Only the second night and I got a bloody nose. BTW, vinegar gets blood out of carpet. Just pour some over the stain and dab the spots with a towel.

Back in Davis DX

It took me 11 hours (maybe more) to bring all my stuff in, CLEAN and unpack! The place was so dusty. I only got 5 hours of sleep last night.

On the plus side, I drove pretty well yesterday. I only swerved once. So, Becky and I are still alive.

I sweated like a pig while unpacking and running around doing errands on campus today. The shower after playing HORSE at the ARC felt so good.

School starts tomorrow. :/

My Car Smells Like Laundry

Actually, it isn't really my car. I'm bringing my father's Honda Civic to Davis, so I can travel to Sac for my internship.

My dad gave away the car soap, so we used laundry detergent to wash it. He told me that it makes the car really shiny..and it did.

I spent yesterday and today packing. All that's left is bathroom stuff I need in the morning and my laptop.

But who wants to hear about packing? Let's rewind and see what adventures I've had in the past week.

Wednesday was a blast. I baked apple pie and steamed bánh chuối. I went over to Jennie's and helped her pack. We had yummy wontons for lunch and played "boardgames" afterwards. Then, we headed down to Taravel for a group dinner. Even though we chose a place beforehand, we ended up going to a different restaurant anyway. Plus, it took us awhile to pick a place. The food was good though. After spending 3 hours chatting and eating, all but Jennie hung out at Sharon's for a little while. It was a good final summer hang out with almost the whole group. :)

My busy Theresa doesn't have time to go out, so I shadowed her to her physics class on Thursday. Surprisingly, I still remember some stuff.

Sunday was my last day out. I accompanied Connie to Crossroads Cafe so she could interview the staff. Unfortunately, we sat there for 3 hours and she didn't get any Q&A. It was nice being in a neighborhood where we don't typically go, so the trip and wait was worth it.

I'm going to miss this summer. It was the best thus far. However, I'm glad that I'm getting my life back on track. Becky is catching a ride with me tomorrow. I hope I don't crash and kill us both. *nervous laugh*

:D

Booyah!!! 2 reasons why I'm happy this morning!

1. I finally got a early registration time from the health internship sign-up with UCD's ICC! Every quarter I've always gotten the last day or second to last day. By then all of the internships were taken. I signed up at 9am, right when they started, and was shocked to see that my registration is at 1pm today!!! The registration times are given randomly because so many people sign-up! Even though my registration time is today I don't know if I can get the internship I want. Spots for pharmacy, surgery and ED fill up quickly! Guess I'm not going to E4 this morning!

2. I found the screw that goes in the corner of my sunglasses and successfully screwed it back in! I love my small screwdriver!! I've used it to fix my watches and other stuff. I would have been fine with my glasses if I didn't find the screw because I threaded a thin wire into the space; it held pretty well. It's great that I got the actual screw in though!

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ARGHHH!!! I'm fr3aking out! I've tried to sign up for a position but it keeps saying error everytime I tried to confirm! I emailed technical support and called ICC. ICC got all my info and they know which slot I'm trying to sign up for. They shut down the site about 10 minutes after I called them. They're probably trying to fix the problem. I'm not too happy with the internship I'm trying to sign up for but it's still pharmacy. I was trying to get into Sutter General or Sutter Memorial but all the positions that fit my schedule are full. HmmMM..retail. They don't say which retail pharmacy but I think it's rite aid. UghhHH..I don't want to work for retail! I guess I should start though because my first few years in SOP will include training in retail. I'm sort of debating whether or not I should sign up for ED instead. It's probably better for me to sign up for pharmacy now and try for another department later on. ED is very tempting though. Actually, I rather wait and see if I can get surgery if I get a good sign up time next quarter. HmMMmmmmmm....I hope they call me back soon. :/

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So, I didn't get pharmacy. It turned out that I kept getting the error page because someone already signed up for the slot. The guy called me back and apologized. My inbox was flooded with "error" messages because ICC kept trying to sign me up.

Retail pharmacy definitely isn't worth it if I have to go to Sac or Woodland for the experience. I've been in my cousin's pharmacy and I know a bit about it. So, I'm ecstatic to say that I'm interning for the ICU at Sutter General! I was debating (still sort of debating) between the ICU and ED. I've always had a connection with the ICU because of my medical history. Not to mention, I want to become a critical care pharmacist. I probably won't get much pharmacist interaction, but that's okay. ED would be interesting because of the rush. However, with ICU I think I'll have more of a connection with the patients and families. My learning will be deeper too since the patients aren't being rushed to other wards like the ED.

Anyways, the rest of my day was great! (Geez, I'm so positive..a little fr3aky). I rushed to the LHH Volunteer Recognition Tea Party because I was late. I'm sort of glad I was late because I didn't have to sit through speeches. The tea sandwiches were so cute! I really liked the tea bags too! They were pyramid-shaped and had a fake leaf coming out of them as a handle. I'm in awe at how many years and hours some of the volunteers have dedicated themselves to at LHH. The most hours is 14,000 and the most years is 50 years!!!!! I know!!! 50!!!!!!!! The runner up was 43 years I think. I probably have about 130 or 140 hours. After congratulating the hours and years, they gave out special awards to dedication. I was surprised when the volunteer coordinator called me up. I got a Laguna Honda sweatshirt for going on bus trips! :)

After leaving the party, I forgot my sunglasses, so I ran back to get them. This turned out to be a good thing because there was a hot guy on the bus I hopped on. He was sitting across from me (me on the horizontal seats and him on the vertical-facing seats). I hope he didn't see me staring at him through my sunglasses. He got off at Stonestown. :/ I ended up getting off the stop before my stop and walking into a dead end street because I was still thinking about the nice tie he was wearing (black stripes on black silk XD). Yes, his outfit was hot too...and his hair....ok, I need to stop acting girly.

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WOOOHOOOOO!!! BB10 FINALE TONIGHT!!!! LET THE BEST RENIGADE WIN!!!!! TODAY=AWESOME!!!!!

Sore and Exhausted

I woke up with aching and tense muscles. It was probably due to biking for an hour and walking around at the piers for "Sunday Streets." The day presented a lot of firsts for me and my bike. It was the first time I brought my bike onto BART, the first time I brought my bike up an escalator (scary and hard), first time I biked that much in SF, first time I walked and biked around the piers, first time locking my bike on a SF street, first time placing my bike on the bus rack in front, etc. I think it was the first time I hung out with only Katrina too. It was a fun day. Tiring but fun. Thanks Katrina!

The last day of summer volunteering was...tiring but memorable. I arrived at LHH at 8:30 to help blow up balloons. I never blew up balloons with a helium tank before. My voice turned all funny because I messed up on a few. I use to be so scared blowing up balloons because when I was about 7 one blew up in my face. One did pop today and I ended up with smaller balloons after that. The A.T. took me up to E5 where I met some of the nurses and the social worker. She looked so festive holding all those balloons when we went up. I think the event was for Mexican Independence Day or something like that. I helped pick up the food in the kitchen and set it up. Everybody was scurrying around because they wanted everything ready before 1pm. They were expected to have 300 people come in and out of the ward. I left when we finished setting up at 11:45. I ran down to the fourth floor because I wanted to finish with E4 as soon as possible today. I promised the A.T. that I would organize the cabinet in the kitchen while she was gone. It took me 3 1/2 hours to take out everything, wipe down the shelves and stack all the stuff back neatly. I took up half the kitchen while sorting all the junk. And there was SO much junk! I ended up with 2 bags of trash but if it were up to me I would have thrown away all the left over gifts and old decorations and posters because they all smelled/looked old. I'm glad that all the nurses came in and thanked me because the janitor sort of got me annoyed. I don't think she knew I was a volunteer and was trying to organize the stuff. Oh wells. I still have to go to the volunteer tea party tomorrow since I RVSPed awhile ago saying that I would come. HmMMm...maybe I'll stop by E4 and chat with the patients before the party.

"Boat Ate Dope"

I went to volunteer on Tuesday but my supervisor wasn't there. I was suppose to clear out and organize a cabinet but I didn't have the key. I waited there for an hour until one of the nurses told me the supervisor came earlier to tell the ward that she wasn't coming in today. I was so confused because I told her the day before that I would be volunteering on Tuesday. I learned on Thursday that a devastation has struck her.

What do you say when you aren't religious and a person asks you to pray for them. That's what the A.T. did when I ran into her Thursday. I think I hugged her, told her I would take care of her unit on Monday and Tuesday, and that she would be okay. She'll be okay.

I finally went on a city tour! I got to spend the educational day with Stephanie. We almost couldn't find the first tour, which started at the "southeast stage of Yerba Buena." Our first tour was "Theaters in SF." I knew that there were theaters and shows in SF but I didn't know where. Now I do. This tour was with Sue who lead the group of ~10 women on a brisk 1 1/2 walk. We went into 2 theatures and stood outside others.
Steph and I ate a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. The waitress didn't speak Viet. Haha...
Our second tour was of Nobhill. The group was a little bigger. There were 6 people from England, 2 from Oklahoma, 2 from Washington and the rest were from California. I liked this tour more, even though I wasn't listening to our tour guide, Kay, as much. The sights were so pretty.

I had the most interesting bus trip on Thursday. We went to MOMA to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. When I got to LHH in the morning I went to the wrong ward. There were two that were going on the trip and the volunteer coordinator emailed me the day before telling me to go to O6 but I was actually placed with O7. I was not only excited about seeing the exhibition but about meeting the people on higher floors. I've heard that the higher you go up the more severe patients are..medically and psychologically. After the trip, I can't say that this is entirely false. When I was about to go into the unit, I stopped to introduce myself to 2 guys who were in the hall. It turned out they were going on the trip. One was seemed sweet. He apparently experienced 4 stokes. The other was a super chatty War World II veteran. I probably stood there for 20 minutes. The vet barely took in a breath when he talked to me and he was yapping 10 miles a minute. I tried really hard not to zone out and ignore him. He would yell out "ma'am!" every time I turned to greet someone else passing in the hallway or when I had to leave and help out the A.T. with other patients. The trip didn't even start yet and I was exhausted from that one guy. Plus, I got really annoyed later on by this other guy who flirted with anything with boobs and "nice curves." He asked me to marry him and told me that he loved me a couple of times. I gave the A.T. a "!!!!!!!!" look when she told me I could escort him around the exhibit. She gave me an understanding look when she saw my disgust and gave me the guy who pooped in his pants instead.
We had lunch on the bus right next to a gorgeous view of the Bay Bridge. When we got into the museum we crowded the lobby with our 16 patients, 3 staff members and 3 volunteers. The MOMA coordinators let us go into the exhibit in bunches because it was already packed up there. Seeing the artwork really made the trip worth it. I sort of wanted to buy something at the gift shop just so I could have the Frida Kahlo shopping bag, but I decided to save my money on a another artist. Kahlo isn't one of my favorite artists but her work and the stories behind them are inspiring..not to mention magnificent.
After about an hour and a half, we boarded the patients back onto the buses. One guy rolled into the street and almost went across the crosswalk at a red light. A stranger was kind enough to catch him before he did. When everybody was settled the A.T. mentioned that this turned out to be a smooth trip. Unfortunately, she spoke too soon. We only moved a block and a half away from where we were parked when the engine broke down. The bus was in a middle of a turn so it was blocking two street ways. This wasn't the first time I was stuck in a bus that stopped. We were parked and in a safe spot the last time though. I thought LHH would have gotten new buses by now, since it's the end of summer! The CNA driving the other ward's bus hopped onto our bus and was fortunately enough to start the thing. We reached a red light a block after and when it turned green guess what happened? The engine failed again. The CNAs switched buses, since the other one was more skilled. We had a bumpy ride home since she didn't want to stop too long or else we would have been stuck again. The flirter hollered and yelped since his wheelchair wasn't strapped in tightly enough. Haha..He's not the first patient who's flirted with me. I usually let those comments slip since I know that patients are old and bored, but this dude really got on my nerves.

Friday turned out to be Autumn Krash. We didn't plan it..it turned out that the four of us ended up together. We rushed with our shopping in the morning. Then, we watched "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" for free. YAY for AE!

Today, I hung out at Sharon's. Poor Sharon was trying to find the first Pants movie for about 45 minutes but couldn't find it. We ended up playing "Mad Gab." It was hilarious. You're suppose to figure out the phrase/word of something that sounded like a jumble of weird sounds/words. The title to this post was one I couldn't figure out because I kept laughing. The answer is "Potato" btw.

Good? Bad? Meh...

9/6/08

Pro: Went to Berkeley to visit Mary with Sharon and Connie.

Con: Only hung out with her for an hour.

9/7/08

Pros: The fog returned. Started on my next art/craft project.

Con: I found limitations to my project.

9/8/08

Cons: According to the doctor, one of the patients I work with won't make it by the end of this month. Some kid tried to shoot a spit ball at me when I was walking home. Bus driver didn't open the door.

Pros: I found a loop hole through my art project limitations. I volunteered. The kid missed. I concurred my laziness and walked home. The fog is still present.

Melted Icing

Monday, I went Labor Day shopping downtown with Sharon, Jennie, Steph, Connie and Becky. Ironically, I was the only one that spent big bucks. I don't like spending a lot but I've been wanting a black coat since I've started college. That want has finally been fulfilled since I bought a $60 peacoat at H&M. I was reluctant to get it because I know it'll be half price during Thanksgiving or December sales, but there was only one more in my size when I went on September 1st. I think I'll hold off on getting a new interview suit and pumps for a few months because of this. At Forever, I bought a long sleeved shirt. The price was good and I needed another one due to the unusually sunny weather SF has been having over the past weeks.

Free days in San Francisco are always fun. On Wednesday, I met with Steph at Taravel, so we could go to the Exploratorium. Unfortunately, we didn't know which stop to get off of the 28. I think we called Jennie and Jason 4 or 5 times to get directions. After wandering near Baker Beach and riding the 28 back towards Sunset, we met up with them and Jason's friend at Judah. The Exploratorium was educational awesomeness. I never get bored of the permanent activities no matter how many times I go, especially if I go with friends.

Yesterday, I volunteered at a BBQ at LHH. The event was both the staff's annual picnic and the Clarendon Farewell party. I felt a little awkward being the only teenage female there. The other volunteers were all old men. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but some elderly men don't know how to take care of themselves. I mean, I understand if you're a patient who's been stuck in the hospital for a long time or in the your own home. However, if you're "healthy" and working with the public don't go rubbing your exposed stomach. That's right, that's not your shirt you're rubbing, it's your hairy skin! UGhh..disgusting. There was this other elderly volunteer who had the worse breath. What was worse was that he didn't give people personal space. Maybe he was afraid others would listen in on the conversations? His breath was like burning plastic mixed with bleach. Yes, horrible. I'm glad that all of the other volunteers were acted sane. The weather was too hot for a BBQ in my opinion. A lot of the patients who were invited decided not to come down because of the heat. There was virtually no shade out in the front court. Even the balloons popped and icing on the cupcakes melted. Despite the sun and the immature, seeing some of the patients I've worked with and catching up with a few staff members made my day.

I didn't go out as much as the past two weeks due to USN's application. The waiting game has started and I can't wait to see what's in store for me this academic year.

To send or wait? I think went over my application 4 times and read my essays at least 20 times. Keeping it one more day won't hurt, right? I'm so nervous. Ahh, think of what will happen if I have to do this process all over again next year but with 10+ schools. *sigh*

USN application

The application got posted 2 days prior to when they were scheduled to come out! It came as a shock to me and made me a little paranoid because I still had one more person proofreading my essay answers. As I predicted the essay questions are exactly the same as last year's. Thus, I only have to polish my writing a bit and I'm good to send. Sticking to my pessimism, I don't think I'll be accepted for Fall 2009. USN is the only school I'm applying to this cycle, so it's for a long shot. It doesn't hurt trying though.

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Goal: Send in application by the end of this week.

Deadline: December 8, 2008.