[
random thoughts
]
2001-09-24
Finally done with my class:
that is, my nurse aide training class. Everything went well, and I did fine on the final exam (I only missed two, and everyone in my class passed).
The clinical days were interesting, and not as tough as I had supposed. I found I really liked working with the residents, actually. I'm going to turn in an application at the nursing home where we did our clinicals, so we'll see if they want to hire me and I can find a schedule amenable to my lifestyle. I'm pretty much limited to the day shift, otherwise I wouldn't get to see Elena, really.
Speaking of which, yesterday I got to have her for my first unsupervised visit! Yea! We went up to Anthony's house, and Elena got to play with his daughter, Brianna, who is 7 years old. Elena couldn't quite pronounce her name right, and called her "Bwana", which I find highly amusing.
They ran around the house, played hide & seek, and Elena got to play a video game for the very first time (briefly - she lost interest quickly). When it was time to go, Elena got quite upset. I told her we were going back to Daddy's house and she said, "I don't like Daddy". I assured her that I knew she most certainly did!
When we got to Spencer's, Brianna and I stayed for a bit and played with Elena there. When it was time for us to go, Elena got *extremely* upset, sobbing with tears pouring out of her eyes, beside herself with sadness. "I want to go with Bwana!" she cried.
I think the fact that she was napless contributed to her downtrodden mood, poor thing. She refuses to take naps on weekends is the problem.
Today I got started slowly, because I got sucked into watching a couple of movies on Cinemax. I saw Woman On Top, which was wonderful, and some other movie with William Shatner in it the title to which I can't recall. It was clever, featuring a bunch of comic book and sci-fi movie-obsessed guys as main characters.
And oh yeah, the other night when I couldn't sleep, I watched the Milagro Beanfield War. That's a good one, I had never seen it before but heard it was good.
Last week I also saw a USA network original movie called Hitched which was pretty good. What's odd is that I caught it about 3/4 of the way through, watched to the end, then caught the first 3/4 because they showed the movie again immediately. I wonder if this is the wave of the future - you are more likely to decide you want to watch a movie after seeing a few minutes out of the middle, so maybe with a bazillion channels at their disposal, the networks can show their best stuff continuously on parallel channels, much the way the cable company does with Pay Per View stuff.
Anyway, it took me about ten minutes to realize that the guy who plays the husband in the movie Hitched is Anthony Michael Hall, he of Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles fame. He used to be the canonical geek figure in the eighties John Hughes films I and my friends loved. Now he's grown up into an average-looking guy, which is just downright *spooky* somehow. Looking at him I kept seeing him as both a recognizable and an unrecognizable version of his former pencil-necked braces-bedecked self. Truly odd. Good to know he's been getting work since Edward Scissorhands, though...
Tomorrow I finally get to go to the dermatologist for my appointment about the Itch Plague that I've got. I made this appointment three months ago, and this is the earliest they could get me in. Sigh. I sure as hell hope they can figure out what it is and give me the cure for it, *quick*. I've suffered long enough - something like five and a half months now. My hands and feet are all chewed up, looking like fire ants have attacked them. My left foot is the worst.
Speaking of my left foot, there's another reason it's having troubles lately. See, I went and did a stupid thing and tried to chop out pieces of this perpetual wart I have on the ball of that foot. I do this periodically, and it typically hurts for a little while and the wart returns as before. This time, the thing is *killing* me, and it hurts to walk. Badly. It's been hurting for days and I kind of just want to cry about it. :( I hope it gets better soon. I feel so stupid, it's my own damn fault. I should have just left that stupid wart alone.
I feel so tired and weary today. Like the wind has gone out of my sails. Maybe it's just a function of my class being over with, or of having to do the grunt work of job-hunting again, I don't know. But there's more than that...
I think I should be spending more time here at Chris's house, among my stuff. I've been neglecting computer stuff, which used to be quite fulfilling for me. Plus all of y'all are wondering what the hell happened to me. I just got sucked into a guy's life, the way I always do. I need to pull back, I think. There comes a time when someone neatening up your stuff and asking you to remove it starts to make you feel sort of unwelcome. And who needs that? Feh.
Plus, the tv is better over here. More channels, dammit! :) If he wants to spend time with me, he can come over here. It won't hurt him. I just need a little bit more of life on my terms. Or closer to my terms, anyway, where I can leave a dish out for a whole day or something and not feel as though I'm causing the fall of Western civilization.
Okay, I'm exaggerating. But it is starting to bug me somewhat. I feel like a visitor there, like I have to bust my ass to minimize my impact. I start to feel like there just isn't room for me there. :/ Harrumph.
