It Could Have Been Worse

Well, I am blogging, so that must mean....... I'm at work, yes. I have been legitimately busy this last semester. Not the kind of busy where I get behind because I'm messing around on the computer, the real kind. I thought this semester wouldn't be that busy, but it's not so easy breezy so far. As I mentioned in the last post, I took a job at Primary Childrens, but I also TA for two other teachers, and blindly agreed to do additional faculty assistance for another professor (who has this little habit of emailing me 8 times a day with little "it would be awesome if you could do this today" tasks). In recent Susan news.....

I GOT MY THESIS DATA!!!!!!! This has been a long time coming you see. The study actually ended in June. However, since I did not do one lick of organizing on this monster of a intervention, I am at the mercy of those that did. The downside to this is I still have to run the tests on the data. This is something that I had talked about in a very general, theoretical sort of way. But apparently this is the real deal, and I actually have to do this stuff. And, as though it was a wonderfully early Christmas present, I will get the results just in time to do over Christmas/winter break. Happy Christmas Susan indeed! But, there is a silver lining, it will hopefully be done by February. That's the plan. The orginal plan, of course, was to have it done by now. But, what can you do?

Another bit of exciting/progression news is that I will be starting my advanced practice internship in January. It is scheduled to be done during the summer semester, but I want outta here! After much thought, consideration, and eliminating where I absolutely did not want to go, I decided on the Utah Diabetes Center located in Reaseach Park. I am pretty excited about it because I don't really have any experience working with adults, which seems kind of important. Especially because there is only one children's hospital in this, and surrounding states. Plus, according to some awesome (and questionable) statistics, in 10 years everyone is going to have diabetes anyway, so I should probably learn how to do some education on the matter. One scary thing is that my preceptor is a roller derby gal (kind of intimidating) who insists that her interns be able to inject themselves with saline (to be able to demonstrate to clients) and wear a saline pump. Say what now? Good thing I don't have a fear of needles! Just snakes.....and worms.

So, here is where I tell an embarrassing story. Actually, not so much embarrassing, as just plain stupid. As you (3) readers know, I am a pretty massive Utah fan. And this year the holy war was going to be waged at Rice Eccles Stadium, and I had tickets in the student section!! Whoo ah.

So the first 3/4 of the game were pretty depressing, the Utes were being real cool guys. However, it picked up at the end, the Utes showed their true colors and blocked the kick that would put BYU ahead and win. In this jubliant environment, my friend Jennie suggested (pulled me down the bleachers) to rush the field. I had never done this, and felt the time was right. Until I got to the end of the bleachers. Did everyone else know there was a 10 foot wall you had to drop down to get to the field? I sure didn't. So Jennie throws her legs over and gracefully jumps down. I am literally starting to shake with nerves because I noticed you jump onto concrete. But people are pushing behind me to get down, so I swing over, and try to throw myself far enough away from the wall to land on the grass. And SUCCESS, I landed on the grass. But BUMMER, I heard a loud pop in my ankle, then shooting pain.

I stood up, and limped over to Jennie, trying oh so hard to just play it cool. It was claustrophobic on the field, and I was getting pushed around, stepped on, and sweated on. And also, kicked in the head by Jordan Wynn as he was getting crowd surfed. We ended up being pushed out into the exit after singing the fight song (I mumbled as I am pretty sure I was going into shock). I limped over to my sister and friends waiting outside the portal with Jennie, and gave a kind of "Whoops" shrug as I saw their faces light up with concern. I limped the 18 miles (or so it seemed) to the car, still playing it very cool. We ended up going to dinner as I continued to proclaim "No, it's fine, this happens all the time....." We ate at Cafe Rio where I tried to assess my ankle. It could not be done because I was wearing three layers of pants, and 2 pairs of socks. Plus the couple next to me seemed pretty grossed out with my taking my shoes and socks off in a restaurant. The nerve, huh? So Anne and I got dropped off at our house, and our friends came inside to hang out/make sure I was okay/eat stale Red Vines. We got my sock off and I was a little confused because I didn't remember anyone sewing an egg into the side of my ankle! Yeah, it was pretty bad. And Anne and I didn't have our (dad's) insurance card to go to the hospital, so we waited it out. Rachel, a dear girl I've known since birth, helped me ice and elevate my foot until my mom got home (Anne watched TV). We decided to wait until the next day to worry about it. However, I was scheduled to work the next morning at 6:30 am. So I texted Jennie, and lucky for me, her guilt persuaded her to take my shift!!

