Monday, September 29, 2003

Hooray for iron! It's my new favorite element. Seriously though, I like not having to take a nap in the middle of the day to have the energy to make it through the evening. I feel like I was missing out on a lot. It was also nice to not wake up tired after a full night's sleep. Thus are the joys of my life.

Sunday, September 28, 2003

Be gone wretched cold. I think that the 11 hours of sleep that I got Saturday really helped. I went to bed at like 1:30 Saturday morning and then slept til after noon. And surprise of all surprises when I woke up, Mom and Dad were coming to visit. I found that out at 1. That gave me about three and a half hours to clean my room, shower, get dressed, do my dishes, pass mail and get some work related stuff done. So the parents got here around 5 with a garbage bag full of sweaters and my winter coat (yes it may still be September, but we have snow in the forecast this week) We went to Schuberg's for dinner and I introduced my parents to the delicacy that is a Shu-burger. After dinner they dropped me off at the ice arena so that I could attend the Crimson and Gold scrimmage and superskills competition. I'm really excited for Bulldawg hockey this year. After the game got over (at the rediculously early hour of 8:30 because they only played 2 periods and did skills), Adrienne and I went and rented some movies. Hot Chick and Anger Management are SO funny. Finished watching those around 1 and took Adrienne back to her hall and then just hung out and read for a while before turning the light off at 3.

Now usually, I go to the student mass at 5pm on Sunday. The Bishop was here today to install our priest as the pastor for both Catholic churches in Big Rapids today, so I got up and went to 11am mass in the auditorium on campus. It was a nice service but the sermon that the Bishop gave really had little to do with the scripture for today and more how we were growing as a community of faith and how we'd been growing for the past 130 years. Interesting, but not what I wanted to bring from mass. Oh well, I read the scripture again later, they actually gave us the verses this week. So far an interesting day, we'll see what the week brings

Friday, September 26, 2003

Another fun day in Big Rapids. Got bored and went to Wal-mart with Jessica. I decided to pick up another Jars CD. The guy in the electronics department was going to send me over to crafts I think if I wouldn't have mentioned the word CD after I said Jars of Clay. Needless to say, they didn't have it there, but I did get a new sweater, which is good with my warm clothes at home and me stuck at school til mid-November. Gotta get my parents to bring me my winter coat and some sweaters, especially since I just went through and refolded everything in my dresser and ended up with an extra drawer. But anyways, after Wal-mart, we headed to Meijers and found The Eleventh Hour. It is a totally awesome CD. I am so becoming a big Jars fan. Now, to get rid of this cold...

So the other night in hematology, I decided to test my own blood. I now know why I'm always tired. The last few times that I've tried to give blood, my hemoglobin and hematocrit have been on the low end of normal. Now they're below normal. Hello anemia. Yeah. It explains the lethargy that I always have. So yay for iron supplements. Hopefully, I can get those levels back up to within normal ranges. Even after 1 day of taking iron though, I feel a lot better. If my levels aren't up where they're supposed to be next time I get drawn in lab, off to the doc I go. It's nice being able to self-diagnose some though.

Thursday, September 25, 2003

So I thought I was going to go home next weekend and get some warmer clothes, then I looked at my schedule. I'm not going home til mid-November. I need to get some warm clothing and my heavy coat up here. It's supposed to SNOW this weekend!! *sigh*

On a happier note though, I was elected President of ACLS today. *grins* I wanted a smaller role, but President is good. It's going to be a fun time. Also found out today that one of the residents downstairs is a big Mercy Me and Jars fan. And I know that this will make some of you readers jealous, but she's seen Jars in concert 10 times and ate dinner with them. And Mercy Me is doing a concert somewhere around here on the 12th of next month. I just might have to go to that. And Fire Safety Week is next week. I can't wait until it's done because then I can start Life Group. That'll be real nice.

Wednesday, September 24, 2003

First off: Note to self: Never make cookies from scratch in room again.

Ok that taken care of, I did my first live blood draw today. I actually took a needle and stuck it through someone's skin and into their vein. I was SO nervous about it. I don't know why though, I'd practiced on a fake arm so many times. It's really no big deal. Yay for me!

