Nurse Sean (dot) com

It’s 00:43 and I’m between night shifts, and I’m having a happy dreamy night. It’s been a great weekend, and today was particularly great! It included: taking my dog to get his picture taken with Santa, drinking some of the world’s best coffee, and putting up our Christmas tree.

So, right now I’m continuing with the dreamy times (Grey’s Anatomy would be proud of all this dreaminess). I’m sitting in front of my dreamy tree:

And drinking some dreamy coffee that was ground in my new grinder and made in a press:

From one of the bestest dreamiest coffee roasters in the world!

I really can’t wax poetic enough about 49th Parallel coffee. While the Ethiopian Yergacheffe shown above is amazing, their “sleeping woman” is quite honestly the greatest cup of coffee I have ever had in my life. And on order are two more coffees from them that are considered even MORE incredible. I feel like I’ve truly discovered a treasure…and I’m trying to decided whether I should share it or keep it all to myself!

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So, I wanted to catch up on a few things that I’ve been meaning to post about! First of all, I was tagged by Peter over at St. Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst. He asked about my proudest moment.

It won’t be a long answer because it is short and simple. My proudest moment was when I received the letter in the mail telling me I passed the RN exam. The size of the accomplishment crashed down on me at that very moment and I bawled. My last day of school, my professor saying she’d recommend me for grad school, and even receiving my diploma didn’t feel as good as that simple scrap of paper stamped “pass.”

And I’m not just saying that because it’s a nursing blog. It was a culmination of so many struggles. I’m still proud of me. Yay!

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Kim over at Emergiblog has been talking about clinical vs. theoretical experience. She put out a call for opinions on the subject. Disappearing John RN has already put in his opinion on the subject.

As for my education, I feel that there was a strong balance between clinical and theoretical nursing. We spent hundreds of hours in the clinical setting putting our lab skills to practice. In fact, I think the only way they could improve our clinical experience would be to go back to hospital training programs.

The issue I had with my education and clinical training is that it offered a Pollyannic and unrealistic. They taught us how to holistically care for patients physically, spiritually, and emotionally. The reality is that the hospital system only supports caring for the physical. If you have time to sit down and talk emotions with your patient, then you have time for more patients!

We work in a system that rewards technical skill over holistic care.

The other issue with the education we received is that they preach a style of nursing that doesn’t exist, and to be honest may never exist. That is, they teach us to be leaders of a team of people. They teach us to delegate tasks to those around us so that we may orchestrate a complete and effective care that (sorry, I’m sounding like a broken record here) cares for the patient holistically.

I think that nursing NEEDS to go to this style of care because as the numbers of RNs wane, we will be replaced with technicians that require strong leadership and supervision. However, I believe that this will take decades to occur because nurses push away the idea more strongly than they fight for nurse/patient ratios.

I, personally, went into nursing thinking I would be exactly what I described: a leader of a team of folks working to care for patients. I truly didn’t know nursing would be as it is–oops! So, for me, the idea of transforming what nursing looks like is an exciting prospect. However, many nurses went into nursing because they loved the idea of caring for patients: washing them, changing them, walking them (I often think we describe caring for patients as we would caring for a dog). To them, the idea of stepping up our focus and moving slightly away from the bedside is a slap in the face to the profession of nursing.

I think nursing will transform, but we won’t allow it to, so it will have to happen out of necessity rather than will.

So, to answer Kim’s question point-blank: I feel that my nursing degree prepared me very well, but it prepared me for the wrong thing!

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Beth over at PixelRN posted some ideas for blogging topics. This one stood out for me:

3. Advice for fellow nurses. Everyone loves to give advice, lets face it. As a nurse blogger, you have the ultimate soapbox!

OK, I don’t have an entire post devoted to the topic, but I did want to answer with my advice. And it’s simple! My advice is to RELAX sometimes. Yes, it’s a stressful, busy, scary, sometimes hopeless job. But please, don’t forget, it’s OK to be yourself, have some fun, laugh occasionally, look for the positive, and as I said:

RELAX!

