scrubs dance montage

Another favorite procrastination tool when I am supposed to be studying ...watching scrubs clips. Thought I would share one. It's been a while since I have posted one...it's about time!

HSC 312 The Canadian Health Care System: My Nemesis Class

What could be more fun than learning all the ins and outs of our past and present Canadian Health Care System during the summer month of August?


ANYTHING!!!!

I have been back to class since the 22nd of August, just one of the many cruel and unusual punishments thought up by the nursing program. Even more evil than making us go back to school during the summer is making us then sit through a torturous 6 day course on the Canadian Health Care System.

I am not sure that I can even explain to you in words how dry and boring this material is. The instructor is fully aware of this fact and can do little about it. He is the only saving grace, trying to boost interest in this dull course by cracking jokes.

Those who know me well know that I am a fairly patient person who does not lose my cool easily. It is actually quite hard to get me really angry. This class has succeeded in doing just that.

As I sat there in my terribly uncomfortable seat staring out the window at the beautiful sunshine beckoning to me I became agitated. Usually this happens in stages for me. Darla, my good friend, tells me that I usually get a bit fidgety and then I start making snappy comments and then I completely lose all interest in whatever is being said.

Yesterday I skipped all these steps and went strait from agitation to seething anger. We had already written a 60 mark midterm exam that morning and now we were a mere 15 mins away from lunch break and the lecture showed no signs of stopping. The lecture on economics and funding in the health care system was so beyond boring that I had tuned out. I don't like economics one bit, or anything to do with math or numbers really. Then the clock hit 12 noon (lunch time) and he kept talking and flipping through power point slides of pie charts and bar graphs.

I COULD NOT HANDLE THIS! I was literally making angry comments under my breath each and every time he switched another slide. I also sat there shooting the teacher daggers from my eyes willing him to STOP! I thought Darla was gonna lose it. She was laughing at me and my angry state.

When he finally stopped showing us pie charts at about 12:15 he asked, "anyone ready for a break now?" I literally shouted..."UH YES!" before he could finish his sentence and packed up my stuff and marched out of the room. It took me a full 15-20 mins to calm myself down during our lunch break.

I have never felt that type of anger towards a class before. But, I don't appreciate my precious time being wasted on classes that are not going to do anything to further my career in nursing and get me any closer to completing my degree with my sanity intact.

I only have to make it through tomorrow's class and then I am home free except for the final exam on Friday. The end to this useless course cannot come soon enough! Oh Lord, grant me patience!!

Summer Vacation Part II

Here is the second installment of my summer vacation adventures.

This summer I also volunteered my time to Girl Guides once again. I spent 12 days helping at a large international Guide camp in Parksville B.C. This camp, called SOAR (Spirit Of Adventure Rendezvous), happens every three years somewhere in B.C. My good friend Heather and I have attended every single SOAR together since it's beginning in 1995. We attended a couple years as girl campers, and the last few as leaders and core staff. There were about 2,500 girl guide members in attendance at this camp from all over the world! We had girls from Honduras, Mexico, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the US, the Dominica, Japan, Thailand, and of course Canada.

I spent my 12 days living in a tent and sleeping on a luxurious queen air bed with my good friend Heather.

My main reason to be there was to help as part of the hospital team. We were there to provide first aid and nursing care to any injured.

Here is where I spent most of my time. In this large tent. AKA "The Hospital"
They even let me drive the golf carts!! Weeee! :)

Here I am hard at work at "the hospital" with some fellow co-workers.
Nice hats eh??

I didn't have to work the entire time I was there. And despite the many days of torrential rain, I was able to spend some time with some old and new friends doing fun activities. I laughed a lot. The girls are able to chose different activities to do daily on and off site. There were so many options from science, arts and crafts, service projects, drama, mountain biking, kayaking, caving, bus trips, hikes, learning to shoot rifles, and much much more.

I spent a lot of time the first few days wearing this lovely little number.
Good 'ol blue poncho!

My new friend Aline, who was at camp to take pictures for us all. Here she is attempting to keep her camera dry during a particularly rainy event.


During the first few days of camp, I spent time with Heather helping her prepare for her part of camp. She was working as part of the science section and was building giant catapults. We had to build a proto type. Too much fun!

Here is our giant tri-pod catapult!

Heather and I also were able to help out during an activity day at camp. The activity we helped with was with fire fighters! :) No complaints there! They had an activity like a relay race using their fire hoses and cones etc. They even let Heather try on their gear.


Here are Heather, Aline, and Rachel, who is from england. I met Aline and Rachel at camp. They were tons of fun to hang out with!

Aline and Heather having fun with glow sticks at the closing ceremonies.

The 4 of us that spent the entire camp together. So many fun memories made!!

That concludes my account of my summer vacations. Despite my crazy work schedule, I am glad that I could make the time to get away and have a great time. Even at guide camp!

Summer Vacations Part I

Well it is about time that I update this thing! I finally got a hold of the pictures from my road trip vacation with my best friend Heidi so here we go with an update!

Heidi and I spent a glorious two weeks driving around California and the Oregon coast. It was whirl-wind but so much fun.

We started our trip by spending two nights at Shasta Lake in California camping out, sleeping, swimming and basically just relaxing and having a good time.

We ate in the tent one night because the bees were so bad

Next we spent a couple nights at Heidi's great aunt and uncles house in Fresno and spent time swimming and relaxing. We also ventured out to a movie and watched Ratatouille which was very good. We then moved on to DISNEY LAND!!!!

Heidi and I spent 3 fun filled days at Disney Land and California Adventure Park. We rode pretty much every single ride and stayed at the parks from open until close.

Heidi and I on the raft ride
The 'Screamer' rollercoaster

At the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner


After absorbing all we could from Disney Land and the new California Adventure Park we moved on to visit Heidi's friend Beth in Monterey for the day.

We ate lunch at this fantastic little Indian restaurant

Later that night we continued our journey and arrived at our quaint little hotel in San Francisco, The Hotel Britton.

The room has the coolest decor, wooden shutters and funky floral print wall paper.


We only had limited time in San Francisco so we made the most of it and explored the town on foot and then hopped in the old cable car system.


Heidi and I on the cable car. It was a bit windy.

After exploring the city during the day we took the cable car down to Pier 39 and wandered around the little shops. That evening Heidi and I had booked a tour of Alcatraz. We boarded a ferry and took off on our sunset cruise to Alcatraz island.

I had such a good time exploring the island. What a cool tour. I highly recommend it! Most of the tour was an audio tour and we followed directions to tour the entire jail house and cell block. Then we were able to explore on our own. Heidi and I ventured upstairs in the jail and looked at the hospital and operating room, pretty cool.

After finishing the tour and returning to the mainland we went to Bubba Gumps for dinner and had an amazing meal.

Me in a jail cell on Alcatraz island

Yummy Mango drink from Bubba Gumps


Heidi showing off the license plates that adorn the table and can be flipped to let the waiter know when we needed service.

On our way out of San Francisco the next morning we drove over the famous Golden Gate Bridge...it was freakin foggy!!!




After driving over the bridge in major fog we were on our way to the Oregon Coast. Heidi and I spent the last two days of our vacation relaxing on the Oregon coast at our campsite.

View from the beach at our camp site

Our camp site.

Me blow drying my hair at the camper plug in because I didn't want to go to bed with wet hair

Heidi was a bit cold, she wore this coat a lot on the coast.

So after two weeks of non-stop-fun Heidi and I finally arrived back home and back to the normal hustle bustle of life.

Stay tuned for Part II of my summer vacation: Girl Guide Camp. I will post about it as soon as I get the pictures from friends.