I am such a delinquent! I always think about writing but then I either nap, go to bed or do work. Or snack, but that's more of a constant struggle. Anyway, we are finished with long term care and I secretly liked it a lot. I spent my last two days on a locked dementia unit and I feel like I learned a lot about communication from my patient. I am very thankful for him :) I can see how working with those patients, though, can be draining. Some of them can become physically and verbally abusive and it's not something they have control over so you know they don't really mean it. I think our last day that wear and tear set in on us, at least the group that was in the back, and we were all a little down :( It was an overall great experience and I am happy that we survived. This week we start in acute care and our floor is a short stay medical-surgical floor. I hope I get to watch a couple procedures! I am sure this will be more fast paced, so I hope I can make the walk home after we're done.

Last week we also finished up two more classes - pathophysiology/pharmacology and genetics. I really liked our patho professor and we get to have her again for case study stuff in our med-surg class (I have it in the spring). We also register for fall classes on Friday, so I met with my advisor today to sign my degree plan. I'm going to try to get the early lab, probably the 8 am, so then I'll make myself go to the gym afterwards. My advisor said it's probably not a bad idea since our days will be long as it is. I have women's health/OB/peds in the fall as well as psyc, so I think that I will have lots of fun with those rotations. I also have met with one of my professors that does pediatric sleep research and I will be working with her for the rest of the year. She's so low key that I'm sure it will be a fun experience even if we don't really get to help with the study itself. I am excited to see what a sleep lab looks like, especially for kids, and learn more about this little pocket of science. She's also been a great resource for me about PhD programs, so I am also very thankful for her :)

[Begin soapbox] We went to the pride parade on Saturday with some of our friends from class and it was really fun! At the end we all got to march in the parade (I guess that's what happens all the time - everyone just joins in at the end) and we turned a corner to find a whole bunch of protestors. I thought I had some idea of what that experience was like, but I was wrong. As a straight person, I was totally offended/shocked/surprised that people so "Christian" would pass such an extreme judgement on another group of people. Kind of reminds me of Paul's letters, those ones that tell women to be quiet and people not to get married unless they have to (you know, the ones no one actually reads?), since at that point Christians were the outcasts of society. I don't know, it seems counter productive to be blatantly judgemental and cruel when you're supposed to be the light of the world. I'm still not totally sure how using Jesus's love as a weapon is one of the cornerstone's of Christianity, but I don't think that's something I'll ever understand. Maybe it is my inner peaceful-love everybody-"hippie" Vermonter. One of the friends I was walking with went up to a protestor holding a sign that said something like "Ask me why you're going to hell" and told him that Jesus loved him. My personal favorite is a photo I saw on a website (maybe Perez Hilton?) that had someone protesting the passage of Prop 8 holding a sign that said, "Jesus said LOVE, bitches!" :) Pretty sure that person was/is right... [end of soapbox]

My transition to my new surroundings hasn't been extremely difficult... except for when I am wandering around trying to figure out why I cannot find the people I used to talk to every day for the last 4 years. Then it gets hard. So I guess that's why God made us smart enough to have cell phones and texting :) There are only a few constants in my day, but I am always glad to have them: breathing, eating, sleeping (even a little) and encouragement from Cassan. :)