Oh GEMMA!:
Here are the rules:
1. Take a picture of yourself.. riiiiiight.. NOW!
2. DO NOT change your clothes. DO NOT fix your hair.. Just take a picture.
3. Post that picture with NO editing.
4. Post these instructions with your picture.
5. Tag 10 people to do this and leave their pics as a comment (or email me or post on your own blog)!
This picture is courtesy of Gemma. Thanks A LOT! haha. I initially intended for this blog to be about the New Year, and my new goals, but the rules called for a picture to be taken RIGHT NOW.
Some time ago I saw a duck towel at Pottery Barn Kids, and I've always wanted one. This year, on my birthday, I finally got one! I normally use it more as a half blanket instead of a towel, and on this particular morning there is dorky evidence of it posted on the internet. Again, thanks Gemma.
Goals for 2009:
In 2008 I wrote the following goals: Go to Europe, finish my stupid thesis, keep up this blog, write more songs, do more gigs, stress less, go skydiving. I am lucky enough to have gone to Europe in 2008. I also had my research approved, kept up this blog, written more songs, and performed at some gigs. I'm canceling out sky diving since I added that goal mid-year, and I failed at stressing less. Maternity and Pediatrics kicked my butt this past semester, and I have to admit there was quite a bit of stressing. Although, I did stress less about things outside of school which is a huge improvement.
Now, I reveal to you, my goals for 2009:
Graduate
Visit a foreign country (UK or Australia maybe?)
Learn to play the ukulele
Lose 10 pounds
Use my bike at least once a week (after rainy season)
Use my camera more
My Brother:
Just for the heck of it my brother and I went to the Berkeley dock, and I took some pictures. I love my camera. It does the job, but I think I'll upgrade within the year.
It was a successfully fun trip to Vegas. It was great to see my buddies from my Eurotrip again. While I had a great time hanging out, my feet are still punishing me from the hours of trekking up and down the strip, and the walking on heels. It was freezing cold in Vegas. We nearly missed all the fun and excitement due to the snow. The Vegas airport was closed the day before our flight was schedule to leave, but thankfully the snow melted away by the following day and off we went.
There were a lot of shenanigans, shopping, and cracking up over our 3.5 day stay in Vegas. We stayed with our friend Emily who lives in Vegas, and she took us EVERYWHERE. We partied it up at Hard Rock, hung around the outlets, saw a Mystere, "built" a gingerbread house, and spent some time on Fremont. Fun times.
I consider these to be the highlights of the trip:
Richard Macdonald Exhibit
We tried to grab some tickets to watch O, but O wasn't playing until after Christmas. We saw Mystere instead. On our way to grabbing tickets, we came upon an exhibit by Richard Macdonald. I have never been the type to say, "Oh yeah, that's worth the ridiculous amount of dollars they're charging," but in this case, I really did feel that the pieces of art were worth it. I was blown away. It was absolutely beautiful.
Gingerbread House Building
OK, I was only there for half of the process, but it was still fun. Five people failed at something that should have taken one person to put together. My friend Emily put the very same model together with some 5 year olds. How hilariously sad for us.
Mystere
I would have to say that I liked Kooza a bit more than Mystere. Mystere is supposed to be the first of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, and it seems that the producers have significantly built upon the original, but it was still entertaining. There were bits and pieces of it that were just beautiful.
Hanging out with friends
Of course this was the best part of the trip! It's always fun to hang out with crazy friends. Memorable bits:
- "WHY SO SERIOUS?" - Drunk Jenn
- Drunk sprinting Christine
- Henley
Relief:
I am through with this semester. Thank heavens! It was the most text heavy semester by far. There was a lot of work, and a lot of stress, but it's over. That's a total of 2 ATI's, 9 exams, 1 stupid boring concert, 1 research proposal, 1 thesis lit review, 8-9 care plans, and countless hours of reading and dollars spent at Starbucks.
Random Gigs:
Audiology had a last minute gig put together, with the help of my friend George, in North Beach last Thursday. It had to have been one of the most random gigs we've done to date. We were the house band for an amateur comedian night at Grant & Green. The comedians were NOT funny. It was so UNfunny, in fact, that it turned out to be quite hilarious, just on accident. Some of the comedians got mad at us for not laughing, but we really tried! There was a certain point in the evening where everything was funny though. At least we received free drinks as the house band for the night, so that was enjoyable.
Partying with nurses:
After all the craziness of finals and Audiology's random gig, I headed to Poleng to party with some awesome future nurses. I don't think I've seen that many nurses in one place, and that includes lectures. It was a blast! With the free drinks from Grant & Green added to the drinks at Poleng, the following morning did not turn out to be nearly as fun.
Other Randomness:
After a gig on Saturday, I went to hang out with some friends I don't get to see very much. It was my friend Marie's daughter's christening/1st birthday party, and it was a good excuse to get everyone together. It turns out, all my friends who are well into their 20s are still kids. We played glow in the dark miniature golf, stole tokens that were intended for the smaller children so we can play ski-ball and the like, and I was also an accessory to an arcade crime (Noel and his girlfriend found a game where tickets would just continually come out if you pulled at it. They totaled nearly 3000 tickets at the end). I saw this at the glass case with all the prizes in it, and thought about how inappropriately funny it was:
Winter break is so close I could freaken taste it! Last week consisted of a maternity ATI, a pediatrics ATI, and a literature review final for my thesis. I had my maternity final today, and Wednesday awaits with a pediatrics final. It seems so close, and yet so far away. The pediatrics final is about 200 pages of reading. I must admit, I'm a little nervous. Nursing is kicking my butt this semester. Although, this semester has the reputation of being the hardest in any university's nursing program, so I guess it's SUPPOSED to be this difficult. Send me your positive thoughts for Wednesday!
For those of you who I have neglected this semester, my apologies. Winter break is almost here, and I'll catch up with you soon.
My brain cannot wait to get a decent break! "Where's the best place to rest your brain," you ask? Why, Vegas of course! Christine, Jenn, Dan, and I are heading to Vegas on the 18th to meet up with the other awesome people we met on our Euro trip. I can't wait to have everyone together again!
On a totally unrelated and random note: PACQUIAO WON! That was such a great victory for Manny Pacquiao on Dec. 6th! Hooray for him, but I must say I am saddened by what he did to Oscar De La Hoya's face. He was so pretty prior to the fight.
Lastly, I should comment on a silly thing I saw the night of the Pacquiao/De La Hoya fight. I saw the fight at a family friend's house where tons of other Filipinos gathered to cheer for a major Filipino international celebrity. For those of you who don't know, Filipinos like to have tons load of food at their parties. Ridiculous amounts. This house party was no different. The thing that was unusual was this:
The odd thing was, I thought, "That is the very reason I need a labeler!" A few short seconds after I took this picture, someone put food in without a cover, and I said, "I think they're pretty serious about having to cover your food! It says STOP twice!" He laughed and still did it, so I busted him out. haha.
My father, to put it nicely, is interesting. The other day, my brother found me online and said, "You'll never guess what Dad just said!" Others would probably make a few guesses, but the things my father comes with can sometimes be so out there that I don't even try to guess anymore. On that particular day, my father's theory, in summary, was that Barack Obama is the precursor to the anti-christ. Just a precursor, you ask? Yes, because my father thinks the anti-christ is going to come out of Syria for some reason. How am I related to this person? A few other things he's said in the past:
- Palin is brought by God
- Global warming is something the liberals made up
- Obama is not a real Christian
- Evolution is not real (p.s.: my father is a bacteriologist, and he's seen bacteria evolve.)
- We're America we should be able to take what we want
- Don't adopt a black child (in relation to a conversation I was having with him about my consideration of possibly adopting a child one day).
No, people, he was not kidding. I'm almost tempted to send him this Christmas greeting:
