Not to brag or anything…but I just got my feedback from my English teacher on my thesis and my notes for my final paper and I’m pretty pumped!!
6 hours of work (18 patients).
+ 2 hours of math review (on campus-prepping for final exam #2 on 11/16).
+ Food shopping on the way home from school (because it’s way less crowded at 8:30pm on a Thursday night).
+ Quick phone convo with your mom (asking permission to post the photo my dad took of her tonight). [See below]
+ 1 more hour of math review at home.
+ Burn your right index finger in the toaster oven tying to flip your bread without a fork.
+ Accidentally squirting lime into your left eye while making a seltzer.
= Blind. Blistered. And sofa king tired.
That’s all folks!
Stay, tuned.
Love,
M
PS: How cute is my mom, y’all? And can you believe she’s 72 years old??
Hey, y’all!!!!
So, um, after math class (on campus) tonight — I am happy to announce that I totally love all things fractions!
**Like for real for real!**
I love dividing them, I love multiplying them, I love adding them, and I love subtracting them. And, oh, how I love finding the common denominator – when they’re not the same!!
(Dead ass: I swear on everything holy I’m not being sarcastic.)
I love mixed numbers and improper fractions. And I love converting them back-and-forth!
I love finding the lowest common denominator (also known as the lowest common multiplier) and finding the greatest common factor!!
I truly cannot believe these words are about to come out of my mouth but …
* Insert Drum-roll *
Math is kind of fun!
I mean, like, ACTUALLY FUN!
For the first time in my entire life — I am no longer terrified or panic-attacking!
(SIDE BAR: Now that I feel more confident? I think I am going to go back over the previous chapters and get more comfortable with “how-to-solve-for-X” even when the variable is on both sides!)
I am sincerely looking forward to doing the practice problems in my textbook and my homework tomorrow!
That is all.
Carry-on.
Stay, tuned.
Love,
M
This concludes my “day-to-day/week-in-review.”
Last week I posted a snap-shot (in words) to give you an overall idea of what every day life is like for me these days. And I did this for two reasons.
1. I want to remember/document my current journey and the struggles that I am facing trying to balance starting college at 46 years old while working.
2. And also because I am hopeful y’all can be more understanding when I don’t have time.
Like …
Why I don’t / can’t respond to texts or phone calls.
Why I don’t / can’t make plans.
Why I don’t / can’t attend events.
Why 90% of my Facebook comments are in emoji form because I’m too tired to write out sentences.
IT’S NOT THAT I DON’T CARE — AND IT’S NOT THAT I DON’T WANT TO!
It’s just that my time is extremely limited and if I have any free time – I REALLY need to rest and recuperate in order to face the next week!
That being said, I’m extremely grateful for those who are supporting me, cheering me on, and understand what I’m going through.
((FYI — Next semester is going to be even worse when I’m taking math 021, English 122, Biology, and Health and Sciences. And have no idea how I’m going to pull that off. But I can’t worry about that right now. I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep my eye on the prize.))
HERE’S HOPING – I WILL HAVE SOME FREE TIME FOR REAL LIFE INTERACTION DURING WINTER BREAK!
Stay, tuned.
And please, have some patience with me!
Love,
M
When it’s Sunday and you get to sleep in so you don’t get out of bed until 10am!
Then you make a giant breakfast, call your mom, scroll through Facebook, and drink copious amounts of caffeine.
And then you …
Study!
Study!
Study!
And you do …
Homework!
Homework!
Homework!
MATH – You write out your multiplication tables three more times and create super colorful flashcards.
PSYCH – Read Chapter One: introduction and research methods (37 pages). You highlight and annotate anything remotely important and make 46 flashcards of bold-faced terms with their definitions. And you really enjoyed writing out those flashcards because it remind you of when you attended ACI and you totally love all things related to medical terms and definitions.
(You take breaks only to write out your multiplication tables three more times and munch on some snacks.)
Then you go back to Psych to take the online formative quiz and you get 100!! And you’re totally super excited and you’re ready to walk away and enjoy the rest of your day but then — your Canvas Course unlocks more lectures, and 68 more slides, and 2 more supplemental articles, and 2 different web links to “understanding research methods” and another video on “ethics in human research” and holy mother of god how are you going to finish all of this in one day — because there’s also a discussion forum for the course introduction, and an icebreaker, and there is another summative quiz to complete the module!!
But then you remember your a rock-star and summon the strength to barrel through — taking more breaks to snack on cheese and write out your multiplication tables three more times.
And then it’s 8pm — and you’ve finished all of your homework, and you scored 9/10 on your summative quiz, which actually makes you laugh because you’re famous for getting one damn answer wrong, but now your completely drained.
So you take 2 Advil and your antibiotic, scarf down some dinner, scroll through Facebook, congratulate yourself for a job well done, smoke one well deserved and much needed Newport 100 — before climbing into bed because you have a crazy work schedule the next day.
#Sunday
When it’s Saturday and you get to sleep in — but you wake up at 6am because you went to bed at 6pm the night before and you feel like a million bucks after sleeping for 12 hours!
So you make a giant breakfast, clean your whole house, and finish doing the laundry, all before 8am!
And then you …
Study!
Study!
Study!
And you do …
Homework!
Homework!
Homework!
MATH – You write out your multiplication tables three times, do 86 practice problems in your text book, finish your math homework in web-assign, and write out your multiplication tables three more times.
And after 4 hours of all thing mathematical — you take a break and cook a delicious meal.
