Tick Tock.

2 days until I am back in Utah for a 5 day weekend. Excited.

Updates....

This past weekend, my dad came into town to drop off my grandma a new car. You should have seen her face when she saw it. She was in shock and oh so excited. She expected something similar to her 1988 Toyota Camry that she recently sold for $100 (but we loved that car, so much)....This car was a 2009 Aveo. Light blue, gorgeous. I was so happy for her. We had a family dinner and surprisingly, my Uncle and his family were there, as well as my Aunt whom I haven't seen in over 2 years (long story). My little cousin was there, too. He is 5. Oh, Christopher, how I love you. We played a lot. I absolutely love playing with little kids and watching them grow. I can't wait until I either a) have some of my own to play with and b) work with lots of them at a hospital/clinic, whichever comes first.

(it took about 15 minutes of chasing him down for this picture...He said "Can you please send this to Matthew?" (my brother)")

Seeing my family is something I really look forward to and love, especially since I live away from home permanently now. My dad dropped off some of my clothes for fall. I love fall weather. It's starting to cool down here as of yesterday, but it's raining now. I ran a lot of errands today in the rain. It feels good to be productive and get things done.

My family recently switched to AT&T due to Verizon Wireless customer service being unprofessional, unfriendly and ridiculous. So far, my experience with AT&T representatives has been nothing but positive. They are so nice and helpful. It's been great. I now have an iPhone that I'm obsessed with. I'm a complete nerd with it; I've downloaded 3 applications for nursing to help me with my job: an RN help guide, IV drip rate calculation, and a medcalc app. Lovely.

I've found something to occupy my time until October 25th. I am going to be volunteering for Room to Grow, an organization that collects clothing/toys for children ages 0-3 living in poverty. Sadly, I will only be sorting clothes and toys, indirectly helping these children. I'm pretty sure the woman over the phone thought I was a tiny bit overqualified. I am excited to help, though.

I can't wait to start nursing again. I feel like such a nerd saying that. I just love talking to the patients and helping them get better. I'm sure I'll be complaining about my busy schedule later on, but right now the compassionate side of me is kicking in. I think I realized how much I missed nursing when I went to the nursing home with Jackson. Talking to Norma and helping her get into bed was one of the highlights of my week (and I'm happy it was with you, Jackson ;) ha). Even if it was something so simple like that. This sounds so ridiculous, but seeing a med cart and nurses with stethoscopes, ah I just wanted to be there and help out with them. I'm so grateful to have passed my boards on my first try and to be a registered nurse. And especially to have my Bachelor's. I'm not trying to brag, it just feels great and it's such an accomplishment for me. A huge goal in my life is complete.

Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville

Cabin Fever.

I'm about to turn into Jack Nicholson from The Shining.

That is all.

Rage, Part 2.

If you don't want to read about my woes with the New York State Board of Nursing, please feel free to skip.

Ed and I at the NYS Board of Nursing, Office of Professions had gotten to be good friends. He sounds like he's about ready to retire, and is very blunt about the disorganization of the Board of Nursing. We've talked about three times on the phone. He checks things for me, only to tell me that my license has not been approved yet and does not know why. What he neglected to tell me was that he was not the man I should be talking to. Until today. He gave me the right extension number, and off I went, never to talk to Ed again.

Extension 280....I call. A woman answers the phone who is kind (I'll give her that). I tell her I sent in my application on August 3rd, had been calling, called the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing, everyone did their part, so everything should be in.
Her response: "Oh. The reason we didn't approve your application was because page 4 of Form 1 wasn't notarized. Re-apply. We're 6 to 8 weeks behind in opening mail, so make sure you call us every few days so that we can look for it in the mail."

You know what I'm not cool with? The fact that they received and opened this piece of mail on August 6th, 2010. They realized the mistake, that I'm sure others had made before me. It is now September 23, 2010. A month and a half later. I wasn't notified that my application wasn't approved. Did they just assume I'd know? Let me clarify that there were about FIVE applications that I had to fill out. So it was a total guessing game as to which one was prolonging the approval. Was it the Child Abuse Check? The Penn State Education Verification? The Pennsylvania License Verification? The two applications to apply for licensure in NY State?
I'm glad I know the phone number to the NYS Board of Nursing by heart now, along with the zip code of the office. Just some more useless knowledge.

Cross your fingers that I have my license by the middle of October, or else I'm homeless.

Okay, ending rant.

Rage.

Maybe my hormones are out of control today, I'm not sure what..But a couple things have been pissing me off.

