I just finished watching the movie Into the Wild. There hasn't been a movie that's brought me to tears in a long time. I am not too sure how to express what I feel right now except that I know that this movie has marked me quite deeply. I am going to go brush my teeth and go to sleep. Maybe I will process what I feel in my sleep. Tomorrow expect a long entry.
Update: No long entry. Don't feel like I need to blog bout how I feel will just apply it to my life. Still very worth seeing.
I get the summer off! I just need to meet with the financial lady and well... I figured it out on my own and it's fine I just need her to give me the official approval. Woo! I've only told a handful of people. This doesn't include my parents. I haven't had the opportunity. My mid term went well. I think :) I've felt that before and I've fucked it up so we'll wait and see what my teacher thought. I was good tonight... in bed before 10! Sure it's now 11:30 and I am still awake but at least I was in bed! I think I am going to crash now though... I have an itchy throat. Hopefully I don't get sick. *This picture totally cracks me up! Look at his little facial expression! Tee hee! Not only that but it reminds me of Pam and I cuz we are two very gassy girls.
So I've decided. I am going to take the next term off and work during the summer. I haven't told anybody, nor will I. Well not until I talk to the Dean anyways. The reason why I am not telling anyone is that I am often influenced by what others want or think is best for me. Yep I do understand that sometimes people on the outside can see the bigger picture a lot better then the person who's in the midst of it. But quite honestly, I don't care how long this program takes. So what if it'll take me a total of 3 years instead of 2? I want to take the summer off so that I can work (and redo spinal treatment). Find a job that's outdoors... maybe landscaping or gardening or something like this. Then I'll be able to go back to school with a clear head. Right now I am failing more that I am passing and it's not because I've caught the dumb. It's because I just don't care. Massage therapy is supposed to be a caring profession... so some thing's wrong when ya don't. Then comes the question... why are you doing this if you're not that much into it? Well I know one thing. I want to finish this course and I want to be an RMT. What the hell I am going to do with that, I don't know. Apparently it gets better once you grad. Then ya don't have to do things that you don't want to do and make your practice more you. So really I am going to tackle that when I get there. I enjoy massaging and just recently I've found myself becoming more and more therapeutic in the work that I do (adding stretching, strengthening, joint mobilizations etc.) however I am still struggling with that. Heck I'll figure it out later. For now, I am off to the Dean's office and then going to do a last quick review before my mid term. Yes, I skipped first class. It was Spinal treatment... what are they gonna do? Fail me? I'm doing that on my own thank you very much :)
Ok so the video finally showed up! And when it did, it showed up 4 times! Woahnelly! Ok so it's wednesday night, 12:51am and I am pretty tipsy/drunk. How the fuck did this happen. Ok so i went to a burlesque show. My frist ever! MY GOD were the ladies good! And HAWT! Chera fucking rocked! Hopefully this year she'll have the confidence to do the Underwear Affair in her panties. :) Vicki and I then proceeded to the Cascade. We drank, ate and talked about life. I was reminded that Eric and I broke up at the cascade over dinner. Ok well it was before we ordered dinner and we lost our apetite. I still think breaking up with him was stupid but hey. Now it's a good thing... I think. He's a good man. And I'm pretty sauced. And I have a mid term tomorrow. And you know you're a noobie at drinking when u post that ur drunk of fbook and your friends call you to congratulate your drunk ass on being drunk on a wednesday before a midterm. Ok time to sleep cuz tomorrow I have class, midterm and then clinic and won't be home until 10:30. Who's idea was it to go out and have fun?!
A few weeks ago I found out that I am not doing so well in Spinal Treatment. I knew that pre-mid term I wasn't doing so hot, however, after that I decided to buckle down and really apply myself to the damn class so that I could pass it. I was very disappointed when I got my mid term mark back and got 58%. 58%! You have to try really fucking hard to get 58%! I was hoping that I did better on my mid term oral practical. Joy suggested that yesterday after clinic that we go to a coffee shop and study for the upcoming quiz in Spinal Treatment. Though I thought it was strange that she asked, I figured she probably has seen my frustration with spinal treatment and has decided to give me a hand. She's not one to study with others so I really appreciated this gesture. I took her up on her offer and yesterday we went to the Grind after clinic and studied until 12:30. I felt relatively ready for today's quiz (yes, I studied that hard for a quiz). I got my oral practical mid term marks back and got 80%. That's a little bit better but I don't know if it will make up for the royal sucking that I've done in all the other examinations before then. We did the quiz and I think I fucked that up too. I am going to tally up my marks and see where I stand. If I am totally hooped, I am just going to take a term off next term and just work on spinal treatment and have fun working and having a life. It might refresh me and bring me back to being enthused (somewhat) about school.
There was a guy, who was going thought stuff. What kind of stuff, it is not known and it never will be. This afternoon he ended his life prematurely with a shot to the head. His soul left his body to float along with the others. All that is left behind are friends, family and tears. I wonder why this happened. I wonder why any of this happens at all. It makes me angry that people take their lives. Yet I understand because a few years ago I tried to take mine. Tonight I try to console my cousin who has lost a dear friend and I am left, my head whirring, wondering. She said, "I wish I had been there. I would have stopped him. I am not afraid of guns. I would have walked right up to him and taken it away." I am sure many people wish they'd been there. Myself included and I don't even know the guy.
Last night and this morning I was one miserable chicky poo. Not too sure what it was. I think part of me was thinking about what I'd written on the board in regards to "What's your dream career?" It's a bit discouraging going to school for something that you don't particularly want to do. Yes it does have SOMETHING to do with where I want to go but some days it's hard to see the connection. This morning I was just straight up discouraged. I tried to do my taxes and found out that my school fucked up AGAIN on my T2202A form. For fuck sakes how often can one fuck up on one form? Apparently quite a bit. That just discouraged me even more and I cried myself to sleep on my tax papers. Sometimes I'm pathetic :) After a two hour nap. I woke up and though "I can be grumpy and make the last day of my long weekend a crappy one or I could be cheery and be productive. What's the better option here?" Of course the cheery one. So here I am, feeling like a ray of sunshine :) Ok well maybe not a ray of sunshine but close enough. The paint colour in the basement wasn't what we wanted to we went out and picked out a nicer colour (less yellow) and put the first coat of that on. It's kinda funny cuz the colour of the paint is called "Nature lovers green". I'd call it sage but Benjamin Moore has to be fancy. Hopefully by the end of tonight we'll have finished painting the kitchen in the basement and we'll have almost finished the washroom. Then maybe I can find my desk, futon and TV as it's all buried under shit from the kitchen and bathroom. I really just want to watch a movie but nope. Yesterday, Andrew introduced me to Great Lake Swimmers. They are friggen awesome! The first song I listened to was Your Rocky Spine (YouTube video here... I wanted to post it on my blog but it won't link!). My thought process to this song was an interesting one and it went a little like this: "I wonder what part of the spine they're singing about... probably the thoracic spine because the spinous processes are more pointed and point straight out. Or it could be the cervical spine...". It took a while to turn the medical mind off and turn on the musical one. Like I've said before, studying all about the body is like a disease, it's always on your mind no matter what you do. (a fellow Thunder Next week is going to be a scattered one. Tuesday morning I don't have school, however I have a quiz or mid quarter in Neuroanatomy over the lunch period, orthopedic treatment in the afternoon and then clinic until 10:30pm. Wednesday, no school in the morning again, spinal treatment quiz or mid quarter in the afternoon followed by class and then in the evening CheraPanty) is having her Burlesque premiere. I want to go to that and cheer her on! She's taken classes, really enjoyed it and it struttin' her stuff for the first time on Wednesday. Thursday is a full day of class along with a mid term oral practical... kinda shitting myself for that one cuz there's a chance that I get breast massage and I don't feel competent AT ALL with that. I then have clinic until 10:30pm again. Friday is just a regular day of school with a mid term written thrown into the mix. And then finally Saturday I just have class in the morning. In the afternoon I MIGHT be leaving to go camping up past Pemberton near the hot springs. But that's a big might. It depends on whether Paul (not ex Paul, an other one) has the time off work. If so it'll be quite interesting cuz I've never met the guy but we both want to go camping and I don't know anyone crazy enough to go camping at this time of year so we'll go together. Just the thought that there's a possibility that I could leave the city has me day dreaming about it. Nothing but nature, silence, a stranger and his dog. To some that might seem stressful (or stupid) but to me I think it'll be fun. Well time to study for the multitude of quizzes, mid quarters and mid terms that I have coming up this week.
A few months ago I got an invite to the World Wide Pillow Fight Club 3.0 on Facebook. I figured... sure why the hell not. Pillow fights are pretty rockin' and as adults we hardly ever get to whack each other with pillows! Today was finally the day for the pillow fight. I chose my least favorite pillow and off I went with it cleverly concealed in my BYOB (bring your own bag - this one's mine) bag. I got there a bit early and had a look around. BCIT had this promotion thing for their open house where they had a big board that they got people to write their dream career on it. I was a bit tentative to write mine because what if it doesn't come true? Well it's a dream right? And the more you write about it and work towards it, the more likely it's going to come true. So I wrote down "Buisness owner of holistic womens health clinic." I even misspelled business, forgot "a" and didn't put and apostrophe to women's. Ha ha :) How embarrassing! Oh well it's a start!
When 3pm hit, someone yelled "PILLOW FIGHT" and everyone started whacking each other with pillows. It was hilarious! Feathers were flying everywhere and everyone was laughing and having a great time. It was really great to be there and experience this. Such simple things can make such a large crowd of people so happy. It's what I like to see. Of course I brought my camera with me and the smugmug album for it is here. Next year I want to do it all again... except I will be more free and I won't do it between coats on paint. Yes I've spent the majority of today renovating the basement. One more coat to go and it'll be time to put things back into place. I am quite looking forward to this as the basement is a total mess! I can't even find the couch or TV to watch a movie tonight!
Yesterday Vicki and I took advantage of not having school and work and we went to Bowen Island for the day (Smugmug album here). It was such a beautiful day too! I don't think we could have asked for a better day :) Sure it was still a bit chilly but it was still quite nice. Vicki's just recently moved back to Vancouver and had never been to Bowen, so it was fun to get to show her around. It's also my favorite place to be around Vancouver so it's always fantastic to go back. It's so close to Vancouver yet it has a small island feel. When walking around Bowen, people say hello to you in passing. It's awesome! We did the usual, stopped by the Ruddy Potato Market to pick up some snackies and then walked to Killarney Lake. From there, we did the walk around the lake. It's so pretty. The lake was like glass. Everything was blooming and I don't think I'd ever been there during the springtime so it was quite pretty to see. Lots of birds were chirping so it made the walk very peaceful. The trail was quite muddy so it was fun to get to dodge the mud puddles... ok so I found it fun and Vicki may have as well had she not been wearing her runners that she didn't want to get muddy. :) On our way back from the lake walk, we stopped at the fish ladder. This is such a neat thing! It was build a while ago therefore it's made mainly of rocks with cement in between. It's also covered in moss so it looks really really cool. Anyways there were no fishies but I finally found a way to hike down and not break my face so it was neat to see it up close. After hiking back to the village, we stopped for dinner at Tuscany! There they had a fantastic pizzas. I had one with pear, brie and caramelized onions. It was delicious! The treck home was a long one. It took two hours. As soon as I got home, I passed out. But heck it was well worth it! Such a wonderful day :)
Well Christel posted pics of me from the Harrison trip :) We did a little sequence of shots called "organic things Janelle puts in her mouth"
Today was a great day. Spinal treatment was still long and boring... especially when I have to share my books. I've found that I am a jerk when it comes to text book sharing... I want mine! I need to watch more Carebears or Sesame Street or something like that. The mid term went relatively well. Well I think. I should wait and see what my results are before I open my mouth. Now I am just taking it easy before heading off to Aurora. A bit pissed off about the fact that one of the girls who's was supposed to do clinic tonight is "too sick to go". That means that we're going to have to treat 3 guests instead of 2 and the time with those guests are cut short. So EVERYONE gets the short end of the stick cuz one person doesn't feel like going. I also am supposed to finish at 9 and be downtown by 9. Ah well I'll figure something out. Thank God I enjoy working with these women or else I'd be in a terrible mood for being screwed over.
Whoa what the hell is wrong with me. My eyes are leaking and I don't know why! No it's not an eye infection. For some strange reason I have a bad case of the boo hoo's tonight and pretty much everything is making me cry. Maybe this is my body's way of dealing with anxiety now that anxiety attacks are no longer an option. If that's the case then... well I'll take the boo hoo's over feeling trapped inside my own body and having trouble breathing any day. Still! Boo hoo! On the plus side, it feels good to cry. Now I just want someone to cuddle with and pet my hair.
Update: Thanks to Rosie who reminded my a very possible cause of my case of the boo hoo's. I get my period tomorrow. I r just PMSin'!
Man oh man am I ever glad today is over and done with! Being we had a quiz in Neuroanatomy I had to go to school prior to my appointment. I forgot about this lovely little quiz until about 9pm last night. Well damn! I studied in the morning and still managed to get 100%. After my quiz and an hour of note taking it was off to the Gyno. As to not forget to get a doctors note for school I wrote on myself a little reminder on my hand. Then joked with Joy about how it would be funny if I wrote it on the inside of my thigh that way if I forgot to ask the Doc she'd see the request while doing the exam. Tee hee :) Made me laugh. Apparently my regular gyno was home sick with either mono or that other horrible thing... pneumonia? Fortunately the replacement was really nice. She explained everything to me as if it were my first time. I humored her... even during the explanation as to where my cervix was. We're doing pathologies of the women's reproductive system in systemic pathology class... I know all about the cervix, uterus and all the lovely pathologies that come with them. The procedure itself went well. When given the option as to whether I wanted to biopsy or not I opted out. Everything looked healthy but a biopsy could be useful for good measure. I figure she'd scraped around enough in there that if those came back positive we can go back up there and take bits out later. It ain't going anywhere. Afternoon class was tough. I was emotionally wiped from the mornings adventures. I didn't think it was that bad but I just felt drained emotionally. I also wanted to conserve any bit of energy that I had for clinic in the evening. Clinic went well. There was a bit of added drama in the house that made things interesting but there's bound to be in a place like that. I still admire these women. On the whiteboard, I wrote "Your strength, courage and beauty is very admirable." I don't know if I will get in trouble for writing this... they might not even know it's me. I just want these ladies to know that someone thinks that they are strong, courageous and beautiful. It takes quite the person to go through what they are going through and I admire that. As I've been doing every other Tuesday and Thursday after clinic, I took a mud bath again tonight. It's my little treat to me for finishing a long day. It's so nice to get to lay there and just let my worries seep out of me into the water and then let it all drain away. As I write this, I am curled up in bed and ready for a good nights sleep.
So I've just started studying and as I am tidying up, I'm organizing my notes. During our systemic pathology class this week, Dr. Amanda didn't have the notes for us and because we cover so much material in one class, she gives us the notes. So this evening I was printing off the notes that she'd e-mailed to us. Being there are 40 pages of notes, I printed them double sided and of draft. It wasn't until I had them all printed that I realized that the back of my 1st page had page 40 on the back of it... it's like this for ALL of the pages!! Well fuck! Being I want to save ink and paper I figured I'd just write the page numbers on the pages and flip around. So I start numbering them... I numbered all of the odd pages 1 though 20! Damn 2, 4, 6, 8... etc are NOT odd numbers! Not only that my odd numbers don't match the page numbers. So now my notes are so confusing it's kinda funny :P I think tonight I should stick to cleaning the cat's litter box and journaling about my clients that I had this week (this is a mandatory journal that we have to keep... we have to write about every treatment we've given during the week... it sure adds up... especially if you slack off for a week).
The branch of medicine dealing with health care for women, especially the diagnosis and treatment of disorders affecting the female reproductive organs.
Finally my appointment date has arrived. It's tomorrow and I can't help but feel slightly nervous. Fortunately over the course of the past few years I've gotten to know my gynecologist very well. She's a very nice lady that is very respectful and doesn't crack jokes while doin her thing. I appreciate that as it's uncomfortable enough as it is. Plus I never know whether I should take my socks off or not. I mean when undressing from the waist down I always take off my socks but it's really not necessary when going to the gyno. It also kinda looks silly. Ah well! The only thing that has me slightly nervous tomorrow is that after the colposcopy if the Dr. sees that there might be something abnormal she will take a biopsy of my insides. Let me tell you this is not fun. But then again it's a total gamble! I've been in for a colposcopy 3 times, 2 times which warranted a biopsy. All times the results came back negative for what ever they were searching for. I have been feeling very healthy lately so I am hoping that this time around it won't be needed. There's nothing worse then feeling that quick ouch and then seeing a bit of you floating around in a little cup on the table. Kinda makes ya think the poor guy will get lonely in there. Anyways all of this to say I am nervous for tomorrow only cuz I want to keep what's inside me on the inside. Fingers crossed that everything will go well tomorrow and there will be no abnormalities.
Today we celebrated Teako's Birthday. Well ok so it's not so much his birthday but his adoption day. Two years ago, Paul and I adopted Teako from the Richmond SPCA. So this morning Paul, Teako and I went for a walk along the part of the Baden Powell trail that is on the Seymour side. This part of the trail is my favorite! It's so pretty there. Then we went to It's still a dogs life and gave Teako a muchly needed bath. Some guys joke about taking baths only on their birthdays... well yeah Teako's one of those guys but it's mostly true :P Poor Teako doesn't like getting washed too much. Ah well he smelt and looked very handsome :) He also looks terribly cute after his bath cuz he's all poofy. Poor Paul who has to deal with all the fur that is going to come off him tonight. Anyways Happy Birthday to my little Teako...
Christel and Joey are here from Winnipeg... so what do you do when you have visitors? Well ya show em around! So this weekend we decided to do a day trip to Harrison Hot Springs. I had never been and I envisioned natural springs in the middle of the mountains... I should have checked the web site cuz that wasn't the case. It wasn't a big deal though cuz we just walked to the sources and on our way there, we scurried up some moss covered rocks and took pictures. Both Christel and I have fancy cameras so we were kept busy taking many pictures (here). The moss was so thick and pretty it was amazing! There was also a little river that was running down though the rocks so it made for quite the environment. Very west coast :) After our little hike we made it to the sources (which are protected by a cage and cement). It was quite interesting to see that the sulfur and the steam from the sources had eroded the fence that was keeping people from jumping into the 160 degree water. Personally if I see water bubbling and steaming like that I wouldn't jump in. But hey, that's just me. While we were there, we stopped by this little shop to pick up some local hazelnuts and honey. I picked up some amazing roasted hazelnuts and some cinnamon and brown sugar hazelnuts. There was also some mountain honey which is from flowers in the mountain. It's so yummy! We did make it to the hot springs pool and warmed up in there. It's like a big hot tub. It reminds me of the roman baths. It was very relaxing. We were fortunate enough that it hadn't rained on us (until we were getting into the car to leave) all day but it was still quite chilly so the warm water was very much appreciated. On our way home, we stopped by a cheese farm (or dairy farm that makes their own cheese) and picked up some delicious cheese. Yum! They even had cheese curds! Sadly they weren't squeaky like the ones in Tillamook (speaking of Tillamook... I should do the Oregon coast again this summer!). Once home, Christel helped me put reddish pink streaks in my hair. I wanted them so that they could show when I tied my hair back and so that they'd peek through when I had it down. Add a little bit of spunk to my hair... ya know :) Christel did an amazing job! But being we had a long day, she left me to rinse out my hair. I figured it couldn't be that hard! Anyways apparently it is cuz now I am pink and my entire bathtub, walls and curtains are pink as well. Tee hee. Oops. Ah well at least the finished product looks great! I am looking forward to being able to style it into something instead of quickly tying it up so that I could clean the bathroom before it gets stained pink permanently.
So I watched our Vancouver Canucks battle Dallas tonight (or rather this afternoon as it was a 4pm game) and we WON! We're now sitting pretty in 7th or 8th (we're tied) spot in the Western division... Nashville is nipping at our heals though so we better not slack off! 10 games to go in order to solidify ourselves a spot in the Stanley Cup. I sure hope we make it! Gotta say I am proud of our boys... even if they were up 3-0 in the first 15 minutes of tonight's game and then lost it. Best goal (thought I kinda felt bad for the guy) tonight was the one off of a Dallas players face and into the net. Tee hee! To add insult to injury, he then smashed his face into the goal post while falling down. Thanks man :)
This morning rise and shine wasn't an option. I woke up and did NOT want to get out of bed. To procrastinate a little longer, I picked up my laptop and decided to check my e-mail. I had one from Frank, my friend in Hawaii and it read:
Somehow I found a video clip from the underwear affair and I thought maybe............
Sure enough at 3:32 there's me and my butt. Quite a nice angle of my rear actually. Darla and Eric are also standing behind me. An other of our team mates, Donna, is also on this little clip. She's at 1:29. Go Donna! :) I can't help but feel quite proud... that makes two shows that my butt has been in and two brochures. Next year we're going to do it all again! Running in our panties for a great cause and flaunting our sexiness :) So if you haven't done so already, visit my personal page and donate to a great cause and a awesome team. http://va08.uncoverthecure.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1093&px=1008741 This years goal: Raise more then $8 000.
Update: I'm so vain... here are comments that people posted on the video.
One of my girl friends first said something along those lines a month or so ago. Then after about a split second of thought, we both looked at each other and laughed. We remembered her story of the night before. I had found it odd... I'd never been sore after sex.
It was only a mere week later where I was complaining while standing up and sitting down. Apparently the 7 hours of passion was too much for my body to handle (without being sore the following day). On the plus side, any ants in my pants that I had were now gone. Now it was my good friends turn to laugh at my aching yet very smiley self.
It was only last week when an other girl friend of mine came into class with a big smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye. Apparently the date went VERY well. Later on in the day she said in a whiny voice "My butt's sore and I don't know why...". Both my girl friend and I turned to her and laughed. She then giggled and said "Oh yeah but I shouldn't be sore from that?!"
See this is what happens when you get back in the game.
Today I helped Franky again. This time we handed out pamphlets for the landscaping company for 5 hours! And how was that like an Easter egg hunt you say? Well you see, in the British Properties the houses are HUGE... well the properties are and sometimes they have big driveways (most often on a steep incline) and it became a game of "where's the mail box". Sometimes it's at the start of the driveway. For those people, I tell them thank you :) Sometimes it was in the middle of the driveway. Sometimes there were none. Sometimes there was spiders and other critters living in the mail box. And sometimes it was attached to the fence that had a BIG BIG dog sitting on the other side of it. Anyways it was good fun :) I made a game of it and it kept me entertained for hours (really). I also brought my ipod and put my headphones around my neck and blasted the music so I could still hear what was going on around me and not get hit by cars. I had switched my music to good stuff (Kate Reid, T. Nile, Joanna Chapman Smith, Pacifika, Incura, Paolo Nutini, David Gray, Yann Tiersen, Snow Patrol...) so it was great to listen to. Afterwards Christel and I met up with my cousin Joey and we all went swim suit shopping. After swimming with them on Sunday, I realized that my current swim suits are too big and keep falling off. So, solution: get smaller sized swim suits. I got two. One on sale, the other, not so much. We then went for dinner at the Indian Restaurant near my place and it was delicious! My poor baby keeps leaving me "poops of love" (like Joy called them). This is either the end or she is going through a tough time again. Last night's count was 7 poopies and pukies. At 10pm after a full day at school and clinic it's not very exciting to clean up kitty messes. Fortunately today there were only 3. There was also no blood in any of the kitty presents. Maybe it's passing? I dunno but it sure is tough. Fortunately she doesn't look like she's suffering and is currently cuddled up with me right now. I love my babes.
I am sick today so after spending an entire day lazing around in bed, napping and chatting I've decided to get on the move. What inspired me? Well Joy and I decided we'd have a cookie swap tomorrow. I will make my famous pecan dark chocolate chip cookies and she'll make... well she's not too sure! Anyways I am terribly excited for the cookie swap :) Oh I am so easily entertained!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Well if there's a week that ever flew by, it would be the one that just passed. Oddly enough it also seems like it lasted forever. Possibly because I did so much and kept so busy. Yesterday I found myself completely exhausted after clinic. I even went to bed before 9 and missed the second half of the hockey game :( On saturday, I had a mid term in spinal treatment which I felt went quite well. The night before, I set up the most awesome study environment and I am not too sure if that had something to do with how I did on my midterm. Being no one was home, I studied in the living room with all the candels lit, a fire in the fireplace, a pot of tea and popcorn/dinner by my side. I also put on some very pretty music. It was like I was romancing myself :) well minus the spinal treatment notes and books that were strewn about. Perhaps the calmness of studying followed me into my exam. Anyways it was awesome and I acutally enjoyed studying (eventhough I discovered that there were "changes" to most of the speical tests that we learnt). Outreach at Insite was during the afternoon. This is a detox center downtown and it's the first stage of detox, unlike Aurora. We walked there from school and to get to it, we had to walk though some pretty interesting areas... let me just say I wouldn't walk it alone. This place happens to be less then a block away from Main and Hastings. I wondered why they would have a detox center that is right in the middle of it all. I can kinda see how it makes sense... yet I can't. You'd think you'd want them somewhere where they can't see the back alley where people shooting up from their balcony. Anyways I didn't have much time to think because I soon entered this building and was met by smells, sights and a feeling that I hadn't really felt before. It didn't smell bad, it smelt rather sterile yet there was a smell of cigarette smoke in there too. Many people there looked like street people yet some of them had a brightness in their eyes... actually that might not be the best way to describe it cuz they still kinda looked out of it but you could feel this sense of hope and strength. I set up my chair half spaced out because so much was going through my mind. The treatments went verry well, everyone was so greatful. Being we treated in the common room, we were able to observe other people. At one point I was so overwhelmed by emotions that I almost felt like I had to stop. Fortunately I was able to regain my strength and continue. The people I worked on were very open and talked about what they'd gone through. Because of what I've gone though with my past, I have an idea of what they talk about. Also some of the people that I've cared about in the past may have gone down this road. There were three things that really struck me. This one guy looked strangely familiar, his tattoo was an original one and I don't know of too many people who have the same. Could it be a guy I knew from highschool? I don't know. Nor did I ask. I don't believe it was apropriate. I am just so greatful to see these people in an environment where they are getting help and taking care of themselves. An other thing that struck me was when I was looking over this client's chart and I saw 1985 as her birth year. A lump formed in my throat and I lost my breath for a while. This girl was my age. There was also a time where a young man used the phone to call and speak to his children. After clinic, Annette asked me what I thought of that outreach. I was still internalizing it. I still am. I enjoyed it, I think. It definitely wasn't a negative experience however so much was different and emotional that it's hard to shape what I feel about the whole experience. Would I do it again? Of course I would. Like the women in Aurora, these people have amazing strength and are very admirable.
During orthopedic treatment, we were talking about the femur (thigh bone) and I asked Ben, our teacher, what the calcar line was and what it was for. I couldn't remember. And he said:
"Calcar. It's one of these weird words like loofah and cul-de-sac. Why cul-de-sac? Why not round about or dead end with a circle?"
Ha ha dead end with a circle. Still it didn't answer my question so I will have to look it up after clinic today.
In systemic treatment, we've started covering the digestive system and how to treat pathologies of the digestive system. For review, Annette asked us to draw on each other the location of certain organs. I was paired up with Robbie and the result is what you see above. Welcome to my insides. See the spleen, pancreas, stomach, urinary bladder, liver with gall bladder, kidneys (can't be seen in photo, on my back), small intestine and large intestine with ascending, transverse and descending colon, cecum and sigmoid colon.
