Free(?) time

Dear Diary,
Oops, wrong place! That's what happens when my mind starts to wander. Which seems to happen a lot these days, as I have so much time for mind wandering,  since I still don't have a job! 

In case any of you were wondering, I'm not expecting a pity party. Plenty of you would be dying to have plenty of time for mind wandering and stagnation, I'm sure. And I can't say I blame you. We live in such a frenzied, fast-paced world, it can be so difficult to carve out time for ourselves. Having said that, I am trying to make the best of this down time, and picking up my long-abandoned hobbies (writing being one of them), and putting them to good (?) use. I also have begun to scrapbook again, but that has been a difficult task, due to the fact that there is so much stuff to uncover, just to get to the scrapbooking stuff that I need to scrapbook. Notice the redundancies. I wrote that way intentionally, as a sort of cerebral tongue twister, to keep you glued to your seat, and your brains nimble.

Nursing School Memories

I've also had a lot of time to reflect on my nursing school experiences, and I must say that it seems like eons ago that I was actually there. Especially the first year, and the dreaded labs. I say dreaded, because they were.

Imagine learning a new set of skills, trying to memorize all of the steps, while keeping everything sterile (one false move, and you've broken your sterile field). All the while, the instructors are watching you like a hawk for any misstep, at least during the lab check-offs. (I purposely typed those words in bold, because they were the bane of our existence.) During practice, the nursing instructors were there to guide you, give you advice, and generally bite your head off when they caught you trying to take short-cuts. I'm joking about the last part, but I'm sure there was the occasional student who wanted to take the easy way out. But during lab check-offs, you were obviously on your own, with no prompting from the instructors. Yes, our labs were tough, but it was for a very good reason.  They wanted us to be prepared for the moment when we "hit the floors" in clinicals. And I believe they did. Were we terrorized? Sometimes. Was it worth it? Yes. Especially when we heard comments from hospital staff about how much better prepared OCC students were than some of the other schools. 

Theory classes were also a treat, some more difficult than others, such as studying the cardiovascular system, and the million things that could go south with a "heart patient". It was enough to make a grown man or woman cry, and believe me, some of us did, especially when receiving our test scores. But once again, the instructors tests reflected something very important; practice for NCLEX and preparation for the real world. So even though we sat through more than one exam sweating bullets, cursing under our breath, vowing to never look at another scan tron as long as we lived (once school was over), we were prepared, and we succeeded.

Cold snap...when will it end?

Living in the northern part of this great country of ours has it's advantages for sure. I can't think of any at the moment, because my attention is focused on my numb fingertips, which can barely feel the keyboard. I don't know about the rest of you fellow Michiganders, but I am beyond ready for spring. I am like a frustrated Jack-in-the-Box, in the hands of a toddler. The little guy has one hand on the crank, the other on the lid. He cranks away furiously, music chiming at a fast pace. I'm tucked away inside, trying to break through that lid, but his chubby little hand won't let me! Watch out when we have that first 60 degree day. I'm going to pop right through that lid, and probably scare the living daylights out of that poor toddler!

Volunteer and ACLS

So you ask...what is a worthless bum like me doing besides blogging and scrapbooking these days? Well, I'm volunteering once a week at a senior day care facility, which has been very rewarding. I think I should have been doing this ages ago, they sure do need the extra set of hands. I'm also registered to take an ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) class in May, which should be tons of fun. I say that tongue in cheek, because I heard it was a very difficult course, but it will be good as far as my professional development is concerned, and may help out in the job prospects. So what does this mean for yours truly? Yup. More studying. I'm supposed to be getting a study guide in the mail any day now (included in the cost of the course), and then the fun begins! For those of you on the edge of your seat, I will try to remember to keep you posted.

For those of you on the edge of consciousness, might I recommend a jack-in-the-box?