A Day In(side)...

What? No mailing addresses pouring in? Such a shame. But I've got three with stamps on them going out today.

And that will probably be the most I go outside today. I'm supposed to be writing these "annotated bibliographies" for class that are due at the end of the month. There's only 5 of them, and they're only a page and a 1/2 long, but I'm so disinterested in doing them that Ive been at 'home' here doing them for the last 5 hours. Sort of. I took a movie break a while ago. And they're so EASY. Yeesh. I'll be glad when they're done. I had decided that I'd to 2 this week (done for today, yes!) and 2 next week, and one the week after, leaving me with a full week before they're due. I just want to put as little work in as possible.

I've been trying to make use of the gym/pool card I got a while ago. Yesterday was swimming. Today is gymming. but now it's 5, and I'm pretty sure that the cardio equip is going to be in use....blarg. I was thinking I might go for a run, or do the stairs at Wreck Beach. Did I mention there were 440 of them? That's 880 stairs if you come back up. It's great for the back of your thighs, I'll tell ya!

Tomorrow, my brother turns 19. I've given my mom orders to buy him a "muff diver" at Kelly O's when they take him out. I'm pretty sure she has no idea what that means. I just hope they take a picture. bwahahaha.

OH! Also, I've been sending letters out lately. I like it better than emailing when it comes to just catching up with people. Send me your mailing addresses, everyone!

OK, so I've been MIA, but I've been a busy woman!

This pic was from the opening of the "Tatau: Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture" exhibit. It featured Polynesian dancing and was pretty much the highlight of my week. Lots of singing and really fun dancing. The Exhibit itself was a little blah, but that's because it was all photos and included a bunch of photos of non-polynesians with Samoan tattoos. Meh. Though, maybe I'll get one next time I'm strolling around Apia. bwahaha.

What else have I done since my last post? Lots of shopping. Bought some wicked shoes that I haven't really been able to wear. That, and they've got 5 inch heels so they're not really great walking shoes. more for looking at and sitting down in.

Clinical has been going well. There have been some interesting cases for sure. Kids who are totally normal except for the fact that they hear voices telling them to hurt themselves. I think that's the hardest part though - knowing that these people appear to be leading a normal happy life except for the fact that they're being tormented from the inside out. And then there are the kids who don't believe yet that they're ill. Kids who have no recollection of being in a completely psychotic state and tryingg to drink from the toilets, and so then of course don't really remember being sick, and then don't believe they are.

I think one of the most interesting experiences in clinical has been sitting in on a parent meeting. Any of the parents/grandparents/caregivers are invited to attend this meeting to talk about their kids, meet other parents, and be able to speak with the nurses who are actually taking care of their kids. I guess because I'm a totally new person with fresh ears, I hear "all of your moving your kid around to different schools made it way to hard for your kid to fit in anywhere socially" when the parents sees "I moved my kid around to different schools because he was having trouble fitting in." And, I'm sure my parents are cringing when they read this, but I seen a lot of what these parents are going through at home. Man Alive. Everyone's got problems is the motto, I guess.

Aside from that, I've been going to dance classes at Harbour Dance Centre downtown. I've been three times at three different levels of drop-in classes. Tonight was Intro to ballet. There were kids there who'd never danced before, but it was still challenging. Last week I went to level one, which is supposed to be for dancers with 1-4 years of experience. Now, I may only dance once per week, but I have been doing that for 7 years. I figured I'd be OK. Nuh uh. After we finished barre work, I was a wreck of missing steps and jumping in the wrong direction. I liked the intro/level one class. I've got 7 more opportunities to get into it before I come home, though. I'll keep you posted. AND there were 5 GUYS in the class today. That was pretty fun!

Best news of the day, though, was that I heard that the entire cast of Twilight is staying in Vancouver for filming. Apparently Robert Pattinson was at a bar downtown on Sunday night, just chillin'. I am currently seeking a stalking partner. Please. Anyone. I'll buy the drinks at all the bars we haunt. promise.

