Potpourri

2017 is here. And that's good. Because I feel like 2016 was a series of various sized nightmares. With the exception of the birth of my darling baby boy, 2016 can pretty much die in a fire. I'm sure I'm exaggerating. I heard there was some good news about tigers and probably other stuff also, but the election and its aftermath have pretty much broken my spirit/heart/etc. As the results rolled in, I held my three week old baby and sobbed onto his tiny, fuzzy head. "Mama's sorry" I whispered over and over. Sorry for what? Not worrying enough? Not doing enough? Bringing him into THIS world instead of a better one? Yeah, all of that. Fuck. What is 2017 and all its trappings going to bring? I'm terrified.

***

I'm still mad at Google for taking away the Reader. I feel like it had a big effect on blogging, in terms of me reading them and writing in mine. And probably other people's too, I imagine. I wrote a sentence about my blogging community, but I hated that phrase so much I had to delete it. Anyhow, Niall asked me what my New Year's resolution was and I said I'd like to get back into blogging. Which, now I feel like I've set myself up for failure but whatever.

***

Our other resolution is to reconfigure our living room. We have a lot of open shelving storage and lately have been looking around the room and realizing that this little pip squeak is going to be mobile in a few months and... yikes. We don't have a huge amount of space, nor can we afford to move into a larger place, so we're going to have to get creative. Part of the problem is that we use our kitchen table as a desk, so we need to somehow get both functions out of the space. We went to Ikea yesterday and bought a smaller dining set. And we ordered a rolly stand thing for the computer. Once we get those things sorted, we'll be moving the couch where the table currently is so it blocks the big bookshelves. And we need a better filing system. Better, I mean, than "put the mail and important papers in a pile and set it aside until some internal alarm goes off and then panic and find the thing."

***

Is Hawaiian Punch equally bad as soda (Coke, specifically) or slightly less bad? I know it's bad, but HOW bad?

***

Today is rainy and I'm extra tired for some reason and Niall is at work, so I'm sleeping when the baby sleeps. He just conked out so excuse me, the couch is calling.

New Year

I think it’s pretty universal that people don’t tend to like blog posts about why someone hasn’t been blogging. But, whatever. This is my blog, and if a gal can’t be insufferable on her blog, then what? There's just nowhere left to be insufferable? Unacceptable. And actually now that I’m about to write it out it doesn’t seem like the long, obnoxious explanation I had in my head: Basically I could never figure out where to start so I just stopped starting. So here I am today because I’ve got to start somewhere with unclogging this bottleneck of words.

I’ve had this New Year’s survey in my drafts folder for… awhile. I just kept half assing answers and skipping ahead and then closing the computer in defeat. I guess I’m feeling more free-form this year.

Last year I felt totally cynical and just plain sad because 2012 had turned out so epically craptastic. So I spent a fair amount of New Year's Eve weeping and then picked myself up, had some champagne, and did my New Year’s Dip with my nieces and nephews to wash away 2012 and I was all set and ready to make a fresh start. Annnnd then I got BUTT MRSA. So I was like, what the hell, Universe? Why would you do this to me? But then I figured it out. You see, the Universe actually wants me to be on the LUNAR calendar. So New Year’s Eve was more of a formality for me, my ACTUAL year began on Feb 10, the year of the SNAKE. I’m listening, Universe. I’m picking up what you’re throwing down.

So. January 31 is coming up, which means I and my Lunar brethren will be turning the corner and welcoming in the Year of the Horse. (I already did my New Year’s Dip, because that’s a family tradition and I’m not going to mess with that timeline.)

Okay, so are we on the same page here? I'm finally going to post my survey, but it's actually not late because I'm on the Lunar calendar.

I’m just gonna cut out the ones I've been skipping over because BOTTLENECK.

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?
I started suffering from insomnia, mostly related to horrifying nightmares. And as a result I started taking sleeping medication.
Possibly related to this I started liking coffee- caramel mocha frappuccinos to be exact. No, I will never be able to spell that correctly.

I took my niece and nephew on a trip all by me onesie. We visited my other sis and her kids in SoCal and then went to a USC football game. So much fun. And so much spoiling of my nieces and nephews.