First of all:
I'm waiting in line to refill my subway card. There were 2 women having quite a bit of trouble using the machine ; they were international and obviously have never used a metro card booth before. I'm patient for these people; I know what it's like to have used it for the first time, I've been a tourist too. The man in back of me, however did not like this. He stood there, a man in his early 30's, his iPod buds in his ears, reeking of alcohol, in businessmen attire and started yelling at these women. Swearing like I've never heard someone swear before. I got scared, but most of all I got angry. It took me so much energy to hold my tongue. My heart was racing. A few girls started yelling back at him for disrespecting these young women who were European and couldn't speak up for themselves completely. He yelled back that he paid his taxes and deserved to be first in line, in front of these women. "Welcome to America," he yelled to them in the angriest voice I've heard in a long time.
What a great example of an American citizen to these European women.
You don't yell at a woman, especially in that tone of voice. Golden rule. He was being so mean and unkind. I'm kind of glad that these women probably didn't understand many of the words he was saying, but I did and I felt the brunt of it. What if they had yelled back? It scared me to think about what he'd do next, he was so angry. My heart was pounding for probably 15 minutes after this event. I had to pace around in order not to push this man onto the subway tracks.

Second:
We had a regional YSA sacrament meeting involving members from all over the Tri-State area. Two men spoke, I came in late (oops) and caught the last 3/4 of the first talk. This guy was speaking straight doctrine. For a convert like me, it's a little bit hard to pay attention/relate to this. The second speaker was a high-esteemed man, he maybe name dropped and talked about this a little too much, but his stories were really touching to me. Rather than straight doctrine, he related it to his life. I can respect that. What I can't respect are these young adults that were in this meeting who wrote in their facebook statuses (of all places) about this man's talk and how he was "arrogant", "self-centered", "outrageous", "nauseating", etc. If this man was all of these, I don't think he'd give the time of day to devote a talk to young single adults. Have some respect.


That is all. Headache.

6 years.

Ode to LOST

"On September 22, 2004, at 2:15 pm local time, Oceanic Flight 815 left from gate 23, and took off from Sydney, Australia, scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 10:42."

I love you, Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof (the writers of Lost, come on now). You made my last two years of school bearable. A corner of my living room junior year of college was deemed "Amy's LOST corner" due to me sitting there all day/night watching Jack, Kate, Sayid, Charlie, Hugo, Desmond, Locke, Juliet and Co. try to survive on this crazy island that you created.

You made my lifetime dream evolve into an unrealistic one of crashing in a plane and living on a mysterious island.

Every time I book a flight, I check to see if the flight number is 815. Not only that, but every time I’m boarding a plane, I closely survey the other passengers and try to figure out which character they would be. This leads to awkward staring…But I want to know who to form an alliance with and who I should leave to fend for themselves.

Happy 6th Anniversary, LOST.

Love, Amy

(I would be Kate if I were on the show)

Not having a life.

I'm stuck.
No license, still.
I don't really know what to do.
I sit home all day.
I don't really have a lot of friends here (who am I kidding, I have one).
I'm not complaining, but I figured I'd let you know what I'm doing with my life as an unemployed, college graduate. Via a list.

1. I'm reading a lot. "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is sitting next to me right now. I'm almost done with the Hunger Games series. I visit the library at least once a week.

2. I cleaned my apartment. I haven't decided yet whether it's out of pure boredom or simply because this is MY apartment now and I want it to look nice. I'm hoping it's the latter. I also made my bed for the first time (in years) yesterday. I should have taken a picture on this glorious, rare occasion.

3. I'm walking a lot. I figure that will save on subway costs. I walked from church (66th and Columbus Ave) all the way to home (38th and 3rd Ave). A 45 minute walk, almost 3 miles. It was nice to talk to my Mom on the phone. She's crazy but I love her.

4. Talking to my Grandma. This takes up a lot of time. Usually it takes about 45 minutes to an hour. Grandma is lonely like me, apparently. She loves to talk. I need to go visit her soon. I have no excuse not to, considering it's only a 35-40 minute train ride. Maybe I'll bring her some food.

5. Doing nonsense things with Kevin. That is all I have to say about that.

6. Netflix just arrived. Hello, Summer Heights High Season one and "Youth in Revolt"...Honestly, I have no interest in seeing the movie, but I read the book so I feel it's necessary. Book nerd = me.

7. Avoiding grocery shopping. Success.

8. Finishing up Season 2 of Dexter, only to realize that Season 3 is no longer available for Instant Play on Netflix.com. Which means, I will be quickly finishing these DVDs that I currently have.

9. Checking my mailbox. Yes, it's one of my pleasures of the day.

10. Sleeping/laying in bed. I guess buying my first mattress as a grown-up was a good investment, I'm definitely making the most of it.

I'll add to the list if I remember what else I'm doing. But, this list is basically what my life revolves around at the time. Pretty sad.

Penny Saver

Today, I made a piggy bank. This is the first piggy bank I've had in over 10 years. Sadly, it's a gatorade bottle and not a pink porcelain pig, but what's the point of purchasing a bank when you're diligently trying to save money? So far, I have about $5. It's a start.

I have a lot of cash, thanks to a cute guy paying me back for half of a plane ticket. I have more than I know what to do with; I usually never have cash on me. So, what I've done: I put the cash in my underwear drawer, and will only take $20-40 out with me at a time. I've also put my debit card in hiding (okay, it's in the underwear drawer as well). Please don't use this knowledge to your advantage, break in and raid my underwear drawer. Precious things lie in there.

