The Best is Yet to Come...

Roommate's right, I tend to only blog when I'm at work.
I think it's because it's one of the very few times per month that I have to be in one place for several consecutive hours. I can't study, get on Facebook, or call anyone outside of the hospital, but I have a computer, the Internet, and about 8.5 hours of nothing to do (weekends are slow at the blood bank).

Today I ended up on one of my old blogs. I think I've mentioned on here before that I used to blog a LOT back in the day. I had a public Xanga from 2002-2008, and a semi-private blog on another site from 2005-2008ish. I'd write at least once or twice a week, sometimes multiple times a day.
Now I'm so glad to have those little recordings of my past because I can go back and read through the memories and how I felt about them as they happened.

So, like I said, today I ended up going through one of them that I hadn't seen for a while. It was from my sophomore and junior years at Purdue, a time that I now look back on as being the "good old days".

Lately, with this new batch of stress I've been under (does that EVER really change? I hope so...), I've been getting really nostalgic about the good old days. I've missed the times at Purdue, that I now look back and think how safe and predictable it all was. How easy it was then, compared to now. But was it really?
Reading through the old entries, it was so interesting to see all the struggles I had back then. I was trying to figure out how to have a normal adult relationship, dealing with roommate issues, studying my ass off, and wondering if med school was the right choice for me. It seemed I'd usually write when I was either really happy or really frustrated, but it was an eye-opener for me to see how much it wasn't really the "good old days." It was just growing up. Figuring out the world and how to deal with the people in it.

So maybe the good old days are yet to come. I'll always get a little nostalgic about my Purdue days, but now I think it's because I learned and grew so much while I was there. And clearly I still have some things to figure out. But I feel somewhat better now about looking into the past, because I know that the future is going to be so much more exciting in many ways.

Mini-Vacation!

Well, as of right now, the weather forecast in Miami has cleared up considerably! It's still supposed to be insanely hot and humid, but that's better than rain!!

Woke up a couple of hours later than planned this morning. I'm trying to balance rest with all of the things I have to do before early EARLY tomorrow morning when we leave for the airport!

Still have all of the packing to do, plus some shopping...time to start the day!

I'm Still Crazy...

...but at least I'm flying out to Miami instead of driving!

Everything for this trip has worked out beautifully:

• * I just happened to have Thursday and Friday off since it just happened to be the one week between oncology and peds clinicals where we have nothing scheduled...
• * Monica just happened to also be free at that time, too...
• * We found a flight that got us out to Miami on Friday in plenty of time to see quals and somehow got a direct flight back on Sunday...
• * ...direct flight back just happens to be one of the IRL charters, so Roommate and an assortment of other IRL homies will be on it too!
• * Renting a car was cheap as hell.
• * Hotel stay worked out because Roommate has a 2-bed room all to himself!
• * Got the pit passes once again from my favorite team

It's all working out so perfectly, right?!

Wrong.

Let's hope the forecast changes!! Let's REALLY hope!!! Really.

btw, what's the difference between 'isolated' and 'scattered' storms? Which is better if you're, say, trying to avoid them?

New Show

I started out watching FlashForward the other day because I think Joseph Fiennes is hot (I could watch Shakespeare In Love all day). To my surprise, though, it turned out to be a really awesome show. Nice combo of an intriguing plotline, action shots, and interesting characters. I hope it continues to be as good throughout the season!

Everyone should go watch it.

Am I Crazy?

Really, am I??

Back From A Little Break...

I used to be so good at blogging. Seriously.

First of all, so much has gone on that I can't possibly catch up with it all on here! I spent a wonderful week on vacation in San Fransisco and Sonoma...

Went to the race in Sonoma and watched my KV Racing buddies get P4 (and of course reprising my umbrella girl role)...

(me, looking like a huge dork on the starting grid...unfortunately probably the best pic of me from the weekend)

Went to the race in Chicagoland with my dad and got to be there for the exciting P3 finish (no umbrella girl this time, since it was a night race...)

Evidence of night race

Evidence of P3 (!)

After that was the start of a new semester (#3 out of 5...10 months to go!) and getting into the swing of my awesome new job as a student nurse in the OR. This was all followed by a great Labor Day weekend with a trip to Purdue with the roommate for a football game and some nostalgia, a fun BBQ, and dinner with awesome new friends.

SO, as you can see, I haven't had much time for the ol' blog. And when I have, I'm usually just too tired to try.

There have been quite a few times that I've started blog posts only to end up leaving them unfinished. Tonight is no exception; this is actually the second one I've started (though it looks more promising that I'll actually finish it - I went to the trouble of actually adding a few pictures).

Unfortunately, along with all of the good stuff that's been going on, there's been some bad stuff too, and some really bad stuff. Today I found out that my Nana probably doesn't have much longer to live. Hours, maybe days left. I got a chance to go down and visit with her and my family today, which is priceless. I'm so glad I got a chance to see her and talk with her one more time. It's hard - one of the hardest things I've ever done - and I don't really feel like writing too coherently or being eloquent about it at the moment.

So, for now, that's all. More to come, seriously.

Favorite Thing of the Day

It's barely 8:00am, and I already have my favorite thing of the day!

If you haven't already, check out Capture Indy, a project put on by the Indy Star that works with local photographers toward making a coffee-table book about the Indianapolis area.

The site itself allows you to browse and vote on the pictures uploaded by the various photographers. I really like the Scapes of All Sorts section...truly stunning stuff in there.

Some of my favorites:
Reflections
Good Memories from May
Circle of Lights
Downtown Library
Fireworks (this is what I could see from the townhouse!)
Skyline

Enjoy! We live in a very pretty city :)