I realize that it has been a long time since I posted.
During my fall semester went back home to MA to recover from an illness. During my recuperation I did a lot of writing/crocheting (made 2 afghans and several scarves in about 2 months). When I was feeling better, I took on a part time job as a barista, which got me to appreciate coffee a little more (in the form of good lattes and mochas - yum).*
Right now I am making an afghan composed of 20 square blocks. Each block has 3 "V" shapes from the lower left corner going in, each of a different color, and a small square of a 4th color in the upper right-hand corner. I used 4 variegated yarns (Lion Brand Homespun), so there are subtle variations from square to square, and I'm looking forward to figuring out how to show off those variations.
As of yesterday I'm also teaching myself how to make granny hexagons. Granny squares and hexagons are small pieces which are sewn together to make bags, afghans, scarves, etc. Traditionally they are a "beginner's" project" and are used to use up yarn remnants. Despite learning how to crochet at age 12, I had never attempted to make one, but I found some cheap navy acrylic yarn near our cat toy stash (go figure) and decided - why not?
Hope to post pictures of my projects soon.
* For years, I almost exclusively drank tea. Coffee was something I drank when no acceptable tea was available, or as an energy drink before class. I guess now I am joining the millions of 20-somethings who throw money at Starbucks for premium espresso drinks.
About Me
- Allison David
- I love writing characters coping with challenging circumstances, and falling for each other along the way.
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Sunday, June 3, 2012
House Weekend
In terms of nursing school news, my Physical Assessment class is going very smoothly. My lab partner and I aced our vitals midterm (we had to take each other's vitals - temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respirations). The next day, I aced my lecture midterm and then had lunch with a dear aunt. Brother and I had dinner at a charming bar a few hundred feet away from the apartment. I was told that Magners cider is a "girly" drink. I reminded Big Bro of one of my favorite mixed drinks, Cranberry Vodkas, which I think are clearly in the top five of girly drinks.
Moving day is fast approaching, so I helped my brother with some packing Friday night, and Saturday we put down primer in my future room (he did the tape and tarp). Brother, SIL, and I went to Lowe's to get some more painting supplies and pick window treatments (there are lots of windows in the house, and many of them are very tall). My favorite quote of the evening: "we will keep the blinds [in the basement windows] closed FOREVER." (Emphasis added).
This morning through this afternoon, the three of us primed the guest room (on the same floor as my future room), and then painted my room and the guest room.* The paint for my room looked light, light blue on the chip, but ended up a darker cooler than expected. But it was a beautiful color, so I don't care. Likewise, the light green for the guest room looks more yellow on the walls than on the chip, but not in a bad way, so we are considering both paint jobs done.
Tonight, we're getting falafel and frozen yogurt for dinner, and then watching Coming to America at the apartment. I'm excited.
* = To be accurate, Bro and I painted my room; Bro and SIL painted the guest room while I ran out to get my groceries.
Moving day is fast approaching, so I helped my brother with some packing Friday night, and Saturday we put down primer in my future room (he did the tape and tarp). Brother, SIL, and I went to Lowe's to get some more painting supplies and pick window treatments (there are lots of windows in the house, and many of them are very tall). My favorite quote of the evening: "we will keep the blinds [in the basement windows] closed FOREVER." (Emphasis added).
This morning through this afternoon, the three of us primed the guest room (on the same floor as my future room), and then painted my room and the guest room.* The paint for my room looked light, light blue on the chip, but ended up a darker cooler than expected. But it was a beautiful color, so I don't care. Likewise, the light green for the guest room looks more yellow on the walls than on the chip, but not in a bad way, so we are considering both paint jobs done.
Tonight, we're getting falafel and frozen yogurt for dinner, and then watching Coming to America at the apartment. I'm excited.
* = To be accurate, Bro and I painted my room; Bro and SIL painted the guest room while I ran out to get my groceries.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
First Day in Philly
Tuesday morning, I somehow woke up at 6 AM, which startled my brother. For years he made fun of me for sleeping in on non-school/work days, and apparently expected me not to be up until much later. But I think the thrill of being in a new city and the large amount of sunlight that comes through my window gave me the inspiration to get out and explore. I had spent a week in Philly during February break my senior year at Brandeis, so I had already seen the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the Franklin Institute, and the new American Jewish history museum. It seemed appropriate to go to a place off the "standard" list.
Having read Swallow by Mary Cappello, which discusses the life of Dr. Chevalier Jackson, who developed nonsurgical techniques for extracting swallowed objects, I filed the Mütter Museum away as a potential destination. The Mütter has a set of drawers with all of the objects Jackson extracted, along with shelves of skulls, wax models of organs, and skeletons highlighting the effects of disease and trauma. For a nursing student who spent hours skimming Wikipedia pages on surgeries and diseases while working in a preoperative clinic, I had to see the Mütter.
The first takeaway I had from the museum was how much has changed in medicine and health (in the U.S.). Most of the full skeletons on display, which had been prepared in the mid-to-late 1800s were around my height (5' 2"). There were also a remarkable number of people in their 20s (and much younger) who died from now treatable infections, such as TB, and also several disturbing examples of rickets and osteomalacia (bone diseases caused by lack of vitamin D). At the same time, there was a display of spines curved abnormally from osteoporosis, and an exhibit on gunshot wounds during the Civil War. Though we have better treatments for gunshot wounds (particularly to prevent infection), there are still obviously many people who are permanently disabled or killed by guns, and the guns we have now are more destructive than those in the Civil War. My reflections at the museum, though, were lightened by the middle school group that was present. It was difficult to think too long about current medical and societal issues when there were fifteen preteen girls periodically commenting, "EW, GROSS" at the tissue samples and wax models.
After the museum, I had sushi for lunch, treating myself to some Philly rolls. Authentic Japanese sushi? Of course not. But cream cheese and smoked salmon with wasabi and soy sauce is a pleasant mixture of flavors and textures. On the way back to my brother's apartment, I stopped at the Superfresh in Society Hill to stock up on groceries. I was surprised to find that a lot of the produce was not fresh, to the point where I could detect the smell of turning lettuce, and stuck to non-produce. During my time at Brandeis, I used to complain to my mother that the produce section at the Waltham Hannaford was inadequate compared to the farmstand/grocery where she got our fruits and vegetables. Now I see that Hannaford was just fine, but there is hope in the form of a Whole Foods that is also within reasonable walking distance.
I am surprised at how quickly I am starting to feel settled in, but I think a large part of it was this walking adventure - it was a good 1.5 miles or so walk each way, long enough to see changes from neighborhood to neighborhood but short enough that it didn't feel like something from Oregon Trail.
Today, I slept in, hung out with the cats*, and was introduced to Parks and Recreation by my SIL. Tomorrow, I get to familiarize myself with SEPTA by taking my first trip on the regional rail to Villanova. Classes haven't started yet, but tomorrow is Laptop Distribution day. I am not super excited about the computer itself (it's going to be a Dell, and I'm a Mac person), but I think it will be useful to have a school computer and a fun computer. As long as it stays alive, it'll be fine.
* = Brother and SIL have two cats, a compact, rounded tabby and a black cat. Both have taken to me pretty quickly, perhaps because my room has one of their food dishes.
More info on Swallow: http://www.swallowthebook.com/book.html
Having read Swallow by Mary Cappello, which discusses the life of Dr. Chevalier Jackson, who developed nonsurgical techniques for extracting swallowed objects, I filed the Mütter Museum away as a potential destination. The Mütter has a set of drawers with all of the objects Jackson extracted, along with shelves of skulls, wax models of organs, and skeletons highlighting the effects of disease and trauma. For a nursing student who spent hours skimming Wikipedia pages on surgeries and diseases while working in a preoperative clinic, I had to see the Mütter.
The first takeaway I had from the museum was how much has changed in medicine and health (in the U.S.). Most of the full skeletons on display, which had been prepared in the mid-to-late 1800s were around my height (5' 2"). There were also a remarkable number of people in their 20s (and much younger) who died from now treatable infections, such as TB, and also several disturbing examples of rickets and osteomalacia (bone diseases caused by lack of vitamin D). At the same time, there was a display of spines curved abnormally from osteoporosis, and an exhibit on gunshot wounds during the Civil War. Though we have better treatments for gunshot wounds (particularly to prevent infection), there are still obviously many people who are permanently disabled or killed by guns, and the guns we have now are more destructive than those in the Civil War. My reflections at the museum, though, were lightened by the middle school group that was present. It was difficult to think too long about current medical and societal issues when there were fifteen preteen girls periodically commenting, "EW, GROSS" at the tissue samples and wax models.
After the museum, I had sushi for lunch, treating myself to some Philly rolls. Authentic Japanese sushi? Of course not. But cream cheese and smoked salmon with wasabi and soy sauce is a pleasant mixture of flavors and textures. On the way back to my brother's apartment, I stopped at the Superfresh in Society Hill to stock up on groceries. I was surprised to find that a lot of the produce was not fresh, to the point where I could detect the smell of turning lettuce, and stuck to non-produce. During my time at Brandeis, I used to complain to my mother that the produce section at the Waltham Hannaford was inadequate compared to the farmstand/grocery where she got our fruits and vegetables. Now I see that Hannaford was just fine, but there is hope in the form of a Whole Foods that is also within reasonable walking distance.
I am surprised at how quickly I am starting to feel settled in, but I think a large part of it was this walking adventure - it was a good 1.5 miles or so walk each way, long enough to see changes from neighborhood to neighborhood but short enough that it didn't feel like something from Oregon Trail.
