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.

I got a call today from someone who began the conversation with the query: "You recently visited The Melting Pot, correct?" Thoughts raced through my head: Could this be the girlfriend of the waiter I slipped my number to with the check? The manager calling to inform me I was no longer welcome due to sexual harassment? The waiter's mother warning me against being a shameful hussy and giving my phone number away so freely? 

Turns out, I gave out my number twice in one night and I have a better chance 

of winning a free spa party then I have of getting a date. Oh shucks.

It was a bit of a tragic day... I got a flat tire (or as my father so frankly put it to the mechanic: "She didn't get a flat, she destroyed it") on my way to take my exam. Luckily, because I was sick, I got an extension on the original day to take the test and it was just waiting for me in the testing center with no really start time assigned to it. 

Waitressing yielded $80, making it a decent night. My boss's dad and his 2 best friends are regulars in my section on Friday night and tonight one of the guys mentioned he'd found "a good Irish boy for you: 24, a state trooper, he's going to come meet you". I said, "You don't have to fix me up, you know". To which he replied, "Well you're not doing so hot on your own". Whaaaaat. But it's true... oi.

• Room slightly better. very slightly. I really just pushed everything off the side to make room to dance.
  
• Health (I got the flu 10pm Monday night) improved; sore throat remains.
• Test Studied for about 5 hours today, felt more comfortable before that, taking it in the AM.
• Essay well, I got some research done...
• Current idea for husband An Alaskan fisherman, thanks to watching the entire first season of The Deadliest Catch over the past 2 days.

My room has fallen into terrible disarray:

I think I will go to the laundromat tonight, wash the whole lot, and study at the same time.

Today, while waitressing, I lifted my leg up onto a chair. My inseam ripped exposing my inner thigh. 

I need to start exercising more...

Well, today I went to the library to be productive. On the way in, I jammed my toe making me shriek and stumble 4 times, floundered to regain some semblance of balance. A man asked me if I was okay and I said "That's why I never did well in dance class", and I ran away. (I have never been in a dance class.) 

The mistake I made was bringing my laptop with me when my goal was to escape distractions. I did get more done than I would have at home which is a  + . But I do need to break down exactly what needs to be done over the next few days so that I have a sense of urgency to get my rear in gear.

Friday: 

9 am: Breakfast/Organizing a group project at a diner.

11 am: Project proposal/presentation to the Program Director at Middle Earth.

Read Chapter 13! 

4:30 pm: waitressing at Mannions: Read and finish Care Plan I in down time.

Saturday:

9 am-2:30 pm : Accepted student orientation at The College of New Jersey (!!!!)

Read Chapter 15-16

6 pm: Vigil

Sunday:

9:30 am : Liturgy

2:45-11:15 pm : Work in the ER 

Bring book in case of a one:one.

Monday:

8:30-11:20 : Trends Class (shall I skip?)

Read Chapter 14.

Begin reviewing.

Tuesday:

8-5:30 : OB clinical.

Finish Care Plan II there!

Wednesday:

Review all notes, information, diagrams, handouts.

Thursday:

Take test. Have class.

Begin Paper!

Well, I have ignored this blog for a while now. Since my last posting I turned 20, got a job at the hospital in town as an ER tech, was pulled over for the first time (no ticket!), am about a month away from graduating nursing school,  and I've been accepted into The College of New Jersey's International Studies program for the fall! All very exciting things :)

My room has been clean for about a week now--a personal record. 

I've been keeping fresh flowers in a jar on my desk making 

studying a pleasant experience. It began with yellow tulips, then daffodils and now:  

As for eating right, I went the whole month of January without eating fast food (well,  I had some Arby's curly fries towards the end, but that doesn't count, right?) Since then I don't seem to have the appetite for it like before. I would like to try and eat more fresh unadulterated food. What an interesting experiment it would be to try and avoid any packaged or premade food whatsoever for a period of time. Maybe I will try it over the summer.

I feel organized at the moment. Let's see if I can keep it up!