First Day of my Second to Last Semester

Today was an uneventful day, as first days of school usually are. I am going to soak in this semester because this semester we are learning about school aged children and adult's with neurological disabilities, my two favorite areas of practice. Next semester we have to do geriatrics. I am not looking forward to it.

Anyways, at school today we watched a video on Christopher Reeves, mostly so class wouldn't last 20 minutes. It was a really interesting documentary about how physical and occupational therapy helped Christopher Reeves make slight movements in his extremities that no one thought possible because of his injuries. Watching Christopher Reeves and his family and team of therapists smile and laugh and cry when he took steps in the pool after 6 years of therapy reminded me that I love, love, love what I am going to school for.

Friday we have to turn in where we want to do our internship next year. I still don't know what I should put down. This actually isn't true, I think I know what God wants me to put down, I'm just not sure that I'm happy with it. Say a couple prayers for me.

After class I went to work for a bit and then came home and watched Hills and played some Wii with my roommates. I love, love, love my roommates.

Tomorrow I have the day off from school, it should be wonderful.

Enjoying the day,

Jenna

Depression

I am utterly depressed that the Olympics is over. I need regular T.V. shows to start so I'll know what to do with myself. Also, tomorrow is my first day of fall semester. We start the day at 8 a.m. with a meeting of all the O.T. students and faculty to discuss student's recent "lack of professional manner". I'd like to skip to Tuesday please.

In other news, tomorrow I am going to time myself race walking 3 miles. I'll also get to spend some time playing the Wii. Maybe I'd just like to skip to 5 o'clock tomorrow.

In training,
Jenna

Big Announcement

So any who reads my blog knows that I am utterly obsessed with the Olympics. Tomorrow is the closing ceremonies, and I honestly don't know what I am going to do with myself. Probably suffer from withdrawals and try to curb those withdrawals with my new Wii.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a list of things to do before I die. It's a pretty hefty list and I do plan on completing most, if not all of them before I kick the bucket. One of the items on this list is to go to the Olympics, just to simply go and sit in the stands, because that would be fun and entertaining and a once in a lifetime opportunity. Originally, I would have liked to put win an Olympic medal on my list, but when the list was drawn up, I did not think this goal was attainable, and I did not want to set myself up for disappointment on my death bed when I couldn't cross that one off.

All that changed this weekend though blog readers, when I found out race walking is an Olympic sport. What is race walking? Well, to put in simply, its walking as fast as you can for a really long time. You can read more about race walking here.

At this point, I'm sure you're all laughing. Let me be clear, this is not a joke. I did some research tonight and to be one of the top 50 women race walkers in the country, all I have to do is walk a little over three miles in less than 45 minutes. To be the top woman, I have to do it 23 minutes. Maybe I'm cocky, but that seems pretty doable to me. Granted, to be one of the best in the world I have to do 12.5 miles (20k) in about an hour an a half, but I do have four years to train. I begin training Monday, and my first race will be October 25th in San Antonio. If I do terribly, then maybe I'll change my mind, but if not, then training continues.

Consider this my bid for race walking in 2012. London here I come.

In training,
Jenna

P.S. Does anyone know of a good, cheap race walking coach?

Ten Thoughts About the Olympics

1. I still love them.

2. I am so happy Shawn Johnson finally got a gold. I know life isn't fair, blah, blah, but it really isn't fair to keep competing and finishing in second by such a small margin, so good for her.

3. I'm really starting to like diving.

4. Did you know BMX racing is now an Olympic sport? I did not. They are getting rid of baseball and softball though. Logical? No, I don't think so. As silly as I think it is, I'll probably still watch. I'm hooked on the Olympics.

5. Today I read online that Spain had to change their swimsuits for synchronized swimming because they had lights sewn in, which was deemed an illegal accessory.
1. If they spent that much time getting the lights into the suits, I think they should be allowed to wear them.
2. More people would probably watch too.
3. Speaking of watching, why isn't synchronized swimming on TV? It's one of my favorites.

6. I feel bad for Sanya Richards. At least your fiance is 1st round draft pick, Super Bowl winning Aaron Ross, you still have that going for you.

7. One thing I don't like about the Olympics? The interviewers.
Dear Mr. Interviewer-
After an athlete finishes and they did not do as well as they had hoped, do not ask them what they were feeling when they lost. They were pissed that they worked for four years and then they screwed it up. They're disappointed, they're upset, and if I were them, I'd punch you in the face.

8. Another letter that needs to be written:
Dear Mr. Camera Man-
After LoLo Jones screwed up her chance at a gold medal on the hurdles and was still nice enough to give you an interview, do not go film her when she is crying. Clearly, she was trying to hide. Clearly, she did not want anyone to see her at such a low point in her life. To put that image up on national TV is just plain rude.

