Intrinsically Interesting

I just read for hours about people I love, and others that I don't even know! I could read blogs for hours!! It was a book that I couldn't put down, "Life". I've decided my favorite genre is colloquial, written as if it were a conversation or a story telling. It is so enlightening for me to read about women who are having life happen to them. Of course, life is happening to me too! :D (As you can see I barely write about it though)

I went on a blind date this past weekend. I had resolved to have a great time, and help my date have a great time too. My roommate had told me that once she went on a blind date and when she opened the door she could see sinking disappointment on her date's face. That made me so mad that I made sure I gave my date a glowing smile when I opened the door. No one! and I repeat no one deserves that to ever happen to them. We had a great time! I recommend this to anyone stretching for an idea: he is a aspiring photographer so we went up into the mountains and he showed me how to take pictures of nature. We found some great spots up the canyon. Despite not being able to feel our toes after a while it was so fun to hike around and be outside.

The countdown on my blog here is officially over! Cameron came home December 29th. He brought so many presents from Brazil that it doubled what was under our Christmas tree. We definately saved the Christmas tradition of presents until he was home. I love having my brother 4 blocks away! I love that he calls me up just to talk, or to take me out to frozen yogurt. It is so great to have my best friend back home again. Although it will take some time to learn to communicate well again. I am learning to know a whole new person, and I hope he too sees change in who I am becoming.

I think I'll list some of the things that I have learned in the last couple years that he has been gone:

-how to put on red lipstick
-that I can stay up all night long
-visiting teaching brings miracles into my life
-there is nothing good on television except the Cosby show at 3AM
-I can't put down personal finance books
-singing, dancing, being with people, and excercise make me truly happy
-learned how to feed 150 people at a time [with lots of help :D]
-dying your hairs blond doesn't change anything.
-I CAN live without cooking with onions and garlic in my apartment![roommate with allergies]
-Eyelash extensions aren't very comfortable.
-I'm not as independant as I thought.

More next time folks! xo Anna

Back on Track

I have learned something valuable that I want to share. This is how to make the mundane sparkle! This is how to be assertive and strong.

First make a list of the things you really want in your life. Prioritizing like this allows you to look up from the sidewalk in front of you and see the clouds in the sky. It opens up the windows of opportunity by allowing you to realize that a change could make life better for you. For me, I have recently realized that a lot of the things on my list can be solved by taking the ASCP CLS exam.

While talking with my mom she helped me realize that if we envision our lives the way we want them and then work towards those goals we will be blessed with opportunities that we wouldn't have seen before. The key is realizing what you really want. We must create things "spiritually" in our mind before they can be realized before us.

50 Great Grandkids

The people I meet in the hospital are SO interesting. Tonight has been incredibly slow, knock on wood. But I did get called on the floor to draw an inpatient. I was almost startled as I walked in the room because this older woman was literally skin and bones. A sight that is hard to see. Trying to move past her image I asked her some surface details about her life. In the course of the conversation she told me that she is soon to have 50 great grandchildren! From the seven children she had there has grown a humongous family that can barely get together anymore. Since my immediate family is small, just me and my brother Cameron, I felt a little envious of this woman. What an immense feat she had attained! It has become a goal of mine to have that many grandchildren. Honestly I believe the bigger the crowd the more fun everyone has!

