Life in the Circle City

10 Goals for 2010

2010-01-01T20:36:00.003-05:00

I'm usually not one for New Year's resolutions, but this year I thought I might be able to just call them goals and go for it. :) So, I made a list of 10 goals I'd like to accomplish sometime within the next 365 days:

Redecorate my room - this is something I've wanted to do since we got this place back in June. Whenever I move to a new place (which has been pretty often over the past six years!), the first thing I do after unpacking is redecorate. Interior design is something I love and what I would probably be doing if I wasn't in the medical field. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do much of anything this time around. I'm really excited to start on this one!
Finish a novel - those who know me pretty well know that I've been writing since childhood. To this day, I still have not completed an entire novel from start to finish (aside from the books in the mini-series Katie and I wrote in elementary and middle school ;) ). I've come close a couple of times lately, but something always gets in the way or I can't figure out a part of it, so really all I have are a bunch of beginnings and middles. This year, I'm determined to finally have one that's complete from start to finish!
Read 10 books - I used to read ALL the time. Nowadays, not so much (thanks, college). I felt like 10 was a good number to start at for the year. Now I just need to make a list!
Have a successful May Indy Tweetup - Winter Indy Tweetup went so well and was so much fun (something I really only noticed after it was over, since I was so busy during the actual weekend itself!). I had so much fun planning it with Monica this year that it didn't even feel like work. It was amazing to see everything come together in the end too, and have the response we did. We have a lot of good plans in the making for May, and I think it has the potential to be REALLY great!
Start an Etsy store - something I've wanted to do since I discovered the site early last year. I've always been into attempting my own handmade/craft-y stuff, so I thought it might be fun and challenging to come up with new things and market them.
Volunteer for a cause I really believe in - I have a couple of options that I'm thinking of right now - one is as a counselor/resident nurse at a weekend summer camp for kids who have recently lost a loved one and the other is at the Humane Society of Indianapolis, where I used to volunteer when I was younger. Ideally, I'd do both.
Get a different hairstyle - I've had essentially the same one for the past 6 years, but haven't had the guts to try something new. I now have a friend who is a very talented hair stylist, so one day I'm going to bite the bullet and do something different.
Wear cute pajamas every night - don't laugh. Some things are just fun to do for yourself, even if no one else is even going to notice or care. :)
Go to the gym at least 3 days every week - not for weight loss or anything, just to be more in shape. I started yoga last year and loved it, so I'll hopefully throw in a yoga class this year, too. Thankfully the gym isn't far away and (at this point at least) my schedule makes it seem like this'll be pretty realistic to work in there somewhere.
Write in a journal every day - handwriting is a lost art, even on me and I used to handwrite all of my own novels. So I'm going to give journaling a shot, which will also hopefully be a nice stress relief.

So, I plan on doing all of this, in addition to graduating from nursing school, getting a new job, buying a car, and God knows what else is in store for me this year! And I'm really excited. :)

The Best is Yet to Come...

2009-11-21T14:41:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-10-08T10:33:00.003-04:00

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...

2009-09-28T22:44:00.009-04:00

...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

2009-09-26T15:44:00.003-04:00

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?

2009-09-24T17:47:00.004-04:00

Really, am I??

Back From A Little Break...

2009-09-10T23:29:00.009-04:00

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

2009-08-09T08:05:00.001-04:00

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 :)

Everybody's Working for (during) the Weekend...

2009-08-08T10:23:00.007-04:00

...or maybe it's just me. Sort of feels like it. Well, Brian's working this weekend at Mid-Ohio, but at least he gets to stay in a nice hotel and eat good food. So he wins.

Everyone else I know is probably still sleeping right now. I, however, am giving out blood products like it's trick or treat on Halloween. It's been a surprisingly busy day at the ol' blood bank, yet the time has not passed any faster. I'm not quite to the point of being completely bored, but I feel like it should be at least 12:30 by now.

Wednesday marked the END of my psych rotation!!! Honestly, by the end it wasn't as bad as it was in the beginning, but we were ALL still so glad when it was over.

We went to Brugge to celebrate, because having fries has sort of become a nursing school thing. The fries were as good as I remembered with their amazing dipping sauces (even though, between 5 of us, we couldn't even finish half of the l'enorme size!), but I ordered a sandwich as well and I really didn't like it. There was way too much salt! Added onto the salt on the fries and it basically just tasted like eating a salt shaker. Not particularly pleasant. I guess some people (like Belgians...) really like the taste of salt, but I'm not one of them!
Another thing: if you call ahead to reserve a table, they tell you they don't do that. Yet on their website it gives a number for call head seating!
So yeah, I'd say that time at Brugge was a 2-star experience, but I'd consider going back for fries sometime.

Last night I went out with the Jew Crew, who I haven't seen in months. It was great to catch up with them. We hung out at Adam's for a bit, then walked over to Bourbon Street Distillery and sat out on the upper level patio with a pitcher of Blue Moon. Good times.

And now...I'm at work....only 3.5 hours left!

10 Down, 2 To Go

2009-07-29T20:56:00.009-04:00

Another day down in my psych clinical rotation. Today a patient taught me how to play Michigan City Dominoes, a game they play in the Indiana State Prison apparently. I may or may not have some more street cred just for knowing how to play it.

In continuing with my Etsy obsession, here's another use for dominoes that is way cuter...

These little koi from 215Design are so adorable! They're made with Japanese paper attached to mini dominoes. Too cute.

That's all for now!

Favorite Thing of the Day

2009-07-26T22:03:00.002-04:00

I signed up with Etsy a while ago and started browsing around, but the amount of stuff got a little overwhelming and it seemed hard to navigate around long enough find the good stuff with my short attention span.

Well, apparently all I need is a few (or about 6) hours of nothing else to do but stare at a computer screen and try not to fall asleep when no one needs any blood (a.k.a. work on the weekends), because I am now pretty much obsessed with Etsy.

It's great! I'm trying to be financially responsible and save up my money for the Cali vacation, but even just the "window shopping" is nice. And it's great inspiration for ideas for my bedroom at the townhouse. Plus, it gets me pumped for the Renegade Craft Fair in September!

I love craft-y things and attempt to make some myself at times. I even signed up to start a store, which is currently completely empty but I hope to be able to sell some of my creations somewhere down the line.

So that makes two websites (Twitter and Etsy) that I used to think I'd never use but, thanks to work, are now part of my daily internet rounds.

And now I follow Etsy on Twitter.

Favorite Thing (Movie) of the Day

2009-07-25T23:43:00.002-04:00

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun...."

Yesssss.

How I love this movie.

Random

2009-07-24T23:58:00.002-04:00

So I had a really good hair day today. Despite what it might sound like, I'm not actually bragging about that because I have pretty much zero control over whether my hair looks good or not on any given day. I do the exact same thing to it each day and it seems to just decide for itself after that if it wants to cooperate or not. I usually end up being either relatively ok with it or I feel like I need another shower to just start all over, but when I got home tonight after visiting my parents and happened to look in the mirror, I was actually surprised. It looked GOOD. Good like how I always try to make it look but never quite succeed.

