The squeeky wheel gets the greese

I know how many times we've heard this expression but there is so much truth to it. This morning I managed to get myself enrolled into pharmacology at SMC just by asking! It was awesome, and now I have every single class I need in order to be on my way to applying for school this fall! So my recommendation to all of you who are too scared to ask is...

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!

I think this is allowed...

I realized tonight on a late drive home after watching the women's gymnastics all around (go Nastia!!!) that I am really proud of myself. This epiphany came while listening to John Mayer's "Gravity", which really has nothing to do with the epiphany itself. I've worked really hard to become who I am today, and I wouldn't change anything that I've been through or done because I really like the person I've become, and all those so-called "mistakes" made me this way. I have great goals to strive toward and my dreams are actually turning into reality. What more could I ask for?

Teenage motto=no regrets

And I'd say that this motto has worked quite well for me into young adulthood (and in approaching the quarter century mark...)

Learning from the best

Amazingly enough my mother and Debbie (our family friend) still have it in them, even at 50+. The mothers', my sister, Nicole (Debbie's daughter) and I went out for a nice Italian meal last night at Aldo's in LG, and we had this crappy female waitress. When our dinner arrived, we somehow got a waiter switch to this cuteish younger guy. He was flirting with Debbie so much. After she took her first bite of food (and complimented it on how good it was), he started to take her plate while asking if she was finished. Then the flirt war started. My mom asked him if he spoke Italian, and he said yes, so she followed up with what part of Italy was he from? He answered "Mexico City"...hahahahahaha. I guess the point of this story is he bought our table a round of shots. Seriously? My mother and Debbie were so entertaining that he bought us shots. Wow, I have not seen that happening with people who are not in their twenties.

The shot was gross, though...

I'm too sexy for my scrubs...

Check these babies out!!! Basically, I am the sexiest person ever to don such an outfit. Also, I have become a huge advocate for bringing scrubs into our everyday lives (and not just in health professions). Reasons why are as follows:


1. Cheap! The whole outfit was <$25. I can usually only get one piece of an outfit for less than $25 (if I want it to be stylish...I'm really good at finding ugly bargains). And I get a discount for being a student. One more reason to stay in school, kids.


2. Baggy. No wedgies from too tight trendy pants. Lots of room to hide my food baby after a huge meal. Hides my small boobs and big butt (hmm, maybe this makes them better for teenagers, no more revealing clothing!)


3. Sizes run from XS-XXL, so everyone can find something that fits them. However, if you have short legs (like me) then you have to get the small petite version, or even the small short version or else you will trip all over the place. See, they have petite and short lengths to suite all sizes.


I hope I have made my point that we should all wear these sexy beasts on our next club outing. Maybe I can convince Lisa to let me wear these as her maid of honor. Yeah right!


Exciting news!!! I drew my first phlebotomy patient last night and it was SUCCESSFUL! I am so excited about the whole process and I feel very good about my impending career switch. I'm heading in the right direction! Yippie!!!!!!!! Tonight I go to an admissions presentation in SF for one of the schools I'm applying to this fall. Yay for nursing!

my mother is sooooo not pc...

Between my sister, Nicole, and my mother, we played a riveting game of charades tonight. Julie was the best inventor of her own topics (i.e. garden spider) while my mom was the funniest. First off, she expected us to get earthquake from a series of what looked like body convulsions. Secondly, she gets up, motions for 4 words, and then let's us know she is referring to the fourth word of her four word topic. Yeah, imagine our surprise when she pointed at her crotch. We all started cracking up beyond belief, and we were no closer to guessing what she meant, except for a few lewd ideas. It turns our her T.V. show was "Leave it to Beaver". Oh mother. The most classic thing was that Julie had no idea what Beaver was referring to. Hahahahahaha. Game nights with the family + Nicole are AWESOME!!!

P.S. I made a bomb chocolate cake. It is no longer with us. :(

Remind me again why I dislike musicals turned to movies...

My mother and I saw Mamma Mia this morning and I actually enjoyed it. Usually I refuse to see musical movies unless I've seen the musical on stage. The reason I never watch musical movies is that I prefer an actual musical. You know, in a theater with real human beings singing their <3's out? Ever been to one of those? Yeah, they're awesome, and when they are turned into movies, THEY SUCK!!! I would much rather watch the actual musical.

So some comments about the movie:

~Pierce Brosnan should stick to James Bond. His voice sounds like, well, I can't even come up with a metaphor that would do his awful voice justice. It was terrible and I laughed out loud in the theater during his solos. And his face while he sings is contorted into a ridiculous smile/constipated look. Barf. James Bond=way sexier.

