Good Morning, All. I hope you had lovely weekends and (at the very least) decent Mondays. My weekend was pleasant enough. Comps practice session on Saturday (not looking forward to the real thing, 3 hours at a time is tough). But rewarded with a nice dinner and a productively cleaning Sunday. Now back to business as usual (lockdown in my office). But look at how creative I have made studying!
This is what I call my "Theory Wall" (also called my "Wall of Theory"--the creativity ended with colored markers, I guess). Anyway this is a wall in my office and those are all index cards that I have put the bare bullet points of each theory on in an attempt to learn everything I need to know. Granted, knowing the bullet points is not sufficient to flesh out everything I will be forced to regurgitate in three hours (about health behavior theory), but it is a start. I also find that the writing and re-writing process helps to ingrain things into my brain, so that's a plus. I wish I also had a picture of my waste bin in my office (though I don't wish it so much that I am actuallly going to take one and upload it). The contents of my bin are very indicative of the past week. It's pretty much empty Starbucks cups (I can't drink coffee because of the caffeine but I can enjoy a hot chocolate and try to trick myself into thinking it is something highly caffeinated), a few soda cans (1. Diet Caffeine Free, but again with the tricking and 2. I hate throwing away cans but my building doesn't recycle anything but paper--usually I have a pile of about 10-15 cans and plastic bottles in my car because I can't bring myself to toss them so I take them home to recycle...it's a sickness), and this is settled next to my giant pile of discarded paper (which will be recycled...Cori).
In my other attempts to stay sane I have taken up "crafting" in my daily forced 1-2 hour breaks between studying and tutoring. I have even been to a couple of thrift stores to pick up old, generally ugly picture frames and things which I am refurbishing (i.e. painting) and doing mats for, etc. There was also a horrific bender at Hobby Lobby in which I spent more money than on my last grocery trip (or gas purchase which is, as you all know, horrendous). I should not be allowed in stores such as Hobby Lobby unsupervised. Anyway, I will showcase some of my work for you (because I know you are breathless with anticipation. Fear not, just scroll down...).
This is one of my favorites: Frame from Salvation Army, and I did the mat myself with some fabric, etc. Total cost: Under $4. Although I don't know how man hours and patience figure in to that total. I left them out to make the cost seem dramatically lower. Also:
Here is another I worked on for a few days (waiting for paint to dry and only being able to work in short intervals...). I really wish I had a before picture, but sadly I don't. I found this in the "picture frame" section at Salvation Army. It was a really gross brown with just an empty weird space for a picture (I guess) in the middle. I painted it, dismantled it and did some fabric magic, put it back together (which is the really impressive part, as my past does not indicate great prowess with reassembly, e.g. the VCR my cousin Laura and I dismembered to retrieve a copy of "Tommy Boy" that was stuck and in order to put it back together she had to sit on the top of it while I frantically put the screws back in... It literally was bulging on all sides and I don't think my aunt was very pleased). Anyway, I found some coordinating ribbon and voila, a decorative tray.
Okay, enough stalling, and back to business. I go for the breast ultrasound (and potential mammogram and/or biopsy) tomorrow afternoon. I am a bit more nervous than usual because I have never had this done. Also I had a vivid stress dream about it last night which isn't really helping alleviate my nerves. However, in a rather bizarre coincidence, my friend Katie from college messaged me that she was actually having the same thing last week and generously offered some perspective basd on her experience. It was greatly helpful, and that actually did help me to be a bit less nervous. Also, as a sidenote, the aforementioned Katie's results were good, which I am very happy to know, and I am so, so appreciative that she got in touch with me! So tomorrow I will go and see what this is all about, and hopefully leave with a glowing report that will send me on a euphoric study high until comps. I do request some prayers if you can spare them, and I will let you know what the test (hopefully doesn't) turn up.
C
Welcome to my life...
Hello, kind reader, and thanks for coming! You are probably reading this because you fall into one of the following categories:
1. My family
2. My near and dear friends
3. You accidentally typed in the wrong URL
But if, by chance you are not a part of one of those categories I hope you will still take a minute to read some of my posts. What I'm all about is cancer, particularly adolescent cancer. I had it, I owned it, I beat it, and here I am today. I am now getting my doctorate doing research with adolescent cancer patients and survivors. I came out okay on the other end of something awful, and now I want to make a difference by helping others. The way I see it, it's all about support--helping each other, seeing that someone has been there and made it. When I was 16 I felt completely alone, and I don't want others to feel that way. My idea is that maybe we can help each other by talking and sharing our stories. So here are some of mine...
Casey
HAAAAAAAAA. I'm glad to hear it.
ReplyDeletePraying for you Casey. I'll put a prayer rock in my pocket to remind me during the day to lift you up. Every time I reach for keys, you'll be lifted up. Love you.
ReplyDelete