Today, I slept in, hung out with the cats*, and was introduced to Parks and Recreation by my SIL. Tomorrow, I get to familiarize myself with SEPTA by taking my first trip on the regional rail to Villanova. Classes haven't started yet, but tomorrow is Laptop Distribution day. I am not super excited about the computer itself (it's going to be a Dell, and I'm a Mac person), but I think it will be useful to have a school computer and a fun computer. As long as it stays alive, it'll be fine.
* = Brother and SIL have two cats, a compact, rounded tabby and a black cat. Both have taken to me pretty quickly, perhaps because my room has one of their food dishes.
More info on Swallow: http://www.swallowthebook.com/book.html
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Dark Shadows and Final Moving Preparation
Today, Dad took me to see Dark Shadows,
which I was hoping would be quirky, a little dark, and richly
entertaining, after seeing many of the previous Tim Burton and Johnny
Depp in Pale Makeup movies.*
Sadly, while the visuals were riveting, the story and mood seemed to be all over the place. The movie seemed to go from quirky and fun to horribly depressing way too quickly at many points. I am not averse to movies having a balance of funny, scary, joyful, and sad, especially darker movies like Tim Burton's works. But it is annoying for the mood to switch from scene to scene, without any sense or rhythm. The lack of a cohesive storyline made this feel worse.
At times, the plot seemed to serve visual show-offs (explosions! blood flowing from paintings!), rather than the visuals serving the plot. This was also an issue in Repo! The Genetic Opera, which uses a lot of unnecessary blood and gore, but in Repo the strawberry red blood, even in excess, still serves some purpose. The organ repossession scenes in Repo highlight the brutality of GeneCo, the company which orders them. But the visual effects in the Collins mansion in the final scenes just seemed over the top for the sake of being over the top. I was hoping for a neater resolution towards the end of the film, and instead got bleeding paintings and later splashing waves, without little more tying it back to the introduction than Depp's moody narration. Oh well. There were some good lines, most of which were in the theatrical trailers, and Depp does look surprisingly good in the Moody and Pale look.
The other main highlight of the day was finishing my packing. Dad managed to fit all of my boxes into the back of the new family car (it's a hatchback; the previous car was a very petite sedan). This means we don't have to rent a monster car or van, which is wonderful because now my parents can entertain themselves by playing around with the new car's audio features (including connecting to Dad's iPhone's music library). And I can listen to them go on about how they should probably read the manual for the audio features, but let's try this button and see what happens.
It will be a fun trip to Philadelphia.
* Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride (even if it was technically a clay representation of Depp). If you haven't watched them, the basic look was a powder white face with dark eye circles (done with dark brown and black eyeshadow), sometimes accented with blood or scars, and dark clothes.
Sadly, while the visuals were riveting, the story and mood seemed to be all over the place. The movie seemed to go from quirky and fun to horribly depressing way too quickly at many points. I am not averse to movies having a balance of funny, scary, joyful, and sad, especially darker movies like Tim Burton's works. But it is annoying for the mood to switch from scene to scene, without any sense or rhythm. The lack of a cohesive storyline made this feel worse.
At times, the plot seemed to serve visual show-offs (explosions! blood flowing from paintings!), rather than the visuals serving the plot. This was also an issue in Repo! The Genetic Opera, which uses a lot of unnecessary blood and gore, but in Repo the strawberry red blood, even in excess, still serves some purpose. The organ repossession scenes in Repo highlight the brutality of GeneCo, the company which orders them. But the visual effects in the Collins mansion in the final scenes just seemed over the top for the sake of being over the top. I was hoping for a neater resolution towards the end of the film, and instead got bleeding paintings and later splashing waves, without little more tying it back to the introduction than Depp's moody narration. Oh well. There were some good lines, most of which were in the theatrical trailers, and Depp does look surprisingly good in the Moody and Pale look.
The other main highlight of the day was finishing my packing. Dad managed to fit all of my boxes into the back of the new family car (it's a hatchback; the previous car was a very petite sedan). This means we don't have to rent a monster car or van, which is wonderful because now my parents can entertain themselves by playing around with the new car's audio features (including connecting to Dad's iPhone's music library). And I can listen to them go on about how they should probably read the manual for the audio features, but let's try this button and see what happens.
It will be a fun trip to Philadelphia.
* Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride (even if it was technically a clay representation of Depp). If you haven't watched them, the basic look was a powder white face with dark eye circles (done with dark brown and black eyeshadow), sometimes accented with blood or scars, and dark clothes.
She's Leaving Home
Despite spending my last two years at Brandeis (plus the year after graduation) planning and preparing for nursing school, I had come to a point where I was unconscious of the new step I was about to take. In addition to starting the classes and clinical rotations that will prepare me for nursing, something I had never imagined choosing when I applied to college, I will be leaving my home state for the first time.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Last Week in MA
My master plan for moving from MA to Philadelphia had been to finish my church job and my volunteering gig at Brigham and Women's in early May, take my Pathophysiology final, and give myself a week to pack/say goodbye to my friends. But plans have a way of being interrupted.
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