Visits

Luis's father and his wife were in town to visit this past week. It was nice to get to know them better, and I enjoyed listening to Rafael rhapsodize about the perfection of Spain...

I'm flying back to Kansas next week for a friend's wedding. It'll be a short trip since I'm taking summer classes, but I didn't want to miss it. I expect it'll be an interesting experience. She and her fiance were both music majors at the college I used to attend, and between the two of them I imagine they'll have invited nearly everyone we went to school with. It'll be like an odd little reunion of sorts. I'm sure the wedding will be lovely. The reception, I predict, will be a poignant blend of fond reminicing and awkward moments, followed by the typical Kansas-induced trip down memory lane.
At least I get to dress up.

Today I am seven-and-twenty

I have officially entered my "late twenties".
As a sign of rebellion I wore my Gryffindor t-shirt today. I don't have any choice about getting older, but I sure have a say about growing up. There will be no stodginess from me.

Actually, as much as I joke about it, I'm not fussed about growing older. I definitely feel as though I've improved with age. I like who I am and where I'm headed, and I'm excited to see what the future will bring. The days and years march on whether you want them to or not, so it seems like the best way to go is to embrace the changes and love life.

If you're at all inclined to give me a gift, here's what I want:
some blog love.
If you ever pop in to read my blog, I'd love to know! Leave a little comment for me so I can see who you are.

Thanks.
♥

Update.

Hi.

Hiking yesterday was great. We saw a moose. It was exciting for me - I've seen large animals from vehicles before, but never while on foot.
We're having some serious runoff from the warm temperatures, so lots of local streams and rivers are flooding. The trail we took had probably a miles' worth of flooded areas. I'm not talking little puddles here and there, I'm talking about areas of flowing, fast moving water. Mostly spots where the trail was near the creek, and it spilled over into a second little stream. Muddy feet were inevitable. It was well worth it, though. The trail through Blodgett Canyon to the falls is about seven miles roundtrip, so it's a perfect afternoon hike. I'd like to pack in sometime - I've heard that about eight miles from the falls is a beautiful lake. It's only accessible on foot (or horseback, but that's feet too - just more of them), so you have to pack it in overnight. Luis and I have been contemplating making the initial investment for some backpacking gear. It's a little bit of a money commitment, but I think it'd be well worth it.

Luis got back from Seattle last night. He rode in the Tour de Cure on Saturday - he did the 100 mile ride. He's amazing! And... he brought me a burrito from Chipotle! He had a little cooler, and had the burrito snugly packed on ice, much the way one might transport a vital organ or other priceless perishable item.
My boyfriend is awesome.

It's thundering out. I love thunderstorms. I have a quiz tomorrow in pathophysiology. How is that possible? We've had two lectures. Poo. My neck and shoulders are sunburned. Not as raw as it was yesterday, but it still twinges a bit. I've been alternating between "treatments" - a tea-soaked handtowel, and aloe vera lotion. Taking a vinegar bath is good too. I did that yesterday.

Hm. I don't appear to have anything very interesting to say. So I think instead I'll crank Moby up on my ipod and go watch the storm.

Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints...

Today I went for a hike with some friends in one of my favorite places in the whole world. I'm sunburned and exhausted, but it was a beautiful day.

I love Montana.

Random smattering of brain contents

My summer classes have commenced. Two are presented either mostly or entirely online, and for the third we're using a polycom system to video conference in to a professor in Billings, MT, along with another class tuning in from Great Falls. MSU is too cheap to pay for professors to teach these lower division nursing courses on site for so few students (21 in Missoula, and around 10 in Great Falls), so instead they charge us a supertuition of $500 for each course which is "distance taught". Explain to me how that's fair? But I suppose it's better than moving to Bozeman for a semester. And the polycom, when it works, is kind of cool. We only have to do summer classes in a "distance classroom", and then once the regular school year begins we'll have all on-campus professors.
I'm not sure how I like taking online classes. So far, I'm thinking not so much. While I see how professors organize the material the best they can, it still seems like a little bit of a jumble. U of M uses Blackboard, which I liked okay. MSU is using WebCT, which so far seems not as cool. Maybe I just need to adjust to the new system. I'll hold judgment until the end of term, maybe it'll grow on me.


The forecasted high for today is 91. Hot diggity.


I love running, but I hate being a curvy female who loves running. A small victory - I finally found a sportsbra that's up to the challenge. I bought it in baby blue, because the white was a little too reminiscent of a straight jacket. Nonetheless, it's comfortable and it gets the job done. Maybe it'll keep the rugby players away.