Well I won't but it sure did cross my mind yesterday while I was helping Franky with his landscaping. I didn't have to go to school yesterday so I had a client in the morning and then I got a text from Franky saying that his brother didn't show up for work today and was a bit frustrated because he wanted to finish this project he was working on. I was planning on going for a walk around Stanley Park with Sir Teako but then I figured I could help Franky out instead. It was a beautiful day so why not. So I worked on finishing the paver by sweeping sand in between the bricks that formed the paver. It was great. It was sunny, I was active, there was music and I was happy. Really, it doesn't take much to make me happy. At one point and time, Franky was pouring sand and I was talking to Joy over the phone. He told me not to breathe it in the sand dust. It didn't make much sense to me so I asked him why I couldn't and he told me that it was because of the silica. Makes sense I remember something about silica in our pathology class. Then I thought... We're using sandbox sand... the same sand that children play in... with silica... which causes pathologies. Does that not seem fucked up! So my kids won't be playing in a sand box! I had a sandbox when I was a kid and it kinda sucked. It was like a slug,snail and other little crawlies utopia. It was also the neighbourhood kitty litter. Maybe that's why Mum and Dad gave us a sand sifter. Anyways I had a great time landscaping... or rather, being a sand pusher :P Maybe I can do this every wednesday. Could be fun.
Well reading break is over with and school started with a bang. Two mid terms and clinic... hoof. Good thing I was rested! Strangely enough I find myself sitting here at 10:30pm having just gotten home from clinic with quite a bit of energy. Maybe it's because I am very excited about going to bed. No, I am not going to bed with anyone, that's not why I am excited. But rather last night I had the most amazing night of sleep. It was rockin'. So hopefully tonight will be a repeat. This second half of level 4oo is going to be an interesting one. I have clinic on tuesdays and thursdays at Aurora which is terribly exciting! I had asked Randy if it would be possible to only do Aurora and no Friends for Life. I think he wanted me to shut up so he put me on ALL of the Aurora shifts so now I have clinic twice a week as opposed to once. I enjoy it and it gives me good experience so I am happy. I also want to show Randy that he no longer phases me. Annette has also asked me to attend a clinic shift this saturday afternoon. We'll see if I pick up more saturday shifts as well. Anyways tuesday/thursdays are going to be long days because I leave home at 7:30am and don't get home until 10:30pm with no down time in between. Fortunately it's worked out so that on wednesdays I don't have class :) Youpii! This will give me some time to do homework (or make great plans for homework and then not do any) and maybe even some working out. Yesterday I went for a walk with Teako, Tigger and Franky. We'd talked about trail running and I've done a bit here and there with Teako. I've enjoyed it every time. Yesterday I decided to run off with Teaks (and Tigger but he was a bit slower) to see if he could run through this tunnel we'd found... anyways didn't work but it had me running on the trails again and I loved it! I ran some more afterwards but had to stop because I remembered Franky who was behind (he didn't run... guess he didn't want to make it seem like he was running after me). I'd like to take up trail running again. I'd mentioned this to Franky but he's in better shape then I am and I am sure he'd run circles around me. Either that or I'd try really hard to keep up and end up killing myself (this would probably be the most likely scenario... except replace killing with throwing up). Anyways time for sleep. YAY sleep :)
So I got an e-mail from Gillian, one of my fellow Thunder Panties, saying that she got an e-mail from this guy who saw a picture of our team on her Flickr site and he wanted to buy the used panties from our team. Ummmm ok? People are strange. Gillian blogged about it... click here to check it out :)
Ok sleep time... exam tomorrow AM and I'm going to do the usual rise and shine before the birds to study. Today was fantastic. Had a great walk along the Baden Powel trail with Teako, Tigger and Franky (two dogs and a dude).
Well it's 7:20am on a saturday morning. I would still be sleeping except my lovely little kitty cat thought I should be awake. Apparently she harassed someone before me because she has fresh water and has been fed so that's not the problem. This started at 6:30am. I got up, cuddled her for a while and then tried to go to sleep again. She just walked around on my bed mewing REALLY loudly (the type of mew she does when she thinks no one is home and she looks for us), walking over me and sometimes walking on my head. Yep it's kinda hard to sleep when you're your kitty cat's jungle gym. The funniest is when she sits next to my head and mews right into my ear. Ah well I have to keep thinking that at least she is still alive :) And dispite the early morning wake up calls and the pooping in my room I still love her. I am very impressed though. She's a fighter. The vet gave her about 3 months to live. It's been more then that. The phase of her pooping and vomiting all over the house has seemed to pass. Mind you she still leaves the occasional present in my room but it's really not as bad as it was.
Thanks to Donna who reminded me to check the comments.