How this happened is beyond me. I tried to examine it further to see if I could recreate it, but I know that's just futile.

Maybe, hopefully, one day my good hair will decide to show up again. And maybe it'll stick around for a while next time.

Told you this was random.

Time for sleep...gotta be up in 5 hours for work...

Favorite Thing of the Day

2009-07-24T10:29:00.007-04:00

Bête noire from Rene's Bakery in Broad Ripple

(a.k.a flourless chocolate cake)

It was first discovered (at The Urban Townhouse, at least) by Brian, who brought some home from The Best Chocolate in Town (which, really, I'm pretty sure it is the best chocolate in town).

Now, I LOVE chocolate. Love is sometimes even an understatement. But in general, I'm not too much of a fan of flourless chocolate cakes. They're usually too much like a chocolate brick on a plate. But when I tried this one... O.M.G.

Then we got about half a cake more from some amazing party guests last weekend, as if they knew!

The cake has the perfect amount of moisture and air (?...I'm no chef) so that it's not too dense, and the ganache is TRULY amazing. It even tastes the same after being in the fridge for a few days :)

Party!

2009-07-19T08:51:00.006-04:00

The townhouse was officially broken in last night with the long-awaited housewarming party! Turned out exactly as I hoped it would!! The food, the drinks, the DJ, the guests...all was great! And I think everyone had a great time, too.

The roommate and I spent the entire day getting ready...I was up at 6:30am and Brian had stayed up until 3:30am putting together the furniture from our IKEA trip on Friday. We cleaned, put away all of the stuff we hadn't gotten around to since moving in, hung a whole bunch of wall art, cleaned some more, and set up all of the food and drinks. Alex, one of Brian's friends, was our awesome DJ for the night and came over early to set up. He brought all of his equipment and vinyls and Brian hooked up a bunch of home theatre speakers on the project table in the dining room. It was such a perfect arrangement that people thought we brought in the table just for that!

Throwin' down the hottest tracks.

By the time the party started, I was definitely proud of all of our hard work and planning because the place looked great!
We had the drinks set up in the kitchen....pretty much anything you could ever want, alcoholic or non-alcoholic. A few lovely people brought us wine as a housewarming gift, too, so we definitely didn't run out! We had tons of food set up on tables in the dining room - a bunch of little cakes and cookies, a sushi pyramid, various dips and chips, and some more lovely people brought us all kinds of other goodies. The living room was more chill, with the couch and a lot of chairs, and was where most people went to talk.

As the night progressed, we even busted out the party lights and people got their dance on.

Overall, it was wonderful and I'm so thankful for everyone who came and that it turned out so well!

Needless to say, I have gotten next to no studying done for the exam I have in 24 hours!! Time to get on that...

Guess Where I Am...

2009-06-28T09:50:00.004-04:00

...if you guessed work, you'd be right! Ah, work...the only place where I actually have the time and motivation to blog anymore because there is next to nothing going on for 8 hours straight.
I'm not even going to make excuses about why I don't blog as much as I should nowadays, because that seems to always be the case!

One thing I've noticed lately is that I need to start taking pictures more often. I usually only remember my camera for the big events and nights out, which are definitely good memories but not always the things you wish you could revisit the most when looking back.
It might have something to do with the fact that I have an ancient camera. I think it might start to die soon. I'm trying to remember if it's the one I got for my 19th birthday, and I'm pretty sure it is, which is sad. I'm so outdated.
My favorite blogs are also those that have tons of pictures. I definitely get really lazy and distracted when it comes to tons of words on a screen. And anyway, it can get really boring to just plain read about someone's life...

Sooo....more pictures are in order. And if I was on my own computer right now, I'd post some of the new townhouse, which in my opinion is gorgeous! I love it. It's not 100% finished yet, but I'd say about 85%. Still a few improvements, but it has a lot of potential!

After living mostly by myself for the past three years, having a roommate again is new territory for me. The hardest thing for me has been losing that aspect of my life where I could basically do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted in my own little world without having to let anyone know about it. But Brian and I are BFF, so we get along really well and I know we'll have a lot more good times in the future.

Plus I do get the place all to myself to relive my living-alone days when he's off at a race! :P

In other news, I had a big interview on Friday for a job that I am REALLY hoping to get!! Fingers crossed! I should find out later this week....

Anyway, off to go find something else to do until someone asks for blood products....

Blah.

2009-06-01T20:46:00.003-04:00

Today started out not so bad and got increasingly stupid.

Had another exam this morning that went OK...not great, but not horrible. I think I'll end up with a B in this class. I've accepted it. The rest of the class was slightly painful with the 145 Powerpoint slides on diabetes that we had to get through, but overall it was less painful than it could have been. Having a lunch break in the middle really helps.

After class was over, I was so excited to be able to get home and finally take a nap! I've woken up at 5am for 6 out of the past 7 days...even on Memorial Day weekend I had to be up early for various reasons. I'm at the PACU this week for clinicals, which = no patients for me this week, which = no clinical paperwork, which made things even more amazing.
I happily went home, took out my contacts, got into my PJs and hopped onto the best couch in the world....

3 hours later....

Somehow I slept for 3 hours. Definitely wasn't expecting that. It automatically put me in a bad mood because I'd been hoping to sit outside and study for a while before working out, dinner, shower, and paperwork. But now my whole schedule was screwed up as it was already 5:30pm and cloudy outside.

I ate dinner and am somehow STILL doing paperwork...it's already 9pm and I don't think I'll be able to make it to the gym before it closes at 10. Extra lame.

Plus I'm in a bad mood overall....just a bad mood.

Anyway, this isn't very fun or entertaining. But that's how it goes tonight.

Hey, everyone.

2009-05-30T10:04:00.002-04:00

As in everyone who doesn't read this.

So I apparently joined Twitter. You can follow me if you want. I'd like that. I still don't understand some things about how it works, but I'm pretty sure there are a lot of dumb people who use Twitter (I've seen 'em), so I think I'll figure it out.

This makes two blog posts in two days! Surprised? I know. The main reason for this is because I'm at work this weekend and there's pretty much nothing going on. So for some reason I think people need to be updated about that.

I don't have any cool pics to post this time (work computer), but next time I plan on sharing pics of the good times that were the Indy 500 last weekend. You can see how baller I looked holding an umbrella.

In other news, I have a ridiculous amount of studying to do this weekend. We had an exam yesterday and now we have another one on Monday...in the same class. The entire month of June is more or less completely booked, with insane classes and moving. I need a personal day.

Sometimes I really wonder: What have I gotten myself into?? Life is just flying by right now.

Lame.

2009-05-29T21:13:00.003-04:00

God, I suck at blogging.

Life has been insanely busy though, so I guess I have good excuses.

