First thing's first, I am recovered from my not so terrible illness. I did end up going to the doctor four days after my previous post because I was beginning to have breathing issues due to excessive chest congestion and I was forever crying due to uncontrollable sinus pressure in my head. I am starting to feel normal again though. In fact, I ran for the first time in over a week (10 days to be exact) this afternoon. I can't even honestly remember the last time I took that many consecutive days off from working out! I crave the endorphin kick and the feeling of accomplishment from it, so it's no wonder that the past week was pretty thoroughly unproductive as far as studies go. In fact, I even missed one of my deadlines for the Moderator, something I don't think I had ever done in the 3 and 1/2 years I've been writing for it. The sad thing was that I wasn't smart enough to figure out that if I was doomed to be unproductive, it would be best to spend the majority of my free time sleeping....so not only was I slacking, I was lacking (in the rest department that is).
New Subject. On Friday night I travelled to Sioux Falls with a group of 8 friends. Our initial plan (something that we had had planned for over a week) was to go out for dinner and then head to Harrisburg for the haunted corn maze. About five minutes before leaving, one of the girls decided to look up directions so we knew for sure where we were going and instead found out that the maze doesn't open until this coming weekend. Haaaa. So much for efficient planning! Undeterred, we made some phone calls and found out about a haunted house at the fairgrounds in Sioux Falls. So, after a scrumptious dinner at a Johnny something (Carina's??) Italian place we headed out to the fairground to pay to have people scare the wits out of us. Ok. Imagine this. Here we are, a group of 8 college kids, at about 9:00 standing in a ridiculously long line of people, 80% of them appearing to be Junior High aged kids and younger. We stood in line for a good hour and 20 minutes to have the privilege of entering and exiting the haunted house, a house "made by volunteers not engineers," in a total of about 8 minutes. Though we did get our share of screaming in, I ended up giggling most of the time. I was towards the back of our group so my biggest scares actually came from the guys in our group behind me jumping at me from behind.
On the return trip home, I drove a good 20 + miles with my low fuel light on, also a new adventure. I thought for sure we would end up stranded on the side of the road and the real scare factor would kick in. Instead, I just kind of ran a red light in fear of having to stop and pulled into a ghetto gas station on Broadway that I didn't even know existed. Despite the obstacles, it was an adventurous and memorable night.
In the meantime, I have passed two choir midterms (one while in a sorry sickly state), aced a medical terminology test, and put off two papers, two poems, and two reading reflections all due on Friday (not to mention the reading itself..I've kind of put that off as well). But, I can't complain. The sun is shining, friends are abundant, and life is good. In fact, I am heading out to the damn to watch the sunset with some friends tonight before this nicer weather hibernates for good. Perhaps when I get back I'll start Operation Productivity! :)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sickness....yuck!
As yet another weekend is coming to an end, I am graciously chosing to spend the final 18 minutes writing to you! I have done very little homework at all in the last two and a half days, and I'm going to be so kind as to explain to you why that is so.
The highlight of my weekend was getting to spend last night with Lindsay and Raz (Emily), two of my best friends who graduated last year and are busy figuring out how to survive in the real world as teachers. They came up to Yankton to visit and watch the volleyball games on Saturday and we had some much needed catching up and memory sharing time.
The majority of my weekend however was spent at work. Before I explain further, let me throw in here that before the weekend, I had been supressing a bizarre chest congestion sickness symptom. I didn't understand because I felt fine otherwise and sinus pressure always starts in my head. Keeping that in mind, Saturday morning I woke up with a mildly sore throat but a busy, busy morning at the pharmacy put that in the back of my mind. With three of us working though, we handled the rush in style and sent people off with medications and well-wishes. I had restocked shelves and vials and cleaned and put in the OTC order by 4:00 and the final hour on the job was somewhat relaxing, but still - an unusually busy Saturday. Usually I have time to sit down and study by 1:00.
