Saturday, January 31, 2009

i recovered my sanity today

Despite rent being due tomorrow, I needed to clear my head from a week of school. I worked short and went on a SUP downwinder instead. The weather was absolutely amazing and I wore my cute royal blue skimpy bikini. The sun warmed my skin, the water cooled me and the view of the coastline was amazing, as it always is being so far from the beach.

Well, I just got home from work and its 1:30am. I made about 1/2 the money I was hoping to make. Oh dear. At least I am happy and sane :-) Being in the water is the best way to start the day. It is also the best way to spend a couple afternoon hours to keep you going through to the night, or its the best way to watch the sun set.

Here is a really cool video I stole from Giampaulo. He is becoming my current source for media on my blog :-) :-) It is taken with an awesome waterproof helmet/forehead camera. The colors and footage is pretty amazing, and gives you an awesome perspective of a windsurfing. He catches some other people as well, and you can see some small waves that he rides. Makes me want to go windsurf right now!!!! Enjoy =)

Ps you can find it and more cool Maui water sports stuff on his blog www.mauisurfreport.blogspot.com


Uppers vs Lowers from giampaolo cammarota on Vimeo.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

And the scores are in....

I had my first exam on Monday and I got my scores back. They threw out one question which raised my grade a bit. Here are the details:

1. The grading scale is changed for nursing students. As follows:
A 93.6-100%
B 83.6-93.5%
C 73.6-83.5%

2. Nobody in my class received higher than an 90%. I could only find 2 people with that score. And it is considered a B, not an A.

3. I got an 88%,

4. Almost my entire class got less than 83.6%, which is considered a C


First I was bummed because I REALLY wanted an A, but nobody got an A. And compared to the rest of the class, I did pretty well. Next exam is now 2 1/2 weeks away.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Rationale

In class today, we learned about making official "care plans" for clients. There is a whole process to having a client: Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implement and Evaluate. Everything nurses do, teach and say is supposed to have a rationale, that can be backed up by direct literature. For some reason rationales were stuck in my head all day.

Today....
I decided it is a really bad idea to drive down Amala St. with my windows down after heavy rain.

My rationale...
Over-sized trucks with over-sized tires and over-sized "Maui Built" stickers drive really fast in the opposing lane, causing an excessive amount of water to splash in through the windows of my little green wagon car, thereby soaking me and the interior of my car with dirty street water.

Despite the downfalls of flooding and rain, I was really really really excited to have a rainy day. I hope it rains tomorrow too.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Brain Fry

I never imagined a week could go by so fast and leave me feeling so utterly wiped out. As my "Math for Meds" class wrapped up a half an hour early, I felt the tingling excitement of the upcoming weekend. Friday had finally wrapped up and I was free to flee campus! Don't get too excited though, the tingling excitement only lasted about 2 minutes, which ironically happens to be the distance between math class and my main lecture room.

As I gathered my goods from main lecture room, I thought over what the weekend had in store for me. Every book that I lugged into my bag made my heart sink just a little bit more. By the time I was ready to walk out to my car, I was confusing the weight of my book bag with the weight of my heart which quickly translated to the weight in my feet. I drug my heels to my car, and towards this long weekend.

Friday night consisted of: Study, study, email classmates, study, complain about studying, eat dinner, study, watch Animal Planet and then study. I shut the books at midnight and spent the next hour with Chiclet (Laura). I almost can't think of a better way to end the day. Talking to her makes me feel better about life and better about myself.

This morning I cleaned my room, which really just means re-organizing my notebooks and school books. The piles are taking over my room.

Good news:

-A friend has some old nursing books that match up to mine, so I can return a few of mine to the bookstore. I think it is going to add up to over $200.
-Another friend received good news on a pending Greencard/Visa, and gets to keep making Maui home. Yaaay!
-It has been windy, and there have been waves. Everyone has been cheerful because of the good conditions.

Bad news:

-My first exam is Monday
-I have been too busy with school and work to enjoy the wind and waves


Finally, I am stealing a few pictures from other people. Here are the happenings on Maui for the last couple weeks.

Crazy wind and wave conditions the last few weeks. Here is a video from Giampaulos blog (www.mauisurfreport.blogspot.com). It is a Kiter and Kevin Pritchard at Hookipa, the world famous spot right near my house.


And here is a sweet picture of Kevin Pritchard on a wave at Hookipa. I stole this one from Kevins Blog at www.pritchardwindsurfing.com




This next one makes my stomach hurt... this kiter is about to get devoured by huge wave, and then right behind it a reallllly huge wave.
Photo was taken by Mandi Sinclair.

Chiclet and I are both in school now, so here is Chiclet studying. Our somewhat cozy livingroom :-)





Monday, January 19, 2009

1 week down, 103 to go

Today is Monday. Today is a blessed holiday. Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. I survived last week and am mentally gearing up for round two.

Last week went pretty well. Monday was orientation, where they pretty much scared the bejeezus out of us all. It was really overwhelming to be honest. Soo much information.... sooo confusing. The way my classes are organized is much different now and I have multiple teachers for one class. That is tricky. Half the battle for the next few weeks will be figuring out what the heck they want from me. The other half of the battle will be working between studying. Week one: went to bed between 12 and 1 every night, woke up between 6 and 7. Oh wait I did sleep in until 7:30 one glorious morning! That felt great.

