Curiosity killed the cat,,,,

Ugh, with the Lakewood shootings (my hometown!!) and the guy accused being holed in a house in my SAME neighborhood that Adelina and I lived in back in our junior years...wow.

Again, I must declare my disgust for guns in America. I don't think we'll ever get rid of them unfortunately, like cigarettes. I guess the most we can do for now in this century is to tax the crap out of them.

I asked my Dad his thoughts on gun control (I'd never asked him before, I was surprised to myself) and predictably he said he was for it. We can't have conversations about politics, however, because he gets all angry about it because we never agree...I still never figured out how two conservative parents brought up two flaming liberals for daughters. Lauren's views, being only 12, remain to be seen.

It also brings a question up for David (he doesn't know this yet) that I saw on the VisaJourney forums, that during the Oath Ceremony in order to become a U.S. Citizen (takes only 3 years after he gets a green card since he'll be married to me), he has to answer the affirmative to this question,

"Would you be willing to bear arms if the law were to ever require it?"

Yikes...as a natural-born citizen, I never had to take this kind of oath, thank goodness. Now the likelihood of this happening is slim to none because a law requiring a civilian to carry a gun? We'd have to be in the shits of shit for this to happen and in that case we'd probably just be nuke'd to oblivion the way the world is now if things were that desperate.

But I see (and I'm sure David will see) the principle behind the question.

*sigh*

More research to be done, I guess, and we have at least 4 years until we have to deal with it.

What's been amusing to me over the last month or so is my use of "British" words. I'll catch myself using them and then try to think of the "American" appropriate phrase and sometimes I'll forget what it is!

Usually it's just when I'm typing out an e-mail to David, but the other day I caught myself in the car while driving David to the airport (from another Harry Potter love-fest : ) using the word "funny."

British folk will say something like, "He was a bit funny about loaning out money to his brother," meaning that he didn't feel too comfortable doing it or did it in such a manner that wasn't a smooth transaction. And dammit, I can't think of how I'd say that in American! "He hesitated..." I dunno.

If/when David and I lived in the UK, I know I'd sound still sound American, but at least I'll be able to pick up their phrases lol! Oh man I hope we live in the UK for a little bit anyway.

Reminds of when I lived in The South and picked up something of the accent and uttered the non-grammatically correct word, "y'all" and when I lived in Hawai'i where every other word was "like" or "yeah" but not in an annoying valley girl type of way.

Washington state is pretty neutral accented, from what my old German teacher had said to us, as is David's "British" accent which is slight and I hope he doesn't lose it once he moves over!

It's really very gratifying to have your relative see your apartment and how you live and then later with respect tell you that you're doing the right thing and that the 4 gigantic posters related to debt along with the monster size list of life goals posted above your bed covering the entire wall are really cool because it's encouraging you to get out of debt and achieve you dreams.

I've always felt a little bit like my Dad's side of the family thought my sisters and I were a bit flighty. With going to private college, going to private high school (Bellarmine), and my habit of flying all over the country and then some.

I still do that. And I'd probably be nearly out of debt if I didn't do that at all. But it's what's allowed me to maintain a relationship with David and ultimately start planning a future with him for forever. So I don't begrudge the money spent.

I knew how deep the respect was when my uncle, who abhors all things "tecchie" as he calls it (though his definition is an iPod is still too gadget-y), said, "Justine, you should go get yourself an iPhone."

"???"

"You work hard. You need to do a little something for yourself."

"I have fun! I'm going to St. Louis this week!"

"I know, but you need something for yourself."

Oh, I have stuff for myself. I bought Dr. Quinn complete series a few weeks ago and bought a year's subscription to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover thing online so I can listen to all 3 hours of the radio show every day for free. I bought a shredder last week which was so much fun to finallllly get rid of financial papers and passport page copies.

I want an iPhone. Pretty badly. But I will resist for awhile yet and wait until AT&T's contract is up at the end of this year and see if Verizon will strike a deal with apple.

But the fact that my uncle told me this, wow.

It's a great reward to hear him say all of that. Helps me push on forward.

Like looking at a phlebotomy course at the NOVA community college. Yes? Ohhhh yes. How else am I going to learn to stick IVs in babies if I never get a chance to practice at work? Less expensive than graduate school, that's for sure.