Monday, September 22, 2003

Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)
Written by A. Bagge, A. Birgisson, C. Ogalde

Verse
Your lips keep tellin' me you want me
Hold me close all through the night
And I know
Deep inside you need me
And no one else can make it right
Don't you try to hide your secrets
I can see it in your eyes
You said the words without speaking
Now I'm gonna make you mine

Chorus
Give me just one night
Una noche
A moment to be by your side
Give me just one night
Una noche
I'll give you the time of your life
The time of your life

Verse
Your eyes of passion make me crazy
Your existence makes me wild
I wanna loosen up your feelings
And see what's hiding inside

Chorus

"Sexy Girl" Interlude

Chorus

Sunday, September 21, 2003

Yesterday was a fun day. Ok so I stayed up til about 3 talking to Anne on Friday night so I slept til about noon. Ended up going into town because I needed a new color ink cartridge and just decided to stop by Halloween USA with Kandy and Jon and bought a cloak for part of my halloween costume. Then we headed off to Wally World where I not only got my ink cartridge and a little food, but also these cool rope lights that change colors (so I need to figure out where to attach those). So I got back and called some friends and we all went to the football game together. It was pretty fun even though the football team sucks. My two favorite parts of the game were: 1) seeing officer hottie threaten the bulldog with handcuffs if he didn't get his hat back and 2) watching the hockey team get their championship rings at halftime. The only problem last night besides the fact that the team sucks, was that it was freezing out. Even with a blanket and jacket, I was freezing. So like any cold person, I went and got some hot chocolate, which was neither hot nor very chocolatey. So after the fireworks following the game, Jill, Jeremy (who was a friends of Adrienne's and ended up tagging along with us) and I went to Java Jacks for some real hot chocolate. It was a fun way to end the night. Then to top it off I talked with Kaelis for a while. That was fun, even if my brain wasn't functioning properly for the conversation that we were having. That's what happens when you don't think all day. Oh well, I have to study today, Microbiology and Hematology exams tomorrow

Saturday, September 20, 2003

I got this in my email the other day.

Leave it to Robin Williams to come up with the perfect plan... what we need now is for our UN Ambassador to stand up and repeat this message Robin Williams' plan...(Hard to argue with this logic!) I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan:



1) The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. We will promise never to "interfere" again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No more sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of who or where they are France would welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 day visits unless given a special permit. No one from a terrorist nation would be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself. Don't hide here. Asylum would not ever be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers.

5) No "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home, baby.

6.) The US will make a strong effort to become self sufficient energy wise. This will include developing non polluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else.

8) If there is a famine or other natural castrophe in the world, we will not interfere". They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides, most of what we give them gets "lost" or is
taken by their army. The people who need it most get very little, anyway.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, it would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) Use the buildings as replacement for the twin towers.

11 All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer.

12) Now, ain't that a winner of a plan?

13) "The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying 'Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.' She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, You want a piece of me?

Friday, September 19, 2003

Why I hate Thursday night duty.

First of all, I have an exam bright and early tomorrow morning. Now I was studying but nothing was really sinking in so I decided to mess around on my computer some. So about 11:15 I get a phone call about a quiet hours violation. Go down there and all you could hear was Baby Got Back. Now at this point I would have personally preferred to have been on my couch reading, however I knock on the door and hear "Oh shit. I'm outta here." Apparently everyone went down a few rooms and ran out the window. Joy. Anyways got 40 cans of beer, some empty, some not. A mostly full 40 of beer and a half empty fifth of Captain. Life is interesting. Always cooperate with your RA's. We will find out the truth.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

There! I think that I finally found the least harmful to your retina color combination.

Random med tech trivia time about blood typing...

~You are more likely to develop some kinds of cancer, depending on your blood type
~Type O people are more likely to develop bleeding ulcers
~Type A people are more likely to develop thromboses (clots)
~Type O people are more likely to get bubonic plague (ha! take that! :~P)
~Type A people are more susceptible to smallpox (sonuva!)
~Type A people have worse hangovers (that's going to be a nice morning after my 21st)
~Type B people defecate more (you guys are full of it!)
~One species of mosquito prefers to bite type O people
~A2 people have higher IQs than O people, and O people have higher IQs then A1 people

And this has been an episode of useless trivia that you'll never need to know unless you're going to be a med tech

Monday, September 15, 2003

I've come to realize that I spend too much time online. I'm constantly online and checking the multitude of message boards that I belong to to see who is online. I'm always signed on to messenger, even when I sleep at night. I think it's time for me to get away from the net some and get a grip on real life.

