Hello, Sunshine! Remember me?

Wow - it seems like it's been months since I've written, but it's only been a week and half. During this time I have taken 4 tests and turned in one big assignment. Not only did I make a 100 on that assignment, but my teacher wrote "Great job!" next to my grade. That's like getting a GOLD STAR! Apparently, I am very good at documentation. This is good since the prevailing mantra in nursing school is "If you don't document it, you didn't do it." And as much as I would like to think this notion gives me the total go-ahead to screw up so long as I don't document it, I'm guessing it doesn't actually work that way. All these little rules and nuances are so tedious.

One thing about nursing school that is starting to dawn on all of us is that the stuff covered in class is completely unrelated to what will be on exams. Exams are a total crap-shoot. And no one has come up with a magic formula on how to approach these things. It basically comes down to having a 1 in 4 chance of guessing the right answer - 1 in 2 if you can narrow it down that far. I find that I do much better on the guessing game if I DON'T narrow it down to 2 possible answers. Because if I have a 50/50 chance? I will ALWAYS choose the wrong answer. During my last Health Assessment exam I actually heard Clint Eastwood in my head asking, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" No, Mr. Eastwood, I do not feel lucky. In fact, I feel miserable and stupid so why don't you just go ahead and shoot me.

On the administrative side of things at the CON, there seems to be a serious failure to communicate ... or maybe just some heavy-duty crack-smoking. These folks sent out a packet of information to all the nursing students upon acceptance to the program detailing everything we needed to get, have, do, or have done to us. So most of us got on it right away and took care of business. Part of this business included getting a lab coat with the CON official patch on the left sleeve. This was a clearly stated requirement. So I got my super cool lab coat with its nifty patch (actually, the patch is pretty ugly), only to be told a couple of weeks ago that they changed their minds. Instead of the patch, they want the front of the lab coats embroidered with "CON BSN STUDENT". This proved to be a bit of an issue for those of us who already had the patch. Why? Because this patch is a weirdly shaped 4-pointed iron-cross type thing which means lots and lots of stitching. Which means lots and lots of holes if removed. So, those of us with patches were told to keep the patch AND get the embroidery. Now, I have the coolest lab coat in the world with an ugly-ass patch on the left sleeve and a pile of embroidery on the left front. All that coupled with my ID badge which also says CON nursing student kind of makes me feel like a walking billboard for my school. Only twelve more items and I'll have my 15 pieces of flair.

On the fun side of life ... oh, yes, there has actually been a little bit of fun in the sun ... I have discovered the river. Last week, E and I went around our little town to interview various folks in different health agencies for this ridiculous community assessment paper we have due this week. Our venture proved pretty futile, but then E mentioned that she and her husband found this cool place to get in at the river. We drove over and checked it out, and decided that the next day we would bring our dogs and play. I only took my girl dog because the boy dogs are way more interested in running off into the woods than playing in the water. The four of us dog-paddled our way down the river, and now my legs are completely banged up, bruised, and scraped from all those insidious rocks lurking below the surface. Oh, and my back got a bit red from overdosing on sunshine. BUT IT WAS GREAT!!! I'm thinking next time we need to score some inner tubes. And sunscreen.

I also ventured back home for an afternoon of volleyball and cookin'-out at J's house. It was great to see friends I haven't seen in FOREVER. It was just the soul infusion I needed.

Coming up, I have a final exam in Health Assessment on Monday, and the big skills assessment check-off next Thursday. So, I'm hunkered down studying my butt off as per usual. Hopefully, these things will go well and by next Thursday afternoon I'll be floating down the river again. And then I get TWO WHOLE WEEKS off before fall semester starts.