New plan- crisis aversion!

Just realized about 30 seconds ago that a good friend's wedding is the Saturday before my last nursing final.  

Oh dear.

I go into super-recluse mode for one of my stupid little unit tests, what on earth will I do before this final??

New plan.  I was not caring about the grades I got on my tests, just hoping to stay above 85% so I can spend my remaining 8-9 weeks in a critical care area and pass nursing school.  However, given the realization of this new information, I'm modifying my plan.

I'm going to now study my enlarged behind off for the remaining 3 "quizzes" (Who on earth writes a 50pt "quiz"?  Get over it, that's an exam as far as I'm concerned.) so that I don't have to stress studying for the final.  It can be one of those deals where I can get like a 60% on the final and still get a B and who freaking cares.  I will be DONE.

So now, I have a lot of studying to do.  See you in early May.  After May 3rd, you will be able to find me down at San Onofre, surfing hopefully in at least a long-arm springsuit and working on making my skin doctor very upset with me.  Hey, I wear sunscreen- and lots of it!!

You look like you work at a Hasidic meth lab.

You Tube. On the Oscars in one minute, on You Tube in 15.

Path Of Destruction.

How's THAT for a title?  Yeah!!

So, I'm flipping through channels this morning because I'm in denial about the fact that I have an exam, 2 care plans and some grocery shopping to do today, and I stumble upon this in the channel guide.  Totally amused, I click the info button and I'm instantly rewarded with this:

"A cloud of voracious nanobots threatens Earth."

No way.  But there it is- a cloud of voracious nanobots.  AWESOME!

Anyway, you make the call.  This movie is:

a) A late 1950's black & white sci-fi classic complete with damsels in distress, dapper gentlemen saving the damsels and really bad special effects.

b) A special, behind-the-scenes documentary about the filming of the next Hollywood blockbuster action film.

c) The unfortunate depths to which Winnie from the Wonder Years and her career have sunk to.

d) Yet another craptastic made-for-TV movie on the Sci-Fi Channel.

e) c & d

And on a nursing school note, I turn to this movie right as Winnie is waking up from sort of unconscious state with the worst bandage job ever seen on her forehead.  She then gets out of bed, grabs her IV pole and patters down the hall to the nurse's station and starts asking questions and this lame nurse just goes along with it.  WHAT?!?  Where were the bed alarms?!?  And as soon as you saw someone with a head injury that has been asleep for a whole night walking down the hall, wouldn't you get that person back in bed because they might fall?  And when they can't find her friend, she grips her IV pole and begins bawling in the middle of the ward.  Where's the kind, empathetic nurse?  Get the girl a chair or something, maybe a social worker or Ativan, for heaven's sake! Who wrote this script?!?  Obviously not a nursing student.

They also had a guy that used the word "eco-terrorist".  Except he said it like "echo-terrorist."  One wages war on behalf of ecology, the other aligns himself with reverberated sound waves.

Quote of my experience with Plan Of Destruction: "In english, Doc, for those of us that don't speak Weather Channel."  Don't I have an exam in a few days?

And then I remember... voracious nanobots.  They're not trying to keep things legit.  They're just trying to wipe us out with robots.  Nanobots actually.  

Death by microscopic metal.  Bummer.

See what a little rain can do.

I'm still somewhat of a serf these days at the Culp Farm, contributing to the Christy & Amy Winter Garden when I can.  I don't get over there nearly as much as I should, but I get over there.  I stopped by this week and found these things in it.  We rule!!

That's cauliflower on the right, broccoli on the left.  These plants are huge!  Make a big circle with your arms in front of you, they're bigger than that.

This is clearly one of the cauliflowers, but the edges are kind of purply-pink.  Now, up until now, I have despised cauliflower.  It's only in the garden because Christy likes it and I want to claim I can grow it.  The Tall One only eats it if it's drowned in authentic Gruyere cheese.  I picked off a couple of these and ate them straight from the plant- so good.  

More cauliflower, no purple.

This is the biggest broccoli.  I think I'm supposed to pick it now, but I don't know.  It's not spitting out little yellow flowers yet so I think I'm OK.

On a side note, I took these pictures on Thursday.  I then realized this morning (Sunday) that I didn't know where my camera was, but I did remember the last placed I used it.  I go back over the the Culp Farm and there it is, sitting on the patio cement, dirt spatters on it because it rained on Friday.  I hit the power button- and it turned on.  I even took another picture with it. Olympus cameras- can get rained on and still work!  I'm a fan now.

I like gardening!  I can't wait until I'm done with school so I can garden more!!

I'm not having children.

Apologies to my longsuffering parents, my inlaws and a fellow nursing student that spent all of our third semester (pediatrics & labor/delivery) totally amused by me and telling me over and over that she couldn't wait until I had children.

As if the little tramps romping all over the county in Paris Hilton-type clothing (while talking on their cell phones while driving Range Rovers- and I know this because I was almost broadsided by one on PCH a few weeks ago) weren't enough, I have stories of students cheating from a friend that teaches English at a Christian high school (thanks a lot, teenaged champs).  Did you know that there are kids that feel they are rightly deserving of another chance to take a test they flunked simply because they didn't cheat, as in they should be rewarded for doing what's right, and that said kids have parents that support this platform?  And then I saw a movie with the Tall One last week, Taken, starring Liam Neeson as an older Jason Bourne-type buttkicker that goes off to Europe to find his daughter in 96 hours or less as she has been kidnapped by human sex traffickers.

But today was the last straw.  Somewhere in England, a 13yr. old boy is now a father.  He was 12 when the whole saga began 9 months or so ago.  When asked how he would care for the child financially, he responded (in an apparently "small, high-pitched voice"), "What's financially?"

And there you have it.  I can't stomach the stupidity of total strangers- what am I going to do when my own children start doing amazingly stupid things (and it's inevitable)?  I sure can't blog about it.  But it would make for entertaining reading...

Sigh.

It's the little things.

Well, this week has been forgetable so far.

I had a weird encounter with the charge nurse on the Neuro/Surgical ICU Monday.  Usually, charge nurses are so, chargeful.  Not this one.  Not a good sign.

Monday night, I woke up at 2am and never fell back asleep.  I stayed in bed until my alarm went off at 4:30am.  4.5hrs of sleep, rad.

Tuesday, I get assigned to the poster child of Type-A, attention-to-detail, neurotic critical care nursing, which is great for her patients, bad for a student.  She proceeded to rush through her entire morning routine, doing part of my job because I was either too slow or what needed to be done was "too difficult" for her to explain to me.  I know I suck, I'm a student and this is my SECOND DAY EVER in a critical care unit.  But this girl is only three years past graduation and she has apparently gotten sooo good at critical care nursing that she's forgotten what it's like to be a student.  And then she'd disappear for 30 minute stretches.  At one point, I was so frustrated that I told her, "You know, I know that I'm a little slow and I'm sorry if that is ruining your routine, but this is my SECOND DAY EVER in a critical care unit.  I'd like to be able to do as much as possible because I only have a few more days."  She lightened up a little after that, bu not before telling me, "Sorry, I know I move kind of fast, but I try to stay ahead of things because you never know what can happen- your patients' could be fine and then 10min. later it all goes downhill."  Perhaps, but today your patients consist of a guy who is a walking/talking/no deficit stroke pt that is only there because his blood pressure is a little low and a lady who bled out into her brain, is totally non-responsive and breathing on her own.  Back the crap off!!!!  She'd give me something to do, something I've done a million times and in the middle she'd step in and do something her way, throwing me off and forcing me into a rookie mistake.  I was so mad at one point, my eyes got misty.  Mercifully, it was a short day.  At 1pm, I cordially thanked my superiority complex of a nurse and left.  Usually, I have profuse thanks and praise for my nurses- they teach me so much.  Not this one.  Today I learned that with some people, cliques and being ahead of your own game is more important than passing on knowledge and encouragement to the next generation of nurses.  I hate that ICU.

Wednesday, we had our first exam.  I LOVE the cardiovascular system.  I'd like to work in a cardiac ICU.  That test sucked.  I got a B.  I should be thankful, and I am.  But I'm pissed off that I studied that long and hard and got a B.

I also learned this week that a local hospital is on a hiring freeze, another is apparently filling new grad positions and not even posting them and some don't even want new grads right now.  I have a constant headache because I face the possibility of finishing 3 1/2 years of school and possibly not having a job.  I'm a little negative and pessimistic about things at the moment, which doesn't help motivation... which would be really nice thing to have as the middle of the semester is coming up.

But today, that ray of light came through the clouds.  Today, I realized that there is now a Swirlz Frozen Yogurt in town and I'm going to get me some.  It won't get me a job or help me pass my neuro test, but it makes me happy.

And I need happy.

Grammy Running Diary

Since I obviously have an exam on Wednesday AND I'm sick, I'm wasting time working on a careplan not exactly due this week and watching the Grammys.  Here are some thoughts as the show goes on, at least until I throw in the towel and retire to a hot bath and my uplifting study notes about heart failure.  Relaxing!!!!

U2- holy good grief, get me their new album and tickets to their show this summer.  If the Tall One loves me, he gets me tix.  Actually, THAT'S what I want as a graduation gift.

Whitney Houston presenting- is she really off drugs?  Because I thought she was awkward. Cringe inducing, actually.

Jennifer Hudson winning a Grammy- I pretty much almost cried.  After everything she's been through the last year, and then first Grammy of the night... awesome.

JT and Al Green- last minute addition, and since I already stated my opinion of JT two posts earlier, Al Green is a legend.  Dang.  And did you know he's a Reverend?  Hey, hey...

Coldplay starting off with the piano-only version of Lost?, then Jay-Z comes out... and then Viva La Vida.  Man, I love Coldplay.  Heart, heart, heart. XOXO.

Carrie Underwood- super cute, smokin' hot, crazy voice, seems like the sweetest person on earth... singing about being a skank.  

The chick half of Sugarland throwing out a shout to Paul McCartney, probably because she was on excitement overload and he was sitting in the front row and she saw him.  Yet another thing I will never do in my life- shoutout to Paul McCartney.  Somehow, I will go on.

Coldplay just won Song of the Year- and the drummer just apologized to Sir Paul McCartney for "blatantly recycling the Sgt. Pepper outfits."  I think I'm obsessed with Sir Paul right now.

Can somebody please explain to me how Kid Rock is a double-nominee at the Grammys?!?  And he's singing a song that says "Amen" about 90,000 times?  Oh, now he's singing his latest "hit" using music that sounds like the illegitimate child of "Werewolf in London" and "Sweet Home Alabama."  Dang, he sucks...

I really want to hate Miley Cyrus (mostly because she was complaining about her "second-hand" PORSCHE CAYENNE she got for her 16th birthday- I got a Chevy Cavalier dang it!!), but she's funny... and she can sing.  But she and Taylor Swift together- cute... but, there's a lot of people with better voices than them.  Let's just say, I'm not buying it off Itunes.

Speaking of people that can sing- I want to sing like Jennifer Hudson.  And look amazing in that dress like her.  Oh, there, I almost cried again.

(Side note- if I have to see Katy Perry sing her infernal song one more time I'm going to vomit.)

I just want to squeeze Jason Mraz until he pops.  He's so cute!  And I like his song.

Somewhere in the back of Stevie Wonder's mind, he's wondering where along the way he made a wrong turn and ended up on stage with the Jonas Brothers...  I hope teen acts improve so that by the time my children can make up their own musical minds, they will have better options than the freaking Jonas Brothers.  Actually, I'm just hoping they'll think Led Zeppelin and The Clash are two of the best bands ever and just bypass the whole teen pop mystery.

News flash!!!!!  The global economy is tanking, Australia is burning... Blink 182 is getting back together?  That's big news?  Good thing they were eclipsed by Coldpay winning Best Rock Album.  Followed by Chris Martin declaring they're not the heaviest of  rock bands, more limestone kind of rock, a little softer, but just as charming.  Heart, heart, heart.

Oh look, it's a skank singing a song about being a skank!  Aaaaaand... I just vomited.  And in my third favorite Grammy moment- they just showed a large segment of audience and most aren't even clapping, except for the Jonas Brothers- they're probably on the same label or something.

Adele just won Best New Artist.  She could've done her hair a bit better, but she's so overwhelmed at winning I can't hate her.  But you know, she just told the Jonas Bros. she loves them.  Good heavens- are these the only choices for the young?!?  They're not that cute!!!!!!!

Only Diddy could pull off a lavendar leather jacket.  I like it!!  And he just did the super bro, man hug with... Robert Plant?  Huh?!?

Dang, Queen Latifah is looking good!!!

Do not adjust your television!!  That's supposed to be black & white, yo!  Jay-Z, Kanye, T.I., Lil' Wayne and some horrifically pregnant girl named MIA wearing a  super short black sheer dress-something with strategically placed polka-dot patches.  DANG she is preggo.  I mean, WOW.  And I just learned that her due date was today.  Well, that explains it.  But not the dress.  Definitely... not... the dress.

