D-Day

Finally figured everything out with the doctors and as of this coming Thursday I'll be tumor free (fingers crossed). I'm still in the process of seeing other doctors about my other problems, but I'll be glad when this part of the whole ordeal is done.

Hopefully the surgery doesn't change my boobie size, I would hate to be left unbalanced.

mamma mia

Ciao tutti,




As you all know, I started school last week. What an epic adventure my summer was and it was the last one before I go off into the real world. How sad!



But, anyways. On a slight side note the tumor was not cancerous, but sometime soon I'll be making the appointment to get it removed. It can still grow, turn into clusters and continue to make my life sad. I am also going to go to another doctor to get a 4th opinion to figure out whats the cause of my other problems. I do not understand how doctors think saying "hmm thats interesting, I don't know whats wrong" is an acceptable answer. Anyways..



SCHOOL:



So its only been a week and I am already ridiculously busy, its disgusting. I have started back at my internship and hippo. I work between 26 to 32 hours a week (yes, I know I am crazy). And my classes are fantastic.

Italian: First time I've had a male teach me a language before and more importantly he is from Long Island. The man is ridiculous and is actually a legit teacher.

PSC: This is a political policy class and to be honest, I have no idea whats going on. I mean, I understand the topics, but it just doesn't interest me.

History: This class fits both into both my minor and major. Its a class on Race, Medicine and Public Health: African Americans. The class requires tons of readings, but is super interesting. The teacher is extremely knowledgeable and the information is extremely relevant.

AIDS: I am taking one grad class and it is called: Biology of HIV/AIDS. Now, this class requires the most work, but is the most interesting. Did you know that you can't test a baby born to a mother with HIV until it is 3 months old because it still has its mothers antibodies till than? Anyways, as everyone is extremely aware science is normally not to my liking, however this class is just beyond interesting. I even find learning about DNA, RNA, nucleotides and all of those other fun words extremely interesting. But don't get me wrong, I am scared sh*tless of this class. There are only 3 other students in this class....One of them is a PhD student. O.o

Public Health: My last class is this Global Public Health class taught by this man who has worked all over the world and for organizations like WHO and such. This class will be good, I am thinking it will be one of my easier classes, because I sort of know about global public health already haha. However, whats interesting about him, is that someone who works for AHMC knows him and his son. I think this should mean I get an A no matter what type of work I put in, rightttt



As for my new dorm situation. AMAZING. 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, common room and kitchen. Its better then all my previous dorm spaces. My roommates are also ridiculous. The other day my roommate came home from a costume clothes sale and brought home old aprons. The whole concept of me attempting to cook, be domestic and a typical 50's housewife just got even better! We also all have different schedules and activities which makes having alone time easy. And we all are ridiculously busy, one day I'll learn to sit still.



But besides doing all this work I am having fun. I went to eastern market for the first time and fell in love with it. It is an absolutely magical place. I've also gotten to hang out with people in my fraternity a lot more recently, I loves them. Now that Leah and I are living together, theater people are always around. The conversations that occur and the topics that are covered are ridiculous. I thought I was funny, but really I'm far from it. The biggest shocker was when I came home and found navy uniforms sprawled throughout my bedroom and common room. While I was at work 11 people from the navel academy had stopped by and changed into their civilian clothes. I won't lie, I was disappointed to not witness all the gentlemen in their white uniforms, however I was home when they came back!





And lastly, I am no longer a blondie, I've switched it up a bit and turned into a brunette.

I think I've developed a fear of needles...

Update: I’m all done with the procedure and it will take a few days for them to get back to me. They did end up putting a piece of metal in me, in the case that I do need the nodule removed. It was pretty quick, the numbing part was a little painful. There were a few tears, but nothing too bad. The needles were intense, doctors should learn to not show their patients the needles they are going to be sticking into them. Its just cruel and unusual punishment. Now I just can’t move my right arm and have to wear a ice pack for the rest of the day. I’ve already started to bruise and such, but the doctor said it should be gone in a week, overall not too bad. Although, I do wish that I was given the results today. The wait is going to be intense.

Lastly: the icepack I have to wear in my bra makes it look like I had a boob job on one of my breast, but not the other. classsy..

Doctors

I've told a few people about this but not all, but since its getting to the tail end, its easier for me to just write it here then to tell the story multiple time and answer a multitude of questions.

At the beginning of this summer I started to show some of the signs of breast cancer, I went to the gynecologist and then a breast specialist. Neither of the two could find lumps, but they couldn't say what was wrong with me either. The breast specialist said that either my boobs were just messed up or that I might have pagets disease. Its a type of breast cancer, but the likelihood of me having it would be extremely rare (I would be the youngest person recorded to have it).

