how I spent my Memorial Day weekend

So, I had a fabulous weekend.  Saturday B and I had a very relaxing day at his apartment just watching movies and hanging out.  Then Sunday we went to the zoo which was very cool.  I had never been to the zoo here and hadn't been to any zoo in several years.  It was really fun to look at all the animals and I even got to feed a giraffe and pet a shark (a smallish one of course).  After the zoo we tried out this new restaraunt, PeiWei, and it was really quite good, followed by going to see Kung Fu Panda 2 which was cute.  So, that would have been enough for a great weekend but to top it off there was a 3rd day!  So yesterday after sleeping in, I made lemon bars from scratch and we went to my friend C's boyfriend M's apartment for a cookout.  There were a lot of my friends there and we got to play cornhole and it was overall just a lot of fun.

So, a really good weekend.  Now today I did the laundry and ran the vacuum and did the dishes and I feel pretty good.  This week must however begin my studying of pharmacy law so that I can pass the test in 10 days :-)  Fingers crossed folks!

So, that is all for now.

goodnight

what is life without work?

Kinda boring, that's what... I mean, don't get me wrong, I like sitting around and doing nothing but I feel awfully unproductive :-)

Now, although I'm at home everyday without a lot to do I have been getting a lot of practice of a domestic nature... I'm doing laundry and cooking and cleaning... all that fun stuff.  Kind of interesting... sometimes I think I could do that long term but I think I would eat too much and probably get fatter... So, in order to keep my weight under control, I MUST go to work... good thing I start in about a month :-)

Well, I don't really have much to say since I'm not doing that much... I did have a really nice party at home this past weekend as a final grad celebration and that was fun.

Anyway, that's all for now.  I may take about a month long hiatus from blogging unless something truly spectacular happens such as me getting my pharmacy license... or if the NAPLEX process is noteworthy.

goodnight :-)

and then it was over

yes folks, my college career is now completely over.  I am a graduate from the esteemed university that I have cleverly made anonymous due to the issue this university has with the unapproved use of its name and/or emblems. :-)  Nevertheless, we had a lovely hooding ceremony yesterday and a long but fun commencement today and now I am officially an alumnus.  It feels really weird to know that my time in this phase of life is over.  I know it is SO cliche, but it really does seem like it wasn't that long ago that I was dropped off at school excited and nervous to be out on my own... and these last 6 years really HAVE been the best of my life.  Sure pharmacy school was difficult and I spent a lot of time studying and freaking out that each cluster set would be my last and I would fail out of pharmacy school, but through it all I had the greatest friends and seeing many of us graduate today was a most awesome experience.  We did it.  We made it through.  We faced the challenges and came through the fire stronger and better than before.  It is so surreal to think that I completed this.  I think we get so involved in getting to the end of things that sometimes when the end comes it is a little anticlimactic... Which isn't to say I am not excited because I REALLY REALLY am...

Now I am on to new challenges like my residency... this week I need to finish filling out my autobiography info on ResiTrack which is basically a computer system that allows residents and their programs to keep tabs on the progress residents are making throughout the year based on goals etc set early in the year.  I am so excited to start my residency and start "real life"... I know next year will be tough and parts of it even tougher with B out on rotations away from home but I think we will both come through it stronger as well and I don't really have any worries about us as a couple because through this past year if I've learned anything it is that I love him in a way that I don't think I knew until he came along.  Everything with us is just so easy... he makes me laugh and we just love spending time together even when we aren't really doing anything.  I am excited and nervous and ready for this next step in my life.

For a few details, hooding ceremony was attended by many of my friends and family and even B's mom.  Afterward everyone came back to the apartment and had pizza and hung out.  It was a really nice time overall.  B's mom got me an AWESOME coach bag and pocketbook which I absolutely LOVE and T and M got me a gold cross pen which was so so sweet.  I got a lot of thoughtful cards and really just a lot of continued support.  My family and friends from home have been so integral in my success in college and I was so thankful to have so many of them here.

