Holiday fun

I'm nearing the end of a much needed break. ICU has only called me 4 times since Christmas, so most of my time has been devoted to hanging out with friends. I hung out with Ryan and took Andrea out for Sushi, and bowled with Marisa, Stacey, Andrea and Steve (i rock at 10-pin). Marisa took me to a Hitmen game, with awesome seats to witness a kind of brutal game which we lost. Whatever. I watched Anne of Green Gables and ate Tuna melts with Melissa. I went out for dessert with Barbara, where we had banana nutella crepes!! *so good!* and we hung out with Jason! I played Killer Bunnies with Trevor and Melissa, and Donkey Kong with Shandell. I went to dinner and a movie with Cyler, and tried some of his parents' blueberry tequila (best souvenier EVER!) I chatted with Jarid from the future, because he called from 2007 when i t was still 2006 here. OH, and had a killer hot tub party with Shandell, Sharon and Melissa. Seriously, i love the holidays, and hanging out with all these awesome people.

Hey, i turn 20 tomorrow. My last few hours with the -teen suffix. Unless i say "twenteen" and Shandell commented. Maybe i'll feel more mature...maybe now that i'm a "twenty-something", i'll stop missing the community i had in high school. I have amazing friendships, and we're less afraid of talking about the deep issues without a lesson plan. It's like how i felt in Converge...just a little too young to be taken seriously...still living with my parents, without a car or a laptop (though the latter is probably changing soon!) Yet i am taken seriously at work, and with my friends. I hope this new year means a new start for my Church...we really need new life breathed into us, and we need a leader, as much as we've tried so hard to run the show as a group. It's hard.

Hey, Andrea and i came up with a new term... Piddle Time. Allow me to elaborate:
Piddle time is the time between things like school and careers. It's when you're working outside of your career or calling to sustain yourself or to save up for future endeavors. Piddle time is almost always essential, either financially or emotionally, like when you just need time to figure out what you're doing, what your goals are. The way we thought of Piddle time was that it had to be more than, say, 4 months. I say this, because i have never had Piddle Time. I graduated from high school and went straight into nursing. I had the prospect of Piddle time, because i didn't get my acceptance letter until August 1st, and i started in September. After 1st year, i went camping over the weekend, went to clinical, than started a job @ the Foothills until my vacation to New York. Andrea and Ryan say that vacations are not Piddle time. So i came home, started working in the OR that week, started 2nd year nursing 2 weeks later, and worked and went to school simultaneously. After 2nd year, i took a spring course, went to California for a week, then started a 2nd job in the ICU. I've continued working 2 jobs for the past semester, and so far it's working out very well, because of the grace of both units and their understanding of my academic needs. I work more during holidays because that's when everyone else takes off. But i've never had any Piddle Time! I didn't travel like Shandell, Melissa, Ryan or Andrea, i'm saving that for later. Jarid's Piddling right now. Marisa and i determined that often, guys need more Piddle time than girls. There are times when a year off sounds appealing. I could make enough as a unit clerk. But i was chatting with an ICU doc a few days ago, and he asked me about my job...i said this is my part-time job to pay for nursing school. he said "ahhh, i understand now. I've noticed you're different than other unit clerks, you have a certain *gleam* in your eye. You care about what's going on in the unit, and you're eager to learn. That's very admirable of you."

That made my week. I have a gleam guys!! Not just a stunned, overwhelmed aura, a gleam!! haha!

One day i WILL have Piddle time! Probably in the form of maternity leave, 10 years from now. does that count guys? I'll probably have to take more than 4 months off, if hyperemisis gravidarum is hereditary. (Morning Sickness 24/7). Shandell will have to come give me IV fluids. It pays to have awesome friends.