ENGLISH – You read, highlight, and annotate 33 pages of articles on the real Dr. Oliver Sacks and research everything you can find on encephalitis lethargica preparing for your paper. And then you spend the next 3 hours writing said paper.
And then you take a quick break — only to write out your multiplication tables three more times.
PSYCH – You look on your Canvas account and see you need to read Chapter One: Introduction and Research Methods (37 pages) & take a Formative Quiz. But it’s almost 8pm and your brain is burnt out. And that’s when you realize you still have the whole day Sunday to devour your psychology homework.
So you take 4 Advil, and your Levaquin, congratulate yourself for a job well done, and collapse on your sofa to watch the movie Awakenings (because technically that’s English homework)!
#Saturday
When it’s your day off and you have to handle your business:
So you wake up at 8am — Make your bed. Brush your teeth. Drink copious amounts of tea. Take a shower. Check the weather report. Get dressed. Start your scrubs & towels laundry. Have a quick chat with your BFF ATB. And race out the door.
(And that’s when you wonder where your whole morning went? And you suddenly realize you’re not feeling very well.)
+
At 12pm — you make it to your own doctors appointment for your own B12 injection and refills on your prescriptions. And you mention how you’re not feeling very well, but you can’t afford to be sick because you CANNOT miss one single class or one single day at work, so your doctor feels your swollen glands and writes an RX for Levaquin too.
+
Then you swing by your mothers house — to say hello, print out 33 pages of articles you need to read for English homework, thank your mother for new “magic” shoes, gush over her cool new piano, and steal some of her paper products.
+
Drop off your prescriptions, fill your car with gas, go food shopping, and drive back to the pharmacy to pick up your much needed scripts. And then — unload your groceries, scripts and stolen paper products, before switching loads of laundry, cooking a quick meal, and taking your antibiotic.
(And that’s when you wonder where your whole afternoon went — because it’s already 5 o’clock and you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck; struggling to keep your eyes open just long enough to switch loads of laundry.)
And even though you really want to do your homework, and even though you really NEED to memorize your times tables — every muscle in your body aches you can barely hold a pen or sit up straight, let alone concentrate.
=
So you ultimately decide to listen to your body and wait for the B12 and Levaquin work their magic — and then you climb into bed at 6pm, without finishing your laundry, or doing any of your homework, and pray on everything holy that you’ll feel better in the morning.
#Friday
When work was super chill and everything went super smooth — and you were almost bored because you’re used to being in the weeds & running around like a headless chicken, and every Flu Vaccine was the HD Medicare pre-filled syringe, and every EKG was a female that didn’t require chest hair removal, and the doctor bought everyone lunch, and you had some really good laughs with your fellow co-workers.
+
Drive directly to Brookdale campus for your very scary math class — mostly taught by different substitute teachers (because your actual teacher has only been on campus five times since you started school due to some sort of personal/family issue) and it’s another new teacher, with another new way of teaching, and now you’re totally lost again, even though you spent 8 hours studying the day before, and you have no idea how you’re going to fully comprehend fractions, especially until you memorize your times tables, but at least you learned how to input fractions, properly, on your calculator.
+
Take off your scrubs, wash your face, put on your pajamas, call your mom, eat cheeze-it’s and M&M’s for a snack because you’re still so full from lunch, scroll through Facebook, and smoke ONE very much needed and very well deserved Newport 100.
=
You take 2 Advil, apply a heating pads to your knees, congratulate yourself for a job well done, and watch The Voice on TV while relaxing on the sofa.
#Thursday
When you have the day off from work and you get to sleep-in untill 7 AM instead of 6 AM — but you spring out of bed in a cold sweat just thinking about the homework you have to conquer.
And when you try to tackle your math HW — you realize your teacher didn’t explain very much, in fact, he just gave you a few broad strokes, so you spend 4 hours reading & doing practice problems in your text book, except that you still haven’t fully memorized all of your times tables making things extremely difficult, and that’s when you can’t tell if you are sweating from panic attacking or simply from menopausal hot flashes, and then you spend another 2 hours trying to figure out how to solve the questions on your quizzes because their due tomorrow, but after 6 hours of total torture you might be better off banging your head on the concrete floor because nothing is making sense.
So you take a cold shower, pull yourself together, highlight everything that’s confusing, pack up your stuff, and drive to your math tutors house — and that’s when things start clicking because someone is sitting next to you, and explaining things to you, and doing problems with you, on real paper, and you miraculously complete your math HW and your quizzes, and then you swear on everything holy you’re going to memorize your times tables over the weekend.
+
You rush back home, eat a bowl of cereal, and log into your English class on Zoom when —your teacher announces this weeks assignment will entail reading about Doctor Oliver Sacks and writing a paper about him based on the information you were given because next weeks assignment is to watch the movie Awakenings with Robin Williams & Robert DeNiro since that movie was based upon the real Dr. Oliver Sacks and next week you’ll be writing a paper about the movie doing a comprehensive compare and contrast between the movie and reality…. And then you get really, really, really, excited, because you love the movie Awakenings since 1990, you’ve seen it 100 times, and you’ve always wanted to know more about the real doctor and now here’s your chance! And then you praise the Lord for one, fun, easy class this semester.
+
Wash your face, put on your pajamas, call your mom, whip up a PB& J sandwich for dinner, scroll through Facebook, and smoke ONE very much needed and very well deserved Newport 100.
=
You take 2 Advil, apply a heating pad to your lower back, congratulate yourself for a job well done, collapse on your sofa, and squeeze in an episode of The Real Housewives.
#Wednesday