Didn't Get The Job

Cartoon of a boss and a job candidate. First panel says "Can you help me understand why I didn't get the job?" "We found someone who was a better fit." Second panel says "What did the decision come down to?" "The other candidate was more suited to the position." "Third panel says "Was there anything I could do differently?" "I'm glad we had this talk."

Well, I didn't get the job and I'm pretty bummed about it. Wah!

Head Lice Day

Today started off with my school clinical and a mini disaster that can be summed up in two words: head lice.

Black and white photo of a woman looking distressed and it says "Head lice? Say it ain't so!"

That's right. One of the kids came in with head lice and we had to check the entire grade. I can now say one thing with great certainty: head lice is a pain in the butt. And after you spend your entire day checking children for head lice you begin to get paranoid that you have head lice.

Meme that says "Not sure if head is itchy because I have lice or head is itchy because there is talk of lice."

After that harrowing start to my day, I decided I needed a long hot shower and a change of clothes. So I wore the outfit I should have worn to Love Bug's friend's birthday party. My Pokemon outfit! I had on a black baseball cap that says "Dope" but the O is a pokeball. I also had on my black Miley Cyrus parody shirt that says "I came in like a pokeball" and has Pikachu swinging on a pokeball. And I finished off the outfit with jeans and my black sneakers. This might just be the dorkiest outfit I own.

Me trying to look cool.

Once I'd donned my new getup, I went to visit Love Bug. Who does not have head lice (thank God!) and who is currently learning about Egypt in school.

Two Clinicals and Goats

Today was a full day. I had my school clinical and my overnight adults clinical. I wore my hat outfit to my school clinical. It consisted of a black and white diamond hat, white shirt with tiny black diamonds on it, black suspenders, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. I felt very snazzy. I think I would've fit in well with a swing band.

Me in my school clinical outfit.

Since I had a sizeable gap between the two clinicals, I took some time in between them to go to a local farm. I swung on their swings and watched their goats for a while while I ate a snack.

A brown goat watches me from the fence.

So. Tired.

Today I had work immediately after my overnight clinical. Does anyone else see a sad pattern here? So do I. That pattern is no sleep for me.

Squidward from the cartoon Sponge Bob Square Pants looking completely exhausted with bloodshot eyes and the text "I am not tired" superimposed on the picture.

Anyway, despite the lack of sleep I managed to make it through my scheduled 7-3 shift. I wore my black krav shirt and a black military-style cap with jeans and sneakers.

Me smiling despite the tiredness.

After work I took Love Bug to his classmate's Pokemon-themed birthday party. If I'd known the party was Pokemon-themed I would've worn something Pokemon-themed! Oh well. They had cake and pizza and happy kids so it was fun and Love Bug seemed to enjoy himself.

Crashing.

Today I went straight from my adults II overnight clinical to my public health school clinical. To say it was brutal would be an understatement. I went to sleep the second I got home, and all I want to do right now is stay asleep but I have to go back to the overnight clinical again. Ugh.

Today's hat is my dad's sunhat that somehow wound up in my closet. I am pairing it with pajamas I stole from Joy and my favorite cat slippers. Because I am too exhausted to change into anything even remotely stylish.

My Dad's hideous floppy tan safari hat.

The rest of my ridiculous outfit is hidden under this blanket.

At least my cat approves of my fashion choices?

Esh sniffing the cat slippers.

Work and Overnight Clinical

Today I have work and an overnight clinical. Yikes! I'll obviously be changing into scrubs for the clinical, but here's my hat outfit of the day:

Selfie of me wearing my outfit of the day.

I'm wearing a grey cap, a white shirt with thin grey stripes, grey slacks, and black shoes. As it turns out, I really like this cap. And this outfit.

Me again. I think I need to shave. But also I kind of like the scruff.

Clinical Day

Today I had my first public health clinical followed by an LGBT Asylum Task Force meeting.

For my public health clinical, I'm working with a school nurse. I'll be going to the elementary, middle, and high schools in this clinical and I'm really excited about it since school nursing is a type of nursing that really interests me. I love working with kids and the hours of school nurse jobs are honestly ideal for a single parent since I'd be on the same schedule as my kids.

Since I had to look professional for my clinical, I wore a floral button-down, blue vest, cap, and slacks. I was nervous as first but I had an awesome first day. The nurse I was shadowing was wonderful and I liked the kids and the job so I was happy.

Me in my clinical outfit.

Crappy Crap and Funny Story

I haven't written in a week because I was anxious and then upset by some crap medical news. But I'm back to myself today and have a fun work anecdote for you. First, watch Miley Cyrus' music video for the song Wrecking Ball:

And now look at this image of a person in a hoyer lift:

Person in a hoyer lift with the text "I came in like a wrecking ball" over it.

Today at work I had a teenager who was anxious and stressed about being hoyer lifted to the shower. So I asked if I could serenade him and I started singing this song. When it got to the chorus, I told him he was the chorus and hoisted him in the lift. He thought it was hilarious.

Day of Rest

This month has been bananas so far.

I left off on Tuesday of last week. On Wednesday I visited Love Bug and went to ASL class. In ASL class I learned about the Nelson Mandela Memorial debacle that happened back in 2013 that I had no awareness of at the time. President Obama was giving a speech when the ASL interpreter Thami Jantjie made a bunch of fake signs. Think: random gesticulations that meant exactly nothing in ASL. This would have been bad enough, but the problem wasn't addressed until the speech was over and Deaf folks thought that if Jantjie had been fake translating an oral language the problem would've been handled far more quickly. Yikes!

Meme of Thami Jantjie. The top shows him fake signing and it says "what we saw."
The bottom shows Mr. Bean making a ridiculous gesture and it says "What deaf people saw."