~I want Sophie's hair (and character name). Maybe if I have a little girl I will name her that. Soooooo cute! Below is a pix of her hair in the movie:

My Mom explained what I'd have to do to get her hair. Basically, my hair is too short right now (duh, have you seen it lately?) and in order to give it a body wave, it needs to be about 7 inches longer. Who knows if I can actually hold out that long? Maybe I can put a poster of her in my room to remind me of what my hair could be if it was only so much longer? Naw, that's creepy.

~Yeah, I think ABBA has pretty catchy music, but I wouldn't be caught dead listening to their CD. Plus it sounds so good when the characters sing it (minus Mr. Brosnan, as I stated earlier) that I'd have a hard time getting used to the real voices of ABBA.

~Meryl Streep is the shiz. End of story.

On another note, my baby cat has TAPE WORMS!!! That's nasty, especially when you see the little rice pieces coming out of his cute lil butt. Gross. The deworming begins today. If you have a cat, don't let him eat fleas. Or make sure you give the poor thing advantage more often than I do to kill off the host of these disgusting vile creatures. Ewwwwwww!

I guess I am the lucky one...

I found out today that the Fiz (Fziomed, the company I used to work for) laid off 12 more people (in addition to the 7 that were laid off with me). Apparently, the panel meeting on July 15th did not go as well as planned and they have about 6 more months of work to do before they can get FDA approved. Sadly, the company will run out of money in September, so they had to get rid of people. C.R., my dear lab rat friend, was one of them, as was the VP of research and development (that was a shocker b/c my old boss was not laid off and he was lower on the chain than Dick was).

Obviously, I was very upset to lose my job (who wouldn't be). However, I am glad where the job loss put me because I am actually pursuing my dream with full force right now. And when I evaluate whether I would have preferred to be laid off today or 3 months ago, I can say with 100% confidence that I am glad it happened in April. Hopefully I'll never go through that again, and neither will anyone I love because IT SUCKS!!!

Something my boss told me after I was laid off (he did not do it, Dick did) was that I was one of the lucky ones to get out now and not be forced to hang around until the bitter end. Funny how old guys are usually right. Thanks Sam! You're the best :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!!

See above :)

The dry spell has ended

Hahahaha, back to blogging. I know you missed me.

Since it's been so long since I've updated, I have a few things to share.

1. New embarrassing moment: Was walking to get a newspaper for my mother with JS. After putting the coins in I pressed the open button but could not get a newspaper b/c it wouldn't open. After tyring again, my brilliant JS discovered that I was hitting the coin return. Needless to say, I rolled around on the concrete for about two minutes in shear embarrassment. Thank God for engineers.

2. This decoration to the left is maybe the coolest accidental thing I've ever seen. What on earth is that, I hear you say. Oh, just a decorative flower made from used artichoke leaves (and by used, I guess I mean eaten). Ok, I lied a little. It wasn't entirely on accident because I pointed it out to JS (the artist) after about a quarter of the piece was finished, but still...it's freaking cool looking!!! Who says math geeks are not creative? Just kidding JS :)

3. Echo took over Gabie's bed while Gabie was out of town. He was so cute while he was rolling around on it, making squeaking noises (I had no idea cats squeak) and purring.

Yeah, he's a bit small for that size bed, but he certainly thinks he's bigger than he actually is. FATTY.

4. Cutest kid ever. Can you believe this is her camera face? I almost died from cuteness overload. Her name is Maia (and don't quote me on the spelling) and she's one of three adorable kids belonging to my best friend's older sister.

5. Onto a more serious note, I have fully accomplished all I possibly can for nursing school applications as of now. Go me.

6. Summer school's out for summer (almost)!

7. FYI, I will never dress up as Donkey Kong. Period.

I <3 Jiffy Lube

Now I have not always felt this way, mind you, but today's Jiffy Lube experience was quite possibly the most amazing experience I have ever had when servicing my car. From now on, I will send all my business (within reason) to the Jiffy Lube on the corner of Mary and El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, CA. I arrived to this location at 10am to a very short line of cars (meaning only me) and a friendly greeting from a young man. He told me there was coffee and magazines inside and they would be meeting with me shortly to discuss my coche. When I was called a few minutes later (by a woman, mind you), she informed me of the additional stuff I should have done (I think it's called a coolant flush) and then told me my air filter could probably wait another 3,000 miles. That's a first, I thought, since every time I go anywhere I feel like the man who's helping me is trying to swindle me out of my money for every little lame ass thing that could or could not be done on my car. I also had 2 coupons to use on my oil change and random other servicing. And she told me my windshield wipers were torn but I could wait until the rainy season to fix those. Seriously? No nagging sales person trying to get me to spend more money at their location!!!

