Bloggy

So nursing school is not free. It's not cheap either, especially the way I've chosen to do it, which rightthisveryminute. It's the way I tend to do everything. The less planning I have to do, the better. It's more exciting that way...and I'm not 27 anymore. Actually, school doesn't start until May 2008, but it still doesn't leave much time for saving. In fact, I have written myself a strict pay off debt plan for the next 7 months which will leave me precisely at $0 when I start school. (Hey, at least it's not a negative number.) It also means that all of the $35,000 tuition will be in the form of loans, as well as my cost of living. I'm guessing I'll be starting to pay off about $50,000 in debt when I start my new job as a nurse in the summer of 2009. Yay! It's a small price to pay for job security for the rest of my life! Right? After feeling what it's like to be destitute and unemployable for a year and a half, getting call backs and jo...

This was the coolest daylight art at Burning Man by far-- the Big Rig Jig. It was two oil tankers stacked on each other, going along with the "green man" theme about oil dependence. This looked like a cartoon out there! So weird. The photo was taken by my friend John.

And um, other southern stuff. Yesterday I talked with some ladies who work in Bellarmine's financial aid office, and I got off the phone all giddy and excited. Kentucky is a whole new world! They talk funny and eat funny stuff and they like to watch horses run in circles! They say "fiiiiive" and "biiii". If I got into nursing school in Portland, at this point I'd almost have a pang of regret. I like the change and the adventure. I've lived in the west forever. And I can't wait to wear my dang cowboy hat and say ya'll.

I had a job interview today at a tiny little hospital in White Salmon, Washington... The hospital sits up on a hill across the Columbia from the town of Hood River, with full views of 2 rivers, the town of Hood River, windsurfing, kiting, trains, barges, and of course, Mt. Hood in all her hugeness. The hospital has 24 beds. It's TINY. There are about 8 doctors that come through, and my job would be a CNA in the med surg unit, and also the ER. The town has 2100 people--the hospital I work for in Portland employs about 2,000 people. The downside is that they pay $10.35 an hour. Yeah, you read that right. Nurses starting about make about $20 an hour, and I'll have to decide whether that's worth it in about a year and a half. Such a toss up! It would be out of this world to live and work in a place like that. I compare it to Tahoe, only what I imagine Tahoe to have been like before I was born. Houses can still be found for around $150,000, and there are no stoplights for mile...

Here are some more photos... the turtle car belonged to Brandon's friends, and was an awesome way to get around and see things. People would run up to it and pet it and want their picture taken. For some reason people really like turtles.

Oh, and here is why I am still cleaning up after Burning Man. The tent we have is not air tight. In fact, during the first dust storm, we didn't even have the cover thingy on, do the powder-like dust blown up from the dried lakebed we camped on went right into everything we brought. Food, clothes, bed, dishes, yeah. It's still there, too. Oh, and did I mention, the dust was blowing so hard because there were also 60MPH winds. Yay.

It's about that time. The end is near for our stay in Cascade Locks, and I've been eyeing cardboard boxes for the last few days. This time, packing is a little different. I know I am not packing all my stuff to move to Portland for any length of time. I am packing all my shit up once again, to move somewhere for a few months--after which I will pack up again and move across the country for a year, and after that, move home, wherever that is. So, do I really need to drag 27 necklaces with me? Four winter jackets? Three broken swimsuits? A $30 couch? A $2 coffee table? I've been RUTHLESS the past few days and really lightened my load. We've got the truck loaded up for the dump, and a huge pile for the Goodwill. But it seems like I've done this all before... I remember just before leaving for Mexico feeling this same rush of urgency and excitement. It was then that I got rid of books and cds and winter clothes. I gave a ton of stuff to friends, and the rest to Goodwill...

So Burning Man was windy and dusty this year, not to mention temps in the 100s every day. It's amazing what sun and heat will do to your psyche, not to mention your body! I didn't karaoke even once, nor did I do much hula hooping, jumping on trampolines or even much dancing! We did end up having some fun... but it was such a relief to get back here to this wet air and cool breezes!Everyone I went with talks about going again next year, so we'll see. It will be a major expense to fly from Kentucky, but I know every year people fly from farther than there to be at Burning Man. This year we were lucky to get all kinds of extras... there was a full lunar eclipse on Monday night, which was great to see. Since we were camping anyway, it was above us all night long and we watched the whole thing come and go. Then there was a meteor shower on Friday, which was almost ridiculous-- there we were out in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night, watching lit up art cars pump...

I don't know when human children are actually considered to be grown up, but I figure anywhere around 30 is pretty close. Today I made my first appointment to my very own dentist, using my very own medical insurance, in my very own town far far away from home. Why is this blog worthy? I don't know if it is. Something just struck me as being very grown up about that--being part of the complaining majority worried about health care costs and coverages. I'd been covered with my family until age 25 since I was a full-time student. (Yeah, till age 25, so what). Then I somehow was still under my dad's Kaiser plan for years after that. At one point I struck a crummy deal with an employer so they'd help pay for that plan instead of giving me their crappy one. I never could find a better deal-- paying $250 a month for a healthy person on no prescriptions with no medical history, no nothing-- yeah, that's fair. I was freeballing it for a while and my parents picked up the...