Tuesday, January 26, 2010

sleep deprived

Last night I consumed too much alcohol and woke up dehydrated and really, really tired. I now have the privilege of watching the dinosaur who is currently dormant. I am beyond tired. I've had 3 cups of coffee, and I could still fall asleep in a second if allowed to. Unfortunately for me, there is a work man by the name of Dennis who is currently banging on the doors and causing a commotion. If he wakes up the dinosaur I will have some words for him...

Ok, so hangover aside, I do worry about my sleeping habits. Last night I slept for 7 hours and I can't concentrate on simple tasks like reading a book or keeping my eyes open. This is cause for concern. Typically I will sleep about 10 hrs if given the choice, but realistically I can survive on 8 hrs or so if I supplement my day with caffeine. I have 62 more days to figure out how to keep going on limited amounts of sleep.

When the program starts I will have to figure it out fast. Basically, my first quarter of classes will start at 8 a.m., which means I have to leave my apartment at 7-7:15 a.m. at the latest. I'm not much for morning showers, but I need to set up some sort of routine that allows me to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast in an hour's time (because there's no way in hell I want to be up before 6 a.m.). When I start clinicals the following quarter, I will have to be at the hospital before 7 a.m. Depending on where I am placed, my morning schedule shouldn't vary too much. Most of the hospitals in midtown are within 10 minutes of where I live, so I would still be waking up at 6 a.m.

If I have to be awake at that god awful time in the morning, then I'll have to really adjust my evenings. Normally I'll go to bed sometime between 12-1 a.m. That is really not going to jibe when I start classes, so at the very latest I should be in bed by 10 p.m. (which makes me feel really young, or really old). I do have difficultly going to sleep, so I might need to go see my doctor for some sleeping aides. Benadryl usually works for me, but I am pretty groggy in the morning if I take it (as with most sleep aides).

So far I'm the youngest student that's been accepted into the program this year. Most, if not all, of my classmates are over the age of 30, and have kids. That means that they are used to waking up at 6 a.m. to either go to work or to feed a hungry baby. In a certain way that gives them an advantage over me because they know how to function on lack of sleep. My friend Sarah wakes up daily at 7 a.m. and always looks put together when she came in for class. I however, woke up 15 minutes before I had to leave for class and probably in rough shape with smeared mascara and ratty old jeans and tshirt on. If given the opportunity to sleep an extra 30 minutes, or take a shower, I mostly always pick the sleep.

I know that I sound impatient for the program to start, and I really am, but I should probably use these two months of relative freedom to eat, sleep, and be merry because starting in late March I'll be a slave to the books again.

Anyway. The dinosaur is awake and growling at me to feed her lunch. Le sigh. I hope I get a nap this afternoon....

Monday, January 25, 2010

Elephant

I like that the word Elephant is spelled the same in English and French, with the exception of the accents.

I like that it finally stopped raining.

I like Betty and Veronica, but Betty more.

I like to read David Sedaris's essays.

I like the smell of my boyfriends new cologne.

I like having cold feet, and then warming them up with socks.

I like simple, classic sweater sets from Banana Republic.

I like having a cold so I can take a break from the world sometimes.

I like calling my mom crackhead crazy pants.

I like reading books in one day.

I like listening to Damien Rice when I'm a bit out of sorts.

I like jasmine oolong tea.

I like learning about evolution and anthropology.

I like watching the people in Starbucks watch other people, and catching them in the act.

I like Porsche 911 cabriolets.

I like the idea of running 4 miles a day.

I like the smell of gasoline.

I like my boyfriends constant five o'clock shadow.



Today was just a lazy Monday. I like Mondays these days because I don't really have anything specific to do. I can wake up late, and I don't have any school assignments due today. I went to The Bodies exhibit with my friend Sarah today, and got some new running shoes. I still have this weird snobbery with running shoes; I won't buy any other brand than New Balance or Nike. Weird, but those shoes are the only ones that work for me (and the only ones I would allow my mom to get me). I was counting on spending 70$ for some new running shoes to get me motivated for a 5k race in a few months. Technically speaking, a 5k does not require much training, but considering I haven't ran in about 4 months I might need to brush up a bit on it.

When I was competing for kayaking, I always had to cross-train with running and swimming in the winter. I wasn't particularly good at either, but I especially hated running. I guess it didn't help that we had to run up mountains and swim in ice cold water. Eeek. I really do need to go running down in the park today. I have this gigantic park at my disposal, and for some reason I just never go. I guess it doesn't help that it's pretty chilly outside, but there are gale force winds outside as well. I must suffer. I MUST.

