Monday, March 30, 2009

I Don't Live in a Dream

EDIT:
UCSD FAILS
Sucks for them!

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Oh geez. Have you ever felt like so much stuff has happened and, at the same time, almost nothing has happened? That is exactly how I feel right now.

To make this easier for my frazzled mind... I'll make the greatest list known to mankind:
- We (me, Allyse, Sarah, and Renae) were approved for off-campus housing! I'm about 75% sure we will be living in an apartment next year... which means it will be party time all the time! Unless I have to study. So maybe not.
- I got a 92% on my pharmacology test. YES!!! For those of you who don't understand nursing test scores... that's like me scoring a 107% on a regular exam. On my last nursing test I scored and 84% and when I found out I started dancing in the hospital during clinical so you can only imagine what I was doing with a 92%.
- Went out to dinner with a bunch of friends (to Cheesecake Factory) and decided that cheesecake isn't as gross as I once thought. I'd still take a brownie any day though.
- Went the The Rescue screening for Invisible Children! It was tizzzight yo. However I just realized that my gospel choir concert is that weekend in LBC...
-Speaking of gospel choir, we performed at a national conference. And it was freaking amazing.
- I did the "booty slap" in kickboxing class. That's right.
- Finally organized all of my flashcards! I now have two very pretty grey boxes full of flash cards. That is how I keep my sanity.
- I finally saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Role Models. Role Models = a boatload of cursing. Pretty funny though. Forgetting Sarah Marshall = funny but also dirty. Definitely some uncomfortable scenes. There's also male nudity (yes frontal) but nothing I haven't seen in the hospital...
- Talked to an amazingly cool Russian lady (Anna - pronounced Awn-yah) about her culture. I'll post about that later.

I'm feeling so great right now! Seriously. I feel like I'm finally on the road to... something good. I don't quite know what it is yet but I'm liking the journey.

Maybe more has changed than I originally thought.

Disjointed post, I realize but I'll post another (non-disjointed) one soon.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Epiphanies occur at random times!

In nursing school we are taught how to take care of our patients in the hospital. We are taught about diseases and their manifestations, their complications, and how to effectively manage or treat them. We’re taught how to position and reposition patients in their beds, how to give a proper bed bath, how to correctly administer drugs. We practice in the clinical lab. There are five beds and five dummies. Five curtains, five bedside tables, five O2 machines.

But here’s the thing… that’s not how life really is! Diseases manifest differently in each patient, complications arise with no warning, and it’s much harder to reposition that 250 lb COPD patient than it was to reposition your 140lb healthy classmate. Bed baths will always be uncomfortable for you and the recipient, and your patient will never act like a dummy unless he or she is unconscious and then you’ve got a problem on your hands.

LIFE IS MESSY!
I don’t know how many times I’ve said/thought that but just five minutes ago I had this epiphany. Life is messy. And it’s not going to get any un-messier. This doesn’t just go for the hospital setting. Friendships, relationships, school, work, family, what have you… it’s all not going to be black and white. Personally, I like black and white. I like knowing what is right and what is wrong. I’m also always right. So this whole “life is messy” thing can seriously mess with my mind. And it has, it currently is, and it will in the future.

And even though I wish everything was black and white with no shades of grey, if I force myself to try and see objectively, I think that would take a lot of the fun out of life. Take relationships as an example. Without those shades of grey… where would the fun be? I think the fights, the cuddling, the good times, the bad times, the boring times, the sad times, and all the times in between are what make a relationship so special. That goes for our relationship with God. What fun would it be if we had a set of very specific guidelines to follow to make our way to Jesus? No fun! And we don’t. God made it that way for a reason!

So, life is messy. But here’s the thing, I’m not going to stop my life and try to make it black and white. I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying to figure out the “right” way to do something. That’s a waste of time. And it prevents my ability to change and adapt to life. I don’t want my life to get stuck in a routine. Don’t get me wrong here, routine can be a good thing but routine can also stop you from experiencing all of the joy that life has to offer. Routine can stop you from truly appreciating this AMAZING world that God created for us. It can stop us from being amazed by God ALL THE TIME even though we should be. And it can stop us from meeting new people, from trying new opportunities that come along, and from opening ourselves up to others and experiencing the joy and pain that comes with it.

I’ll end with some quotes. Yes, there is one from Grey’s Anatomy. Just because I know how much you all love it.

“Just because I’m losing
Doesn’t mean I’m lost
Doesn’t mean I’ll stop
Doesn’t mean I will cross.”
-Lost! By Coldplay

“Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying.”

“Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. So, you can waste your life drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.”
-Grey’s Anatomy

And I was just reading this verse the other night and I just wanted to share it, especially during this time of Lent.
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
Mark 8:34-37

I have 13 minutes....

Before class starts so of course I was just checking FAILblog and I stumbled upon this great video.


Enjoy. :)