Party's Over

Classes started today. As much as I did not want this to happen so soon - didn't we JUST END summer semester? - it seems that time does continue marching forward regardless of my feelings about the matter. If it's going to move so fast, the least it could do is just jump ahead a year so that I'm staring down my last semester rather than my second.

What I did on my 3-week long summer vacation ...
As previously mentioned, I spent quite a bit of time playing at the river.
I saw a movie at the theater. T and I went to see Wanted. It was ok. Angelina Jolie is, as always, a total bad-ass in this movie.
I went to Dollywood. A nursing school friend and his wife have season passes to Dollywood, and they can get guests in for free. So E and I went with them and a couple of other folks. I'm happy to report that I do still have roller coaster stamina.
I met a guy. And went on dates. Of course, I did not meet this fella anywhere 'round these parts because apparently there's an extreme deficit of single, straight men here. E convinced me to try the online thing. She made a good argument. She pointed out that we have 3 weeks off from school,we live in a place where it's very hard to meet guys unless you like hanging out in bars, which I do not, and I didn't have to post my picture or name. Of course, all of this encouragement was very easy for E since she's married. There was no fear of me coming back with, "I'll do it if you do it." I'm convinced that singles sites would completely vanish if it weren't for peer pressure. So, I posted a profile, sans photo, with no expectation that anyone would contact me, but it gave me a chance to window shop and wink at a fella here and there. Seriously, it's very much like shopping on Ebay. I love shopping on Ebay. It's fun to go through and post bids on things knowing damn well that I will NEVER win the bid. It's like retail therapy without total annihilation of my checking account. But lo and behold if I didn't start getting contacted by guys. Most of them were just blatant, "You interested?" kind of messages (um, no, I'm not >delete<) but one stood out. His message was short, well-written and at the end he said, "Even if you don't respond to this, we may get a chance to meet someday if you go into flight nursing due to my line of work." Okay, I took the bait. I responded. "What is it that you do that puts you in contact with flight nurses?" State trooper. Damn! A COP! Just my luck. The one articulate, interesting nibble on my profile is a law enforcement officer. Don't get me wrong - men in uniform are HOT. But do I really want to date one rather than merely admire them all from a nice, long distance just out of radar? Oh well, why not? Dude could prove to be a valuable resource in learning how to avoid the po-po. So, that's been fun. I actually called him one afternoon as I was speeding down the interstate and asked if it was, in fact, illegal to drive bare-foot. It is not. All this time I thought I was exercising extreme passive resistance to The Man by driving without shoes, and it's not even a bad deed. I'll have to come up with something else.

Today, I had my first Foundations Lab. In this class, we will learn how to do a lot of things that I already know how to do. But we will also learn how to do the one thing I've been dreading since I embarked on this journey: Foley catheters. There is nothing I fear more. I know it's a basic and simple procedure, but ... ARRRGH ... the DREAD. Yes, I will be facing my fear this semester. We will also learn how to give all kinds drugs in all kinds of ways, except for IVs. That part comes later. Before we left class, we had to get more photo IDs made and stand in line to be issued a Lab Bag that contains all our gear for this semester. I came very close to starting a cadence. I'm not even kidding when I refer to this program as Boot Camp for Nurses.