I love seeing my Jewish friends in NYC even if I'm a turd and I sleep half of the time I'm there...

Went to an actual Shabbos meal and it was lovely! I was highly intimidated by the amount of hats, beards, and Jewish phrases of which I didn't understand...but everyone was so utterly welcoming that it reminded me of being in the Harry Potter fandom where no one is out to "get" you and is just decently nice and friendly, the point where you're just another person whom they don't know, but welcome into the fold with no reservations.

That was love.

The food was great too! Tons of it. Like a 5 or 6 course meal and good thing gordond warned me not to eat very much of anything so that I could save room for a bit of everything.

There was also singing and speeches and just general camaraderie that is rare in this world, I've come to see, even though I've been so blessed and lucky to see it in my relatives and the fandom that it doesn't seem like it's that rare. If everyone was treated this way or felt like this, the world would be such a better place.

David wrote on this topic just a couple of days ago and I whole-heartedly agree; it's here.

Then on the way to the subway for me to go back to D.C., Gordon and I discussed what Jesus would say to both of us once we got to Heaven, lol.

Gordon: "Hey, there Jesus!"
Jesus: "Hi man, can you believe that so many people think I'm more awesome than I am? I can't believe they have a whole religion devoted to me! Let's play parcheesi!"
and then Jesus totally pwns Gordon, accordingly, because Jesus has had 2,000+ years to practice.

my version:

Justine: "Hiya Jesus!"
Jesus: "Hiya Justine! Your Jewish friends are here! I've told them that they're still a-okay in my book because we still have the same Father, you know, Adonai."

...and then I will go to see my grandma and talk about baby nursing with her because she did the same thing that I did as a nurse, except she helped out regular normal postpartum moms with their new babies at the hospital. Oh, that regret. What a wonderful lady whom I truly admire. Thanks, God, for the presence she had in my life up to I was 20 years old, and thanks again for bringing her to You just after my birthday so that I had a long conversation with her since she called me on my birthday, even if it wasn't a proper goodbye conversation.

Also, one of Liz's friends has an 18 month old baby and I pretty much played with her a lot and adored her and I WANT A BABY.

Hey, David...

As much as I love Grey's, it's does irritate me a lot.

Where are flipping nurses?

Half the stuff they do are what nurses do, NOT doctors.

And this week's episode is about a patient who died because all the doctors kept passing her off. Where was the ER nurse?! Patient advocacy much?

No way would this happen (or not like it depicted) if the RNs were shown on the screen, doing their job.

The residents, NNPs, surgery comes by in the morning and essentially asks the RN what happened over the night and any suggestions we have (sometimes followed or not; I'm still learning new things and they have an ocean of knowledge compared to mine). Why do they do this? Oh yeah.

Because we know the patient better than anyone else because we are with the patient for 12 hours!

I know, I know, it's not true. It's not. But I hate that the American public gets this impression of that...I had the same thoughts before I was in nursing school...

I'm so dumb. I set my alarm to sleep for one hour so that I could get up to go to greyhound to get on a bus to see Liz and Gordon tonight in NYC.

Somehow I managed to turn it off.

I have absolutely no memory of this, but the phone was laying next to my head when I did wake up whereas before it was on the floor. I guess I need to put it father away so that I'm required to get up and hopefully that'll trigger some wakefulness.

Grr.

It's Friday night and I don't fancy going on a bus right now and spending hours trying to get into the city; can you imagine? Plus Gordon and Liz have Shabbos (they're Jewish) tonight and it starts at dark time and I don't want to interrupt that. Dumb body. I think I'll catch something really early tomorrow...

Conclusion: if I'm going to continue on my weight loss goals for January when I get my wedding dress refitted, then I need to not eat my "big" dinner meal when I wake up at 5:30pm to go to work. Because when I eat my "breakfast" at 8am when I get off work, I end up phantom eating because I'm so hungry.

Do you know how annoying it is? To be half-asleep and eating, not having any control over yourself because you're half-asleep.

And I can't even enjoy eating it because I can hardly remember that I did it! The evidence is a wrapper on my bed and my pot of pasta almost gone in the fridge.

Solution: Eat my big meal before going to bed! No hungry stomach=no phantom eating? Egads.

wefiojn;agnoidn

I am in shock and extreme disgust.

