Uh..Wow.

I meant to start writing in this blog again when I started my practicums. I am now 6 weeks down, with only 2 more weeks to go. Oops.

I can't believe I'm almost done. I would laugh when people used to tell me that time goes faster as you get older. Now I'm standing here wondering what happened to the last two years of my life! So much has happened since that first day in Kelowna: 16 months of school, 16 weeks of practicum (almost) in 3 different cities, 3 different houses/sets of roommates, gained some new friends, lost touch with some old ones, numerous friends have gotten married and/or had babies, I finally found myself a new boyfriend (and I could go on). It amazes me to think of what might happen or where I may be two years from now!

I have a phone interview for a job in Penticton this week. I've never had a phone interview, and it's also my first interview as a new (almost) graduate. Nervous as heck! But it's in the middle of my work day so I won't have time to stress about it (much) prior, which is probably for the best.

I'm loving my last practicum placement. I've done one in long term care, an acute hospital, private practice and now in full on rehabilitation. There is so much for me to learn and take part of. It's super rewarding to help patients work towards maximizing their independence, versus teaching them how to compensate in order to get by. Time here moves quickly and my day is over before I know it. I feel lucky to have gotten the opportunity to go to this facility, and plan on taking away as much as I can!

Graduation in T-minus 24 days. Wow.

Allow me to introduce...

So I've been at school for about a month and a half now. Maybe it's time to start writing about it?

First topic of conversation: roommates.

I live in the dorms and share a pod with 4 other girls. We're the "older" bunch with ages ranging from 23-27. First up we have the Austrian. I don't see a lot of her, but she's very nice when I do catch a glimpse of her. She makes me hate her by cycling for about an hour and a half every day. Yes, you read that correctly. Every. Single. Day. I can barely drag my butt to the gym once a week. And by once a week I mean I've been twice this semester. She's only here until December so we will most likely be getting a new roommate for next semester.

Next up we have our youngest coming in at the ripe age of 23. She has more piercings than I have teeth. She's into gaming, addicted to coffee, and likes the same music I do. Everything in her room is pink, which she claims makes her look more like a girl then she actually is. She'd be my drinking buddy if she were ever here. She goes back home to see her bf and to help her parents with their business pretty much every weekend.

Third up is my little country bumpkin. She looks so sweet and innocent, but your impression changes after you listen to some of her stories from her "wilder" days. She's my go to girl for normal conversation and outings. She's a health food nut, but will cave into ice cream every. single. time. She always has a smile on her face, and I'm glad she shares this end of the pod with me.

And finally my last room mate. It would take more words then I have to describe her in one paragraph to you. To sum it up, she irritates the crap out of me. I feel bad because I know she has good intentions and it's not her fault she's severely lacking in the social skills department. Her entire night last night revolved around debating whether or not the expired cake mix powder gave her food poisoning. And today it is if the no name brand cheese sauce tastes the same as KD. She just discovered the other day that we have double decker buses here. I will take this time to inform you all we have lived here for a month and a half. On a bus route! If she's not attempting to burn down the place with my two slice toaster or butting into other peoples business, she's adding multiple bookshelves in the living room for all of her stuff. Because she has stuff. Lots of it. How many jumbo bags of uncooked noodles does one really need? And do we really need every cooking utensil and contraption on the market? I'm just sayin'...

Anyways, time for me to go study some biology. Tune in next time where we will (most likely) discuss my program!

Stressball

I haven't been sleeping well the past few nights. I toss and turn, lie awake for hours, and wake up way too early. This tends to happen when I'm stressed out. This morning after a strange dream involving vampires and wizards who could transform into werewolves (yes I'm reading H.P. and yes T.lite is still at the theater), I decided to give up on trying to sleep and laid in my bed thinking/stressing. Today's topic: moving. I have never lived on my own. I haven't lived in a different house since I was 10. I only know one person in Kelowna. Everybody says you adjust really fast and because I'm at school making friends will be easy. And I know they're all right. But it doesn't stop me from freaking out.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited. I'm glad I'm doing it. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around actually doing it. I'm not really the type to venture out on my own and explore new worlds (yes I just recently watch S.trek). It amazes me that I planned this at all. In some ways I'm very independent, but in others I'm very much a follower. I like having someone else make the plans and to be there with me to carry them out.

This makes me think of something my mom has always said. Be happy with yourself first because you're the one you're stuck with for the rest of your life. She means this in terms of relationships but it works for this too. Nobody else can do this for me. I'm stuck doing it myself. With myself. By myself. For myself.

Time to throw on my big girl panties.