Nursing school has been keeping me the busiest, and when I have "free" time, I tend to be out doing things with people.

Just 10 days until the townhouse lease starts!!

More later, most likely over the weekend when I'll be at work and probably bored out of my mind!

Moving Again

2009-04-21T20:22:00.006-04:00

Today I filled out the rental application for my next residental adventure: a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse with my homeboy Brian.

This will be the 7th place I've lived in the past 5 years....in other words, I'm looking forward to a time when I'm not semi-nomadic. I'm also no stranger to moving, which I loathe more than almost anything. But I'm really looking forward to this next place for a lot of reasons.
First of all, Brian and I are good friends. We like to do slightly nerdy things like go to home shows, look at IKEA/Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel catalogs, and watch Big Love and FOTC. So living together will be fun.
Secondly, the place is pretty cool. The building itself is over 100 years old, but it's been remodeled. Attached garage, alarm system, washer and dryer, etc. I wish I had a good picture of it to post here! I'm really excited to move in and start the redecorating process all over again.
It's also nice that it's not far from where I live now....literally 0.3 miles away, so the location is still great.

Until recently, I honestly thought I'd be living here at my current apartment for at least 2-3 years. I has just about everything I could ask for - very safe, great location, extremely nice people, covered and gated parking, well maintained, nice amenities....I've never once wished I lived somewhere else. So I do feel sort of sad to be leaving.
But at the same time, I don't feel sad in the way that I regret moving out....mostly I've found that the one thing I can't ever replace is the amazing view I have now (and the DVD rental machine in the lobby....)! But the things I will be glad to replace are having to go up and down 23 floors to do laundry (plus paying $2.75 per load), and I won't have to walk across a parking lot to get to my building anymore. I'm also getting cable again and saving about $200/month! It's amazing what you can get when you split the cost with someone.

Anyway, overall I'm excited and looking forward to it! I guess moving so much has made me appreciate all the different places I've lived in the past 5 years in various ways...I have good and bad memories from each place that I hope to keep for a long time.

Sooo....now I should do actual work.....somehow the semester is almost over!

Randoms

2009-04-17T18:16:00.004-04:00

Made it through another week! I can't believe this semester is almost over...then I'll be 1/5 of a nurse! I just know the next 4 semesters are going to fly by. It's weird to think about what we'll all be like by graduation.

For now, I'm at home for the evening, which I'm thrilled about. I need some time to myself sometimes! I plan on sitting around in PJs, watching a movie, and writing (which I'm now amped up about after the little writer's meeting with Kate on Wednesday!). Perfect!

Speaking of perfect, the weather today was completely amazing! Melissa, Cerissa and I sat outside of Riley today for an hour and a half before our final assessment check off. It was great and everything smelled like flowers. :)

Pic from my window a few evenings ago....told you this was a random entry.

Best Thing I Have Seen Today

2008-09-13T12:48:00.002-04:00

From the Clarian company-wide message boards:

Subject: brother in law who once did not like us as inlaws

Message:
He is very humble now that he has moved back in town with his family my sister and his four kids ,he trying to make honest living not living off the system I admire him for that. But he is a carpet cleaner 4 rooms for 79 bucks. He nice guy I like him now.

Posted By:
Employee1

Responses:

Employee2 Post Date 9/13/08 9:39 AM:
110 days 'til Christmas.

Employee3 Post Date 9/13/08 8:33 AM:
I hope Jeff Saturday plays tomorrow.

Employee4 Post Date 9/13/08 4:15 AM
ive got 4 goats, and a sheep

Finally!!

2008-09-10T14:25:00.004-04:00

I finally have internet!!!

What a joyous day. All of the motivation I've built up over the course of these past two months has completely gone out the window.

Just kidding.
Sort of kidding.

Internet?

2008-09-09T18:42:00.004-04:00

...aannnd I still don't have internet. Hopefully by tomorrow, though!! Note to everyone: do NOT get Brighthouse cable!

Once again, my life seems to consist mostly of working lately. I've rediscovered how awesome it is to get a regular paycheck. I had this past weekend off, which was really relaxing because I finally had a chance to just do nothing for a while.

I think I might actually be mostly an adult by now because it's no longer possible for me to sleep past about 8:30am. If it's daylight, you can bet I'm awake. How weird is that?

So, with these few free days I've had, I've spent some time in Carmel with my parents (who are now I guess actually considered "empty nesters" since Anne's 3 hours away and I'm all grownup-ish now), and checking out some more stuff downtown and in Broad Ripple. I really enjoy going to Luna Music and listening to some of the tunes there. They have your everyday stuff, but then a lot of indie stuff that I really like.

School seems to be my little on-the-side project - for now, at least. Since I only have 3 classes that meet twice a week with very minimal outside work, I really don't think too much about them when I'm not in them. I've got an exam this week and one next week, but that's not bad. It's just so much less than I'm used to. I guess I should enjoy it now because, if all goes well, I'll be back to getting my ass kicked by school in January. And I'll be very glad about that. :)

So yeah, that's been my life lately....busy, but low key....if that makes any sense.

Internet

2008-09-02T21:30:00.004-04:00

So I finally broke down and bought myself some internet. And now it doesn't work.

Yep, I'm down here in the business office again. I'm hoping the stupid thing works by tomorrow. It's actually been nice without cable and internet over these past two months, but I think it's about time to be able to check my e-mail whenever I want.

Lately, I've mostly just been working. I'm pretty sure it's now official that I'm a workaholic, but I'm OK with that. I think being OK with working a lot (plus picking up extra shifts) is the difference between a workaholic and someone who's just forced to work a lot.

I've been in a writing mood lately, which I really like. I'm going to do NaNoWriMo again this year, and hopefully win it again, so I have to start getting into the writing mood more often.

In other news, my birthday is coming up. That's sort of exciting, I guess. 23 is a pretty unimportant age. I liked 22 because it sounded more respectable than 21. 23 is just like...eh. I'll care more when I'm 25.

Anyway, this place is closing soon, so I'm off to my apartment! Hopefully I'll be writing from there very soon.

Whew!

2008-08-26T16:07:00.005-04:00

It's hot outside.

I went grocery shopping last night finally. It had been so long since I actually stocked my kitchen that it was some serious Grocery Shopping. It's so nice to have my own food again! Like actually opening the fridge and being able to make a meal. Amazing.

I really need to clean up my apartment a bit. That sort of thing really gets on my nerves.

Anyway...I spent most of today on campus. Classes and lunch @ University Hospital w/ Jon. (We both had extremely healthy cafeteria food....pizza, grilled cheese, fries....yep.)
Classes are going OK. It's weird to be back in undergrad-type classes, even though it's only three of them and only twice a week. I just feel like I've already paid my dues to the undergrad life. Guess not, since here I am. It's only one semester, though.
It's not so bad. I mean for one thing, they aren't especially hard or anything. That helps. I spend more hours at work than I do with classes, which is nice. I have really nice profs, and I'll learn some things. I really shouldn't complain.
I stopped by and submitted my final paperwork for review by IUSON today. Now just 3 months of waiting. :P Fingers crossed!! Let's hope T-Dubs doesn't get the last laugh after all.