It’s cold here! Last time I checked it was -18C (I’m not good at fahrenheit conversions for ll the American folks out there), which is even cold for a person like me who hates heat. However, it gives me a chance to bundle up in my 2006 Canadian Winter Olympics gear which I adore.

I have a couple days off before switching back to nights. I have been working 12 hour days for a months now, and I’m ready to be a night person again! I am tired of hearing that alarm go off at 05:00am. It will be nice to be back to where I feel more comfortable.

I was working in our unit’s high observation room for the last few days. I adore working in there! For starters, we have a 2:1 nurse/patient ratio (the room fits four patients). This means that while working together, we get an incredibly good amount of stuff done for our patients. I wish it was always so good.

The other thing I like about the high obs room is the high acuity of the patients. Some nurses can’t stand unstable patients, but I’ll be honest: the more unstable the patient, the more interesting they are to me! This is the reason I fully plan on moving to the ICU and working toward being on the hospital’s code team.

Speaking of the ICU, I wrote another of my critical care nursing course tests yesterday. This one was brutal. It was renal physiology, which I generally find fairly straight forward, logical, and easy to learn. However, I just didn’t have a lot of time I could devote to studying for the test. I don’t have my results back, but I don’t think I will see a mark above 90% like the other tests; and frankly, I don’t deserve a high mark.

Yesterday, we had a large staff meeting. We’re tired of being chronically understaffed; we’re tired of having patients lining the hallways because administration forces us to take many patients over our unit’s capacity; we’re tired of our incompetent manager; we’re tired of so many things.

We compiled a list of our complaints about our manager and the hospital. Then, we backed up all our complaints with research and numerous personal experiences. We also cited our nursing association’s practice standards. Then, one of us (thank God for her!) stood up in front of about thirty unit staff, our manager, and two of her managers, and listed our complaints and demands.

We called for serious action!

We really didn’t get any. The answer we received was basically, “We here what you say, we believe what you say, we understand what you say, but we have no solution…so sorry. You still need to work understaffed and over capacity.”

The only step forward was the creation of a “unit council” that will meet with the goal of coming up with solutions to our problem. The administrators are pushing us to reform our nursing model. They want to use a much more multidisciplinary approach to nursing.

In this model, nurses would be “case managers” as they described it, and would manage a team of multidisciplinary individuals. Instead of providing direct nursing care, the RN would direct a team of individuals to provide care of patients.

They even suggested adding extra staff to the unit, such as: pharm techs, physio techs, Recreation therapists, and whatever else we could imagine. Their thinking is that we could utilize the appropriate resources to provide well-rounded care to our patients.

I personally a very strong advocate of this style of nursing. When I went into nursing, this is actually what I thought being an RN. That is, I thought RNs were the supervisors on the unit that gave orders to LPN’s and NA’s to provide care to patients. I thought they were the case managers that I just described.

I am always embarrassed to admit that when I started nursing school, I didn’t think RN’s did bed baths, or changed diapers, or toileted patients. Even after the first year of nursing school I was under the impression that we were just learning those skills because we would have to supervise others while they performed them. So, it was a bit of a shock in the second year of nursing school when I came to the realization that these tasks WERE a part of my job.

The major opposition to this approach is nurses who went into this profession because they wanted to do the bed baths, toileting, attends changes. They refuse to let go of these items simply because it’s the part of the job they think IS nursing.

As I’m a recently trained nurse, I was taught that being a RN means working at a much higher level. Nursing, the way I was trained, is about being a leader of a multidisciplinary team focused on implementing a holistic plan of care that cares for the patient both physically, spiritually, and mentally.

I truly believe that a lot of nurse’s skills are wasted! We only use a small fraction of our scope of practice. And the fraction we use is stuff that other professionals can perform. It’s stuff that, were it to be let go of, would allow us to work at a higher, more intellectual level, and (God forbed!) be seen as professionals, rather than blue collar workers.

We deserve a step forward in our profession!

