RN applications=HELL

I thought today would be an easy Sunday.  I would apply for several nursing jobs in SC and NC, tweak my resume and cover letter to the different units at a particular hospital, or to one unit at a different hospitals.  Easy right?  WRONG.  

I have never felt such frustration in my life.  I'm on the verge of tears.  All I want is to be a nurse.  Right now, I could care less what kind of nurse.  I just want a nursing job so I can do what I've been taught to do for the past 4 years.  I'd much rather just dress nice, walk into a nurse recruiters office and personally hand her my resume.  Instead, I have to spend countless hours filling out an application that is completely different than the previous one that I've filled out.  Every single application format is completely different.  One hospital wants 3 references to fill out a form. One hospital wants 2 references to write a letter of recommendation, One hospital wants 4 references to fill out a form AND and letter of recommendation.  Not only am I being a pain in the ass to myself, I'm making my references go through more trouble in writing a hopefully good recommendation.

Then...I go to insert my cover letter and resume into a text box.  CTRL+C and CTRL+V.....and its completely jarbled and and the format looks ridiculous.  So I have to go in and space each line of my resume to fit the stupid little text box .  I honestly think that if there were an application to be president of the united states, it would be easier than an application for a registered nurse. 

I don't know if I'm just retarded or something, but I never thought applying for a nursing position would be so difficult and stressful.  The least they could do would be to have a uniform application. I mean, there is a nursing shortage and I know many hospitals are desperate for nurses, so why can't they make this easy for us. 

Ugh...I need a drink.  AND I'm out of wine.   Damn you SC Blue Laws

 

A little hobby of mine

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved being in pictures and taking them.  Freshmen year in college I got in photography. I have yet to get a digital SLR, but my little Olympus compact has been holding up rather well. It actually takes awesome photos.  It's also waterproof AND shockproof.  PERFECT for clumsy me.  I want to get into taking portraits, nothing too serious. I don't want to be a photographer that does weddings or big stuff like that but I do want to be able to take decent photos of my family, friends and places that I've been. Hopefully I'll be getting a DSLR for my birthday or for graduation.  I've fallen in love with the photo site Picnik. I'd recommend purchasing the premium package. Its only like $25 a year. You can add text to your photos, add spray tan, airbrush yourself and do a TON of other stuff.  I know some of my friends who want to do photography professionally use picnik along with Photoshop.   I love it.   I've editted photos for gifts, I've made cards on there, even attempted making a Christmas card.  Too bad Mom chose the Walmart one. Ha.  Here is a little taste of what I've done so far.

The SC State Fair from the top of the ferris wheel

House on the river in Wilmington, NC

The Battery, Charleston, SC

Precious piglets !

NC Zoo

A tree in my Grandma's backyard.  True Carolina Blue.

My boyfriends great aunts mountain cabin in Blowing Rock, NC

I LOVE the macro setting.  My cousin was collecting caterpillars, so I took a shot at this little guy before he was put in the bug keeper.

House on the Battery in Charleston.

I framed this for my Mom and Grandma for Mothers Day.

Now for a few fun photos of people I love!

My boyfriend Dave and I

SC vs UGA game of 2008

My friend Chelsea and I

My absolute favorite picture of us. 

My wonderful parents who will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this summer

On a sad note...

Last Friday my great-aunt passed away.  Her funeral is tomorrow in Charleston.  She was my grandpa's only sister.  They had a  brother who passed away when has was 22, so my grandpa is the only one left.  My mom said that Pappy is taking it hard.  He's fighting prostate and lung cancer, so I just hope that this doesn't get him too down to the point that he starts letting go of himself.   Aunt Ann was 80.  She was a beautiful lady. She always looked 20 years younger than her age and was just a joy to be around, when I got to see her. She lived a few hours away from us, so the last time I saw her was at my Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party.   I just read her obituary and it brought me to tears.  Her obituary wasn't like any other I've read.  It was like a story.  It was beautiful, she was beautiful.

Reasons Why Megan does yoga ALONE.

1. I am ridiculously uncoordinated. 
2. I confuse my right with my left and vice versa and tend to mirror the TV which equals me looking like a dumbass.
3. I'm ridiculously uncoordinated and tend to bust during the 'easy' positions, and somehow manage to be a statue at the 'hard' ones.
4. I make noise when things get difficult.  Uggggh. Ahh.. uuuum  Noooo.
5. I curse Tony Horton and his perfectly still and calm friends. Skinny bitches.
6. I look like I'm having a seizure trying to maintain balance and be still.
7. My ass looks insanely large when its stuck up in the air in Downward Dog
8. I laugh at myself . I'd totally get kicked out of a class.
9. I'd DIE if somebody queefed.
10. I would be the queefer.  I am the queen of queefing when it comes to some positions.  I crack myself up too much.  I got the giggles just writing #10.

I LOVE doing yoga though. I feel like I could run 5 miles after.  And I feel all stretched out.  Its great. 

Fuuuuuuunnny story though. It has to do with the previous post from earlier...and queefing. (Y’all...I have NO shame).


  My OB teacher has a basket of handmade placentas and plastic pelvic bones ......and plastic vajayjays that have labia, a cervix, a clitoris...everything. She had like 4 of them and they were all dilated to different centimeters. We had to stick our fist up in the vag like you would do during an internal exam to feel to see if we could figure out how dilated it was. Well, my friend got a little carried away with the 5cm vag. She picks it up...in the middle of lecture...shoves it in my face and squeezes it. I literally felt the air in my face. It was loud and sounded so real. Then, Amanda whispers nonchalantly " I queefed on you”.  I was laughing so hard that I was crying, and my other friends didn't help much either. I have no idea how we didn't get kicked out of class.
Oh the cheap thrills of nursing school.