So yesterday was the first time that I'd been back to church of my own free will and the first time that I'd gone to St Paul's again in about 6 weeks. So I went to the student mass at 5 and got a hug from Father Wayne. That's always a good kind of welcome. Apparently he'd been gone for a while, I don't know what happened but he was in a cervical collar and it was his first weekend back. Anyways, he didn't officiate mass, a visiting priest from Reed City did. He was a pretty interesting guy but the entire time I was thinking of how he reminded me of Ryan Stiles (The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line) with grey hair, that dude Eric from the move Billy Madison (you know, the one with no business ethics. I don't know why he reminded me of him, he just did) and someone high on helium. A very interesting combination to say the least. But all in all he did a good job. I think he gave the shortest sermon that I've ever heard. It was on how God's greatest gift to us is not His power or glory but His humility by giving us His son who died on the cross. Which considering it was the feast of the exultation of the cross or something like that, was a good sermon and made me think. Then after the service was over there was a pig roast. Now usually during the normal school year, the 5pm mass is considered the student mass and the parishoners take turns cooking a meal for the students, bringing a touch of home to school. This week was a potluck and pig roast and the ladies that were serving the pig just kind stuck their serving forks in the roasters and gave you a mountain of pork. It was a nice dinner, I met some new people and then 2 of the parishoners played the banjo and piano so it was a really lighthearted atmosphere. It was good to be back.

Sunday, September 14, 2003

Why do I let myself get so far behind? Seriously, I let myself get about 3 weeks behind in all my classes and now here's what I have to do:

Finish reading chapter 5, and read chapters 2 and 3 of my hematology book (by Weds)
Do my hematology worksheets (tomorrow)
Read chapters 10 and 11 of my microbiology book (by next Monday)
Do my microbiology study guides (next Monday)
Create a flow chart for the identification of Gram positive cocci (Thursday)
Study for my chemistry test (Tuesday)
Study for my microbiology lab quiz (Thursday)
Study for microbiology lecture quiz (Friday)
Do critical thinking worksheet for bloodbanking (Weds)
Study for hematology exam (Weds)
Study for bloodbanking exam (Friday)
Read bloodbanking book (Friday)
Study for Dan's microbiology exam (Next Monday (his exams are always killers))

Why did I do this to myself??

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Duty is such an interesting thing. I'm no duty all weekend and you never really know what's going to happen. I know that I didn't expect what happened to happen. Is it wrong to wish to be able to sleep through the night?

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Every generation has their thing that they will be asked where they were when something tragic happened. For my grandparents it was Pearl Harbor. For my parents, JFK. For me, September 11th, 2001.

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 years already. I remember finishing up microbiology lab and Dr. Ryan telling us that a plane had crasehed into the WTC. At first, I thought that it was a tragic accident, then Dr. Ryan went on explaining how people might start to blame the Muslim international students and how we should help to support them because it's not their fault. I remember the shock and anger across campus. Everyone was glued to their televisions. I remember the anger too. The anger that we were one of the few schools in the state that was still having class. No one really functioned in class that day. And there was the anger that someone had dared to attack America. I remember my mom calling me that night to make sure that I was ok and that I had gas because gas prices were jumping. I also remember her being worried about me driving home that weekend for a wedding. I remember the music too, hearing the same news excerpts over and over. I remember being glued to the television and falling asleep with it on CNN. And I remember how I felt when someone asked me the next week why I had a red white and blue ribbon pinned to my book bag.

