It's like I'm 18 years old and a college freshman all over again

What I need is some coffee and vitamin C lozenges, what I *want* is dark chocolate and alcohol.  Meanwhile, Dee has a frozen pizza baking in the oven.

Even though I've done it a million times, I hate moving

And I now realize that moving during Finals, during the very first quarter of nursing school, in the dark and pouring rain, was probably the.worst.idea.ever.

There are few people who give me Tonya Harding fantasies

--aka, I'm tempted to give them a swift kick in the ass if not to the kneecaps.  Sadly, sometimes one of those people is my mom.

DEE:  Is everything OK?  What was she calling about?

ME:  The usual.  Mom wants to move into an apartment already.  She's tired of being at [treatment facility].  She's also complaining that Philip [lawyer and family friend] charged too much for her case.

DEE:  Did you remind her that your uncle's divorce lawyer quoted 20K to handle all the medical and legal stuff?

ME: I tried to talk about everything that she has going for her.

DEE:  What'd she say?

ME: She told me, "Well, I guess I can be thankful that I wasn't run over by a car today."

DEE: You should have told her that the day ain't over, and she's lucky she's not standing in front of your car right now.

ME:  Ha.  Right, merry thanksgiving to everybody.

When the time for a haircut sneaks up on you

I agree, Dee needs a haircut.  Me too, although I think the resemblance to musical sensation MacKenzie (on The Voice) is cute on her.

Hear, hear! Harumph.

I wasn't kidding when I complained the other day after clinical about hearing loss (something I've worried about for awhile). Now I'm concerned that I'm missing out--on murmurs, bruits, rhonchi, the list goes on. Someone suggested an upgrade to a Cardio II or III stethoscope.  Both are pricey, but I may just have to suck it up; kind of like investing in an extra strong pair of designer glasses.  Either that or shell out money for a hearing test.

In other news, I've been active about expanding my cooking repertoire (working my way up to actual Filipino dishes).  Baby Bro and I always had fun making dinner for the family back in the day, and I feel like getting back into the swing of things in the kitchen.  Tonight, I used my handy dandy crockpot to braise some Country-Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce:

http://thekeenancookbook.com/dinner/braised-country-style-pork-ribs-in-ginger-ale-hoisin-sauce

I changed the ginger ale to ginger beer (because, big surprise, we had a bottle on hand in the fridge) and also substituted pearl onions for scallions (the scallions at the island grocery store were looking a little sad).  The ribs still have a few more hours to slow cook, but they're producing beaucoup yummy smells throughout the house.

Tis the season for...death by pumpkin?

OK, I think I need to cut back on the pumpkin treats (except maybe for pumpkin ale, it's not technically a sweet).  All that spiced sugar must be going to my head because I suffered a lovely case of stupid this week and ended up studying the WRONG FRIGGIN'  SECTION for the exam.

Uh huh, instead of studying abnormal sleep patterns, I somehow decided to study tube feedings (which won't be tested until the mid-term).  Needless to say I panicked when my classmate started quizzing me about sleep disorders on the morning of the exam, and I realized that I had completely forgotten to review the notes from that particular chapter.  Thank goodness my classmate was kind enough to go over the the outline with me (and that I had at least attended and supposedly paid attention during the Sleep Lecture).  I owe said classmate lunch--but am electing for running to the convenient store for a hasty Amazon card while I focus on getting my shit together.

Visiting ghosts and ancestors, if you're listening, I didn't think this was going to be a cake walk.  If it's alright, I don't need any more April-Fool-ishy scares over the next 24 or so months.  Thanks and happy halloween!

Bruno Mars channeling Sting and MJ's lovechild!

Dee "just wasn't thrilled".  Don't ask me why, smh.

One down, one nurse to go plz

Four weeks into the quarter and I have to say, I kind of like it.  I haven't forgotten that my Fundamentals instructor (who's also the director of the program) mentioned at orientation that first term is the easiest and that most people quit next term (when we have our Med-Surg rotation).  Still, considering how long it's taken me to get here (friend Amy, who sat next to me in General Statistics class, is finishing up her last year of Pharmacy graduate school; oh yeah, she also says she's "super proud" of me), it's a relief that I haven't felt an urge to run for the hills.