I went to South Carolina to visit Sunny and got to do all sorts of fun southern activities and eat delicious things that were either fried or cheese, or fried and cheese. I did get stuck on a grounded plane for 6 hours while flying out there. Not the most fun day of my life.
Speaking of transportation woes, I also took a day-long bus ride from Oregon back to SF. My flight was cancelled because of the plane crash and, strangely, flights to and from tiny towns in Southern Oregon weren’t high on the priority list of getting rescheduled. I rented a car and drove part way, and then I took an 8 hour long bus ride back to SF. Well, actually. I got off the bus to use the bathroom in Oakland and it left without me, so ALMOST to SF.

I went on vacation with my entire family. All 18 of us.

I got MRSA and a needlestick. Thanks, healthcare profession. But I did also get my own office in our new building and got everything squared away for my prescribing license. So it evens out.

I joined Facebook. 

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 1- when I was so so SO happy that 2012 was FINALLY OVER.

February 10- Lunar New Year, when I realized that the Universe actually wants me on the lunar calendar, because that’s when things started to turn around.
February 13- Galentine’s Day, which I have decided to start celebrating.

July 19- the day my clinic moved and also the day I was SUPPOSED to go on another trip to Central America with 0peration Rainb0w, with my dad AND my sister who is also a nurse. I asked for the time off MONTHS in advance, but I ended up not being able to go because my clinic moved. So that week was extremely busy and also infuriating.
July 26- my birthday, which I didn’t get off from work because of the aforementioned clinic move. This has inspired me to ALWAYS take my birthday off from work. Because nobody cares it’s your birthday except you! It was actually not SO bad because it was a Friday and my mom took me to lunch and my boyfriend (BOYFRIEND) sent me flowers. July 26 is ALSO the day when boyfriend and I became, like, official and whatnot.
[This sentence is just a filler so there is something between the previous item and the next one. These two dates are too close together for my liking.]

The weekend after my birthday weekend- will forever be remembered as my rapeiversary. August 5 to be exact, but for some reason the weekend, not just that day, gave me a lot of anxiety.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finishing trauma counseling. I can't believe how difficult and amazing it turned out to be.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? 

Wendy Davis

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Jerky dudes. Jerky dude politicians.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, student loans, car repairs, my cat's extensive dental surgery.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? 
Vacations. Football season. Christmas.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter
c) richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Exercise.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Angst and obsess.

21. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Um. Amazingly, yes. Who saw that coming? NOT ME.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Parks and Rec, Chopped, Dance Moms, Sister Wives, Monk, House Hunters. Yikes, that’s a lot of reality TV.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
 No.

24. What was the best book you read?
The Rook, Divergent

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
There was this one morning when I got up and plugged in my speakers and discovered that my computer had been playing Thrift Shop on a loop for 24 hours.
That's 885 plays.
I have since adopted it as a unit of time. 885 macklemores = 1 day. So there are 37 macklemores in an hour. Okay? Good. Glad you're coming with me on this.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Now You See Me, Catching Fire, Pitch Perfect, Frozen

32. What kept you sane?
Vacations, medication, treats, caramel mocha fraps, texting, reading, hot baths, my friends, doing good deeds, twittah, shopping, my job, going out, staying in, bad reality TV, liquor, inappropriate jokes, my family, trauma counseling, going out of my way for other people.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Jennifer Lawrence.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Marriage equality. Women's rights. Human rights.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012. 
Staying in is a perfectly reasonable and lovely thing to do.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn

Throwback(?) Accent Vlog

(Sometimes I say words a certain way because it's fun.)

Regional Dialect Video Meme
Say these words: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
Now answer these questions:
• What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
• What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
• What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
• What do you call gym shoes?
• What do you say to address a group of people?
• What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
• What do you call your grandparents?
• What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
• What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
• What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

All up in your business

Hi, so, um. I wrote something. And it's on BlogHer today. Click here to see.

(It's a syndicated post so you might've already read it. (But it would be awesome if you'd clickitty click over and check it out)).
Happy weekend!

Smooches,

Julesy

lurkified

Apparently it is that time of year where bloggers ask their readers to delurk themselves, complete with a creepy graphic!

Yoo hoo! *Waves* Hi there! Can you see me? I can't see you. I don't have the sort of thingy that shows me how many hits my page gets or where they come from or how often they occur. Whatsit called again? A site meter? Anyhow, if you're out there I don't know it. Unless you comment.