Enter, the next day (bored yet?). My mom was concerned I had ruptured something, so we decided to brave the fierce snowy conditions and skip church. We walked and hobbled into the emergency room and were briskly wheelchaired to a room. Only 1 of the 3 people I had told my story to laughed, the others just gave me dissapproving looks. Awfully judemental for a hospital wouldn't you say? Anyhow, the doctor didn't think I needed an x-ray, but my mom did, so we got one. After an hour, and lots of Beatles trivia, we found out no break, just a sprain, and I got this very lovely splint to wear. I was told to take a few days off, which I was only too happy to do. I got the next day off work, and spent the rest of the week louging about with my leg elevated and iced. I did have to go to school, but I made it a brisk visit. I am kind of embarassed to tell people what happened because 95% of people start laughing when I tell them what happened. The immense amounts of swelling have gone down, leaving only horrible bruising and strained muscles in my legs from having to walk funny. But it could have been MUCH worse. I could have broken it, broken something else, or lost the foot altogether. So really, a ruptured/torn ligament isn't that bad. And I've been getting incredible amounts of sympathy, which is very nice!

Anyhow, that's all for now. I've got to try and figure out how to force this splinty ankle into church shoes.

Hold On to Your Summer Shorts, I Blogged

So, I'm just sitting here at my job bored, waiting to go to lunch. Wait, what job you say? That's right, I have a legit job now. It's not a real adult-style job, but I'm getting closer. I have been doing my summer internships at Primary Children's Medical Center this summer, and a job opening as a dietary technician (also known as diet tech) came up. I, and my good friend Jennie, were both able to get jobs!! They are only prn, so I will only work 1-2 times/wk. However, considering that I once said "They will have to pry my fingers off Primary's when my internships are over", I am happy to be able to be here even a little. The daily schedule goes a little like this:

4:45-6:30: get up, ready, and drive to PCMC
6:30-8:30: work in NICU
8:30-9ish: email, facebook, etc
9-10:15ish: work on 2nd and 3rd floor
10:15ish-11: email, facebook, etc
11-12ish: lunch
12ish-2: work for about 30 mins at some point, the rest is facebook, email, etc
2-sleep: WHATEVER I WANT!

Strenuous, no?

I realize that according to my last post, I was undergoing an "April Resolution" by blogging more. Obviously that has not happened whatsoever. I was actually extremely connected to the internet during my internship at WIC, but didn't want to get caught blogging. But now, using a new clever method (typing it into an email and sending it to myself, then copying and pasting), maybe I'll be better.

So what has happened in Susan-land since April? On one hand, nothing really. But on the other hand, I am a completely different person. So clap the hands together, and there's where I'm at.

MAY
I finished my "finals" (if you can call them that) and started my WIC internship for 4 weeks. I was out at Ellis Shipp in West Valley. I actually really enjoyed my time there. I learned a lot, and really enjoyed the gals I worked with. However, I think as an intern, 3 weeks is about the max WIC allotment you can take. We literally had to wait until the clock struck 5 exactly before we could leave. I learned to "create new projects" so I could go into this little closet office and hang out on the computer.

Note: I did do extra projects, but they didn't take nearly the time my preceptor thought they would. This exorbent amount of online time was spent catching up with fellow classmate, and good friend, Jennie who was at the Rose Park WIC interning.

My good friend Christers "Friend I Met First Day of College" Keele got home from her mission, so I was able to catch up during this time as well. I actually created this blog as a joke for her, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't remember. She's lovely, but lives in Gardnerville, NV. I am not disrespecting her town, just that she lives SO FAR AWAY!!!

