A Work in Progress

The room is back in order with a few additions and a few deletions. Most noticeable addition: kopapa, who just barely doesn’t fit completely under the bed, but I think it’s standable. Yesterday was yet another day when I question why we live on the 3rd floor. (other days include, move-out, the other move-in, and the day we bought the TV.) It’s good to wonder ‘why the top floor?’ to roommates when we’re half way up the stairs with a million pound television, having narrowly escaped death after it threatened to crush us for the 50th time. The day before yesterday I received my official NREMT-I patch, card, and certificate, two of which are currently displayed in my room. I have a few more days to veg before school starts. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this time. Maybe review ACLS, as our test is coming up, but I doubt it. Maybe reacquaint myself with the ‘gargantuan book of death’ (paramedic textbook), but I doubt it. Maybe I’ll go downtown and take the CRT exam,...

Imagine my excitement, mere hours after my last post and 5 comments, unprecedented! Hours later, even more! Unfortunately, these comments needed editing by me. For those posted by actual people, thanks! Glad you like it, keep reading. As for the others; not so sure about the picking up girls thing, definitely not on the market for HD dish TV, and antioxidants are great, but thanks anyway. As a result of this 'comment spam' I've added word verification to the comments. Apparently this stops non-humans from commenting on the blog. Sorry that this is a pain, but hopefully it will rid me of fake comments.

Although I think that I deserve to be declared officially sane; instead of a stamp, I'll be receiving my official NREMT-I patch very soon! I was looking through my old posts back when national registry and I first met and I found where I declared: “NREMT exams are designed not to test your knowledge of paramedicine, but you're overall mental health.” So true. Luckily, I won't have to pass their tests again for another 9 months! And after that, I'll only have to deal with them every two or three years for the rest of my working life...wait, I'll never be rid of them! That horrifying thought aside, today their website says the best thing it's ever said: "Currently registered with the NREMT*." I'll be back at school on Saturday in the greatest apartment ever to enjoy, a dryer, netflix, rice Krispie treats, a dishwasher, Johnny movies, and great friends (oh yeah, learning and all that too). As for now, I'm going to shoot arrows and enjoy this lo...

Well, that's all I have to say really. I must have gotten the pre-test superstition ritual right this time (and it's the 13th). Now I know I have to drive clockwise around campus three times while thinking hard about what I want, and magically, a door will open filled with IO stopcocks, IV bags, a lifepack 12, trauma dressings, retractable needles, and everything else I could possible need to pass the test. Wait. I'm getting mixed up with harry potter. Either way, it's over! So, can I burn my registry sheets now? Yeah, I'll make s'mores, yum!

Since last I wrote...not much has happened. I turned 22, kayaked until my arms fell off (makes you wonder how I’m typing this right now), studied, ate ice cream for lunch, met a hamster, remembered why I hate summer then remembered why I love summer, and posted more pictures on my photobucket account. Yesterday I learned river respect by riding down my first (what you could call) real river. Up until now I've done open water and a class I river. This river had sections of class II which were really fun and challenging. It was an amazing experience. It was the first time when I could really feel the power of the river; I learned quickly how to read the water and chose a good line. I got a great feeling of accomplishment when I could look back at what we just came through, and say “that was awesome!” Kopapa (my kayak) and I had only a few moments of thinking “we’re in a tight spot!” But, as Dori says: “Just keep paddling, paddling, paddling, paddling...” or something like that. It wa...

I have added LAS and Europe pictures to my photobucket account. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure and enjoy! http://photobucket.com/albums/y148/resqellie/

So, apparently my wanton rule-breaking was found to be acceptable by national registry. Now, the ‘N/A’ has been replaced with the most fantastic word: ‘passed.’ (and there was much rejoicing) At least that much of the ‘I’ test can be declared a success and officially over. Hopefully I will be retesting (again) the practical sometime in the next 3 weeks. Until then, I’ll be…oh, I just can’t say it! Okay, studying. There. A horrifying word for the month of July, but nonetheless, a necessary one.

No, this is not because I hit ‘refresh’ 1000 times in a row. I guess it’s because sometimes people other than my mom look at my blog. How touching. No really, I think I could be crying…oh wait, there’s just a piece of glass in my eye! (kidding, kidding) oh well, maybe for 2005 hits. Instead of crying I’ll throw a party in cyberspace. You’re invited. Just come to my blog resqellie.blogspot.com and well, that’s basically it. Whoo-hoo! party! Gifts are permitted, I’m registered. I especially want that potato slicer/peeler, cotton candy maker, and double boiler (the uses for these items are endless!) Well, thanks for the hits, but not so hard next time!

