hello there. it's been a while, hasn't it? i've been keeping up with everybody's (well, almost everybody's) posts, but it seems i haven't updated in nearly half a year. quite a bit has happened since then! here's a few things, in vaguely chronological order:

-started working first shift
-went hiking on the appalachian trail with the estimable Mr. Daniel P. Fite, & co.
-visited bowling green, ky
-welcomed a puppy into family life
-experienced my first full winter season since 2003/04
-bought a new car (2007 chevy cobalt, manual transmission)
-went skiing twice, once with family and once with jessica and seth
-began an EMT-Basic training course
-went to lectures (best birthday present ever, beyond doubt)
-experienced my first spring thaw since 2004 (it's 44º right now! it will be in the 50's at the beginning of next week!)

and that last one brings us up to the present. i must say, as much as i love snow and skiing, i am glad that i don't have to leave for work in single-digit temperatures anymore.

i suppose that third-to-last point may come as a surprise to anyone who does not keep constant track of my life through facebook. yes, i have enrolled in an EMT course. it is one semester long, after which i will be permitted to sit for my certification exam. assuming i pass that, i'll start looking for work as an EMT, and assuming i enjoy it enough, i'll start paramedic school not long after. paramedic school takes about two years, depending on the program.

as for my plans of becoming an orchestra teacher or music theory professor (depending on which month you talked to me), they are currently on hold. essentially, i realized that i'm not comfortable going through alternative certification to teach, and grad school by all accounts seems to be made up of pretty much everything i disliked about college (namely writing long papers and giving presentations), only more so. i'm not sure whether my stint as a medic will be but a brief interlude, or become a major theme in my life, but music will always have a place. my pipe dream du jour (or more accurately de l'année) is that i could work part-time as a medic (two 12-hour shifts a week, or one 24-hour shift, or something), and have plenty of time the rest of the week to teach private lessons and rehearse/perform in symphony and/or chamber ensembles. that might be a difficult transition to make - gradually cutting down on my EMT hours as i build a studio and find more performance opportunities - but it would be pretty cool if i could make it work.

midterms for my class are next week. i have a good deal of studying to do to cement the more complicated stuff we've learned; especially challenging, i think, will be the practical portion of the exam, where i'll have to act out or talk through various skills and processes i need to know. i've always been comfortable with multiple choice exams, but it's a lot harder to recall things when you're put on the spot. however, it's an undeniably important method of testing for anyone in the medical field- practical ability far outweighs theoretical understanding, especially in an emergency setting. after the midterm i'll be permitted to start the ER portion of our clinical time. we're required to spend at least 24 hours in the ER, and 24 on the ambulance; if we want to do more, we're certainly welcome to (so long as it doesn't interfere with other students completing their requirement), and i definitely want to spend more time on the ambulance at least, as i'm already fairly comfortable in the ER. the program is run through a college, in partnership with the hospital i work at, so i'll be doing my ER clinical there, and ride with their ambulance service. this will be advantageous to me in obvious ways, but i would like it if i could spend some time at a different hospital, to see how a different organization does things. alas, that's just not how it works, due to insurance, etc.

my job itself has been going well. there have been some very busy days lately, but that happens. i've been working quite a bit recently. yesterday was my first day off since last sunday, and i won't have another day off until next wednesday. i don't do much of significance these days other than work, sleep, go to class and study, and go to church, which is all as tiresome as it sounds sometimes, but i usually don't really have time to think about it. anyway, work is sometimes interesting, my class is often so, church is essential, and sleep, though at times sparse, is as welcome as water to a marathon runner.

well, i guess that's it for now. i hope to update here more frequently in the future, though i can't make any promises.

always remember: scene safety and BSI!

i got the job. :) the position is retroactive to the 20th, which means i'm already earning PTO, and will start getting insurance benefits as soon as i get the paperwork in. i'll actually start the position the second week of october, as i think i said earlier. i'll be covering the days off of the other two full time first shift phlebotomists, which will mean starting at 4:30 or 5 AM, and doing some 6 AM and 10 AM shifts otherwise. i appreciate all your prayers. :)

so, apparently this job i was offered is not as securely mine as i thought it was. probably through a misunderstanding on my part, i was surprised today to learn that another phlebotomist at the hospital has also applied for the job i thought i was getting. due to how far i live from work, my boss has asked me to call her later today for a phone interview, rather than coming in person to talk with her. i'd like to ask for your prayers about this, as this is all of course a complete surprise for me, and i'm finding myself quite nervous about it. if i don't get this job, i'll have to stick with my PRN position, which means that after the new full time third shift person takes over in october, i won't have any guarantees about how many hours i'll be working; it likely won't be as much as i'm working now, or as much as i would be in the new position. your prayers for me would be much appreciated.

i have accepted a full-time position as a first shift phlebotomist at the hospital where i've been working third shift. they're currently training my full-time replacement for third shift, and she'll take over in mid-october. i'm a little disappointed with myself that i didn't bother to go after the full-time third shift position, but this should work out well. i'll have benefits and PTO and a few more hours a week than i've been getting.

other than that i'm still working on deciding what i'm going to do as far as continuing my education or pursuing my career (or even what career that will be), though some significant progress on that has been made in the last couple days. i'll give you an update on that once my plans have been firmed up a bit.

there are a few concerts coming up in october that i'm hoping to get to go to. The Decemberists and Mae are playing in Chicago, and The Avett Brothers are playing in Urbana. if anyone nearby wants to meet me at any of these concerts, i would be glad to have you along, and you'll be welcome to stay at our house if you want to! i'm also planning a trip to BG with josh, october 14-17th or so. i'm very excited about this, i'm looking forward to seeing you BG (and maybe nashville?) people soon!

surprising, i'm sure.

well, i'm back with my parents for the time being. i've been spending the last few weeks helping first prepare to move out of our house, then move into and clean (and drywall and paint) our new house, then finally clean our old house before it closed (which was done on friday). i've also been looking for a phlebotomy job in peoria, though i got kind of busy with all the moving stuff, so i haven't had a lot of time to spend on that lately. a resume and cover letter will probably help my chances on that front considerably....

i have, however, had the opportunity to go back to work at my old phlebotomy job, since one of their full-time phlebotomists is on vacation, and another broke her wrist. this is (hopefully) a temporary arrangement, since it requires a 1.5-hour drive to get to work now. i've worked a couple first shifts already; this has been my first third shift. i will work third shift again tonight, after having worshiped in davenport and slept the afternoon and evening at the house of a family from church. so far, things have gone pretty smoothly for having been out of the phlebotomy loop for nearly a year. no traumas or codes yet, in the three days i've worked so far, though the ER has been a little crazy tonight. i'm hoping i'll survive the remainder of my shift without wishing to topple over from exhaustion. i didn't do a very good job of preparing, sleep-wise, for this third shift. but, just over 2 hours remains, and i still have 2/3 of an Amp awaiting me in the break room fridge, so i think i will do just fine.

well, that's about all i have time for at the moment. i may actually provide another update sometime soon, since third shifts tend to have a lot of down-time. unless things are crazy. and crazy usually means really crazy, because you're the only phlebotomist in the hospital....