• I'm an incredibly happy person.

• I love what I'm doing. I like the decisions I've made.

• I worked hard to get here and I freakin deserve it.

• Here's to hoping you get where I am with my life:      loving. it.

Memphis with Em

Support local artists!! Buy their $700 rings. This was fun.

I'm gonna have to try any food item that deems itself to be TASTEE.

Beale Street: alcohol is available everywhere of course!! Its the place to go if you want to see a few goats or  purchase some genital candles!

The goats are located here at this wonderful restaurant! We ate some BBQ nachos and o-rings.
It's good for you AND yummy.

Our best festivity of all was going to see WICKED at the Orpheum Theatre.

The ~GORGEOUS~ Orpheum Theatre!

New Thing Number 8: Being a Nurse

So here is the timeline:
July 12th: interview for highly sought-after job.
July 27th: JOB OFFER!!  (My job offer got extended a week later than other people, so I assumed I did not get it... hrm.)
August 6th: Senior Recognition-- the most interesting graduation speeches ever... hum...
August 7th: My official graduation date!!
Sept 1st: Pre-employment physical. It was a little bit of a hassle because when they were taking my blood pressure, they happened to have noticed my heart beating only 42 times a minute.... so yes. hassle.
Sept 13th: Orientation began. I am still in orientation today. We did computer training. Some people forget that I already know how to right click and scroll.

I'm passing my boards on the 27th. Notice that I did not say may or may NOT pass. I am passing. Mostly because not passing boards is not an option.

So yes. New thing number 8 of the year is being a nurse. So far so good and I am glad to be making some monies. Now I have a lot of decisions to make regarding housing, car, grad school, life, etc etc etc!!! AAAAAHHHH!!! Lol. I am loving it.

Erica is about to come over to study!! We have been pretty good NCLEX study buddies the past little bit...

I'll be honest... its the most productive studying I've done post nursing school.
We are awesome and we are passing boards on the first time.
Congrats to my friends who have already taken their test and passed!!

Hair Cut.

New thing number 7: Cutting my own hair.

So lets be honest, I haven't worked in a couple months (I was in nursing school, and then after I am PRN, so they aren't obligated to give me hours... and ... yeah.) and I DESPERATELY needed a hair cut. So yeah. I didn't do too badly. It looks pretty much the same, just slightly shorter.

Pics?? Not right now, sorry.

ALSO-- Trivia Night!!! Its so fun. We ALMOST won tonight, and we half-won last time.
       I must say that I must go back again so we can get the full win.

Tomorrow morning I have my pre-employment physical and I start my paperwork. My new job is under way!

--NCLEX studying. hooray.

Things Are All Sorts of Good.

I'm awesomely happy with 92% of my life right now... which is pretty dang phenomenal.

I mean, look at what I have done/am doing!! I...

1) graduated

2) registered for boards

3) attained a highly sought-after, fantastic opportunity/job

4) had my Doctors Without Borders Webinar last night

5) hanging around some PRETTY FANTASTIC people.  [what an understatement!!!]

6) have time to climb out of my social interaction deficit.

so could life be better??

I'm always gonna say yes! but I don't really know how...


Side note: New thing number 6 is doing the Big Brother Big Sister program. My interview is Monday!!

Here is the scariest 5 minutes of any young child's life right here




Well, it always freaked me out when I was a kid... 

and you wonder why there are so many crazy people around!!

Jennifer Harmon, [almost] RN

“Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.”

I've spent 5 years getting a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I have a ~very~ sought-after job: I am an RN Intern at UAB. I start orientation on the 13th. These past 5 years have been *absolutely* insane. These years have been the both the BEST and WORST years of my life. I have made amazing friends; these friendships will endure for years to come. These people have supported me in so many incredible ways. My friends have been SO very important to me these past 5 years because they have helped me learn to grow when crazy things happened to me and whatnot, rather than me not meeting the challenge.

This Friday, I will not just celebrate graduation from UAB with a BSN.
I'm celebrating:
--the incredible friendships I made, and the amazing old friends I've kept.
--my family that supports me in what I do.
--the fact that I worked through some difficult sh*t. you have no idea.
--the individual successes all along the way in nursing school.
--hitting all the important nursing career milestones. giving REAL chest compressions, having a patient die on me, starting my first IV, getting blood when the person is a REALLY hard stick, having so many "firsts"...
--the fact that I don't have to wear that heinous all-white uniform anymore
--not dying from mono. or another something something I won't mention here... or even yet another something... or when I totaled my car.
--that I learned how sometimes you have to just let people go out of your life. Its better for you and better for them.
--wearing out my first pair of nursing shoes.
--that I can genuinely love people.
--that I love who I am.
--my compassion.
--that I LOVE what I do.
--I will have time do more things that I love and spend time with people I love.
--that I have a job in this rough economic time!!!
--that I learned to use a planner.
--I learned how to learn. I learned HOW to think. I learned how to REALLY read.
--my appreciation for the arts, music, singing that I gained.
--my emotional, mental, spiritual, and social growth.
--what is to come.

Bad Things.

Bad things happen to me at the end of every semester of nursing school.
--Last semester: got my car nice and totaled!!
--semester before: I was in the hospital.
--semester before that: grandpa died during finals, and I hydroplaned on the way to the hospital and seriously almost died myself.
--and the semester before that: too bad to say/ ended a friendship that was pretty important to me at the time. for some reason.

So excuse me as I get ULTRA nervous and stressed the next few weeks as the semester draws to a close....
as i don't wanna get in another wreck or go to the ER or have someone die on me...

on another note: i have tried new thing number 5: dying eyebrows.
1 time it looked good and the other---well if you see me, you'll know!!

Some Things You May Not Know

I've been in a pageant. I've never been white water rafting. Yellow is subconsciously my favorite color. If money was no object, I would be a "life coach". I <3 photography. I've been spending ~40 hours a week in the hospital this summer for "work". I miss playing guitar. I miss my best friends. I think some people you are MEANT to meet, and some people you just happen to meet. I used to be a pescevegetarian.... for 4 hours. My favorite sport to play is basketball. I love traveling. I love trying new things. I do not like hotels. If it didn't matter that I ate all that sugar, I would eat FrootLoops every day. I think I used to be more funny. I like ultra girly-girl stuff, but I'm not "high maintenance". I prefer sleeping 8 hours a night. There's this TV show that I LOVE to watch, but I'm not gonna tell you what it is. I try really hard not to be such a darned people pleaser. I like giving advice. My favorite part of my job is not having anybody tell me exactly what to do. I'm terrible at drawing. I want to go skydiving. I want to be more of an outdoorsy-type chic when I get done with school and go hiking and camping and mountain biking and stuff. I'm not naturally athletic, but I can get good at a sport if I practice a lot. I REALLY like reading. I can't wait until I get to buy my next car. I'm fairly patriotic. I want to be one of those people that get up and exercise every morning before work, etc, but I am SO not a morning person.... I'm think I have been subconsciously scared of success. I'm not a cry-er. The end for now.

Health

I would like to tell the world that YOU are responsible for your health. There is no health without mental health, so get off your crazy, jacked-up arse and fix it.

The FOURTH New Thing

 
So I have another new thing in my life: Being a PCA. I finished my general hospital orientation and I will start my unit orientation soon. Everbody I've worked with has been absolutely great so far!! Next, I do my unit orientation and I'll be out on the floor. This will be a new and great experience. I will continue to work with cancer patients. (I worked with similar patients this past semester.) Anyway... maybe I will write a more intriguing post soon ;)

#3

New thing number 3 is SPINNING. I <3 spinning.

CRAZY.

 
I am going absolutely bonkers. Seriously about to go nuts. I need something new. I need someWHERE new.
Trussville/Birmingham/Hoover (and the entire state of alabama) is most definitely just NOT cutting it!!
About about to close my eyes, point at a map, and that's where I'm gonna go.

BUT I've been planning on going to New Orleans this weekend! WEW!! Perfect timing...

Jogging.

 

OK. So I previously posted that I was "bad at new thing #2". However, this is not completely true....

I have been jogging, but like 4-5x's per week and I'm jogging farther and make better times on my mile runs.... so yeah, its not a total fail!! and I've been jogging by myself or with Brittany, and its great to have a jogging buddy again~!!

Also... Erica and I go to CRUNK! class and it is pretty fun... I get to work on my "moves"...
The dudes that teach it are soooo funny. I end up laughing half the time

Well, perhaps I minimally entertained you... but I promise to write something interesting soon!

Fail.

......I suck at new thing #2.

New thing #2

New thing number 2 is trying out hardcore running. Due to my lack of being in shape, i guess I have to work up to it. I mean, I hop on the elliptical or do a class at the gym or go for an occasional jog, but this is serious. [I was gonna try out having a personal trainer, but I guess I'm gonna hafta wait until I get out of college...]

So I've heard it takes three weeks to make a habit...
so every day for three weeks, I'm gonna run EVERY DAY. Now I know that hard-core runners are supposed to have rest days and what not... and I'll get to that... but first I'm making it a habit. I'll edit this little post to log my runs and give the location and distance, etc.

here we go:

Sunday, March 7; Outdoor 1/4-mile track: jogged 1.25 miles, walked .75 miles
Monday, March 8; 2-mile Mountain Bike Trail: mostly jogged
Tuesday, March 9; Rec Center 1/8-mile track: jogged 1.25 miles, walked 1.25 miles
Tuesday, March 9; run #2!! Rec center 1/8-mile track: jogged 1.25 miles, walked 1 mile

A Late New Years Resolution

Approximately 3 weeks ago I decided to make a New Year's resolution: try 12 new things this year. I'm not just talking about that new elliptical machine at the gym (though I really liked it... it doesn't count.) So. I shall be averaging one per month, and I decided to start easy: serious indoor tanning.

Now I've had one life experience I label as "the tanning bed incident". I also label it as "the week of burning hell" or "my 10-minute lapse in judgment". This sweet-talkin' (secretly bitter) man told me to stay ten minutes in a high-power bed and I ended up with blisters all over every inch of my body with nothing but some expired aloe from a vindictive red-head to heal the wounds. So this time I am commencing in some SERIOUS indoor tanning, and I decided to do it right. I gathered all my information, gathered the supplies, and found an old acquaintance to hook me up with a 1-month student-discounted membership to the Sun Factory.

While I don't glow in the dark anymore, I'm not particularly tan. (Though I must say that this little tanning foray did not go unnoticed by my friends and acquaintances.) One of my favorite parts about this process has been the responses I get from other people that concerns my "tanning" (might I mention that "pinking" is more accurate???)

From my oncology clinical teacher the day after a too-long stint in the cancer coffin... "Would you like to talk about anything? You look red."
to which I replied "No...it's my life." and responded with a blush that only deepened my pallor.

From that dude I have class with.. "Have you been tanning? You look tan. Are you going to the beach??"
While I responded with "I'm going to Texas," inside I was thinking, "Hooray!! I've been called TAN for the first time ever. Goal: attained."

My most favorite part has been the part where the **uNiVeRsE** has told me to stop. (Also known as Erica, B., Lili, Marcus, my mom, and the American Dermatological Association) Matter of fact, the VERY week I started clinicals I had a patient with melanoma that I had to take care of, and I was coerced into looking up the risk factors. and what are the risk factors you might ask? Blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, fair skin that burns easily, and multiple blistering sunburns before the age of 20. AKA: MEEE!!! You want to see what the risk factors for melanoma are!?!? picture of Jen. there ya go.
Also, ~right~ as I was pulling into the parking lot of the Sun Factory (aka Melanoma Factory) the commercial from the American Dermatological Association comes on telling me:

Don't be stupid with your skin,
It's the only skin you're in....
UV lamps from the tanning bed,
they can turn your skin beet red,
wrinkles come from the UV light,
and age spots make you a frightful sight.
UV light: it gets worse!
skin cancer is a wicked curse.
Don't be the one that's tan and dead,
Use your brain, use your head.

So lets settle the score...
Pros: not glowing in the dark, not having tan lines, those short-term feel good endorphins, and "ensuring I have plenty of time in the 'sun' so my body can make the vitamin D it needs. I mean, a relatively high percentage of Americans suffer from vitamin D deficiency, and I shan't be one of them " [that last one was my original justifications for trying tanning...]
and the Cons:
--that burnt feeling I get after staying in too long
--the "why are you pink??" comments after staying in too long
--skin not as smooth
--the risk of age spots that will "make me a frightful sight"
--the heightened risk of melanoma, since I am one all-encompassing risk factor (except for the family history part)
--costs money, and lets face it: I'm a poor college student.

So all-in-all...tanning: NOT WORTH IT. and I'm not keeping it in my life.

1 new thing down, 11 to go. maybe I will find some new things that I want to keep in my life...

So I shan't be the one that's tan and dead
I'll use my brain, use my head!!

isotretinoin.

i'm usually a happy person.
but for the life of me, i can't be that person right now.
and i'm asking you to just be there and make me laugh....










please.

Studying

There once was a girl named Jen
who studies now and again
when the test comes around
there's no doubt she'll be found
Cramming the info in.

That is my quickly written limerick about me studying for my first test in my adult nursing class...
which is what I should be doing now...
but instead, I am updating my blog with silly poetry...
I'm SOOOOO tired of studying and reading and studying and reading and studying and reading and studying and reading and studying and reading and studying and reading and studying and reading...
I'm only on my first test and I've only had one day of clinicals and I already feel like I need a break.

I think I am experiencing burnout. this is not good. not good at all...

but friends, the good news is that I am ACTUALLY hanging out with peeps tomorrow night... which is good, cuz all I've been up to since saturday is studying!! [well i guess I hung out with a couple folks Sunday evening, but lets face it...50% of that time was me studying at their apartment]

I'm missing out of the UAB basketball game tonight... grrr...
but maybe I'll start out the semester with a good grade on this test??
i'm sceered cuz 24 people failed this class last semester. That is almost 1/4. YIKES! [and I'm not talking about the pencil.]

I Want...

to graduate and get my license fairly quickly.
to go to New Zealand.
to go to Ireland again.
to live somewhere refreshing.
to be good at photography and have an awesome camera that I KNOW HOW to use.
...I also want a couple of other things...

but then... MAYBE. MAYBE I'll go to graduate school. or do Doctors Without Borders... or something.

but there's nothing I want more than............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ;)