I always knew that I didn't like JFK, from some of his policy decisions to his extramarital affairs.

I'm reading a book about Jackie Kennedy, his wife, and I am appalled at what a bastard he is. David, all of this true and documented, so I hope you don't mind this. I'm sorry that he was murdered. I'm not saying he deserved that. But he does deserve the next two words:

Fucking bastard.

So...it's 1956, 3 years into the marriage, and Jackie is 7 months pregnant with her second pregnancy (first one miscarriage). JFK decides that it's time to leave her at home and abroad to France for a couple of months...where he cheats on her with several women, well documented by the media.

Jackie starts hemorrhaging, has a stat c-section, and the baby is stillborn. JFK is unreachable for days (went on a cruise), meanwhile the death has been reported by the media in the newspaper and Jackie's brother is the one who has to tell her that her baby is dead...5 days later, JFK's father finally gets ahold of him and he declares that he doesn't want to interrupt his holiday because the burial had already occurred. JFK's father kicks him the ass over the phone and demands he come home, which he does.

Are you out of your MIND?

What kind of a man treats his wife like this? Especially since Jackie's mother emotionally abused her by telling her she was too ugly to catch a man and disparaged her love of reading...Jackie had no self-esteem left to divorce him. She was a battered woman, emotionally, and battered women feel that they deserve such treatment. It's happened in my own family.

This really makes me angry. What kind of a man leaves his third trimester pregnant wife alone for a vacation? And then refuses to come back when his baby is dead? I cannot believe that we elected somebody like him for president.

Oh man.

Apparently thousands of disgruntled Anglicans--those usually from the UK who have their roots in Henry VIII's insistence on divorce and thus making his own brand new Church--are looking their eyes towards Rome, i.e. Catholicism, because they are upset about the Anglican direction of liberalism in accordance to gays and women.

I'm not sure whether to be happy or not...

lol.

I'm one of those odd-ball Catholics who is very liberal, but considers herself very Catholic nonetheless. The Catholic Church is right for me spiritually. Though I disagree with many of their stances, you don't give up on a friend who you think goes about things the wrong way. You go along in your own quiet way hoping you can influence them for better.

That makes me sound arrogant. I realize that I will have little or no effect on the Catholic church policies.

But does that matter?

Just ask the little boy on the beach, saving the star fish, one at a time...

( and if you haven't heard the infamous story... )

Suckers!!

My hospital (unnamed) blocks many, many websites. As they should. It's probably not a good thing for a nurse to be bidding on eBay items while on shift.

But what about news sites like The New York Times or the Washington Post?

On our intranet (where we get news updates about the hospital), it had a link to some articles saying that we had gotten a large amount of money from a foreign country. I clicked on the link to read about it, but it (NYT and WP) was blocked! Are you freaking kidding me? Beyond annoying. And HIGHLY micromanaging.

So, I e-mailed information resources about it and they said they are going to look into it and apologize to me. lol!

Good flipping everything. Maybe IR doesn't like liberal rag? tee-hee.

I've made $0.02 in my 403(b) account since putting money into my account 2 days ago! Whoo, go retirement!

lol.

Side note: I'm now almost at the $21,000 mark for my debt! (from just over $30k originally). David and I are trying to decide now whether to get into some real estate or pay off the debt and have a large emergency fund in place...

And it's been 6 weeks since I sent off my petition for the visa! Check out our blog at davidandjustine.net

I waaaaant to be approved already! I'm nervous enough as it is that David is going to end up in FBI name checks for awhile because of his common names with no middle name.

Speaking of things I waaaaaant, I'm going to go swimming now <3 and buy food. The weight countdown begins! I have 17 weeks to lose 17 pounds so that I can fit in my wedding dress at the weight I want to be and get it altered accordingly in late January when I go to Seattle for a week. I feel like my motivation is the best that it has been ever in my life because, come the freak on, my wedding dress!! I hate being 124 pounds when I can't fit into any of my pants. I never wear pants, at all, because of that very reason. Somehow I squeezed into them for David's benefit when I went to London last week. Not that much fun. Except for the part of feeling sex-ay for him in a "I have the Cloquet thunder thighs that are being squeezed to half their normal size for my lover and I like looking good for him" type of way. Don't worry kids, David would never ever ask me to lose weight and he thinks I'm beautiful the way I am. But my jiggly legs kill my self-esteem occasionally, like how it's getting colder and I think I will only be able to fit into my sweat pants.