So, for now that is what I have to say about my college graduation.  Pretty awesome. :-)

sudden realization

So, I'm looking at the website for commencement day instructions and all of a sudden I notice this picture of hands holding a diploma and for some reason this 1x1.5 inch photo suddenly stirs within me the realization that in a mere 8 days the culmination of my 6 years of hard work will arrive and I will hold in my own hands the one piece of paper that proves it.  Now, I won't yet be a real live pharmacist because I won't have taken the NAPLEX yet, BUT I will have a very hard earned college degree.  How freaking cool is that?!?!  I mean, obviously that's what I was going for the past 6 years but now to have it so close... it's kind of surreal.  Of course with this also comes the terror of the knowledge that I need to schedule, take, and pass the biggest test of my life to make this degree worth anything -- BUT we aren't going to think about that right now...

you know what I hate?

two lane drivethrus at the pharmacy.  seriously, how freaking illogical is that?

1. Only one person can be rung up in drivethru at a time
2. Communication through the drivethru is via a loudspeaker in the lane, therefore, while yelling at the incompetent, deaf, imbecile in lane 2, the person in lane one gets a free non-hipaa approved listen to all the other patient's issues
3. Many stores only have 1 technician/intern and the double drivethru misleadingly makes patients think that their drivethru wait won't be that long b/c, hey, even though there's 2 cars in lane 1, there aren't ANY in lane 2...

The drivethru is idiotic in a pharmacy anyway but the double drivethru is just plain cruel.  Everytime I send the little basket/tube out I want to throw a stick of dynamite in it so it can be out of service for awhile.

Additionally, for anyone out there who may use the drivethru, please understand, it is a driveTHRU... that means you do not get to sit there and wait for your prescription(s).  Also, if you have new insurance or have never filled with us or you plan on getting boxes of albuterol or some other large item or english is not your first language or you are deaf -- for the love of God and all that is holy, come in the freaking store!  I hate the drivethru.  Isn't your healthcare more important to you than a big mac?  I truly hope so.

That is all for now.  The double drivethru drove me to pursue a residency :-)  Not really, but I sure am glad that hospitals haven't found a way to offer drivethru services - can you imagine?  Yeah, I'll have the gastric bypass special number 7... and can you throw in breast implants too while you're at it?  Yeah I'd like to have that in the drivethru, I'll be there in 20 minutes, thanks...

Ok, goodnight

something pretty and something else

Is this not one of the more lovely things you've ever seen?  I took this picture when B and I were in Florida (Key West specifically)... We were in the Hemmingway home.  This has nothing to do with pharmacy or being a resident or anything but I found it on my computer and thought it needed to have a home on my blog.  I really want a painting of this picture actually... maybe someday.  I see it small - maybe 4x6 or 5x7 in a much larger matte and framed and maybe in a bathroom... yeah...

This on the other hand -- not so beautiful... but just as real... maybe more real actually.  And, this is probably the biggest thing on my mind right now... I need to take this test within the next 2 months or so... it was really freaking expensive.  I would really hate to fail it and have to pay to take it again.  It would be really embarrassing.  Let's not think about that.

I think that's enough blogging... I really need to go to bed.

goodnight

reflections on my week at [retail pharmacy]

So this past week I spent a significant portion of time at a certain [retail pharmacy] in a slightly less desirable area of town.  Now, I personally really like this store but it isn't exactly the suburbs.  I've never felt unsafe but I wouldn't just loiter around the store for fun.

Now on to the fun stories.  Lady walks up to counter with younger friend/possibly daughter to get prescriptions.  Younger lady looks at my nametag as I'm ringing up the older lady and the following conversation ensues:
Young Lady: Is your name really Nikita?
Me: yup, sure is.
Young Lady: that is soooo ghetto
Me (thinking): should I say thank you or be offended?

Another fun story.  Lady walks up to counter and is bantering with the lady with her.  Banter ends with, "n***** shut up" directed at friend and  "OH MY GOSH, I'm so so so sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry, my bad" etc... directed at --- guess who --- ME?!  I am not sure why I would be more offended than her friend but it seems that using this term in front of a white girl is a huge taboo.  I don't know... but I found it humorous non the less.

So, maybe my stories aren't very PC but they are what happened... and they are part of why I love that store :-)

That's all for now.