Meanderings of the Mind

Breathing is all it takes to be a miracle. --from the movie Garden State

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Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States

I was recently relocated to Chattanooga by the Postal Service due to the closing of the Remote Encoding Center I worked at in Bowling Green, KY. I had just started my first semester at WKU majoring in Nursing. Since I had recently built a house, my options were to get a lower paying job and lose my house or to move and rent my house out until I have my degree. I chose the latter. I've travelled throughout Europe with my friends and sisters which I consider the highlight of my life experiences to date. I come from a family of 6 kids--4 girls and 2 boys ranging in ages 18 to 34. Only my youngest brother is married at this point.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Vacation time is here

I'm finally on vacation for real. I worked Saturday night until 11:00 then headed for Kentucky. When some of my coworkers heard I was driving all the way to Kentucky after work, they were rather alarmed. I told them that it really shouldn't be a big deal. I'd be there by 2:00 a.m. and I've been working until at least 3:00 a.m. for the last two weeks so my body is used to being up that late. They hadn't really thought about it that way but agreed I was right.

Of course, today I'm dead tired. You can't just come in at 2:00 in the morning and go to sleep. Sharon and I talked for 2-3 hours before we could settle down so it was a little hard to get up and go to church. Kris and Jo were already sleeping when I got here. Kris was a little peeved that we talked without her presence. It's a sister thing--you have to know everything that was said.

I've been totally enthralled by my niece who is a lot more responsive than when I saw her soon after she was born. I think 6 months (almost) is the perfect age. They don't have a fear of strangers and they coo and smile and just make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

As is normal with my family, our topics of conversation touched on the macabre. In particular, we discussed making wills in the event of our deaths and who would get custody of Selena should her parents expire. So now I must make it a priority to make a will because one never knows. I might not have a child for whom to arrange custody, but I do have my house which is as close as I get.

On my way up here last night/this morning, I got so totally sick of Christmas music. I've been listening to mostly Christmas music on my long 12 hours per night at work mixed in with some Josh Groban, Il Divo, Oprah, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Jeopardy, the news, and an occasional ESPN broadcast. So when I saw a highway sign about calling 511 for travel information, I did. I amused myself for about 45 minutes going through all the menu options for Tennessee then being transferred to the Kentucky system and going through that menu. I finally wearied of that and returned to Christmas music for the last 10 miles or so.

I'm already being bombarded with e-mails from next semester's professors, and I just can't make myself pay any attention to it. I've come about as close to being burned out as is possible without actually burning out. My favorite classmate told me she's come to the point where she just no longer cares about her grades as long as she passes. I must say, I'm almost there. Who wants to go to grad school anyway? I doubled my total number of B's this semester and I can't do more than just a minor wince.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually developed hypertension this last semester. I decided I'm not invincible and my professors are right--it's just not healthy to work more than 20 hours (if that) while going to nursing school. Not that I can do anything about that for right now, but I do concede their point. Maybe with my reduced caffeine intake and my increased (hopefully) sleep time, I can push the BP back to a normal range for a couple of months before it gets crazy again.

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