So clearly, I have been pretty absent, and for good reason: working full time and going to grad school full time at the same time sucks. You have no life. It sucks. BUT, it will be over soon, and I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to getting back into one of my biggest passions, which is music, and I hope to bring more back to this atrophied blog… it has been too long. I will be done with school in May… only a few months away!! I can make it!!
Tag: school
all about me, blog on blog, civil rights, flickr, happenings, near and dear, nursing, school
year end… again
by duane • • 2 Comments
So again, I find myself at the end of another year, and I am sitting here asking myself, what has happened with this year? It has flown by. Since I started nursing school, and since being a nurse full time, I find that I need to have way more down time, and time that I spend recovering from the job, mostly because it is so tough. That being said, I am definitely still here, and things are good; in fact, much better right now than before, and I feel that it will keep getting better. Here’s a few things that have happened recently that I probably should have blogged about, but didn’t.
In September, James and I got married in DC. Here’s a lot of photos, and I realize that I need to upload so many more… in time. It was an amazing experience. We have been together for a little over 11 years, and we got married with friends and family, and it was honestly, the best I could have imagined. My parents were there, James’ parents were there, and everything went over without any issues. The wedding itself was short and sweet, which I liked, the reception was amazing, and is something that we can always cherish. There were many great memories, lots of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
A little over a month ago, I decided to take a big chance, and switch jobs (and hospitals). So far, going from the Emergency Department to the ICU has been a bit of a change (unorganized chaos to timely structure), but I can already tell that I am a lot less stressed, and a lot less upset all of the time. I think the pressure of the ungrateful, not-sick-give-me-a-sandwich patients in the ED finally wore me out, and the universe gave me a huge sign that it was time for a change. I am excited about this new opportunity, and I cannot wait until I get more accustomed to my new environment, and feel as comfortable here as I did in the ED. I have already learned a lot, and I know that this was a good move, and I am excited for the new experience.
Lastly, I started grad school for my MSN, which will propel me from RN to FNP. I am getting more into the process, and I am sure that this is going to be a great thing in the long run, but it’s definitely another major undertaking, that I have decided to take on. It seems that I either love school, or love student loan debt, because here I go again… although the outcome will be a major reward, and I know that it will be difficult, but is ultimately a great choice.
All in all, it’s been a busy year, and many changes have taken place; and I expect great things as a result. Here’s to a great (and hopefully even better than 2014) 2015!
all about me, school, show the love
tonight, I finish with nursing school…
by duane • • 5 Comments
Tonight, I am going to my pinning ceremony for nursing school. I think that it is pretty amazing that this is also the same date as Florence Nightingale’s birthday; as she is the woman who pioneered modern nursing. This is the ceremonial passing of the torch to us, transitioning us from nursing students, into nurses. Being an anthropologist, I respect the rites of passage and need for ritual in culture, so I look forward to participating in my own rite of passage this evening.
With that being said, this has been one HELL of a journey. I started taking pre-requisites back in 2007 (!) when I made the decision that I wanted to leave my job and become a nurse. Many classes, and OH SO MUCH frustration later, I am about to walk across the stage and be pinned as a graduate nurse. I can’t say as it has sunk in that much for me yet, because I keep finding myself going and checking grades for this final semester just to be sure that this is indeed real, and that yes, we are finally done.
This has been an intense, very long journey, and I have been so long ready for today. Now, I can’t wait to go and take my board exam, get my RN license and finally become a registered nurse. People keep telling me congratulations and how my hard work will pay off, and I honestly can’t wait to see that happen; all in good time, right?
Thanks for all the support everyone has thrown my way; it means a lot.
blog on blog, five song friday, school
another class complete and 5SF stuff
by duane • • 0 Comments
As of yesterday, I have successfully completed my Peds class. Whew!! That was rough at times, and I am just glad it’s over. I still have two more clinical days, but they shouldn’t be so bad. Now, just to start studying for Pysch’s first test, and get prepared for OB to start up. School work, it seems, is never done.
I know that I spoke about this in the past, and even found a temporary solution, but it looks like the 5SF might be dead for real this time, kids. I can’t add files to grooveshark anymore, and they never have what I want to post. Also, I can’t figure out how to use this plug in without it giving out my file storage area (which was the problem before, and caused my bandwidth to disappear), so I think I might just have to give up. I wish I could figure out something else, but honestly, I’m just so busy right now that I can’t do it on my own. Any solutions that I could figure out fairly easily are welcome. If not, there’s not much else I guess I can do right now; it’s disappointing, but it’s reality, unfortunately.
all about me, school
I’m still here
by duane • • 0 Comments
I am very busy with school and whatnot, but I’m still here… This semester has been an exercise in extreme patience, and so far, I am only doing so-so with said patience. I really need to learn to relax and just let shit that I cannot control go, but I have such a hard time with it. I do find comfort in the fact that it will all be done at some point in the near future, and I can move on, and not look back. Thank goodness I have friends (both in school and outside of it) that are so awesome, and help me take my mind off of the crap… and listen to me bitch about it too. It’s frustrating to be so frustrated all of the time, and it really just makes me angry all of the time, which I honestly can’t stand feeling like either. I’m just trying to focus on the big picture, and the end game, which I know will make everything up to it completely worth it.
