super important top-of-the-page thing.
It looks like I owe nearly 14K on my totalled car. Help.
6/30/04
Whoa, this isn't cool - The Normal
Heart unexpectedly closed yesterday. I loved that production.
Work tonight was super - two aides and an RN on the B-side. Nine patients. It was lovely. We actually got everything done and had time to spare - a nice change from running around like headless chickens.
And go Yankees - beating the Red Sox two for two so far. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I wonder if I'll be working for the All-Star game on the 13th. I wonder when baseball fever will end.
You know what's weird? I was browsing some god-awful magazine at work (because I had - gasp - free time), and there was some ad about making a healthy snack by putting three slices on cheese on three Ritz crackers. And that was the snack. Three crackers and three slices of cheese. That is not a snack. That's like an appetizer to a snack. For me, a snack is like 15 crackers with cheese. I am so grateful for my superfast metabolism which, as Dad was kind enough to point out, should last me another six months or so and then it will all go downhill.
Feh, I am already enjoying 30. The toll collector on the Parkway yesterday told me to "keep that bright smile!" That was sweet.
6/29/04
Well, I survived my 30th birthday, and I still feel the same. I went to the city yesterday to have
a delicious dinner with Dad down at the Seaport, and then I went to MC, where most of my friends
were there to help me celebrate. I truly had a splendid time. Jay brought a cake, Michael and Tesse
brought Kander and Ebb cd's (to followup a conversation we had last week, after I finished reading
Colored Lights, and admitted
that I knew less about K&E than I should), and Jim played all of my favorite songs.
Today's music: a new CD from Marie's regular, Mark Aaron James - I played it in the car on the ride home, and it's really, really good. Go buy it.
6/27/04
Wait, the Yankees aren't playing tomorrow - maybe Derek can come out to NJ! Hee. But they ARE playing
on Tuesday, and I will be there.
One day more.
6/26/04
Happy birthday, Derek Jeter! Come on over, I'll buy you a birthday drink!
6/25/04
Ohhhh, my room looks so good with all the books back in it!
6/24/04
Yesterday was a work-at-home day. Mom and I cleaned out the attic, and threw out assorted stuff.
I made a comment to the fact that I wanted to paint my bedroom to a solid color (instead of the
sponge painted pinks that it was), so we went to Home Depot and picked up Victorian Mauve paint
and a wallpaper border that has colonial houses and trees on it. And today - it's done. The hardest
part was taking all of the books out, since there are just too many. I have to put together some
bookcases from Ikea and then put the rest of the books back on them. It really looks great in here.
Jay came out to NJ yesterday, too. I offered him some of the extra stuff from the attic - chairs, kitchen stuff, carpet - so he took the train down and then we loaded up the car and drove back to LIC. His apartment looks so much better now. We went out to (where else) Marie's, and stayed out way too late.
It's so strange that Coke came out with a "low carb" soda - please. Just drink Diet Coke. This whole Atkins thing is out of hand. And unhealthy.
Oh, speaking of unhealthy, my cholesterol dropped significantly since I started taking the Crestor. I had my labs drawn the other day and it looks good.
6/21/04
I know, I know, I haven't updated in a while. But heck, it's summer vacation.
Michael, Tesse and I went to see My Fair Lady on Saturday in Princeton. And - for all the kvetching I do about hearing the score too often at Marie's - I enjoyed it. It was a production with two pianos and ten actors, including Michael Cumpsty (who I adore) as Higgins and Jeff in the role of "ensemble". Terrific acting all around, and it was nice to see the show done so well. I'd never seen a production of it before, so now I can stop complaining that I don't like it. However, I will never, ever, go see a production of Oliver (well, if Michael Cumpsty were Fagin, perhaps) - that show annoys me to no end.
I stayed over at Dad's Saturday night so I could take him and Ann to lunch for Father's Day yesterday. We went to Chat-n-Chew in Union Square, a place I adore. Delicious french toast.
And then last night, Jay and I went to see The Normal Heart - my third time, his first. By the end, we were both crying and just not-moving. The show has improved so much, something I didn't think was possible, and Raul Esparza - well, it's just not fair to have that much talent in one person.
After the show, we went (where else) to Marie's, and stayed later than we should have. I slept at Dad's again, and then called out from work today, citing the need for a "mental health" day.
I can't believe I'm going to be thirty in a week.
6/15/04
Last night was fairly calm, too. One screaming patient, who entertained us all night with her singing,
and nine patients who just slept all night. Or lay there staring into space, which is almost like
sleeping.
I've been going mad on amazon.com. I picked up one of my textbooks for the fall (the other one hasn't been released yet, it's a new edition), and a bunch of books on Judaism, and more nursing books, and novels I've been wanting to read. I need to build a library room. Or take a year off to read them all. To quote the title of a book on my wishlist, so many books, so little time.
6/14/04
Happy Flag Day, and happy two-weeks-until-I-turn-30 day.
I worked a double shift yesterday, and it was incredibly pleasant. On the overnight, I worked on 3B again, and let me just say I'm glad I had something to read. There was so little happening that it was a good chance to get some rest. I'm working the overnight again tonight, and hopefully it'll be as peaceful.
Did I mention that my vacation time request was denied? As was my request to take off three weeks unpaid? I'm irked, because Erin and I really want to do this roadtrip. I'm still hoping that I can have enough days off in a row to go to Chicago and see the Seurat exhibit.
6/12/04
Today's NJNS meeting - the last for this year's executive
board - was short, because we didn't have a quorum. So we couldn't deal with some of the old
business from last year. But the new board was (mostly) there, so we were able to tackle some
new issues. It looks like there may be a vacant spot on the new board, a position which deals with
the convention planning. Two of the new board members came up to me and said that they thought I
did a terrific job with my part of the convention last year, and would I consider running? I said
I'd have to think it over, and it also depends on whether the position is actually available -
we should know soon. I called Mrs. H. (our advisor) to set up a meeting with her to talk about
the spot and what's expected.