9. I might suffer from Olympic withdrawals when its over.

10. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics, but everyone should go read my friend David's latest blog. It's incredible and I've never been more proud to call David my friend. You should be particularly interested to read this blog if you're a single lady. Anyways, click here

Lazy Days of Summer

This past week has been pretty lazy. No school, only worked about 18 hours. All I've really been doing is watching the Olympics and catching up on my scrapbooking. It's been pretty nice. This past weekend I went to visit Jaron so we could look at cars (which we didn't even do) and it was a weekend full of nothing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I did get to do some cooking, and it was pretty good, if I do say so myself. Cooking will probably be my favorite housewife duty when I grow up.

Two big development in my life:

1. I went to the eye doctor this week. While my eye doctor is super nice and a family friend, I really hate going because every time I go, it reminds me of how terrible my eyes are. For example, you know the giant E on the vision test? Whenever they ask me to read that letter I say, "I only know its an E because its always an E," because I literally can't see it at all. They don't even try me on any of the other lines.
More big blows from the visit: 1. I've now developed an astigmatism in my right eye 2. My vision has gotten so bad in my left eye that the doctor says if it gets any worse I'll have to change brands because they don't make contacts any stronger than what I'm wearing in that brand. 3. I don't blink properly. I don't understand how you could do an automatic reaction improperly, but I do, and its causing dry eyes and damaged corneas.

My eye doctor did finally say that my eyes are ready for lasik! I've been asking her about it at every visit for as long as I can remember and although lasers around my eyes make me very nervous, I'm really excited! It would be such a blessing from God to be able to open my eyes and see without the use of glasses or contacts. It would be absolutely incredible actually. Anyways, right now, my cornea damage prevents me from getting the lasik, so I have to take fish oil and flackseed oil (both of which are the largest pills I've ever seen) and a bunch of different drops to prepare my eyes for the surgery (which will hopefully happen next summer). Anyways, if you could, say a pray for my eyes and their healing, because this surgery would mean the world to me.

Other big news, I bought a Wii this weekend. I found out that I got an A in all my summer classes, including pathology, and I figured I deserved a reward for missing four weeks of a 9 week class and still getting one of the only 3 As in the class (Dear Nic, I know the wages of sin is death and the only thing I deserve is death, but its just an expression). Jaron helped me pay for part of it as an anniversary present. Should I have spent so much? Probably not, my I think purchasing one would have been the only thing to curb the obsession I've had for the Wii lately. Now I won't have to force Merced to play with me. I anxiously await its arrival, and soon you can come over for Wii parties.

Much love.

My Almost Gymnastic Future

Today was pretty uneventful. I watched Merced and took him to his daycare, bowling, OT, and then hung out at home. I finally experienced what its like to have Merced run away in public. That kid is pretty speedy when he wants to be!

I'm going to continue to write about my Olympics obsession today. First of all, I love watching how good Micheal Phelps is at swimming. Tonight however, is really about the gymnastics. I love love love, as team spider monkey would say, gymnastics. I really don't know how the gymnasts do it, because I get so nervous whenever they let go of the bar or jump on the beam on whatever it is. Additionally, I do not think it is fair that both nights of gymnastics have occurred the night before I have to leave my house at 5:30 in the morning. It's really cutting into my sleep.

One thing you probably didn't know about me? When I was younger, I did gymnastics for a while, and I remember being pretty good, however, this could be misleading as I don't know if I really was. Anyways, my first time on the high beam I fell off and hurt my arm and got a minor concussion. I never did gymnastics again.

Whenever I watch the Olympics I think about how my life would be different if I hadn't quit. Tonight you might be watching Shawn Johnson and I competing for the gold.

Do I know that these thoughts are pathetic? Yes. I don't need you to tell me.

-later

p.s. I'm not buying that these girls from China are 16.

Back To Work

This morning, I took Martina to the high school to register for classes. We went through the whole schedule process, no problem, and then at the end, the counselor turns to me and Martina and says,"Would you like me to see if I can put you guys in some of the same classes?"

Embarrassing that I am now 21 years old and the woman that used to be my counselor still thought I was in high school? Yes. Yes it was.

Afterward, I took Martina shopping at the Round Rock Outlet Mall. Some of you guys know that I took a break from buying clothes after spring break to Mission Arlington. So far, I have kept that promise with the exception of the time I forgot to pack underwear when I went to visit Jaron and I had to go buy some.

Anyways, today I bought two shirts, they were cute, and on sale, but I am still slightly disappointed in myself. Still, 2 shirts in 6 months is pretty impressive if I do say so myself. There are a lot of boys that couldn't do that. Plus, the whole point of the ban was to cut back on spending, which is what I did considerably. I think starting tomorrow I shall take another break from shopping until Christmas. I'll have to buy something with all those Christmas gift cards.

-until next time