Tomorrow is my day off and I'm going to WL in the evening to hang out with my Purdue homies. I miss them! And this is probably going to be one of the last times in a while that we'll be able to get together (hopefully the next time will be my birthday!!).

I'm working Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, which is actually awesome news because I get paid extra for weekends AND the holiday. WOO!

$.

OK, time for more productivity. Hope everyone is having a nice week so far!

Does this mean I'm a grown up?

2008-08-23T16:00:00.004-04:00

Things I spent my paycheck on:

oil change
scrubs
groceries

Back To School!?

2008-08-21T15:47:00.007-04:00

So today was the first day of the fall semester for me. It was definitely the weirdest first day I've had so far.

Right off the bat, and then constantly throughout the day, I've been reminded of how old I am. Just about everyone around me all day has been and/or looked at least 3 years younger than I am. Part of this is because of the classes I have to take....sociology, psychology, and history - all 100 level, and all pre-reqs so I can start with the clinicals in January pending IUSON's approval of my previous grades.
There seem to be a couple of people in soc and psych that are doing the same thing I am, but otherwise it's a lot of brand new college freshmen, just out of high school. Weird.

Another thing I noticed today is that traffic is exponentially worse during the actual school year. It now takes me about 5x longer just to drive the 1.5 mile from my place to campus.
I took the people mover from the IU Hospital (on campus) to Methodist between classes to meet Jon for lunch. I love that people mover, plus you don't have to sit in traffic.

I also got a new volunteer position at the IUSON shiny new simulation lab. I'm pretty excited about it, and it works out that they need me on my prescheduled day off work. Perfect!

The rest of today will consist of laundry and other boring crap. Tomorrow: back to work and trying to remember to turn in my criminal background check to IUSON.

Also tomorrow: GETTING PAID. Holla.

Yay!!

Good Times

2008-08-20T20:15:00.006-04:00

So it's been a week since I last posted, and it would be crazy of me to try to go through all that has happened in those past 7 days, because it's a lot. The short version is that life is good and I really need to start bringing my camera to things. The longer version is:

I've spent most of the past week at work. 6-8 hours a day on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Since I have to get up so early to get there, I'm always tired early, too. This is a strange feeling, and must be what being a grown up feels like.

To combat this, I spent the rest of the weekend (while I wasn't at work) partying. On Friday night, I got about two hours of sleep, and on Saturday about four. Both parties, one of which was my housewarming party, were a great success (high five!). I was ridiculously tired at work, but I survived.

Friday was the housewarming-type party for Jon, who I work with, and his roommate. My housewarming party on Saturday was great - lots of fun with great people. We spent a while at my place, with some beer, food, and the Olympics, then went to Tiki Bob's on S. Meridian for dancing and a few more drinks.

Monday night I went to another housewarming party (it must be moving season) out on the eastside suburbs where some of Jon's friends live. Then last night a few of us went out to see Tropic Thunder.

Today I got to sleep in, then drove up to Carmel for some quality time with my dear Vickilea. We walked the Monon for a while, stopping at random places along the way (random mystery bookstore, chocolate shop, museum of something, Bub's where we spent about 5 hours while waiting for change), then we went to the pool, which is something I seriously haven't done in years. I've discovered that I like going to the pool. To top off the quality time, Vicki read my tarot cards, which was awesome.

Tomorrow I start my 8,527th semester. It's such a habit now that if I wasn't going to school, I would feel weird. I suppose one day I won't be in school, but who knows when that will be. Maybe like 5 years from now? I just need some more letters after my name.

Friday I finally get my first grown up paycheck! I'll be straight up ballin'. (I live in a city now, so I can say "ballin'".)

This weekend is going to be awesome because not only is Crystal coming to visit, but I get to go to the Colts game on Sunday!!! I am SO excited and you'd better believe I'll finally bring a camera.

After that, it's back to work and school.

I can't complain though; life is good.

Day Off?

2008-08-13T15:48:00.006-04:00

Today is supposedly my day off, although it doesn't really feel like it because I have to do everything that I can't do while I'm at work every other day of the week.

I started off this past weekend house/pet sitting for one of my parents' neighbors here in Carmel, which means I have to commute to and from work during rush hour. Yesterday while trying to get back I-465 was completely stopped both ways for about half a mile, all because of one guy getting pulled over by four cop cars. Seriously? I'm not a fan of commuting.

This week, I'm working every day except today, including the weekend. I don't mind it because not only am I making good money, but I actually really like the job too. But with the hours, I basically can't do much else with the rest of my day. My free time is mostly spent taking care of the plants and animals here, and sleeping.

Friday I have to get everything together here before work, and then that evening Jason is coming to visit! I'm so excited! :) It kind of sucks that I have to work all day and then go to work early the next morning, but I'm sure we'll still have fun.
Then Saturday is my housewarming party! I'm going to try to get out of work around 2 so that I can actually get set up for that and all. Then work at 7am on Sunday. :'( I really hope it all works out OK this weekend, because it's a lot of stuff to cram into 48 hours.

Anyway, that's what's been going on here lately. Insanely busy!

I'm Gonna Make It After Aaaallll!

2008-08-07T18:13:00.004-04:00

According to my sister, I'm like Mary Tyler Moore.

I started my new job this morning, but not without a bunch of ridiculousness first. I woke up in time to see the sunrise, which was weird, and was about to leave when my toilet started pouring water out of the tank. (When I was at work, the maintenance people came and fixed it, but there was still water everywhere.)

I eventually made it to work. The Boss introduced me to everyone around the lab (including one Purdue grad who I actually had met before through mutual friends), and they all seem really nice. I had to go over to Methodist to get my ID, parking pass, etc. I got an impromptu little tour of the hospital, which is so big that the hallways have street names and there are multiple buildings. The rest of the day I spent getting through forms and SOPs, taking a little break to have lunch with another new lab assistant, Gina.
So far I really like it. I'm getting a lot of hours, everyone's been really nice, and nothing beats working in a hospital setting. I'm addicted to it. And I get to wear scrubs, which is still new enough to me that it makes me feel happy.

Yay!

Now I just need a hat that I can throw joyfully into the sky while twirling around Monument Circle.

Weekend?

2008-08-03T23:30:00.005-04:00

Where did the weekend go?!

Friday I drove up to WL and completed the final stage of moving out of the place I lived for the past four years. I didn't have much time or energy for reminiscing while I was there, since it was a million degrees outside, I had nothing to do but clean (which always takes longer than expected), and there were some giant beetles flying around the pine tree outside my front door that I was afraid of.

