Throw away your television.

"The television, that insidious beast, that Medussa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little." [Ray Bradbury]

For a while now I have been wanting to cut back on mindless hours (yes, hours) that I spend each day staring at a screen. There are books to read, things to cook, languages to learn, trails to explore, rivers to traverse, and gardens to plant! I have decided to become unfrozen, untransfixed, and flex my muscles before my brain and my body become atrophied. I am going to climb a mountain instead of watching an actor do it; I am going to claim my youth.

On the list of things I will never do again:

Try and wax my own legs.

This past weekend I went to Boston to visit my Orthodox friends who go to college up there. It was a terrific weekend. To sum it up:

• Despite spending a buttload of $$ on a train ride, they do not provide free wifi, making online classwork damn near impossible to complete during the 5 hours you alloted for said work.
• Boston is a wonderful city, has absolutely no sketchiness (compared to when you've been to NYC and a lot of small cities in Jersey) despite what the inhabitants seem to think.
• I am definitely applying to Boston University for next fall and probably some other colleges in the surrounding area.
• Boys like to gossip. WTF.
• Absolut Boston tastes like black tea.
• Your hair will never look good when it counts.

I am working Monday-Monday this week with the exception of Thursday which royally sucks, but watchya gonna do. I have a Macroeconomics test to complete (and the accompanying coursework to do beforehand) and a 2 assignments for American Lit. Oh, and I completely bitchslapped my Basic Arrhythmia test yesterday, so that's something major to check off my list. 

My room needs to be cleaned, laundry needs to be done, and I need to finish putting together my desk now that the missing parts have arrived in the mail. I would also like to take my kayak on her maiden voyage while the weather is still nice (I finally got the cords to secure it to the top of the car!!). I should probably read some instructions on operating a kayak before taking it out, but I'm sure I won't and will just wing it. Kinda like throwing a small child in the pool to learn how to swim. Minus the child abuse.

Have a good week!

Productivity

Damn. I have not been efficiently using my time lately. Granted, I've been a little busy working 40 hour weeks (which is a bitch, by the way) in the ER. A few months ago when I decided to take a year off from school to work full time I made a huge list of self improvement issues I'd like to accomplish.

1. Buy Rosetta Stone: Learn French
2. Practice the piano. Finally learn how to sight read.
3. Get a passport.
4. Buy a car.
5. Take a handful of online classes to stay in the school game.
6. Apply to kick butt Northeastern universities for the fall. Write killer admissions essays. Be accepted. Get scholarships. Be scholastic genius.
7. Join gym. Become lithe and limber.
8. Stop eating crap.
9. Read enlightened and intellectual novels on the BBC's top 100 list.

Well. So far, I've enrolled in Macroeconomics and an American Literature class and done a terrible job at staying on top of my assignments and being involved (as much as one can be in an online class).  Oh, and I bought the Princeton Review's Best Northeastern Colleges book which is lying unopened on my desk. And the last 3 books I've read were trashy romance novels.

It all ends HERE. From hence forth, I vow to be Juliana, slender full time employee/part time student with impressive hobbies who eats beautiful fruits and vegetables and has a passport and car and saves her money and doesn't waste time who can speak french and murder Beethoven on the piano. BAM.

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up 

like a raisin in the sun? 

Or fester like a sore-- 

And then run? 

Does it stink like rotten meat? 

Or crust and sugar over-- 

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags 

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

 Langston Hughes

The American Museum of Natural History

I went to The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan with my brother Nic and it was fantastic. 

I have roughly 2 weeks before I start my job and I want to have little vacation days like this as well as get organized and relax.

Lots of belated news to share:

1. I graduated nursing school on May 13, and was presented with the Excellence in Writing award for a paper I wrote on dealing with difficult families in the critical care setting.
2. I passed the NCLEX on Friday, June 12, allowing me to tack some letters onto the end of my name. So cool.
3. I was offered (and accepted) a full time job as a nurse in the Emergency Room at the hospital a few blocks from my house, starting July 6. 
4. I made the decision not to live away at The College of New Jersey in the fall, instead staying at home and commuting with the (hopefully) badass car I will be purchasing. 
5. I chose my courses for the fall: International Studies 200, French 101, and The History of the 19th Century British Novel.