Sorry, that was longer than I intended….

After our meeting, we went out to dinner. It was so much fun hanging out with the folks from work and gossiping. I don’t get invited to a lot of events (every event seems to be a bridal shower or baby shower…no men allowed!), so it felt good to be chummy with my friends from work.

Today, I’m looking forward to getting a small amount of Christmas shopping done. But, I’m not too stressed out about it. I typically enjoy doing my shopping closer to Christmas day. Seriously, it just FEELS more like Christmas when you actually buy your presents around Christmas. Buying everything in August just isn’t the same.

I really like the picture I put on this blog. I’m referring to the picture of the nurse on the right that seems to be watching over everything I write. She is hard as stone but appears soft; she is young but is definitely mature; she looks warm-hearted but ready to dispense tough love at a moment’s notice. She has many dichotomies as most nurses do.

It’s as though she is my own personal goddess or Saint that watches over everything I do as a nurse. She follows my evolving practice. She is ready to pick me up off the floor when I’ve had a horrible day. She is ready to pat me on the back when I feel as though I’m really coming along.

Is it strange that I contemplate what a picture on my blog is doing or thinking? I think I’m just imaginative. Any opinions from the mental health nurses out there?

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They say the first year out of school is the hardest. After you’ve finished that year, you’re golden, right? You automatically become a perfect nurse, right?

 I find it hard to believe that in a couple months, my initial year out of school will be done. Some days it feels as though I’m barely ready to pass my very first nursing clinical, let alone be done school and out there working on my own!

I’m in limbo though. Some days I’m treated as the new kid on the block who doesn’t know a thing. Other days, I’m plunged into leadership positions with new staff, graduates and students lined up to ask my opinion. I’m always amazed at how much I know! I really am learning!

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Illness sometimes happens right when you need it to. For the past couple weeks I have felt dopey. My head has been foggy, and some would even say it has been “up my ass.” I have been missing details, moving slowly and struggling to put forth my best effort. And nurses always have to be at their best, right?

So, a few days ago, I came down with a nasty cold. It has forced me to lie on the couch, surrounded by pillows and a quilt, sipping tea, and watching TV. I may still be a bit sick, but my mind feels rested and much MUCH clearer. I feel ready to go!

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I have a confession. I’m supposed to be working on my critical care course right now. I have a test in a few days on the pulmonary system. Right now, I’m learning about perfusion versus ventilation, and what the different ratios between them indicate. I must say, I adore the detail of knowledge that I am gaining. This detailed anatomy/physiology that focuses the main acute care systems is much more appropriate right now than the broad scope of nursing school anatomy.

Let’s face it, it’s nice to know the anatomy of a taste bud, the structure of the eye, and how earwax is produced, but that’s really not what gets me through a shift! This course focuses on the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain, cells, and defense. This is the stuff that I work with on a daily basis—it’s my bread and butter.

I still can’t believe that here in Canada, critical care is so lacking in Universities. Many (like me) spend their entire four-year degree without stepping into or even discussing the ICU or ER. If you want to work there, you need to train for it following your Bachelor’s degree.

Edit: After actually doing the studying, I am feeling completely defeated by pulmonary physiology. This is complex stuff! 

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I have a sinking feeling that this will be ER’s last season on TV. I feel it in my gut. What will I do without ER? I even credit it with sparking my interest in nursing. I highly doubt that Gray’s Anatomy or House could ever do that!

I’m terrified about having that void in my life!

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I hate having to write an entire post twice! Yes, I did indeed type this post twice…ARG!

I just wanted to say good luck to all the new Canadian grads writing the Canadian Registered Nursing Exam today. It WILL be a long, difficult day, but you will make it!

For those not familiar with the test, it is an eight hour long test made up of hundreds of multiple choice questions, and a very large, daunting section of short answer questions. There are not a lot of questions that force you to know specific data. Instead, it mostly looks at your ability to think through situations and ensure you would act appropriately.