Last Friday was my first day of clinicals.  I didn't cry or get the giggles, I didn't make the patient cry, all in all it was a huge success.  Dee's confided that the first time she met with a patient during nursing school, she sort of "blacked out" and afterwards couldn't remember anything they'd talked about.  I did manage to bump my head on the arm of the Hoyer lift while I was making up my patient's bed, which fortunately only resulted in minor embarrassment on my part (versus frank bruising, loss of consciousness, etc.).

While I realize that it's not all about the school supplies, I *heart* my stethoscope.  Dee gifted me with an engraved Littman in VIBRANT pumpkin.  The tubing's a "loud" enough shade that I shouldn't lose track of it; plus Seventies Retro Orange always reminds me of my alma mater (woo hoo, Longhorns).  Now I'm contemplating a penlight to match my new school colors:

Do they make songs about breaking up with your kinfolk? Fuck.

The dangers of browsing Craigslist while @ home with a bad cold.

DEE: It's a lot for a '95.

ME: She's got decent mileage, and leather seats! The outside doesn't look faded, and they'll even throw in a Phil Collins cassette. I can use my tax return...

DEE: You should be saving your money before school, not spending it on a gold-painted [admittedly nice looking] beater. Anyway, what do you need a Thule roof rack for? What are you going to put on it--your books? When I met you, you were riding the bus.

ME: Come on, I just wanna fit into the West Coast scene.

DEE: You do, you drive a kickass dope fiend hatchback.

ME: Can we at least fix the muffler? How am I supposed to take blood pressures and listen to heartbeats if I go completely deaf?

DEE: We'll call the mechanic tomorrow.

ME: Fine, fine. But when I graduate, I'm buying a new used coupe.

DEE: Go for it.

now that's Uncanny

Non-identical twins Emilie Falk and Lin Backman – strangers until last year – were separated nearly 29 years ago.

According to a DNA test the pair had done two months after reuniting in January last year, and which they shared with AFP, there is a 99.98 per cent chance of them being sisters.

A complex string of events led up to that revelation.

Both were adopted from an orphanage in Semarang in northernIndonesia by Swedish couples, but there was no mention in either of their documents of the fact that they had a twin.

When Backman's parents left the orphanage with her all those years ago, the taxi driver had turned around and asked them: "What about the other one, the sister?" and they jotted the girls' Indonesian names down on a piece of paper.

The name helped Backman's parents track down the Falks back in Sweden, and the two families got together a few times when the girls were babies to compare notes.

"They went through the adoption papers, but they didn't think we were very similar and there was a lot in the papers that didn't add up ... And there were no DNA tests back then," Falk said.

Among the discrepancies were different names for the girls' fathers. And although the records showed they had the same mother, the families eventually decided that this too was an error.

The two couples in the end wrote off the idea and eventually lost touch.

Although their parents had told them the story as children, both Falk and Backman later forgot about it. Growing up, neither was interested in information about their biological background, so they never asked.

"But when I got married two years ago I started thinking about family and my adoption, and when I asked my mother she told me this story again, and I decided to look for Lin," Falk said.

She had a name and began searching through a network for Indonesian children adopted by Swedish families, and found her on Facebook.

"I am born on March 18, 1983 in Semarang and my biological mother's name is Maryati Rajiman," Falk said she wrote, and quickly received the reply: "Wow, that's my mother's name as well! And that's my birthday!"

They found they had a lot in common.

They lived only 40 kilometres apart in the very south of Sweden, they are both teachers, they got married on the same day only one year apart and even danced to the same wedding song: "You and Me" by Lifehouse.

"It was really strange," Falk said.

"When Lin called me (with the DNA test results), I remember I was sitting in the car and when she told me I started laughing, because it just felt so strange," she said, adding: "I suddenly started thinking that we shared a womb. It was really strange, but really cool too."

Since then the two have kept in close touch, and have talked about going to Indonesia to search for their biological parents.

There are a number of details, some contradictory, in the adoption papers, including a reference to their father as a taxi driver.

"We are very curious if he is THE taxi driver," Falk said.

Asked if she wished she had found out about her twin earlier, Falk insisted "there's no use in being sad about something I didn't know about. I am only happy to have found her."

January was a hellish mofo of a month

It's been a horrendous New Year so far, thanks to Mom being in and out of the hospital and related family drama. Who the fuck wants to live out the Greek tragedy in Hamlet? Not this reader/writer, that's fo' sure.

One bright shining piece of news is that I start nursing school soon. Please God, let it be a sign of more good things to come...