the BEST news!

every time i hear this song, it makes me think of that one mtv show about "new york".  she (named new york because she was from new york or something on flavor of love - a different mtv show) had her own finding love show.  i don't even think i ever watched it but i guess all the adverts left an impression.  those commercial makers apparently know their stuff.

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i got accepted (conditionally) to UTHSCSA!!!  aka university of texas health science center: san antonio.
which was lucky because one of my letters of recommendation didn't quite arrive on time.  (ok, ok, she forgot to even write it!  but no grudges are currently being held.)

i couldn't help myself and opened the other two letters of rec that i had.  it's always nice to read when other people write nice things about you.  so thank you, letter of rec writers.  you were very nice about me!

better news. i hope.

in better news:  i got "invited" to complete the next step of my san antonio nursing application.  i am now to the personal statement section.  and the extra $45 section.... but c'est la vie, i guess. 

not that anyone cares, but since they are short, and not too bad, here is what i submitted:

Commitment: Please list examples and relevant information of your commitment to the nursing profession with evidence of work, volunteer activities and related work.

            I am currently working as a receptionist in a clinic for a general surgeon, which has given me experience in the business side of medicine.  I am current on CPR and First Aid, and I recently received my CNA.  I have volunteered in my community’s emergency room, acting as a type of host, directing people to where they needed to be within the hospital and emergency room.  I have also volunteered with troubled children, in which I learned about the various medications needed to help with certain mental and health issues, such as depression.  As I will have received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology before attending nursing school, I understand the dedication, commitment, and discipline required to succeed in the classroom.  

Traits and Qualities: Describe traits and qualities that show your suitability to a career in nursing.

            I have been preparing myself for the field of nursing by caring for others and developing my personal character.  My everyday activities include caring for friends and family, whether healthy or not. I am very caring and empathetic, which are both important in the field of nursing.  I take criticism well and have no issue with asking questions if I am ever unsure.  I have a strong desire to learn, which is an important trait because the medical field is always evolving.  I have a strong sense of dedication and perseverance.  I am also patient.  These, among others, are the qualities that make me suitable to a career in nursing. 

Study and Time Management: What study and testing skills and time management strategies have you used in prior educational experiences?

            While working toward my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, I have learned how to balance and prioritize through time management, scheduling, and varying study techniques.  Time management is key to grasp in order to be successful in studying and testing.  In my experience, I have found it most beneficial to create a study plan.  After evaluating each of my classes, I give more time to more difficult classes, and less time to easier ones.  After making a schedule for study times, I schedule in study breaks for preparing and eating meals, work, and working out.  By following such a specific schedule, I am able to study while well-rested and alert.  In regard to testing, I have found that going over lectures notes after class helps the most in retaining information.  Other beneficial techniques I have used include flashcards, study guides, and collaborating with other classmates.  I have found that being confident, well-rested and calm is also important. 

please tell me that these would make you die to pick me as your future nursing student.  i'm super nervous, as well as another $45 poorer.  would be nice if i wasn't $90 poorer for nothing at all. 

back to studying.  one more final on thursday!!!!!  then a month HOLIDAY!!

haiku of the day

i love holidays
not so much working; more play
lay in bed all day

did you notice that this one even rhymes??

rejection, part I

rejection sucks.  no matter how much you think you didn't want it.

i got rejected from my first nursing application.  it wasn't my top choice, but it's still a bit of a downer. 



dear cu, you're a debbie downer.
love, claire
ps.  you have an ugly campus.

just keep brushing just keep brushing!

i know i should be studying right now, as my exam is at 130, which is in about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but they say you shouldn't study just before anexam anyways, because you get too stressed.  well.  they are correct.  but i was stressed yesterday.  and the day before.  and even last week.

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i just want my sissy (you should know that i like to call her sissy) to know that sometimes i have teeth nightmares too. 

here's how my teeth nightmare usually goes:

i'm brushing my teeth (because i love to brush my teeth, even in real life), and i'm brushing and brushing, and suddenly, i feel a tooth with my toothbrush that seems to be a little loose.
hmmm.
oh well!
keep on brushing, keep on brushing (like the swimming song from finding nemo)
and then the loose tooth falls out.
oh well!
still brushing!
and then another one comes loose and falls out.
and another.
and another and another.
and then they are all.  gone.
and i keep on brushing and brushing my non-teeth.  my gums.  i keep brushing my gums like nothing even happened.

scary, eh?

well, my nightmare is a nightmare because in real life i am very horrified by the thought of losing my "grown up" teeth.  i would be very sad, and incomplete if i lost a tooth.  so my dream is a nightmare because i don't even care that my teeth are falling out!

it's also a nightmare because every time i have this teeth nightmare, which is every few months or so, i would say, every time i have this dream, i wake up with my face covered in drool. 

the end.


inspired haiku of the day:

i love having teeth
they crunch on yummy things: food
never lose your teeth!