Patients

I am working again tonight and I have been having a great time tonight. There was a draw on the floor scheduled for 10 o'clock so I went and took my little hand held tray full of colorful tubes and different sized needles. I knocked on the door of a room and when I looked in a nurse was helping the patient slowly to his bed. I heard him ask her for his parkinsens medication. She asked me to go tell Becki another nurse to give it to him. I went back to his room and she was still helping him into bed. I heard him very softly say, "I used to run marathons." That made my heart sink a little. There was such a drastic contrast to his physical capabilities now and what they must have been years ago. I asked him, trying to lighten the mood, "Did you ever run the Boston marathon?" he told me no and that he had run the worst race in the united states. I asked him, was it St. George? again, "No it was the Deseret News marathon. We had to run up hill and then down hill all the way to hogel zoo. My toes pressed against my shoes and I lost skin and it was all bloody." I asked him if he lost any toe nails because I had heard of runners frequently losing toenails. "Yes four or five." He said still barely audible. He was finally sitting on the edge of the bed at this point. The nurse helped him put his feet up and said, "Annaliese is going to draw your blood. Can you believe someone so nice is going to do something so mean?" I laughed. As I proceeded to get all my things together I kept talking with him and made sure to use a matter of fact voice rather than a patronizing childish voice the nurses sometimes use. I wanted him to know that to me he was a real person and not some crippled patient who took a whole minute to get from the bathroom to his bed. He told me that he was the first person to live up in American Fork Canyon and that he used to run up it 10 miles round trip every day. I asked him if there were water falls up there and he told me that the one in Provo Canyon was bigger. I told him how I could never run a marathon. He said something very interesting, "I thought I could learn everything I wanted to know about myself by running a marathon. But I was wrong. I have learned much more about myself since then." I commented on how that was very good because I will have to find other ways than marathons to learn about myself... We had a very good conversation and as I went to leave he said, "it was good to visit with you." I agreed and then left. I hope that I helped him heal more than I hurt him with my needle. And truly I think I did because he really opened up to me. It was a powerful moment and I really think that my interactions with the patients can be the most rewarding. Sometimes they are the most awkward but then sometimes you meet really incredible people in the hospital. It was memorable. I'm glad I wrote it down so that I won't ever forget it.

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I'm all at sea

I think I've finally gotten over that stage where your heart races because someone just asked, "So what kind of music do you like?" Honestly the nerves weren't about what the other person would think! It was more about the fact that I listen to radio music. Connecting artists with their songs has never been on my radar. Freshman year in college I had a roommate who would quote song lyrics in every day life and those that knew were taken on a whole new level of conversation with her. Luckily her dad and my dad had grown us up on the same kinds of music. Classic Rock: JT, Eagles, Jim Croce, Beatles, Journey, Kansas, etc. Select songs from these artists I can identify yet one of the most hilarious moments in college was riding in the car with this artist conscious roommate. "You better you bet" came on the radio and she pointedly asked, "Anna, who is this?" haha the joke was on me.

For now when people ask, I tell them "I love feel good music." 'Cause it's true! And then I say Jazz. Jazz makes my heart sing. I went to NYC last year and I asked a friend to take me to a Jazz club in the city so I could hear some good live music. Unfortunately I don't know what NYC thinks jazz is these days... because it was horrible. It had to be a fluke because I know that somewhere deep in the city there is some crooner singing a gorgeous soulful melody.

Artists like Amos Lee, Jamie Cullum, and Diana Krall are on my Jazz play list on my iPod. Jamie Cullum's new album The Pursuit takes jazz to a whole new level. Unfortunately there is swearing in his music. I try really hard to self edit.

Do you work to live, or live to work?

Now that I have emerged into the working world I have made a subconscious attitude choice towards work. This might change over the years but for now, I work to live. I am fortunate to have a job that I can clock in- put in my time clock out- and not think about it until my shift comes around again. For many people it is just the opposite. Their job has become the main focus of their life. In New York city for instance, the attitudes are most likely shifted towards "live to work". But at this stage in my life when I'm trying to get up off the ground work is just a means to an end. Money.

A phenomena that I have discovered is that Money and Time are inversely proportional. Pardon the nerdy term. But it's true! When you have to put in your hours at work to get money then all your time is eaten up by work and you can't use your money in a leisurely way. Your vacation is blocked out, precious isolated time. And with me- since my 90 days isn't past here at my new job, I won't even start accruing PTO until the end of September! Such is life.

But WOW that sounded a lot like complaining! I love my job. Sometimes it gets my adrenaline going, but I still am so grateful to have a job and I'm grateful for the education that got me this job.
peace and love! -Anna