leaving on a Jet Plane

And I really don't know when I'll be back again.

I suspect I'll be back in Sept sometime, but Mike and I are planning to go away, and there's always the thought that we'll leave directly from Ontario....In that case I wouldn't be back until October, maybe...

I'm excited to go, but I'm going to miss a lot of things...namely my friends (and my hampster, Jude, who according to Air Canada can't come unless I pay $150 for him to go in Cargo. I like him, but...)

I'm leaving tomorrow. eek!

I'll have access to internet in Millbank, but it'll be dial-up, so I won't be hanging out on the compute all the time, probably just long enough to send emails and write the occasional blog post.

I think I'm all packed. My suitcases are zippered up, but there's still the stuff that I'll need before bed and in the morning that I need to organize. I'm going up to Mike's parents' house for dinner tonight...gotta say g'bye.

On that note....G'BYE!

It's Official.

I'm leaving BC on Tuesday, June 16th (Grandpa's 102nd Birthday) for Ontario. For the whole summer.

Crazy.

I've tried to make it happen, and now my empty bank account says it is so.

My potential boss has given me the go-ahead to work as a nurse's assistant until my paperwork comes through, so I said I'd be there asap. Pretty nutty.

I'm going to miss Caravan Farm Theatre. But I'm going to get to see all of the Stratford Theatre I can handle.

I don't yet have a car. Which is good coz I just booked a flight. Now I have to scour craigslist for something that will transport me to work.

There's a lot to to!!! And not very much time to do it in!

Time to Move On.

I graduated last week.

On June 4th, I became a real recipient of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. I get to put "Sarah Ball BScN, RN" after my name.

That's pretty freakin' cool.

The ceremony was held outdoors at 2pm in the blistering heat. That's right, I had to wear a black polyester robe in 35 degree heat. We lucked out because the university thought to put up little white tents for us to sit under, which was nice.

I've got plenty of photos posted up on facebook, and if you'd like one of my "official" grad photos, just give me a shout!

LOOK DOWN!

Oh, something I wasn't sure I'd mentioned:

I put a "Einstein Quote of the Day" bar at the bottom of the page. check it out.

I'm Still Here!

I've had a bunch of things just happen, so I've been lame with the posting...

It's late, but I just wanted to acknowledge my lack of postage.

I'm SO EXCITED for Tori and Steve going to Europe!!!

The Day of Reckoning is Upon Me!

I've got 9 hours until I write the Registered Nurses' Exam.

9 hours until I finish 4 years of work.

9 hours until I get to break free!

9 hours until I have to settle down to work for 6 hours worth of multiple choice questions.

9 hours until I can officially say, "I'm a nurse!"

9 hours until I can prove that I'm ready to say that I'm a nurse...

Feels exciting. Feels nerve-wracking. Feels like a really happy feeling.

I used to day to review. I should technically have been reviewing for a while, but I'm feeling confident in my ability to do this exam...I've done the 4 years of work, I participated in class, I passed all of my courses, and I soaked up as much as possible. It's going to work out.


Then, the next day I get to Graduate...for real. I've been going to school for 5 years, and Thursday will be the day when I get to toss my silly square hat in the air and be inducted into the realm of the smart people. And, I get to do that with lots of family around. I think that that's what makes me happiest. My parents and my brother and Michael, and his two parents will be there. That's 6 people who will be there for me, and just for me. A little selfish, but I don't have that opportunity often. I'm not one of these people who has a billion family members who live nearby, and who always come to everything. My grandparents are all but gone (Except for Grandad), and I don't have any relatives living west of Ottawa, so it's really special to know that there will be a few people to stand by me on Thursday.

I'm working on finishing my dress for the big party afterwards. It's a little black dress - cocktail style. It's made of black linen, and will have a wide black ribbon tied around the waist. I also have an off-white beaded flower that I think I might wear as a pin...we'll see. I'm also going to wear my white pearls from Samoa and my white heels (and they're wonderfully unsensible). I've spoken to one classmate who has a floor-length gown...Mine is considerably less dressy, but it's very very classy. I can't wait for it to be finished!

