YKYW - Nursing Student Blog

I upgraded my software to Wordpress 2.0 last night, so if anything is wompyjawed, let me know.  I’m also working to install a photo gallery, but I didn’t get it finished.  Right now, I’m installing Gallery2 but we’ll see how it goes.  My quote plugin still appears to be working, too!  It had been awhile since I’d messed with my site, so it was actually a lot of fun.

It makes me wonder if I will miss being a geek.

Wait, there’s no way I could ever stop being a geek.  It doesn’t matter what I’m getting paid to do.

Whew.  I feel better now.

A pro-life group is protesting Planned Parenthood’s sale of a line of ‘condom key chains’ that include a takeoff on Michelangelo’s famous Sistine Chapel image in which the hand of God gives a condom to Adam.

The abortion provider is in a “never-ending quest to sexualize everything in our culture,” said Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League’s STOPP International. Some of the 28 versions of the key chain, sold by Planned Parenthood of Connecticut, are “blasphemous,” asserted Sedlak, who urges Americans to contact local schools and churches and insist “that the promiscuity promoters at Planned Parenthood not be allowed anywhere near our children.”

The money quote from the comments section:

“The people who came up with the Catholic school girl outfit don’t get to talk about other people sexualising anything.”

Personally, I wish I had more reasons to carry around condoms. These keychains are hilarous!

Hat Tip — Dahne, Worldnet Daily, Pandagon

Washington, D.C. (AP) - Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be out-sourced to India as of February 1, 2006. (more…)

Yesterday I discovered that my anatomy teacher knows my name. This is either a really good thing, or a really bad thing. At least she manages to keep my attention in class. To illustrate the properties of chemical bonds, she said they were like marriages. The type of bond dictated who got what in the divorce. Hydrogen bonds are not only polyamorous, but tend to keep a mistress on the side. Whatever works, right?

Last night after class, we headed down to Fort Worth to check out The Ultimate Lesbian Short Film Festival. I’d never been to one of these types of things, but I had a good time. I even managed to win a door prize! Granted, it was a movie that I’d never heard of and has subtitles, but since I’m on a losing streak lately, I’m not complaining. We had dinner at Uno’s beforehand and decided to go back for dessert after the show. We met some new people and had some laughs. Good times!

I bought a pretty new purple, err, excuse me - lilac, stethoscope for my health skills class. We are supposed to learn how to take vital signs tonight. I’m going to practice on SK

Ask me tomorrow about how many times the instructor told me to “axe the patient.” I have to do something to keep myself entertained.

Whether you call it sodoko, sodoku, soduko, soduku, sudoko, sudoku, suduko or suduku, you can’t help but noticing the world is in love with these fun puzzles. Here’s a cool website with a daily sudoku puzzle.

Here’s a new webcomic called Home on the Strange. It just started on Monday. Check it out!

Whew, the first week of school is over! I’ve been just a little stressed out this week, but hopefully things will start to settle down and I will fall into a rhythm. I’m actually trying to be organized this time around. I love automatic reminders!

While reading through my last few entries, I realized readers might be confused about what I’m doing taking so many health classes. Why would a computer geek need a Health Professions Management class? Well, I’ll tell ya…

The whole time I was growing up, I wanted to enter the medical field. For awhile, I wanted to be a veterinarian, and then a neonatal nurse. When I broke my arm in eighth grade, I became familiar with orthopedic surgery and decided I’d found my career path. All through high school and entering college, I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. However, when I got to college, I just wasn’t ready and life got in the way. I wound up finding the job with Microsoft, and never went back to school.

After making the decision to go back to school, I did a lot of soul searching, and poured my heart out to SK. She encouraged me to follow my dreams, and pointed out that if I wanted to go back to school and change career paths, this was a good time to do it.

And so, I’m trying to get into one of the medical programs at a local college. Currently, I’m aiming for the Radiologic Technology program, but I’m also considering a couple of others like Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Echocardiology Technology and Invasive Cardiovascular Technology.

At the end of this semester, I will have all of my pre-reqs done for the x-ray tech program, and I would need another 10 hours of pre-reqs for the other programs. All of these programs are very competitive, and GPA is very important. For example, the x-ray tech program only admits 24 students each year. Last year, a few hundred applied and 67 people had a 4.0 GPA.

A 4.0! Knowing this, I must get an A in anatomy, algebra and psychology if I wanted to get into the program. The other classes are considered “support” classes and are used to break the GPA tie.

So, hopefully that explains a little bit better about why I feel so harried lately. Hopefully, once I get into the swing of things, I will calm down and not be so bitchy all time.

SK is a saint for putting up with me.

Today, I begin the most challenging (self-imposed) portion of my life. During the last few days, I’ve been really eager to get started…so I can get it over with.

What was I thinking?

(Yes, yes, I know there is other stuff going on in the world. But come on! I’m nervous here, people. Cut me some slack.)

I had a hard time sleeping last night. My brain wouldn’t stop turning over possibilities, weighing options and trying to plan my day. I needed to buy my books, adjust my class schedule, get a registration sticker for my car, pack for my trip to Houston and go to the store. How could I fit it all in? Do I have room for another class in my schedule? I was signed up for 13 hours; should I sign up for another class?

It’s amazing how much things can change in just a day.

I’m now registered for 20 hours:

Anatomy & Physiology I
General Psychology
College Algebra
History Since 1876
Pharmacology
Health Professions Skills
Health Professions Management

I must be outta my mind.

Since life’s about to get really busy, I’m going to go down to Houston to visit my sister and the boys for a couple of days before school starts.

After spending a great afternoon chasing around kidlets and visiting with family, SK and I came home and watched 8 Mile. Right now, my life can be summed up with one line from “Lose Yourself,” the theme song of 8 Mile:

Success is my only mothafuckin option

School starts in a week. This semester, I’m going to be a full time student. I’m signed up for the last pre-reqs that I’ll need in order to move toward the degree program I want. But, the program has selective admission. Historically, it’s taken a 4.0 to get into the program. I must make an A.

I’m so stressed about it that I woke up in a cold sweat because I dreamed I’d made an 88 in my anatomy and physiology class. That’s just…sad.

This is what my schedule looks like right now:

Anatomy and Physiology I
Pharmacology
General Psychology
Health Professions Management

I also need College Algebra, but I’m hoping to test out of it on Monday. I’ve been trying to review for it since I haven’t studied math in 10 years. If all goes well with the CLEP test, I might pick up a history or government class.

The road in front of me is exciting, but I’m still nervous as all get out.