JUNE
My birthday happened this month. The almost-to-25 birthday. I feel like 24 is old, like this is the point where I am officially old. But birthday was great, I got many lovely well-wishes, and Jennie brought cupcakes to Primary's. The best part was Tom, Beth, and Little Miss Sassafrass (Ainsley-bug) were in town. This actually happened in May, but I've already moved on, so it's getting mentioned here. We all went to a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, then celebrated how much they all loved me by giving me presents!! Part of my parent's present was a ticket to SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY!!!!!! That's right friends, let me set this story up,

I have always stated that I would only spend >$100 on concert tickets for two people. Instead of having you guess, I'll tell you. Springsteen and Paul McCartney. We were talking about this not 3 weeks before we heard on the radio that Macca was comin to town. I heard, realized I could never afford this, and hung my head low as I told my family I would not plan on attending. However, when I realized that he has never come to Utah before, and is probably going to die before he ever does again, and has almost achieved hero status in my mind, I needed to make this happen. Well, the whole family got excited, and we ended up buying tickets. They ran about $100 a pop, and they were only the third most expensive ticket. I will tell you in the July section how awesome the concert was.

So, Primarys. I started working on the Medical/Surgical floor, which was good. But I really loved it when I moved to the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) after 4 weeks of med/surge. Though working with ill children is a bit depressing, I can't help love being here. It is such an amazing hospital, and you know these kids are being loved and getting the best care possible.

Lastly, I must say that June was possibly the most important month because I FINALLY finished my thesis proposal. Oh wait, did I say I finished my proposal? Because what I really meant was that my chair finally stopped making inane corrections and said we could present it. On June 30, at 3:30 pm, I stood shaking before 3 women and gave a presentation about proposing a project that had finished 3 days earlier. (The delay was because my chair had premature twin babies in March) Anyone who was around me at this time will know how frustrated I was with this whole thing, and how ready I was to be done. Not only done with the proposal, but done with....

Yes We Can! I enjoyed working for the first half of this project (12 weeks) but it started to grow tiresome when at 6:00 pm on Wednesday and 9:30 am on Saturdays I had to put my life aside for 3+ hours. I sound whiney, but try doing this while going to school full time, working, and writing a 20+ page proposal paper for 24 weeks. The day I finished I came home and celebrated by taking, what else, a nap!

JULY
This was a pretty standard month as far as July's go. The 4th was celebrated in all it's glory by not having to go to work and having some sort of BBQ. We watch fireworks with the whole fam, and by whole fam, I do mean T/B/A (which is how Tom, Beth, and Ainsley will be referred to now). I hinted at this in JUNE, but TBA were here for a really long time. They split time between our house and the Butler's in Midway. They only catch was that I now had to sleep on a double bed in the guest room and Tom and Beth got my queen in the other guest room. Ainsley took my twin bed that I never sleep on and slept on grandma and grandpa's floor! Do I sound spoiled having two beds and two bedrooms? Well I'm not. I was not given the big bed in the guest room, I commandeered that sucker!

Anyhow, it was a blast having TBA around. Ainsley, or Miss Sassafrass as I dubbed her, is the funniest little bug. She received her nickname because that girl has got, wait for it, sass. She is spunky and funny and is super expressive both in word and face. She didn't seem to care for me quite as much as I her, but I think it's because she doesn't understand my subtle teasing. And she was always under the impression that I was trying to steal from her. I would wake up and look down into the kitchen/family room area and she would look up at me and immediately go "No Suey, my mommy!" as if I were eyeing Bethany. Or, "No Suey, my leg/arm/dress/doll/hair, etc." And it was fun having T and B around to do stuff with too. They went to Michigan to start a new life, for six months, and we all miss them dearly.

