[*4 More Days*]

Pat leaves in four days... Its bittersweet. He's at MEPS right now, weighing in. I lost a day because of this, but as long as he leaves on Monday- I'm okay with it. [I guess]
Ahh... I'm a little stressed right now. Let's talk about something else.

The link I posted the other day came up in a convo I was having a with my sister. After reading the books that were on that list I was thinking things over. A really large percentage of those books, we read through out school.
Books we read in middle school(banned in libraries/schools):
Diary of a Young Girl, Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye, Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn

Books we read in high school (banned in libraries/schools):
Grapes of Wrath, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies

And not to mention the books we performed in school plays or that are performed in public playhouses:
Oliver Twist, Les Misérables

How does that make sense? If my child(if I ever have one) likes to read, by all means- they will be able to read what ever they choose at the apprpriate age. I just don't understand how BOOKS can be banned for multiple/different reasons... when the movies and tv shows on TV RIGHT NOW, show children more than what a book can write about. ??

In other book news: I received in the mail my books I ordered from Amazon!! Yay!
I got Erich von Daniken's, Chariots of the Gods. The Words of Gandhi. And Henry Rollins' Black Coffee Blues. I'm excited, to say the least! :)

Drum roll please...

. . . . drum rolling . . . .

I got my new car! I am now a proud owner of a . . . .
BMW!

I have pictures but I haven't had time to upload them. I actually didn't have time to blog about my NEW CAR, until know! We got lucky, it was one of the cars I told you were sold before we could even see it. The guy before us couldn't get financed or something! I was excited but hesitant when Pat told me we were going to see it. I didn't know if it would be what I wanted and I didn't know if I'd like it. But I LOVED IT! Its dark blue and a four door. (I didn't really like the style of the two doors) Its a 323i, the small v6 or Pat's pretty sure they consider it a 6 cylinder, not even a v6. But that's okay with me. I love fast cars but mine's luxurious and comfortable and it has SLAPSTICK! So I'm totally content. Every once in a while I wish it was a little faster, but it just makes me want to save my money so I can get a brand new BMW later :) It is a 2000, and I know you might be thinking, "Wow, 10 year old car?". Well I don't care what you say, you haven't driven a 10 year old car like this! It rides like its brand new, has no problems anywhere, body or engine! The leather is a little worn but everything else is like mint-condition! I thank God every day that we found this car and got lucky!! And it turns out my insurance company made a mistake-- in my favor! So I made out double time! I really do think my luck changed on this one. At first I thought because of the way things were going at the beginning of the year, it was going to be another bad one. But things changed! I have a lot to be thankful for and I'm not taking any of it for granted!

I also want to tell you. . . .

I PASSED MY STNA TEST!!!!!

I am now a State Tested Nurses Aide! I'm so happy! I was so stressed and was convinced I failed my skills for a second time. And it was bothering me because I KNOW, I know what I'm doing! But I passed! I can now write my name as Jessica Mondora, STNA!

AGHHH!! :) I am loving life right now! But... I can't be too over confident. I don't know where I'm going to apply, what I'm going to do the rest of the year, or what's going on with Pat and bootcamp.
He didn't leave on February 8th. And he won't be leaving for another month. And then what? There's three months of waiting until he gets back, then another month or two... its throwing everything off track and I don't know what to do! There's so much I want to do, but I can't!

Its a little stressful but I don't feel as stressed as I was at the beginning of the year. Anything can happen though. I'm going to take it as it comes and make the best out of everything. ♥

Love you all,
Jessica, STNA
(=

Try and Try Again.

