Rori roars

As I’ve written before I’ve been on a quest for scrubs that are somewhat attractive. I get that I’m not going to a fashion show here, but I still want to wear work clothes that look nice, i.e. fit appropriately, are made out of fabric that isn’t starched within an inch of its life, and reflect colors and patterns that I would normally wear in my non-work life. It’s turned out to be more of a task than I expected. I am very picky, I guess, but I like to find a balance between blah and LOUD!!!

Well… I actually found some winners! I’ve realized that I’m not going to find anything I like in the stores, so I’ve been ordering a couple different brands online to see what they were like. The first three sets I ordered were okay. Not wow, but workable. I ordered two more sets last week and just got them today, and wahoo, finally something cute, functional, comfortable, in a nice fabric. Someone had commented on one of my posts before and suggested Urbane… indeed, one of the winners is from them. I found this lovely tunic and got some matching aqua pants. Okay, the aqua pants are not really me, but it was either aqua or brown and I didn’t want to go overboard on the brown and look like a flowered UPS delivery person. The other winner was this top and navy pant set. Not exactly haute couture, but, hey, for scrubs I’m pretty happy.

I am not a religious person. And on the rare occasions I do send up a prayer to the big grandpappy in the sky I’ll admit that it is usually for something selfish. But there are times where I do have to give a big thank you to whoever or whatever is looking out for me, specifically whatever spiritual treasurer sends money my way just when I need it most.

I remember right after I bought my home a few years ago sitting on the floor of the living room and wondering what on earth I had gotten myself into, thinking I was going to break a world record for least amount of time from closing to foreclosure, and wracking my brain to figure out how I was going to get through that month. I went down to check the mail and found a check from the mortgage company, a refund for financing through them or something… I don’t even remember. But it got me through that month and I was able to get on my feet (I haven’t been foreclosed on yet!).

Over this past winter break I was wondering how I was going to scrape the mortgage payment together on time since my semester loan refund wasn’t coming to me until a week or two after the due date. A friend of my mom happened to call her to see if she wanted some extra hours at her company while they were doing inventory. She passed along the offer to me and I was able to make it.

Now… I finally have a real job lined up, but I can’t start until after I have my RN and I don’t know when I will actually sit for the NCLEX (it’s pretty much out of my hands, a hurry up and wait situation). On top of that I have a two-credit course this summer that I have to take, but since it’s less than part-time we aren’t eligible to get financial aid to cover it. I’ve been keeping those “checks” that the credit card companies mail out, but I really don’t want to resort to using them… the balance is already too high as it is. Yesterday my preceptor called to ask if I would be interested in picking up some per diem work in the department I’d been doing my clinical in until I have my RN license and can start my real job. I don’t know how many hours I’ll get or what the pay rate is, but I’ll take whatever I can get! And I just got an e-mail letting me know that a loan I had applied for to cover the summer course got approved and it looks like I’ll even have a little extra left over after the tuition and fees to help me get through the next month or so. On top of that I got a check for my earned income tax credit which I didn’t even know I was eligible for when I filed my taxes (the IRS actually informed me… who says they’re a bunch of meanies?!) and I think I might even get a little from the stimulus package, whenever that comes my way.

I don’t know how I’ve been able to get so lucky, but I hope that one day I can be one of those people who commits random acts of kindness by leaving anonymous donations for people I know need it. Somehow I’m going to repay the karma!

So, I went to a job fair today with one of my friends. I was not particularly impressed with the whole thing. I got the party line of “We only take new grads in med-surg” way too many times. I know for a fact that this is not true. My classmates and I are spending significant amounts of time in various hospitals and we know that nearly all reserve at least a few spots in critical care, maternity, ED, etc. for new grads. What I think is missed is the fact that many hospitals want to hire their own candidates first (i.e. the people that are working for them as unit secretaries or aides) and by the time the jobs are filled internally pretty much all that’s left is med-surg. Just tell me that, folks. Don’t give me the “You need to do med-surg to get your skills up.” Baloney! As one telemetry manager told me, “If you want to take care of sick babies, go take care of sick babies… med-surg isn’t really going to help you there.” And she used to take care of sick babies, so she knew of what she spoke.

The day did make me realize something, though: this “offer” (still not formal) that I’m sitting on may, in fact, be my own little gold mine. If I start out somewhere else, I probably will have to do med-surg. Not bad (I actually do like med-surg, just not the patient:nurse ratios), but not my passion. Plus, this manager knows me and I think she’s far more likely to be accomodating of my school needs while I’m finishing up my degree. So… we shall see. But at least I’m feeling better that I’ve explored some options and really am making the best choice for myself. I was talking to one of my clinical instructors (the med-surg one, coincidentally) and she encouraged me to strongly consider this job, as well. I’ve still got an app out at big city kid’s hospital and will put in an app at the NICU that I observed (and loved!) during my maternity rotation. But as the saying goes, a bird in the hand…

…ahem.

(“Again, Bullwinkle?”)

Ooh, we’re so close. So close I can taste it, and it tastes like… a rum and Coke, which is an ideal combination of caffeine and alcohol (I’d go for Irish coffee except… ew, not a whiskey drinker). I’m running on fumes here folks. Sleep has been elusive the past few days. I spent a good part of yesterday locked in the library at school to force myself to do work and not daydream. I really should not procrastinate so much, but I guess I just work better under the pressure to crank up production. So I wrote two papers yesterday and put together a rather sad little poster. I do not like posters. They make me throw tantrums at 11pm in which I cry and throw markers across the room. But I got my stuff done. And then I went to bed at 1:45 to hear my downstairs neighbors, who had earlier in the evening been slamming doors and yelling at each other (as far as I could tell), um, making up. Is it evil that I was hoping that the slamming doors indicated an imminent break-up so that I could avoid the wall-banging serenade? Really, all I want to do at 2am is sleep goddammit. Instead I decided to play music videos from mtv.com loudly until a safe amount of time had passed. The good news? I found a new Tori Amos video which means she has a new CD out. Woot!

So, needless to say that Dunkie’s was a mandatory stop this morning. It’s sad when the thing that gets you out of the house on time is the pink and orange altar of the sleep-starved. Our class this morning went well. Then a bunch of us tromped over to a bar for some refreshment prior to our next class (yes, I know, it’s quite scandalous). It wasn’t all play, though. I have a group presentation and paper due tomorrow, so my group spent most of our time working on that in between sips. Our afternoon class was a the UU fellowship in town because our professors wanted to have a little party for us, so we had lunch and cake there and spent most of the afternoon on the back deck talking about our final papers (see, that’s really why I waited to write it… I wanted the information to be fresh in my mind!). I acquired a sunburn and a flat bum. But it was a nice change from the usual classroom, I guess.

So tonight I had some more cranking to do. Had to write a paper and an evaluation for my clinical class. Thankfully the paper was based off some literature I’d presented in clinical a couple months ago and that was back when I was anal and organized and had written up an outline, so I pretty much just had to flesh it out and find the appropriate citations. I finished up the group paper due tomorrow. I think it turned out pretty well. Now I just need to find something nice to wear tomorrow for the presentation and the symposium we’re supposed to attend in the afternoon. Our clinical group is meeting in the late afternoon (hopefully quickly!) and then… all I have left to do is take a test online sometime before next Wednesday. Not too shabby.

Zzzzzzzz