Other than school, I can’t say much else is going on with me right now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, or really, just an indifferent thing, but either way, it’s where I’m at right now… still here, and holding on. I can say this with perfect certainty; I cannot WAIT for May.
all about me, friends, school
two down, two to go… time to celebrate!
by duane • • 3 Comments
Yesterday, I finished my second final of my second semester of nursing school. As many of you know, this summer has been a whirlwind of a semester, and it has been more than trying at times. However, I worked my ass off, and studied hard, and all my hard work paid off; another semester is complete, and I have officially made it through two semesters of nursing school.
A (VERY) nice bottle of champagne, and a delightful afternoon with some of my fellow nursing student friends was a great ending to a hellish summer semester. We all deserved it, and I had a blast yesterday! Now, a couple of weeks of R&R, and I want to knock these other two semesters out of the park as well. I’m well on my way!!
blog on blog, music suggestion, song of the day
sotd: Janet Jackson – Miss You Much
by duane • • 3 Comments
Oh shit, Look! I have a blog! HA! Seriously, I hate that I have been neglecting things as badly as I have, but I have been crazy busy with this summer semester; which, by the way, is ALMOST OVER. I cannot wait for a little R&R, which I desperately need. In the mean time, here is a song I heard tonight that I haven’t heard in forever, and I thought it was appropriate, seeing as I really do miss being able to update so much.
After all these years, there really is only one word to describe both this song and the video: FLAWLESS.
all about me, school
one down, three to go…
by duane • • 0 Comments
So my first semester of nursing school is in the bag; we had our final last Wednesday, and the next semester starts promptly tomorrow… not much time for a break, eh? Oh well, that’s what accelerated means! Either way, I am proud to have made it through the first semester intact, but my stress hasn’t dissipated.
It’s weird, because looking back on my grades from the past semester, a big part of my stress comes from the fact that this truly is something that you can’t study your way out of. In most every class I’ve ever taken, if you study harder, you do better, but in nursing school, it seems like sometimes, that doesn’t even matter. Sometimes you (at least feel like you) know the concepts like the back of your hand, and tricky questions throw you off, and instead of acing the test, you sit there staring at a B, wondering what went wrong. Funny thing is, that the ones you missed are often times the questions that you would often have answered the exact same way again; even though you know the correct answer isn’t the one you chose. I have been working on learning how to beat these tricky questions, and I haven’t figured out a fool proof method yet. From what I have heard from pretty much all my nursing friends, is that this is a hallmark of nursing school, and while it is difficult to grasp, eventually, I will be able to master them. Here’s hoping that’s true, because it’s more than frustrating at times.
I just hope that I can keep doing what I am doing, and keep doing well, because being a nurse means a lot to me, and the more I go through this process, it seems to matter more and more with each day. Here’s to repeat success in this rapid summer semester, and continued success in each subsequent semester that follows!
all about me, school
worrywart
by duane • • 0 Comments
That might as well be my middle name.
Ever since I can remember, I have worried, and worried, and worried about everything. Crap that I can control, crap that I can’t control, crap that I shouldn’t even worry about; I even worry that I worry to much.
However, I can’t seem to turn it off. I just can’t. *insert very frustrated face here*
That being said, I have made it past the half-way point of my first semester of nursing school, and while I am doing well, I find myself worrying about my future. Will I be able to get a good job? Will I be able to get into a good BSN program, and then a MSN program? Will I be able to do what I want to do? Worry, worry, worry.
I sit around and think about these things all of the time, there’s no stopping me. I wish I knew how to shut down, and relax, but I think I’m just hardwired to worry. So I guess I’ll just worry, and try not to worry about it. Ugh.
Either way, things are well my way, and I feel bad about neglecting this here blog; but I’m not going to add that to my big ole pile of worry, because that would just be silly, because I clearly have more than enough to worry about already.
all about me, school
first day of clinical tomorrow
by duane • • 3 Comments
So as the title of this post indicates, tomorrow is my first day of nursing clinical rotations at Grady hospital.
I am officially freaked out; mostly because I don’t know exactly what to expect. I am just hoping that fear/stress turns into confidence/belief in myself very early on in the day, because while, deep down, I know I can do this, I am filled with doubt and worry.
I guess that’s normal, but I still don’t like it. Not one bit.