Update: I went to TDDS School of Allied Health for the STNA (State Tested Nurses Aide) program. It was about three weeks long and I really enjoyed it. My classmates were really nice and we had fun and clinicals we really not that bad! After you complete the course you take the state test. Our dates were for like three weeks after the class ended. Well, as you know, I got in an accident on the thirteenth of December. My scheduled state test was that week! The seventeenth! After talking to everyone, I decided not to cancel the test. I was feeling better and was able to move so I could still do the skills. The test is composed of a 70 question written test and then you have to perform 5 skills. Well I passed the written with a 95%. And I passed four skills 100%, perfectly, NO FLAWS. But I failed one, vest restraints! Now, I was having trouble. And I kept checking and re-checking my slip knots and the position on the strap where I tied it. I know for a fact I tied it to the non movable part of the bed and I watched the evaluator pull the knots and they came perfectly undone (which is all part of the critical step.) BUT I still failed. I think what happened was I thought where the strap came down and where I would tie it(right where it fell) was not the movable part so I tied them a little higher then the residents waist. Which would not be the correct part. I was really upset when I found out, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to pass. The accident happening five days before threw everything off, and I couldn't study by acting the skills out since I was in so much pain. Ugh... now I have to wait to find out when the next test dates are and pay for the skills portion again. Luckily my Mom said she would cover me. It just sucks because in this field you can't even use vest restraints unless it is absolutely ordered by a physician. So having it as one of the 25 skills sucks because I shouldn't know how to do it since its dangerous and wrong to put a resident in a restraint!

I'm going to go to the reviews though and try my hardest. I'm just afraid I'll be really nervous again and get hard skills. Besides vest restraint my other skills were handwashing(everyone has to do), denture care, weighing an ambulatory resident, and changing an occupied bed! Those are nice and easy! I might get PERI CARE, FEEDING, or even VITAL SIGNS next time! And you only have 35 minutes to do all five!

I am going to keep my head up though :) and practise, practice, practice!
♥ jessi.

"Authority doesn't work without prestige, or prestige without distance." - Charles de Gaulle

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
Buddha

Some much needed R&R is coming the next few days. I'm on 'vacation' because Pat was suppose to leave on the 20th. Well he got sick and gained weight so obviously, he has to get better and lose the weight. But I'm still taking the vacation days. If I don't I'll probably burn the store down and tell them all to fuck off. Its been that kind of year, already. Not a great way to start the year but I guess you can't control how stupid, ignorant, disrespectful, incompetent, and insensitive people can be. Especially the people you thought were 'friends' and still act like everything's okay! But whatever, I'm moving on and I'll just forget about all of you. You don't need me, I don't need you.

I have to take YiaYia to the doctors tomorrow and then Patrick made an appointment for me to talk to Sgt. Dudley. That douche-bag wants me to join the Marines. HA. I mean I totally would. Good job security, benefits, schooling, traveling, all the bonuses... but I don't think I can cut it in boot camp. Actually I already know hard it would be. I'm not the athletic type and I HATE being yelled at. I'll be crying every day. I know if I tried, I could. But do I want to? I know I can be a bitch and mom says it would be perfect for me (but she doesn't want me to do it) but can I actually be that stern and mature? I like to laugh and have a good time. I can be a girly-girl! Can I control those urges for 13 weeks? And then after, what if I don't change back to my old self? I mean, Pat's recruiter is cool and normal and all the other sergeants that he knows, are too... but what if I can't relax again? I don't know. I need to get some kind of schooling for something and I don't know if I can afford it on my own. This would be the best opportunity to use the government while they use me. Its a big decision. But I really have nothing to lose (besides my life if I have to go to active duty). But I have nothing serious going on for me right now. Nothing. Doesn't matter where I live, I'm not going to school right now, I hate my job. You know, I can actually just drop and leave tomorrow (after I make the weight requirements). Luckily, I would have to lose weight. This is a good thing because if I stay with Sheetz until my 5 year anniversary which is this July, they will match 100% of my 401k. I already have about 2500 saved which right now they're only matching 4%. But 100% will be AWESOME. So that gives me months to think about this and lose weight. I know it sounds weird for me to even be considering this, but I don't want to go to a traditional college and I don't know if I want to do any programs around here. Plus everyone I've talked to, said "you can't even do real-life" and said there's no way I could do it. So that kind of make me want to show them up and then tell them to fuck off.

Decisions, Decisions.