Would you comment today? I don't like to be pushy for these sorts of things but I would like to get to know you.

So. Who are you? What's your favorite color/flower/sports team/food/mythical creature?

My answers: I am Superjules/Julia/the lady of the house/the person who writes this here blog. Purple. Poppy or plumeria. USC Trojans. Cheese. Unicorn.

See? Easy peasy mac-n-cheesy! (Mmmm, cheesy).

Anyhow, thanks for stopping by to visit my corner of teh Interwebz. Lovely to meet you.

Opinion for which I have no real base

To preface this:
I know that I am a lower-on-the-totem-pole blogger. I am certain that I have written about things that other people would put in their own TMI cagegory. I also have no children. I am very aware that my viewpoints have their limitations. So please take what I am about to say with a grain of salt.

Okay, with that out of the way I'm going to climb way up onto my high horse and give some UNSOLICITED OPINIONS! Here they are:


It bothers me when people write things about their kids that would have embarrassed me at that age. Particularly tweens and teens. And PARTICULARLY when the subjects include first periods, body hair growth, or emotional anguish. Even stories that seem innocuous can make me cringe because, you know what? EVERYTHING was embarrassing at that age. Everything. I would have died if I was 13 and had found out my mom had written a blog and a bunch of strangers and/or friends had read about some door-slammy fight I had with my sister. DIED.

And if any of the kids at my school had read stuff about me? It would have been an invasion of privacy propagated by my OWN MOTHER. The version of myself I carefully chose to show to the world outside my home would have been undermined by an internet personification.

I think that if your kid is old enough to understand what you are doing then you need to ask his or her permission to write about him or her on your blog. And I think that EVEN IF your kid says it is okay you STILL need to really search deeply and think hard about it and examine what you are doing because YOU are the responsible adult, not them. It is your job, not theirs, to know what is safe for you to post about your family and what could be potentially harmful, however innocent it may seem. Because the emotional wounds of the young teenage years are not easily healed. I think we all know THAT, right?

About Me

I have slender, bony fingers and tiny wrists.

I have lived in California my whole life. I am open to the idea of living somewhere else, but I don't know how likely that is. I love it here.

I don't have cable.

I am a nurse.

I shop at thrift stores.

I have no patience for the family of video games in which you pretend to play instruments. Also, I suck at them.

But I can hula hoop like a badass.

There are things I probably shouldn't have done or said, but right now I have no regrets. Everything that has happened has gotten me to where I am now.

I am never bored.

I like old people.

I am a great gift giver.

I am learning to cook, sorta.

My parents have been happily married for over 40 years.

I have an overactive imagination.

I am working on a zen organizing project.

I am a tremendously bad liar. I just CAN'T.

I have 8 nieces and nephews.

I always spell nieces wrong the first time. Same goes for received.

But I never mix up your and you're.

I love to laugh.

But I also cry. A lot.

I have been to Fiji.

Chips and salsa is possibly my favorite snack food.

I fall asleep on my tummy.

I count on my fingers.

I am always cold.

I have been sailing. I thought it was too windy.

I have been harassed, threatened, stalked, abused, insulted, lied to, cheated on, stolen from, manipulated, abandoned, and betrayed. I am stronger now than I could have ever imagined.

I don't like coffee.

I have a cat. He is 25 pounds of awesome.

I am a creature of habit, but I also love to go on new adventures.

I believe in myself.

I have a primal urge to sing Ebony and Ivory karaoke.

I am terrified of people in large costumes out of context. Halloween: Okay. Grocery store: NOT OKAY.

I'm a little bit nuts.

I can bend my right thumb backwards all the way behind my index finger's knuckle.

I once tried putting cream cheese in my tea because I was out of milk.

I once worked as an intern on a documentary that won an Emmy.

Speaking of movies, my favorite ones are Labyrinth, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Pulp Fiction, Little Miss Sunshine, Role Models, Undercover Blues, Ishtar, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Sex and the City, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Annie.

My favorite books are The Glass Castle, The Lovely Bones, anything by David Sedaris or Augusten Burroughs, One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Poisonwood Bible, The Other Boleyn Girl, Twelfth Night, and The Ordinary Princess.

PBR is my beer of choice.

Miss Grace and I have been friends for twenty years.

In high school, I commuted an hour each way. It was not fun.