I sat down to wait for about 20 minutes, and this nice young lady asked if she could get me any water or coffee, and then introduced herself as Lauren and told me to feel free and ask her any questions I may have. Is anyone else noticing a trend here? This exceptional service is coming from mostly women. There were three working there and they were extremely nice to me. Maybe they know what it's like to be treated like an idiot at any car service place just because you're a women. Let's be honest here, I am an idiot when it comes to my car, but it was nice not to be treated like one.

Now onto the best part. When it was time to pay, I got about 20 dollars off due to my coupons AND the opportunity to have Jiffy Lube send me a $10 gas card! All I have to do is send in my receipt with their form and they'll send it to me in the mail. Seriously, could this day get any better?

Yes, it did. I went to the post office afterward and another very friendly lady offered to help me pick out the right envelope to mail off my 30-day sub permit. And there was no line.

Today rocks!

The little sis is the big 2-3

Happy Birthday to my one and only wonderful little sister. Now you know what it feels like to get old, like your arthritic big sis.

I am in the process of buying her some Brian Regan tickets (he is this excellent comedian that we both love). Because I am the most awesomest sister ever, I bought her a card and wrote that in it. Wen I was lighting the candles on the cake, I struck a match and it broke. The flaming match flew onto her birthday card and momentarily caught it on fire. Needless to say, her birthday was smoking.

It's official; I'm live-scanned and can submit my application to substitute teach. Watch out you little monsters! It'll be fun reacquainting myself with the ways of children. You never know what you're going to get.

Speaking of the above thought, I was awakened by a quacking duck this morning. It was running it's mouth for about 45 minutes. My dad came into my room this morning and I woke up (due to duck quacking). We exchanged a look, and then heard it. "Mommy, make it stop"! Alas, you never know how hilarious your neighbors little boy can be until he opens his mouth. Laughter is an excellent way to start the day.

Two Tributes: To Olive and To My Zit

Tribute #1:

Before I begin my tribute to the zit on my face, let me just say R.I.P to Olive Riley, the world's oldest blogger (at age 108).  For those of you interested, the link to her yahoo story is below.  I was shocked when I opened yahoo before blogging and that was the article I read first.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080714/wl_asia_afp/lifestyleaustraliainternetblogging

Tribute #2:

ODE TO ZIT

When I was a greasy teenager
I had more than my fair share of zits
Those who showed their faces on mine
were tastefully covered with make-up

I longed for the day
these zits would no longer pester me

I am still longing.

I was informed that at the ripe age of 24.5
I would have clear, beautiful skin
like those air-brushed models
but for real

liars.

An interesting place to find advice

Happy belated birthday Dad! I am super lame for posting yesterday and not writing that important bit of information for the world to read. Good thing I went over to your house for dinner to make up for my tragic mistake.

Today marks the second second interview I have had in my entire life. It went just fine, and I'm pretty sure they are interested in me. I made the first cut; out of 7 people, 4 were asked to return. I'm still not that interested in the position but I will take what I can get at this point.

I was talking with their COO first and he gave me some spontaneous interesting advice: be in control of your own destiny. Let's be honest here, I don't know if you can control your fate (I'm pretty sure our world is controlled by mathematics, my favorite universal language). A discovery by an old stoner friend was explained to me through the example of an equation tree, ultimately concluding that math is the root of all science, and with that statement I agree. I can't even begin to describe his idea here for fear of butchering it.

Let me play with the advice; let's say you can control your future. Then I am not controlling my future in the direction I wish to go by accepting this job (if I get it, that is). True, I will take this job if I get it (I could really use the money/benefits). But I am side-stepping my real dream.

I am conflicted. Obviously I want a job. I am bored out of my mind and spend waaaaayyyyyy tooooooooo much time on my online classes. However, I just started this phlebotomy class and I would love to have the opportunity to use this new skill in a healthcare setting. Plus I need to finish pre-reqs for nursing school. The logical decision is to take the job and slowly finish the pre-reqs, but my heart says F-it, just finish the nursing stuff so you can get into a school.

It's funny to re-read this because I am assuming I will get the job. That may not happen, and then I can just go along with my original plan: Phlebotomy class to phlebot job to finish pre-reqs to nursing apps to nursing school to nursing job. Sounds like a plan.