Gonna Try It

I'm going to take the RN exam prep test. You get two hours to do it on the internet. I'm hoping I don't discover that I'm totally out to lunch!

Wish me luck! (I'll let you know how it goes.)


Update: Did the test. I took one hour and 6 minutes to complete the 100 questions in the allotted 3 hours (so I was 2 hours faster than I needed to be!). The real RN exam is two sessions of 3 hours, so I suspect it'll be like writing this practice test twice (with about 125 questions per 1/2)

I came out with a 73% average. In all seriousness, it absolutely does not matter what my grade is except that it's over a pass. When you get your results in the mail, they only tell you if you've passed or not - doesn't matter if you get an A+ or a C, so long as you get enough questions right. I'm sure they just stop marking it after you're beyond the passing point.

So it looks like I should study some of the medical tests, arterial blood gasses, and some more of my medications, but I feel very reassured that I'll be just fine. Feels good! Only 6 days left!

Work Update

Just had my phone call with Knollcrest. Went well...super well.

We decided that my first day of work would be June 15 (with, neatly enough, is the day before Grandpa's 102nd birthday, so I'll be there for that!).

Huzzah!

She asked for me to send her my references, but just because she has to. This thing is mine.

The only problem now is making sure we get all the paperwork straightened out. The thing is, it's not simple paperwork that Knollcrest has...it's crazy inter-union stuff. We're not sure if my current registration with the RN's union of BC is at all transferable to Ontario. Vicky things maybe...but I'm more doubtful. I would be fine with registering with Ontario, but of course then that paper trail could take a while to finish up...I'd hate hate hate to think that I have this job in the bag, but I couldn't work because I have to wait for weeks for someone to stamp "approved" on it and take my money.

So I've been calling the unions, and "HealthForce Ontario" to try and get the info. Of course, they all seem to be on lunch break, and I've had to leave messages with these people. Blah.

But it's really really really nice to know I have a start date, and that I have for SURE 25 shifts between then and September (though more are likely to come up once more paperwork is filled out)

*sigh* feels good.

Update on Theatre: Got an email back from Lori Marchand. The regular auditions are through, and Jeremy Tow (the new Artistic Director of WCT who's doing the auditions) is now away for several weeks. She said she'd work to get me a meeting with him in July. Of course July, while I'm away. I'm really tempted to save my pennies and just fly back for whatever day they want to see me. Still, it was incredibly nice to know that they were thinking of me. In addition, I now have the ability to go to this "Midsummer's Ice Cream Dream" event held for Project X Theatre on June 13th. It would be a great opportunity to hob-nob, and I might even run into Jeremy. (Wouldn't that be nice?). The only problem, of course, would be that I would have only one possible day to fly to Ontario (if I WAS going to fly - there was talk of me driving in whatever car I purchased) before I start work...

I'm really super good at making things waaaay more complicated than they need to be.

Social Circles...

So I'm trying my best to get 'er done.

I'm hoping that all my years of putting my fingers in all of the social pots may have paid off...even a little. It's that "it's not what, but who you know that counts," that I'm hoping will work in my favour.

I mentioned a few posts ago that the Western Canada Theatre was putting on a bunch of great shows this season - among them My Fair Lady and The Miracle Worker. So here's the scoop:

Through this and that, I came to know Lori Marchand of the Western Canada Theatre. She was warm and friendly and had seen some of my theatre performances. A year or so ago, before I last auditioned for the WCT, I went to the theatre to submit my resume. Lori was there, and she brought me in and showed me what I should do to make my resume good, and what a good headshot looks like (she pulled me into David Ross's office, and pulled a resume off his desk, and then showed me his headshots). She seemed to really support me trying to get involved. great!

So, on Friday I had my dance show. When I finally got home at midnight, I saw that earlier in the day I'd recieved an email from a guy named Julian at the WCT through Facebook. He said that Lori had suggested that I would probably like to come an audition for My Fair Lady, and that I should call him on Monday. He didn't leave an email address. So, of course, I sent him a facebook email back immediately. Again, this was Friday night, late. At the very least, I was hoping I'd hear from him via facbook my Monday.

