Not really. But I couldn’t think of anything else to describe a general update. Which is what I plan on writing. Right…now.

Ok, school. I’m not doing as well as I’d like, but then I guess it was a little unrealistic to expect all A’s every test, and every assignment, and even the teacher coming up to me after class saying something like “Well done, you are perhaps the brightest student I have had the pleasure of teaching.” That would have been in a British accent too. I haven’t decided if the professor is old and scholarly, or young and hunky. Maybe two separate professors would say something to that effect then I would be able to incorporate both versions into my imaginings. Yes, I believe I like that scenario.

Anyways, so school. Not terrible, but not great either. I’m not going to tell you any actual grades as of yet, since nothing is final, and so there is still hope for the whole A possibility. Not the professor one though, since none of my professors are British.

Work is good, the new hire training that my brother mentioned never happened, since I had to call in sick that night. But I’m all healthy now. Except for my whole malnutrition issues, according to the nutrition assignment I’m working on. The days I evaluated where actually abnormal, so usually I eat pretty healthy, but there’s always room for improvement. Wow I’m getting sidetracked a lot with this blog. I apologize. Kinda. Oh yeah, work. This week I’ll be attending an Alzheimer’s training session. Which means I’ll be getting paid to sit there and just listen, not mention I’ll get fed. Sounds good to me. I guess that’s why I’m doing it. Maybe I can get some of those glasses that make it look like my eyes are open to avoid the whole listening thing. That would be awesome.
Socially, I guess I should mention I went on a date last night. It was pretty fun, at least on my end. I’m not sure if he enjoyed himself, in fact I’m a little nervous about that. But I guess I’ll find out if he calls me again. Oh, what we did. We went to see the Bee movie with Jerry Seinfield, very cute by the way. Then we came back to my house and played some games. Star Wars Stratego and Mastermind to be exact. I pretty much creamed him at Stratego, but was on the creaming end in Mastermind. It was a little embarrassing. But I had fun, so keep fingers crossed for a call back.

Well that’s about it. My life pretty much only includes work, school, more work, and the occasional social outing. Then more school. Life is sweet.

No, this isn’t Chelsea. It’s her brother, Jeremiah. I’m posting again on a blog that isn’t mine because I’m tired of seeing my un-updated RSS reader. I’ll just give a quick run down on what Chelsea has been doing.

First. She works a lot. She was allegedly hired to work three nights a week but then three people quit. Now she works about a million hours a week. I rarely see her but the last time I did, she was alive. She seems to be doing well at her job. So well that she was supposed to be training a new hire this week. I guess they like her. That’s probably good.

Speaking of being alive. She’s sick right now so she’s almost dead. Not really. She is sick though. My wife, Holly got our son, Alex sick. He then passed it to everybody, Chelsea included. I guess that her basement retreat doesn’t provide immunity from the germs of a 3-year-old. Holly was the outbreak monkey though so maybe it’s her germs that got us all sick. She has twenty-something germs. They are more sneaky.

Next on my list of what to blog about is school. School is going great for me. Wait. This isn’t my blog. I think that Chelsea goes to school but I have no verification of this because I work during the day when she’s allegedly in class. I do see her study so I assume that it’s for classes that she is enrolled in. She’s got some pretty tough stuff to learn so all of that studying she does should be coming in handy.

Chelsea has had a first recently: Holly sent her grocery shopping all by herself. Considering she’s never had to buy groceries for a family of six, she did pretty well. I think that she learned that small children are capable of eating their body weight in cereal within about twenty minutes. That’s good information to have.

I wonder how long it will be before she notices that her blog was updated by someone other than her?

I must apologize from my long absence. I am just starting to adjust to my routine, so it’s going to be a little crazy the next few weeks. What with balancing homework, work and still have a little time to goof off. Somehow I always manage to find time for that, even if I really shouldn’t.

So let’s see…school is going well, I haven’t gotten kicked out or seriously hurt or anything like that, so I consider myself hunky-dory. My Microbiology Professor is a little wacky. He gets really animated and excited when he starts to discuss different diseases that are caused by the microscopic world of germs. Today he went on for a little while about Ecoli. Very fascinating. I always like hearing about diseases that are transfered through cow feces.