Enough for now I suppose. Later.
[
canoe
]
2001-09-13
Just checking in:
and saying that I get to go canoeing this evening - yippee! There's actually an OC-6 (six person outrigger canoe) in Austin now, and the other outrigger guy in Austin, Mike, called me and invited me to come down and paddle with them today. Barring any unforeseen stuff, I should be there.
Today in class, we learned to take temperatures and blood pressures. I wasn't very good at the blood pressure stuff - I'm definitely going to have to practice more. Harrumph.
Ah well. Time to go try to chill for a few minutes until it's time to do yet more driving. Sigh.
[
random thoughts
]
2001-09-12
I wonder...
What do the birds think, now that the skies are completely quiet?
Wouldn't this be a good time to install an upgrade to the nation's air traffic control system? I remember hearing that they tried twice before and couldn't do it - the thing is so old and entrenched... a total shutdown day would be a good opportunity to slot in new software... but then again, you wouldn't know if it worked yet.
Apparently the hijackers used a knife similar to a boxcutter. What came to mind to me before I heard that was a ceramic knife, actually. You know, those high-end Japanese chef's knives...
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random thoughts
]
2001-09-12
Too much to think of:
I had saved up a bunch of things to write about, and now... now there's a whole lot of other stuff going on, too.
Well, things are going well for me - my CNA class is quite enjoyable and I'm learning a lot, making new friends, that kind of thing. I am, however, running out of money, so I will need to get a job right away once the class is done. From what our instructor says, this should not be difficult. I sure hope she's right.
Today was supposed to be our first day of clinicals, but it was cancelled. I didn't realize until I was already down at the nursing home. Doh! So I ran some errands and I'm trying to make the most of the day.
Visits with Elena have been going remarkably well lately. She and I are connecting on a whole nother level, it feels like. It's absolutely wondrous to watch it all unfold. Today I get to see her again, which I'm looking forward to greatly, of course.
Suddenly I can't remember all the spiffy stuff I was going to write about. Harrumph. The weather is really nice here, finally. Nice and sunny during the day, but not too hot. It's quite lovely, actually.
I'm working on losing some weight again. I haven't had much time to exercise, but I have been eating more healthily. I've been minimizing munchies and shrinking my portions in general, and drinking lots of water. Hopefully it won't take me too long to get back to the skinniness I enjoyed a couple of months ago.
I feel so dorky talking about inane stuff as I hear news updates from the other room. What can I say about it, though? I'm just in awe, listening and thinking and trying to process the tragedy. It feels sort of distant and surreal. It sure hasn't sunk in yet for me, but I know it will. I have been pleasantly amazed at how quickly people have pulled together to do whatever they could to help. It makes me proud of my fellow citizens. I mean, there have been times when I thought the average person was a cretinous idiot; but over time, my view has softened and my cynicism has largely faded. It's good to see the glass half full instead of half empty for once, is what I'm getting at.
And how about that Dubya? Who'd have thunk that he'd suddenly lose the smug look on his face and come across as clueful and well-spoken when the time came? I would have bet against it, but lo, there he is, doing a great job. At least it seems that way to me. We'll see what happens in the coming days/weeks/months.
Yesterday was so bizarre - All I was hearing on the radio was war, war, war, but all I saw around me were people going about their business, everything looking as normal as possible. It was truly surreal.
I wonder who really did this. I wonder if we'll ever really know. I hope we do find out...
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random thoughts
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2001-09-08
Busy. Happy.
That's how I am lately. I'll post more soonish, when I spend more time around a fast net connection. Lately I'm barely even reading my email, much less responding to it. Sorry. I'm so out of the loop.
Anyway, I'm taking a class and spending my free time trying to get the rest of my life organized, but I'll have more time to sit and contemplate soon. Life is going very well right now. :) Time to get going now, though... l8r.
[
rants
]
2001-09-04
BS lazy poster self:
That is, I'm rather disappointed in myself for not posting more lately. I've had a bazillion ideas of things to log, yet after my spurt last week of seven in one day or something, I've done zilch. Nada. Anyway, so what else is new?
I don't have long to post - gotta get back to Anthony's so we can go catch a movie. But briefly: I now have a job plan, I've been feeling better, I have *lots* of ideas (including a cool way to structure my website), and things are moving right along. Argh, once I get started, I want to just blab on and on. But right now, I gotta get ready. I'm always late, and it's really starting to bug me.
More later, whenever that ends up to be...