17

Today is my 17th straight day of working. Between my jobs I haven't had a day off since the last time I posted about it. But somehow the stars aligned and I have the next two days off! Tomorrow I booked off because I need to go to Kelowna, but Tuesday was handed to me by somebody who loves me!

I have an orientation for my program tomorrow where I will meet the profs and hopefully some of the other students starting in the fall. Instead of driving down by myself I invited some people from work to go down with me for the day. We'll do some shopping, I'll leave them to do my thing, and then we'll probably eat and head home.

Time is flying now that I'm so busy. Only 3 and a half months until I move!

No rest for the wicked

I am exhausted. It's not that I'm working an insane amount of hours (together my jobs equal about 45 hrs/week) but learning a new job, and stressing about my schedules leaves me feeling pretty tired at the end of the day. It also doesn't help that I'm sick. Again. In May, boss#2 is going to have us on a set schedule but until then I've have to continue to try and balance them both, swapping and getting rid of shifts because neither schedule comes out until it's too late to get time off the other one. Stressful!! Hopefully this is the last week of the unknown and my life can return to a state of normalcy. Or at least have the craziness on a schedule.

4 months until I move. Just throwing that out there. I've been picking some things up here and there that I'll need when I'm out on my own, like you know, a can opener. I figure if I start now I won't have a mad dash in August, nor will I have an enormous bill I can't afford to pay once I quit my jobs!

April Showers

This past week/weekend was pretty busy for me. On Thursday I went to Kelowna to do a school tour. I'm glad I went because now I won't feel so lost and confused in September. Just a little lost and confused! I go back next month for a program orientation to meet the staff and other students starting in the fall. Afterwards I drove to Penticton to pick up my oldest brother and bring him home for the weekend. He had a late flying time so I ended up staying the night and hanging out with his roommate (she's really awesome).

Yesterday, I picked up my friend S and we went to watch our new friend compete in the dirt bike races. I'd never watched dirt biking before so it was a neat experience for me. He ended up coming in 4th out of 40 so I would say he did pretty darn good! After the race S and I grabbed her kids and went for an Easter egg hunt at a friends house. Somewhere the wires got crossed and we missed the actual hunt, but a super nice guy went out and bought some more stuff for her kids so they could have their own hunt. Major bonus points for that guy. It was really sweet of him.

From there we went on for Easter dinner at my house. I loooooove holidays and their big meals. Yum!

Oh did I mention this whole time I've been sick with a really nasty cold? I made it through swine without so much as a sniffle, but now I manage to pick up every single cold that's going around these days. Not cool. Oh and it's been raining for weeks now. April showers indeed.

Tomorrow I go in to see a lady about a job. We were playing phone tag for a bit, then I ran into her at work and she told me to just come in and see her on Tuesday. Talk about multitasking. Working and getting a job at the same time!

Nice to have a weekend off once in awhile...

On Saturday, a friend and I drove out to Kelowna for a day of shopping and good times. I spent way too much money, but really enjoyed myself! We even stopped for some mini golf before heading home. Boy was it hot outside! We were going to stay in Kelowna for dinner but a giant forest fire started while we were in the mall, and there were evacuations going across the lake. We decided to leave the chaos and have a nice dinner back home.

Sunday we got up early and went out for a nice breakfast before heading to the spa to get manicures and pedicures. It was my first time, and I really enjoyed it! It felt so good to get my feet pampered after spending the previous day walking on them! I thought my manicurist was going to chop off my thumb after I messed it up on my way out the door, but she just smiled and fixed it for me. Nice lady!

Today I got to play with my friend's new puppy. His name is Gus and he is adorable!

Bullet notes

Been awhile since I did a real update on here.

• My summer has been pretty uneventful so far. It seems like my days consist of work, movie watching, knitting, and pool time (when the sun is out). I have plans next weekend that consist of a day in Kelowna and a trip to the spa. I'm excited for the break in routine. My days have gotten pretty predictable. I'd like a bit more spontaneity in my life.

• Yesterday my mom and I moved the furniture around in my room. I've had it laid out the same way pretty much since we moved here 13 years ago. It's a nice change without too much effort involved. I still have some boxes to go through before that room is totally in order, but it is getting there! I thought it would take me a couple of days, yet here I am 2-3 months later, still hacking away at it! I'm not sure if it's the vast amount of work involved, or the turtle pace I'm working it. Combination?

• My glasses are fixed. I was able to pick up my new frames the other day. It's nice to not have to worry about them breaking every time I take them off. My darling mother has also offered to pay for contacts for me, so I have an appointment next week to get my eyes measured.

That about sums it up. Tune in next week.