To that, I'll add that Tori designed for me an awesome quote for a T-shirt which I plan on making...bwahaha. "...and Buffy staked Edward. The End." Yesss.

Speaking of quotes, here's another from my pal Daver who was visiting us at UBC and who slept in the windowsill for the entire week. Best ever. By the way, it ain't PG. Scroll down, Nanny.
"Imagine all of the guys who played James Bond in the movies. Then imagine Sean Connery turning to Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan and saying 'Look lads, I was James Bond for the better part of 25 years. I've had more p*ssy than you've had hot meals"

Yess. Made me laugh lots.

But I'm past the 1/2 way mark now. crazy! See you soon!

GlobeTrottin'

Did another "week" at clinical. Not too bad. I got to see "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and the Harlem Globetrotters, in Box Seats at GM place. Pretty fun, actually!

My parents were in town the next day, and since my mother had little to do, I took it upon myself to do some entertaining. Yesss. We started off at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe, which had a really funky retro atmosphere. The food was good (though pretty regular breakfast fare), but it was the stuff on the walls and on the window sills and all over the place that made the place so much fun! There were odd sculptures, vintage lunch boxes, a giant fish, bowling trophies, comemorative plates (one of which mom recognized as identical to something we already own), and just generally funky junk.

We hopped on the 44 after that and bussed downtown for some (window shopping) therapy. I took mom to that vintage shop from a few days ago, and we went to the Vancouver Art Gallery. We basically did lots of walking, and oogling (mostly at shoes we could never afford). I did buy a bag from the Betsy Johnson shop, though. Actually, it was on sale, and I'm pretty sure that it was originally designed as a small make-up bag, but it's totally useful as a clutch type purse. Lose it. It's checkered (B/W) with vinyl over top, with a pop-art design on top (big lips calling "TAXI!"). Lovesit.

After all that walking, I met up with the dad and the bunch of us (my brother in tow...) to another fun restaurant for dinner before they drove back to Kamloops. It was the Memphis Blues Barbeque house. Best pulled pork sandwiches ever. I brought some home to Mike and it disappeared pretty quick. But I'm pretty sure I don't need to eat for a while now. *shudder* (I can still hear my arteries clogging).

Knitwise: the grey/blue/white socks are coming along well. The grey scarf is about 3 feet long. I haven't touched the pink socks in a while. Takes too much concentration.

SHOPPING!

yes. Shopping on Robson street in downntown Vancouver. *sigh*. It was a really good day. AND, I got my clinical rotation schedule for the next several weeks which means I can go on planning my life. ah....I'm back in my comfort zone.

I started the day after Mike printed me out a map of the downtown (which turned out to be very useful) and I started the journey into the core of city-ville...alone. I actually don't mind shopping by myself because it means I don't have to worry about catering to the shopping needs of others and I can spend as much time as I like looking in the stores I want to.

First Shop. I won't say. I bought a birthday present for a boyfriend I won't name who might just be reading this blog. But I did buy the coolest pair of sunglasses of pretty much all time. They're plastic frames with circular lenses, and the sunglass part flips up. so great. Oh, and they're yellow and black.

Next, Tom Lee's Music store where I purchased a capo for my guitar. Now I can play MORE music and annoy (or not, considering my "skllz" at rockin' out) Mike's roommates. niceness.

Next, varying shops for which I can't remember the names. But I did come across a store selling "Flashoes" (as my mother and I lovingly call them) They're those black canvas mary-jane type shoes that look like they come from a little asian market somewhere. But they've got a nice little floral pattern on the toe.