My boys of the summer. One is 16 the other like, 10. One quite busy saving the wizarding world, the other quite busy inventing candy with Johnny Depp. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: one of the most insane movies I’ve ever enjoyed. I was telling my brother; not crazy like Fellini, crazy like taking Roald Dahl, Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp, mixing them all together and making a children’s movie out of it. Throw in some identical oompa-loompas, Christopher Lee, tooth paste caps, and dentistry, and you’ve got a classic! Many have called it creepy, and they’re totally right. The Half-Blood Prince: great. Best one since Prisoner of Azkaban, I think. I’ll say no more, I’m not a spoiler! Don’t worry, my t-shirt that says NERD really big is already ordered and in the mail. At least I didn’t dress up like my favorite character and camp out for 19 hours at our local Borders. Now, that’s nerdy. I just calmly walked into my store of choice and picked it up. I didn’t e...

I’ve put a few retroactively dated updates. The phones at my house have been out for the last few days so I couldn’t update (stupid dial-up!) until now. Enjoy!

Wow, for an organization I am desperate to be a part of, I am sure making it difficult. For about a month now my classmates’ written results have been available online, and mine has said “N/A.” Now, that doesn’t look good no matter the reason. Well, I figured out what exactly this means. I received a letter the other day stating that I had wrongfully written throughout the test booklet. I broke the rules. They even sent me a copy of them, just in case I forgot…again. So, as a result of my illiteracy, I get to write a letter stating why I was so ignorant and blithely ignored the rules. Until the investigation of this ‘irregularity’ is over, my results will stay in testing purgatory. I mean, seriously! This is ridiculous! I don’t really want to be part of an organization with such idiotic rules. Becoming an ‘I’ used to mean a lot to me. Now it just means beating the registry. I’m moving to England where things are logical (except for the whole driving on the left thing). A p...

A rude awakening today. My parents and I arrived last night and Jon called me this morning. I didn't want to believe him. Pretty freaky considering I was there a week ago. All I can say is that London and it's people are in my thoughts today.

I don’t want to bore you too much in one sitting. So, I broke it up to give the illusion of shortness. Let’s see…I left off with a tall tower. Our next day in Paris we started at the Orsay, an impressionist museum. We saw some great Monets, Van Goghs and Whistlers Mother. In the afternoon we visited Versailles. I found this place to be…excessive. Although, I can get behind the idea of having yourself painted more beautiful and fit than you really are. We returned to the city and went to Sacré Cœur. This beautiful church was built in the 1800s although you wouldn’t believe it. It looks more like a modern mosque from the outside, and has beautiful ‘modern’ mosaics inside. We strolled through this area for a few hours, got a crêpe (yum!) and people watched, a classis Parisian pastime. The next day we tackled the largest museum in the world, the Louvre. We spent the morning seeking out the ‘big three,’ the Mona Lisa, Vénus de Milo and Winged Victory. All relatively easy to spot...

I would like to provide you with a quick(ish) review of the rest of my vacation. I’m assuming, of course, that you care. Either way, here goes. Let’s see…I left off with some old stones. We took our free day in London to go to the National Gallery, fantastic, again. We also stopped at the Natural History Museum. This is a beautiful museum. One of our tour guides said that if she were queen she would live at this museum (keeping most of the stuffed animals) and wear the crown jewels at all times, all of them, even in the bath…especially in the bath. The next day we drove to Canterbury and enjoyed their beautiful cathedral and charming town. We took a ferry over to France, then drove 4 hours to Paris. It was about now that I realized I don’t speak any French and it had been a long time since I’d been in a truly foreign country. Our first day we had a bus tour of Paris. We got our first proper view of the Eiffel Tower which bigger than I imagined, but I’ll get to that later. We ...