I will picture my wedding dress every time I want to have potato chips or ice pops or whatever else junk I eat.

Righty-oh then.

Now, to bike to the pool or not to bike?

Stream of consciousness is my LJ? That's how David described it. I like that. And I think it's pretty accurate.

What say you?

Ugh. But not ugh.

Just completed a very much finished draft of developmental care for infants for my "change" project for the hospital. It's the final project we have to do in order to go from being a RN1 to a RN2. I already got my pay raise because I did a bunch of research and drafted a proposal to my coordinator, but I needed to actually put everything together and I just spent a couple of hours doing that.

It was just like school in that I've been putting it off and putting it off, but once I got to doing it, it wasn't too bad. Not bad at all and I didn't even look at the clock to see how much time was passing. It was more challenging just to dumb everything down from the academic writing that I'm used to doing to the 8th grade level that lay literature is supposed to be (and yes, I realize my blog isn't academically written at all...but my essays and research papers are damn nicely written-one of my strengths).

It's a two pager (well, more like 1.5 pages) about how to interact with your infant once you go home and what's developmentally appropriate and different milestones at different ages. Somewhat confusing considering that if your baby is premature, even if they are 7 months old but were 8 weeks premature, they are only considered to be 5 months old developmentally.

The references were a pain the butt although I remembered much of it by memory on how to do them from one of my old nursing profs who was a huge stickler on doing them right.

Anyway, it's going to go in our NICU parent binder that we give them which is full of hospital and baby information, which is actually pretty cool. Then I give a presentation for the interns (new RNs, good golly, it's already been a year!!) and then am done! Done, done, done.

Oh yes: incidentally, I think I may be in love with Miley Cyrus' music. Long have I not wanted to get into it...but I can't help it if I love her music.

"and a britney song was on...and a britney song was on...and a britney song was on! So I put my hands up, they're playing my song, the butterflies fly away. Noddin' my head like yeah, movin' my hips like yeah." Oh, Miley, you are the Britney Spears of Lauren's generation. Pseudo pole dancing and all. Welcome.

I think I may have died and gone to swimming heaven. Please let it be my heaven. Only 11 metro stops or 3.2 miles away...

I've decided (and have made a better commitment since August 2007) to do the Washington, D.C. marathon in March 2009. Now, I was originally going to do the Seattle marathon back in November 2007, and I got up to running more than 6 miles (more than I ever had in my entire life), but I got cocky and didn't warm down/up properly and developed verrry painful shin splints that took a few weeks to heal and then I just...lost interest in the midst of upcoming school stuff and Costco-dragging-me-in-the-dirt stuff.

I really don't like running. I mean, I like it okay. It's nothing like swimming, my one true love (in the sport sense, of course)...but if I ever want to achieve my IronMan triathlon goal (2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles biked, 26.2 miles run), I have to be realistic and actually do a marathon. Plus it'd be kinda cool to say that I've done one.

I've also been counting down until I make a big commitment to swimming again and try to achieve the times that I've (realistically) wanted to achieve, before moving on to open water swimming and doing the English Channel. The times require fast swimming and if I can get those times, it'll be more realistic for me to complete the English channel in a reasonable amount of time...it's not something that you can stretch out for too long of a time because if you're too slow, the tides will carry you right back to the middle of the ocean and it's often right in the last couple of miles that this happens, when you need your strength the most to push even though you've already been swimming for hours.

Seeing that Washington, D.C. will be my home at least until next year, I've also been researching the different pools in the area. Unfortunately, the really good ones are associated with universities which means that I wouldn't have any access to them. I'll be joining a swim club at some point (you have to in order to compete at swim meets), but I wanted to swim for some time to get up to speed before joining one. There's a pool literally a few minutes bike ride from my place, but it's an outdoor pool and looks disgusting. I did have a club membership at Washington Sports Club, a 5 minute bike ride from my place...but the pool was only three freakin' lanes and was shallow all across, no backstroke flags...and annoyingly busy at all times and just too closed in.

I was starting to look at other pools outside of D.C., but somewhat metro accessible...until I found this gem of a pool.

