I pierced my first ear! It was a one month old baby girl. It was actually kinda fun...until she woke up and started crying. :(

Beating me down down into the ground.

So, today I finally got my phone call....
I have a scheduled interview for Ruby Memorial Hospital on August 2nd at 1:00pm. Ya know, it's funny. You want something so bad, and when you get it, you wonder if it's what you really want. I guess that just shows how fickle people are. I know it's going to be good experience for me, and it pays good, good benifits, and they help pay for my schooling, but it's going to be a lot of hard work. It will be worth it, though.

I'm already going through a point where I wonder if this is what I am meant to do. Is this right for me? Maybe it has to do with something that happened that pissed me off, but I'm being shaken, and it shouldn't be that easy to shake me at this point. Although, I'm still new and learning, so maybe this is normal for what I'm going through. One more week. I can handle that, right? I've already finished my health assessment class with an A, but it seems like my clinicals is nothing by subjective grading, so I wonder if I've sucked up enough for an A? I know I've been doing well, and I'm competent, but does that deserve an A? This shit is so hard. They expect a lot out of you. Although, I do have more good news. They decided to waive my Ethics writing course since I've already had one, so now I can concentrate on my main class with clinical. Grats to me.

Is it sad that I'm excited for Fall to start? It's not that I don't love summer, but this is not a summer for me. It's miserable hot weather accompanied by class with no vacation and no fun time. We do have a vacation coming up, but who knows if we'll get to do anything fun. I'd like to rent a boat or go camping, but who knows on that one.

Oh, our electric bill was $465!! For two months!! We found the problem...hot water tank with bad thermostat that constantly ran without ever shutting off. That makes for one nasty bill. It's unfortunate that we couldn't have caught it before the bill, but you live and learn. It's fixed, and hopefully the bill will go down.

This clock never seemed so alive.

Things are going good. School is so close to being over that it's scary. There is no way that I have had enough experience in order to be competent to take my skills exam. They give us a scenario, and we have to be able to prioritize the care for our patient which is a simulation dummy that cost over $10,000. Fun.

Clinicals have been such a learning experience, though. I had this older man who was really confused. He had a bunch of dressings on his abdomen that needed changed, so I got to see what an infected wound looked like. Gross, I know, but I loved it.

We had such a good time on the 4th. Andrea, Laura, and Seese all came over, and we had some yummy food, watched some good movies, had some good conversations, and fun with snakes and sparklers. My friend Sammy and her fiancee came over sometime later for a little while. I'm having a blast spending more time with Andi and Seese. We're going to start a walking and swimming program for weight loss fun. Russell, me, and Andrea are going to the Olive Garden tomorrow and then going to watch "Pirates of the Carribean". Should be a good time. We tried to convince Seese to call off work so she could come, too, but to no avail.

Gunther is his same loving self. He's still running back and forth through the trailer. That's kitty exercise for you. He also had a good time at the party.

I get to go watch surgery in the operating room this week. I even get to pick what kind of surgery I want to see, and I may even get to do a catheter on someone while they're knocked out. Good times.

I smashed a bug on my computer screen days ago and it's still there.

Speaking of bugs, I found a big black centipede on our bathroom floor yesterday. I squished it, then I left it on top of the toilet to show Russell what I found, forgot about it, then when I came home from work, it was gone. Either I did not kill it, and it escaped, or Gunther found it and ate it for extra protein. He eats ants, so why not centipedes? We assume that is how he survived in the wild...by finding ant hills and eating them.

I will leave you with the cutest picture ever, taken by Laura.














(Gunther a.k.a. Mr. Gunphy Gunphersons)