OT practicum: term one, week two

i'm just about halfway through my first placement and i've been learning tons as a result of the super steep learning curve. actually, everyday i leave the hospital excited but exhausted - and acutely aware of how little i actually know, haha. my preceptor is still just as cool as she was last week and i really appreciate how she encourages me to ask questions and actually do things as opposed to just standing around watching all the time. while it's nerve-wracking being 'thrown to the wolves' (as she so nicely put it at one point), i think i've learned a lot through being pushed to be more involved in patient care. thankfully, my preceptor recognizes that this is my first placement in my first term of OT school (read: she is fully aware that i have no idea what i'm doing, haha) so that helps to take off some of the pressure.

in any case it has been two weeks since i've started practicum and i'm still enjoying it so i think this is a good sign. :)

john mayer | b a t t l e . s t u d i e s

for the past couple of days i've been listening to jm's latest, "battle studies". a lot of people have criticized this cd saying stuff like 'he sold out to pop with this album' or that 'this cd just doesn't compare at all to continuum'. meh, i guess people will always have their opinions.

for me, what impresses me the most is the fact that this album is so different from his last one (continuum), but it still sounds so...him. i think that's the mark of a great and super versatile musician who is just so damn good. bottom line: i think the battle studies cd is commendable and i like it.

favourite tracks off this one include 'heartbreak warfare', 'who says', and 'assassin'.

man, i could listen to him sing forever. it doesn't hurt that he's been looking less like a sick ghost these days either, haha. :)

click here to watch the official 'who says' video.

OT practicum: term one, week one

last night i had some major gi issues which is how i am blogging right now instead of being at the hospital for my practicum (since i need to be symptom-free for 48 hours before going back). i won't go into anymore detail on the gastrointestinal front because it is and was gross, haha.

what do i think of my practicum? so far, i'm loving it! i'm doing 3-weeks at an acute-care hospital on their in-patient rehabilitation floor, primarily working in geriatrics. my day starts at 8 and literally goes non-stop until 4 aside from a lunch break from 12-1. there's always something to do, patients to see, charts to read, assessments to review, and many things to observe and learn, so i never feel unsure of what to do even if i'm on my own while my preceptor does her documentation. it's weird, but good, in that i don't have any desire to check my e-mail or surf the internet during the day, haha. anyway, to date i feel like i've already learned a lot just going through patient charts with a medical dictionary to figure out what is going on in there, and observing my preceptor in the way she interacts with patients, so it's been a really good experience thus far. i've also learned a ton about wheelchairs, different foot rests that fit on different wheelchairs, elevated articulated foot rests, and the different types of wheelchair cushions and when you would use them. obviously i still have a long way to go in terms of the things i need/want to learn so sometimes it's overwhelming, but that's ok because i know that someday i'll get there.

bottom line is that i'm really liking my placement! it has been so cool.

so cool that last night when i realized i wouldn't be able to go in today, i was actually disappointed. imagine that, disappointed to not be able to go into work! i've never had that before - even throughout my music therapy internship, i was always kind of relieved to not have to go in.

this is just another reason why i think going back to school was one of my best decisions ever. :)

a duncan and tonic kind of night

tonight i listened to the following:

duncan sheik - barely breathing
tonic - if you could only see

it was like i was back in 1996 and yes, after 13 years, i still love these songs. :)

H1N1 vaccinated

as an OT student, i'm part of the health care worker/professional group of individuals that are considered high risk for h1n1 so i got my vaccination shot today (read: i was poked in the arm with a needle loaded with the virus.)

actually, the shot itself didn't hurt at all (the nurse was great!), but so far the aftermath has been less than pleasant. about 15 minutes after my shot, my arm got a little itchy and then the soreness started to set in. i got it around 3:45pm this afternoon and since then my arm has progressively gotten sorer and sorer. it hurts to extend, flex, adduct, and abduct - basically, it hurts to move my left arm in general. ughh.

the nurse warned me of the arm pain so i suppose it was to be expected, but still...boo. she advised me to ice it during the night to help with the pain, but i'm not sure if going to sleep with an ice pack (read: bag of frozen peas) on my sore arm only to wake up with a bag of defrosted peas in a puddle of water on my bed is the best way to go about things tonight. plus that would be uncomfortable. and cold.

oh well, i'm just gonna suck it up and go with it. let's just hope my body holds up for the next ten days (the approximate time it takes the vaccine to kick in) and doesn't get sick. otherwise the vaccination would have just been counterproductive and all the soreness would have been for nothing. :P

remembrance day 2009

today we had a remembrance day celebration in the IAHS (Instititute for Applied Health Sciences) building at Mac. it was short but sweet, and full of a lot of awkward moments:

- the audio kept skipping in and out during the last post.
- the MC kept slipping up words like "receipt" instead of "recite"
- "O Canada" was cut off because they forgot to ask everyone to stand.
- they then asked everyone to stand and started it over again.
- the audio player continued to skip during our national anthem
- one lady sang really loudly pretty much by herself.
- as the cd skipped she filled in the gaps. alone.
- after the national anthem was finished, there was scattered clapping.
- i think they were clapping for the singing lady.

despite the awkwardness, it was still nice that something was done to remember what was done and the lives that were lost in the process. i remembered, we all remembered, and that's what today was all about.

image taken from freefoto.com

cooking corner: chili con carne

from monday to thursday, my housemates and i cook for each other and eat dinner together. it's nice to be able to eat, laugh, and chat with them after a long day at school plus it's convenient in that everyone only has to cook one day a week.