On Thursday I went to my church's Blue Christmas service. This was actually really helpful to me since I've been feeling kind of down about not having Mom around for Christmas (or her birthday which was December 2nd).

On Friday I had my pharmacology final. Yikes! I crammed like crazy and I think I passed but that final was hellish.

Princess Bride meme that says "The next time I see that pharmacology exam... I will say to it: Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my GPA... Prepare to die."

Saturday was Love Bug's birthday. Yay! He turned fourteen. I had to work which in this case was lucky since it meant I was there all day and I was able to set up the party. His grandma, mom, little sister, aunt, and cousins all came and he was SO EXCITED to see them. I was happy for the chance to meet the family members I didn't know.

Photograph of a light blue tinted cake with fourteen candles on it.

The rest of the week was just more finals. So many finals. But now they're done and I've passed my first semester of nursing school!

Meme of Frodo that says "It's over: The first semester of nursing school is done."

I celebrated the end of finals week by visiting Love Bug again and then driving to look at other people's over-the-top Christmas light displays. Here is a terrible picture of the most ridiculous light display I could find:

Blurry photograph of a light display with various animated Christmas things such as toy soldiers and Santa Claus.

The last thing that happened this week which bears mentioning is that Wolfie got my Christmas present - a crèche. Here she is playing with it:

Wolfie moving the figurines around.

Today's big task was decorating my Christmas tree. Huzzah!

Esh decided to help me.

Mayim was unsure about this whole Christmas tree thing so she hid in the kitchen shelving.

The tree.

Closeup of the tree topper.

That's it. I will leave you with this photo of my cats:

Esh (left) and Mayim (right).

Pathophysiology and Waldo

Today I had my pathophysiology review. I'm a little lost on the hematology parts. Sigh.

Meme that says "The day will come when I will understand hematology
but it is not this day."

After my review session, I went with Waldo and Belle to Waldo's mom's restaurant for dinner.

Belle, Waldo, and me in front of the Christmas tree at Waldo's mom's restaurant.

Still Chugging Along

Nothing new to report. I'm still chugging along with school and work. Today I had my maternity clinical.

Art of a peanut parent giving birth to a tiny peanut.

The other thing I did today was take a few house photos. Here you go:

My kitchen.

My favorite dinosaur planters.

The plant windows in the library.

And here's some random graffiti just because...

Sharpie on wood that says "God is coming back soon."

Thanksgiving Times Three

Wednesday was the first day of Thanksgiving break. I worked 7-3 and then visited Love Bug. I initially wanted to see him on Thanksgiving but his family is visiting then so I figured the day before was just as good. I read him a couple of books and we practiced playing catch. He likes playing with the ball but not so much throwing it back to me. He's pretty happy when it lands in his lap, though. We'll work on it. After hanging out with Love Bug I went to my church's Thanksgiving service and dinner - mostly out of curiosity since Thanksgiving is such a colonialist, racially loaded holiday and I wanted to see how they would handle it. I was pleased that they didn't just whitewash the history of the day, but I probably won't go again.

Thursday was officially Thanksgiving and I visited my family for an early meal aka my second Thanksgiving. This cartoon pretty much sums up family Thanksgiving:

Cartoon of two white people in military helmets in front of a seating chart titled "Operation: Seating Chart." One of them is saying "Aunt Millie is an alt-righter and Cousin Jimmy is a socialist, but if we seat the Episcopalians between all of them I think we have a shot at keeping the peace."

Then I went to visit friends for a queer vegan Friendsgiving aka my third Thanksgiving. Friendsgiving was my favorite one because there was no pressure and I could actually eat everything since it was vegan.

Me in my Thanksgiving attire.

Table for four (the fifth guest came later).

Dinner!

Four of the five people at Friendsgiving.

After Friendsgiving, I rushed off to work the overnight shift, which I then did again Friday night. I crashed for an extended nap after the overnight shift, then it was back to work for the 3-11. Then Sunday was church and another 3-11. I was a very tired me.

Me wearing house elf ears and frowning because I am overworked.

Today is Monday and all I have to do is sleep and study. Tomorrow I have two tests and a doctor's appointment. The fun just never stops around here. Sigh.

Meme that says "Yo dawg, I heard you like anxiety attacks so here's two nursing tests a week for the whole semester."

Almost Break

Thanksgiving Break starts on Wednesday but first I have to get through tomorrow's pharmacology class. I have spent so much time studying pharmacology. Bleh.

Meme that says "Pharmacology: Study ALL the drugs!"

Meme of Hermione that says "I just have to tell myself that I am Hermione,
nursing school is Hogwarts, and pharmacology is potions class."

I certainly hope potions class wasn't as miserable as pharmacology. But it probably was.

In other news, I talked to the pastor and officially joined my church. Hadwen Park Church is my new church home. Yay!

Hadwen Park Church. Isn't it cute?

Test and Pumpkins

Today was my pharmacology test. I am NOT a fan of pharmacology.

Gollum meme. It says "We must study the pharmacology... but we hates it!"

At least I got to dress up in Halloween attire for the occasion?

Me ready to behead my pharmacology test like I've beheaded the metal skulls in my necklace. 

After my test I visited Joy and Mini T for pumpkin carving!

Me carving a pumpkin.

Joy carving a pumpkin. She'll probably kill me for putting up this photo since she her hair isn't done.

The finished pumpkins.

Mini T trying to make a vampire face like the pumpkin.

Mini T even drew a picture of the experience...

Mini T and her drawing.

I'm the blue dude with glasses because "I didn't have any white people skin color."

Mini T's drawing.

I think her drawing is cute and I'm putting it up on my fridge when I get home. Pumpkin carving definitely made today better.