We'll see how this week goes. I am pretty excited to really start digging into the information for my first exam. Oh hey, my first exam is... in 1 week. Already!

Sorry I don't have picture... I have no camera right now :-( Really depressing. I will work on getting some sort of cheap cheesie camera so I can at least add some color on here.

Good night...

Thursday, January 8, 2009

In case you have forgotten

I am only 21. I say things I don't mean, I mean things I don't say. I have always found myself to be an open and tell-all kind of person, but recently realized there are a lot of things I am starting to keep to myself. I am holding my secrets dearly, and becoming afraid to share and then lose.
I change my mind a lot, and my opinion can be swayed easily; not because I am insecure or so malleable, but rather because I am learning new things everyday, and I try to be open minded.
My opinions change frequently so please don't think less of me or see me as easily swayed, but instead see me as a constantly growing and changing human being. I am open to all possibilities and with each new experience, the way I see the world will change.
In true contradiction to the previous, being 21 seems to qualify me to think I know everything. So if I argue with you, become stubborn and hard headed, its because I know what I want, or at least I think I know what I want. Its what I want in that moment, but tomorrow I may want something completely different. Maybe in 5 minutes I will want something completely different.
I'm not perfect, and I am not claiming to be. I do claim to be female though, and you should take that into consideration. I love life, whether its my life, the life of the newborn baby I got to hold, or the life of the 70 year old woman I chat with at Kanaha.
I can be emotional for the better or for the worse. W hen I am passionate about something, you will know it. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and my facial expressions tell all my secrets, if you know how to read me right.
Although I am quite different than many 21 year olds that I know, please remember: I am 21 and sometimes I am going to act like it. Forgive me for my mistakes and let me learn by doing. I want to make my own decisions and choices, make my own mistakes, and hopefully learn from them. Just accept it.
_________________________________________________________

That being said...

Yesterday I was exhausted and tired and lost in my head. I went to Kanaha and expected a less that great session.
I was surprised and stoked to find some nice wind on the outside. It wasn't consistent wind, but more up and down, mostly powered but a little underpowered on my 4.8. It was nice wind though, relaxing wind. No catch you off guard and over the handlebars type of gusts. Just cruise wind. The small waves were perfect for me. Maybe some head high sets? I actually rode a couple waves fairly confidently. When I turned to head back out, I always happened to be timed perfectly between sets. I did a couple little chop jumps and landed suprising grace. I can't jibe for anything on my freaking little board, but I did flip the sail and switch my feet. And then my board would round upwind really quick and I would fall. (Any suggestions for me?)

If I get off work early today I am going to grab a standup board and do some longboard sailing at Kanaha before I head to the restaurant to work.

Life is good and I am in denial that next week my life will change drastically.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Goodbye

3 hours in Maui Coffee Roaster down. 
Should I keep track of my hours here for the next two years? 
Maybe we should make some guesses as to how many hours I will spend here. 

I put a small dent in the amount of school work I have due on Monday. 
I am preparing to kiss the rest of my life goodbye. 

Goodbye life. 
Hello books. 

I have 14 of the 16 Nursing books I bought. Only $900 later. 

Goodbye. 

Monday, January 5, 2009

Summing up my reflections

So I wrote a blog and almost finished it and saved it. It was really, really long. You have seen how many words I can use to write about 1 day of my life, can you imagine how long it was to talk about my entire year?!?!?! So I am not going to put you to the test of reading it, don't worry, I won't make you suffer. It was good for me though, to write about so many things in my life. It helps me to put things into words because then I can really understand what I feel. So let me try to sum all of it up for you:

2008
First semester back in school after 1.5 years off of school, got As in all my classes.
Began to consider the possibility of windsurfing in waves, began windsurfing (or really just getting washed) in small waves.
Summer = intense, busy, lots of people visiting. My mom came to Maui to visit me, and I absolutely loved having her here.
Fall = break up with boyfriend of 3 years. Value our friendship more than anything.
Made new friends, some of the most amazing people.
Sounds cheezy, but in 2008 I rediscovered myself. I was lost in a lot of things that I couldn't see until I was out of those things. I found a sense of freedom from the past that felt good to be able to let go of.
The end of 2008 was somewhat sad. I missed my family and friends more than I ever have before.
In various situations, I found myself learning to stop planning, stop controlling, and let things just happen. I still can't decide if its really going to be right in the end, but for now, I am enjoying the ride.

Some goals for 2009:
Survive my first year of nursing school!! (I start in 1 week!!)
Be able to pay my bills and still eat healthy food while in school.
Get decent exercise while in school.
Make it home for KPs graduation in May.
Sell my horse :-(
Be more reliable and accountable to my friends. Give back to them at least as much as they have given to me.
Give more hugs.
Laugh more, stress less. Let go of the little things. (I swear I am getting better at this!)
Stop my nervous habit of rubbing my skin when I am anxious, particularly my neck.
Call all of my family on their birthdays this year.
Call my siblings more.
Call my parents more.




My motto for the year:
"If you don't like it, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain."