I Heart Seven Hour Drives....yay friends!

I went to StL this weekend despite the fact that the whole Columbia thing was cancelled. I figured it was good to get out of Omaha for a bit and hang out with my friends...namely Elizabeth, John Fischer, and Krissy. Upon leaving for the Lou I didnt know if I would see J.Kraus or not but I decided not to worry about it and take things as they came. Elizabeth had all this stuff planned out it was quite nice not to have to think of fun things to do for once. We were having a Sex-in-the-City mini-marathon on Thursday, happy hour party on Friday, and Six Flags on Saturday, for free!!
I gave Krissy and call and she informed me that "the boys"...aka Cundiff, Kraus, and Big Fella were having a party on Friday because Big Fella finished his peds shelf...she's like you should come, call Kraus and then come. So I decided no harm in calling and that I wouldnt bring up his party but if he asked me to come I would....and he did ask me to come, in fact he said if you don't show up, I will call and harass you. Yay! So I made blenders full of mango margaritas for Eli's party and stayed there until 8 ish then went to "the boys" house. Upon my arrival, Jon was nowhere to be found. Everyone was asking me "where's Kraus" and I was responding " I have absolutely no idea". We checked outside and saw that his car was still there, then proceeded to check the stairwells and backyard..no luck. Nicole was like "did you check his room? He was pretty drunk, maybe he passed out."I said I did not feel comfortable just opening up his room door so I told Nicole to do it! And there he was in the fetal position, out cold. I decided jumping on the bed was a good plan of action. He eventually woke up only to passing out about and hour later. He just kept saying,"I'm in bad shape"...as he leaned on the keg which was also aiding him in standing. I didnt know exactly how the evening would end or how I wanted it to end given we had ended things as being just friends because of bad timing etc...but I was quite sure that he would be completely useless for the rest of the night and that I was in no shape to drive so as the rest of the party moved to Blueberry Hill we went to sleep, and actually slept, woohoo yay friends! :-) :-(
The next morning I was extremely hung over as was he and so we just talked for a while about our families and what we had been up to the last 3 weeks etc. It was refreshing and depressing all at once. We went out to eat at the Macaroni Grill and said goodbye with a hug and then Jon gave me a thumbs up followed by "feel free to come visit me more often." He handles awkward situations in the same manner I would...with humor.

I Am a Certifiable HeadCase....12 times a year!

So I had a slight mental/emotional breakdown last night regarding my singledom...I am gonna pull the PMS-card as I never pull that card and I have no other logical reason to explain the breakdown. I woke up at 230 am with a splitting headache not sure if it was from all the crying or if it was allergies or what, but it was something that was not to be ignored. I hobbled, blindly, downstairs poured 6, count em 6, ibuprofen in my hand and threw them all back at once. When at 330 the pain had not subsided i thought, perhaps allergies, I threw back two benadryl and woke up to my alarm at 545, pushed snooze til 625 then hit the shower. I woke up still feeling worthless and like ass but the hot shower was nice. The headache started to come back around 9 so i downed 3 advil and went to see my first patient. I had all 5 patients to myself today as my CI was out of town and the PRN PT had no idea what was going on. It was cool. I felt smart and like a grown up. I came home still feeling like ass until I talked to my dad, not about currently being uncomfortable with singledom, but about the latest Nate story that I believe is a load of crap. (Nate drugged, beaten and all his shit, including his beamer stolen etc....if you were meant to know the story, you've been told it). I told my dad my theory on the story, and what i believe actually happened. He paused and stated, you know what I thought some pieces of the story didnt make sense, Why would they drug him then beat him while he was out? Who drugs someone's drink then puts drugs into their veins via their ankles?....things that make you go hmmm. Then my dad uttered the words I have wanted him to say since last October..."Amber I think you made the right call with this Nate guy. I'm proud of you, can't believe you put up with all those crazy lies for so long." And magically I feel better, sorta. Not the full-on 100% uber-happy I dont need a guy Amber but content enough for the time being to hang out with the few friends I have here, learn what I can from my clinical, and keep up with the lives of the friends I've left behind in New Mexico, St. Louis, California, and Chicago. And the quote I will have to remember to live by comes from a not so good movie called The Upside to Anger...Kevin Costner in reference to a woman who's husband left her and the woman's ability to move onto a new healthy relationship said..."Oh you'll heal funny, but you'll heal. You'll just always walk with a limp.".....I'm okay with limping.

I Heart the Hogue's

So my first week in Omaha has been less than boring. Mike's parents are fantastic!....and his mom makes me drink everynight! It has been decided that I will be in charge of making a grocery list and cooking and they will buy all the food and clean up after..I think that's a fantastic deal for free room and board. By the end of the week I had 4 patients of my own which was nice because i was able to avoid my CI a little more. My CI is only 2 years out of school and seems to be in competition with me, why I do not know, she has taken the boards and is getting paid as a PT...what is she trying to prove? I always feel like i have to one-up her now so I am getting to work uber-early, odd, I know, and writing all my patient notes while i'm working with my patients so that I may actually enjoy my lunch without hearing around 12:30 "we need to get to work on our notes"...I dislike this women Kristen, personality differences, plus she's fat and has gone with shaving off half the length of her eyebrows look. She also rides motor cycles and has a mustang..you understand the type. I have been hanging out with Rita and John and the 1st and 2nd year med-students. Three of the girls I've met, Julie, Willa, and Melody are my self-proclaimed dancing buddies...we are all going to this place Nico's tonite where there are apparently two lovely stages to dance on. What sucks about Omaha bars is that they close at 1 am....so we are going to this after-hours bar and then a casino. The boys I've met are funny to watch, this one guy Carl is socially inept. When I was introduced to him it was as if he didnt know when to look away and continue with his previous conversation. Rita and the girls were cracking up, they were like isnt he wierd. This guy Ed is fun to watch because he's making the rounds with all the new first year (M1) girls. I have seen him use the same two lines with all the girls who are just giddy because an "upper-classman" is talking to them...silly freshman! So I still don't know where I will live in Ohio yet, starting to freak out a bit. Hoping for a miracle...

Omaha here I come...

Well I officially leave the StL today for the next 5 months, minus a few necessary visits. I had the "there is no way this could work because long distance is impossible and i'm not ready to settle down so let's just be friends" talk with Jon this morning...so needless to say I'm feeling fantastic right now. I didn't really expect things to go anywhere but it does suck to have it confirmed. I'm an idiot. Well time to do some driving...it's gonna be a long one.

Da Bears.....

I went to Chi-town this past weekend to check out areas that are to be my future home. I had Matt and his friend Zach as my tour guides through Lakeview (aka boystown and I love it, it's woohoo fabulous!) and Lincoln Park. I've pretty much decided that Lakeview would be fantastic as, depending on which street you choose to live on, you are walking distance from both the lake and wrigley field. P.S. running on lakeshore drive is amazing!!
I got to meet up with Foley on Sunday which was great because I've always wanting to hangout with Foley in Chicago...I'm not sure why, just always seemed like it would be fun and different from hanging out with him in StL. It was and wasnt different....we still get interesting looks from scary black people, frequent ghetto establishments where Foley could die for sure and I could get molested, and go out to eat at restaurants where I inevitably over-order leaving Foley with leftovers for later...some things never change I guess. It was different in that for the most part John seemed really happy and excited to be there, (no one who is sane is happy to be in StL!) especially since he was so near his future he could taste it. So I got the grand tour of both his awesome condo and UIC. It was a personalized tour which featured cool stories about his parents. Anyway it was fun and I'm happy to have expereienced it, I didnt want to leave!
On the downside, Foley has a crazy stalker guy named Chad who obviously has small testicles and has never been laid. Chad has actually used the words "ill be looking for you at orientation."...oooookay, really. The sad thing is med school and dental school and most grad schools really that force you to be confined to hanging out with just your student body are often reincarnations of highschool, it sucks but it's life.
So Chicago is fantastic and I can't wait to move, Foley is doing well, and I can officially make it home from downtown in 4hrs and 15 min....woohoo fabulous!