Yep, I'm obsessed with Sir Paul.  Nice stuffed Siberian Husky on the Mesa Boogie amp in the background.  Personally, I was hoping for Live and Let Die, I just watched that movie last night with the Tall One- I had no idea Bond movies were so campy!!!

The only thing that got bigger than Jay Mohr's waist and neck was his wife's, Nikki Cox's, lips.  Ouch.

Well, it's after 10pm and this is scheduled to go on until 11:30.  I have an exam in 2 days- I think it's time to depress myself with some heart disease notes.

Second Favorite Grammy Moment (8:23pm).

Chris Martin and Jay-Z.  Yeeaaaa...

Favorite Grammy Moment (at 8:14pm).

Justin Timberlake is hot.  

There's a new Laker in town.

I leave the technical, down & dirty Lakers basketball blogging to the Tall One.  I prefer to tread water at the level of superficiality.

Everybody, say hi to the newest Laker to wear purple & gold: Adam Morrison...

... otherwise known as Will Turner's pot smoking/meth addict twin brother!  Stick him in a pirate costume and on the deck of the Black Pearl and drink all the rum!  Seriously?  This guy's on a championship gunning team now?  At the least, couldn't we have gotten the Adam "I'm Russell Hammond from Almost Famous" Morrison?  It's not much better, but geez!!

"I'm a golden god!"

We got some other dude in the trade, but who cares.  We've now got a 'stache on our team.  Vlad Rad, it was good times, man, good times.  Now go snowboarding.

Mr. Morrison? Brad Pitt called, and he said to tell you that if he can't make the mustache sexy, then you're for SURE not going to do it.

Indescribable?

I wish I were actually talking about an overused Chris Tomlin song, but alas, I'm finally getting around to venting my true feelings about the absurd phenomenon known as... "The Snuggie."

There are more than a few Facebook pages devoted to people that voluntarily admit to owning and loving their Snuggie.  I find this absolutely tragic.  For those of you that don't have a TV, a Snuggie is a fleece-type blanket with sleeves and is super long because those "regular" blankets are so cumbersome and drafty and don't cover you.  Why, you might even have to expose an arm to the frigid evironment of your TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED HOUSEHOLD to do things like use the remote to change the channel or hold your infant.  Heaven forbid.

If you're sick of the injustice and shortcomings of the traditional blanket, which shockingly enough has warmed billions of people for millenia (how DID those biblical shepherds watch over their flocks by night without one?), then you apparently are ready for a Snuggie.  The commerical shows lots of everyday situations that are made even better (read:warmer) with a Snuggie.  Perfect for backyard S'mores action!  Soccer games!  Even those drafty dormrooms!  (Side note: I went to an ostentaciously priced liberal arts college AND lived on campus for 4 years.  90% of my tuition went towards the landscaping and the once-a-month Sizzling Salads dinner, not towards weatherproofing the dorms.  Yet, drafty is not one of the words I would use to describe them.  Want to know why?  Because when you share a suite with 6 other chicks, somebody's gonna go ballistic with the thermostat and turn the other rooms into the next Sahara.  Screw the weatherstripping.  But I digress...) 

What nobody brings up is that yes, you can wear this thing to all these places, but there's no way you're going to avoid looking like you're a card-carrying member of a UFO/Trekkie/space age cult while doing it!  Just look!!!  Homie just needs to be flashing that Spock/Vulcan split-finger thing to finish it off proper.

People, c'mon.  These things are creepy.  And yet, somewhere, the creator of this thing is asking himself, "What recession?", because he's sold 4 million units in the last 3 months at $19.95 a pop.

Take me to your leader.

Favorite Super Bowl moment.

Since the overly arrogant, in-dire-need-of-some-humility Pittsburgh Steelers scored a touchdown with less than a minute left in the 4th, thereby erasing Larry Fitzgerald Jr.'s touchdown as my favorite SB moment, I present to you my new favorite Super Bowl moment:

It was so good, we rewinded it, called in people that weren't in the room, and rewatched it.  With sidesplitting laughter.  Nothing like watching an aging rocker take an uncomfortably long time to get up after crashing into a cameraman.  Nothing like getting up close and personal with the Boss to close out a completely unintelligible football season (a perennial sucky 9-7 team makes it to the Super Bowl and loses to a team that went 12-4 and this is a shock?).

Baby, we were born to run.