I like setting goals at the new year because it gives me a sense of direction and things to look forward to for the year. Its not a resolution where I’m determined to begin something January 1, but rather a list of things to work towards. And hopefully down the line when I evaluate, there has been progress made. Yes, it’s about the progress.

It’s only appropriate to have twelve for twenty-twelve.

1. Read through the Bible (write down verse(s) from each chapter as I read)
2. Memorize two verses a month
3. Pray more for my future husband (I never really felt the urgency/conviction to pray diligently for this but God convicted me of the need to be in prayer for him as well as for myself)
4. Mission trip (go back to Venezuela, God willing)
5. Be diligent with my 2012 Budgetting
6. Pay off my college dept by the end of the year
7. Visit a new city in the US
8. Sky diving
9. Get my OCN (Oncology Certified Nurse)
10. Apply to graduate school
11. Get more toned and lean
12. Mud run

(Regarding lists in general) I enjoy making lists. It really helps me to be more productive and at the end of the daily grind it leaves me feeling somewhat accomplished (no matter the trivial tasks). The best part is crossing items off the list . And then, making new lists!

Let’s see how we fare this year. So far so good.

December 15, 2011 – December 23, 2011

Koinonia Collaborative 2011

El Senor is nuestra victoria

SO much happened in just a short week.

God, you are so faithful. so good.

worked out for the best i guess.

yes, it’s better this way.

Such a good read. Can’t believe I wasn’t forced to read this in English class during grade school. Then again, who knows if I would have appreciated it then.

A couple of passages, to me, worth remembering. There were more but I didn’t have any post-its. I resorted to folding the corners of the pages but this was towards the latter half of the book. I guess I could’ve gone searching through previous pages and chapters……but I didn’t.

“There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive. This ecstasy…it came to Buck, leading the pack, sounding the old wolf-cry, straining after the food that was alive and that fled swiftly before him through the moonlight. he was sounding the deeps of his nature, and of the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the womb of Time. He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars and over the face of dead matter that did not move.”

“Love, genuine passionate love, was his for the first time…love that was feverish and burning, that was adoration, that was madness, it had taken John Thornton to arouse.”

“But in spite of this great love he bore John Thornton, which seemed to bespeak of the soft civilizing influence, the strain of the primitive, which the Northland had aroused in him, remained alive and active. Faithfulness and devotion, things born of fire and roof, were his; yet he retained his wildness and wiliness. He was a thing of the wild, come in from the wild…”

“A gust of overpowering rage swept over him. He did not know that he growled, but he growled aloud with a terrible ferocity. For the last time in his life he allowed passion to usurp cunning and reason, and it was because of his great love for John Thornton that he lost his head.”

“It left a great void in him, somewhat akin to hunger, but a void which ached and ached, and which food could not fill. At times…he forgot the pain of it; and at such times he was aware of a great pride in himself,–a pride greater than any he had yet experienced. He had killed man, the noblest game of all, and he had killed in the face of the law of club and fang.”

A must reread.

After sending out several applications only to receive email after email of only rejections, I was really discouraged. I guess it was my fault for applying mostly to positions where I was totally underqualified. Haha. I thought, hey, why not give it a shot? (Note to self: make sure you’re qualified before ever applying)

Anyways, after searching and searching, things have started to look up this month.There are several major hospitals that are accepting RN new grad applications this month. Interviews will start in November if I am lucky enough to be selected.*fingers crossed*

Earlier this week, on Tuesday night I applied to a new grad position for night shift in the cardiac/telemetry unit at this hospital in Whittier. Not the ideal job. My ideal is day shift in oncology. Then, Wednesday as I was walking through Westwood I got a phone call. A lady from the nursing administration office called me and asked me to come in for an interview on Thursday. AHH! I was so nervous. Even though we were just making arrangements for the interview my voice was shaking. I’m sure she could tell that I was uber nervous. I hung up and felt so embarrassed. But whatever, I got an interview!

