excitement – Imaginary Sunshine

Twenty-seven

Michelle — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 08:05:22 +0000

I wrote this a couple a days ago, as I wanted to reflect a little bit on the whole turning “twenty-seven” thing. That and I have to work a day shift on my actual birthday – which means waking up early and then going to sleep early because I’ve got a day shift the next day too (lame).

This will be the first year that I have a permanent full time job, which is pretty exciting. A lot has changed in the last year. I changed jobs (casual to full time, different hospitals), I bought a car (and now have a lovely monthly car payment), I moved out of my parents’ house, and I’m doing okay. It’s weird having a job and an income now because it means that I have money that I can use to buy things, and can afford (in theory) to go places. Or something like that.

Over the next year, I’d love to do a few things:

Continue with the saving for what I’m very generically referring to as The Future. This is primarily Future Home/Real Estate Purchasing. Because apparently that costs money $$.
Finish funding my emergency fund. I started this earlier this year, my goal is to reach 6mos of expenses and I’m currently halfway there.
Go on vacation. I have one trip planned (not booked) for New York City next October, and I want to include seeing a Broadway play in that as well.

Still have some growing up to do (although apparently I’m an adult now, who knew?), but we’ll see what the future holds. I do have some goals/things that I would like to do before I turn thirty, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

Twenty-six

Michelle — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 23:30:36 +0000

I turned 26 yesterday and had a wonderful day! It’s my first birthday since I started school of any sort that I’m not in school, the first birthday in a long time where I’m not juggling studying for midterms and prepping for clinical. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in my life, but in the last year I successfully completed two preceptorships, graduated from nursing school “with distinction”, wrote and passed the NCLEX, and got my foot into the door with a casual RN position. So I’d say I accomplished something over the last year!

With my family, we went to Denny’s for breakfast. I opted for a breakfast with blueberry pancakes and got my eggs sunny side up. With my friends, we went to afternoon tea at a lovely little tea salon. There was a mix of savoury and sweet food items that were a delight. It was a great atmosphere with beautiful decor and even more wonderful company. It was fun to catch up with friends. Some haven’t seen each other since my last birthday party. Many of the gifts I received were tea relate, as my friends probably could deduce that I must really like tea if I a) wanted to have my birthday celebration at a tea salon and b) have a tea blog.

The day was capped off with a great seafood (prawns!) feast with my family, and cake – because cake is the best!

I’m glad that my schedule worked out the way it did so I could celebrate my birthday on my birthday – and that others weren’t busy too!

This week on Monday & Tuesday, I have orientation (still) – but I will hopefully get my schedule for when I get my mentorship hours/shifts! My hope is that I get my mentorship hours done before too far into December so I can get placed onto the call list for the winter/holiday/flu season.

I’m still alive (and I have news!)

Michelle — Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:45:59 +0000

I haven’t blogged in forever. What have I been up to since July??

I played tour guide for visiting relatives who were in Canada for all of one week that was book ended by trans-Pacific flights, I was one of the organizers for a doll convention in August (BlytheCon Vancouver), I applied for so many jobs[1. I actually did a tally and I applied to 97 job postings!], I had an interview at the end of August (which I did very poorly on), I had a temporary office job for most of the month of September where my official title was “Sales Assistant”, I had another job interview on a late September Friday and was offered the job on the following Monday, I’ve been going through a lot of preparation for this job (it’s a casual RN position), I start orientation tomorrow and the earliest I will be getting any shifts will be November.

I am really excited about the job.

Oh, and I also started a new website/blog that’s all about tea because it’s my favourite thing! Please check it out if you like tea as well – onemoresteep.com

2015: The Plan(s)

Michelle — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 23:15:05 +0000

2015 is going to be a big(gish) year for me. There’s so much to do in the first half, that it’s a bit overwhelming:

January: Having a “no spend” month (besides: tuition, groceries, gas, regular bills). (What was I thinking?)

January-March: Preceptorship 1, temporarily move, complete 300 clinical hours. Don’t mess up.

March-May: Preceptorship 2, move back home (!), complete 300 clinical hours. Don’t mess up. Hopefully get a job. Maybe go on a (short) trip?

June: Graduate and end of my 8 year stint in the post-secondary education world. For now. Write the NCLEX and pass. Get a job. And maybe a car.

July: Attending a wedding, date TBD – yay!

August: T-Swift concert and BlytheCon Vancouver.

After August…? Who knows? The goal is to have 2/3 of my student loans paid off before I finish school in May, and then to do a family loan to cover the last 1/3 as family doesn’t charge me interest like the student loans people do. Then the real goal is to have that loan paid off before the end of 2015, so I can be debt free in 2016. Moving out (for real) is also part of the Life Plan, along with telling the parents about the Boyfriend (finally), and being a Grown-Up (whatever that looks like). Likely I will need to get a car once real life hits, because relying on transit when I’ll be working as a casual/getting called in for shifts will be a huge pain.

On nursing & moving

Michelle — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 07:54:51 +0000

The holidays have been busy with shopping, baking (gosh, all the baking!), parties, get-togethers, present wrapping, present unwrapping, more shopping (!), plenty of movie watching, and, finally, packing.

As I mentioned in my last entry, I will be temporarily moving. While it will be a very short (8.5 weeks) move, I still have things that I need to take with me. Primarily all of my nursing things (scrubs, shoes, stethoscope, books, etc.). My textbooks alone fill up one carry-on sized rolling suitcase. I may need to reevaluate this and bring them in small amounts and determine what I absolutely need to bring and what can wait until the next time I go home. I’ve made lists, because that’s what I do. Luckily, my sister has gotten internet hooked up again, and the internet company gave her a wireless router so I won’t be connected to a wall. Netflix in bed with knitting…? Or rather, paper writing[1. Yes, I still have papers to do on top of the full-time clinical hours…] in bed. Or maybe I’ll decide that working at a desk is better. All I know is that I need to bring all the chargers and electronic devices.

Where I’m relocating to is technically long-distance for me when I make calls. I internally cringed, but I determined a way to get a free long-distance package for the month of January, and then I’ll tweak my list of Canada-wide numbers to include the hospital unit number and my mentor’s number for February to further prevent long-distance charges. Student life hacks for the win.

Christmas was really fantastic in that I got quite a bit of consumables. This came in the form of chocolate, candy (primarily Skittles!), gift cards (Superstore – for gas and food! Starbucks! Clothing stores!), and then more candy. I also got yarn (!), some doll things (mostly clothes), as well as hot chocolate mixes, tea (!), stitch markers (!), more yarn, and mugs! I love mugs. I swear, when I move out (for real), the only things I’ll have in my kitchen will be mugs (soup mugs, vintage mugs, travel mugs), tea, and bakeware. Oh, and cookie cutters, I have a lot of cookie cutters… It’s a bit embarrassing, really.

I have a week left before Level 6 begins. I have orientation (at school) on the 5th and then my first 12 hour shift should be on the 6th. Excitement! New scrubs so I can go 4 shifts in a row without doing laundry! I can finally use the nice nursing clogs that I bought in September! But before then, I have to start/finish packing and celebrate New Years. I am very much looking forward to 2015 and what it means for my life & career.

Holidays! Future Thoughts!

Michelle — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 07:21:30 +0000

I am currently on holidays – sort of. I don’t have clinical or classes anymore as I’ve officially finished and passed my Level 5 term of nursing school, which makes me happy! I found out my placement already for Level 6 (I will have two 8.5 week placements), but there is a lot of preparation work to be done. Level 6 means that it’s my preceptorship (1 and 2), I’ll have a mentor for each preceptorship who will be a registered nurse who essentially supervises me and teaches me. So exciting. My first placement is well over an hour’s drive away, so I will be temporarily moving to a relative’s place for those 8.5 weeks (although I will be going to and from home as well). I’m very excited, but a bit nervous. Gaining a teeny bit of independence? What do I need to bring? I’m trying to decide how much yarn I’ll need, what food I should convince my parents to purchase for me so I won’t have to be completely independent just yet. Having literally zero income makes me pinch pennies like no tomorrow.

But I am on holidays! Technically. Officially. 25 days of no school, no clinical days. 25 days to do whatever I want, whenever I want – while still doing preparation for Level 6. 25 days. Well, 23 more days now. A few months ago I mused about going away on a trip somewhere, but then that never really took off. I’ve been on holidays since 12pm on December 10th, and I’ve been busy with crafting presents. I’m so happy with the ideas that I’ve had this year, and I’m really glad that I got quite a bit of it done in November. I knit a pair socks for my mom, and a cowl for my sister. The Boy’s gift is done, and the one for his family is almost done. I bought a present for my other sister because she asked for small kitchen gadgets (I wasn’t able to hammer out for a vegetable peeler), and then there’s my dad. I have no clue what I’m going to get him for Christmas. He isn’t very receptive to hand crafted goods, he sometimes makes comment on how ‘cheap’ it seems because it is handmade (which is sad, considering me spending time on a present for his is clearly priceless). So generic father gift is shall be, once I figure out what it is.

I’m really excited for this year’s holidays though, since next year I’ll (fingers crossed) be employed and likely working during the weekends or possibly even over Christmas. I’m very excited for 2015. It means Level 6 (my next and final term of nursing school!), it means graduation (in June), it means writing the most expensive test of my life (NCLEX-RN), it means being done my post-secondary education experience (for now?), and it means becoming a Registered Nurse and doing something that I absolutely love.

One Down, Two to Go!

Michelle — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 21:05:48 +0000

I wrote a final this morning, which was called a ‘quiz’ by the esteemed teaching staff for my course. I may have rolled my eyes more than once when they first announced that the course had 2 quizzes, and three papers, where the quizzes are each worth 35% of our final grade. In what world is a quiz worth 35%? In what world do two quizzes make up 70% of a final grade? But I digress. Because that class is done! And I couldn’t be more excited!

Which leaves me with two classes, which I actually dislike more than my specialty course (High Acuity):

Nursing Research
Professional Practice

See, I can appreciate, and I understand, the importance of both of those above courses. They’re just dull as all get out with the mountains of reading each week for both classes. I may be behind on my reading… by a lot. But now that I’m no longer studying/cramming for high acuity, I can focus on those courses. Right? Right!

In other news, I’ve been tired of this theme for a long time. Long time. But, because of my sporadic posting, I haven’t gotten the motivation to change it up. But now that I’m seeing it more often, it’s kind of motivating me to change things up a bit! My goal is to post at least once a week, because what use is a blog about my life if I don’t post about it? So expect that! I’ve also considered combining Imaginary Sunshine with one of my other websites, Chelle-Chelle.com, and just making it one big smorgasbord of posts. But I might not, because I still love both domain names. The only thing is that it takes effort to keep them updated (and we all know how much effort I’d put in so far this year…), but I will see how I feel about it. I think what they both just need is a little facelift to become a little bit more energized!

Nose bleeds are appropriately named

Michelle — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 06:49:03 +0000

So I’m sitting in bed, in front of my laptop, and I would be asleep right now if not for the fact that there seems to be a fountain of blood coming from my nose. That’s probably a bit of a hyperbole because if it were a fountain, I probably would be asleep, or at least unconscious. But I’m awake (and typing! coherently!) so clearly a fountain is an overstatement. But I digress. Holding tissues to my nose in hopes that eventually it will stop bleeding is great. I’m currently typing with one hand – what a great time to decide to blog, eh?

Yesterday was Canada Day – Happy 147th to my favourite country in the whole wide world.

Life in the World of Michelle is going well. I’m still taking 3 online classes, one of them is ending soonish, which means that I really need to be studying for that (maybe in the morning?). High acuity is going very well. I’ve gotten 100% on all 3 of my papers for that class (two were group papers, one was all me). Super pleased with that. I’m secretly brilliant? Mastermind of essay writing? Is my instructor uber-lax on the marking scheme? All of the above? My other two classes are not going as well. I’m just not that found of reading a million journal articles every week, I’m not going to lie. A million is also a hyperbole, much like fountain was earlier. It’s more like 4-6 for one class and 5-7 for the other. It really sucks. Really, really, really sucks.

But lately for me, life has been okay. I worked for 5 weeks, earned some money. I’ve been doing some odd projects here and there, working on planning a convention for next summer (super stoked about that!). I started knitting a lot more lately, even though it’s been very hot out lately. Summer temperatures are here, what I wouldn’t give right now for those horrible stereotypes about how Canadians have snow year-round to be true, just for a few hours. I’m melting here, you guys. Melting[1. Not literally.].

I got my clinical placement for the fall term. We had a choice of 13 different locations/types (choices between various cities/locations and between home health and public health). So I ranked them all – choose public health over home health, but location also placed a roll into it as well. And I got my number one choice. Of course, this means that I will be driving twice a week for my clinical placement because I picked one that I am a) unable to take public transit to and b) we are are not allowed to take public transit due to the possibility of having to travel between sites with patient files. Which means driving! In a city that I’m not that familiar with! But it’ll be okay, because I have Google Maps on my phone, and I got myself a car charger so my phone won’t die on me whilst trying to navigate myself around.

So, so, so excited for things coming soon! So excited. More on that later, after things have happened. Exciting things! Yarny things! And doll-related things!

And hey, my nose has stopped bleeding!