I was actually able to feel my brain stop working in my Anatomy Lab. I’m serious, I was just sitting there listening to the instructor explain the various landmarks on the Ethmoid bone, and it hit me. Total brain shutdown, information overload, yoo-hoo?-nobody’s home, good bye. Except I was still conscious. If my brain really shut down I would have resembled a carrot or potato. Instead of the tomato that I resemble after I get sunburned. Anyways… I was the dutiful student and continued to listen, but if you asked me right now if I could tell you the difference between the Foramen magnum and the Styloid process, well I could tell you right now since I had to look up some complicated names to type- I couldn’t remember any, but that’s besides the point. The point is, my brain no work so good.

As long as I study for about 6 hours a day- maybe just 4 on Sundays- I think I’ll be fine.

Like that’s going to happen. I have to have my goofing off time, not to mention I have to work every once in a while.

Speaking of work, everything is going well. I still enjoy my co-workers, except for one of them- and it’s not that bad. Just mild irritation whenever she opens her mouth. But this isn’t the time or place to discuss such matters. I leave that to when I get home, find my brother on the couch and decide it’s about time to release some frustration. Since he was barely conscience I figured he probably wouldn’t remember much anyways.

But in all honesty I find my work fulfilling and interesting, and even enjoyable as long as there are no bodily by-products involved.

Ok well I need to get back to my 6 hour study schedule.

I’m serious!

; )

I’ve now completed my first week of work. And I think I have already been dubbed the ‘go-to’ girl if you need some lily-liver-ed, no-spine, can’t-say-no-er girl to work for you. I think it’s some sort of physiological impairment that I have picked up over my vast 18 years of experience in this world. (Can I really count 18? Because for the first 6 or so you’re pretty much oblivious to anything not including candy, cartoons, and whatever other interests you might have at that age. But maybe you were a precocious little sucker, and read the newspaper every day, and were an avid fan of the evening news. Who am I to judge?)

But basically, the point of that little rant was, I’ve been approached 4 times about switching my schedule, in the 5 days that I’ve worked. 3 times I’ve answered with the affirmative, and the fourth, I kind of refused without actually saying no, because I gave the excuse I don’t plan that far ahead. (Unless it has anything to do with The Dark Knight- then I plan about 2 years ahead.) While this is all well and good, since I need the hours and my willingness to oblige will hopefully earn me a few favors in return, I am nonetheless disturbed at my all-to-willing to please nature. I had this similar attitude at Taco Time and was usually thought of as a ditz and not really someone to respect. So maybe this isn’t the best approach to my new work place.

The real reason for this post was to inform my avid readers of the fact that I have just performed my first postmortem care on a resident. This means that one of my residents died while I was taking care of him. That’s right. Died. As in I will no longer be changing his briefs, or more importantly he has left behind a grieving widow, and a sorrowful family. When I walked into his room and saw his family surrounding the bed, all completely silent, I knew something wasn’t right. One of his daughters calmly informed me that “He’s gone”. So I immediately informed the med-CNA, and well the rest is history.

What struck me during that afternoon, and the limited interaction I had with the residents family, was how calm everyone emotionally involved was. I never saw any family members prostate with grief, or screaming about the cruelness of the world, etc. I suppose that sort of control of your emotions would come with age and maturity. Something I have yet to posses, I think. I know that if any of my family members or loved ones died… I would be a wreck. I start bawling when my car breaks down. If something happened to my family? I wouldn’t be very coherent for a few days, that’s for sure.

One thing I am learning from my experiences so far at Apple Village, is appreciation. Appreciation for the time I have been given with my family and loved ones, for my youth (sometimes), and for the many experiences that I’ve had so far in my short 18 years of life that have shaped me into who I am today, and who I will become. Life is kinda crazy sometimes huh?

Sorry to get a little…I would say philosophical, but that would mean I was saying something profound-or at least smart. But since I don’t do that very often… I’ll just say emotional.

Monday was my first day at Apple Village, and well, I’m still employed so I don’t think I did too badly. The people I work with definitely have their quirks. One girl knows how to make jello shots (I’ve been warned if she ever offers anything that has a slight tint of coconut- NOT to eat/drink it), she also has been known to smuggle ‘moon shine’ into Utah from Louisiana. Another guy I work with bears a strong resemblance to Topher Grace from Spider Man 3. Just taller. I wish I could write about some of the residents I worked with, there were some real characters. But because of privacy issues and resident rights, not to mention HIPPA regulations, I really don’t want to lose my job.