After it was all said and done, the keys were turned in, and everything was taken care of, I drove back to Indy and started to feel a little nostalgic and such. I don't wish I still lived there or anything, but sometimes there are certain things that remind me of Purdue and WL and I'm like aw. I guess I do miss it....at least certain parts of it. It was a wild ride, that's for sure. I find myself mentioning things about Purdue or WL when I'm hanging out with people down here, much to my dismay, which surprises me; I don't want to be that person who always talks about where they used to live....that gets old quickly.

Either way, now I'm here. 100% an Indianapolis resident. I'm more than ok with that.

Friday night I met up with Vicki and we went to Champps to see Living Proof! Always a great time with Vicki :) We danced, sang, met random guys and then sort of kind of ditched them in favor of a giant piece of ice cream cake (we're talking huge), and talked about many things. I'm so glad she's in Indy for a while!!

Saturday I did all kinds of boring things like laundry and junk. I met up with Richa and an awesome group of people for her birthday celebration that night. It was so good to see her again after a few months and even better that we live so close now! We went to Bourbon St. Distillery for dinner, then back to her place for a bit, then hit Broad Ripple for a few hours. It was a great time...lots of dancing, which was unfortunate for our poor feet. We went to a few places, but the best of the evening was the Vogue, despite the several random guys (including the one who claimed he is going to marry me one day).
After getting back to downtown, Richa and I and the three guys we were with all went on a walk along the canal. By now it was about 3am, but it didn't really matter. I looove the canal area. I got home around 4am, and got to bed around 5am (since a shower was definitely needed).

Today....a lot of random stuff. None of it extremely exciting or important. Filling out paperwork for my job, running a couple of errands, going to the grocery store, watching some Grey's on DVD again.

In terms of dating, it's been an interesting past three/four weeks. I've met a lot of nice guys.....mostly nice, at least. Some weird. A couple of stupids. I'm starting to feel like my life is like Sex and the City, without the sex. Ha. It's been interesting....all of the awkward, slightly nervous, getting to try new places, learning more about someone you'd probably never otherwise really talk to, finding out if there's chemistry or not, exciting, cute, disappointing fun that is dating.

I just have a lot of stuff going on right now, and a lot of important stuff to focus on. I really feel like I'm getting to the top of my game with this career/academics stuff lately, so that's my top priority. This whole dating thing is going to get the back burner for a while.
I like where I am right now, and I like that I just get to see what happens next. I guess I'm not totally opposed to surprises. Mostly.

Anyway, I wish I had pictures from this weekend. I wish I had pictures from anything lately!

So, there you have it.

More Awesomeness!

2008-07-31T17:59:00.004-04:00

This past 24 hours has been great!

Crystal, my dear friend since the days of yore (May 7, when anatomy started and we happened to sit next to each other....) needed a place to stay for the night since her apartment lease is up, so I told her she could stay at mine. We went to Bourbon Street Distillery for dinner and had some delicious salads while being extremely nerdy and whipping out study guides in the middle of the loud restaurant.

After dinner, we resisted the extremely strong urge to drive to Cheesecake Factory ($1.50/slice cheesecake yesterday!!! wtf?!?!), and instead opted for Dunkin' Donuts down the street (closer, and also delicious). We brought our donuts back to my place and started the marathon studying...of course taking a break somewhere around 11pm to watch some Grey's Anatomy DVD and eat the donuts. We got up pretty early this morning for even more studying (in between dozing off and getting ready to leave). So much learning.

We got to the exam pretty early, did some more cramming, and then finally took the damn thing. I was sort of nervous because, even though I'd studied a lot and had always done well in the past, sometimes you just never know what's going to be thrown at you and I needed to do well to keep my A in the class.

Well.... I DID!!

Anatomy = *OWNED*, Physiology = *OWNED*, IUPUI GPA so far = 4.0

After the exam, Crystal, Maresa, Heather, and I went to PF Chang's for lunch. Even just walking through the mall to get to the restaurant was fun...we were all in such good moods after finally finishing both classes over the past two months.
The food was delicious, of course, and we even got some of those cute little $2 dessert cups (highly recommended). After lunch, we walked back through the mall and very actively resisted buying things, and then went to check our grades on campus.

After saying goodbye to my three favorite classmates, I met up with Vicki! We hung out at my place, then strolled Mass Ave for a while. I finally went into Silver In The City and Luna Music, two places that I will definitely be returning to. I love that I live just down the street from all that. Then, we went back to my place and listened to a tape (yes, like a cassette tape) of the two of us from freshman year in high school. We're talking 8 years ago. Back then, we went on a kick where we'd take this little tape recorder with us sometimes when we'd hang out at each other's houses or once when we went to school. We were very...um....interesting....young women. We couldn't really understand all of what we were saying, but our lives back then seemed to consist mostly of lauging with a lot of loud, high pitched talking and Offspring/Sublime/random semi-popular music of the day playing in the background.

After we'd exhausted the entertainment we could get from the tape (which, by the way, used to be an educational Spanish tape from elementary school), she went back to the land of Carmel and I ended up here, in the computer room of my apartment complex, finally getting connected to the internet again.

Ya know, even though it's sometimes (OK, usually) annoying that I don't have a regular (not to mention secure) internet connection in my apartment, it's sort of nice to have to do other things instead of being attached to my computer. I think I'll go a little longer without ordering cable and see what happens.

Tomorrow I'm off to WL to clean out my apartment for the last time (not really excited about all of the cleaning), turn in the keys, and then I'm officially moved out of WL and Purdue for good. Sort of a weird feeling since I've lived there for the past four years, but it's the way life goes, I guess.

And life....is awesome. I love it. I have a healthcare job, got A's in both of my summer classes, awesome family and friends, great new apartment in a wonderful city, I've been going out a lot lately, and meeting more new people all of the time.

Awesomeness!!

2008-07-24T14:57:00.005-04:00

I GOT A JOB! :D

I'm now a lab assistant at the blood bank, serving three of the biggest and best known hospitals in the state. Good times!!

In related news, I got an email from an awesome professor in nursing who's been helping me out and I might have another job and volunteer opportunity with the nursing school. That will DEFINITELY be awesome, too! The nursing school here is my top priority, so getting a chance to work there would be the best.

Lots of jeorbs!

It's so nice to be able to have an income again!

I'm excited!! :)

In other news, things have been going GREAT here. I love this city and my life here. My apartment is almost all done and, after finally getting my bed and couch last weekend, it's been a lot of fun decorating and getting ideas of what to do.

Indy is such a great city because there are so many places to go and things to do on any given day. If something's not going on, then there's always a new restaurant or something to check out. I have a growing list of places both here and in Broad Ripple that I've heard of and want to try out, and have been checking things off lately. Not to mention how awesome it is that I can walk to so many places.

I've also been meeting and hanging out with so many new people over these past couple of weeks. I'm learning not to pass up any opportunity where I could possibly meet people, even if it doesn't seem logical that I'd talk to or become friends with anyone there, because you can meet people just about anywhere. I've even met people at the Starbucks near campus and the study rooms at my apartment complex. It's great.

