do not forget the important things.

after a long day at the hospital i need to take some time to look at facebook, pinterest and other mindless sites on the internet. it seems to help me relax and gear up for a large night of studying...


my day was difficult but i found this article that sums up life in a nutshell. hope you find it as good and inspiring as i did!


"When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and fills it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. 

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured it into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. 

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. 

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “YES”. 

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. 

“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things - God, family,
children, health, friends, and favorite passions. Things, that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the things that matter like your job, house, and car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff.” he said.

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “There is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are
important to you...” he told them.

“So... pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Worship with your family. Play with your children. Take your partner out to dinner. Spend time with good friends. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the dripping tap. Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. 

The professor smiled and said, “I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

stop being so rude.

so yesterday was superbowl sunday... not that i really care. my team did not make it, and while they did have a good season, the green bay packers didn't even fight during their last game but whatever, i'm over it.

anyway, the best part about superbowl sunday is getting together with friends, watching commercials and hanging out. its a good excuse to leave the house and have some social interactions. especially since it often feels as though i never leave the hospital or see people who are not in the healthcare profession... but alas here is time to hang out. i'm excited and we are eating dinner together. i'm bringing the salad and bread, she's making delicious pasta and it will be a party!

i have to get on the bus to get to her house as i am not walking over a mile in february carrying a salad and other things. the bus itself is an interesting experience. the variety in people riding it always astounds me. and this day was no different. there were people coming from the grocery store, college students and older, children and their parents, people from different SES and people coming home from work.

however there was one individual who stood out to me. he (i think he was a he anyway) was wearing an "amanda" name tag of a target employee but obviously not dress from work as he was not wearing a red shirt under his black trench coat. he was also wearing sunglasses so i could not see his eyes. yet the thing that stood out the most were his platform shoes. he wore black boots that tie all the way up to the knee, but more astounding were the 6 inches of rubber sole under his feet. i briefly looked him over and then proceeded to keep to myself, looking down at my salad bowl. he was also keeping to himself, sitting next to two asian women.

he stood up a few stops before i left but did not exit the bus. when he did this, the asian women immediately began talking about him and how large his soles were. now to be fair, they were speaking in a language other than english or french (the only 2 i know...) but you could tell, anyone could tell they were talking about him. they both leaned over to look at his soles and laugh at him. they were pointing and using their fingers to show how large they were, obviously and blatantly making fun of him. he was literally 6 inches in front of him and yet they did not care.

i could not believe how rude and mean they were being. what if he knew what they were saying? what if he turned around and saw them making fun of him? and i'm sure this guy gets his fair share of laughs and judgements from other people. but seriously... could they not have waited until he got off the bus, or at least until they were farther away from him. cultural differences i guess. or maybe they were fully american and rude anyway. probably were. it just astounds me how mean some people can be.

poor guy... mean ladies... interesting bus stories... one more for the repertoire!

2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Apparently it's 2012. And it has been for more than a month. Woahhh, someone has neglected to look at the calendar. No, I have been looking at it but obviously not paid attention enough. I have been writing 2011 for over a year, or maybe just exactly one year? It usually takes me at least a month to become accustomed to writing a new year. Hahaha.

Anyway, still my old self. I was stalking someone's facebook page, and noticed they had a blog that was actually up-to-date!! Pretty exciting concept. I decided I should do that too. I mean people want to know about my life right? Maybe not-- but someday I'll look back at this and think I was pretty cool. hahaha. Maybe.

I am procrastinating. I have a huge exam wednesday and a million other things to do, some that are even late! Not that anyone told me, after all this is college and I'm supposed to be independent among other things. And I am for the most part. I live alone and even have a car so I am no longer stuck in one place! I can go grocery shopping and I juggle having a job and being an nursing student too! I don't have many other things going on though... unlike some of the other students. I don't know how some people do it. I come home exhausted from the day, ready to collapse. I live 15 minutes away and only have to take care of myself (which is sometimes STILL too much to handle) and I then I look at some of my classmates who live over an hour away and have children to take care of on top of studying and clinicals and their 2 hour commute. I need to stop complaining about being too tired and not having enough time. I never hear them complaining, but thats also probably due to the fact that they don't have enough energy for anything else in their schedule... hahahhaa.

But honestly, I do LOVE nursing school. I like the people and I feel challenged every day. For once, school is teaching me something important that I will be using later in life. And for as much as I complain about clinicals, I get to meet really awesome people and feel even more accomplished every shift! I just applied to a summer nurse internship program. I really hope it works out. I think I picked the right occupation that that makes me happiest of all. Now I'm not saying this is what I am going to do for the rest of my life, but it is making me happy now and that's what is important (at least that is what I tell people at my job everyday...).

Okay, time to begin studying again. This was an nice break. Maybe I'll take a break everyday? Maybe not. We shall see. But I put 36 entries up in 2009. I think I can break that record in 2012.

:)