Playing hookie

I skipped class today for the first time since I started the nursing program. I have the worst sinus infection I have ever had and woke not being able to really open my eyes or move my head without pain. Went to see the doc today and got on some antibiotics, so I should be better soon. I know better then to let something like that get that bad but I was really hoping my body could fight the infection on it's own. I go see my doctor for asthma follow-ups so often, I hate going in there for anything else.
So anyway, I'll have to get the lecture notes from a classmate and just study that material a little harder. It felt weird staying home though, I really felt guilty, like I was going to get in trouble for it or something. Kind of makes me feel like I'm in high school again.......ah, to be in high school again. If I could go back 15 years with the smarts and the confidence I have now and be in my teenage body again, wow, things would have been way different for me.
Does anyone out there watch American Idol? I do, my own guilty pleasure. I watch these kids each week and live somewhat vicariously through them, I wish I had done more with my voice when I was younger. Anyway,If you watch it.... My two favs are Carrie and Bo, but Vonzelle actually gave me goosebumps tonight so I think she's third on my list. I hate Whitney Houston songs but she pulled it off. The whole reason I bring this up is, am I the only one who thinks Paula seems like she's high? I swear, she looked so stoned tonight. I hope for her sake she's not because I read she was put on probation for a hit and run and I'm thinking she wouldn't pass a drug test.
Poor Paula, It must really suck to be an 80s has-been thrown back into fame by being on a show like AI. She gets to watch these people become famous and do what she used to do. Hope she's getting paid well.

Goals

I am sooooo glad this week is over! I passed my tests with a 90 and an 86. Not too shabby for only studying on Sunday and Monday. :)
It's been a long week though. I am burning out so bad. I'm hanging in there but I have to hang in there through July, because I'm taking my Mental Health clinical/courses. Then, I will have some time off. Well, I'll have a little time off in May. Ugh...I'm just having a hard time dragging my rear out of bed some days. I'll keep going though, one more year, one more year,one more year.
I've been thinking about what my plans will be one year and 2 months from now, once I've passed the NCLEX and become an RN, I have a plan. That year, I'll probably be forced to move out of this cute little duplex in a really crappy neighborhood. Forced out because, My good friend Cathy who happens to live next door and happens to be my landlord will be moving out probably within the next year. So, I refuse to stay here without her. My plan is, after I graduate, to rent a house in the neighborhood I plan to buy in. After a year of working as a nurse, making way way WAY more money then I make now, I pay off my bills which cleans up my credit,established a work history, and actually buy a little house of my very own. I want Ari to grow in OUR house, not someone else's home. So, that's it, my intermediate term goal. That's why I drag my rear out of bed every morning.

Movies and back to the grind

Well, It's Sunday and the end of my spring break. I worked 3 of my days off, Did my community project with my classmate on one day, and did homework or vegged out the others.
The skin cancer project went well. It wasn't as busy at the park as we had hoped, We managed to talk to about 20-30 people. Some were appreciative and actually asked questions. Most really just took our flyers and free sunscreen and water and ran off. It's weird that so many people go out of their way to avoid strangers. Even if those strangers are in nursing T shirts giving away free stuff. I'm just glad it's over, and we can move on to our culture project. My project partner Jon is half Thai, so he's heading that one up. That's why I didn't mind doing the bulk of the work on this cancer project. He's going to get his Thai mom to cook a dish for it, she is 2 semesters ahead of us in the nursing program so I know she'll be happy to do it.
I thought about doing the project over my own cultural background but which one would I do?! I am such the typical American mutt. I have a strong Native American background if you look at my mom's side of the family(Blackfoot & Cherokee), but other than my grandfather taking us to reservations to buy moccasins when I was kid, there's no culture there. The only other thing is the German food we occasionally liked to make when my grandparents were around, but that's as German as we ever got. Well, besides a lot of beer drinking! If you break my ancestry down I have native American, English, German, Irish, Dutch, French, and Scottish in me. Really can't narrow that one down.
So anyway, I saw The Ring Two on Friday. Save your money on that one. It was not near as freaky as the first one. It didn't help that I was in a theater full of teenagers. Me and my friend Linda were pretty annoyed thinking it was a rated R. Later I figured out that is was PG13. Remind me to rent it next time. Teenagers have the worst theater manners. I really feel old saying that, but it's true. I really can not get really IN to a movie if people are laughing at inappropriate times and making comments throughout. In fact, for all I know if I hadn't been more distracted this movie might've been better. I remember once, when I was 16, my friends were 17, we tried to get in to the very same theater to see Flatliners. Because we were under 18 (It was under 18 not 17 at the time for rated R), they wouldn't let us in to buy a ticket. So we went to HEB to buy snacks and then we were going to rent a movie instead. In the HEB parking lot, my friend Megan wrecked her VW beetle. No one was hurt but the bug was totaled. I just remember thinking, if they had only let us in to see that stupid movie. On a side note, Meg was killed almost 2 years ago in a car accident. It's silly memories like that that get me really missing her most times.
Anyhoo, I should be getting to bed, I've been studying all day for a test tomorrow and I'm snuckered. Keep your fingers crossed that I do well on this one and the next one on Tuesday.