Next, I wish I could remember the name of this shop, but it was in the basement of some building near Robson street. It was the most amazing vintage clothing shop. When I came out (after much parousing) I felt quite zen. *sigh* I tried on a few dresses, thinking about convocation coming up soon. Here are some of the lovelies:


YESSS. I picked out the first one saying "ooo, this looks like a fun sequined Gem sweater. It turned out to be a full dress. But I couldn't get the zipper done up all the way, but that's only because I couldn't get my arms that high. The Second one was so great, but I don't think I could have pulled that one off. That zipper didn't go nearly as high as it needed to. But it was so wicked, I didn't care.

But, alas, I had to leave.

My next shop involved a pretty embarrassing (yet comical) moment. While looking at shoes on the way out of a store, I walked head on into a plate glass door. face first. Everyone turned to look and I - laughing- explained. A woman in the store called out "Nobody saw you do it...leave while you still can!" Best thing I've done in a while. It was pretty funny, considering the fact that the door was open about 12 inches away.

I also decided today that I'm pretty "blah" about Lululemon. So many people are willing to buy grossly overpriced sweats that you can get at costco and walmart. I still can't believe that people are willing to pay so much for a sweatshirt just because it's got the logo on it. Of course, this applies to many fashion brands, but I think Lulu bugs me more because it's not that special, really. Like, a pair of haute couture shoes scream "I'm beautiful", whereas Lululemon says "I'm a sweatpant that you've over paid for." I'm not going to judge any of those who buy Lulu (simply because this type of thing has been happening forever and I need to keep friends), but I though that since I have this blog that I can write anything on, I may as well write this.

GO BLOG GO!

Had a fun Valentine's Day. We went to some restaurant in Gastown called "Guu." Good food, but I'd advise against a dish called "Salmon with seven friends," but only because of the raw egg sitting on top.

Went to a friend's place afterwards, and I won't go into much detail about that except to refer you to the picture at right.

Frankly, I'm still a little incapacitated. I didn't get to go for brunch or shopping with my friend while she was here, but I figured it was safer to stay home.

Hope you all had a great day!

Time for a nap. And some Tylenol.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nothing exciting to report thus far today. Just Gooey valentines wishes! Speaking of gooey-ness, I'm going out for a night on the town with some friends (some from Vancouver, some from Kamloops) to a restaurant downtown called "Guu." I think they do some sort of Asian cuisine. Should be great!

I'm thinking I'm going to wear the orange and gold above-the-knee strapless, ruffled cocktail dress that I made for my Nurse's ball and Mike's E-Week gala. That, or nice pants and a stain-ish stop. But that isn't as fun.

Wish me fun!

(T-Rod, this - below- is for you. Happy"non-denominational outward emotion towards others" day!)

Getting Edumacated!

Today was a pretty slow day, aside from the classes at UBC I snuck in on!

Mike took me to some sociology class about the theories of love partner selection. It was a pretty nice class (though I had to sit on the stairs in the lecture hall because the class was so full). Selected theories included Role Theory, Complimentary Theory, and Values Theory. I'm pretty sure that Mike and I fall into all of those theories of selection.

After a break in which Mike went to an actual class of his, he took me to some History-like class. But the purpose of this one was just to observe the prof, who like to take really long dramatic pauses. Fair enough, but I've sat in nursing classes three hours long that could have been done in one. zzzzzzzz.....

I liked the next class. Some sort of Anthropology course, but the prof plugged in a movie at the start of class. GREAT! So I sat back in the theatre seats and learned about early human species. Plus, the movie had clips from Planet of the Apes. Nice.

My day was pretty uneventful after that. Mike and I sought out campus sushi, and we found the office for the UBC dance club (I'm looking to take some ballet classes to keep my dance muscles from going soggy while I'm away). Aaaaaand I'm watching Donnie Darko. Really, a messed up movie.

Day One

I Survived! Yessss.

Wednesday, tired though excited, I ran to catch the 0610am bus to the Hospital.

I missed the 0610am bus.

BUT! Vancouver transit being as great as it is, I caught the next bus 10 minutes later. God I love this bus system.

I was still on time, and the day went pretty smoothly from there.