One thing I love about Utah is how much we love our heritage! We don't just celebrate our nation's birthday, we celebrate our state's birthday, which apparently other states don't really do. And not just that, but we celebrate our individual cities!! I call it the month of 'Days'. You have Strawberry Days in PG, Steel Days somewhere else, Raspberry days in Bear Lake area, Freedom Days in Provo, and the best one of all Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork. Why, you wonder, do I feel such a connection with SF? Do I have loved ones that live there? No. Did I once live there? No. However, I was once invited to go to Spanish Days (dragged into it is actually the more appropriate word) and I loved it! This year was now our third year. And by 'our' I mean me and Becky! The first year was Becks, Tyler, Dan, and I and it was the funnest ever! Becky and I won cool posters of Zac Efron and Kurt Cobain and we just celebrated Escalante and his dominance over the natives. The second year was just me and Becks, but we won kind of cool pictures, and then came home and cried watching Steel Magnolias.

This year I nabbed Sammy who was never able to come with us. We drove down, ate, Becky stole some darts from a guy to throw, and never paid him, then went home. We hung out at Sam's and waited for Chase to get home to get frozen yogurt. All in all, a satisfying Fiesta Days. May the tradition continue!

This summer has also been the summer of reading. I took the TRAX a lot when I first started at Primary's, and so I read many books (8 to be exact). I muddled my way through Jane Eyre, was mildly interested by Freakanomics, and then was dazzled by The Hunger Games Series. For all those who have not read this book, get it. I'm not even going to tell you what it's about, but I have not met a single person who hasn't loved it! I am really going to miss reading when I have to go back to school. I still read, but quite a bit less.

And the biggest event involved the most prolific and successful songwriter of all time. I had been officially counting down until the concert for weeks, and finally the day arrived when I got to see the legend. I was so excited, I went shopping at Old Navy to celebrate. We all went to dinner and then went to the very hot Rio Tinto stadium to wait it out. After an hour, finally he came on!! He started off a little slow, he would play a Beatle song, then a Wings song, then a Paul McCartney song. No one around us was standing up either, which was a bummer. Luckily some really drunk girls behind us stood up, so I didn't feel so bad standing up too!! Eventually as it got darker, he started playing mostly Beatles stuff, and everyone was up and dancing. His best songs of the nights were Something (tribute to Harrison), Live and Let Die, and Hey Jude. He also played for like 3 hours, it was a great night! See HERE for a similar 'Something' performance.

AUGUST
This month brought me to a new rotation for internships, the Food Management one. I don't even want to begin to describe what we did, because it would be boring and pointless. I liked it okay mostly because we made our own schedules and got free lunch. This is actually the month we started training (we being Jennie and I) for our new job, so for 2 weeks I was coming in at 6:30 am, then training until 9-9:30, then doing intern stuff. I took a lot of naps those weeks.

However, internships are now DONE!! As of Friday. And I'm pretty much done training at my job, so I'm just waiting for school to start. It's been a good and eventful summer, it really has. And I know I've left a lot out, believe it or not. But I've got a week before school starts, and I'm using it wisely. I am forcing myself to go to the big ward activity at Flaming Gorge Thurs-Sat. That's right, I'm gonna make some new friends! Or meet some people I am mildly interested in talking to. Either way, I'm pushing out of the comfort zone!

Anyway, I am still at work, though have taken a lunch and meeting break, and still have 1.5 hours to go. I think I'll read.

Alphabeat

Another post so soon??? Oui oui!

I came across this little beauty as I was doing homework. This is a fantastic Danish band that is unabashedly pop-fabulous!! This takes place at Denmark's X Factor, so the people that come in the middle are not members of Alphabeat. Please watch and appreciate the music, dancing, and tambourine!

Blog Nostalgia: brought to you by Spring Break!

So what does any normal person do over Spring Break?

Volunteer early in the morning three days out of the week to catch up on hours? Check

Plan spending 90% of the day doing homework? Check

Messing around on the computer instead of actually studying? Check

See at the Y, we never got Spring Break (I capitalize it because it is just that important). I always would say that I liked it better that way because we got out earlier than other schools, I wouldn't get lazy during the semester, blah, blah, blah..... I'm pretty sure I was just making excuses because I was subconsciously jealous. Because here is the deal: SPRING BREAK IS AWESOME!!

Sure, I haven't actually spent a lot of time doing relaxing things, gone on vacation, eat a plethora of candy and Chex Mix sitting around a pool like I had always dreamed Spring Break would be. But the fact is, I am still not in school, and that is fantastic!

