After class tonight Boybee ran to blockbuster and grabbed Michael Clayton. We missed it in theaters mainly because it didn't look that interesting - the magic of the Oscars showed us the error of our ways so of course we needed to watch it (he also renter Elizabeth: The Golden Age). It starts weird and artsy, then it hooks you in and becomes a pretty compelling drama. The best part is Tilda Swinton - I'm a big fan.
Now I am enjoying the beginning of Spring Break - I have a class tomorrow evening but work's cancelled and the class is a med school course so it means that there will be free indian food for dinner. Got to love how they bribe the med school kids, as if my 913$ a credit hour isn't good enough for them (ok, so I got a scholarship but still, it's the principle). We may go to a friend's lake house for a bit, but it's still up in the air. I also have this big project to take care of out in the middle of nowhere and a living will to write. At least this nowhere has wineries and Boybee is on hand to supply hugs while I cry my way through the written declaration of how I want to die, which is not in the least depressing to me, no sir.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Suboptimal Waffles: Stay in School
I just told Boybee that I was working on my paper, so obviously I should be updating my poor forgotten blog.
Recently I have been working the 9 to 5 in addition to school and to be honest, I really love the classes I am taking but I'm just not feeling the school thing. Oh well. I've been taking refuge in geekery and have started a 7th Sea role-playing game with some friends. It allows me to be creative without actually be productive thus bipassing my over-active anti-productivity drive.
Now to go see why my kitchen smells like wet-cat mixed with burnt popcorn and a potato!
Recently I have been working the 9 to 5 in addition to school and to be honest, I really love the classes I am taking but I'm just not feeling the school thing. Oh well. I've been taking refuge in geekery and have started a 7th Sea role-playing game with some friends. It allows me to be creative without actually be productive thus bipassing my over-active anti-productivity drive.
Now to go see why my kitchen smells like wet-cat mixed with burnt popcorn and a potato!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Making up for lost time
Thursday was my first day of work at the Big Hospital. It was a pretty standard but uneventful day and I loved it. The nurses on our floor are funny anf competent and likeable, my supervisor is sweet and I really like her. If that were my real job (and not just my practicum) I would be really happy.
I get there a little before 9:30 and it's right on the light-rail system, so I can take the train. Then meet with the nurse who lets us know which patients to see and why they were referred to us. We make the rounds and do assesments, see who needs further referrrals or counseling, povide that and then write it all up in their charts. Then the rest of the day is taken up by working to get donations and putting together publicity packets and other little projects to help people out. It's really enjoyable.
So far, this semester is definitely good enough to make up for how aweful last semester was.
I get there a little before 9:30 and it's right on the light-rail system, so I can take the train. Then meet with the nurse who lets us know which patients to see and why they were referred to us. We make the rounds and do assesments, see who needs further referrrals or counseling, povide that and then write it all up in their charts. Then the rest of the day is taken up by working to get donations and putting together publicity packets and other little projects to help people out. It's really enjoyable.
So far, this semester is definitely good enough to make up for how aweful last semester was.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A New Semester
As of a month ago i was dreading the start of this semester - heck, as of yesterday I was dreading the start of this semester. I went to two of the six classes I am signed up for yesterday (the only two that will meet this week), and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them.
The first is a course on social work in health care - the professor seems lovely and recently served on the Big Hospital's ethics board, which just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. A pet goal of mine is to be on an ethics board at a hospital; in my fantasy-world this would be my entire job and I'd work at one of the TV hospitals where everything is dramatic and exciting and I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The second course is on feminist theory and practice in social work. I was really apprehensive about this one at first, but I think it will be ok. Two Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professors from the university are in this class - one of them freaks the professor out a bit because she is older and the professor obviously has a lot of respect for her. The professor is a Gloria Steinem style lesbian academic feminist - she seems very nice and just a little fake, but I think I can deal with that. My only problem is that it will be very hard for me to not talk the entire time. This is a subject that I know a lot about and have very strong opinions on and that I believe my opinions are... more radical (not Radical mind you but rather using the word with its dictionary definition) than the teachers and most people I would think.
Next week I will begin my job at Big Hospital and have my first medical ethics class, which I am really looking forward to. The week after next, I will have my first seminar course which is a piggy-back onto the job at Big Hospital. My last course is a weekend course which will meet three long weekends sprinkled across the semester - it will be my last intro course and hopefully I will enjoy it, I hear the professor is amazing.