Below is a picture of my new best friend, the King Edward and Willow Street bus stop outside of the hospital.

My nurse preceptor is pretty cool. I was expecting her to be older, but I like her the way she is. She's pretty relaxed, too, which makes my life so much easier (My stress level dropped about 100 points). She gave me the prerequisite tour de ward, and I realized that I'm really going to like the Adolescent Mental Health ward. The patient acuity isn't has high as I had expected, for sure. They max 10 patients on the ward, and there are enough staff members that no nurse will have to care for more than 3 people at a time. It's quite informal there, and nurses will often eat meals with them (the nurses bring their own, bit sit at the tables with them). The day was pretty smooth. There really wasn't much for me to do, especially when 8 of the kids went bowling for three hours in the afternoon.

My precetor let me off early from my 12 hours shift. Sweetness.

I went back last night to put in another 4 hours (since my schedule right now is in limbo), and it was more of the same. Several of the kids had their parents come in. I'm liking that bit - I mean, it's nice to see that family still comes to see them (unlike what happens with adults admitted to the hospital).

But, "work" aside. I haven't done any knitting for a few days, but I think that's more to do with the fact that I've been rockin' out on my guitar! I've named her Alice. That's just because I want to. Plus, I think an Alice would play the kind of songs I've been playing (which is a lot of Dixie Chicks, Shania, and Taylor Swift, ha!)

I was thinking that I wanted to give her a tattoo, but I'm not sure about what to make that look like, or how best to do it without compromising sound. That, and I was also thinking about open mic night at the UBC pub. Now, of course I wouldn't do that alone - HA! but....I am trying to rope a friend in. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

It's the Little Things...

The day started when Cam phoned me and asked if I was awake. I told him "no."

But he invited me to go shopping with him, and I needed chicken and chocolate chip cookie fixings, so I agreed.

After a successful foray into grocery shopping (for me anyway. Cam was looking for green thread to sew his St. Patrick's Day vest.), which included non-wonder bread (Mike says he only buys wonderbread because it contains so many preservatives that it doesn't go mouldy as fast), I came back to the apartment to get Mike so we could take the trek to Children's Hospital.

So, apparently, I'm supposed to take Bus 25 tomorrow morning. It wasn't difficult to find, which is great, because I've never been relaxed when it comes to taking buses for the first time (read: I'm paranoid of somehow getting lost).

I took the quick tour of the Adolescent Mental Health Ward today. I was greeted at the door by a big guy named Charles who asked me to wait outside for a few minutes because there was a kid inside who was doing his best to get out. (thought I didn't find that out until later). I think I'm going to be OK to start tomorrow at 7am (ick), and everyone there seemed really friendly. I haven't done any "time" with youth and Mental Health, though I have been working at the Mental Health facility in Kamloops. We'll see how it goes!

But the highlight of my day happened on the bus on the way home from the hospital. A woman riding the bus - who appeared to have cognition defecits - stood up and clearly looked concrened. She tried to talk to the bus driver who inored her. Then, she started asking around to other bus riders. She was saying that she couldn't figure out where she was and couldn't remember where she lived and nobody would help her. I tried to help her, though I didn't know the area at all. She didn't appear to have any address information in her wallet. I couldn't help her because I barely knew where I was myself.

There was, however, one woman who decided she would help. She tried talking to the bus driver (who first told her to "step back of the Red Line", and ignored her for a while, too), and then decided to ride the bus and get this woman home. I'm quite sure that she went, literally, far out of her way in order to help this woman. She sat with her, and talked to her about what she might want to carry with her to help prevent her getting lost again. Then she got off the bus with her at UBC to try and start the journey over again. It was then that I stopped her and told her that I thought she was doing a really kind thing today. I told her that I thought it was important to recognize when people are doing good deeds. The lost woman gave me a hug. It was nice.

So, I made curry with rice tonight. Yum. Wish me luck tomorrow!