(red for my sissy's teeth that bleed)

apparantly not winter or summer or spring.

a while ago i had to go to the dentist.  since my dentist is still in saratoga - no, he hasn't followed me to laramie, yet, like i keep asking - i drove over the mountain.  on the way back i took a bunch of Photos! 
TAAA DAAAAAAA!

 when i was on the top of the mountain, it looked like this and i had to drive verrrry slowly because i was sliding all over.  also i had to stop at least 3 times to wipe off my windshield wipers because they kept freezing.

also.  haiku of the day:

i applied to school

my nursing schools, that is.

you think i'll get in?

blog stats

sometimes i like to look at my blog stats.  i finished my homework tonight  (for once!  yesss!)  and so was just messing around on my recently re-vamped blog (didn't you notice the one tab?  DUH)  and i found some key words that have been used in like google search or something, that led here.
look what i found!

apparantly i am the one you should turn to if you need to know how to tell whether your goldfish is pregnant.  i'll get right on that.  although, usually you can tell if someone is pregnant:
A.  by their baby bump
B.  by using a pregnancy test
C.  both of these:

let me know if your goldfish has a baby bump, or if a pee stick works better.

the purpose of a blog

i keep reading these blogs - or, ok, blog - that go on and on about how blogs are for self-involved, narcissistic people who talk about nothing but themselves.  (these are blogs (blog) that talk about themselves and what they do every day and what they think about random things.)

DUH.

why would you have a blog that talked about other people's opinions and other people's lives and other people's whatever?  you wouldn't.

i don't expect my blog to go viral any time soon.  i don't expect everyone who comes across my little bloggie to be captured by my every word. 

i like to write.  i like to write about things.  i like to write about my opinions and my life, because it lets me sort things out, laugh at them, or cry at them, or whatever. 

we live in a world of technology and transportation and toast (toast, because it was a t word, and 3 t's seemed like a good idea).  we live far away from our families.  like either 10 minutes, or 10 hours, depending on the particular piece of family.  we are all busy and we don't have time to email or call or drive home every day to tell everyone about every single thing that has happened to us.  but that doesn't mean we don't want anyone to know, or that no one wants to know.  hence:  the blog.  convenient updates for the writer, and convenient updates for the reader.  win.  win. 

so shut up, you bloggers, who are blogging about yourself, but don't like the other ones with blogs who blog about themselves.  don't read it if you don't like it!  it's so easy!

evidence of my narcissism

haiku of the day

no one likes texas

but san antonio's nice

nursing school's fun!

stupid tfc day 12

good band.  super european feel.

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this is only day 12.  there is a loooooong way to go.

so i got maybe 4 hours of sleep on my camp night.  first i was too hot.  then too cold.  then too sticky.  then too scared of bugs and pigs.  then too tired.  but hey, those hours that i slept?  i was getting paid. 

in the morning, after someone woke me up (finally.  some sleep.), i was getting ready and put my boots on and was walking to go brush my teeth and wash my face and stuff.  and my foot kept feeling tickly.  so i stopped and rubbed it around inside my shoe - you know how you do when it itches a little, but not enough to take your shoe off?  well, it was still tickly.  so i took my boot off and.  there was a bug.  in my boot!  it was so hard not to scream. 

when i was walking back from brushing my teeth, suddenly the side of my butt  (as in, kind of by my hip, but more on my butt than my hip) felt like it had a scratch - that kind of burny, papercut feeling?  i just brushed off my pants and kept going - i just figured a twig or a piece of grass got in there or something. 
but while i was putting my bag on the engine, my little scratch kept hurting more and more.  and then it was like i was getting paralyzed.  so i went behind the engine and pulled my pants down to check for bugs.  nothing. 
i was getting more and more paralyzed.  i limped into the truck and laid in the back because it hurt to sit.  it just kept hurting more and more, and i kept getting more and more paralyzed. 
we left and drove for about half an hour.  my butt just kept hurting and hurting.  finally, we stopped, and i was freaking out.  something had to be in my pants.  you don't just get paralyzed out of nowhere.  so i jumped out, as much as a paralyzed person can jump out of an engine, and somehow got in front it, so i could safely pull down my pants without too many boys seeing my undies(!). 
guess what i found.  a fire ant. 
do you know they are the size of a wyomingish wood ant.  do you know that they actually sting you (or something) and they have venom?  true story.  my butt was paralyzed, yet hurt, for hours. 

i'm not saying all that was worth it.  i'm not saying that working a 30 hour shift was worth it.  but we did get all afternoon off.  i laid by the pool and listened to music, and swam, and napped (a bit - but not too much so i wouldn't get sunburned), and it was beautiful!  so beautiful. 

trying not to think about the burning, horribly feeling of fire ant venom in my butt

contemplating how i will live my life with a paralyzed butt cheek

then? and now...

remember when i used to have real adventures? 
remember when i used to have links to actual important youtubes?  (is that an oxymoron?)
that was fun.

now i just go to school professionally, and post links like this one.  but it is funny.  he spot on in his interpretation of "teenage girl". 

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someday i will finish my stupid texas story so i can write about whatever i want, and not feel like an incompletist (new word - i think...) failure for not finishing all stupid 20 days or 17 days or whatever.

for now, here's a photo i took the other day, so i can pretend this is a relevant post....

texas is the worst

why do i want to move there?

just to finish school...

TFC DAY #11

bang bang
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DAY #11

of course we got a fire today.  i just started a new book.  i had to start one.  i couldn't bear the extreme sports going on, so i had to at least try to tune them out.  there was a coin flipping tournament.  the prize for the winner was a really ugly hat. 

luckily the tournament was over by the time we got called to the "clay fire". 

when we got close-ish to the fire you could see the smoke pretty well.  when we got closer, the smoke was huuuuuge.  it was almost a mushroom!  the kind where the smoke rises so tall that it falls on itself and makes a mushroom.  those are the bad ones because the smoke starts creating its own weather.  little did i know, this would be the start of a 30 hour shift of sitting (aka sleeping) in the truck.

Lesson # 7 - walk very far to go pee.
this is because the "trees", which are barely taller than i am, are much too small to pee behind.

i saw a dust storm.  it was pretty crazy.  at first you could sort of see a storm coming, but as it got closer, it was just this huge line of dirt - dust?  and as it went over the fire, it just started blowing up like crazy.  it was just brown and purple and orange.  we were in the perfect, safe, place to watch, but some overhead guy got all nervous and made us drive 5 miles out of the way. 

aaaand. we stayed til after midnight.  every one else was where we were supposed to be camping, but our three trucks couldn't go back because the storm was making the fire blow up along the road we needed to get back.

when we finally got back, i just wanted to sleep.  i didn't sleep for like 6 hours straight because we were watching the dust storm!  so i was getting ready to make my little camping spot, and i heard someone talking about how the ranchers play music really loud by their garden at night to keep the GIANT VICIOUS PIGS away.  so i decided i was going to sleep in the middle of a group of boys so the vicious pigs could eat them and be too full by the time they got to me.  then one of them started snoring.  then another.  and another.  there were like five boys snoring all at different paces. 
i'll take the pigs any day.  so i went really far away and slept by the yard and hoped i wouldn't find any bugs.

yes, i should be studying right now.

funny. 
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people who say they wish they could go back to high school blow my mind.

my memories of high school include:
one friend who "liked to do the rest of our hair and makeup."  turns out, she would make us look bad to make herself look better.
three bouts of laryngitis because of the stress
countless stupid fights.
and another friend who liked to do photo shoots.  turns out she most likely wanted me to look like a 17 year old alcoholic, while she got to look like the artsy one.
proof:

THE 17 YEAR OLD ALCOHOLIC

note:  she did my alcoholic makeup, my alcoholic hair, and gave me the alcoholic dress to wear, because "it complemented my coloring".  of pasty-alcoholness...

THE ARTSY INNOCENT HIGHSCHOOLER

note:  the innocent high school outfit, the innocent (if insane) high school hair, the innocent high school makeup.

disclaimer:  i thought about blurring her face to protect her identity, but as 3 people read this, and anyone who knows her will know who she is regardless the instant they see her hair, i figured "what the hell".

my friends were sweethearts. 

to make myself feel better, i'm going to put it down to my good photography skills...

almost disaster

even better acoustic.  oh, how i'm a sucker for anything acoustic.

