Success!

Hello Folks!

As you all know from my previous post, I passed my medic test, and right now I am working my first paramedic shift! So far, so good, as there havnt been any calls. :-( and I am guessing that it might be kind of dead because the first half of the weekend was busier than all get-out.

I have everything worked out for my trip to Japan! I have a new camera on the way and my tickets have all been purchased, and I only have 12 more days before I leave!

Here is a picture of Kansai International Airport, where I will be flying into to meet Jacob.
















The airport is built on a man-made Island 5km off the shore, and is home to the longest airport terminal in the world!

I am not sure what I will be doing when I get there, but I will post pictures and let you know!

Wishing you all a happy March! Much love,

Kayla

The day has come

One day that I was begining to have serious doubts that would ever arrive is finally here. The day I pass my medic test. I am officially a Paramedic.

Here is an excerpt from a post that I never got around to posting earlier this month. (for ease, I am just combining them both into one)

2-3-09:
"Two years and six months ago I began what I would come to know as two of the most challenging, stressful, and rewarding years of my life to date. Paramedic school. Yet after all that work, all that dedication, it all comes down to one test. One weakness that I, for some reason, cannot overcome. It is so stressful and heartbreaking to know that people are counting on me and think that I can pass this test when I don't. I technically only get one more chance. One more time to prove myself. I have put the pressure on myself, that didn't work. I was confident in myself, that didn't work. So whats left? Half-ass it like I did everything else? Quitting isn't an option, but the though and ease have been so tempting lately..."

I am so relieved to have taken and passed the test. It is like a thousand pounds lifted off of my shoulders. So now what? I guess I am off into the real world. Working. Paying of loans (boo!) and just living life I guess! Which I am totally and completely okay with.

I start my first official paramedic shift this coming Saturday, and while it isn't much, it is the beginning of what I hope and pray will be an awesome and fun and challenging career.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with classes, who helped me stay sane, who helped me with monetary issues, and everyone who just made me laugh on days that I wanted to quit. I appreciate everything you had and have to offer!

Love always, KK

A year in review

Well 2008 was a crazy busy year. I started out working and it seems that except for one week in July, I never really stopped! January to May was a very high-stress semester, as I was almost done with college. The kicker is that I was doing Paramedic clinicals, so I was working anywhere from 80-100 hours a week (sometimes, more than that even) and only getting paid for about 24 of those hours. It was a long long five months, but I got everything done, and graduated from my Paramedic program! Then it was summer! I wanted to be a paramedic before I was 20, so here comes a trip to Wisconson Rapids, WI for my practical test, in which I passed all the stations the first time through! But when it came to taking the written test, I didnt do so well. I wound up taking it again in late July, and again, did not pass.

Jacob and I went to Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI at the beginning of July. We had an absolute blast, and our year long friendship turned into a relationship in the middle of July. Towards the end of August I moved up to Bemidji State to start on my nursing classes and on September 1st Jacob got on a plane and flew to Japan to study for 9 months. When it came time to register for classes again for spring, I ran into some problems getting into the classes I needed, and decided to transfer to the technical college in Bemidji, but could not start classes until fall of '09. This lead to me moving back to Morris.

Great-Grandma Roberts passed away on Dec. 6th. That sucked. A lot. She was the most amazing woman I have ever know, and I am glad that she is no longer suffering or in pain. I find more and more that she has taught me things I didnt even know she was teaching me. Today, for example, I am cleaning my room and instead of shoving all the extra plastic garbage bags into another one, I found myself folding them all nice and neat, like she had me do. She taught me so many wonderful things.

To close out the year, I , again, found myself working. Sitting at SCAS thinking that it was going to be a quiet, boring New Year, and the dee-doo's ring out, and we go out on a call which got turned into a Hot Load with a helicoptor! That is, we brought the patient out the the airport and met the helicoptor and instead of them shutting off the blades, they just kept them running, so here I am, standing under running helicoptor blades loading a patient into the chopper so they can just take off. It was a fabulous way to close out the year.

There were a lot of friendships made, a few lost, and lots of new experiences! 2008 was a pretty good year, but Im banking on 2009 to be even better!

Never would have thought

As you can tell, I like lists...lists for things I need to do, lists of things I need to buy, lists of things I need to take with me, lists of things I have done, even lists of things I thought I would never do.

So here are some things that I never imagined I would be doing/have done:

1. Paramedic Class.
2. Work as much as I do. (Lets face it, I was a lazy kid)
3. Graduate from college and go to another one. (I always figured one would be enough for me)
4. Buy my own car (This kind of goes with that work thing, and I mean buy my own car while still in college)
5. Have an amazing boyfriend like I do ;-) (this goes with the "dont get your hopes up" thing.)
6. Be preparing to travel. To Japan. NEVER thought I would go there!
7. Take Chinese.
8. Fail the medic test. twice.
9. Live in a 5.5 X 16 foot space. (that's one of me wide by three of me long...in height)
10. Have the chance to stop a persons heart with chemicals, electrify someone in the name of medical help, drill a hole in someones leg to save them with fluid resuscitation, shove a tube down a persons throat to breath for them, cut a hole in a persons neck to breath for them, staple a kids head together, help set a broken arm, stitch up an eyebrow, and poke people with needles, all while enjoying (not delighting in, but enjoying) my job (and getting paid to do it).

Im sure there are more items that I will or should add to this list. I hope it will never stop growing!

lala

My favorite things

I have compiled a list (a short list) of some of my favorite things about winter time! Lets face it, winter pretty much rocks.

1.) Being able to see my (and everyone elses, Jacob) breath
2.) When snowflakes get frozen to my eyelashes
3.) Glittens!
4.) When the temperature is below zero and you take a huge breath in through your nose and your nostrils freeze shut for a 10th of a second.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, thank God, so has black friday...enough people were trampled/beaten/shot that we need to hold another Thanksgiving. But now, now! we can frolic and romp in the cold snowy winter time that is upon us!

Adventure

Dear Jacob,

This evening I was thinking about how big of a difference there is in my sense of adventure vs. yours. Its huge! You talk about tenting around Japan for two months over winter break and I freak out at the mere thought. Until I met you, I never thought about traveling at all. As you know, I hate not knowing where I am. (but I kick ass at directions!) why not travel? why not go see as much as I can? So while this post is very short, it is just a simple thank you for inspiring me to go places I never thought I could or would.

hugs and kisses,

lala

Obstacles

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

-Franklin A. Clark

I found this quote a while ago, and used it a lot during medic school. Now I am thinking about this quote for more recent times. It feels like with everything I do, there is some sort of silly resistance, constantly pushing and making things difficult. I wanted to take a self-guided study class so that I can work in the afternoons, and I have to get 7 different signatures. I want to go home and be with my family over Christmas vacation, but I am scheduled to work for most of it. I want to go to Japan to visit Jacob, but I have to work in order to get there. I cant tell work to shove off so I can see my family, and I cant say that I would rather work than be with them, just so I can go to Japan.

If I do save enough money, is now the right time to go? or should I pay off my bills and loans and wait until I have a more stable income? I know what I want, but in this case what I want to do, and what needs to be done are, sadly, two very different things. I am trying to decide whether I want to splurge and go on what probably will be a once in a lifetime chance for me, or if I want to stay and be responsible. :-s

These are some pictures that I took while I was walking around downtown last weekend or so. Nothing special, just Bemidji.