I’m really excited to be working there, although some of my co-workers are a little colorful sometimes, I know that they’ll help me out and will be fun to work with. There is definitely much fun to be had during break times.

Well. I just received a call from Apple Village.  And good news is, I have a job. Bad news is, I can’t go slackn’ off anymore. I’m a very good slacker when I put my mind to it.

So I’m going in on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for training- my first real shift will be on Sunday (Which is kinda a bummer, but it’ll only be every other weekend) Let’s see…I can’t really think of anything else… It’s an assisted living facility- BIG difference from nursing home. Even though one of my close friends might argue otherwise. The biggest difference is that the residents are able to still carry on with fairly normal lives unlike in nursing homes, where the residents are pretty much waiting to die.  So I’m excited to be working in what promises to be a happy, team-oriented environment.  This is awesome! Now I really feel all grown-up!

Wow, the past week has been surprisingly busy. Compared to the endless monotony my summer has been previous to my move, my week has just zipped along like a happy little zippy-thing.

I began this week by applying to numerous jobs. Nothing new there. But on Wednesday I got a call back from Apple Village. I went in for an interview on Thursday, and they told me that if they had not called me by Tuesday, to give them a call. The ladies who interviewed me also told me a few times that I was doing well. But I don’t want to get my hopes too high, since I’m not sure I really did that well at all. I felt so nervous, that I just wasn’t as enthusiastic and outgoing as I try to be in those kind of situations. That was my first real interview. The one for Taco Time was kinda rigged, Holly pulled a few strings for me .

Then as for school, I’ve registered for classes. I’m signed up for Human Anatomy, Microbiology, Nutrition and Psychology. For a nice little total of 13 hours. I almost took Chemistry instead of Microbiology, but my general dislike for that subject made it an easy choice for me to push it off until next term. So now all I have to do is get my books, get a job (fingers crossed for Apple Village) and get my car to pass emissions and safety test (it’s missing a lugstud and nut on the left front tire).

Oh! Oh! And I also wrote out my first check, for the emissions testing. I feel like such a grown-up!

Early this morning (about 9:30) I received a call from my home teacher. He called to tell me about a conversation that he had with his neighbor. Apparently his neighbor works for an assisted living facility, where they are always hiring new CNA’s. He gave me a name and number to call, which I did promptly after ending my conversation with him. I ended up leaving a message, and the lady called me back about 2 hours ago, and we set up a job shadow/ working interview. I am to arrive on Monday at 9:00 am sharp. I am so excited! Although they can’t hire me until I’m 18, I’m hoping to still work in the cafeteria or something for about a month (until I turn 18 in August). Because this whole unemployment thing is really starting to get old. So let’s hope I’m able to impress this lady on Monday, and that I’ll be able to end this sad chapter in my life.

Omigoodness! I am pretty much on cloud nine right now, I just got a call back from a resume I sent out to long term living facility, Christian Communtites. The lady who called me was very nice, and she told me that she was going to send my resume to the director of nursing, who would get back to me within a few days for an interview. And if the director didn’t get back to me by monday, I should call her back so that she could do a follow up for me. This was one of the first places I applied to, and my mother had me do a follow-up call (I ‘m so thankful she made me do it, becuase I think that’s the only reason I got a call back, since I am just some punk kid with little or no working experience). If I got this job, wow it would be pretty sweet, because after 6 months they will help out with nursing tuition and, wow! I’d have to work every other Sunday, which is a bummer but I would still be able to attend intstitute and other fun activities during the evening, since I would be working from 7 am to 3:30pm. with one or two days off during the week. Well I guess we just need to keep our fingers crossed, and a few extra prayers couldn’t hurt .  Wow, this just totally made my day.

Well I survived my first day of serious job-hunting, although the day isn’t over yet. But my personally going in to the locations is done for the day. My results seem promising: A guy from IHOP (who looked very authoritive-is that a word?) said he would give me a call this week, after he had checked what kind of openings he had. Then I turned another application into KOHL’S, a clothing store- have no idea how that will turn out but it seemed like they were hiring for a lot of positions. Then the other places I checked out weren’t hiring, or were out of applications.  So now I’m going back to favorite place, the internet, to check for any more job listings in the area. Who knows, I may venture out again today. Anything is possible, maybe even having a job by the end of the week.