I remember. I will always remember. I will never forget.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Come away with me in the night
Come away with me
And I will write you a song

Come away with me on a bus
Come away with me where they can't tempt us
With their lies

I want to walk with you
On a cloudy day
In fields where the yellow grass grows
knee kigh
So won't you try to come

Come away with me and we'll kiss
On a mountain top
Come away with me
And I'll never stop loving you

And I want to wake up with the rain
Falling on a tin roof
While I'm safe there in your arms
So all I ask is for you
To come away with me in the night
Come away with me

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

I'm bored with my life. It's the same shit all the time. Get up, go to class, come back, pass mail, rush somewhere to a meeting, go back to class, crash at night, sleep, repeat. I need a change in my life. I just don't know what.

Monday, September 08, 2003

I just noticed that today is the first day of week 3 of classes. That means I'm already 2 weeks behind in all of my reading for my classes AND next week the first round of exams comes up. It always works that way, tests for everything in the same week.

Anyways, a bit of a weekend recap. I went home this weekend. Two weeks in a row at home is a rare thing for me, so I enjoyed it. Even got a decent price on gas on the way back to school. So Friday I left school around 2, got home around 4 and just kinda relaxed for a while. I enjoyed that and played around with my digi cam some (boy does that thing eat batteries like you wouldn't believe). My brother had a hockey game at 8:30, so we went to that and I got some halfway decent pictures there. It was pretty cool getting action shots that weren't all blurry. Anyways, they lose 4-0. My lack of sleep then caught up with me, but by the time we got home I was sorta refreshed and ended up staying up til about 2am.

Saturday, I slept in. Since I have class at 8am everyday, I have now come to consider 8 or 8:30 sleeping in. Of course, since I was up until 2am the night before, I ended up staying in bed til about 10:30. Then I got up and went to the bank then Big Apple Bagles. Brought my bagel and coffee home and spilled the coffee in the living room right by the computer desk. Thank God I didn't ruin the computer. Anyways, my parents and brother were at a golf outing fundraiser for the hockey team so I had the house to myself. Now my brother and I share a bathroom when I'm home, and when I'm not home it's his bathroom. The thing was disgusting, so I did a little experiment I like to call "Cleaning the bathroom will not kill you" I ended up scrubbing that bathroom from top to bottom. I even washed the shower curtains and rugs. I think I just about gave my parents heart attacks when they came home. So then I just kinda studied hematology some and then we went to church. *sigh* I really enjoyed the readings this week and I wanted to go over them again, but I just realized that I didn't write them down. Anyways we got back from church and my mom and I went to the mall. I finally got the mess with my cell phone bill straightened out and got some chinese and we made a couple of other stops before heading home. Then at night I got to go soak in my nieghbor's hot tub for a couple of hours. That was real nice.

Sunday was my cousin's baby shower. That was pretty nice. It's amazing, it was a pretty big shower for someone who wasn't going to get a shower at home because my cousin isn't planning on marrying the father of the baby, even though they live together. I walked out of there with some homemade cocoa mix and some of the chocolate chip cookie dry mix in a canning jar. My aunt actually won the cookie mix but since she doesn't cook and doesn't even have an egg in her house, so she gave it to me. I made the drive back to school in record time (70 in a 55, oh yeah. I must have this aura around me that protects me from getting speeding tickets or something like that). Then last night I recolored my hair. If you want to see what it looks like click here. Just don't mind the cheesy smile

Ok so life isn't going as I think it should right now, but when does it ever? All I know is that when I get myself through this, I'll be a stronger, better person, so I'm sure that it's happening for a reason. I just wish that it wasn't so hard and didn't hurt so much. I've done a bit of crying lately too but tears dry. I know that the right person for me is out there, I just have to find him.

Friday, September 05, 2003

Ok I came to a pretty obvious conclusion this afternoon, so feel free to make fun of me for doing what I did.

Mocha at 4pm. Not a good idea, but I did it anyways. Now I'm wired. It's 1am, I have class at 8. I can't sleep. I knew better. Why oh why did I do it?

I got my digital camera today! I'm so happy. Check out my picture. Eyes It's worth it.

I was thinking today. When does a female cross the line from being assertive to being a bitch? Seriously. I know that I've been told that I need to be more assertive in my life, BUT when I go and be more assertive, I'm called a bitch. Is there something against assertive women?