This was my first interview ever. I didn’t know what to expect. I was first interviewed my the nursing administrator, and then the unit nurse manager. Both of the ladies were really nice so that helped me to be at ease and more comfortable. The only thing that worries me is that they know that cardiac isn’t my first preference. I’m glad that I was honest and told them about my preference for oncology. There are two ways to look at it. If i get an offer, then great! Any experience is good as it will challenge me and help me develop as a young professional. If I don’t get an offer, then this interview serves as practice for something better waiting for me. I hope that the “something better” is a day shift in oncology! :)

I find out next week whether I get the job or not. But regardless of the result, I’m so thankful that I was given this chance to be interviewed. Getting this interview reassured me of the hope that I will get more interviews and eventually get an offer. Also, I now have an idea of the questions that I will be asked and know how to better prepare myself for future interviews. If I do get this job, it is all by God’s grace.

Let’s keep on looking to God.

Studying for my Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support(ACLS) class on Saturday. 8am to 8pm.  Hopefully, all this studying will pay off with my getting certified as an ACLS provider!

Heart rhythms and algorithms galore.

It was both nice and a tad bit scary swimming all by myself in such a big pool. Anyways, after swimming and spending some time in the sauna, I went back to the locker room. I was grabbing all my stuff to take into the shower when out of no where someone asked me how long I would take. I was so caught off guard that it took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was a GUY in the WOMEN’S locker room. Good thing the worker saw me because I totally did not see him! I told him 10 minutes and he left saying he’d come back later. Yikes! That could have been really bad.

I showered, dried up, and changed. On my way out of the locker room I saw the trashcan in the middle of the entrance hallway again and that’s when it hit me. The sign that read “Men cline roon” was supposed to say “Man clean room”. Not that the latter really makes much sense either, but at least I would have got the message.

You know how people take pictures of signs that make so sense because of all the spelling and grammatical errors? Well, this was a perfect moment for just that, but  I didn’t have a camera. Anyways, more than finding it humorous, I felt bad for the cleaning guy (guessing he wrote it). Also, I was reminded to be grateful for the education that I have. It really is a privilege.

This book was supposed to serve as a means of getting away from studying for the NCLEX in case I desperately needed a break. Fail. It took me COMPLETELY away from studying. What’s worse? Reading the book made me want to see the movie so I youtubed the entire thing. What a distraction. Double whammy.

Anyways, the book was a good read. Random thoughts on the book: Kinda weird that Sayuri (protagonist) madly loved a man that was probably old enough to be her dad after only one encounter with him. “I never seek to defeat the man I am fighting. I seek to defeat his confidence. A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.” – Admiral. You know how Americans teach kids about “the birds and the bees”, well, this books uses caves and eels. Haha. I wonder how Korean parents explain this to their kids…? A bit of history in it too which is always nice.

—-

Couple weeks ago I went to Norcal with the sister and we were just walking up and down some random street when we came across this lovely hidden gem of a store. It was a recycled bookstore. We decided to take a peek inside, mostly to kill some time, but boy, I’m so glad we did! They had all sorts of books! I wish I had known of this place earlier.  Surely, I would have made a list of books to buy. The store totally caught me off guard so I ended up just buying three books. I got Screwtape Letters (I borrowed this from a friend and am midway through it but I wanted my own copy), Rape of Nanking, and Memoirs of a Geisha.

I’m sad to say this but these books must wait for their covers to be opened and pages read over because no more leisure reading for me until after the NCLEX. Bah.

must focus.

I lost my first stethoscope (eggplant color) during my clinical immersion experience in the winter at TMMC and I have been with out one since. What?! A nurse with no stethoscope!? Yes, this posed a major problem as a stethoscope is absolutely necessary.

So to make things easy on her, I told her, “Get me a stethoscope.” I told her specifically which one I wanted since she’s not familiar with what is out there. But where is the element of surprise? A present is always nice when it comes with a surprise. :) Solution? I told her I wanted one in eitherlight blue, light green, or pink and so she can surprise me with the color. Haha. :)

I honestly thought she would get me one in baby blue because…oh, I don’t know, just a hunch. To my surprise, she got me a pink one! Actually, I was really shocked. Pink was the one I least expected. I guess because I don’t consider myself to be a pink kind of girl. When she told me why she chose pink I was really touched. :)

my lovely new stethoscope

She chose pink because she knows how passionate I am about oncology (cancer). The pink stethoscope is the Special Breast Cancer Awareness Edition. $5 of the proceeds go to support Breast CA awareness. How thoughtFULL. :)

Truth be told, I secretly did want a light blue or light green one. BUT as soon as she told me WHY she chose this one, I fell in love with it.

Thoughtful gifts are the best. [The same reason why I absolutely love receiving cards]