Some complain that the test is too focused on psychosocial/ethical/community issues and doesn’t actually test whether or not someone knows how to be a nurse (i.e. knowing every complication to every drug, knowing every nook and cranny of anatomy etc.). To those people I say, “perhaps you’re defining how to be a nurse wrong.”

All in all, it is just a test! The vast majority of those graduating from a Canadian university will pass (something like 96%) because Canadian universities have standardized curriculum. What I mean is, the test isn’t all that different from the ones you get during your education. If you passed those, you’ll pass this one.

I want to add that I am extremely proud to come from a country where almost every new nurse graduating has a bachelor’s degree! Education is far too undervalued in other countries. Even if you plan to be a bedside nurse for your entire life, PLEASE do not underestimate the value of more education.

Yes, it has been more than a month since my last post. However, after about seven years of blogging, I’m quite aware that my desire to post ebbs and flows. There will be times where I excitedly blog every day. Other times, I will go weeks without posting. Lets face it, blogging is a lot of work! I think the only regret I have is that regular posting generally equals regular readers. I crave the hordes of readers other bloggers have, but they typically post at LEAST once a day.

That’s enough talk about how often I post! Too many of my posts start with a similar speech. I also want to mention that I’m aware that I have been tagged for the “eight random things” meme. I will try writing that in the next couple days. For now, I would like to update my last few weeks!

Believe it or not, I took a vacation! It was the first time I had more than two or three days off in a row since I went to Boston for ten days…four years ago! And before my Boston trip, I hadn’t had more than two or three days off in a row since 1997 when I went to Seattle. One vacation in ten years is insanity! My habit was to just get my vacation paid out.

So, to have two weeks off felt great! I didn’t go anywhere and I didn’t do anything. I watched a lot of television, walked my dog often, played on the Internet, and read. The most exciting experience was buying my new car! I bought a 2007 Galaxy Grey Honda Civic LX coupe with a manual transmission.

The absolute highlight of my vacation was my David Lynch film festival. I watched Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr., and several episodes of Twin Peaks…all in the same day. This weekend I am going to see his new movie, INLAND EMPIRE. I’ve heard it described as one of the craziest movie going experiences of all time. Apparently it makes no sense…and well…what else would I expect from David Lynch?

Charlie really is driving me to the brink of insanity. He’s a walking contradiction! He is so easy to train with simple obedience exercises. He has no problem learning how to sit, lie down, loose leash walk, and his recalls are nearly flawless and reliable. Unfortunately, his potty training is getting worse every day (despite taking him out every 2-3 hours and watching closely for signals that he has to pee. He is also SO destructive when it comes to ripping up paper. And after trying everything in the books and out of the mouths of our obedience trainers…he still bites…A LOT! So, sometimes it feels as though we have the greatest, smartest dog, and other times I’m nearly in tears wondering what I’m doing wrong.

Charlie is actually done his puppy classes (sadness). They were incredibly fun! A lot of it involved him just running around socializing (playing) with other dogs. Charlie loves chasing puppies, being chased by puppies, and play fighting with puppies. Even more than that, we adored our Friday nights watching dozens of incredibly cute puppies running and jumping. As one woman put it, “you can feel your blood pressure going down by the minute!”

He will be starting true obedience classes on June 7th. It’s time to get a bit more serious with the training! He will learn to increase his attention span, gain self-control, and all the usual basics (sit, lie down, loose leash walking, etc. etc.). I truly love the facility I’m using. They are so incredibly friendly and knowledgeable!

Well, I have worked three shifts since the end of my vacation. I feel calm and at peace while at work. There is definitely a different vibe within myself while I go about my day. I will admit that I lucked out with my patient assignment, but in general, I feel as though I am starting to really enjoy this career.

Which reminds me!!! I received my RN license in the mail! When people ask me if I’m an RN, I no longer have to answer, “Sort of…I have my degree…and I passed my test…but I’m waiting for my license to arrive in the mail.” Yes, it’s all over and official, I’m the real deal!

