Wednesday, August 23, 2006

I'm finally accepted.....

So these are apparently the type of students I will be joining at SOTON (I guess that's some sort of short hand for the University of Southampton...don't ask me). Today I got an email from UCAS to say that my offer and requirements have been officially confirmed, which means I technically and officially and in spirit have a place in Medicine at SOTON this Autumn. Although I knew that I would meet the requirements of the offer, they couldn't confirm my place until they had done a criminal background check (don't know how I passed that) and declared me physically fit (i.e. most importantly I don't have the dreaded hepatitis B). So today they were able finally to confirm this. So I'm going. Now all I have to do is go, study, pass some exams and ....oh yeah, pay for it all...... sounds pretty "easy" right?

In other news my cousin Liz is leaving early tomorrow (thursday) morning to go back to America and figure out what she's going to do with her life. This finally ends a summer of non-stop travel accross most of western Europe. Pray for her that God will let her know what it is that God has for her in this life. Stuff much more complicated when you haven't a clue what you want/are supposed to do.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

My Life right now? Glad you asked...

A few random shorts:

-work is good, so far I’ve only had to clean up on really nasty toilet….that will be etched in my memory for a long time to come….although funny enough I’m getting a lot better about that type of stuff, I don’t know if it’s a good thing.

-I’ve become absolutely paranoid about washing my hands and arms and anything else I can in the tiny sink.

-Now that I’ve gotten to know my co-workers a bit better, I’ve found that most of them are really sound people. Sure we argue about who has to take down the slop bucket, or deliver that extra-pot of coffee to that irritating patient (or do both at the same time….). But all in all sometimes they’ll get an extra cup of milk for you, or even take down the mop heads to be washed…. isn’t life good.

-By the way, I know you’ve all been thinking about asking it but didn’t want to sound stupid. Yes, my job is just like the janitor in Scrubs, and yes there is a newly qualified doctor who I torment (but he just doesn’t know it yet).

-We’ve been doing a course in food hygiene practices over the past few weeks and my boss came and told my that I did really well in the exam….one of my good pre-med friends from Wheaton, Chika, spent last week in Med. School learn

ing and practicing putting in I.V.’s…

-It’s strange the reactions I get when I tell people th

at I studied Anthropology in college. The most common response is usually a blank look, or a statement like “so what type of jobs can that get you?” On occasion I get the random person who when they hear “Anthropology” say “OH! That’s Fantastic!” which sort of catches me off guard, the sad thing is that all the Anthropology stuff that they actually like and know I haven’t a clue about, so I sort of nod and smile when they mention all these names of people and theories that they love and that I’ve never heard of….

-I got paid for the first time last week, that’s a great part of the job. It’s especially nice cause I don’t really have any expenses at the moment.


-This is the biggest picture of my workplace that I could find. Notice the contrasting architecture from the old country house/1900s convent/60's mixup periods...


....by the way I really do like my job, but it's just easy to make fun of.......

-We had a Fire Extinguisher class today. It’s really fun, I can’t believe that I was actually getting paid for an hour of a man lighting stuff on fire and having us put it out.

-Last but not least, on September 1st, there is rumour there will be a Benjamin Washam appearance, here in Dublin. For those of you who don’t know, Benjamin is my 1st and 2nd year roommate and one of my best friends…. he’ll be staying for 2 weeks, get excited!.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

She's finally here...

So I was up at 6:00 o'clock yesterday morning, getting ready for work, and I have to admit I got a sick pleasure when the phone rang, so that my parents had to get up as well. Of course the only person who would call at this time would be a pregnant family member. Hailey was in labour and they were heading into the hospital and needed someone to come get Eoin. Only a little over an hour later at 7:45 Moia Jaelle Kingsley (pronounced Moya) was born to us at 8lbs 4 ounces. I was able to go in and visit my niece after work last night and then again today. Hailey looks really well, and should be going home tomorrow if all Moia's blood tests are okay. It was really peaceful in the hospital. Moia is so small, delicate and everything else you'd expect from a new born. I wasn't able to be there for Eoin's birth so this is a new and cool experience for me.

Here's a picture or two: