Merry Two Days After Christmas!

It felt very strange to get home relatively early tonight. I was scheduled to get off at 11 and I was out by 11:15. Which is pretty remarkable considering we were there till 3:30 A.M. last night setting the floor for the big sale today. There were five of us that stuck it out and then my manager Harmony took us out for breakfast at Denny's. We had this hilarious waitress, we were the only ones in there. I got home at 10 to 5, and I was so hyped up I decided to deice everyone's cars. I'm not really sure why I felt compelled to do this, I guess I was in a generous mood. I wound up standing outside Denny's myself hacking the ice off my car with a shoe. And I know I am woefully unprepared for winter weather, but how was I supposed to know my car would freeze over while I was inside working? Snow is OK, but ice sucks. Anyway, getting off my winter diatribe, I work 8 hours tomorrow because I picked up someone's shift, but I only have singles for the rest of the week after that. It feels very strange. But I guess that means I won't have to worry about Jack Frost as much, huh?

Is it possible...

to go insane through being forced to listen to really bad covers of Christmas songs? I'll have to let you know on that one, but right now I am leaning towards yes.... I did finish buying for everybody, now I just have to wrap, that's about half done. Ho, ho, ho indeed. The family starts invading tomorrow, namely my grandparents, and they'll keep trickling in until Christmas Day. I can't believe it's almost Christmas already. I also can't believe how hard I worked today, now that I am sitting down it's hitting me, so TTFN!

Hangin' Tough

I think I have the worst timing in the world. I was nice and picked up a shift today for someone, and then I already had an evening shift. I was on call for the shift in between, so I just stayed. which means I worked a triple. I didn't really feel it while I was at work but driving home I did. I'm sure it didn't help that they had to haul me off from work last night in an ambulance. Again. Anaphylactic shock sucks. It could have been worse, I guess, my manager was able to keep it quiet. They came to the back door. They were really nice this time (it was a different county and different ER since I was at work). They kept insisting that I needed to get into the fresh air,which I couldn't understand, but once I was able to to, I explained that if BBW was going to kill me (i.e. from something I breathed in there), it would have after a month. I freaked out everybody at work, but Harmony, my manager, was really great, she was like, Get back to work, staring isn't going to help her. That was not the place I would have chosen to have an allergic reaction, but everybody was really concerned today and I was able to joke about it, so I guess it turned out OK overall. I am so glad I have this job, though, I'm really enjoying it now. Anyway, I have another triple on Tuesday, but tomorrow I only have one shift. The rest of the week is doubles. But it's all good, keeps me earning, busy and out of trouble. Mostly.

Hansel and Gretel

I have never seen so many Styrofoam pellets before. For some reason, BBW thinks it’s a good idea to send two candles in this massive box filled with Styrofoam. It’s like hunting for buried treasure. And afterwards you get to stuff it into trash bags and haul it off to the trash compactor. And just in case we forgot how to get to the back door, there was a little trail of Styrofoam nuggets to lead the way...
I worked a double today and my legs are exhausted, but it was OK. Everybody was in a giddy mood and we seemed to be laughing the whole time. Between the shifts I was assigned and the ones I picked up, I work every night next week and 4 doubles. Hopefully this means they like the job I’m doing and not just the fact that I am one of the few seasonal associates who knows what she is doing (some people just started this week). Oh, and y’all can call me Wild Thing now....

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It's supposed to get to 22 tonight. I know those in the north think I'm a wimp, which I am. But that is why I can never leave the South- I'd freeze to death!
Anyway, I finally got my wireless coneection working here at the house, I hope. I missed the Internet! I have to work every night this week, plus I picked up two shifts so I will be working a double two days. I'm enjoying it more, mostly because I've learned a lot more about it, so I don't make a fool of myself too much anymore! I also met a cool lady from Peru, she goes by Milli (I can't spell her real name!) and she is going to help me practice my Spanish, so that will be cool. The extra hours are good since I blew 75 dollars on presents today. I told everybody to pick out whatever they wanted and I'd get it for them, which isn't how I normally buy presents, but with the discount it isn't too bad. I also picked out something for Little Bit (I couldn't resist!)- a shampoo bar from Burt's Bees. I thought it was a neat concept since that way it won't drip in the baby's eyes or anything. It's nice, though, because I'm halfway done with my shopping, I have a few people that still need to pick things. It's one stop shopping!
I am off to go turn the heat up cause I am sitting here shivering. Ciao, y'all!

Finis!

As I am sure you are all so anxious to know, my finals are over! That's right, no more whining about how much I have to study and all that. Anyway, Spanish was ok, she metioned that no one in her other class had made an A, but I wrote this really beautiful essay on it. The topic was that it was 2025 and you were giving a speech on all your accomplishments. I had a very fruitful life- I went to Duke (with my friend Meka, which she found amusing), did my residency at Emory, met a great man and had two kids, and was appointed as a liason to the governor. Yay me! Statistics today went well also. But it wasn't as exciting as going to Duke...

Why the Cheesy Popcorn Isn't Cheesy

I hadn't planned to post today, but I wanted to share yet another example of how truly unobservant I am. I bought a new kind of popcorn the other day that was supposed to be Double Cheese, and when I tried it, I thought, Hmm, doesn't taste very cheesy. But I ate it anyway cause I hate to waste stuff. Today I was consolidating my food and when I took the popcorn out of the box I discovered the cheese packets that I was supposed to put on the popcorn to make it cheesy. So that is why the cheese popcorn wasn't cheesy. Why am I sharing this? Well, I thought it was funny, and figured while I was laughing at myself I might as well let y'all in on the fun.
As for the parts of my life that are actually important, i.e. school, all I will say about the chemistry exam is that I am really glad it's over. I went and got ice cream afterwards, not exactly what I wanted since they ran out of cones, but I satisfied my craving. I still have Spanish and statistics to go, but I am nearing the finish line!

Strong Medicine

The previous picture was taken two years ago as part of a my series of senior pictures. Considering I was 2 weeks out of knee surgery, they turned out pretty well. Hope you like.
I am watching Strong Medicine currently and thought I'd share a little more about it. I don't like most so-called medical dramas (with the notable exception of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman), especially ER; I always end up sitting in front of the TV yelling at their mistakes. I got started on Strong Medicine this summer; it's a Lifetime original series produced by Whoopi Goldberg. I think their purpose is to educate women on common health issues, and they do it well, presenting the facts within an interesting drama. Kind of like ER tries to do. Anyway, the doctors do handle more cases that would ordinarily be assigned to specialists, and some of the less mainstream practices I am not sure I believe in, but overall, it's an interesting, accurate, and entertaining show.
And now that I have bored the rest of you who could care less about Strong Medicine and/or Lifetime to tears...a little about my day. It didn't start off too great because I couldn't get into the system and get the practice tests for my genetics final. I think I did OK on it, I just don't know if I did well enough. On the other hand, I had to meet with one of my advisors yesterday and I told her that my grades weren't going to be great this semester casue of the 6 trips to the ER, et cetera, and she was pretty encouraging. At one point I said, It's not like I can't do it and she was immediately like, I know you can do it. So that vote of confidence helped, because she does this all the time and knows when somebody is capable or not. She also thinks I should try yoga, to balance things out. I'm not too sure about that, I am a firm believer in Western medicine but I said I would think about it.
I have my organic chemistry final tomorrow. Although I am feeling a little more confident about it now, I have a lot of work to do and I am not looking for any miracles. I will just be really glad when it's over. Hope that's enough to keep y'all informed for now.

Senior Picture 

I'm studying. Really.

But I have to take a break to entertain all the new people who have come here, right? Anyway, my manager was OK, once I finally got a hold of her. She was really busy so she was just like "I'll take care of it don't worry about it bye." So it's cool.
I only have sociology tomorrow, which is my easiest exam. I haven't seen either of the episodes of Strong Medicine, one of my favorite shows, tonight so I am taping them. One's new and one's a repeat. It's a Lifetime original series, it's a drama but all the medical details are right. I mostly watch Discovery Channel, I don't really like ER that much becaue I end up yelling at the stuff they get wrong. And yes, I watch too much TV but I have to get all my useless knowledge from somewhere.
I seem to be rambling on without a point, as per usual, so I am going to go work on the sciology extra credit. ¡Adios por ahora!

Work

I've been working at Bath and Body Works since Thanksgiving week. They hire a lot of people for the holiday season. Anyway, I like it, I really do, the people are cool. But they kind of just threw us in there, we had a couple of hours of videos and that was it as far as training. I still feel like I have no clue what I am doing but apparently the fact that I've been there more than twice means I'm qualified to show the people even newer than me what to do. So I'm like OK, I dunno what I'm doing here, but follow me anyway. And I made a total fool of myself today, but I did that on my own. I am not the most observant person in the world and I didn't realize one woman spoke sign language. I felt so bad. But on the other hand, I was able to rescue my new coworker when she didn't know the answer to something and I did. Go me. I just hope my manager will be nice and let me out of the shifts she wasn't supposed to schedule me for in the first place next week cause of finals. It's not my fault, since I told them when I was hired I would need those days off, but I hate to make trouble. But I don't have a choice, I have to take my exams. Unfortunately.
On a lighter note, I recently found a new music source- Joss Stone. I got interested in her when I watched the new Band Aid video and now I'm watching her "You Had Me" video. She's from the U.K., I don't think they play her much here. One of her songs plays at BBW, but they play the same stuff over and over and you get sick of it even if you like it. It's not this one though, which is awesome.
Anyway, since I don't have to work tomorrow (which would be better than working during an exam like they want me to), I am going to either study or sleep. Probably both at the same time.

Go Me!

I got a 95 on my Spanish oral presentation! I was so excited when I saw that because I was so nervous doing it but turns out I did really well on it, so I should be able to do well in there since that was 10 percent of our grade.
Right now I am watching the video for the new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" It's really good, I wish I could buy it but they aren't releasing it here in the U.S, just in the U.K. The original version was released in 1984; I have that on the Now Christmas CD. I don't remember what the original one's proceeds went to but this one is going to help people in the Sudan. I'm sure I could find it online on Amazon or something but it would be expensive to do it there. It has Dido and Paul McCartney and a bunch of British people I don't know singing it. Good stuff.
Hopefully finals will go ok, the only one I'm really worried about is organic chemistry. I have sociology first which is ridiculously easy for me, it isn't even cumulative. I'm going to have to really work on organic chemistry since whatever grade I get on the final will be the grade in the class; I know it will be higher than my cumulative grade. A lot of my friends are dropping premed cause it's getting hard. More power to them, it isn't for everybody. I know it's going to be hard and yeah I whine about it a lot, but it's what I want to be. I honestly can't see myself doing anything else for the rest of my life. So I keep plugging away and hopefully I will make it!