I'll apologize in advance for my spelling and the length of this entry. And, for the record, I knew there was more to see than London. (the outskirts have ambulances too!) We have been to several places outside of London. After my last entry we visited Westminster Abbey so that we could catch up with all of our friends: Chaucer, Darwin, Newton, Oliver Cromwell, and some kings and queens. Now, unless you’re very unorthodox, you’re sitting down already, but Mom, Dad, and I flew the eye. Unbelievable, yes. (well, only if you really know us, actually) It’s quite a feat, believe me. This was awesome to say the least, ‘Flying’ above London at about 500 feet. Then we visited the British Museum. This is a vast and frustrating place. They have 5 million objects to see, and we had about 2 hours to do it. Impossible. But, we saw the Rosetta Stone, The Marbles ‘acquired’ from the Parthenon in Greece, a statue from Easter Island, plus a ton of other stuff. We also visited Shakespeare’s birthpla...

Just as I left you. We are here after one of the longest days of my life. There could have been 10 rapid response units outside our window last night and I would have slept through it. Half of the battle was over when we survived getting to our layover in the smallest plane I had ever been on (I think it was produced by Matchbox). Our hotel is lovely except for the minor a/c problem (actually it's not a problem, it just doesn't exist). But, we can have a full English for breakfast, included! (hurrah, as they say.) Today we had a nice bus tour of the city and visited St. Paul's cathedral built by Sir Christopher Wren exactly 295 years ago (after the 'great' fire of London destroyed the city of London in 1666). Turns out that I didn't remember a thing about this place from out last trip. We also saw the building that served as the backdrop for Gringotts Bank in Harry Potter. Our tour guide today was hilarious and told us to 'chillax' a combo of chill and r...

Here are a few left over things from London and an update on the rest of my summer. I have fixed my questionable spelling and grammar in the London entries. Now you sticklers can breathe easier (mom). Hey, mannequin and souvenir are hard to spell! In London, they call a cardiac arrest a ‘suspended.’ They never clarified to me if this meant functioning has suspended or if the patient was ‘suspended’ between heaven and wherever. Paramedics in certain areas carry a set of large and unhandy keys for unlocking exclusive gated communities. Every paramedic in London is issued their own paramedic bag. They can take it to and from work, the grocery store, library, or pool. They are responsible for its contents and also get to organize it in any way they want, pretty cool. For the next two weeks I’ll be on vacation. I’ll paraphrase a conversation I had this morning: “Where are you going?” “Um. London and Paris.” “Weren’t you just there?” “Er, Sort of……yes.” The original plan was for my ...

There is nothing a good cup of tea and some gratuitous violence can't fix. I drove home this morning feeling better purely because it was a new day. I got back, made some tea and decided to sit and watch one of my favorites, Kill Bill. From the first punch I felt better, what a satisfying movie! I decided (well, faced actually) that there's nothing I can do about registry and I'm going to have to use this as a learning opportunity. Maybe (once I pass) I'll join the registry's governing body and change all of their moronic policies. (I think that a stamp on your forehead the reads "Loser" is preferable to retaking the whole test.) I must take this space to apologize to my fantastic friends for being a bit 'down in the mouth' yesterday and not feeling too festive. You all did great! I'll see you on the 15th for Charlie and Harry!

Yeah, I'm down for the count. And the day started out so nicely. Wait, no it didn't. The 5 o'clock hour and I rarely meet, and never under good terms. It was nice to see everybody today and help to calm their nerves by sharing my NREMT practical experience. I was (and always have been) dead confident in the skills for this test. I had no reason to think that I wouldn't pass one station, again. In fact, failing today completely caught me by surprise. I'm fairly certain that I uttered some unfriendly words under my breath in front of the registry rep. I didn't really care. I feel hurt, let down by my supposed confidence. I also feel let down by the national registry and its ability to "assess the knowledge and skills necessary for competent practice." It's so helpful when they refuse to tell you why you fail a specific station. That really aids in the learning process. In failing this station today I am not alone. In failing to this extent, I am alon...

"I want a good clean fight!" Ah, we meet again national registry practical, for the last time! I hope your conscience is clear, trauma assessment! In all of the excitement of leaving for London , I cleverly neglected to inform you kind readers of my national registry practical/written exams. What a fun task this test is! I liked the practical so much that I decided to take the trauma assessment station again, I just can't get enough! Long and boring story short I failed the trauma and have to take it again tomorrow. But that was the only one! The story of my classes' practical is a long and sad one. Our practical was originally scheduled for the middle of May. Then, something retarded happened (it is a mystery that will go down in history) and the practical was cancelled the night before. (gasp! horror! shock!) I'm fairly certain that a few members of my class had to be resuscitated before deciding to stay up late and maybe have a few drinks. Fast forward to the ...