It has been fun during the last few days watching the undergraduate nurses starting their jobs on the unit. I’m fascinated by the fact that only one year ago I was exactly where they are now. I am amazed and proud of how far I have come since then. It has been one hell of a year!

Of course, I celebrated my graduation from school and my registration as a nurse by promptly signing up for the “Advanced Studies in Critical Care Nursing” program at Mount Royal College. It is five courses long (physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and assessment of critical care patients, followed by a practicum) and will provide me with the beginning training needed to transition to the ICU or ER. So yes, starting in fall, I will once again be a nursing student! I’m still very disappointed in the lack of critical training in Canadian schools as a basic part of becoming an RN!

Well, after going a month without posting, I could go on for ages. However, this post is getting long! So, I have decided to stop here. I will try to be a better blogger in the coming weeks.

This is supposed to be a great close up shot of my new grad ring. Unfortunatley, the battery died before I could figure out how to get a nice clear close up. Oh well…I couldn’t be bothered to wait for the batteries to charge. So, I’m going with the “abstract” version.

The ring is a beautiful 10K white gold (I couldn’t justifying paying more than $100 more for 14K). It has “BN UofC 07″ on the outside, and my name in script on the inside. I really friggin’ love this ring! It’s subtle, classy, and is a great momento of my degree in nursing.

I also finally got my ass in gear and sent in my grad photos. The package with my photo proofs has been sitting in front of me for months! I can’t wait to get the portraits so that I can proudly display one on the wall of my apartment. Of course, I will be spreading the joy by sending my mom/grandmother/sister a copy. But the ever egotistical me will be keeping the largest copy.

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I’m sitting here at 03:30 desperately trying to stay awake. I work night shifts next, so I’m in the process of turning my schedule around. So, I’m playing World of Warcraft, watching some TV, and listening to the Broadway channel on my Sirius satellite radio.

I have been in an “I love nursing” mood this week, which is much better than the “oh my God, I hate nursing!” mood I have been portraying in my posts recently. I had an absolutely great week, even with having to work day shifts the entire time. I had a good patient assignment, I was well organized, on top of my care. On top of that, my successful IV start streak has continued. Granted, they have all had great veins, but I’m still overjoyed!

I must say that life in general is started to fall into a nice groove. Everything seems to be exactly how it is supposed to be. It would feel a lot better without all the debt though.

*cries*

I forgot just how much I love days off. I forgot because for the last several months, my days off have been spent writing papers and studying urology. The last couple days I have instead been watching my second favorite all-time show on DVD. I recevied the first two seasons of Northern Exposure for Christmas, and yesterday I bought season three.

This second clip will give you a clue as to what I think is the all-time best television show EVER! What’s with the video quality though? I expect much better from youtube.com!

*laugh*

I have also been studying for the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam. I know, so much for that whole thing about not studying on days off that I just mentioned. For those that don’t know, this exam is the Canadian equivalent of the NCLEX that the United States has.

This test is nothing but a giant headache for me (And today, it has literally caused a headache). They changed the format a couple years ago from all multiple choice to half multiple choice and half short answer. This means several horrible things. First and foremost, the test is harder. Second is that the text now takes several months to mark and return, rather than days because they have to hire people to sit in a room and mark thes short answer questions (oh how I envy the fact that in the U.S. you get your results a couple days later and can call yourself an RN). Finally, because of all this extra time and expensive manpower, the test now costs approximately $500 rather than the previous $200 (ish).

I find the above to be wrong on so many levels. And the more I think about it, the more I feel that a bachelor’s degree from a university nursing program accredited by the Canadian Nurses Association (yes…they create the exam every year) should be proof enough that I am qualified to work as a nurse. Think of all the time and money it would save if they simply decided to stop administering the exam.

However, that is extremely unlikely to happen. You know….tradition…and stuff.

So, today I have been going through and answering question after question about nursing. Now, one HUGE difference between the Canadian test and the U.S. test is that the Canadian test is focused on psychosocial issues, rather than biological. The U.S. test may ask you what an appropriate hemoglobin result is, but the Canadian test will ask you how you should respond to the patients feelings regarding their low hemoglobin results.