50meters one way, 25 yards the other way (meaning 22 lanes!!), open 6am-9pm M-F, FREE to D.C. residents, and 12 feet deep, right next to a metro stop. Just opened last month.

<3

Please, oh please, don't let this be a letdown!! Although, I'm not sure how it could be a letdown with all of those factors.

I'm going to it in less than three hours and will do a quick swim! <3 Hopefully seeing how beautiful it is will give me motivation to really pound down on this marathon thing and keep to it so that I get it out of my way and then spend glorious hours in this pool. Glorious!! I may even swim there once a week if it's that glorious.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

What's awesome (besides not my one liner entries; I know, I know...I will quit! Soon...) about 2010 is that as far as the IRS is concerned, once David and I get married, it's like we've been married since January 1st and therefore I can file for married filing jointly!!

What does this mean? Bumps me down to only like 15% tax rate!! What a novel thing : )

@gordond any updates on doing the deed yourself? p.s. I don't have your phone number because my phone got lost and I got a new cheap one p.p.s. I just realized I was being incredibly lazy for not doing via facebook. I'll ask you there too.

Edit: 0.0

I cannot believe how much money I will NOT be giving to the U.S. government next year. I'm absolutely floored. I'm half-convinced I'm doing something wrong. But I've checked it over and over. Oh, my gosh. My jaw is still open.

I can pay off all of my debt by December 31st, 2010.

Edit: OH hey it gets better! While looking on visajourney.com, I was looking up taxes and then started to worry since apparently the US taxes residents universally, meaning David would have to claim his income (even though he's already paid UK taxes on it and it won't be much since it's half the year). HOWEVER, the first $87,000 equivalent are exempted. David, try not to go overboard at the working, mmkay? xD

Patrick Swayze, of Dirty Dancing and Ghost died today.

So sad. I loved Dirty Dancing as a kid and I had JUST watched it last night and was asking David today if he had seen it before.

I love love love the final song and dance.

Rest in peace, Patrick.

lol.

I'm afraid nearly all the things that I love to do in life, I'm no good at naturally, and so have to work twice or thrice as hard in order to be somewhat okay/good at them.

I am currently being reminded about that this second.

Does that deter me? Not quite yet : )

The number one best thing about having an engagement ring (besides the obvious I'm marrying my best friend whom I love dearly):

It deflects unwanted male attention like mad.

I was on the metro three nights ago on my way home from the airport and this guy commented on how many bags (backpacking backpack, regular backpack, and large suitcase) I had and how it must've been so hard to carry them. We bantered a bit back and forth (I do tend to be a friendly soul, after all), but then the conversation grew more pointed towards flirting--and an uncomfortable degree at that. I casually brushed the two inches of hair that I have out of my face with my left hand bearing the ring.

Instant turn off and the guy pretty much stopped talking to me immediately after that.

Now, I don't want to use my ring as a "go away" signal in general...just when there's a high degree of flirting that makes me feel uncomfortable. Even a little flirting is okay. But when it's blatant and leading to, "can I have your number?" I like to put a stop to it. And the ring is such a great tool for that! I'd prefer to kiss David instead xD but you have to work with what you have.

...

The number one best thing about shaving my hair off (besides the obvious good cause and $610 people donated) back in March was that I think I scared all the creepy men of the non-English-speaking-kind into thinking that I'm either a) lesbian and/or b) some crazy chick.

...

I know LJ friends go through phases in their journal, but it seems like hardly anybody writes anything anymore. Kind of sad. I do have a bunch of blogs that I follow, however, to have things to check:

globetrottingwithmelmk.blogspot.com --> sister's blog about Italy
kickingassandtakingtemps.blogspot.com --> old co-worker from Harborview
haylegyhoover.blogspot.com --> 5AG youtube person who has a knack for writing
italktosnakes.blogspot.com --> another 5AG youtube lady who also writes in an entertaining fashion
shesnotfromyorkshire.com --> 3 women who write about their lives as Americans married to Brits living in Yorkshire
cate-mylifeininternetwords.blogspot.com --> old acquaintance from high school who is engaged to her high school sweetheart
david-wood.com --> obvious :D
markandrewwebber.com --> wonderful British friend with whom I have oodles of fun
hayden2020.com --> One of my old high school friends (Brit Mark, this is American Mark if you don't know his blog)
justheplaceforasnark.blogspot.com --> ex-boyfriend's blog, whom I keep in touch with every few months
wordscankeeler.wordpress.com --> Harry Potter acquaintance who recently married her HP best friend
marriageonthequad.blogspot.com --> the above's couple blog about their lives as married young people in NYC

and all of you lovely people : )

Okay, right after I wrote that fairly depressing blog, I was on visajourney.com, a forum for people going through immigration which is a gem in terms of support from people going through exactly the same thing and a ton of good info.

