Friends

Posted via email from What I Need is All Around Me

Also I'm trying to have a friending frenzy over here, but it's kinda fizzling, you punks. I know that some of you are poking around on the internet going "There's nothing on the internet on holidays". Well stop it and go introduce yourself. MEET NEW PEEPS FOR THE NEW YEAR.

I know I did my own retrospect, but now I'm stealing this list of questions from wintersweet because it's another way to look at your year end. It makes you think a little harder about what certain things meant to you instead of just what happened. Thanks, wintersweet!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
GRADUATED NURSING SCHOOL. Yeah. In that vein there have been a TON of things. Packed wounds, changed dressings, participated in rapid responses, gave recommendations to doctors, and generally been the face of healthcare to patients & families, which part may never stop feeling weird to me.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make resolutions at the new year. As I come across things I wish to change about myself, I try to change them immediately & not wait until a certain time to do it.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Both my sister & my brother had babies, so I became an aunt!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, but I have heard about the deaths of patients after I cared for them. The one that affected me most was a patient I sent to surgery who never woke up. Felt like a 2x4 to the face.

5. Where did you travel?
Mostly same areas I usually go, but I made it a point to find new places in those areas. I did the most "new exploration" of Little Rock, spending lots of time at the River Market, Sephora, Cupcakes on Kavanaugh, etc. I wish I had an easy way of getting a bike to LR so I could explore the River Trail.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More free time. As I become more accustomed to the night shift & the stressors of my job, I'm hoping I'll be able to find a better balance between work & free time. I'm also hoping I can find a way to have more ENERGY when I'm home.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 1. I can't really tell you how horrifying it was for Walter to call me in the middle of a high acuity nursing class and ask me what a "ventilator and an IABP" meant. To have to call & cancel something with Q we'd been looking forward to, and then explain to my husband that his mom (whom we both love dearly) was on life support and we had to go to Texas NOW. To pack everything up in the car and drive as fast as we could to get there. It's interesting how one stress (school) evaporates in the fire of a bigger stress like that. But then there was a happy ending so YAY.

I have to give an honorable mention to January 27th, specifically the evening. Sitting in the dark, listening to trees and electrical poles snap, ice crackle like breaking glass, and the radio reports coming in of power failures and deaths and more ice. That night was one long, sustained stress response.

8. What was your biggest(s) achievement of the year?
It feels like I'm harping on the point but y'all I FINISHED A BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN NURSING IN ONE FREAKING YEAR.

9. What was your biggest failure?
If I had to call something a failure, I'd say my interpersonal interactions this year. It's not like they were massive failures or I went around telling people I hated them, but relationships took a back burner this year & I regret it. I know they had to, and I know that most people understood why I was being the way I was, but I still didn't like it.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Not really. I did have a lot of stress-related minor illnesses related to the ridiculously high basal stress level I was rocking during school. After August 6th, when I graduated, the stress level began to drop immediately. I dropped 15 lbs without a diet change and no longer have to take acid reducers for reflux. The change was amazing.

11. What was the best thing(s) you bought?
This is hard. I never really remember material things. My favorite new item this year isn't something I purchased myself, anyway. Hmm. Okay. Favorite thing I bought with my own money: my Big Whiskey messenger bag. It was pricey but every time I go out wearing this bag I get a million compliments and I feel that little warm, contented feeling when you have something you really enjoy. Like a kid with a new toy, you know?

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Did I mention I graduated with a BSN? Oh, I did? Well. I thought that was pretty awesome. Q became a CNA and currently has a job she really, truly likes. This is the first time I can recall that, instead of her working a "pay the bills" kinda job just for the paycheck. <3 I'm not the only one who made it through a huge educational milestone, either: thejessone graduated with her BSN as well, and greeneyes73180 received her master's degree!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The American public in general. The general population showed a complete inability or unwillingness to put themselves in someone else's shoes for ANY issue. It made me ill.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Nursing school while I was enrolled, but then after I graduated it got much better. We've got 2 paychecks for the first time since we lived in Dallas. That helped the stress level as well. I suppose now I can complain about the AT&T bill; even with my 24% employer discount that's some EXPENSIVE cell phone & data service we're paying for there!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Graduating. The birth of my nephew & niece. Jess & Zak's wedding. Two (COUNT 'EM!) Dave Matthews Band concerts.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Jimi Thing! I wasn't terribly fond of this song until the Little Rock concert, where we got the single most AWESOME version of it I'd ever heard. It's one of my top 5 now.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier? Stress levels are down, gainful employment is up, one life objective has been achieved. I'd say yes.
ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer! I can haz paycheck!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
More travel would've been fun but there wasn't really a way to do it. It isn't a regret; I'll just do as much as I can this year.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Worrying about getting the best grades. I did a lot of stressing when I got a B instead of an A, and I knew in my head that it didn't matter. I'm still an RN and no one cares what grades I got.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Mostly asleep! I got a very nice, relaxing Dallas trip the week/weekend before, then I came back & worked 3 shifts back to back. On Christmas Eve I went to the airport for Ganon & Bryan, then worked an 11p to 7a shift, then went to Christmas morning breakfast without any sleep at all. Then I crashed harder than you'd believe.

22. Did you fall in love in 2009?
With my new niece & nephew, yes!

23. Any culinary adventures?
Any time a culinary adventure presents itself, I'm ON IT. I became a bit more of a coffee connoisseur this year; I'm pickier about my blends and I prefer press coffee. Had some delightful sushi adventures at Sake Toro in Frisco.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
This was the year we ditched television & didn't look back. We do not have Dish Network & we don't get any channels, and we haven't had the urge to replace it since I graduated. We get TV series via Netflix at a slow pace instead. Mostly we've been watching Star Trek (Voyager & DS9) as well as True Blood.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
No. I don't hate people; that's a waste of time & energy.

26. What was the best book you read?
Ooooh, that's a toss up. Jacqueline Carey came out with a new one that I really liked (Naamah's Kiss) and the next book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time came out, officially co-written by Brandon Sanderson. The writing style really was slightly different, and in places I really liked it better.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Jeff Coffin Mu'tet. I knew I loved his music with the Flecktones and with Dave Matthews Band, so I took a chance & downloaded a song here & there. I loved them across the board, and since August I've downloaded something like 6 of his albums. He's my newest musical obsession.

Plus that beard is just plain awesomesauce.

28. What did you want and got?
A BSN! I'm sorry, I'm belaboring that point. :D Actually, my first reaction was: my DSLR! And also 2 DMB concerts. And last night as I was bemoaning the fact that the Jeff Coffin Mu'tet wasn't coming anywhere near me, I saw a date for Fayetteville!

29. What did you want and not get?
The lottery. :D I did not win it. Honestly I can't think of anything. I don't tend to dwell on what I can't have for very long. I get really disappointed at the time, but then 3 months later I can't even remember what I was disappointed about.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
If I'd gone to see Sherlock Holmes I can be you it would've been that. I had a GREAT time seeing "Larger Than Life", the 3D concert film with Gogol Bordello, Ben Harper & Relentless 7, and DMB, but that might've been the subject matter & the company (O HAI, BFF). I don't usually remember movies that well; I'm not a film person. They aren't interactive enough for me.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
Bryan was gone on my birthday (Hot Springs, another educator training), so I ate at Fuji with my parents, who, unbeknownst to me had called a bunch of my friends. asqmh was there, as was bluecanarykit, reflectedduck42, and mrsduck42 with Kayli! We had the funniest teppanyaki chef EVER. He did lots of incomprehensible singing.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I am not sure this year could've been more personally satisfying if I really HAD won the lottery.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
"I will wear what I like whether you think it looks good on a fat girl or not!" Some adjectives I dress toward: upbeat, quirky, colorful, contrast, happy.

34. What kept you sane?
BRYAN & Q. I fell back on both of them pretty hard this year and they held me up beautifully. I don't really have the words to express my gratitude, but I'll be paying them back for the rest of my life for the way they kept pointing to the light at the end of the tunnel while making sure I had what I needed to do what I must.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Jeff Coffin. Not only do I admire his talent, I find him rather boyishly cute. I also find it kind of funny how his fashion sense is either really cool or WAY OFF. :D I also find it interesting how he came so successfully into a position so fraught with peril. LeRoi Moore was an integral founding member of DMB. DMB's fandom is well-known for being very picky about who gets to call themselves a part of DMB (you should've seen some of the forum posts about Butch Taylor; it got brutal). But when Mr. Coffin stepped in, he got nothing but praise for his talent. It was refreshing to see our fandom NOT picking someone apart for once.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Health care reform. It makes me positively INFURIATED to hear people saying that those who cannot afford health care should not have access. I would like to drag them by the nape of their neck on one of my rounds and tell me which person deserves to suffer at home or on the streets from conditions I treat on the floor.

37. Who did you miss?
Me. During school I couldn't do the things I loved the most, and there were times that bothered me badly.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
My coworkers on 2 North! I wish deeply that I had the personality type to stay in floor nursing, because my 2 North night shift coworkers were beyond cool. If you pressed me and I had to name favorites, I'd say Brian (who has moved on to work in surgery in Blytheville), Scott, Billie, and Sarah.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009?
1) I am one hell of a lot stronger than I thought I was.
2) You can finish nursing school in a year and you do come out prepared.
3) My mom-in-law is one tough bird.
4) Coffee is the greatest drug of all.
5) Sometimes, even when you're a strong person, you have to lean on your friends & family. They will still love you. Perhaps they even love you more for trusting them enough to lean on.
6) Seriously, it really doesn't matter if you get a B. Seriously.
7) I look very cute in scrubs.
8) Bedside manner really does matter. Seriously.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I've really got to give this a whole song. The first time I heard this song, I caught my breath because I've felt this, really felt it, so many times since I began working a hospital floor way back during clinicals. Even if you're not a DMB fan, I promise if you work in a hospital with patients, you'll get it the same way I do.

Funny The Way It Is by Dave Matthews Band
( the lyrics )

I feel really weird about 2009.

It was a big year. Lots of stuff happened, and to be honest it was a pretty poopy year for many people who mean a lot to me. Some of my favorite people had terrible years. For me, though, it was a good year. I completed my bachelor of science in nursing and passed the NCLEX-RN, becoming a registered nurse. I'm now working in a hospital, doing a job I love and getting a paycheck for the first time since before Ganon was born. Bryan is still being an awesome high school math teacher. My stress levels were so high while I was in nursing school that now it's like I'm floating.

I've gotten really close to several new people, including at least one person who groks my situation in a very fundamental way (I'm looking at yooooooou, thejessone!). The Epic Wavers (for lack of a better group term thus far) are AWESOME. The SuperBFFs are AMAZING. Also speaking of new people: I became an aunt this year. Molly was born in January & Jagger in March.

Through various friends, I discovered a lot of fun internet things I've really come to enjoy as well. Posterous, Gowalla, lots of webcomics, Twitter--all these things help me stay connected to many online friends who are a really important part of my support system.

So. Maybe it's my eternal optimism talking but I really liked this year. Here are the defining moments:

January: New Year. Molly was born. I went back to nursing school after Christmas break (which was HARD, given that I knew what I was getting back into). The end of the month was the Ice Storm of Death in Mordor.

( The bulk of the year )

December: Family vacation to Branson, then some time in Dallas for Christmas. I put in a request for a transfer to the intensive care unit, interviewed for it, and then got it. I discovered the bacon chocolate bar comes in dark. <3 I ordered my new camera lens. The Flecktones & the Mu'tet are touring...nowhere near me. :/

...

Okay, you want to know how weird my life is? I'll tell you. I was writing this entry, and came to the last sentence. Well, it was about Jeff Coffin, which made me think of his photography. So I went to his website to look at his photo galleries, and the first thing I saw was that the Mu'tet had added some January tour dates. So I clicked over to the tour dates page AND SAW FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS ON THE LIST FOR JANUARY 21st.

And then I died of awesome.

That's a Thursday. I'm going to BEG to be scheduled Monday-Wednesday that week. I will sell my soul.

So that's how my year ends. Ganon is in the living room, dancing to Neil Patrick Harris (The Fairy Shoe Person) singing about shoes. Bryan is in the office playing video games. I'm having gingerbread cookies & delicious coffee, and I just found out that I'm probably going to see Jeff Coffin live again.

Pretty good year.

---

FRIENDING FRENZY!
I've seen these on a few other LJs. Let's have a friending frenzy! Basically what you do here is repost that I'm having this here on my journal, and direct your friends here. Then we all talk about ourselves and click through to see who we find interesting. Yes? I'll start with some icebreaker ideas.

Name: Hillary
Occupation: registered nurse
Favorite music: Dave Matthews Band, Jeff Coffin, Béla Fleck & the Flecktones
Favorite foods: Sushi, grilled veggies, baked goodies & pastries
Favorite hobbies: Having adventures, knitting & crocheting, photography, travel, jamming out very loudly in my Honda Element, and most especially doing all of this with bryancreech, Ganon, or asqmh
Tidbit of Choice: People often think my upbeat nature is an act at first. Nope. I really am the most upbeat skeptic you're ever likely to meet. :)

In no particular order

1. Meeting Danny
2. Aquiring two best friends in Rumy and Amanda
3. First Bed and Breakfast experience at Heritage Manor
4. That really good paper I wrote on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)
5. Cleaning, cooking, and eating a wild turkey
6. Game night at mom and dads where we played spoons and Dan almost passed out from laughter
7. Movies at the Warren Theater
8. The camping trip, definitly
9. Aquirig a digital reader
10. Dining out at Costello's

10 worst for 2009 (because the good goes with the bad...)
1. G making me cry on my birthday (sorry kid, but you did...)
2. My grant proposal paper (it was bad)
3. My performace review at the library
4. Getting reprimanded for PDA at work
5. Getting sick on fall break trip
6. Getting sick all of September (cold, food poisening, cold, wierd rash virus)
7. Halloween (don't ask)
8. My bathroom ceiling falling in (though that came out good in the end)
9. The hail storm taking out Danny's truck
10. Our new cell phone bill !!!!!

Erm. Assorted pics of WIN

Posted via email from Q's random thoughts

Posted via email from Q's random thoughts

Too much fun. I can be back on nights nao?

Posted via web from Q's random thoughts

OurIur roomies are planning to start looking to move closer to Eliza's work in March. This is going to be quite an ordeal. I'm glad we're moving, but it's so expensive and so much work. We've been driving across the bay a lot and it gets old fast, so I will be very glad to get a place closer to friends, markets, the zoo, etc. I've started making lists (as I'm particularly apt to do) and estimating costs. Fortunately we've already been scrimping to try to pay off our credit card, so we have some money saved for down payments and such.

We have lots of time to look, so we'remaking a picky list. Jeremy really wants an included dryer and I really want an included fridge (not standard here). I also want to be in walking distance to everything so our car can just sit until Sunday.

We've been talking about finding a flat downtown where Jeremy could walk to work and we could bus or train everywhere, but we'd basically have to sell our car. Parking permenantly in the city is about $300/ month. It's something to think about.

$1.44 = breakfast at work.

Posted via web from Q's random thoughts