After the meeting, I drove home via Lambertville (antiques fair on the weekends) and New Hope (great shopping and delicious ice cream every day), did some holiday shopping, and worked on my sunburn.
And yeah baby! When we were in AC for that ob/gyn convention, I signed up for a comp card at Caesar's (they give you free stuff for playing slots etc). So today in the mail I got my certificates for a free room and $100 at the restaurant, plus money to spend there - to be used by the end of June. I think I will treat myself to a birthday trip. They also offered free tix to see a Whose Line Is It Anyway? comedy show in July and I might have to take them up on that - Greg Proops and Colin Mochrie will be there, and I love them!
6/11/04
School - done for the summer. Graduation - lovely. My evaluation - super. And now I have to get used
to being a senior (woo) and getting in the mindset for Psych in the fall.
With the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Ray Charles, I was afraid that we'd have another incident like we had when Mother Teresa died right after Princess Diana did - that Charles' death would be overshadowed by Reagan's. So I was happy to hear the Yankees announcer give a salute to Charles, and then play his version of America the Beautiful during the seventh inning stretch tonight.
Even tho the Yankees lost.
6/9/04
I'm glad I went to school yesterday to do my written culture project - I found out there was no
class today! Thank god, I would have shown up at 9am this morning to find the place deserted.
Since I didn't have to be up this morning, I worked the overnight shift last night, on 3B. It was
a nice, quiet night, and a nice change from the second floor. Then I came home, fell asleep,
and woke up a few hours ago.
Tonight is graduation for the seniors. Our class is ushering, so I'm all dressed in my uniform and ready to go. Unfortunately, with the uniform we have to wear stockings, and it's 95 degrees and humid outside. I think it's almost AC time. I turned on the window fan while I was napping, and that helped.
6/7/04
I emailed Jeff to ask if I could touch the Tony. And also to say that after years and years of
shows with lines like "I've grown accustomed to her face" and "There's a bright golden haze on the
meadow," it's lovely to see a show with a line like "And I can't wait to eat her pussy again!"
win for Best Musical. Honestly.
For some reason, they cancelled clinical tomorrow, which made today our last day of clinical! All done! I have one more project to do (which I will be typing up tomorrow at school, since we have (did I say this already?) no clinical, and then one more class day which is pretty much sum-things-up-and-review and then an evaluation meeting on Thursday. And then I'll be a senior. Scary thought.
6/6/04
I can't even tell you how proud I am of my friend Jeff! His show (Avenue Q) won three
Tony awards tonight, including Best Musical! The crowd at Marie's (where we watched) was so
happy and cheering for them. Go Jeff! The rest of the ceremony was fairly unsurprising; Carol
Channing looked like a marionette version of herself, and Hugh Jackman - as always - is too
damn attractive and talented (much like Raul Esparza, not fair, I say). Trisha was at the Tony's
as a seatfiller, but we couldn't spot her on the TV. I hope she had a blast.
I drove up to MA yesterday to get my measurements taken for the bridesmaid dress. After that, Jen, Dona, Hope and I went to look at shoes. We found a few pairs we liked, but nothing definite yet. And then Dona and I kicked butt at Cranium. I'd never played before - it's like charades meets Pictionary meets Trivial Pursuit, so I loved it.
later on 6/4/04
Just talked to my friend Peter in LA, who's in the hospital with cellulitis and an infected toe.
He's not thrilled, and I hate having friends who're sick enough to be admitted.
6/4/04
AC was a blast. We had great driving weather, so Karen and I drove all the way down with the top down
on the convertible. We got minorly lost when we turned the wrong way on the AC Expressway and kept
seeing signs for Philadelphia, but we figured it out and met the rest of our gang there around 6pm.
We enjoyed the free drinks in the casino, and I was actually up for a while, with the slot machines. I ended up breaking even at the end of the trip, which is fine, since the money I brought was extra spending money that I fully intended to lose.
The conference was good, too - all about teratogens (substances that are dangerous to the fetus) and drug-addicted babies. The last session got a little dull, since there were three speakers in a row, and they got very repetitive near the end, but I enjoyed it all nonetheless.
After I dropped Karen off, I drove home via route 34 so I could stop at Delicious Orchards and pick up some donuts and cookies. I picked up some for Dad, too, and called to say I'd be in the city later and would drop them off. Well, that's what I thought. I ate dinner, sat down on my bed to read, and woke up at 10.30pm instead! Went back to sleep, and woke up this morning. Whew.
6/1/04
What a way to start the month. I went to work yesterday after clinical (KinderCare day care, I
enjoyed it despite the 60 screaming 5-year-olds), and at 4.30pm got a call from the supervisor
that I needed to float to the ER for a few hours. That screwed up the 2nd floor, but the nurse
I was working with said she would cope. The ER was crazy busy - Janice, the other PCA, and I didn't
get a chance to sit down at all, and we managed to take care of all of the patients. One patient's
wife said I deserved a Medal of Honor after I helped her husband disrobe and urinate, and then
convinced him why he should take so-and-so med instead of walking out the door and going home.
Whew. Finally, five hours later, I was released back to the floor, just in time to find my
patient with the commode tipping it over and spilling urine and feces all over the floor. Ugh.
And he had apparently done it earlier in the day as well. Not much fun.
Anyway, I love working in the ER - I asked the supervisor if they needed a parttime PCA there - I know they need someone fulltime, but I said I would go if it were parttime.
OK - off to AC with the gang, for this convention that's tomorrow.