I love to take baths.

I don't like wine. I do like champagne.

I make soap.

I can raise one eyebrow. Only the left one.

I have tattoos.

I have a lot of feelings.

This is my blog.

Jewels vs. Nuts

A couple weeks ago I tried to go to my blog page and I got this instead:

And I was confused. Because WHERE DID MY BLOG GO? Was it hacked? Did I need to renew my use of the url? Did I need to report it to google to fix it? What the hell?

But you know what? I didn't care. Because I had kind of been looking for a reason to make a switcheroo anyhow. I had been thinking that perhaps a fresh new start for the fresh new year might involve a fresh new url and a fresh new email address. Should I say fresh new again? FRESH NEW!

Jules vs. Nuts. Why that, you ask? Well, after the confusion surrounding Royal Jewels, I had been unsure of what to call my blog. So I left it untitled. And then Jenny and I went to the Emerald Bowl on December 26th to wear ponchos, drink beer in the rain, and watch mah Trojans take on BC.
As we were walking in, Jenny turned to me and said "Ohhhh I thought it they meant jewels, not nuts." And I said "Oh HAR HAR. Thanks for bringing THAT up again." And Jenny said "No no..." and pointed to a large inflatable arch with the Emerald logo. Apparently, the Emerald Bowl was sponsored by EMERALD NUTS.
And then I said, "WHY IS THERE SO MUCH CONFUSION BETWEEN JEWELS AND NUTS IN MY LIFE?" And Jenny said "I think we just found your new blog name."

I think it is very appropriate. Because much of my life involves me, Jules, versus nuts-- the crazy people in my life, the crazy thoughts in my own head, and, occasionally, balls.

So. Welcome. I migrated all my old posts over here so you should feel right at home. Except I am a little sad because none of the comments came with them so things are looking kind of bare. If you want to go through and leave all the same comments you did again, I wouldn't be opposed. Kidding, of course. Or am I? Anyhow, I'm making a fresh new start and I'm very excited about it. Lookout, internet, Julesy's got a new soapbox!

Balls.

If I were going to BlogHer,

I would bring these earrings.


And probably that dress that I'm wearing in the pic, too. I'm kicking myself for not getting a photo of it but how about this? Just imagine me in a long flattering, swishy dress that shows off my tattoo and can be dressed up or down, looking not unlike Aphrodite. And then when tipsy fabulous bloggers told me it was nice, I would say something like "Oh this old thing? It was $14 at Ross and I tried it on over my clothes!" because I can't just accept a compliment without being awkward.

But, alas, I will not be going to BlogHer this year. Last year, Miss Grace took me with her (told me what to wear, paid for my ticket, the works) in exchange for staying in my apartment and drinking PBR in the hot tub. I was wide-eyed about the whole thing and tended to freeze up when people asked me what my blog was about (my "blog" that I had started writing the previous month). We did have a fabulous time, though.

This year, they had the nerve to move it all the way to Chicago which is rather less convenient and more expensive. So instead of schmoozing and !!!!ing and cornering my favorite bloggers to recite my favorite things they have written, I'll be here. Jealous of you.

Winner!

Hello my lovelies! Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway. It was fun to have so many comments on one post! I definitely appreciate all of you who regularlyish read or stopped by to read and experience the preposterous world inside my mind. A big thanks also goes out to Miss Grace who created my new MAGIC header.

I used the random number generator over at random.org (figured it out all on my own thankyouverymuch) and the winner is Danielle from A Little Left of Lost! She seems like a very nice lady with a pretty backyard, an adorable little girl, and a fancy web site. So, Danielle, if you are reading this, please send me address to my brand new blog email address: royaljewels dot feelings at gmail dot com.

Bloggiversary (+ CONTEST!)

Well it's midnight so it is officially my one year bloggiversary! Is this dorky? Do I care? Do you like the NEW LOOK?

I started doing this one year ago pretty much because Miss Grace was doing it and I liked her web site so much and I thought it looked like fun. And I was making a lot of changes in my life and I thought it would be neat to write about them. I also thought it would be neat to go back and read through my experiences after I'm, you know, all competent and professional and grown up and... stuff.

Anyhow, in honor of me actually lasting a year with this blogging biznass, I'm having a contest!

Here's how it goes: you leave me a comment by 11:59 PM Sunday, June 21. I will get somebody to show me how to use a random number generator by then. I will then pick one person to win! And then I will send you, the one person, a box about yay or so big with stuff in it. Stuff like a CD I make. And probably some candy. And this or that from Target. Okay, so maybe the actual PRIZE part hasn't been thought up quite yet, but it will be good. I'm a good care-packager I swear. So you, dear reader if you are out there, pleast to be entering.

Smooches,

Royal Jewels

Still in existence

Well I've been a bit absent online recently, but that's only because I've been enjoying my vacation to the max.... hanging out with friends and family, participating in leisure activities, Christmas shopping, and spending quality time with my man. I'm sure I'll have much more procrastination-in-front-of-the-computer time as soon as school is back in session on January 5 but for now I'm freeeeeeee!

I speak in code to confuse my content crawler.

I was doing some online perusing and I noticed on Miss Grace's blog that she has an es-yay on numero ocho advertisement. I was mildly horrified but I thought maybe her content crawler had gotten befuddled since she did write a post about how she feels about that particular proposition.

But then I clicked over to my own blog and there it was!! An ad urging the inhabitants of this fair state to say yay to establishment and keep wedlock betwixt one human with a wang and one human with a vajayjay.

Horror of horrors!

It's okay with me when ads crop up on my page that don't really encompass my beliefs-- such as the depression ones that appeared when I wrote about my quarterlife crisis and the "find tattoed singles" ads that came about after I posted about my tats. But this is something that clearly has nothing at all to do with anything I have written recently, if at all. My recent posts have all been about Halloween, being crazy, cooking-ish, and how much my life exhausts me. NOWHERE did I speak out about my aditional-tray eleifs-bay regarding the of legal union of two homo sapiens of different genital organs.

I don't feel personally wronged when two persons of the same reproductive makeup come together, profess their love for one another, share a household and a life, and have some rights and privledges that go along with it.

I feel wronged by hypocracy, judgementalness, and the wasting of millions of dollars to fight something that does not cause harm. Shame on you, google and blogspot for allowing those ads to be placed on pages, regardless of the content of the blog.

Get the eff out there and ote-vay!

dorkus maximus

A conversation:

Me: It's been a really intense experience... I feel like maybe I should write about it.

Jenny: Yeah writing about stuff can be really cathartic. And I like the format of blogspot.

Me: I like it too-- that's one of the reasons I switched over from Myspace. But I don't know; I think I might have to do it in a non-online format.

Jenny: Well sometimes I'll write in my blog but then don't publish it, just save it as a draft.

Me: Hm. That's a good idea. I do like blogspot's format.

Jenny: Yeah, who knew it would make such a difference?

Me: Yeah, really. Oh my god. We are gigantic nerds.

Jenny: Uh, yeah. I already knew that.

Me: Wow. We are talking about the level of pleasingness of blog formats.

Jenny: At least we're not talking about, like, going to Renaissance Faires or something.

Me: Actually! I saw a billboard for one when I was driving the other day and I dunno, I thought it looked like a lot of fun....

Jenny: No.

Me: But-

Jenny: No.

Here, Content Crawler, try this on for size!

Attempting to trick my content crawler thingy into posting ads on my page that have something to do with things I love and NOTHING to do with.... um.... an idlife-may isis-cray.

Okay, here goes.

Some acceptable ad subjects!- roller coasters, satyrs, costumes, magic, unicorns, books, the ocean, pickles, scented candles, apple cider, kittens, buttons and bows, plumerias, music, unicorns, lazing about, hot baths, snow, making soap, pedicures, tea sets, holidays, presents, mall pretzels, musicals, football, pie, laughing, shooting stars, unicorns...

gee thanks, google

Apparently the content crawler has picked up on my current sentiments because all of the ad links on my page are now things like: Midlife Crisis? Female Midlife Crisis? Marriage Crisis? Depressed or Anxious? MISERABLE AND ALONE AND WORRIED ABOUT HOW MANY OVA YOU HAVE LEFT?? CLICK HERE!!!

Good thing I don't let things like that get to me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some weeping to get back to.

Achieving my goals... ish. Plus a rambling thought process about Halloween.

Well I did it-- I wrote those 5 entries that have nothing atall to do with nursing. It kind of took me longer than it was supposed to, but I'm still going to call it a success. It was a good experiment to do to help myself remember there are lots and lots of other things I [used to have time to] care about.

