Gaining altitude

2006-02-28 - 1:10 p.m.

I'm so tired of being cold. I want to go outside and not see my breath. I'm missing the days back in Sacramento when I could go outside in shorts and a tank top and wash my car in the driveway. Of course I wasn't doing that in February in Sacramento either, but still. At least the sun is staying out longer. That's definitely a start. I just can't wait for the day when I can go outside in the sunshine and feel actual warmth. Ah, yes, I remember what warmth was like.

I spent all last week working in the CCU. Well, Wednesday through Sunday anyway. I skipped my lunch break every day and still never made it out on time. I came home from work each day, ate dinner, went to bed at around 6:30 or 7 because I was so dang tired, and then awoke in the morning already worrying about my patients. Working in critical care is stressful. But you know, I like it. I'm not very good at it, but I'm getting better and I'm going to get better. The part I really like is how it's such a close-knit group. I mean the providers, not the patients. All the nurses and all the doctors and respiratory therapists and physical therapists and social workers and everyone else there, they all know each other and know they can depend on each other. By the end of the week a lot of them knew me too and were starting to trust me a bit. It's such an awesome feeling. I've worked on tele for months and still only a few of the nurses know me and the docs are just starting to recognize me. They never come to me for help. But I'm done with CCU shifts for a while, I'm scheduled for downstairs up until a week from Friday.

Friday will be the 6-month anniversary of the day Lolo and I first held hands at Lake Ann. Can you believe it? To me it feels like both longer and not so long. It feels like that happened only a little while ago, but I feel like I've known Lolo forever. This weekend is our weekend off and we're both taking vacation days on Monday to give us a 3-day vacation together. We're driving up to Vancouver Friday after work and then spending the weekend in Victoria. Neither of us has ever been there before. I'm definitely looking forward to this. Funny thing is that we planned this before we realized it was our 6-month. It'll also be a bit of a test for us--it'll be the longest time we've spent consecutively together by quite a bit. Plus, the day after we come back we're working together and then that evening we have a 4-hour CPR class to go to together. Hopefully we'll still be able to stand each other after this! But prior to then we have completely opposite schedules. This week he's working in the OR--0600-1430--and I'm working evening--1530-2400 (ugh)--so at least we'll be happy to see each other at first!

Recently Lolo and I both read Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Lolo uses Netflix so he rented the movie for us to watch. We watched it Sunday night after I had worked a CCU shift and then played a volleyball game (which we won and which Lolo came to watch, wasn't that sweet of him?). Oh my, it's been a long time since I've seen a movie so boring. There wasn't a chance of me staying awake through it. I ended up having to rewatch the second half the next day. I thought maybe since I was much more awake the second time it would be less boring. Nope. The book, by the way, is not boring at all, in fact it's a very quick read. It felt like I spent less time reading the book than watching the movie.

Aunt Flo came to visit this morning. I'm totally loving the way it comes exactly on schedule with these birth control pills. Of course this is only the 2nd month, but so far this is awesome. If it only lasts for four days like it did last month, that would be even better yet. It would be nice not to have to deal with that this weekend.

Also of note, I finally got my own car insurance yesterday. Can you believe it took me so long? Well, yes, if you know me at all, you can probably believe it pretty easily. But anyway, I am now financially independent from my parents. Does that make me officially grown up?