I have spent a lot of time catching up on my lost love Harry Potter. I began listening to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book on tape on my iPod a couple weeks ago, and finished it up this week, as well as watched 2 of the past movies. The trailer for that movie has also come out the past weekend (see here), so I'm pretty hyped up on Harry Potter. The fly in the magical ointment is that I think I've convinced myself that this movie that I am so anxiously awaiting for is coming out in a week or two. But sorry folks, it comes out in NOVEMBER!!! I don't think I've ever elaborated on my deep love for the wizarding boy and the magical world from which he sprang (I probably won't), but I'll just say that the last book I sat down and read in one sitting (11-12 hours) and may or may not have gotten weepy when I finished at 3 am.

I can hear you all saying: "Susan, why did you title the post nostalgia?" Well, this is because I spent yesterday, instead of typing up notes, reading all my old blog posts, not a long chore I assure you. I pretty much started blogging semi-semi-frequently right after I finished my undergrad, so it was fun to catch up on what I did last year. To sum it up for you all......not much happened. I did wish that I had written more of the funny little things I know happened, but never mentioned, so I made a April's Resolution (that's a real thing...) to blog more. If not for your vast readership, at least so I can have it written down somewhere. I have about 10 journals floating about my room and my computer desktop, so I'm hoping this might consolidate everything.

Right, so since I am technically on Spring Break (school has not yet started) I actually have to try and finish up what I couldn't this last week. So, dasvidaniya!

Where were you when............?

A couple weeks ago my family and I started talking about events that have happened, and where we were when they happened. I started thinking about what events have happened in my life that I think are "Where were you when......" moments. Moments that are so big that you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when it hapened. These aren't necessarily the most important moments in the history of the world, but they obviously had some sort of impact on me.

So, Do you remember when_____________

They announced Salt Lake City got the Olympics (June 16, 1995)

I don't remember much, but I do remember my mom, Anne, and I standing in a very large lot with lots of people holding American flags. There was a giant jumbo-tron in the parking lot and a movie started showing all the different shorts from the other countries in the running (Quebec City, Canada, Sion, Switzerland, and, Östersund, Sweden). Then a very foreign man with a very thick accent said (I'm paraphrasing) "the 2002 Winter Olympic games will be held in Salt Lake City." I can totally remember his accent saying that. Everyone exploded and was cheering and jumping up and down, and I remember being pretty excited too. I thought I would volunteer because I would be almost 16.......... yeah that never happened.

Princess Diana died

I don't remember the exact date (a quick web search tells me it was August 31, 1997) but I remember the whole family was our cabin and sitting around reading or playing cards. The Utes were playing and my dad had gone out to the car to hear the score on the radio. He came back in and said something bad had happened. Someone said "the Utes lost?" He told us he had heard that Princess Diana had been in a car crash and died. I didn't really know much about her except she was on tabloids a lot, but I knew this was big news.

I first heard "I Want It That Way"

Pathetic? Yes... But I remember hearing it on the radio, instantly loving it, and running downstairs to Anne's room to see if she had it on her Backstreet Boy CD. She didn't, it was a new song, and I had to wait until every night at 9 (94.9 ZHT's interactive 5 at 9) to hear it. That moment pretty much changed the following formative years of my life.

September 11, 2001

I think this is an obvious one, everyone remembers this one. I was in high school (10th) grade and in my first period class. The principal came on the speaker and announced that teachers could turn on the TV if they wanted to, I didn't understand what he was talking about. The teacher turned it on and the first plane had hit, but not the second yet. We sat for the rest of the period watching the towers fall down in complete silence.

Michael Jackson died (June 25, 2009)

Yeah, I know this is an obvious one for me, and is also fairly recent, but still important. I was chillin with my roomie Becky and our friend Kelly in our living room. I got a call from my sister who said "Did you hear what happened?" I said "what?" She then informed me she had heard Michael Jackson died. I ran to my computer to confirm, and sure enough, MSN declared it to be true. I stayed on the phone with her exclaiming and looking shocked, while Becky and Kelly just looked super confused. I got off the phone to break the news to my fellow MJ lover, Becky. We were both just so sad and spent the next couple days watching the non stop tributes to MJ on VH1 and MTV.