Is it bad that part of me doesn't want the job? Too bad things in life are NOT free :(

Rachell Roll

You know it's a good day when you head out for sushi and there is a roll named after you!

Rachell Roll: Salmon, cream cheese, unagi, deep fried

I'm sure you can see why I didn't order it.

Why I love my lil sister

1. She actually woke up the past 2 mornings to go hiking with me. We had a blast chatting and exercising (with our coffee of course).

2. The name of her car is Tito. Seriously. She named her car for some pretty hysterical reasons. She thought if it had a name she would be more likely to keep it clean, which is working because she cleaned it today. Also, she said it had to be a boys name because she refuses to ride a girl. Corey, her boyfriend, refused to call it by its name, but now he is obsessed with it and says things like "are we going to take Tito today?".

3. I cooked dinner tonight because my mom is out of town visiting her white-trash "boyfriend". It was a random array of food, consisting of boiled soy beans, salad, frozen orange chicken, and Mexican rice. The rice was crunchy, and she loved it (actually it tasted like popcorn). I didn't even know you could overcook rice. Thanks Jue for making me feel better about my sorry attempt at a healthy meal.

I finally get to see Emily tonight. My life is complete.

Water I have left to tread

Have you ever made a boat out of cardboard and duct tape? Me either, but I certainly saw a lot of those this past weekend in Chicago for Jason and Lisa's engagement party. It was on a cardboard boat in the middle of the Glen Elynn community lake. Who would have thought it would hold up forty people? I was shocked.

O.k., I am full of sh*t but I did watch some cardboard boat races this weekend. It was pretty entertaining. The basic premise is to be the fastest boat in your group to make it around a charted course on the lake. Most exciting was the designs of the boats, such as a Trojan horse, guitar, the closet from "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", and a paddle boat. I'd like to enter someday, with my lovely Lisa, that is.

Now onto the point of this blog: Friday night was rough for my self-esteem. It's weird being in-between jobs/life decisions and to see your good friends becoming so established in their lives while you feel so lost. It feels strange to write this in a semi-public place (because I know there are TONS of people reading this) but it helps me to get these feelings out there. Why do I feel jealous? I am in no position to be where they are (let's face it, unemployment is not very glamours, nor does it pay well), and I'm working on a new relationship (and I'm liking the way things are progressing), so why should I desire what others have? Maybe it's the allure of the unknown, that she is in water I have yet to tread. The whole prospect seems so overwhelming when I get to the bottom of it, but the surface seems so calm and opening.

I cried. Not the "I am crying because I can't help it" type, of which I am so experienced, but the "I'm feeling really depressed" type of cry that I have only truly felt a couple of times in my life. The funny thing is all I needed was the cry and a little bit of paper-blogging and I was all better. The reality of it is I'm not depressed at all. I am making fantastic changes in my life, changes that I can't wait to put into effect (one week!!!), and changes about what I aspire to become. It's exciting, and when I think about it, there is no other place I'd rather be. Not FzioMed, not SLO, not w/ JK, but on my own, discovering again what my purpose in being is, and making it happen. I don't need what Lisa has right now. Eventually, yes, but I need to live my dreams to the fullest before I dive head-first in her direction.

Congrats to Lisa and Jason. Watching the two of them interact makes me excited to be such a close participant in their lives. I again have hope in the meaning of relationships, have faith that love can conquer all, and that everything is going to be just fine, at worst :)

Just Do It.

I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the direction I have chosen to take. Chemistry, while interesting and challenging, is not personally satisfying. I feel indifferent at the end of a workday, and that is not a feeling I want at the end of the day for the rest of my life feeling (especially since it is increasingly necessary to have a job to make ends meet...no sugar daddy...tear). For those of you who don't know, I am currently back in school to try and pursue a nursing degree, yet I am still taking pre-reqs.

There is no way I could permanently work a desk job. It drives me crazy to sit in one place and enter data into a computer (and yes, I have done this several times). I have a strong dislike for sales (especially cold calling, although I'm actually pretty good at it). Lab work is nice because you are not doing the same thing all the time, but as I stated above, I am not satisfied.

So what do I think about my strengths? Hmm, when I list them out they are as follows:
1. People oriented/very social
2. Detail-oriented
3. Compassionate
4. Motivated
5. Quick to learn new skills

Seriously, this is what every person thinks they are. At least in the job market. It's hard to feel like I can actually set myself apart from the rest of the world, even though I know there is no way I am exactly like any other person.

However, I like the way I feel when I can make ends meet on my own. Thus having a job is the right option for me through life. I just want something that I will enjoy, and also that allows me to stay at home with my kids the vast majority of the time (sometime in the future, mind you). Part-time nursing is a wonderful solution-great flexibility, great need for nurses, great paying job.

