my own life. Beyond that... I really miss having a guy that is more than a friend in my life. I miss the random conversations that last until the middle of the night... and I really miss the physical contact. I've survived the past 5 years as a single girl perfectly well... but I'm missing that silly, "a boy likes me and I like him, and I can't wait to see/talk to him again" rush. :)

In other news, not a whole lot has happened lately in my life. I've started work as a TA for the first years in anatomy lab (I get to smell like cadaver again). I'm getting paid, I get to review anatomy for the boards, and it's actually kind of fun. Most of the first years are pretty cool, plus there are cute boys (mainly married, engaged or in serious relationships--but nice to look at), and people ask for me by name to help them out (which just makes me feel good). :)

My dad brought Callie back from Michigan this weekend. It's good to have my furball cat back--even though my parents ruined her! She's kinda fat now, she begs and she doesn't listen or play fetch very well anymore. But... she still cuddles and purrs, so it's not all bad. :)

Apparently, I did drunk-email the crush because he emailed me back. I'm pretty sure he's not/wasn't ever interested in me for more than a friend (he'd reciprocate contact, but not initiate), but at least I'm getting a friend out of the deal.

Anyhow, that's it for me. I'm off to bed so that I can get up and run tomorrow before I go TA and go to OMM.

Everything you never wanted to know...

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 00:22:42 GMT

Phew… ok, I’m in need of a major update here.

There is really not much to do in Cadillac. Basically, I trained for OIS and hung out with my parents. Not the most exciting things in the world. The weather really, really sucked. I think it rained for 3 weeks straight, which was not so much fun. I did get to hang out with Danielle Rice (I hadn’t seen her in AGES) and I went to visit Tammy and Wes (fun times).

My mom and I went to DC to visit Eric and my aunt and uncle about a week before I went to OIS. It was nice. The weather was WAY different. After being in 60 degree weather in Cadillac, the 90+ degrees of DC was a huge shock. I got to see where Eric worked (the Chevy Chase Country Club) and he told us about how he gets to call the Alan Greenspan “Alan” and how he gets to teach lessons to famous people. We (me, Mom and Eric) went to a comedy club and saw Rob Cantrell Pablo Francisco… who are very amusing people. Mom and I did some hiking on the way home… I think that was the best part.

In the week before I left, I panicked about OIS (as is seen in the previous entry) and tried to pack. I also got to see Eric Benson. :)

I left Callie w/my Mom and Dad. I miss her. :(

OIS

Bulkhead-wall
Deck-floor
Ensign-the lowest officer rank in the U.S. Navy (me!)
OIS-Officer Indoctrination School, a 5 week program designed to teach people like me how to be in the Navy
Liberty-free time
Rack-bed
Kansas Tornado-the destruction and scattering of personal property that happens when your locker is unlocked and Senior Chief finds it
PRT-physical readiness test
GQ-General Quarters, the alarm that is given on a ship when in a dangerous situation
Muster-meeting
Double time-running in formation
Chow-anytime you were allowed to eat
Mash-the process of being forced to do push-ups/sit-ups/leg-lifts for doing something wrong
Turf turds-annoying little black pieces of Astroturf that stick to everything
Cadence-the songs you sing while marching/running
PT-physical training
Duty Watch-like being a security guard, only with just a walkie-talkie
Commissary-grocery store
Exhange-Wal-Mart-type store
Company-the group of 55 people I lived with, there were 3 different companies at OIS, mine was Mike (that’s military speak for the letter M)
O-club-officer’s club, the bar for officers on base
P-Way-hallway
Enlisted-people who went to a recruiter, signed up, and went through bootcamp
Officers-has at least a BA/BS, are commissioned (we have to apply), go to OIS or have gone though the Naval Academy or OCS
Jacked-up-screwed up
Hoorah-obnoxious “hell yeah” type of phrase

Week 1: Hell Week

Early Monday morning (read as 4 AM), we were awoken by a gentle knocking on our door (slamming, banging and yelling) by our Senior Chief. Now, Senior Chief is at least 6 feet tall… and she was a very, very angry sounding woman. My first thought: “SHIT… what am I doing here? Why did I join the Navy?” After she yelled at us for a good minute (getting in our faces), she uttered the words I have come to know and love (sarcasm), “On your bellies!” (push-ups!) followed by “Up. Down…. Up. Down… Up. Down…………… I didn’t say ‘up’…….. Up. Down….. Up. Down…. Get off of those knees!!! Up. (etc…)” Then it was, “On your backs! Legs up at 90 degrees, down 6 inches off the floor, up! Down……….. Up….. Down…. No feet on the floor!!! Up. Down…. Up… (etc.),” Then, “On your feet!” followed by more yelling. Then we had to all line up and we were marched though the building to stand in line for a few hours. Breakfast was next. We had to line up in formation outside (with hats, you never, ever go outside without something on your head if you’re in the Navy) get our food, walk to the table and stand at attention until we were told to sit. After that, we had exactly 10 minutes to eat our food. There was no talking, no smiling, no even looking at someone else. No caffeine, no dessert. After breakfast, we stood in some more lines and did some more push-ups. We got our PT uniforms after lunch. Then there was some more line standing, some marching practice and of course, some memorization. Lights out at 10PM and no cell phones.

The next day we got our uniforms, and the day after that we did lots of marching practice and running in formation. We also got our Yellow Fever and typhoid immunizations (which lead to very painful arms) and did LOTS of push-ups (Now, the fun thing about push-ups, is that you’re not allowed to let someone else do push-ups by themselves… we were all a team… so when one person had to do push-ups, everyone had to do push-ups). There was also LOTS of memorization (like, the 11 General Orders of a Sentry, the Sailor’s Creed and Anchor’s Aweigh). Wednesday was also our first PT session (they had to make sure everyone made it though medical first) and I learned that working out on Astroturf is NOT fun. They also make us say really stupid things… like the instructor would say “Stretch” and we’d echo “Stretch,” or they’d say, “The next exercise is crunches, we will do 50” and we’d have to say “Only 50?”, and don’t forget about the running and singing part…). Thursday was the PRT, which I failed. Then Friday, I managed to fall off the sidewalk (I stepped on the edge and rolled my ankle) while we were double timing and scraped up my hand and knee pretty good, but it got me out of push-ups for a day.

We also experienced our first Kansas Tornado. Our room didn’t get hit thankfully, but lots of others did. Apparently, in the Navy, you are NOT allowed to have trash in your trash can. If you have trash in your trash can, it gets dumped onto your bed. Mmm…

The first weekend, we were allowed to go to the commissary and the exchange as a company (it was out of our 1-block radius) and we even got pizza for dinner on Sunday! (yeah, that was the highlight of my week…) We also had a uniform inspection in our ugly khaki uniforms on Sunday, and our first room inspection (We spent lots of time Saturday cleaning everything… like the walls, the chairs, underneath the chairs, under the racks…). I got hit (lost points) on the uniform inspection because my hair was coming out of the bun.

The Second Week

Lots of time in the classroom, lots of push-ups (are we seeing a theme here?) and a few Kansas Tornadoes. That’s pretty much all I remember about the second week. Oh… and I started to develop a crush… more on that later. :)

We had a barbeque outside that Sunday, which was way fun and relaxing. We also got free range of the 1-block radius for the whole weekend (In the 1 block radius, there is a football field, a track, a gym and some academic buildings… so nothing fun).

The Third Week

This week was really fun. We started out the week with the USS Buttercup. The USS Buttercup is known as a “wet trainer”—it’s basically an imitation of a small part of a ship (2 levels) and it’s in a pool. Now, the fun part is that it sinks up to 5 feet. Everyone starts out on the top deck (dressed in PT gear, knee high rubber boots and hard hats), then there’s an announcement about “incoming torpedoes” a big thud/shake (think amusement park ride) and the sound of rushing water. Two people were sent down the skinny/steep stairs to the lower compartment to check out the damage, then we (about 30 of us) had to go down and try to fix it and pump out the water and fix the leaky pipes. It was hard, especially when the power would go out and you couldn’t see anything, or when you lost your parts under the water and had to dive for them… but it was a ton of fun.