Yesterday I went through the stacks of old binders and folders from previous classes. I've always clung to my old notes, refusing to throw any of it away. Looking at my piles of furiously scribbled notes and diagrams, all I see is hundreds and hundreds of hours of my life, preserved in paper form. But, as I acquire more textbooks from various classes, I'm rapidly running out of room to stash old notebooks. I decided to put on a brave face and get rid of some of it. It was sort of liberating, once I got going. Every so often I have to pick something and de-packrat it. Luis and I have both been working on that this spring, because our apartment is jammed full of stuff.

I adore watermelon. And fresh corn. And mint iced tea. Tastes like summer.

I'm going to take a glass of iced tea out to the porch and study.

First day at school

Today was my first day of school. Funny how even after six and a half years of college (not to mention the first thirteen years of good ol' K-12), I still get butterflies in my tummy.

Today was a significant day, though. This morning was orientation for the Montana State Nursing program. I'm officially a nursing student. Huzzah! It occured to me earlier that the people I'd be meeting in class this summer will be the same cohort I'm with clear through the program. The Missoula campus takes 24 upper division students each semester. Those other 23 people will be in all of my classes and clinicals for the next two and a half years. Everybody seemed nice. Good thing.

Well, I'd love to keep writing, unfortunately I (already) have homework. (Audible sigh.)

Strange fitness-related injury

I enjoy working out. I do pilates and yoga, I run, kickbox, and bicycle. I've had shin splints, bruises, cuts and scratches, and I'm recovering from a recent rotator cuff injury. But today I discovered the strangest exercise-related malady in the history of ever. I have somehow worn small abrasions bilaterally over my sternoclavicular joints.

In other words, I've chafed my collarbone.

I've been running more in the past week or so, in honor of both the delightful spring weather and the impending swimsuit season. I've been wearing long-sleeved cotton tees, because it's still chilly in the morning. Apparently the texture of the material is coarse enough to chafe. I'd like to think it's happening because I'm so svelte that my collarbone is prominent and prone to such injuries. Probably not, though. I imagine it's related to the fact that I'm running both longer and more frequently.

(A girl can dream, can't she?)

Anyhow, tomorrow I'll don a tank top with a lower neckline before hitting the pavement.

Sweet nothings and Mr. Darcy (although in this case quite unrelated.)

Luis and I have some strange exchanges late at night. We both get loopy as we get tired, and the conversation just goes south. For example:

"I'm sweaty but that doesn't make me a 'tard."
I don't remember the context of this sentence, but I think it had to do with bike helmets...

In a conversation about hiking:
"My fear of bears has escalated to irrational proportions."
"Oh, no! Who is flying plane? Bear is flying plane! How can that be?"
(Luis makes fun of my already established irrational fear of flying - Kevin Smith fans may recognize the reference...)

_________________________________________________________


I saw the new Pride and Prejudice in theatres and loved it. Although I didn't immediately like Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy, he won me over by the end. He was appropriately brooding, and quirkily good looking. However...
It has been recently brought to my attention that in the 1995 A&E miniseries, Colin Firth portrays the supercilious Mr. Darcy. How did this escape my attention until now? I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be getting the BBC version on DVD for my birthday (possibly because I emailed Luis a link to purchase the video from amazon.com), and I intend to sit down and watch both Mr. Darcys back to back. Can a woman love two Mr. Darcys equally? I expect not. Colin Firth is the perfect man. I imagine he's the perfect Mr. Darcy as well. We shall see.

Why don't we doff things?

One often hears reference to "donning" gloves or other clothing, but people rarely talk about "doffing" them. It's a word, I looked it up. I like it. I think I'll start a trend of doffing things....

Today I doffed my rubber gloves in anatomy and physiology lab for the last time. Huzzah! This afternoon I took the practical examination, then bid a last adieu to the cadavers. (A cringeworthy sidenote for all you boys out there: the cadaver questions are numbered, and correspond to a number taped to a pin and run through the structure or organ in question. The answers to two of the pins on the male were "corpus cavernosum" and "epididymis". I'll let you delve into the world of anatomy to figure out where they stuck him...) I feel like I did pretty well on the exam, but mostly I'm glad it's over. The course stretches over two semesters, and I'm pretty well burned out.

I stopped on the way home and bought flowers for my balcony. I'm going to spend Thursday afternoon playing in the dirt.

Now it's off to the University to hear the last orchestra concert of the season. Afterward I imagine they'll probably doff their tuxes until fall.