what I'm doing with my time off

Books that I recommend everyone read:

1. The Hunger Games trilogy
2. A Great and Terrible Beauty trilogy
3. Ender's Game
4. The Help (really, really, really - you must read this book, it is AWESOME)

Books that I am planning to read and will then probably recommend:

1. The Room
2. Water for Elephants
3. The Paris Wife

So yeah, I have been reading a lot.  And watching bad LMN movies.  And sleeping.  I really can't wait until this work-athon is over so that I can have even less to do with my days :-)

On that happy note, I think I'll go to bed

goodnight

unrelated post

It seems that for the past 24 years of my life I have always been looking forward to the next big thing.  When I was in elementary school all I could hope for was to be in 6th grade - top of the school, big kids ya know?  Then I get to middle school and that pretty much sucks but I can't wait to get to high school.  Then high school is fun for a couple years and then it's off to wishing for college.  College came and for the first 2 years I only looked forward to going home for breaks and then progressively I liked college more and more.

In the pre-professional years all I wanted was to be in the professional pharmacy program and then once in it all I wanted was to be done with PDA and then I just wanted to be on rotations and then once on rotations all I wanted was to get to Christmas break and then I just wanted to get to residency interviews and then I just wanted to get to Match day and then more rotations and all I wanted was to get through them.  [breathe]

Now finally I am done with rotations and I know I'm going to my #1 residency choice on June 27th and graduation is in 19 days... Now I just want to figure out where I'm living next year and feel settled before the residency starts... All I really want is to move in to the apartment next door to B but it would mean paying a little extra rent unless someone can take over [A] and my room when we move out... so stressful. ug.

Anyway, all this wishing for the future has made me start thinking how much I am going to try to focus on enjoying the present once I get done working these next couple of weeks.  I will have 6 weeks before my residency starts and I fully intend to enjoy the time off.  As excited as I am for the residency, I am going to be very happy to have nothing to do. :-)

So, that is all for now.

goodnight

school's out for--ever...

Last wednesday was my very last day of rotations - EVER! :-)  I am very happy to have completed all of my schooling, it has been a fun 6 years.

I now have 20 days until graduation and I am currently scheduled to work at [retail pharmacy] on 10 of the next 13 days.  I am very glad that a couple of stores are REALLY short on help because, to the best of my knowledge, once I enter that strange limbo between graduation and becoming a pharmacist, I will no longer be employed by [retail pharmacy] because I am not going to be working for them as a pharmacist.  So I will have a glorious 6 weeks in which to do nothing except take and pass the boards :-)  I only hope that I can make enough money in the next 2 weeks to sustain my life until I start getting paid in July.

Being on the verge of true adulthood has made me think a lot about my life these last 6 years and all the changes that have occurred in me and the way I think about things.  It is interesting to think of the events and people that change a person.  I think back to my freshman year of college.  I came to college with my best friend from high school and we lived together freshman year.  A lot of things happened with her that year and I felt a strong need to protect her.  We were pretty secluded and didn't make friends with a lot of the other girls especially the first semester.  I can't say exactly what effect this experience had on me but I have my theories.

During the second semester we met a girl who would become our third musketeer and live in a triple with us our sophomore year.  Again sophomore year my best friend faced difficulties and I really didn't know how to help at all.  Our junior year we grew to 4 people and lived in an apartment on campus.  This year was a turning point for me I think in many ways.  Things in the apartment were either great or terrible.  It was 3 pharm kids in their first professional year and then my friend from high school who had changed her major to education.  There was stress on all sides and a lot of miscommunication.  It seemed like someone was always fighting with someone and it changed all the time.  I realized that year that I much preferred direct communication to the more passive aggressive approach.  I also realized that some things I will never be able to fix.  I was very glad to get away when the year ended.

The next year was senior year and we grew yet again.  Now there were seven of us all living in a house near campus.  This blog is not big enough to hold all the drama that ensued from this living arrangement.  If we thought 4 was hard, 7 was nearly impossible.  I will never live with that many unrelated females again ever.  We did this for 2 long years.  Now this isn't to say that it was always horrible.  We had a lot of good times too.  We threw awesome halloween parties, we had study sessions that I will never forget, we had family dinners, christmas parties... yes, there are benefits to having so many friends live in the same place.  Nevertheless, I would not do it again if I had the whole thing to do over.  The biggest thing I learned about myself is that although I like to hang out with my friends, at age 22-23 I was ready to be more on my own and starting real life.  I realized that some people just don't handle change well.  I realized that different people have different needs from their friends.

So then the last year of college... I got an apartment with a girl that I had been living with since the apt at college junior year, A, and another girl who I had not lived with.  We decided that A and I could share a room because our schedules only had us both in the city for a couple of months.  B and I were obviously together at this time and although I have this apartment with the girls, I am rarely there.  It is unfortunate that I have to have this apartment at all but since popular belief is that unmarried couples should live separately we must keep up appearances.

So this is a long and probably pointless post but we'll call it reflective.  I'll try to spice it up next time :-)

until then...

ok, week over

finally this very busy week is over... the night before the URC brought me to tears because I couldn't seem to get through my presentation when I was practicing... then I realized that I never practice my oral presentations and maybe that was what was stressing me out... so I went to bed and successfully woke up every hour or so until 6:05am on Friday when I actually had to get up.  I got to campus around 7:15, got my URC packet, dropped off my rotation binder for grading, picked up my review forms for the morning, and went to sit in my presentation room.  It was now about 7:35... 55 minutes until my presentation... crap.

I survived... some of my friends came to see my presentation.  My sister couldn't come because her immune system is in an epic battle with a late onset flu virus (it's an ugly battle, mucous everywhere, pretty upsetting).  B came too and everyone told me I'd do fine but I was still nervous... then to top things off in walks a very intense professor, JA... he will be one of my evaluators.  Next in walks SN, another very intense professor... fortunately she was only the time keeper for the morning session.. My other evaluators were KR and one other faculty member.  So, I gave my presentation which had a video clip in it which of course didn't work and I answered the questions and overall I think it went ok...  At least it is over :-)

I watched a bunch of other presentations and reviewed 6 of them and then went to a reception for the students pursuing post grad education... that was fun :-)  I'm looking forward to my residency year with E and T... I'm sure J  will be a nice guy too.

So, I slept in today in a big way and got up around noon.  Now I'm just wasting time while I should be cleaning or something.

--pause--

B just attacked me and tickled me.  Not cool B, not cool.

Anyway, I should go do something now before I have to get ready to meet T and M at Bonefish at 5pm...

Happy weekend everybody!

after midnight again

Why is it that everytime I have to get up early to work 12 hours the next day I can't get to bed before midnight?  I fail at night time sleeping... which is weird because I really really really like to do it.

Off to it then...

goodnight

this week

So this week my schedule is as follows

Monday          
Kroger rotation 8-8
Finish slides for URC

Tuesday          
Community Practice Seminar 1-3
Walgreens 4-9pm

Wednesday    
Kroger rotation 8-8
Prep for URC

Thursday        
Kroger rotation 8-8
REALLY freaking prep for URC

Friday            
URC presentation @ 8:30am
Residency thing @ noon
Computer thing 2-2:30
Walgreens 5-9pm

Saturday  
Working on finishing my manuscript   
Dinner with T&M
RELAXING!!!
                      
This week kind of sucks big time - BUT when it is over... it's really over... I'll only have 3 more days of my rotation and that will be the end of my college career.  Holy crap.  Hard to believe that 6 years ago I felt like my graduation in 2011 was so far away.

Well, here's to this week going quickly and smoothly :-)

goodnight

yeah, I'm back

So, I know I introduced myself but since this will be a blog about my life as a PGY1 resident, I feel like it is important to discuss how I got to this point...

For the first 4 years of pharmacy school I was prepping to become the owner of an independent pharmacy.  One summer as part of my IPPE hours I worked in a small community hospital and my plans shifted... it wasn't that I didn't like independent retail pharmacy anymore, I just wanted something else more... my pharmacist talked to me about a residency and I began thinking about this path...

I had one more year of classes and I went back and forth pretty much weekly about what I wanted to do... during that year I broke up with my boyfriend of almost 2 years and was single for awhile and during that time, when I was totally focused on me, I decided that I was definitely going to pursue a residency... in the spring I met and got to know B and we hit it off.  I wasn't really expecting another relationship at that point but after I started getting to know B I just knew I didn't want to be without him. In May of 2010 I started rotations and after the first one I knew that my decision to pursue a residency was the right one.

The application process began in the fall of 2010 and by that time I had decided to apply to 5 places.  I received interviews with 4 of those places and ranked all 4.  The interviews were long events most taking 5-7 hours total... During the interviews I found things about each program that I liked and the ranking was difficult but by the time interviews were over I had a clear favorite and two that would have been fine matches and one that would have been a pretty good match but would have required me to move away from B.  The match process was terrifying just because once you rank the places you really have no control over what happens.  I was so nervous for that 3 weeks I could hardly stand it...

So, match day came and the next year of my life was hanging in the balance -- at about 9:15am I got an email and -- who would have thought -- I matched with my first choice!!!  I was so happy that I could have screamed, but unfortunately I was on a rotation so that was not really an option... instead I text'd rapidly to my friends and family and gave them the good news.

The entire process was stress filled because with the increasing number of applicants the process is getting really competitive but throughout it I just had a feeling that things would work out.  Still, the realization took awhile to sink in after finding out.

So, now I have submitted a formal application and am awaiting an official offer.  I think at that point it will all be real.  I am so happy that I chose this path even though it will mean making a lot less money initially.  I know that ultimately this will help me get a job that I am really happy in for the long run.

Probably most people that will read this blog will already know all this stuff but for anyone else, here it is, part of the story of how I got here :-)

goodnight

lazy sunday birthday

Today is my 24th birthday.  My mom came down yesterday and she and my sister and I went to dinner and out to see "Arthur"... it was hilarious.  Today we stayed in and watched "Tangled" which was cute.

I should now be working on my PharmD stuff but I just can't find the motivation.  Maybe in a little bit... we'll see.

I'm going to go pick up chinese food now for B and I, maybe I'll be motivated to avoid my project with more blogging later :-)

That's all for now.

let's get things started

So, I decided to start a blog in honor of the new chapter of my life that is soon to be starting.  I am graduating from pharmacy school in 36 days and will then be taking my boards and starting a PGY1 residency at a downtown hospital.  I am so excited about the possibilities that await me in my first year as a pharmacist. :-)

That's my professional life and I fully intend to write as much as I can while maintaining all necessary confidentiality :-)

In my personal life, my boyfriend B and I have been dating now for a little over a year and he is absolutely wonderful.  As I begin this year of residency he will be finishing pharmacy school by completing his rotations.  A busy year for both of us.  I am so glad that we have each other for this exciting time in our lives.

So, there is more to me than all of this but I suppose I'll get into it as the posts progress.  For now, this is me introducing myself.

goodnight