One of the people I'd been following on it even during stalker days (back in April/May when I was researching different visas to get David over here) has been waiting to be with her fiance for over 2 years now, despite the fact that they are both law-abiding citizens with no criminal records. One of the most major parts of the visa K1 process is getting something called, "NOA2," where US immigration determines that you can get a visa. There's a bunch of hullabaloo after that with interviews, medical exam, more paperwork, etc. But getting the NOA2 is probably the biggest deal of the entire process.

She filed in August 2007 for the visa and got the NOA2 (normally 3-5 months) in August 2009. I jumped for joy with her reading about it and then was disappointed when I found out she had been put in "AP" (additional processing) at the National Visa Center (NVC). Once you get NOA2, it's sent there where they do background checks for about a week and then forward the petition to the home country of the beneficiary. Some unlucky people get put into AP and it can drag on for months and nobody can do a single thing about it nor is there any timeframe on it.

After posting that depressing blog, I found out that they're out of AP and the petition has been forwarded onward!!

Makes me very happy for them :)

So, Seattle?

The trip around Mt. Rainier with Dad failed spectacularly. In that Dad was raging sick with a fever and coughing up to the day of the hike and my feet were not prepared. We made it through 4 of the 9 days, about 40 miles. My downfall was in walking downhill (no pun intended). My toes just could not take it and my big toe nail started to turn black/purple. With a panicked look towards Dad, he commented that it was just blood underneath the toe nail and the toe nail would fall off and grow back in 6-9 months. Just in time for my wedding, yes? The sarcastic side of me told myself that at least I'd match because one of the wedding colors is dark purple.

The views on the trip were incredible. I loved that part. Couldn't get enough of it. But my feet just gave out to the point where it was extremely painful to walk and I prayed for going uphill instead of down and when Dad wasn't looking or had gone far ahead of me, I would walk downhill backwards to take the pressure off my toes. I was only carrying 25 pounds, but it was probably still too heavy. It was an improvement over last year's trip, with the weight being around 30 pounds.

The rest of the trip? I didn't recognize Lauren when she walked up to me at the airport. She has grown into a woman and is taller than me now. I was so relieved to hear her voice is still the little girl voice and she still plays with her "pet shop" toys. I'm afraid to see what she looks like in 5 months when I next visit!

Saw Julia and Ben and Marc briefly. Tried to rendezvous with a few other people that didn't work out. Actually, I didn't try too hard to get in touch with people because honestly, my time is worth more than trying to constantly track down people who don't make little to no effort. Living away for a year has done that to me.

The tone of this blog isn't that upbeat and I'm curious why. I guess I feel a bit like I am living my life in a "waiting" period right now. I was very excited to come to work tonight and it lasted for a few hours. But now I feel a little bit stagnated. To be fair, I spent the last two months or so working crazy amounts of overtime to the point that I really had no life outside of work at all. It was very helpful to me financially (enormously). But now, I want to go out and do stuff. See Mt.Vernon (where George Washington lived), Arlington Cemetary, etc etc. See my fiance. Man, I miss David. This is the longest I've ever spent apart from him (65 days).

I want next year to be here already, when we'll be going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Florida and getting married. Having Melanie over for the summer. Being more competent at work.

Things to look forward to/do before seeing David:
1) Sort out smart trip (metro) to have pretax payroll deductions
2) Call up 403(b) folks to start deducting out of my paycheck
3) Clean up apt
4) Run daily
5) Call ACS to set up online to start paying for Mel's sophomore loans
6) Fill forms out for immunization clinic job that they already have grr

Wow, what a bundle of joy that is! Um. Positive note: I really am happy to be in the position that I am. I'm not trying to sound ungrateful. Thank you, God, for my life.