Best/Worst

So today I conquered two of my greatest fears.

Backup..I need to provide a little background info here for you to understand the extent of my accomplishments. I would like to think that I am very rarely unnerved (although I did have a little bit of a meltdown when I had to experience "The Brain Bucket") however, I have two major drawbacks. Drum roll please....

1. I am gutless when it comes to heights. I hate them. I know my place in this world and it is very near to the ground.

2. Needles. Being. Poked. Into. My. Arm.


Which leads me back to why I started writing this in the first place...today I got in a fight with that strange part of my brain that tells me to tremble in the face of fear, and guess what?

I won.

I am starting work very soon at a much-beloved ski resort in the beautiful rocky mountains. And today I had to go to orientation which was slightly boring and repetitive until the ski patrol needed the rest of us to be their guinea pigs for the afternoon. So here's the story. They were have a trial run of emergency evacuation from the ski lift so they lined us up and sent us all up the hill like it was normal. So there we were..dangling much to far from the icy snow for my liking, freezing our noses off in the biting wind, watching the patrolmen as they go down the line, lowering the other employees in front of us to the ground. And then it was our turn and at this point I am shakin' in my boots. Literally. Let me explain what was actually happening. They threw a little rope over the lift line and at on end is a bar with a piece of wood hooked to the bottom which you are supposed to wiggle in between your legs so that you are sitting on it. And then wrap this measly little rope under your arms. So this is all fine and so far I am doing ok..just breathe..it's not that far down I had to remind myself..it's completely safe. Yeah right. Except for the fact that the only thing keeping you from plummeting toward the ground as soon as you jump is the guy sitting on the rope on the ground. Real safe guys.

And then I have to lift myself out of the chair. Possibly falling to my death.

At which point I turned into a total basket case. SO embarrassing. Everyone was already on the ground at this point. Literally my chair was the last one. And I froze. I couldn't do it. And poor Mason who was left up there with me. I'm sure he would have liked nothing more than to push me out of the chair and get out of there himself. But he was so calm and nice and got me to start breathing at least. Ugh. And my boss was at the bottom and half a dozen other important people that work at the resort.

And I had to be the girl who freaked out on the lift. But the point is..I did it. I finally worked up the courage to push myself off the lift. I composed myself and took a leap of faith and lived to tell about it. The worst part is..everyone else lived to tell about it too. And they will be telling about it for the rest of the season. So now instead of being the spunky, smiley, slightly-out-of-control liftee girl, I am going to be known as the girl who flipped out on the emergency e-vac drill. Spectacular.

But that isn't even the end of my day. The next part is much shorter and much less interesting but still a huge thing for me. I donated blood. I sat there while this half-cute(another story entirely) little flobotomist jabbed a huge needle into my "awesome vein". That's what she told me..that I have awesome veins. Not sure how to feel about that. I think it might be slightly amazing. But maybe I just let it go to my head. And I didn't even get nauseous or light-headed or faint-hearted. It was fantastic. And then they gave me juice.

It was one of the best/worst days of my life. I am a superhero.

The Brain Bucket

So today is my anatomy lab which I usually love...but today was a little different. We started muscles last week (really really cool) and all week I have known that today I would have to go into the cadaver lab. I wasn't really worried about it because it takes a lot to make me sick. Also it is a huge privilege to have a cadaver on campus and be able to study it at such a lower level class...we count ourselves lucky. So we finish our quiz and Brother Frederickson (who only graduated a few months ago and is headed to med school next fall) tells us all to "glove up". And suddenly my throat feels like I shoved a football down it. I was so nervous!! He starts showing us the leg muscles and I was ok at this point because the head was covered and the muscles are SO interesting! So we go through all the muscles in the lower extremities..still doing fine if I breathe through my mouth...and then someone wants to see the heart and lungs. That was really cool too and the head was still covered I just had to think..it's not a human..it's not a human..and I was fine.

And then it happened. The know-it-all-have-to-be-the-top-of-the-class-or-I-have-failed asks to see a brain. So Bro Fred, or Logan as we all like to refer to him, walks over to the cabinet and pulls out "The Brain Bucket" which is exactly what you think it is. Suddenly my airway is totally constricted..the smell coming from this bucket could knock you out from a mile away..and I somehow got pushed to the front of the class. I am a mere two feet away from the bucket. I didn't want to be the wimpy kid who has to run out of the class because she can't stomach the cadavers..but I also didn't want to be the kid who pukes all over the teacher. So I just tried really hard to not breath and focus on what he was teaching us.

And then he pulls out a brain. With the eyeballs still attached. And that's when I lost the ability to stand. The T.A. basically had to carry me out into the hall. I had to get outside to some fresh air and luckily I didn't lose my breakfast all over the bad carpet.

So I guess you could say it's been a rough day.

Where are they all going??

Ok so I totally do NOT get how to run this thing yet..so please bear (bare?) with me. The post that I was trying to write earlier was meant to poke fun at all the mindless students walking around campus with their blackberry pearls glued to their ears or nano headphones blowing out their eardrums. But now I have moved on to something else to talk about. Shock I know but oh well!

As I am sure all of you know...if not..wow...but today is a big day for America.
The election. I have chosen not to vote today because personally I already know who is going to be the president and I don't feel like my vote is going to count at this point. All I know is...whoever is our next president has obviously convinced approximately half of the country to vote for him and that should be good enough. We have to support whoever is chosen or we are just not being good Americans. So lets just be nice and say good job. Welcome to the White House. That's all. I have to go study for a dang test.

Also...I got a haircut today. And my hairdresser is pregnant. So now I have to schedule my appointments around her morning/sometimes not morning sickness. Yikes...but SO exciting for her!