Bloggy

I got my first nursing school rejection letter today. It was a form letter that some 500 other applicants also got. Even the signature on the bottom of the page from the admissions coordinator was photocopied. This one was from OHSU, a program that costs way too much, and is way to hard to get into. I am not surprised at this rejection, but it still hurts just a little bit, knowing that I've potentially got 3 more letters like that coming. One down, three to go. The next one I'll hear from is PCC, Portland Community College, who will hold a lottery for admission in mid-April. They too have several hundred applicants, with only 30 or so spaces. Then Mount Hood Community College, then Linfield. All are pretty much the same. Everyone in the world wants to be a nursing student, and most want to do it here in Portland. I am beginning to feel that twinge of doubt, again...the one that I just got rid of after seeing my A in statistics, and meeting some of my competition. I am picturin...

I am also known as Ms. Genius, at least for today. An A! I guess my teacher rounded it up after all. I didn't think he'd be the type. In class we had to round everything up at the fourth decimal place. My grade would be 89.65438, rounded up to 89.6544...not 90! But, he did it, and I have an A!

Well, it's over. I just finished my last final about 30 minutes ago, and am now officially in the waiting-to-find-out-if-I-get-into-nursing-school phase. Funny thing though, I still don't feel that much relief. Guess I'm waiting till final grades come out, then I can take a deep breath. Over the past two weeks I've been talking with "older" students like me in my study groups who agree that this time around in school is harder, and more stressful. We came to the conclusion that it's because now we've got more to lose. We're missing out on work, when we could be paying down our bills. We're postponing having kids by a couple more years, and we're adding stress to our significant others by requiring more from them...like making dinner all the time, and chipping in extra for the movies, etc. For my undergrad classes, I was a pretty good student and didn't worry too much about grades. If I got a tough teacher and a hard class, no big deal--...

At the end of every winter here in Portland, before spring, we have what's called "fake spring," according to locals. Today was about 75 degrees, and the entire city of 1.5 million was out and about, clogging up freeways and side streets. It was glorious and hellish at the same time, as everyone tried to squeeze every possible moment out of the sunny and flower-y day before it starts raining again till mid-June. Well, I wasn't fooled. I know better. I am going to keep my rainy gray mentality till I know damn well we're outta this shit. Meanwhile, I did get in 2 hours of hooping in the parks today on my study break! Seweeeeet!

This is by far the coolest unintentional experiment EVER! I love my little yellow mushrooms! I want to kick out my spiky plant and let the lil' shrooms take over. It's the perfect plant. From what I read on the Internet, you pretty much CAN'T kill them. They love to be overwatered, which I do often, and you don't need to plant them--they just show up. You can't eat them, but they are the brightest yellow, even in the gray Portland winter. They even have a name: Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, a.k.a.Lepiota lutea. I am a mushroom farmer!!

I am really getting carried away with these little guys, but it's amazing how fast they grow. One minute, they are little, then I get home from school and they are huge!!

These things grow soooo fast!

I'm a gardener?! I've produced some new form of life that's taken shape of many little yellow penises growing around the base of my big indoor plant. Since I have yet to find any little yellow scrotumses that one would think would accompany such a phenomenon, I am leaning toward the belief that they may be some sort of mushroom. I guess we shall see at dinner tonight.