And then today rolls aroound. I knew it was going to be a long day before I had even crossed the street to open the clinic door. There was a mob of people lined up outside waiting to enter. At noon when the doors opened, no less than 40 people swamped the place. I had no time to even walk to the back of the pharmacy and grab my lab coat all day. We (two people - might I point out the newest employee and the slowest pharmacist who's past retirement age but still very competant, bless his soul) filled the same amount of prescriptions in five hours as an average eight hour day with five people working. I didn't leave work until 40 minutes past closing time. The poor little waiting area was forever packed with screaming babies, wild children, frustrated parents, and miserable people. There is a shortage of Tamiflu in the market so the liquid version is not available and had to be made up from the powder of broken capsules (a very time consuming thing I might add). I feel like I witnessed every sickness imaginable and breathed in toxic chemicals. If I wasn't sick before, I'm bound to come down with something now! Anyway, when I finally made it back up to my room and sat down to try and do some homework, the congestion that has now manifested itself in my head - the congestion I didn't have time to process all day finally hit me full force - and I ended up sitting in misery while my eyes watered from sneezes that wouldn't come and I tried and failed to breathe through my nose. I dug out my winter med kit and found some Tylenol mult-symptom cold wonder medication, which I took with a one of those baking tablespoon measurement devices (college innovation) and headed off to a refreshing W.O.W. meeting (women's spirituality group at MMC).
Now I must take another round of medication and catch some sleep. I'm hoping all of you are staying healthy!!!
The highlight of my weekend was getting to spend last night with Lindsay and Raz (Emily), two of my best friends who graduated last year and are busy figuring out how to survive in the real world as teachers. They came up to Yankton to visit and watch the volleyball games on Saturday and we had some much needed catching up and memory sharing time.
The majority of my weekend however was spent at work. Before I explain further, let me throw in here that before the weekend, I had been supressing a bizarre chest congestion sickness symptom. I didn't understand because I felt fine otherwise and sinus pressure always starts in my head. Keeping that in mind, Saturday morning I woke up with a mildly sore throat but a busy, busy morning at the pharmacy put that in the back of my mind. With three of us working though, we handled the rush in style and sent people off with medications and well-wishes. I had restocked shelves and vials and cleaned and put in the OTC order by 4:00 and the final hour on the job was somewhat relaxing, but still - an unusually busy Saturday. Usually I have time to sit down and study by 1:00.
And then today rolls aroound. I knew it was going to be a long day before I had even crossed the street to open the clinic door. There was a mob of people lined up outside waiting to enter. At noon when the doors opened, no less than 40 people swamped the place. I had no time to even walk to the back of the pharmacy and grab my lab coat all day. We (two people - might I point out the newest employee and the slowest pharmacist who's past retirement age but still very competant, bless his soul) filled the same amount of prescriptions in five hours as an average eight hour day with five people working. I didn't leave work until 40 minutes past closing time. The poor little waiting area was forever packed with screaming babies, wild children, frustrated parents, and miserable people. There is a shortage of Tamiflu in the market so the liquid version is not available and had to be made up from the powder of broken capsules (a very time consuming thing I might add). I feel like I witnessed every sickness imaginable and breathed in toxic chemicals. If I wasn't sick before, I'm bound to come down with something now! Anyway, when I finally made it back up to my room and sat down to try and do some homework, the congestion that has now manifested itself in my head - the congestion I didn't have time to process all day finally hit me full force - and I ended up sitting in misery while my eyes watered from sneezes that wouldn't come and I tried and failed to breathe through my nose. I dug out my winter med kit and found some Tylenol mult-symptom cold wonder medication, which I took with a one of those baking tablespoon measurement devices (college innovation) and headed off to a refreshing W.O.W. meeting (women's spirituality group at MMC).
Now I must take another round of medication and catch some sleep. I'm hoping all of you are staying healthy!!!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Home! :)
Woohoo for Columbus Day and South Dakota!! Yep, that's right, because Mount Marty is in SD, we find that it is only fair to honor this day of the year with no school. AND, that fairness means that I have had the pleasure of spending this three day weekend at home in Elgin, NE.