Spring Break

Well it's spring break for me. I get to work 3 shifts this week and I've gotten almost nothing accomplished. I organized my files yesterday and have slept in as long as Ari would let me all weekend. Took Ari to see Robots today. It was pretty good, cracked me up a couple of times. She liked it. So tomorrow I work but not until 3, so I have a pretty laid back day. I plan to clean out my car before I leave. I'm way too exciting in this post. Let's see...I have a skin cancer prevention project I'm going to do on Friday with a classmate. We have already made up a poster and we will hand out flyers and sunscreen at a local park. It's suitable that we picked skin cancer, I'm definitely a walking risk factor with my easily reddened skin, European descent, and freckles. So make sure ya'll out there wear sunscreen and get those suspicious spots checked out, ya hear!
In the interest of posting something longer, I rented AVP; Alien vs Predator last night. Would have to say it was a big disappointment to me. I kept waiting for some big climatic moment that never happened and the predator was way too friendly. Anyway, My hair is turning orange again so I'm off to get it back to brown, laters.

Looks unreal doesn't he?

Rolling into a ball in Michael's hand

Pill millipede

Movies and Arthropod

I thought it would be intresting to show you Cathy and Michael's new pet. It's from Madagascar and it's called the Pill Millipede. A cousin to the Pill woodlouse (Roley-Poley, Pill bug, Doodle bug) Creepy isn't he? He rolls up into a ball so tight you can't tell where he's gonna open.
Cathy also had some new babies today in the aquarium, We can't tell yet if they are frog or fish babies. Sounds stupid but newly hatched aquatic tadpoles look a lot like fish. We'll know more when they get a little bigger.
As far as other news, I am seriously going to start writing more about the movies I see. In the past month I rented 2 movies, that I had forgotten that I had already seen. They weren't bad movies, Napoleon Dynamite and Troy. It took me just a few minutes to realize after I had popped it in that I RECENTLY saw them. I'm losing it. So I think if I write about them I'll at least have a log to refer to. :)
Again they weren't bad, I'm just crazy.
I saw Constatine last night. It was entertaining, if I were still catholic, it might've even scared me. I liked the theological aspect of it. It is centered around going to hell, I don't believe there is a hell, at least not like what you may think of as hell. I believe if someone's soul is tortured enough there may be a sort of hell like purgatory waiting for them. I also believe that if anyone has any "good" in them at all then they wouldn't deserve that.
So the very idea that if someone mentally ill was to commit suicide goes straight to hell makes no sense to me. My God wouldn't be that unforgiving, especially to the ill.
There are so many things in the catholic dogma that bother me.
Anyway, I saw Phantom of the opera a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was fantastic! I grew up living vicariously through my friends who had seen the broadway show in New York. I owned the soundtrack to the Michael Crawford version. They really made the movie do justice to the show, the show I listened to anyway. They made some forgivable changes but it was still really good. I've never been to New York, I'd really love to someday soon. Better yet I'd love to go to London also and see it there.
Nursing school news: Passing all tests with Bs. Got to give my first IM (Intramuscular) injection last week. Morphine! Went well, the patient didn't even flinch and I used the hip site. As far as I know her hip didn't rot off so we're good!