Uhm…barf

The test is extremely focused on therapeutic communication. I think they assume that we will learn the science of nursing while practicing, but the “fluffy” aspects of nursing must be taught in school. I actually believe the opposite.

What can I say though. This enormous test is just one more obstacle, and I’m getting quite used to dealing with obstacles. I think I’m just a little jealous of the NCLEX and wish our test was a similar format and style. Those preparing for the NCLEX may disagree.

*shrug*

I have been a bad bad bad bad blogger. But who can blame me? I’m in the final throes of my nursing degree and I just don’t have the time. Today, I walked into the university and plopped down my final project of my final practicum of my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. It was a nasty project, as evidenced by the necessity of a table of contents. You KNOW a project is too long when it needs a table of contents. It was sixty-six pages in all.

Yesterday in the mail I received my license to practice nursing in Alberta. It is a temporary RN license pending the results of my Canadian Registered Nurse Examination. We have a horrible system here in Canada. Our test is hand-written and includes long answer questions. As a result it takes months to mark everyone’s exams. That means, I won’t receive my official license until April-ish (I think). Unfortunately, they won’t allow us to use the term RN. We have call ourselves Graduate Nurses (GN) until our licenses are permanent. So, there’s many months to go until I can write those magic letters.

My last shift as a nursing student is Friday 23:15 to 07:30, then I report to work at 07:15 Monday for my first shift as a paid, full-fledged nurse. It really doesn’t seem as exciting as it sounds. I have been working almost full time as a nurse since May. Sometimes it was paid, sometimes it was as a student. In the end, Monday will just feel like another day with pretty much nothing different.

I decided to work on the Surgical Oncology unit that I worked on during the summer. While it isn’t my favorite unit in terms of coworkers or patient load, it will certainly offer me infinite learning opportunities that I just couldn’t get otherwise. I also have other units emailing me from Calgary and Victoria trying to “woo” me. Seriously, if anybody likes the idea of people begging them to work for them without solicitation, become a registered nurse! We don’t have traditional interviews where managers ask us questions…instead, we get sales pitches

Anyway, I really don’t have much to say. I have just been completely enveloped in clinical shifts and writing horribly lengthy papers. Hopefully, as my life picks up, I will have more to talk about in my journal….not to mention more time!

I am stressed out, and it is really starting to chip away at my sanity. It washes over my body in buzzing waves. There is no respite or days off from my stress. It is ever present and tenacious.

Top Five Reasons for my stress:

5. Crazy sleep schedule.

I love changing shifts. One of the reasons I was attracted to nursing was the ability to work at all different times of day. This would help relieve the boredom of working the same hours all the time. However, there are limits to my ability to handle rapid shifts in my sleeping patterns. I worked a day shift on Friday, a night shift Saturday, followed by an early morning class Monday, and now back to night shifts. My body feels beaten up and exhausted through and through.

4. Looming move to Victoria

I made a promise to myself that I would not attempt any plans to move to Victoria until December 9th when I am finished school. However, I can’t stop the back of my mind from ruminating on it at a thousand miles per hour. Where will I work? Where will I live? How will I get my belongings there? Will Richard get a job right away? This move will be a hell of a lot of work, and I just can’t push it out of my mind.

3. Graduation

It is not necessarily the graduation that is stressing me out, but what I will be doing the day following graduation. Yesterday I was offered five jobs in my Health Region, all of which are very attractive.

However, aside from choosing a placement, the biggest stress is whether or not I should apply for the prestigious internship in the ICU. It is a six-month program that would give me the skills, experience, and theoretical knowledge to work in an ICU. It is the opportunity of a lifetime. Unfortunately, Richard was saddened by my desire to apply because it would delay our move to Victoria. However, this is an opportunity to take a career direction I have been dreaming of for years, so he says he would support my decision if I wanted to apply.