Though my time here at home has been relatively uneventful as far as excitement goes, I can't begin to describe how nice it has been to slow down a bit. I had fully intended to spend both Saturday and Sunday afternoons doing homework, but instead I wound up reading Nicholas Sparks' newest novel, The Last Song. I read the entire book and was predictably sobbing at the end. It was a great book and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a bit of light reading! Once I finished that book, I did actually sit down and get some things accomplished. I made a massively intimidating stack of flash cards for the upcoming chapters of medical terminology, wrote three reading reflections and two poems for creative writing, and skimmed part of the chapter on DNA transcription and translation for microbiology. I even downloaded our choir music on this old computer here at home and attempted to tune my voice this a.m. Now I'm worn out!
What about non-school related activities here in Elgin, you ask? Well, for starters I went to bed at 10:30 on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Though an extremely unusual thing for me to do, it was amazing. I feel partially refreshed now that I have a few decent hours of sleep under my belt again! :) Since I've been home, I've also gone to Norfolk with my mom so that we could get an oil change and new windshield wipers for my car and groceries to feed Dad and the boys here at home, attended church in my beautiful home parish with my family, helped my little brother apply for college (he even applied to MMC!) and scholarships, and eaten a whole lot of good home cooking - probably too much of it...
And (this one is good), I even got a head start on my final project for Writing and the Visual Arts. On Saturday afternoon when I arrived home, I visited the nuns here in Elgin and interviewed Sr. Pat Hoffman. She's going to be the "person of interest" you could say for my final project. She has a very interesting story to tell - not only has she been a sister since the age of 13, she's been teaching at Pope John (my high school) for 37 years! Once I was done drilling her with questions, I stayed to chat with those two wonderful ladies over juice and cookies. :)
I must be off now to take pictures of Sr. Pat teaching before I hit the roads and return to Mount Marty to kick off another night of homework...hopefully some piano practice as well!
Though my time here at home has been relatively uneventful as far as excitement goes, I can't begin to describe how nice it has been to slow down a bit. I had fully intended to spend both Saturday and Sunday afternoons doing homework, but instead I wound up reading Nicholas Sparks' newest novel, The Last Song. I read the entire book and was predictably sobbing at the end. It was a great book and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a bit of light reading! Once I finished that book, I did actually sit down and get some things accomplished. I made a massively intimidating stack of flash cards for the upcoming chapters of medical terminology, wrote three reading reflections and two poems for creative writing, and skimmed part of the chapter on DNA transcription and translation for microbiology. I even downloaded our choir music on this old computer here at home and attempted to tune my voice this a.m. Now I'm worn out!
What about non-school related activities here in Elgin, you ask? Well, for starters I went to bed at 10:30 on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Though an extremely unusual thing for me to do, it was amazing. I feel partially refreshed now that I have a few decent hours of sleep under my belt again! :) Since I've been home, I've also gone to Norfolk with my mom so that we could get an oil change and new windshield wipers for my car and groceries to feed Dad and the boys here at home, attended church in my beautiful home parish with my family, helped my little brother apply for college (he even applied to MMC!) and scholarships, and eaten a whole lot of good home cooking - probably too much of it...
And (this one is good), I even got a head start on my final project for Writing and the Visual Arts. On Saturday afternoon when I arrived home, I visited the nuns here in Elgin and interviewed Sr. Pat Hoffman. She's going to be the "person of interest" you could say for my final project. She has a very interesting story to tell - not only has she been a sister since the age of 13, she's been teaching at Pope John (my high school) for 37 years! Once I was done drilling her with questions, I stayed to chat with those two wonderful ladies over juice and cookies. :)
I must be off now to take pictures of Sr. Pat teaching before I hit the roads and return to Mount Marty to kick off another night of homework...hopefully some piano practice as well!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Energy Outage...the aftermath of the power outage
It is 8:24 p.m. kids and I just dozed off mid-sentence while attempting to read for my short story class. Beings I have forgotten how to completely relax and not have an agenda, when the noise of my TV startled me awake, I hopped up to grab my laptop and begin writing to you to keep me awake! My early evening exhaustion has a very logical explanation. You see, I am currently operating off of approximately 3.5 hours of sleep. I for some reason thought it would be wise to save studying for both a microbiology exam and a short story test all for last night. Granted, I did work at the pharmacy all weekend and Monday night as well, but still, one would think I would have had sense enough to sneak in a bit of studying in the meantime as something of a "mind prep." BUT, such was not the case and true studying didn't commence until about 4:12 p.m. last night. Granted, that studying was broken up by an hour of tutoring, a couple of phone calls, a supper break, an 8:00 snack break, and an hour and a half long power outage. That last one could use a bit of an explanation...