63 more days until the program starts. I know I sound impatient right now, but when the program actually does start, I'm sure I'll be griping about how busy I am and how much studying I need to do. Anywho, see you kids later.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Closer. Really.

It's basically impossible for me to sleep right now. The fire trucks in this city have been circling the block for at least 30 minutes now. They are on their fourteenth lap, and I'm starting to wonder why this is. The city is pretty silent, with the exception being loud, blaring sirens every five minutes or so. I lost my ear plugs :(

Today was a good day. I woke up earlier than I have been, and got out to run some errands. I did get raped by my schools bookstore, but it's my fault because I just didn't order my books online. I'm disappointed in the fact that I have to pay for costly books for classes that I don't even need. I'm still playing that waiting game; around two more months to go.

I've started a trial few weeks without drinking coffee, and the data that I've collected leads me to believe I am a much more productive person when I drink coffee. Over the christmas break I watched two seasons of Lost, read 3 books, slept in 20 times, and watched countless other movies on netflix streaming. I did drink a lot of jasmine tea, but it just doesn't have enough caffeine in it. I think tomorrow morning will involve a dark roast from Columbia.

So I'm pretty excited about this year. I caught myself writing 2009 on a piece of paper today, and then I remembered that it's the new year. 2010. You know, I never really knew what I'd be doing right now. I guess the only memory I have of that is riding on the bus in 8th grade looking out the window thinking, "I wonder what I'll be doing when 2010 rolls around". Well, here it is, and finally the firetrucks have stopped.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy New Years Y'all

I think it's time for a little background information on myself. I posted a blog a while ago about random things to know about me, and I kind of left a hole where I talked about religion. I knew eventually I would revisit this topic, but I just wanted to think more about what I really believe (or don't believe). I kind of have to start at the beginning, so if you aren't into thinking outside of the box, and just want to read about RT then just skip this post.

I grew up in a very very very southern town about an hour north of Atlanta. Everything about my life was middle class. I had a bike, a nice neighborhood with friends, a chocolate lab named Maggie, and a loving family. The beginning of this story takes place while I was in middle school. I was 12 years old, and just trying to figure out why I was starting to like boys. I did all the normal things that my peers did, including going to FCA (fellowship christian athletes) meetings in the morning before class began.

I went to FCA because it was prime socializing in the morning, and it also meant I didn't have to wait in the gym before going to homeroom. It was basically my way of hanging out with friends. I never really put much thought into the religious songs we sang, or the talks about the bible. I just kind of did it, because everyone else was.

I didn't really go to church with my family. If I did go, it was because I had spent the night with a friend, and their parents made us go. The only thing I didn't like about going to church was that I had to wake up early, and everything else about christianity made sense to me. This all changed with two separate events.

The first thing that happened was an incident at a church. I was with my friends at a church close to my house one Sunday morning. I remembered telling my friends that I was unsure of the virgin birth, and a few other fairy-tale-sounding stories. I guess I scared my friends, because they ran off to tell the youth minister, who then had a little "chat" with me. Basically, I was put in a room with this youth minister while he told me I was going to go to hell unless I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart.

Now to a 13 yr old, the whole notion of letting Jesus save me was a confusing notion. What was he saving me from? My life that was already pretty nice? It confused me, and I pretty much stopped the FCA meetings and going to church at that point. I still considered myself a christian, but I just didn't feel the need to go to church and be berated by some metrosexual middle-aged dad in a mid life crisis.

Anyway, the next thing that happened was 7th grade biology class. I found my first love in mitosis. Me and Biology were made for each other. I really loved my teacher. She did such an amazing job of making science interesting and fun. I still remember this day; February 23rd 1998, I first heard of Charles Darwin and his amazing theory. It was like a light bulb went off in my head, and I started realizing that there was so much to learn.

As I went around learning more and more evolution, my peers started to notice. For a while I just told people I had morning kayaking practice, which is why I wasn't at FCA anymore. Eventually, someone asked me if I still believed in God, and I said no. I'm not exactly sure why I said no then, because I was still trying to decide what to believe.

Fast forward to the present tense. Im pretty much settled in my non-belief of the omnipotent, omnipresent,and omniscient God. I would consider myself to be Agnostic.

I am just not religious. It's cool if you are, but I am not.

I'll see you kids next week