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i was trying to make a blog, and i almost had a huge disaster!!! 
i was trying to make an underline (shift+underscore thingie) and this is what happened to my page!

i didn't know what happened!  it was so sad!  i don't even know how i figured out how to get it back to normal!!!!!

TFC DAY #10

uhhh. mazing.  my latest fav.  weird lyrics, i think about shooting people, but super catchy, and amusing video...

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today we finish the tongue fire.  timmy decided to call me tinkerbell.  he said i pee more than anyone he knows.  i said that he should be impressed with how hydrated i'm staying.

booker is being the biggest jerk in the world.  the nice day must have been my warning that it was coming. 

slept the whole way back to midland.  again.  i guess the sleep part is one of the pluses of this trip - i am pretty well caught up, and may have a few extra hours stored for the future.

i'll admit.  i was walking back to the engine from a potty break...

TFC DAY #9

sooo funnnny. i love the enlightenment at the end: ooohhhhhhh!

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the weather is so hot in this place that you can't eat.  i have been sick from eating (no puking, thank goodness), the past 5 days, at least.  so this morning, i came up with a brilliant plan and just had chocolate milk for breakfast.  they don't have that thin, watery, lucerne or flavorite or whatever brand of milk.  no way, jose.  it's thick and creamy and tastes like some hershey's syrup just barely got mixed in.

we got called to a fire today.  only 4 hours away this time.  it is known as the 'tongue fire'.  i like to call it the chaos fire.  overhead has no idea what they are doing, and every overhead is telling different crews to do all different things, so no one really knows what they are supposed to do. 

i made friends with the dozer guys today.  we were in briefing and i sat by one.  i looked over, like you look to see who you're sitting by, even though you're not really paying attention, and i had to do a double take.
i told him:  whoa! nice 70's stache!
and he told me:  hah thanks, you look like kate winslet.
and i told him:  haha that's funny.
and he told me:  no it's not.  you seriously look like her.
       *that's the SECOND time someone has told me that!  i must be gorgeous!
70's stache and phil, who actually turned out to be jake, lost the coin flip and the other dozer ended up coming to the tongue fire.

LESSON #6:  when you think you are tall enough to clear a barb wire fence - you aren't. 

yes, i got caught on a barb wire fence.  timmy and booker had to rescue me.  i thought i was tall enough to just go over the top, swing one leg then the other, you know?  well, i swung one.  and when i tried to swing the other - i couldn't.  so i tried to swing my first leg back over to my side.  no happening.  so i was just stuck straddling a barb wire fence, waiting for booker and timmy to pay attention to me calling them.

i think this is near the part i got stuck on...

georgia o'keeffe, part deux

good mood music. 
i love how she plays with the rhythm in this song.

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i ended up having 17 blooms on two orchid plants.  5 on one, 12 on the other!  super exciting.  i think all of them but 2 are still alive. 
i took pictures of the other flowers, which are less pink and more green.  super pretty. 

they're even pretty from the back.

pretty good camera usage (useage?), eh?  blurry background!?

i didn't even know i could do that!

maybe you can find something for your background, mamacita?


haiku of the day:

homework really sucks
where is my attention span?
go write your paper!!

wedding vows

gorgeous gorgeous cover of death cab for cutie.

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a long time ago - i was really big in my poetry stage - i found this poem and decided i was going to use it for my wedding vows.  every time i find it again in all the clutter that is my stuff, i like it even more.  it's beeeeautiful:


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
                                          i fear
no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)
                                                                    e.e. cummings


are you crying yet?

from here

school. will it never end?

i just finished my first week of school.  i have only 4 classes, which is a record low for me! 
my semester goals:

• get a's in all your classes
• do p90x every day, and if you miss a day, you have to do that day and the next day, or you start over at day 1 again.
• this goal is getting revised. 
• now it is:  get through one entire week of p90stupidx
• or it maybe should be revised as:  get past day 3 of p90patooeyx
• go running at least 3 times a week
• clean your house!  (which is 98% clean right now!  only one more small corner of my living room left!)

i think 4 is enough for now.

from here, randomly

i believe this is how i will be spending my semester.

haiku of the day

maybe i should just

not act like a haiku-er

no way! they're funnnnnnyyy!!!