The first is a course on social work in health care - the professor seems lovely and recently served on the Big Hospital's ethics board, which just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. A pet goal of mine is to be on an ethics board at a hospital; in my fantasy-world this would be my entire job and I'd work at one of the TV hospitals where everything is dramatic and exciting and I get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The second course is on feminist theory and practice in social work. I was really apprehensive about this one at first, but I think it will be ok. Two Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professors from the university are in this class - one of them freaks the professor out a bit because she is older and the professor obviously has a lot of respect for her. The professor is a Gloria Steinem style lesbian academic feminist - she seems very nice and just a little fake, but I think I can deal with that. My only problem is that it will be very hard for me to not talk the entire time. This is a subject that I know a lot about and have very strong opinions on and that I believe my opinions are... more radical (not Radical mind you but rather using the word with its dictionary definition) than the teachers and most people I would think.
Next week I will begin my job at Big Hospital and have my first medical ethics class, which I am really looking forward to. The week after next, I will have my first seminar course which is a piggy-back onto the job at Big Hospital. My last course is a weekend course which will meet three long weekends sprinkled across the semester - it will be my last intro course and hopefully I will enjoy it, I hear the professor is amazing.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
A New Year
This is the beginning of my first calendar year as a married woman, and my first calendar year of being in graduate school (should be my only calendar year in graduate school too!). So far it has been off to a lazy start with lots of hanging out with friends, going to the gym and catching up on webcomics, etc.
Right now I am officially starting to get ready for the upcomming semester. First, I am updating my google calendar with all of my classes and meetings, then I need to figure out which books I need to buy and when. Cash flow might be an issue this month (thank you to the gas company's clerical error and my boss for forgetting to get my time sheet in for me while I was out of the office for the holidays), so books will be more of a pain in the butt than usual. Last semester I spent 600 dollars on books, all but one of those books was a complete waste of money, so hopefully I can sell them off and get something back for them.
At the moment I am trying to decide if Opera, as a browser, is worth it and trying to figure out why Google is a jerk. You would think that a company devoted to open source would not go out of its way to make Opera useless on its site, but I guess that even a company that claims to not be evil can be a money grubbing jerk too. Oh well. I like google, I am often so impressed by google, and I sometimes forget that corporations are still corporations. Sad but true.
Right now I am officially starting to get ready for the upcomming semester. First, I am updating my google calendar with all of my classes and meetings, then I need to figure out which books I need to buy and when. Cash flow might be an issue this month (thank you to the gas company's clerical error and my boss for forgetting to get my time sheet in for me while I was out of the office for the holidays), so books will be more of a pain in the butt than usual. Last semester I spent 600 dollars on books, all but one of those books was a complete waste of money, so hopefully I can sell them off and get something back for them.
At the moment I am trying to decide if Opera, as a browser, is worth it and trying to figure out why Google is a jerk. You would think that a company devoted to open source would not go out of its way to make Opera useless on its site, but I guess that even a company that claims to not be evil can be a money grubbing jerk too. Oh well. I like google, I am often so impressed by google, and I sometimes forget that corporations are still corporations. Sad but true.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Holiday Season
As I've mentioned before, I am a secular-ish Jew married to an atheist recovering from Lutheranism. Due to our religious and familial backgrounds, we get to have an interesting December (December's are also made more interesting by finals at school, but in a less fun way).
Our December holiday season began with Hanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukah is not a 'holy day' unlike the other widely celebrated Jewish holidays throughout the year. What's also neat about it is that my father's family first heard about it in the early 1950's when they immigrated out of Iran. Since my parent's are divorced, we get two family Hanukah celebrations. The first with my mother's family is referred to as the "Present Orgy," and involves latkas (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts, often jelly filled). This year, my three year old cousin got a mound of toys and a *pink toothbrush,* guess which gift she liked best, named, and carried around all night.
All my life our Hanukah celebration with my dad has been a subdued affair, in the Israeli tradition he gives us money and we often get a pizza delivered and play dreidel and just hang out. This year was different. My dad's new girlfriend had kids young and is now a young grandmother to a whole brood. This year we trekked out to her home in Chesterworld for Hanukah with her, her kids and her grandkids. It was fun, and more reminiscent of Hanukah with my grandma, which made me feel very, very old. (Best part, one of her daughters is married to a man who went to high school with *A HAD A CRUSH ON* my mom... that makes my dad feel old).
The next holiday celebration was last night as we sat up with my mom and her husband to welcome the sun on the Solstice. A pair of tickets to Wicked magically appeared in our laps so we saw that (it was great!) and then went over to see my mom. We arrived around 11:30, made hot coco and adjourned to the living room where we sat and ate popcorn covered in chocolate/sugar/nuts/sugar/etc and drank coco and chatted. It was lovely. This is the first year we have gone out of our way to celebrate the winter Solstice with my mom and step-dad, but then again, this is the first year that I have had a step-dad, so I guess it works out.