I have decided to take a phlebotomy class in order to "break" into the medical field. At least I'll have some patient contact and make some decent money while waiting for the historically long process of getting into SOME FORM of nursing program (RN, ABSN, MSN, NP). Funny how the world works: we have this intense need for more nurses, but getting into school is impossible due to lack of teachers, thus reducing class space, making it impossible to get into a nursing program. Maybe I'll consider a PA program. The other issue here is I am really interested in OB/GYN, especially the GYN part, and they shuttle NP's into this field.

At least I have a dream, right?

Now I just have to get there...

Loving the Fam

Since moving back to the bay, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time with my family. It reminds me of how much I love them. Why? Read on!

Mother: Cuts my hair into cute, short, summer styles. Teaches me that when waxing, never put the application stick into the wax for an extended period of time b/c it'll take too long to cool down before application to skin. (you'd think I could have figured this one out, but it really works!)

Father: Officially banned from Blockbuster. Seriously, who manages to accomplish this feat in their life? Freaking awesome. He decided to take matters into his own hands when multiple DVD's he rented did not work. Wrote "no fucking good" on them, and even broke some of them. Then got into a fight with the manager about their differing ideas of what is the correct thing to do in the situation. Needless to say, Hollywood video is the next victim (and Netflix, but he seems to be getting away with vandalism there).

Sister: Proceeds to bring up the topic of how we would want to die during our Father's Day dinner. Without hesitation, she states there are two ways she'd like to go, and I quote directly:
a." Getting hit by a title wave. Let's face it, how cool would that be?"
b. "Getting eaten by the Loch Ness Monster. Then I would know what it looked like".

Seriously, who thinks of that? She's freaking awesome! If only I can get her out of bed tomorrow (today) to shop/eat lunch with me. Sigh...

Cute little lost doggie...

Happy Birthday Jaime!

This is a direct excerpt from an email I just wrote (I am feeling too lazy to re-write it).

"I have already had an eventful morning. I was suppose to meet up with my friends for lunch but that got canceled. Then I found this little dog right outside my mom's house. He was so cute with these huge ears for his little head! I tried calling the owner and then I decided to drive him over to the address on his tag. The address was 1.6 miles away (according to our accurate friend google maps) and I thought that was a little far, but decided to take him anyway. Once at the house, I knocked on the door and a neighbors door but no answers/the neighbor didn't know if the dog lived there but she said she'd heard a dog. I had decided to head out to SLO after dropping him off to write my essay there, and was about ten minutes into the drive when my mom called to tell me the owner of the dog was at our house. I proceeded back to the fake dog owner to find a car in the driveway. Since rummaging around their backyard looking for the dog seemed like a bad idea if someone was home, I chose to knock on the door. The lady was not surprised the dog was there because it was her daughter's ex-husband's dog (figures why the guy didn't want to go get the bastard himself). I returned the dog to his correct house (about half a block away from my mom's place) to the dog-owner's mother. That guy is going to get two messages about his dog going into a foreign car and then a foreign backyard. I'd stress out.

Morals of the story:
1. I need to change Echo's tag to my Los Gatos address.
2. Follow your gut instincts when you think that a distance is too far for a little dog to travel."

Off to SLO for Graduation/Birthday Celebration/See lots of people I do and do not feel like hanging out with...

I ate lunch at Taco Bell today...

I know, you say, why eat at Taco Bell?  Because it was the best option within walking distance from my Dad's work.  But that is beside the point.

I had just finished ordering my food and was debating which area I felt like sitting in when I heard a loud crash.  I reacted very slowly for some reason, but the next thing I knew there was glass flying at my flip-flopped feet and a maroon Grand Am flying through the window.  Literally. It was about 4 feet from me and it just missed these two girls sitting at the other window seat.  I had just moved seates to not sit in the sun by the window, and happened to pick a closer seat to the accident.  Needless to say, we were all pretty shaken up, and thankfully there were no injuries.  Even the driver was fine.  She looked the worst, probably because her car was destroyed along with the Taco Bell entrance...

The funnies part was that the Taco Bell employees just kept making food.  One of them went to sweep the floor around the counter, but they were not suppose to clean up the area around the accident because the police needed to make a complete investigation.  I had ordered my food "for here" but decided to take it "to-go" due to extenuating circumstances.

I am pretty sure I will never see something like that happen ever again.  I wonder if she was abusing some sort of substance at the time, or if her brakes failed.  Thank God that wasn't me...