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!!

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!!

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.

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.]

NEW BLOG ENTRY

So. EPIC FAIL (cuz I haven't blogged in a while.) It's definitely not because I don't have anything interesting to write about.

It's just that I don't have anything interesting to write about.
However, I must say that this summer is actually infinitely better than last summer, simply because I decided not to work at the good ole BBQ joint called Richard's. That place is enough to ruin anyone's outlook on life. (especially if you decide to try their abnormally sweet collard greens...ew)

SO: I've clean this old lady's house and cut her grass and weed-eat it and edge her yard about once a week... oy. so i've kept my head above water.

THEN... there is the whole nursing school thing. Now don't get me wrong, I *LOVE* the profession I have chosen, but I can honestly say that this summer semester has allowed me to bolster great animosity towards...(well... for lack of a better, non-offensive way to put it) maternal things. I mean hospital-y baby-bearing matters. I honestly don't wanna check your uterus to see if it is boggy or not, and I don't wanna put drops of pee on a little card to test it for various things. and I most DEFINITELY don't wanna see how your lochia is doing today. However, the whole nursing thing on the whole= LOVE.
So to get through the semester I've had to keep my eye on the prize:: GRADUATION and MOVING. SO pheonix, arizona, here I come!! In August of 2010, that is! (Well, maybe... I'm not completely ruling out other places yet)


UNRELATED NEWS: I'm making a third attempt at painting some "modern art" At first I claimed I was creating abstract art, until one of my well-cultured friends pointed out that abstract art is supposed to BE something. So, because of my lack of painting skills, I am creating something that goes under the "modern art" category.

Adieu, my fair readers, and expect another update!!

"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

So I admit it. I am a slacker. Blogging regularly just MAY not be my strong point.
BTW, I drew the title of this entry of the blog from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Christmas break was long and fantastic. Chris and Val and Stephanie came into town and we had a freakin blast~!
Steve got to come into town a few weeks before they did, and of course that was a grand time as well...

So NURSING SCHOOL!!! AHHH!!! As of right now, you could say that I am kicking its butt, but I dunno if that really counts, considering my first validations are tomorrow and my first big test is MONDAY!! and what's amazing is that I've already started studying for it.
I must say I've taken a few large strides this semester by...
1)reading everything I'm supposed to before class
2)adequately preparing for labs
3)studying the week before the test
4) Early to bed, early to rise!! of course one must consider what I think of as 'early' which would be 10:30 pm and 6:30 am....


So I have clinicals in the Veteran's hospital in Birmingham, and it is really a great facility. I was thinking that I got the second-worst choice of hospital, but actually, it is pretty darn nice.
I guess we'll see what i think of the patrons.....

anyway... I absolutely LOVE what I am learning/doing in nursing school (except how to pack wounds and bathe people...ew.)