Yesterday I went to the radiologist and had a ultrasound on my boobs. A nodule was found and the doctor believes it is a fibroadenoma. On Monday i am going to a have a biopsy done and a possible mammogram. We will know the results then. If it is a fibro.. then it is noncancerous and can just sit and chill in there or I can have it removed if it is large enough or if I just want too. It does mean that I will have to go in for check ups fairly regularly because it means i am even more susceptible to breast cancer.

Once i know what it is for sure, i'll let everyone know. As of now I'm not too worried, but I would appreciate any and all kind thoughts or prayers.

My upcoming plans

1)Tonight: have mom take all my stuff home
2)Sunday: have mom bring the furniture back and squat at Leahs
3)Monday: doctors: biopsy
4)Tuesday: Econ Final
5)Wednesday:Move into new dorm illegally
6)Friday: Be legal in my dorm and last day of internship for the summer
7)Saturday: be move in volunteer.

Now onto the good things in my life:
1) The roomies and I decided we are going to be painting our room this year. Leah has picked color combinationms and such. We are such grownups. haha
2) I get to go home and relax for a few days. It will be AMAZING.
3) I'm finally going to get answers from the doctors
4) my internship has been extended to the fall. YESSS
5) Alexa and I will finally be roommates
6)I'm going to get my hair cut
7)My birthday is already planned out, yes I know its in February, but a girl only turns 21 once. My tentative plan is lady gaga the day after my birthday and then wine tastings at vineyards during the weekend. I'm thinking classless to classy.
8) Soon I will have Internet AND cable in my place of residence. This means I no longer have to get exercise to waste away my life. I now can return to my typical routine of TV and computer in bed. LOVES
9) I will be sitting outside tanning and relaxing some point before school starts....
10) I want to do one last trip somewhere before the 30th. WHERE SHOULD I GO?

I hope everyone is having a fantastic friday :-) much love.

And to make everyone's fridays a tad bit better, here is a quote from the blog spot about interns. DC interns are just plain ridiculous sometimes.

"I was riding the metro on my way to a Nationals game when three interns boarded and started having a conversation about DC sites and the White House. One intern was commenting about how much fun it would be to climb the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue and explore the White House grounds. One of her friends wisely advised her that this was a bad idea, because “the social security shoots people who try that.” I laughed for the rest of my ride to the stadium. "

This morning I woke up a little earlier than normal to run some errands, but in general thought it was just another hot and humid day in DC. I figured I would just ride the metro to work and then walk the 2 extra blocks to work, maybe even stopping to get a smoothie if I got to work early enough. Boy was I wrong!

This morning there was a bomb threat in the park across from my office building. Normally it is just filled with homeless people, but in the last two weeks there have been 2 bomb threats. Today’s threat blocked off the whole entire park and multiple blocks surrounding it. No matter what way I tried to get to work I failed.

You would think I would be worried about the bomb threat and my safety, but if you thought this you would be wrong. My thoughts were more concerned with how hot is was outside, about how my food was going bad, and whether or not I should study econ or read my kindle (my kindle won that contest). The fact that the bomb threat barely caused a stir to my mental happiness is quite interesting. Two years ago I would have been freaked, but today I just thought “Ohh D.C., yet another bomb threat. When can I go inside?” What’s even more interesting, is that everyone else’s thoughts were about the same as mine. Countless people asked the police if they could just go into their buildings and that everyone already knew that the “suspicious” package was nothing.


I find myself wondering if it’s sad or not that people have become immune to life threatening events. I wonder if we have developed this mentality because we live in the nation’s capital and if by default we already know we put ourselves at risk everyday by just going about our normal business. Or I wonder if everyone around the world thinks like me and everyone else whose day got put on hold by the threat. Is the world becoming more dangerous because of the increased amounts of threats and violence or because people are more concerned about where they’re going and what they want to do instead of their safety?






And lastly, while I waited outside the same quote from JAWS kept popping into my head: “We’re going to need a bigger boat.”

My Book List

Today at work, when I finally had a breather I checked my email and noticed that Borders, Barns & Noble, and Amazon had all emailed me about their new books and deals. From the selection, I made a quick list, and then went back to work.

Here is the quick list  I made. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know!

• Disappearing Spoon
• Charlie St. Cloud
• Shit My Dad Says
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
• I am Nujood, Age 10 & Divorced

Whirlwind

I cannot believe its August! Summer has gone by so quickly and I have not accomplished all my goals for the summer! Blah. These past few months definitely have not been a waste though. I’ve learned so much and had some of the best experiences of my life. Living on my own has been an experience, especially when the remodeling of a kitchen goes on for 2 weeks instead of a week; working full-time has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life; through my econ class, I have developed an appreciation for economics and actually enjoy it (shocker); and DC in the summer is just plain ridiculous! I honestly don’t want summer to end, but senior year is upon me again and it’ll be even more amazing when I graduate.

But, now news on my life! I spent this past weekend in Pennsylvania and just relaxed. Surprisingly, I had no homework to do, so I was just able to enjoy myself. One of the best parts was the fact that wild animals were EVERYWHERE!! There were wild turkey and a groundhog just chilling in the front yard! Sadly, when I tried to get a picture the turkey ran and my picture ended up blurry and of just a tree. The other noteworthy things I did were go for a hike up a mountain to see the whole town of Milford and I was finally able see the movie Inception. When I got home I had come to find that my fridge had not been plugged in all weekend, which really, coming home late at night and finding that you have no food and that everything has a funky smell to it is not pleasant. Everything turned out alright in the end; I am being reimbursed for my food! Epic win.

When I came home, I also came home to a new roommate, The Saminator. He made a bed for himself, left me pretty little notes and probably has more laundry in the apartment then me! It’s nice to have company again because Hermie LaRawr, my fish, just wasn’t cutting it.

My life is slowly becoming less exciting. I am not working as much, not taking as many classes and just relaxing. Since my roommate moved out I no longer have cable or internet, so I’ve become much more primitive and have been finding ways to entertain myself. I’ve been reading a wonderful book called “Eat, Love, Pray” and have started reading a bible verse a day. Surprisingly, reading a bible verse each day has helped me take my thoughts off the doctor’s appointments, school and stress. Today the bible verse said to be grateful for what God has given me. I realize I’m not always grateful for what I do have in my life and that I have a HORRIBLE tendency to always think about things I wish I could have, the unattainable and the what ifs. So today I am focusing on what I am thankful for: My family, friends, my health, my amazing opportunity this summer, my sense of humor, and everything in life that makes me laugh.

Back to the Daily Grind

On Saturday I successfully defeated the GRE; I got a better score then I predicted! I’ll probably take it again to do EVEN better, but no big deal.

Yesterday I went to Philly, So legit, minus the fact that we drove through horrible weather and traffic. We left before the six inning sadly because of the storm and the fact that the game was delayed!! The game started at 1:30 and did not end till 7. Unacceptable! The great thing about going to the game was that it had Christmas music playing the whole time (yay Christmas in July). Also, my ticket can be used as a free entrance in to the baseball hall of fame sometime in the next year. I now just need to figure out sometime where I could drive up to New York and go…

But alas today is Monday and I have a midterm on Thursday in Econ. On the upside, I am taking a vacation day on Friday and will be driving to Pennsylvania for the second time in a week!! I just need to get through these first few days first…

Christmas in July

This post has nothing to do with Christmas...but it got you interested in what this blog was about...

Life has been super crazy these past few weeks; I definitely can’t believe that summer is more than half way over. It might be because I haven’t had a typical summer. I’m working, taking classes and studying for the GRE. Speaking of which, that is this Saturday. Everyone should wish me lots and lots of LUCK.
But I have no complaints, I’m loving life. Recently I’ve caught up with some old friends who have reminded me of some of the good things in life. I tie-dyed, puffed painted and baked on a recent trip home for a family members birthday! Recently I’ve been on a book craze and have been spending disgusting amounts of time reading, even though I really don’t have time to do it (If you have any books you would like to suggest, please throw them my way!)
My internship is pretty amazing. Every day it looks like it will turn into something that will last a lot longer. That is extremely exciting because it means I’m doing something right!!

A lot of people have told me that I’m not having enough fun or I’m going to end up killing myself by the end of the summer because I never have enough free time. They are all wrong though! Here are some of the fun activities I have coming up in the next few weeks:
• Trip to Philadelphia for a Rockies game!
• I’m road tripping up to Pennsylvania to see Jeffers
• The beach will happen! Delaware or Virginia beach and I will have a love fest pretty soon
• Eastern Market
• Baking days!!
• POOL
• And sleep. Sadly, I know it’s not an unusually fun activity. But it keeps me healthy and sane 

And here is a list of silly things that have happened to me or I’ve done recently. Sometime I wonder where my head is…
• Told I look like a 15 year old who got lost
• Leaving home without my wallet and $.05 on my SmarTrip, meaning I could get one way but not home.
• Locking myself out of my apartment, many of times. The doormen have come to have the spare key at the ready for me.
• Tie-Dying my hands more than a shirt
• And lastly…today 2 homeless people asked me to marry them when I passed them in a park. I’m a winner among the homeless…

4th of July

Summer has passed gone by super duper fast. I can't believe that its already half way over; not that I'm complaining. I'm ready to return to my normal schedule of falling asleep after 2am and running to classes. Working 9 to 6 can be pretty rough some times. Luckily my first 2 online classes are over (WOOT) and the freshman orientation is over. That means I no longer need to rush to campus and work 6:30 to whenever at the bowling alley.

I am now back to my normal sleep schedule of being in bed by 11pm. Exciting new news is that I will be starting my last summer class tomorrow and that means I will be getting out of work at 3 everyday to go attend class on Foggy Bottom. The class is international econ and I'm definitely not looking forward to it.

Life, however, hasn't been so droll these past few weeks. I've gone home, been to a baseball games, seen tons of friends and even went up to Pennsylvania. The trip was funzies, I saw a bear, a wild turkey, went for walks and swam in a waterfall. The trip was short but it was great to get out of the city.

However, probably the most exciting thing to happen this summer was this past weekend. We got an early dismissal from work, which meant that I went home and pretended to tan on the roof. After that, Jeff and a few other friends came into town! So to start off the festivities I revived my childlike self by watching Toy Story 3. We also went hiking in Rock Creek Park on Saturday and wandered around DC in the ridiculously hot weather. The best part came on Sunday when we spent it all day out on the National Mall with thousands of other people watching a concert and fireworks. The group of people we went with set up tents and a volleyball net and just hung out all day. It was great, minus the fact that it was extremely hot outside. We escaped into borders for a few hours to cool down and browse some books. I successfully managed to not get sunburned (momma should be proud) and thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks. It was the first time in years that I had actually been in the US for the holiday and it was a pretty cool experience to watch the fireworks in the nations capital.

The three day holiday ended with Georgetown cupcakes (delicious) and everyone going home :-(.

Pictures to come!!!!!

Summer

I had totally forgotten that I had a blog until I began wandering the web and saw some of my friends blogs. Then it clicked, I had one too! I then began the process of remembering which email I used, what the password was and what I had named my blog. As you can see, I finally figured it out.

Once on my blog, I read through all my blog posts (a total of 5) and decided it was time to delete them and start a fresh; its time for a new leaf. The basis of this blog will be about, uh, haven't gotten that far yet! But I have decided that it will be a new way to procrastinate and be a good way to clear my head.

As a lot of you know, this summer I am living in an apartment and working. I work 9 to 6 as an intern and am taking 2 classes online (nerd status). And don't worry the hippodrome is still present in my life; I work special events as a manger. So overall my goal is to make money and not become bankrupt this summer. Its more or less working out so far.

But overall DC is crazy in the summer, nothing like the fall. GW's campus has been invaded by interns from all the best colleges (University of Iowa and Wyoming as examples), who have no idea how to live in the city. They fail on the metros, don't know how to go out at night or how to look like "natives". However, they do supply hours of entertainment so no complaints.

This summer I have also been able to get out more! I have visited more of the smithsonian museums, gone on 11 mile hikes, chilled on roofs with pools and explored new parts of Virginia. All of these are things that I definitely would not have had a chance of doing during the school year, so I'm glad that on my last summer here in DC I am able to experience the epicness of DC.

The point of me being in DC this summer isn't just for giggles, its also a chance for me to get work experience and figure out what I want to do with my life after graduation. So far, my mind isn't made up yet. I still have no idea exactly what I want to do after next May, but I do know that I've learned a lot so far. By working for a Global Public Health company, I have been opened up to images of what my future could be. Although working 9 to 6 is exhausting and slightly boring at times, I could see myself excelling in this sort of field. I'm not sure I've proved to my bosses all that I am capable of doing, I am on the road to doing so.

Although, I had an internship for all of fall semester here are some exciting business firsts from this summer:

1) staff meetings

2)being a legit secretary from the hours of 1 to 2. (they actually have a lot they need to memorize/do)

3) having my own desk is pretty sweet!

4) going over old employee records is eye opening. I now know how to write great resumes, what to do to not get fired and most importantly what to do to get fired

5) attending cool health conferences that even dad didn't know about

6) and helping in emergency situations.

Ok, now its time for me to write my creative writing piece, hopefully this has been a good warm up piece.

Talk to everyone soon :-)