There are a lot more, but unfortunately I can't remember the rest. I spose I could post more if I remember them. But it's just something to think about.

Saturday Morning

So I am just playing around on the computer until I have to start my day, and I have checked every email account, website, etc., and I find myself here. So I figure I'll update a little bit since I haven't really done much.

This semester has been so busy!! I have a lot of classes, plus I started my thesis project, which is where I am currently going. It is a 12-week intervention for young adults (18-35) with intellectual disabilities. We do a small lecture at the beginning of each class about healthy living, then an hour in the weight room. This happens every Wednesday night and Saturday morning, which is what is taking so much of my time. We also will do this with two different groups so it lasts about 24 weeks. It has been interesting, and it is nice because since I am starting with my thesis early, I may finish it a lot earlier.

In other news THE OLYMPICS ARE STARTING SOON!!! I can't say enough how much I love the Olympics, what an unhealthy love I have for it. The ice skating, the skiing, the snowboarding, the speed skating, all of it!!

So I must go now, but that was just a real quickie!!

Blast From the Past

So this week has included a lot of new things, but also a lot of blasts from the past. By this, I specifically mean Michael Jackson and the Backstreet Boys.

Anyone that has known me for awhile knows that from about the ages 12-16, I was a crazed BSB fan. However, I did know my limits and never wrote them letters, chased their bus, or tattooed their names on me. I am enclosing a video of them from the Rosie O Donnell Show, maybe some of you remember this. It was the first time I had seen them, but my obsession never really began until I heard the first few strums of "I Want It That Way." And not just with the group themselves, that hot little blond one that sings in the middle was the one I had my eyes on.

I actually stayed up for awhile one night last week watching all my old concert videos I have of them, ones that I cannot find it in my heart to give away. I can laugh now at the cheesy things my brother used to tease me (and them) about (the outfits, dialogue, and dancing), but the preteen inside of me still has her loyalties.

Now you ask, what made you decide to suddenly start watching old BSB videos? Without keeping you in too much nail biting suspense, I'll enlighten you. My old friends have released a new CD, and this it's actually good. I've bought their last two CD's (Never Gone, Unbreakable) out of loyalty, but this new one (This Is Us) actually has some good songs. I popped it in the CD player when my mom and I went grocery shopping, and I knew I had to head back home and watch the old tapes. It really brings back some good memories. However lame they seem now, I really did love them, and I can't bear to rid myself of those memories, or my "Backstreet Box" containing all memorabilia.

Now moving on to a special night (this last Thursday) I went down to Provo to meet Sammy and Becks and see "This Is It." For those of you who don't follow Michael Jackson or his death, or are living in a box, "This Is It" is a documentary based on his tour that he was rehearsing when he died. I believe I can safely say that this tour would have been legendary having seen the footage just from rehearsals. I have been to a lot of concerts, and seen clips for a lot of others, and there has been nothing like this. It was pieced together so you could see performances and what the tour would have looked like, as best as they could. In between the songs, they had clips of him helping put it all together.

The reasons for this movie being amazing were 3-fold: 1) he was 50 years old and could still sing and dance like he could at the beginning, 2) he had his finger in every part of the show, and it was neat to see him put it together, 3) his songs are epic, and it was cool hearing them so loud in the theatre and see him perform them.

I will admit, I am a bit biased when it comes to reviewing this movie. I love MJ, and have for a long time. My roommate Becky and I once last year stayed up late one night watching old videos. We, on several occasions, would dance around our apartment to his music. His songs are amazing, and he is the GREATEST performer ever. I don't care about his private life, or anything like that. I like my Michael singing and dancing.

I will leave you with my personal favorite MJ music video. The dancing, tearing an air vent off the wall, and wiping his mouth are highlights of this classic video. Though I promised an update concerning my life, that will come later. I don't really feel like typing that stuff, but looking up pictures and videos has been a lot more fun!

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