Category: personal

  • “Don’t Give Up; Moses Was Once A Basketcase Too”

    You know that feeling when something so big and unexpected is going on in your life, and your whole world – what you thought it was, and your dreams and expectations for the future – is turned upside down, and nothing is the same or will be the same, yet everything is the same and you have to keep on living your life – going to work, doing school projects, singing at church (although you give up little things like trying to eat right – instead you hardly have an appetite one day, and the next you eat nothing but ice cream and greasy fried rice – and you forget about trying to keep your exercise schedule even though you know it would help you feel better) – but your heart and mind aren’t in any of it, and the thing that is distracting you is beyond your control, so you are powerless to do anything besides pray, which you do because you are desperate but part of you is skeptical that it’s actually doing anything, and you feel guilty for thinking such a thought, and the whole thing is just so hard to talk about, yet all you want to do is talk about it, but you have a strong suspicion that soon your friends are going to get tired of it, and they will stop calling to check up on you because they have normal lives and they assume you’ve adjusted to your situation, and they have nothing left to say to you anyway, and really you’re just so scared, you feel so small and isolated, and you think that life has let you down because it wasn’t supposed to be like this?

    Yeah, me too.

  • “church parking only: violaters will be baptized”

    When I lived with my parents, there was a church that we would frequently drive by which had a sign out front and its contents were constantly changing. My brothers and I loved it because the sayings were always something funny, witty, or weird. The signs were so creative that my brother David and his friend decided to start naming their songs after it. That’s how they ended up with a song called, “Sticks And Stones May Break My Bones But Words Form Sentences.”

    I was extremely pleased to discover that my new apartment complex (which I have lived in for a few months now) is situated right next to a church with a sign out front which changes weekly. The sayings aren’t quite as funny as the last church–in fact they’re sometimes plain cheesy–but it works for me. So I have diligently recorded the last two months of sayings for you, just in case you ever need something to fill up the space on your own church sign:

    “‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity’ –Albert Einstein”

    “A liar needs a good memory.”

    “It’s not your aptitude but your attitude that determines your altitude.”

    “Truth is heavy, so few men can carry it!”

    “Only those who are willing to fail greatly can ever succeed greatly.”

    “Smooth seas do not make a skilled sailor.”

    “Average people don’t want others to go beyond average.”

    “A man wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package.”

  • A Decent End To A Rough Week

    This has been a week of school stress (always that), being sick, my boyfriend being sick, not being able to see my boyfriend because of school stress and us being sick, not being able to run due to being sick, still having to deal with school stress and work despite being sick, all of which culminated in me having a breakdown in my parents’ kitchen last night over something I took way too personally, something small that really didn’t have to do with me but just came at the wrong time. So I left early, and I didn’t even have ice cream.

    But today I am pet-sitting for my boys, and I have a 103-pound yellow shadow named Riley who slept next to me in the bed until 10 o’clock when we got up, who climbed into the shower with me this morning just to be close to me, who somehow knows that I really need some love right now. I have nowhere to be today unless I decide to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure, which I just might do. And oh yeah, I brought a whole half gallon of ice cream home with me from my parents’ house. So there’s that.

  • This Is Getting Old, But Apparently I’m Not

    I was studying at a coffee shop today, when one of the employees said to me, “I didn’t know high schoolers got such big textbooks!” I replied, “Actually, this is my second degree.”

    This is a variation on a common question/comment I get about my age. It’s one thing to be mistaken for a youngster by an older person, but this guy looked like he’s about 19 himself. I’m just wondering, at what age am I going to quit being mistaken for a high schooler? Honestly I don’t think I look like one.

  • a “disastrous” day

    Today at lunch I had a fortune cookie, and the fortune read, “Today is a disastrous day. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

    Now I ask you: what is up with that?

    Today was NOT a disastrous day. Today was actually a very good day! I woke up at 5:30 a.m. at my brother’s place because that is where I stay on Wednesday nights now in order to get to my 6:45 a.m. clinical in the med center without having to wake up at an ungodly hour (as if 5:30 a.m. isn’t bad enough). At clinical today I was doing an OR observation. I LOVE the OR, and am seriously considering working in that area when I graduate. I was able to put a Foley catheter in a woman for the first time, which is invaluable experience. And it was great because the woman was knocked out so I didn’t have to worry about hurting her or making her uncomfortable. Lunch was free, and our post-clinical conference with our instructor was really good. I like my instructor a lot. For dinner I met a friend at Escalante’s and had a couple really good enchiladas. When I came home Cleo was as excited as I’ve ever seen her, and I like to think that it’s because she missed me and not because she knew I would take her on a walk. Now I’m settling into a quiet evening at home, hopefully to get some studying done.

    Does that sound disastrous to you?

    In my opinion this fortune cookie company needs to re-evaluate their marketing strategy. I am a completely un-paranoid, un-superstitious, anti-conspiracy kind of person, but I still didn’t like getting that fortune. It could have disastrous effects on a different personality type.