The next day we did our swimming test and learned how to inflate our uniforms in case we ever fell off of a ship. I learned that pants make very good life-jackets.

Thursday we had fire-fighting. We had to wear real fireman gear (yes, big boots, heavy coveralls, stiff gloves, big red hats, face masks and air-tanks with regulators) and put out real fires with real hoses. It really does take 2-3 people to hold a fire-hose (they’re not very cooperative) and just wearing firefighting gear is hot… wearing firefighting gear while near a fire is what I’d imagine being in an oven must be like… Anyhow, it was really neat, and I have a whole new respect for firefighters.

Sometime during that week we had to write a 1000 word essay on “what it means to be a Naval officer” for our chief, and I had to do my first watch duty. Basically, I sat at the end of a P-way from midnight until 2AM, then 10 to midnight a few nights later, waiting for something exciting to happen.

Saturday we got on-base liberty, which meant that we were allowed to go to the O-club and drink! Yay alcohol! :) I got 2 cute boys to walk me home. Yay cute boys! It was a really good night!

Sunday, however, sucked ass. We had another training session that we weren’t told about until about an hour before hand, so most of us left our rooms slightly messy (bad idea) when we left for the session because we were all busy working on a presentation we had to give Monday. There was a Kansas tornado. My roommate’s whites had been used to dust our floor, and were thown down another P-way, there was garbage dumped all down the P-way, uniforms hanging from the ceiling, shaving cream/deodorant/toothpaste grafitti on the walls, and our presentations were all over the place and all mixed up. I found my pillow in my trash can. After that, we had no more liberty. :(

The Fourth Week

Monday started out with a LOT of pushups, in our khaki uniforms, in goose poop. Not a pleasant experience.

We had Battlestations on Tuesday. Battlestations is an all night long process. At about 6PM at night (after being in class all day and having PT at 5AM) GQ (general quarters) was called. For GQ, we have to wear PT gear under coveralls tucked into black socks. We look real cute. Anyhow, we were divided up into battle groups and put through 6 different evolutions. First up for my group: the pool. We had to swim 6 laps, float for 5 minutes (using our inflated uniforms) and get everyone onto a life raft. Next: steam room explosion. We had to walk around 2 miles (er… march… in formation, singing) to the next place. Basically, there were lots of mannequins with various injuries inside a mock-up of a steam room on a ship. We had to take stretchers up and down 3 levels to get the patients to triage. It was really hot, and filled with fake fog… and the steps in ships are really skinny/steep, so it was hard work. Third: Buttercup. Fun and wet, as always. By this time, it was around 1 AM. Then, we marched 3 miles to the firestation. First up at the firestation: rescue your shipmate who is being held hostage. This consisted of running to barrier after barrier while getting shot at by paintballs. Luckily, I didn’t get hit, but some people escaped with some nasty welts. After that: crawling on your elbows and belly in the sand, under barbed wire while dragging someone. Lastly: Firefighting. By that time it was around 6 AM, and we had to go back, listen to some lecture about Battlestations, then watch a patriotic video about what it means to be in the navy. Ok, the video was a total tear-jerker. Even if I hadn’t been awake for over 24 hours at that point, I would have cried… even the big tough guys were all tearing up… Then we had to go to breakfast… then we were allowed to sleep (8AM).

Later that week were more classes and marching around, and Friday was the final PRT. I passed. :) Yay!

We got off-base liberty that weekend. Friday night we went into Newport for dinner and drinks. Saturday, my roommate Jen drove a group of people into Providence to the mall. Sunday, Jen, Lindsay and I got pedicures. :)

The Fifth Week

No more PT!!! But there happened to be another (sensing a theme?) Kansas tornado on Tuesday. Joy of joys. Nothing was thrown in the hallway, it was all in the company commander’s room… and it was NOT good. More toiletry graffiti, coffee grounds, Gatorade powder and all kinds of shoes, clothing, uniforms and other random goodies all along the walls and floor. Wednesday night was our company dinner, where we got to wear civies (that’s civilian clothing) for the first time in weeks! It was good times… particularly the part where we got to go out to the bar afterwards… and there was some hand-holding/cuddling with the crush. Very good night. Thursday was more marching practice, then a cocktail reception, then… overnight liberty. Yeah, I didn’t partake in that. I just went out to dinner and came back and packed… and attempted to talk to the crush, but it just didn’t work because I was so exhausted and feeling shy. Oh well. Friday morning we had to get up bright and early for check-out inspections, then we marched onto the field and graduated. Yay!!!

Ok, now for some more interesting things

The Fun Times

*Watching movies with half the company squashed in our room because my roommate was smart enough to bring her laptop and DVD’s.

*Sitting around in the P-way just talking to everyone.

*The BBQ on the beach.

*Watching the Fourth of July Fireworks.

*Schnake’s awesome cadences about what we were going to do on the weekends and about getting in trouble.

*Getting to know all the awesome people who I might work with someday. :)

First of all, my roommie Jen (not the same one from LECOM) was amazing. She was prior enlisted (which means she was in the Navy before OIS), so she knew what was going on, and helped me out a ton. Plus, she was super cool.
Pretty much everyone in Mike Company was a really great person. There were nurses, med students, optometrists, dentists, pharmacists, medical administrators, 1 JAG and 1 nuke instructor. There were only 2 (yes, 2 out of 55 that I wanted to strangle on a regular basis). Pretty good, huh? I’m not going to write about them here, because I’d rather just forget that they exist.
Some especially awesome people:
Yan Thomas Ortiz-Pommales-lived next door, funny, nice and an all around great guy… also a fabulous dancer
Mikayla-great girl, lots of fun,
Tom-lived across the hall, really sweet guy, very intelligent, had a fabulous smile,
Kruger-wow… what to say about “Ensign Karl Kruger” this guy was like everyone’s favorite uncle, he’d been prior enlisted for a long time (I think it was 16 years) and he knew everything, and he was just a great guy. He lived across the hall w/Tom
Cute Navy Garry and Hot Josh (both LECOM boys) lived on my hall. Hot boys in white=hotter. So, the scenery was nice. Actually, any guy in white is pretty cute… which leads to the crush.

The crush lived down my P-way. His name was (well, is) Aaron. I first started crushing on him during the second week when we were making fun of the way we do things in our company with all the euphemisms for “dumb” (not the sharpest crayon in the box, the dimmest lightbulb in the pack…). He just made me laugh… He was one of the cute boys I suckered in to walking me back from the O-club when I was a little tipsy, and during the last Wednesday, I worked up enough courage (and alcohol) to (gasp!) lean on him and hold his hand on the ride home from the bar. Yup, I’m lame-o. So that was it. That was all that happened. No “stay in touch” or anything of that sort…

Back in Erie

T and Stace picked me up from the airport on Friday night, dropped me off at Steph’s to get my car, then ditched me to hang out w/LECOM Jen. I was pissed. The last thing I wanted to do after 5 weeks without my friends/going out/having fun was to sit home alone. It was really good to take an amazingly long hot shower and sleep inside of my covers though…

Stace cooked us tacos on Saturday night, and we went out to Sullivans. It was kind of fun… but after being at Navy camp with all of the cute guys… coming back to school with the not so cute guys kind of sucked. I also got drunk… and I think I may have drunk emailed “the crush”. *sigh*

So, yesterday was the first day of school. Basically, I learned that they’re trying to change the PBL program (not good). I got my OIS pictures developed and had El Canelo margaritias w/Steph and T on Mariachi Monday. Good times.

Today, I had my first group meeting, then went to the beach w/Steph. Somehow (ok, I’m just sunscreen spreading-challenged), I managed to burn the backs of my knees and my butt. They are both very red and starting to hurt. :( Tomorrow, I get to show my sexy sunburn off to the rest of my class during OMM.

Anyhow, I’m off to clean up my apartment.