I'm pretty good at saving money. I guess not the best, but better than your average girl who loves to shop. I'm all about sales/clearances. I miss WalMart and all of their rollback prices. I've always wanted a Smart Car because they're cheap and would save on gas, but when my dad told me if I ever got into an accident I'd "lose" (his word), I reconsidered.

A random convenience (I realized today): My only excuse to not go to the gym is because I have no money. Good excuse, Amy.

I loathe the grocery store on the corner, D'Agostinos for marking up 2 hot pockets for $4.00. Hello D'Ag, I can get them for $2.00 at home. This is one thing I do not like about the City. Sometimes I feel like eating out is about the same price as shopping at these ridiculous grocery stores.

Kevin and I have no pots and pans. We also don't have a couch, but I'll save that for another post. This forces us to eat out a lot. Not good for my wallet or my love handles. However, investing in pots and pans is useless when we have some at home waiting to be sent here via one of our parents. So, I've decided to eat less and savor my food by rationing leftovers.

Anyway, this is my written vow that I will try to save my money as best possible. I will put every spare coin that I get into this jug, I will search the streets for pennies, and I will be a millionaire. (K, just kidding about the last part..I wish). I will only go shopping for clothes if the urge is absolutely undeniable (jk, I'll try not to go).....That is all.

UPDATE:
So, I'm on my way back from 86th street and need to refill my MetroCard. There are four machines: All of which are flashing, "NO BILLS". Good. I decided to be a penny saving-savvy girl and keep my debit card at home, and this is what happens. Lesson learned...Guess I will have to bring that sucker everywhere, and only use it just in case.

Smiles.

Early yesterday morning, I got back from a lovely trip in Utah.
I'll start out by saying that I feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now. I am loving life.

Some highlights of the trip:

On Friday, Jackson and I went camping in a way I never have before. We hiked about an hour up a mountain to find a good camping spot. I thought we were going to die from carrying heavy packs (interestingly enough, this wasn't the only time one of us thought we were going to die-- I'll get to that in a second). It was a night of firsts....First time setting up a tent, climbing a mountain, playing a clean game of Never Have I Ever and roasting starbursts. Jackson was pretty sure a bear was about to attack multiple times throughout the night thanks to us being paranoid, but thankfully we left unharmed.

Starting our journey....
Our campsite!
Sitting in front of our lovely fire.
On Monday, we went long boarding. It was my first time and I absolutely loved it. From now on, it will be my "skiing" fix for the summer/fall season. The breeze, cruising through nature..It was awesome. And I did pretty good, minus my dismount at the end. I crashed the long board into a fence (sorry Robby).

On Thursday we went to volunteer at a nursing home (Jackson's idea, best idea ever). We spent some time with a 90 year old woman named Norma. She was a fun lady to hang out with, and had some great words of wisdom, although some of it didn't make the most of sense. She touched my heart, kind of like every patient that I have the pleasure of spending time with. We asked Norma where she was from and she said, "Heaven. I'm going back there soon!". There was a picture of her and her husband in her room from when she was a young adult. She was beautiful. It made me want to live in the 50's.

I won't bore you with every single detail of the trip, but I had so much fun. In fact, it was so much fun that I'm going back in 2 weeks.

A couple more pictures:

I don't know how or why, but we had so much fun with these broken sunglasses.

My last night in Utah--


And.....Most awesome face award goes to:


So, to my faithful 3 blog readers (plus one new stalker, hint: he's in the pictures above), that's my update on life. Still jobless, at least until October 25th. But, completely happy.

queer eye for the straight girl

I have church in 7 hours.

However, there are 4 homosexuals in my living room that is empty. Everything is echoing.

I've been using this time as an opportunity to learn about what gay men talk about when they have "guy's nights".

So far their conversations have consisted of the following topics:
Tank tops.
The Spice Girls.
Christina Aguilera.
Rapping Nicki Minaj.
Dancing.
Tranny poses.
Diner food.
Shaving and trimming chest hair.
Nair debates.
Astrological signs and its' role in dating.

I guess I'm learning a lot.

Shine On.

Unclose your mind.
You are not a prisoner. You are a bird in flight,
Searching the skies for dreams.
-H.M.

I just found this quote randomly on a website that I go to on occasion. It was at the top of the page. It really spoke to me. Last night I wrote in my journal that I felt as if I were a 'prisoner', that exact word. Ha. I think God speaks to you in the most interesting ways, or maybe it's a coincidence....Either way it's what I needed to hear.

I'm also really thankful that I have such wonderful friends and family that send optimism and love my way. Late night phone conversations, lovely cards of encouragement, pillow talk, heart2heartz, and just catching up with a friend that is missed (Shay!) goes such a long way. All of you are invaluable. So thanks so much.