I couldn't call this Julian guy on Monday, because I wasn't anywhere near Kamloops on Monday (for Mike's Grad - yay!), and I didn't hear from him at all...

So today is Tuesday. The day of the auditions. I know of one woman who went to them (and bumped into her at the supermarket later in the day once we'd returned from Vancouver), and I definitely wished her well....I like her :)

But, Tuesday has passed, and I didn't hear anything back from Julian. In my facebook email, I'd mentioned that I couldn't be around for any Tuesday audition because I needed to be in Vancouver for Mike's UBC grad (I said family member, because saying 'boyfriend' somehow doesn't feel like as much of a committment), and I'd asked if there was any possible way I could have another time....but of course, I heard nothing.

Seeing as I didn't have this Julian guy's email, I sought out Lori Marchand's address, and I utilized that social contact. I let her know of my plight, and asked that she give me any information (including if I'd no hope in hell of getting an audition now...)

So, now we see if years of creating a meticulous social web has paid off.. I'd be thrilled if I could just get into an audition, let alone a part. I mean, what was most wonderful was knowing that there were people thinking of me during the process, and someone actually came out and ASKED me to audition.

But, my next adventure will be my audition for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on the weekend! Back to the coast...

UPDATE: I made some changes to this post once it became apparent that some of the things I'd written came out on paper wrong. I want people to know that I'm not the type of person to "use" others, and that in certain communities I have friends, acquaintances, and of course enemies (though more often than not, there aren't any enemies). In any case, I'll be friendly to my friends and those I don't know so well. In certain circles, like I said: It's not what you know, but who, and it never hurts to be kind. In this situation, something actually worked in my favour, and I was incredibly surprised and delighted that someone would have remembered me. I very much appreciate these things, and I would hate to have people believing that I might employ "false friendship" tactics in order to get a leg up. I'm just saying it pays to be friendly.

WHAT!? It's OVER??!

Blast.

I really did have a wonderful, fabulous, thrilling time at the KDA Dance show. The first night was OK, and I didn't have many MAJOR screw-ups. The second night I killed the Fantasia dance where I'm the ostrich and I just had as much fun as I could wearing the tutu. I made a bunch of blunders in the Masquerade dance, which apparently my parents didn't notice, but dad brought a video camera, and is zoomed in on me right as I'm making all of my mistakes...*sigh*

And I made sure to plow over all the bitches who might have been in my way when I wanted to wear my tutu for our bows. Actually, nobody tried to take me on, but in my mind I would have fought them. I wanted to wear that thing for as long as I could.

So the show, in general, went great. Everyone was fabulous and although the audience was less than exciting, all of the dancers were buzzing and offered oodles of support.

We did our bows, and clapped for our fellow dancers as they came on stage. Then we all sat down on the stage and watched the slide show with the audience that had been created for KDA's 25th anniversary. I'd seen it before - the night previous. But at that moment I just felt like: here I am, sitting in my tutu, surrounded by all of these people that are wonderful, and who care so much about dance. These people are all going to come back next year and dance and be beautiful andbe the "dance family" that KDA is, that I love. But I won't be part of that..."

And that's when it really hit me that I wasn't going to be back. That I wasn't going to be part of that buzzing atmosphere, or the ferociously humid backstage, or the endless supply of glitter, or the costumes...There I was sitting in my tutu on stage, and I'd probably never do that again. I pretty much bawled. The only thing I had going for me in that moment was that because it was so damn hot backstage, some people commented on how it looked like I was so sweaty because my face was glistening. It wasn't sweat. Thank the Lord for a good friend nearby and my stupidly non-running mascara.

Maybe I'll dance again. There are tons of places all over that have dance schools, of course. Maybe one day I'll even be back to KDA...a few years from now. I draw inspiration from some of the other ladies who dance when I see that now they have kids, they come to class alongside their little girls and I hope that I'll get to dance again. But maybe I won't. I've notoriouslt been the oldest girl in my ballet classes - a 23 year old dancing with the 13 year old girls...When I started ballet I was in highschool and it wasn't so bad to be melded. But I would wonder about joining a new class with younger girls that I haven't danced with before....6 years before...

But I still love dance. I'll get it in there somehow, I think.