I decided not apply. It was a very difficult decision, but I want to move to Victoria as much as Richard does. Bigger than that was the thought that I would be moving anyway after the six months of training. This is not fair to the people that would be investing hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars training me. I just wouldn’t be able to deal with the guilt of up and leaving. The opportunity should go to someone who wants to stay here.

On a side note, this does not mean that I can’t go to the ICU later on in my career. I believe it will be good to have some med/surg nursing under my belt before jumping into the most advanced form of acute nursing.

So, I am still left with the stressful decision of where I will go following graduation. I believe I am going to choose my undergraduate unit, which I hated, but will offer me priceless experience. Bear with me while I traumatize myself by submitting myself to this unit.

2. Too Much To Do, Too Little Time

This one is self-explanatory. I have papers, clinicals, case studies, readings, presentations, and more. All the work is piling up and I can’t seem to fathom how I will finish everything.

1. Intangible

Perhaps it is just a combination of all of the above, but it feels as though my immediate future is uncertain, confusing, and full of uncertain change. I am probably facing a year of mental, emotional, financial, and career instability. I am typically the type of person that enjoys chaos and change. But I, like everyone, has a limit.

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On an exciting note, I received my papers today to apply for my temporary RN license and Canadian Registered Nurse Exam. It was the oddest feeling to be looking at those papers, realizing that my student nurse career is ending. There were times that I really didn’t think I would make it!

I guess there’s still the possibility of not making it! ACK! I better go back to writing dozens of entries in my annotated bibliography!

Not much is happening in my world at this time. I am busy beyond belief, but time is passing, and I sink into autumn with pure joy and comfort. Nothing in this world makes my heart sing more than the cool air and beautiful panoramas.

This is the minivan we picked up yesterday. A black 2006 Dodge Caravan. You may be wondering how the hell two gay men end up with a minivan. When it comes down to it, that’s just how it worked out financially. R.’s last car had been in a large accident and was worth almost nothing, but he still owed a LOT of money on it. Because of rebates and special offers, the caravan was the only vehicle we could find that was even close to affordable. We’re paying too much for it, but it has relieved R. of his upsidedown debt on the Sebring.

However, it works perfectly for us. We wanted a vehicle that offered a lot of space for moving to Victoria and the subsequent travelling and camping we plan to do. Plus, it will make the perfect carpool vehicle! I told R. that we need to make a lot of friends in Victoria so that we’d have people to drive around. We need to make use of those five extra seats!

It feels really nice to drive. Nice and big, looks sleek (for a minivan), and is extremely comfortable! I can’t wait to show it off to everyone. Who needs a ride soon? LOL

As for school, I’m so incredibly busy. This week we’re working on a case study project. I’m quite pissed off because I wrote up what I thought was an awesome case study. The story met all the necessary criteria. However, the group decided (in my absence of course) that they wouldn’t use it. So, now we’re left to come up with a new idea. Nobody has any ideas, and I just keep saying, “so, yah, what about the one that’s already created and written?” We’d be done our project by now, but they’re too stubborn, shooting down every idea that is thought of by the group. I can’t wait until I’m done school and won’t have to do tacky group projects.

We also had to create professional resumes. It seems like a fairly juvenile project; however, it has been quite useful. They brought in professional resume councellors to teach us all the “dos” and “don’ts” of writing a resume. Better yet, the lecture was focused on how to write a professional resume from a student nurse perspective. Meaning, showing us how to include clinical rotations, undergraduate positions etc. Even though I will most likely have two job offers without even applying for them, when I move to Victoria I will need a proper resume.

The thing that was great about this project was that when I compared the resume I already had, to what was expected, there wasn’t too many differences. Apparently I’m already good at resume writing! I just needed to “tweak.”

Finally, I have declared the song “Starlight” by Muse to be the best song of the year. This decision wasn’t made lightly, but it has been done. This is only the second year in a row that I’ve chosen this award. Perhaps, sometime soon, I will share last years. Unfortunately, I think almost everyone would disagree with last year’s choice! Anyway! Here’s this year’s top pick.