Things That I Will Walk Away From College Knowing

1. Some mistakes you make early on in your undergraduate career will haunt you for the next four years.
2. Schoolwork/studying/stress does NOT dictate your life. Happiness does. So find what makes you happy and DO IT. And who knew, I love nursing!
3. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear.
4. Capture every moment you can in any way that will allow it to live on forever in your memory, through writing, poetry, music, etc. My medium happens to be photos. Can you tell?
5. The mistakes you make early on in your undergraduate career do NOT have to haunt you for the rest of your life.
6. Beer before liquor, you get super sicker.
7. You may end up falling in love with the person you least expected yourself to ever be with.
8. Explore and take advantage of every opportunity to see the world, even if it's just crossing the Hudson River.
9. Even though sometimes you feel like you're completely and utterly alone in your problems, there is ALWAYS someone, a close friend, a significant other that will be there for you. You just have to open your mouth and ask for help.
10. Never give up the things you love to do, even if it might not fit into your "ideal" schedule.
11. Discover yourself. Break out of your shell. Stand out. No one decides who you are or what you are capable of but yourself.
12. Saving money goes a long way, especially when you're aiming to go on that tropical vacation when you graduate and find yourself with holes in your pocket.
13. One day a week, if you have the time, spend it with your friends doing things you actually enjoy doing together. In my case, it's been 4 years of 'Grey's Anatomy' and pigging out on someone's floor/carpet/futon in the middle of the night.
14. Talking to your real best friends will always feel like a continuation of a years-long conversation, even if there were months in between where you didn't talk at all.
15. It's never too soon to plan ahead. You can't dink around all four years of college and expect the perfect dream job to be handed to you on a silver platter. You get what you earn.
16. BUY AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE.
17. Don't be afraid to try new things or meet new people.
18. Don't be afraid to let loose once in a while and have fun! The best and funniest stories are told years later (when you can finally laugh about it) remembering nights like those!
19. The freshman 15 DOES exist. In my case, the freshman 20.
20. Work hard, play hard. It's all about finding the right balance between the two.

and finally ...

Don't grow up so fast that you miss what college really is ...

... the best years of your life.

To the Class of 2009. AWOOHOO!

How to Get Paid to be an Insomniac

It's 3:21am here up in our tower, where the fun never ends and the patients never sleep (and on many occasions, can't seem to remember where their beds are!). I realized I haven't had much time to write in this since, well, obviously February so I figured I'd update this with the latest happenings of my crazy, mixed-up life. So before Mr. L. gets out of bed again, asking how come he hasn't started his therapy yet, here's the lo-down on the Hoedown Throwdown that is my life.

I think it's pretty funny that the one Facebook status update I've had all week, with the slightest hint of negativism, gets the most comments I've had on any update in days (womp womp!). But thanks for caring guys! It's just been a dreadful couple of weeks and I'm only slowly but steadily beginning to recover.

In response to those queries, I ask you -- Isn't the last semester of your senior year of college supposed to be the best time of your life?? Where you're supposed to be throwing your cares to the wind and engaging in all sorts of wreckless and endangering behavior as your last hurrah from college life?? But no. I have to be 'responsible.' I have to think about my 'future.' And thus, sacrifice one of the biggest things in my life that actually made me feel whole and complete, for the sake of something that is supposed to make my life 'stable' but which essentially, turned these past two years of my life into one big black hole of happiness and emotional stability. What's even better is, after four years of stress and work, a position for a graduate nurse in New York isn't even guaranteed! And of course with my rotten luck, everything happens in succession after lovely succession so when it rains, it really pours.

But thankfully, there is light at the end of this seemingly never-ending tunnel. May 27th is JUST around the corner (pending no last-minute medication errors *knock on wood*). Dates with Dexter Aguila are always the highlights of my week, especially when it involves Sweet Tea and some Hugh Jackman action. "Angels & Demons" is coming out in 18 days. The long-lost little sister is finally coming home! And boy, after this weekend, did it feel good to dance again. I love my POH members like they are extensions of my own dramatic, troublesome, loud family. I'm so proud of all of your hard work this year, and especially this past month in preparation for the show! Which goes to show you that maybe all is not lost when you are accepted into Hunter Bellevue's School of Nursing. Except for maybe your sanity.

In conclusion, I vow to suck it up. Stop complaining. Wake up in time to go to class for the last 2 Tuesday morning lectures of my undergraduate career. And apply to hospitals in the West Coast.

Wait.
Did I just say that?