I Don't Think You're Ready for This Jelly

It was a good week of sports and my body doesn't feel terrible. Cierra balled up, Palmer got taken to school, and our city league is getting there. However, I came to a realization this weekend when I was camping. When sleeping on an air mattress in a car is more comfortable than your own bed, there is a problem. So I bought myself an air mattress. We'll see how that goes. 

Brandi and I also made so many friends with our Starburst-roasting technique. We just sat by the fire the whole night, whittled some real good pokers, and just asked everyone who came near us if they wanted to try something incredible and dangerous. 13/15 people say it's life-changing.

NAU DPT 2020 at GOBig (last week). 

Normally I really enjoy my cadaver lab, but this week was super frustrating. Still drained from our tests last week and preparing for more - on the longest day of the week - our body had some persistant adhesions. Never fear, Lab 1A is still CLUTCH.

You know who else is clutch? The Sox. Almost killed me on Friday with the 18-inning game, but we made it through. During our practical exam this week, I told my patient that any Dodgers fans needed an extra cognitive/psychological exam and he said Guess who just failed their practical? It's good to talk smack. It's even better when your team backs you up.

The only reason I participated is because Brandi suggested
we do some Red Sox carving.

A surprise for our teacher on Monday. 

Katelyn and I shadowed together at the Peaks on Wednesday - an inpatient nursing facility. It was alright, we got to see some evaluations and some dank wounds get suctioned. I met a delightful man who had trouble hearing and another woman who was hilarious.

I noticed that the PT with whom I was working missed several opportunities to joke around and connect with several of the patients. Which kind of threw me off. She was very professional the whole time and I wondered if that was her personality or a coping mechanism because she doesn't work with consistent patients or what. But it made me think a little, since that's such a natural reaction of mine.

Bimonthly movie night the First. 

Including some sketch pumpkin carvings. 

Finally we actually had a movie night that we'd been trying to plan for a while. We made these humans hang out with us all night and they weren't even mad. We carved pumpkins and had floats and we watched She's the Man - which is a classic, for those missing out. 'Twas a good time. Until my power steering went out. Again.

Sunday morning I met up with Lindsey's BFF from Colorado and we had a delightful brunch of French toast and OJ. Then I hung out with our other PT friend Hannah and listened to Brandi's talk in Sacrament together. The Lord asked for 2 hours a week, and I'm doubling it today. #DoDamage.

The Crew #demBois

P-A-R-T-Y

POOdendals

If you've ever studied so hard that eat and sleep your subject, you understand my week. Every second was spent studying anatomy - drawing on boards, teaching and reteaching, going through app layers, touching and quizzing on cadavers, attending reviews, and dreaming the arterial routes through the body. It was finally over by 1pm on Friday and I slept for four hours afterwards.

In my limited (forced) spare time, I still tried to play sports as much as possible. Our volleyball team is improving and actually did pretty well this week - with Sam as labero and me at middle. Crushed it. (Ok, ok, we won HALF our games, which is still a big improvement from none/4).

I love this. 

It was my last neuro clinic this week and we were sad to have to officially discharge our patient (who will actually continue here for several years, probably). He's a great guy and has made some enormous strides.

Friday night, there was a Halloween dance at the institute, so I woke up for that. It was...subpar. (I mean, compared to the bangers I've been to, lol.) But I showed off my costume, danced it up, and started an impromptu Halloween conga line (#highlight).

This is my DUMBLEBORA THE EXPLORER. 

GO BIG! for Parkinson's happened this weekend as well. Despite not mentioning it much, there's been a lot of prep work for this 2K/5K/10K that benefits Parkinson's research. I ran the 5K, which had some ridiculous hills, and only felt like I was gonna throw up a little bit. I did steal a whole lot of granola bars and then I went home and slept some more while icing my knees.

I'm so proud they held me up for this long. 

The crew headed down to PHX for a temple trip, including Sam, Brandi, and Chase (a v recent RM). We were super speedy (despite the temple ladies telling me they were "over-booked") and hit up La Familia Mexicana for some enchiladas that I could literally eat every day ever and still be happy.

This is the cutest kid and he's getting baptized soon. 

Then, since we were in the area, we hit up a DV Halloween fiesta. BUT FIRST, we needed to take Chase shopping for a new shirt. He hated it and by that I mean loved it. Also, he's colorblind so that grass looks orange to him. Weird. We went to the middle of nowhere and ate candy and had some good chats and I reconnected with old friends and we introduced Chase to the new music to get him jumpstarted back into real life.

Then, because I didn't get enough of the temple, I drove the missionaries and some investigators down to a fireside in the chapel that shares a parking lot. I got back at midnight and am still recovering. I am getting so old.

Watch Me Nay Nay

Some sneaky bacteria infiltrated my immune system without even asking. The audacity. It just makes me sick. Literally. All week, I couldn't breathe.

So I just exercised ONCE a day instead of twice. (Usually.) The volleyball team needed me (and Sam, my delightfully cranky freshman counterpart who crushes). We still lost, but we're getting better. And I had to play basketball or else I'd just get wrecked - at school and church. And also Lizzie and Nazgul asked if they could join my lifting sessions 3x/week, so I couldn't just miss those.

My classmates are clutch. Also love the Chummy Mummy Challenge 2018. 

Also, maybe I performed poorly on my Epi and Patho exams, but I'm over it. I had a couple of VERY helpful study sessions with Lindsey, Katelyn, and Taylor. And I had some common sense left even if my thinking processes were...muddled.

Also, I went hot tubbing a LOT to help clear it all out. Brandi joined me and we only got kicked out once and nobody got raped walking home. Win-win-win.

Zoom it in, boys. 

Despite the fact that I couldn't really breath, neuro clinic was still a blast because my 2nd year partners actually let me participate. Love. Also our patient is hilarious.

Friday night was the long-awaited Watch Me Nay-Nay (talent show). I was impressed. We had a few technical issues, but some GREAT acts. The karate kid chopped through straight up concrete, the singing dog lady has a wonderful voice, Jace & co. had a funny number, and Jake is actually really good at the piano (that chump). I emceed and did a little number, but was disappointed that JJ couldn't get off work for our rap battle.

Saturday was a blast. One of our pseudo-teachers, Jason, is an LAT and works gigs on weekends occasionally. He invited me out to a rugby tournament and it was super fun. Especially having him there, it made me less nervous. And also once I get going, I remember that I actually know what I'm doing. 10/10 would do again, even if the rain and cold were absolutely miserable. Great way to spend a weekend and make some quick money.

Not all of us have displayable talents, but all are appreciated. 

Living the Life: the good news

I have friends now who will play sports with me. Most of them are my teachers, but they're right about my level - in skill and cartilage deterioration. I've got basketball 3 days a week and volleyball twice. And apparently I'm now including 2 other girls in my gym workouts 3x/week. But I ice my knees so often that they're doing pretty good.

My three weeks of Neuro clinic started this week. The team of second years I'm working with are pretty chill and so is our patient. We had a good time and I felt pretty comfortable doing stuff, even if it was new. I was made for this profession. And that's a good feeling.

I still feel pretty behind after missing most of last week for the wedding. I've got 4 tests, 6 assignments, and a few presentations coming up pretty quick. One of those is a video project that turned out pretty dang good, so get excited (if you're a huge nerd).

Love this guy. 

JJ introduced me to Victoria this week, who also loves bread. We made a ton of banana bread and pumpkin bread at the Welcome Center this week and shared it. It was right before my volleyball game, so I had to grab and dash, but it was dang good.

NAU's PT program is big on Parkinson's research, so we've been raising money for a while, leading up to a big race this month. But this week, we had a fundraiser at Panda Express. I hit that up orange chicken real quick and Brandi and I watched Ocean's 8. Pretty good. Although I expected more of a struggle.

Next Friday is our talent show, where not only am I emceeing, but I am doing a James Cordon-style rap battle with ma guy JJ. We've had fun writing some stuff and I'm hype for this to go down.

General Conference. The church is true. And who else is hype for two-hour church? Next up: two hour general conference, please. Ten hours is a lot, but even the women's session was pretty good. But getting that kind of spiritual tidal wave always leaves me exhausted.

Times are changing. In the best way. #efficiency