In a few days we will brave the wilds of Illinois and make the long journey to the Frozen North to celebrate Christmas. We will spend Christmas eve with a dear friend in the process of conversion to Judaism, at which point I believe she will be introduced to the age old Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas. Then in the morning we will drive out to the middle of nowhere to see my in-laws after they get home from church. We will eat ham (yuck!) and then open presents and stay the night.
December holidays end with new years eve, which this year we believe we will celebrate with at a friend's potluck. The new year begins with a luncheon at my uncle-in-laws house back in the Frozen North (how we will get to both event's we are still working on, it will most likely involve waking up at 8 am January 1st and driving up).
With all of this, you would think we were Pastafarians! Happy holidays!
Our December holiday season began with Hanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Hanukah is not a 'holy day' unlike the other widely celebrated Jewish holidays throughout the year. What's also neat about it is that my father's family first heard about it in the early 1950's when they immigrated out of Iran. Since my parent's are divorced, we get two family Hanukah celebrations. The first with my mother's family is referred to as the "Present Orgy," and involves latkas (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts, often jelly filled). This year, my three year old cousin got a mound of toys and a *pink toothbrush,* guess which gift she liked best, named, and carried around all night.
All my life our Hanukah celebration with my dad has been a subdued affair, in the Israeli tradition he gives us money and we often get a pizza delivered and play dreidel and just hang out. This year was different. My dad's new girlfriend had kids young and is now a young grandmother to a whole brood. This year we trekked out to her home in Chesterworld for Hanukah with her, her kids and her grandkids. It was fun, and more reminiscent of Hanukah with my grandma, which made me feel very, very old. (Best part, one of her daughters is married to a man who went to high school with *A HAD A CRUSH ON* my mom... that makes my dad feel old).
The next holiday celebration was last night as we sat up with my mom and her husband to welcome the sun on the Solstice. A pair of tickets to Wicked magically appeared in our laps so we saw that (it was great!) and then went over to see my mom. We arrived around 11:30, made hot coco and adjourned to the living room where we sat and ate popcorn covered in chocolate/sugar/nuts/sugar/etc and drank coco and chatted. It was lovely. This is the first year we have gone out of our way to celebrate the winter Solstice with my mom and step-dad, but then again, this is the first year that I have had a step-dad, so I guess it works out.
In a few days we will brave the wilds of Illinois and make the long journey to the Frozen North to celebrate Christmas. We will spend Christmas eve with a dear friend in the process of conversion to Judaism, at which point I believe she will be introduced to the age old Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas. Then in the morning we will drive out to the middle of nowhere to see my in-laws after they get home from church. We will eat ham (yuck!) and then open presents and stay the night.
December holidays end with new years eve, which this year we believe we will celebrate with at a friend's potluck. The new year begins with a luncheon at my uncle-in-laws house back in the Frozen North (how we will get to both event's we are still working on, it will most likely involve waking up at 8 am January 1st and driving up).
With all of this, you would think we were Pastafarians! Happy holidays!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
On Why You Need Your Ears
Ears are so amazing, and I admit, I have taken mine for granted. After years of not giving my ears the love and respect they deserved, going so far as to get a stupid piercing at a mall when I was 13 that I have since let close-up, my ears have decided to take a hiatus from usefulness.
While in the frozen nothern wastelands, visiting Boybee's parents, I caught a nasty little virus. I tried to sleep it off and drink lots of fluids, but alas, healthy is not the word I would use to describe a graduate student's schedule during finals. After spending a week voiceless, a few days ago I could speak again, but strangely, I can't hear. I also have a hacking cough, but that isn't too strange.
Right now, I can hear my breath going through my nose and down into my lungs, but I can't hear what people say when they speak to me, especially on my right side.
Oh, ears, I promise if you come back to functionality, I'll treat you right! I'll clean you regularly with cutips and try not to get over-excited and poke too far back. I'll even get you pierced in a new and nice way, maybe even to cover up that old scar. You would like that, right? Please ears, if you're reading this, I miss you.
While in the frozen nothern wastelands, visiting Boybee's parents, I caught a nasty little virus. I tried to sleep it off and drink lots of fluids, but alas, healthy is not the word I would use to describe a graduate student's schedule during finals. After spending a week voiceless, a few days ago I could speak again, but strangely, I can't hear. I also have a hacking cough, but that isn't too strange.
Right now, I can hear my breath going through my nose and down into my lungs, but I can't hear what people say when they speak to me, especially on my right side.
Oh, ears, I promise if you come back to functionality, I'll treat you right! I'll clean you regularly with cutips and try not to get over-excited and poke too far back. I'll even get you pierced in a new and nice way, maybe even to cover up that old scar. You would like that, right? Please ears, if you're reading this, I miss you.
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