anyway, my housemates cook good food. i've never eaten so well at school before and as a result, i've felt the need to up my game a little. ok, a lot. gone are the days of instant noodles for dinner everyday (although i totally still have it for lunch sometimes, haha) and here are the days of cooking better and healthier food. yep, i've been slowly expanding my 'cooking repertoire' and have - so far - cooked things like curry chicken, pasta and soup, and shepherd's pie.

tonight was my night to cook again and this is what i made: chili con carne



it was my first time ever making chili, but my housemates said it tasted really good so everyone was happy tonight. i also made rice to go with it but the rice didn't make it into the picture. :P my goal is to hopefully cook as well as my mom one day...yah, i have a long way to go, but i feel like i'm slowly improving. slowly. :)

5 embarrassing things about me

1. i like reading ellie in the living section of the toronto star. so much drama, my goodness. i generally enjoy reading 'dear abby' more than 'ellie' though because sometimes ellie annoys me.

2. i have a weakness for young adult fiction. (from the luxe - which i haven't written a review on yet because i'm waiting for the last book to come in the mail so i can finally finish the series - to the mortal instruments, i'm all over it.)

3. instead of hemming my pants properly, i used to just staple them. at work of course, as to use up their staples instead of mine. bahaha, talk about professional. i've since hemmed the majority of my pants now.

4. i try to keep my room in hamilton tidy because i'm in the basement and the last thing i want is bugs and spiders all up in my stuff. unfortunately, my room at home is still a huge mess, boo.

5. i'm a chronic procrastinator who just doesn't seem to learn from my mistakes. like, for example, right now i should be working, but instead i'm blogging and typing up random stupidness, haha. everything always get done in the end though, so i feel a little bit better about this. a little.

novel withdrawal

it's been more than two months since the last time i sat down to read a novel - i know, it's so sad...and pretty nerdy that it makes me feel sad, haha. anyway, my problem is that i generally don't really have time to read and when i do, i'm either too tired or so sick of reading journal articles/OT books that i just don't feel like it anymore. gah. over my christmas break i'm going to plunk myself down, curl up in my favourite armchair, cover myself with a blanket, sip some hot chocolate, and get lost in the pages of a book. no wait, make that books.

can't wait!

p.s. it's already november, can you believe it? :O

i...

- am officially not pursuing my MTA (music therapist accreditation) anymore.
after getting an e-mail from my supervisor a couple months back, i very honestly let her know where i was at and she wrote back today saying that she completely understood and i'm completely relieved that she doesn't hate me (she still wants to meet up so this is a good sign.) :) it took at lot of thinking and rethinking and talking to multiple people (ranging from justin to family to my faculty advisor), but ultimately i think i made the right decision for myself. i'm at peace with it and i'm glad everything is working out. :)

- am starting my first placement the monday after next monday.
i'm feeling pretty nervous, but excited. looking forward to being at a hospital (yay!) and finally being able to see and experience firsthand what an OT does not only as a volunteer, but as a student.

- am i'm getting more used to hamilton now.
...but i will still continue coming back to toronto every weekend. fo shizzle.

- am making tuna casserole for dinner tomorrow.
i eat dinner with my housemates so we all only have to cook for each other once a week since there are four of us and fridays we don't eat together. so far it's been working out great! and, my goodness, i've never eaten so well at school before. or cooked such good food - it always used to be either (the same) kind of pasta or instant noodles, haha. i still have much to learn, but justin and i will reap the rewards of my living in this house and having to up my game in cooking later on, i'm sure. :P

- am still loving OT.
it's been two months since i started school, and i can honestly say that the switch from MT to OT has been the best switch for me. i don't necessarily like every single little thing, but i'm generally really enjoying occupational therapy and i feel so much happier doing what i'm doing now compared to three months ago. it makes me kind of sad because i really do feel that music therapy has a lot of offer, but it just really solidifies the fact that it just wasn't for me. if anything, a lot of my thoughts towards music therapy are more positive now that i'm no longer working in the field. i will definitely refer people to music therapy where other people can do MT sessions with them, haha.

- really need to get back to work.
later dayz. :)

today i bought a poppy

i'm not sure why, but lately i've been thinking about gord.

during my time working in long-term care as a music therapist, i must have seen maybe 100 residents during any given week, but out of everyone i don't see anymore, i miss him the most. i actually thought of dropping my hours at his home on more than one occasion, but i never did largely because him. he was my favourite resident and i couldn't bring myself to leave as long as he was there - and it was in my control to stay.

even though he passed away in april 2009, i still get sad when i think about him. i never got to tell him i would be going back to school for OT. i never got to tell him justin had proposed to me and that i was going to get married. i never got sing certain songs with him, and thanks to a stupid outbreak that lasted for a month prior to his death, i never got to say goodbye. :(

anyway, gord was a veteran having been in the army for six years in his late teens to mid-twenties and he had a tattoo of his infantry on his arm and a head full of memories and stories as a result. while i've always respected veterans and remembrance day, i was never really into buying poppies until i worked in long-term care and the donation boxes were literally right there. i'm no longer working in long-term care, but even so i picked up a poppy today and on my way home, with gord on my mind and a lump in my throat, i decided i would buy one every year from here on in. it would be my way of remembering the fallen soldiers and their sacrifice, and my way of remembering my favourite veteran who has now joined his fallen comrades, gord.

i won't forget.
and i will certainly never forget gordon.
rip gord, rip. you are missed.

happy birthday!

...to my hubby to be. :)