Wednesday, September 03, 2003

Ok you can always tell when a new academic year starts because the "Bible Guys," as I like to call them, show up on campus. Apparetly they're Gideons or something and they hand out these little green bibles that aren't even full bibles. They're the New Testament, and books of Proverbs and Psalms. It's like a warzone on cmapus because they are literally at every corner and infront of the main academic buildings. This morning I even went so far as to alter the route that I take to the Allied Health building because I already have a Bible and I've gotten those green things every year. Well on my way to class this morning, I managed to miss all of them, but coming back from class this morning, I got stuck with one. The guys just came up to me and kinda just put it in my hand. Jon called it a warzone out there. He ended up with 2 of them because before he could get his first one out of his pocket to show that he had one, the Bible Guy had already shoved another one in his hand. And Jon was saying that the Bible Guys were saying things like "Come back to Jesus" to a lot of the people. Nothing like shoving Christianty down people's throats.

So now that I've tasted a little bit of every part of the Clinical Lab, I think I've decided on my favorite parts so far. Bloodbanking and microbiology are so far my favorite departments. Maybe it's just because I understand them the best.

Tuesday, September 02, 2003

Quick random thought from yesterday's drive. Why are trashy trailer parks always given names like they're the best places on earth to live? For example, yesterday I passed Hunter's Creek Estates. Ok I'm sure that some hunters live there, being Michigan, but there sure as hell ain't no creek and those places sure aren't estates.

Monday, September 01, 2003

Ok this is probably going to be one of my most random posts ever, so be prepared.

First off, I call this part only in Michigan. I was on US10 today, heading west (back to school) when I see this real nice SUV hauling a trailer. But the trailer isn't your normal trailer, it's the mismatched back of a pickup truck, being hauled as a trailer. Yup. Only in Michigan.

Part two. Good Idea, Bad Idea. Good Idea: waiting until later in the day to head back to school. Miss a lot of the major holiday traffic. Bad idea: driving into the sunset without sunglasses.

Part three. Random ramblings.

Cory, I was driving back to school today when this song reminded me of you.
SWORD AND SHIELD

Just when the sky runs out of rain
Just when the sun runs out of light
Just when the earth is ill with pain
Just when your body is out of fight
I will be there
I will be the smallest piece in everything
And I would give my life before I break this promise to you

Melt in to me
Don't you want to be the ones that last forever
I'll be your everlasting
And enemies they take your will but they won't last forever
I'll be your sword and shield and
I'll be your sword
I'll be your shield

Just when the ocean starts to dry
Just when the air is sick with smoke
Just when the statues start to cry
And fallen angels they lay broken
I will be there
I will be the smallest piece in everything
And I would lose my life before I break this promise to you

Melt in to me
Don't you want to be the ones that last forever
I'll be your everlasting
And enemies they take your peace but they won't last forever
I'll be your sword and shield and
I'll be your sword
I'll be your shield

I'll be your gracious angel
I'll be your favorite stranger
I'll be the mortar holding your walls
I'll be your army

Just when the sky runs out of rain
Just when the sun runs out of light
Just when the earth is ill with pain
Just when your body is out of fight
I will be there
I will be the smallest piece in everything
And I would give my life before I break this promise to you

Melt in to me
Don't you want to be the ones that last forever
I'll be your everlasting
And enemies they take your peace but they wont last forever
I'll be your sword and shield and
I'll be your sword
I'll be your shield
I'll be your sword
I'll be your shield
I'll be your army


Must be that protective streak that runs through you or something

I guess this kinda brings me to the next topic. Friends like someone special to me are real rare. No one knows me like you do. I've never had someone that I can relate to like I do with you, and I guess that's what drew me to you. But with that came something that hurt, but I'm glad that I took the time this weekend to get it out there because it wouldn't have been fair of me to keep what I was feeling to myself, and I learned some things about myself in the process. It's ok to love a friend like I love you because I know that you'll be there for me in the hard times and the easy ones. I know that I can always count on you when I need it. And most importantly, I know that sometimes it's ok to hurt, because you grow with that hurt. Just one thing hon, don't ask me for relationship advice anymore because I don't think that I can give it objectively with what I feel in my heart.