This past week was week 8. Which means we have 2 weeks left in our first quarter!! Or, as I like to put it-- we have one week left until our last week!!!!! And then it's only 3 more quarters after that till the end of the year. And then two more years after that and then I'll be DONE......... sigh. These last couple of weeks are going to get even crazier than usual, I think, since classes and clinicals and such are getting wrapped up. So I'm going to get even less sleep than usual as I attempt to pass my finals and assessments. But my classmates and I have already come so very far this semester that I'm pretty sure we can all hang on for a little longer. And then we get a nice 5 or so day break before we have to start all over again in September.

This weekend C is a-visiting, which is wonderful. We've reserved the theater room in my building for tonight and I'm pretty excited to eat a variety of fried foods and drink vanilla vodka and _____. I am not so excited about the fact that he wants to make me watch Saw. Last night we were at the movie theater in Daly City which, p.s., is rather on the ghetto side in terms of general clientele. But the parking was free. Anyhow, we were at the movie theater and we saw a preview for Saw V which comes out on Halloween-- which got me all excited. Not because it's a movie I'm looking forward to seeing (since I'm pretty much the biggest wuss you'll ever meet in terms of scary movies) but because I love love LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween!!

I was going to write that I start thinking about potential Halloween costumes in late December, but that simply wouldn't be true-- I am always thinking about potential Halloween costumes. I mean, not actively, but it's definitely always in the back of my mind. And I sort of keep a running list of costumes I'd like to or might like to do. Which means that I'm also always on the lookout for the various pieces of my costumes that I might run across in thrift stores or Target or wherever so I'm not rushing to the ridiculously overpriced costume shop on October 29th.

I'm serious. Last year one of my costumes (oh, did I not mention that I also like to wear a minimum of 2 separate costumes every year?) was Little Miss Sunshine, from her dance scene at the end of the movie.

(Sorry for the somewhat tiny and poor quality of the images...)

I thought of this costume idea in, like, May so I was on the lookout for its components since then. I found the gold belt first, at Charlotte Russe in Burbank. Then, during Fiesta in Santa Barbara, Flynne and Whitney and I went to this crazy costumey store whose name escapes me at the moment and I found the ruffly shortie shorts. I bought the gold wristbands about a week later at Claire's. They were actually little cell phone pockets but I cut one end off them and they made perfect wristbands. I already owned the black tank top, those adidas pants that button down both sides, the white collared shirt, and the red headband (I just turned it so that you couldn't see the USC side). And I found the red tie in my dad's closet. I bought the suit vest at a thrift store and I was almost ready to roll. C told me that I wasn't allowed to wear knee pads because every douche bag guy at the party was going to make some comment about them. But they completed my costume so I didn't really have a choice and I bought a pair at Sport Chalet. And then I bought the Little Miss Sunshine DVD so I could learn her dance. Yes, really.

I'm realizing that this may sound like it was a lot of hassle, but it really wasn't. I happened across most of the pieces of this outfit on shopping trips I was already on. And even if it had been a hassle, I still had the best costume at the party, if I do say so myself.

So I currently have 2-3 outfits in mind and I'm on the lookout. I bought a dress at the Palmdale thrift store a few months ago that I think will work for one of the costumes I have in mind. But the hunt is still on and my excitement is growing!

Being Jewels the Nursing Student

You know that part in Being John Malkovich where John Malkovich goes through the portal and into his own brain and all of a sudden he's in a room with hundreds of John Malkoviches and all they can say is "Malkovich Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich."?

Well I feel like that's a pretty good description of my life. I've noticed all I write about is school and nursing and clinicals and classes and tests and how tired I am. Because that is what takes up the majority of my time and energy. I go to school. I think about school. I hang out with people from school. We even sit around at lunch and talk about Foley catheters. We were out at a bar after one particularly painful test (someone described it as feeling date-raped), talking as usual about clincals or something and then Colin said that we had to each say the best thing that had happened to us that week that had nothing to do with nursing. So we did. And it was great.

In the interest of keeping myself sane and perhaps having something more interesting for my reader(s?) to peruse, my plan for this week is to write at least 5 entries, each about something that interests me or that I care about but that does not involve school or nursing or the hospital.

And no, this isn't #1.