At 9:00 last night, I was in the music hall with three other choir kids preparing to practice our music for Vespers. Right before beginning, the lights flicked off, returned for a brief instant, and then flashed off for good. This sudden darkness was met by a five second delay when none of the four of us moved or said anything. That was enough time to send our blood into a frenzy. Someone let out a blood-curdling scream, and the rest of us joined and sprinted out of the hall in a clump. Of all places to be during a power outage, the Music Hall is waaaay up there on my list of "OH GOSH, I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE CAUGHT DEAD IN THERE." Who wants to be caught in the pitch dark in a place that is presumably haunted, with multiple legitimate stories to lay credit to the claim? Anywho, for the next hour and a half, we wandered through the halls of Whitby and Bede, all the kids trying to scare each other, so that there was periodic screaming and the darkness was broken by flashlights and emergency exit lights. It was creepy but also incredibly exciting! :P But...also very detrimental to my studying focus. :P When the lights finally returned at 10:30, I sat down in an exhausted and stressed and frantic state where I remained until about 2:30 a.m. studying. Having not covered a couple of chapters in microbiology, I set my alarm for 6:02 a.m. to get up and complete the last of my studies. What a painful challenge trying to stay awake and focus! The extra effort paid off though as I left both exams with a "that wasn't too bad" mindset.
Tests down, I am now impatiently awaiting the upcoming three day weekend. WOOHOO for Columbus day! As of right now I am planning on heading home Saturday morning and staying for the long weekend curled on the corner of my couch with no obligations or places to be. I might even spend an entire afternoon doing homework. Time will tell. :) For now though I must sign off. I'm heading down to the Music Hall once again to try this whole singing practice thing again. If the lights falter, I'll just take it as a sign that the ghosts in the room are offended by my singing....
At 9:00 last night, I was in the music hall with three other choir kids preparing to practice our music for Vespers. Right before beginning, the lights flicked off, returned for a brief instant, and then flashed off for good. This sudden darkness was met by a five second delay when none of the four of us moved or said anything. That was enough time to send our blood into a frenzy. Someone let out a blood-curdling scream, and the rest of us joined and sprinted out of the hall in a clump. Of all places to be during a power outage, the Music Hall is waaaay up there on my list of "OH GOSH, I WOULDN'T WANT TO BE CAUGHT DEAD IN THERE." Who wants to be caught in the pitch dark in a place that is presumably haunted, with multiple legitimate stories to lay credit to the claim? Anywho, for the next hour and a half, we wandered through the halls of Whitby and Bede, all the kids trying to scare each other, so that there was periodic screaming and the darkness was broken by flashlights and emergency exit lights. It was creepy but also incredibly exciting! :P But...also very detrimental to my studying focus. :P When the lights finally returned at 10:30, I sat down in an exhausted and stressed and frantic state where I remained until about 2:30 a.m. studying. Having not covered a couple of chapters in microbiology, I set my alarm for 6:02 a.m. to get up and complete the last of my studies. What a painful challenge trying to stay awake and focus! The extra effort paid off though as I left both exams with a "that wasn't too bad" mindset.
Tests down, I am now impatiently awaiting the upcoming three day weekend. WOOHOO for Columbus day! As of right now I am planning on heading home Saturday morning and staying for the long weekend curled on the corner of my couch with no obligations or places to be. I might even spend an entire afternoon doing homework. Time will tell. :) For now though I must sign off. I'm heading down to the Music Hall once again to try this whole singing practice thing again. If the lights falter, I'll just take it as a sign that the ghosts in the room are offended by my singing....
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