Goodnight y'all!

My day...and My big fat opinion.

  Today was my first day of my Leadership & Management preceptorship. We follow a unit nurse manager or a director of something like case management, infection control, inpatient staffing, surgery etc. I spent all day in meetings and probably lapped the hospital like 12 times. I've always thought about nursing in a clinical setting, but this has really opened my eyes. I can't really say much because the case we were working on is strictly confidential. All I can say is I am amazed at everything that goes on behind closed doors in hospitals.

  I'm currently watching Lifetimes: Pregnancy Pact. I worked on a postpartum unit this summer as a student nurse extern and I can tell you that about 2 in 5 women who came to the floor after delivery were under the age of 20. It's ridiculous. Even though I've never birthed a child, I've witnessed over 15 births in the past 9 months (haha...seriously...kind of ironic). It is a beautiful experience either way you look at it, a new life, a new child. BUT... Teenagers don't understand the implications that a pregnancy can cause. Pre-ecclampsia can kill you if not treated appropriately. You could go into preterm labor; there is chance for fetal demise. Being a teenager is a risk factor for all of those, and I'm only mentioning a few things that can happen. I've witnessed a 32week gestation c-section. Those babies were so tiny, but NOTHING like what I saw in the NICU. When I was shadowing in the NICU, there were twins that were born at 23 weeks. That is one week below Viability week which is 24 weeks. Those babies will spend their first year or more in the NICU, if they survive. Before I had OB, I never knew that you bleed for 6-12 weeks after delivery. I knew that you could tear, only because my aunt tore when she had my cousin, BUT I never knew you could tear down to your anus. Ouch. Anyways, birth is beautiful AND gross at the same time. It’s amazing what the female body can do. I want kids, but not any time soon. I want to experience delivering a child, but not right now. I think baby bumps are ADORABLE! However, not on teenagers. Anyways, I suggest that you watch The Pregnancy Pact.

Xoxo,

Holy Moly.

I began Day # 3 of P90X today.  It was supposed to be Shoulders and Arms and Abs today, and yesterday was cardio X, but I switched it up and did cardio today and shoulders arms and abs last night.  Only to spare my neighbor below me.  Cardio has me jumping around my room like a crazy person and I began exercising late last night. Which was a bad idea.  Those wonderful endorphins kept me up until like 3 something this morning!  Tony Horton, you are a  BEAST! I felt like a failure because I had to sit and watch a few of the exercise because I really felt like I was going to fall over! I'm excited about tomorrow though. Yoga X.  Its nothing NEAR peaceful.  Its hardcore and last time I did it when I only did 1 week of p90x, I layed on the floor for like 10 minutes after it was over.  I felt amazing though.  I'm so excited about getting back into shape.  I can already feel that my abdominal muscles are keeping organs where they are supposed to be!  Exciting!!

Check out P90X.

Xoxo,

 

1st blog! Yay!

I need a place to vent.  I'm in my last semester of school and I feel that I have to make the most out of my last semester.  I need to seriously analyze my life and get things in order for the future.  I need to get back into shape like I was in high school! So...I figured I'd BLOG! So..this blog will be about my triumphs and struggles with getting back into shape, the big girl job search, and my last semester in college. Of course, when I get that big girl job, I'll definitely write about that too...and everything else that you could think of! 

I'm Megan.  I'm a senior nursing student pursuing my BSN!  I'll graduate in May from the University of South Carolina! I hope to work on a neonatal intensive care unit one day.  I've lived in the south all of my life and I couldn't imagine leaving it.  The weather is wonderful...most of the time ( for you southerners...you know what I mean!).  The people are friendly and the food is amazing and you've got mountains on one end of the state and the coast on the other end!

 I've been in a serious relationship for 5 1/2 years, 6 years in June to the most wonderful guy in the world.  We've dated since high school, and have been separated by 130 miles for the past 4 years. He goes to a different school, but I love the fact that we aren't up each others butts all day long like a lot of people that I know.  We've made our own friends that we probably wouldn't have met if we had gone to the same school, and we've learned to appreciate the time we do get to see each other.  Also, I think that being apart has helped us academically too.  Recently, many people have asked the big question " when is he going to pop the question?".  I'd say yes if he asked tomorrow, but I know that right now just isn't the right time for us.  And yes...six years is a long time, but we've made it that long without being married and we can wait a few more years.  I'm definitely not ready to be a wife right now and I really want to be financially stable on my own and comfortable in my job before I start planning a wedding.  I totally love the fact that a lot of my friends are engaged right now, but I just don't want to hop from college student to wife. 

I was in the best shape of my life in high school. Definitely curvy ( Thank you genes), but definitely NOT what I am right now.  All I need to lose is like 20 lbs and I'll be estatic.  College and my major have gotten the best of me.  I've done really well thought since starting back from Christmas Break.  I've only eaten out 3 times since January 11th ( Sushi, Chick-Fil-a and a restuarant with Mom and Dad)! Yay! That is a HUGE improvement since last semester!  I just started the P90X exercise video regimen.  Its killer.  Today will be Day # 3 of it.  Boyfriend and his brother are on it too. It should be interesting. 

Oh and you're probably looking at the time of this post and wondering WHY THE HELL ARE YOU UP?  Well...this semester has been a breeze so far.  My clinical preceptorship starts Thursday so I've been sleeping in.  I have to drive 45+ minutes to get to my clinical site, so for the next 14 weeks I'll be waking up super early.  For the next six weeks, its 5:45am and then for 6 weeks after that it's 4:30am.  KILL ME NOW!  I woke up at 11 this morning and I exercised late night so my body just hasn't been sleepy....until now.

Xoxo,