School is going well, too. Only one week left of summer classes and I'm hoping to escape the summer sessions with a 4.0. Today's exam didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would, but I still have a pretty good chance for an A in the class so all is not lost.
After classes are over, I've got a couple of weeks without class, so I'll be working and housesitting in Carmel (more money!). Hopefully I'll hear from the nursing school soon and be doing that, too. AND if I have time, some more Red Cross stuff.

My life is an exciting adventure.

Not Grumpy Anymore!!

2008-07-18T17:17:00.001-04:00

The job search is finlly paying off!!!

:D

Tired

2008-07-18T10:33:00.004-04:00

Wow, it's been a week since I last posted!

It's been a really busy week! Last weekend, I mostly studied for my Monday exam. My dad came up on Sunday to put together some of the IKEA furniture (I have lamps and a table with chairs now!!).

I also spent a good amount of time this week getting to know some more about the area. I've been up and down Mass Ave a few times with some new friends, stopping in some of the shops there. They have a lot of little random, artsy places (and a Starbucks). One interesting little store, Global Gifts, has exclusively free trade stuff and everyone who works there is a volunteer. Best Chocolate In Town is a tiny place that has some really weird but amazing truffles. And there's also a toy store I went into that's a lot of fun.
This morning after my interview, I went over to the new Dunkin' Donuts on Penn & Washington. Thank God for that place. While on that trip, I also tried to further understand downtown parking. So far, I think it's best to just drive around the block a few times to see if there's a spot open until you get annoyed enough to park in the mall garages.

There are of course about a million places on my list of things I still want to try here.

In other news, I had that job interview this morning. I can't tell how it went, which is bothering me. I was interviewed by three people (two interviewed me together). Sometimes I thought they liked me, but sometimes I wasn't sure what they were thinking. Maybe that's how they do things, though. Every other time I've been up for a position, it's been with a place small enough to be able to tell me yes or no right away. I don't know how common that is, though.
I dunno, I'm hoping for the best but the ambiguity of it put me in sort of a bad mood. So now I'm grumpy.

Plus tired, since last night I was out at the concert at White River. Sam and Laura came down from WL and my sister came to visit. Parking was crazy because of everything that's going on here this week, so yay for my IUPUI parking pass. Anne and I went to Buca for dinner before the show (AMAZING chocolate cake. Amazing.), then we met up with Sam and Laura at the park. It was a good time. :) But not a lot of sleep since I had to wake up early this morning.

So yeah, I'm grumpy right now. :

Another thing I've noticed about not having cable is that there's a crazy amount of those cheesy judge shows on TV. Is the market really that big that they need 3+ of them?

Anyway, time for a nap.

IKEA! and other things.

2008-07-11T20:16:00.003-04:00

Today marked the long-awaited IKEA trip! I woke up this morning feeling really crappy (thanks, stupid stomach + nachos and pretzels I had for dinner last night....at least it was free), but it went down to a manageable level once my mom got here and we started off for Cincy.

We spent pretty much all day at IKEA....if you've ever been there, you know that's pretty much necessary. IKEA is practically heaven to me, so I was not complaining. The two of us went throughout the whole store and ended up buying a LOT...probably too much, which unfortunately means that some of it is going to have to be returned.
I love what I got though! I can't wait to get my bed and couch in here so that everything else can fall into place!! Then....housewarming party! :)

After my mom dropped me back off at my place, I walked over to Yats (0.3 miles away!!) to get some dinner and the grocery store to get some dessert (yay for cookies). I got called "shawty" on the way back, and slightly harrassed by a couple other people, so it sort of makes little suburbanite me wonder how friendly I should really be to people I pass by on the street.

Becoming a city girl takes time, people.

So now I'm holed up in my apartment again, about to do some more studying for the exam on Monday, and really bummed out that the weather is supposed to be awful tomorrow, so it looks like I won't be going up to WL for Crystal's BBQ or to see someone I've been looking forward to seeing. Double bummer. OR to get my modem, which means no regular internet connection for me just yet. Triple bummer.

Anyway, I guess I should go study....

Jeorb?!

2008-07-11T01:25:00.004-04:00

I have a job interview next week!!

It's not the same job I've been talking about, but is still a very awesome one.

I may soon be employed once again! YAY!

I Found The Internet (For Now)!

2008-07-07T21:35:00.005-04:00

So, I'm officially a resident of downtown Indianapolis!

The suburbs are for squares. ;)

I spent pretty much the entire weekend moving stuff back and forth from Carmel to here, with my parents' help. We got most of the small stuff moved in, except of course for those things that you only remember when you realize you need it.

Last night I piled up the car again and drove down here for my first night here. I couldn't find any wireless connections (I don't have cable/internet yet) and I am just barely hanging onto a signal right now.

One thing I've learned about myself is that I can't live without the internet for too long.

But this apartment is beautiful! I know it's going to look even better when I get it all set up and decorated. The view is the best, especially at night. I can see the lights from the hospitals and watch the LifeLine helicopters flying overhead.

Picture time!:

The picture doesn't really do it justice, but this is sundown over some of the view.

Trying to get a picture of the lights outside at night.

Nighttime lights. Again, doesn't do it justice. You guys are just going to have to come see for yourselves! :)

This morning, it was great to wake up at the same time I've always been, but to get an extra hour that I don't have to spend commuting. 5 minute drive to campus!!

So I love this place.

Aside from that, the job search is still going on. I'm still hoping that all works out. Hoping...a lot.

Other than that, things have been ok. Sort of lonely, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Just gotta stay positive that everything else will fall into place.

Moving.

2008-07-06T09:39:00.001-04:00

Even though I'm in love with my new apartment, I'm not sure if it loves me back or not.

When I get frustrated with all of this moving and redecorating stuff, I like to pretend that I'm on an HGTV show. It helps. :)

Today = more moving, some studying.

Apartment!

2008-07-02T22:55:00.003-04:00

So I finally got the keys to my new apartment!! It's all mine now :) Somehow just knowing that when I went there today automatically made it seem more like home than it ever has before, even though I've been in and around it pretty often during the whole process.
I know it's going to take some getting used to for a little while....things like going to the basement to do laundry again, having 4 new keys and a keycard and remembering which doors they go to, still having to figure out where the nearest grocery store is, and how those first few nights at a new place by yourself always feel as you get used to the different sounds and sights of the place at night.

But I finally once again feel like this is going to be fun. It'll probably be scary sometimes, probably lonely sometimes too, but overall it's going to be a new adventure.

In honor of my new apartment, my mom bought me mace.

In other news, I heard back from my contact last night that she has a lead on the job. I'm still trying (but mostly in vain by now) not to get my hopes up too much, but when I'm honest with myself I think if it doesn't work out I'll feel really sad. The more I think about a chance at having a job like that, the more I feel like it would be extremely great. I know that's probably a dangerous way of feeling, since it sets me up for being disappointed, but I don't think I can help it after a certain point.
So, I hope it's good news!!

In more news, I have this ridiculous exam tomorrow morning. This class is definitely a lot more work than the last one, which was a little shocking at first. At least know I know how much work I have to put into it to do well (a lot).
Time for studying....

Wait, What Day Is It?

2008-07-01T01:34:00.006-04:00

For some reason, I still keep forgetting what day it is.
I've been thinking for most of the evening that it's Sunday night, even though I had classes today. And I think I scared Crystal when I started talking about how we have our exam on Wednesday (except it's actually on Thursday, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me).

Today I get to go sign my lease for the downtown place, which I should be more excited about probably. I don't get the keys until tomorrow morning, though, so I guess I have a reason to not be super excited at the moment.

My mom came in my room tonight while I was studying and told me "you're not acting like yourself lately." I'd have to agree with her. This whole time period in my life, this "new chapter" or whatever is definitely not going so smoothly just yet. I can't get excited about things anymore, or more like when I do it seems to be for only a short period of time.
I don't mean to be having a pity party for myself, but I just sort of feel....bleh.

Hopefully this will go away soon. Stuff has to change, right? I've been doing just about everything I can, putting a lot out there, and not getting a lot back. After a while that gets tiring and it's hard to keep up the optimism. I'm getting really sick of the word "transition", too.

But I guess I still have some optimism left in me. I'm still plugging away....studying, trying to go out and meet up with friends as much as possible, working on the job search and trying to look forward to what's ahead....because I know it's going to pay off sometime. At least that's what they tell me!

Technically, It's Thursday

2008-06-26T00:57:00.004-04:00

Class was relatively painless today, although I'm pretty sure I drove around every street that is remotely near campus trying to find the elusive third bookstore where my lab manual was hiding.

I think I gave a lot of people road rage today.

I'm still job searching like it's my....job....
I've become increasingly aware that I not only want, but more like need a hospital job here. I just keep thinking about how good last summer was for me up at the hospitals in Lafayette, and I know I need that sort of thing again here for several reasons, not the least of which is to get my mind off of less fun things.

In other news, I came up with some good ideas for the new place today. I think it's not going to take much for it to be a really great looking place. I'm excited to start the redecorating process. :)

In more news, I found a new favorite non-alcoholic beverage - white hot chocolate from the Caribou Coffee in the campus center. Delicious!! I don't even care that it's summer, I'm going to drink it anyway. It's amazing.

Bad Mood?

2008-06-23T17:47:00.007-04:00

This weekend was....well, it was pretty emotional. Highs and lows.
Without getting into that....I drove to WL on Friday afternoon to continue packing up everything. Saturday was the Taste of Tippecanoe, and I have to say it was one of the best times of the summer so far. Great food, great weather, great people to be with. It was really crowded, which wasn't as annoying as it was amusing (counting the pregnant ladies, etc.). And the fireworks were pretty nice, too. On Sunday my little car was loaded up and I drove back to Indy. The experience of moving all of my stuff (aside from the furniture) myself has really made me realize how small my car is.

Just eight days until I officially get my new apartment! That's eight days too many. Tomorrow I get to go do a final walk-through of it, then next Tuesday sign the lease and attempt to figure out how I'm going to move everything in.

Ugh, moving. I hate it.

This morning, after about 4 hours of sleep, I woke up early to experience the joy of rush hour commuting....I mean, go to a meeting. The meeting went really well, which was very encouraging, then I had time to eat and go to the first day of physiology.

Let me just say that, as someone with a degree in neurobiology and physiology, I feel like this class is going to go by verrry slowly.
Or maybe I'm just in a bad mood today. I don't think it's going to be easy, but I don't think it's going to be particularly hard (despite the professors' threats). It's just going to be time consuming and right now all of that is something that I am not in the mood for.
The thought of opening a textbook and studying right now makes me want to go watch TV for an unneccessarily long time, or stare at the HGTV website and think about my upcoming redecoration projects.
On the bright (?) side, I've definitely thought this before on the first day of a class, yet I managed to graduate without failing any of them, so obviously it all works out in the end. My motivation is just temporarily lost.

I'm not really in the mood for much right now in general, I guess. Except maybe chocolate. And not studying.

So, this was entertaining.
Hope everyone else out there's having a better week so far.

Lazy Sunday

2008-06-15T13:12:00.004-04:00

Ahh, second post of the day. Well, like the title says, I've been pretty lazy today.

Rohit left to get back to Cleveland this morning. It was nice to have him here for the weekend. I wonder when I'll get to see him and my other out of state/country friends again, since we're all moving on pretty soon. At least there's always Facebook. :)

Other than that, I haven't done too much. Sat around outside, chatted with my parents, showered.....nothing that could really be considered productive. I might actually get so bored that I start studying. It's just as well, though, considering I have those two final exams on Wednesday. Then no class on Thursday and anatomy is OVER! Onto the next class on Monday, though.

I got a call from the Red Cross today. Apparently they need nurses and EMTs to go around with their case workers and sort of translate some of the medical lingo and take care of basic medical-related needs. It sounds pretty interesting, so I'm going to stop by sometime this week and take care of the paperwork. Unfortunately, it's not a paid position, which I am still slightly desperately looking for. I just need to be making some more money, and preferably as soon as possible. I've applied so many places already....hopefully at least one of them will work out! I'm also planning on stopping by Riley and University Hospitals after class this week to talk with them. I think that would probably be the best possible place I could work, plus I know I'd really like it. But anyway, like I've said, we'll see.

OK, on to try to be somewhat productive....let's see if I'll end up with a third post of the day or not. :P

Should've Brought The Camera....

2008-06-15T01:16:00.007-04:00

Even though all I really do is eat, sleep, go to class, and study Monday-Thursday, having that 3 day weekend every week really makes it all not so bad. :)

Friday I spent the afternoon at home, and around 7pm (just 2.5 hours late! but due to some crazy traffic) Rohit arrived from the far away land of Cleveland! We had dinner at Mudsocks Grill, a nice little local place just a couple of minutes from my parents' house.
After that, we went to The Cheesecake Factory for (what else??) cheesecake. As always, it was Amazing. God, I love that cheesecake. I really don't care how "unhealthy" it is. Something that good can't be entirely unhealthy. It's at least emotionally/psychologically healthy due to the happiness it brings me. But I digress.
After the cheesecake, we went to Blu Martini (no idea why the word "blu" is so popular at Indianapolis establishments....). I'd never been before but I heard it was a pretty good place. We both liked the atmosphere....Rohit said it reminded him of one of those martini bars you see on TV....but the crowd was a little odd; there were a lot of people in their 20s/30s, but then the addition of a noticeable amount of people who were probably too old to be in a place like that. Like guys with gray hair sitting by themselves, watching who knows who. Sorta weird. But other than that, seems like a place to go with a group of friends if you don't feel like driving out to Broad Ripple or downtown. Could do better in terms of a regular hangout or something though.

Saturday (today, but technically yesterday) we drove to downtown. It was definitely a day of street fairs in the area. In Carmel, they had the Artomobilia on Main Street, which seemed pretty cool although we didn't stop by. Downtown, there was the Talbot St. Art Fair, Italian Fest, the Pride Festival, and the Jazz Fest (lots of fests....).
I showed Rohit around campus a bit and then we walked along the canal for a while. Unfortunately those paddle boats you can rent are like $20 each and we were sort of hungry, so after some more walking around we got some food at a cafe and ate outside to the sounds of the bands warming up at the Jazz Fest not too far away. Perfect weather today!!
After that, we went to the mall and met up with Tripti for the whole reason for the weekend....the Sex and the City movie! :P (It's a long running joke for those of you who don't know...) The movie was....well, it was a Sex and the City movie....it's like the show, only longer. I liked it for what it was. :)
After the movie, we went to Rock Bottom for dinner and then walked around the city some more and I showed them my new building and neighborhood area.
Then Rohit and I went back to my parents' place to play Wii and watch Scrubs. :D

So, it's been a really fun and busy weekend. It's not over yet, but basically the rest of it is going to be spent studying for my final exams in anatomy on Wednesday! Two in one day! There just might be another Thursday night repeat after that....

On the job front, I'm hoping and praying to get something in a hospital soon. We'll see how things pan out!

Hope everyone else is having a nice weekend as well. Leave some comments so I know you stopped by! :)

First Night Out!

2008-06-13T13:13:00.006-04:00

So I spent last night downtown, which I'd been looking forward to ever since my awesome anatomy lab partner Crystal and I had talked last week about hitting some bars and clubs after our exam.

After seeing a show at the IRT with my family. It was a musical, which is something pretty different for my family and I. We like to try some sort of show each year, but usually not a musical....I dunno, maybe I just don't get musicals. When I was younger I always got annoyed that people would interrupt the story to start singing a song.
But anyway, after the show I met up with Crystal and we decided to go check out the places on South Meridian. There are quite a few options all within the same little area, and we really didn't know what most of them were like, so we decided to just go check out whatever sounded interesting. We started out at Subterra Lounge. It's a pretty modern chic place - lots of deep oranges and reds with multicolored lighting under the glass plates that line some of the walls. Our problem there was that it was about 10:30pm, which means the crowds haven't picked up by then. According to the bartender (who was sort of nice), it had been a little slow there over the past couple of weeks on Thursday nights. Not sure why, but Crystal and I didn't have any Thursday night downtown experience yet anyway, so we didn't really know what to expect. After about an hour and a glass of wine later, we decided to go check out some other places.
We stopped by Have A Nice Day Cafe in hopes of dancing, but they had some sort of radio show contest thingy going on, so we decided to come back later and went back across the street to Blu. Of the places we went, I think Blu definitely had the best atmosphere and music. Unfortunately, also no dancing! We each got beers and were there until about midnight, when we figured the whole radio thing might be over and we might get to dance after all. So we went back to Have A Nice Day and, lo and behold, people were dancing! Hooray! Have A Nice Day is '70s themed and reminds me of the Cactus, but smaller and without the giant cups. It has a pretty fun lighted dance floor, which is what we came there for in the first place. The crowd was mostly college-aged people and others in their 20s, with a few older looking people in business suits who probably were a little too old to be there and probably didn't know it. Such is a bar, though. But we danced a lot and made new friends on the dance floor. :)
After a while and getting ridiculously hot from all the dancing, we decided to call it a night and walked the couple of blocks back to the car.

Overall, it was a lot of fun!!! :) Too bad I didn't bring my camera. Drinks were ridiculously expensive (at least where we got them), but we only paid $3 cover all night (@ Have A Nice Day). Crystal said she heard that everyone goes to Broad Ripple on Friday nights and downtown on Saturday nights, so we will definitely be testing out that theory a lot in the weekends to come! :D

New Neighborhood

2008-06-11T18:16:00.012-04:00

Today after classes I drove over to my new building, parked the car somewhere (probably illegally) and walked around for a little while to see what I could find. I actually brought my camera this time!

View from the outer edge of campus

Driving out of campus towards the new place

A portion of Mass. Ave. just a block away

Hmm, brunch! Maybe they have brunner too?

My new home! I'll be up there near the top :)

Anyway, I have ridiculous amounts of studying to do for this exam tomorrow, so I should get to that.

Yay!

2008-06-03T22:27:00.007-04:00

Got a 102% on the exam I had today, which made the day a lot better despite this gross weather.
Kicking ass and taking names! :)
Unfortunately I've got another one on Thursday, one next week, and two the week after that (on the same day!). Studying for exams still sucks every time, but at least I'm used to it by now.

I also got a chance to talk with Vicki on the phone tonight, which was so nice! We've been friends for about 10 years now, and no matter what we can always have great conversations. I can't wait until she gets back from her internship in PA and we can hit up some of the nightlife around here. Crystal (awesome lab partner) and I are also planning a night out sometime soon. On top of that, I had a chance to talk with a couple other friends tonight who I haven't had a chance to in a while....it's really good to connect with people.

After the exam, class, and dinner, I went to go see Iron Man with my dad. I liked it more than I thought I would! Next weekend Tripti and Rohit are coming here for Sex and the City! lol. I really can't wait for that!

Hopefully once I move into my apartment down here, I'll be able to actually go out around town more often. I definitely keep busy during the day, but at night lately I just really wish I'd brought an extra book to read from WL or could find the USB drive that I have all of my stories on (where the hell is that thing?!).

But either way, today's been a really good day :)

Mine is not a new story...

2008-05-31T13:17:00.001-04:00

This definitely isn't the first blog I've ever had. It's easily the fifth or sixth ever since middle school, only changing when I got bored or forgot a password after months of not writing a thing. It felt fitting to start this one, though, when I thought about everything that's going on in my life lately and all that's about to happen.

In the past three weeks, I've graduated from college, started a grad program at a new school, and just yesterday got my very first apartment in what I am starting to consider a brand new city.

Despite living most of my life about 15 miles away from downtown Indy, I've realized that I know absolutely nothing about it. Going to the mall, a concert, some restaurants, or a Colts game a few times a year apparently is no help in figuring out the important everyday things about the city....which directions the side streets go, where the out-of-the-way cafes and shops are, where to get groceries and, almost most importantly, where to meet new people.
So I now find myself faced with a situation that isn't at all uncommon to anyone who's just graduated and/or moved to a new city, but it's incredibly new and unfamiliar to me. I'm certainly no stranger to starting new things, or to going it alone. Yeah, I'm nervous about it; I don't want to mess it up or miss out on things and there are a lot of uncertainties ahead. But I have a once in a lifetime experience here to really show who I am and make the most of it all.
So, that's what this is about.