Another completed term

Michelle — Sat, 10 May 2014 04:19:38 +0000

I wrote my last final of my fourth term of nursing school yesterday. It’s an amazing feeling to be another term closer to the goal – graduation, becoming licensed, becoming a registered nurse. It has been an incredibly difficult fourth term. The learning curve is steeper, the depth of knowledge I’ve needed to have is a lot more than ever before. Expectations on me have risen while my own standards for myself have gone up at a stellar rate. But I got through it,through a lot of hard work and possibly more than a few sleepless nights. When I was going over my final clinical evaluation with my instructor, she told me the following “You study too much, Michelle. You work too hard.” Because nursing school, despite what it seems to do, shouldn’t be the be all and end all of my social life. Even though it is, although I did manage to make some time for friends and the boyfriend throughout the term. I don’t want to be someone who barely scraps through nursing school, and I don’t think anyone would want a nurse who did that. So I hold myself at high standards that even my fellow over-achiever classmates think are impossibly high standards.

My spring/summer classes are forthcoming. One actually started the first week of April (my school doesn’t understand what the phrase “summer” class means) while the other two will be starting on Monday, the 12th. In the meantime, I’ve been taking my instructor’s advice and just taking a break, even if it is just for a little bit.

Life, in general, has been pretty good to me. I’m confident that I’ve been able to pass all of my classes, I working on my specialty nursing certificate right now (the class I started in April goes towards that), I finally read something for fun for the first time in what seems to be ages… and I’m in a good place right now. I’ve been knitting a lot, but being absolutely horrible ta keeping my crafts blog updated. I’ve been blogging a lot, but just not there, and I’ve just been keeping busy. The chronicles of Michelle took a backseat this term because, in all honesty, the journal of me just didn’t seem to be important over things like studying, or patient research, or attempting to get to bed by 9am before a clinical day (when I woke up at 4:30am).

My plans for the summer will of course include working on my three online classes. I’m also hoping to start volunteering again, do a lot of crafting, be a little bit more active with the blogging, and, of course, spend time with friends and family. I find as I get older, it’s harder to do that. Friends move away, they start working full time or part time with odd hours, they’re still in school. And then there’s me, who doesn’t feel like hanging out at night when I’d been up since 4:30am. Is this how my life is going to look when I graduate and I’m working shift work for real? Probably. But the thing is… I love nursing. I found out this term that I really enjoy complex wound care. That’s probably a rather disturbingly morbid thing to day, but I love wound irrigation and packing wounds. Possibly the most fun thing I did throughout the entire term. I will leave you with that thought… because I can.

Winter Break (Finally!)

Michelle — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 17:30:03 +0000

I finished final exams for my third term of nursing school on Thursday and I couldn’t be more happier! This means that I’m officially halfway through the program! I’m that much closer to becoming a registered nurse and I’m still excited about my future career – this is how I know that I made the right decision with this program/profession/career choice. It was this or actually, you know, using my first degree. But then I’d be working in a lab or something for the rest of my life, and that’d just make me sad.

But you guys – I’m that much closer to becoming an RN. This is the dream. Next term, I’ll be on a medical or surgical ward. Then I’ll be in community or public health in August-December. And then come January 2015? My last term of nursing school. I get to have a say in what kind of ward(s) I’ll be on and, even better, I get paid to do it. Real money! Income! My income may be higher than my expenses for the first time since my first university experience! This is awesome! I’m likely to request my preceptorships to be in: surgical (post-operative), emergency or… pediatrics. I fell in love with pediatrics during my rotation. Sick babies, toddlers, young kids, teenagers. It’s such a different feeling and I loved it. But I only get two different preceptorship spots, so I’m likely going to choose surgical and emergency. This is because pediatrics is a specialty (more so than the others, although emergency/trauma is one too…) and I’d lose some of the skills that I could develop early on in a medical or surgical ward.

The last few weeks have been full of knitting, jewellery making and studying. Oh, and drinking Chai tea lattes. I’m honestly half-convinced that I am made of Chai tea at times. I’ve recently made the switch at home from regular tea (typically a green tea or Orange Pekoe) to hot chocolate, which also meant that I had to make the switch from my usual mug to this one:

Why yes, my snowman mug that wants you to believe in the magic of Christmas does have a hat for a cover! It’s the most awesome thing ever. I only use it in the month of December. You know, to preserve the magic of the holidays. And because it holds a decent amount of hot chocolate.

My plans for the holidays include a lot of baking (shortbread, sugar cookies – iced and uniced, (cup)cakes, and possibly a pie or two. I love holiday baking! As well as some reading (for fun), knitting and crocheting (holiday gifts) and possibly making some more jewellery. I actually made quite a bit during the term (21 pairs of earrings and 1 bracelet), so I may not. But my holiday plans do not include going shopping for presents as I already finished that. Back in November. Last year I didn’t do any present shopping until I was done finals and it was just awful. This year I learned from that mistake and got it done early.

Hopefully I’ll be better at blogging during my break, fingers crossed!