Sushi!!

I have been very glad to have friends that have kept my mind off of obsessing over whether I passed or failed my boards.  This weekend was just what I needed to rejuvenate and get ready for my last quarter at OSU.  It was General Conference weekend where all our wonderful church leaders and Prophet gave talks to us.  I had the opportunity to go out to Utah last October with my ST and another best friend of mine and although it was not the same watching it at home I was still fortunate enough to spend Saturday watching Conference with three close and wonderful friends of mine.  My sister was so sweet to make the four of us breakfast before the first session.  


Later that day a group of us went down to the Short North where I got to experience Sushi for the first time.  My sister has always been telling me that I needed to try it at least one time so I figured I would give it a whirl.  We went to Haiku and as we were walking to the restaurant there was this terrible stench from the outside near the patio as we were walking in and I asked if that is what it smells like, it smelled like a sewer.  My sister got a great chuckle out of teasing me telling me that was the smell of sushi.  I was glad that I was not the only one there that has never tried sushi, although she does have an allergy to seafood which gives her a legitimate excuse. :)  We were looking at the menu and I had no idea what a sushi roll even meant.  I ordered three of them because I wanted to try a variety of them.  I ordered a teriyaki salmon roll, a california roll, and a dragon ball.  It kind of took our food a long time to come out but one of us got these lettuce rolls and seaweed that was delicious.  It made me excited to taste the food we all ordered.  


In the meantime while waiting, I got to practice using chop sticks which is not as easy as it looks.  I went to pick up some seaweed with them and maybe got two little strings of it.  The rolls finally arrived and I absolutely loved the teriyaki salmon roll, it tasted even better when my sister told me to dip it in some soy sauce.  I did not like the california roll and the dragon ball I could not even keep in my mouth, maybe I just do not have a taste for eel.  I tried one of my friends dragon roll that was surrounded by avocado but needless to say I just liked the avocado around it.  I could eat only about half of it and then put the other half "discretely" back on my sisters plate.  


One thing I noticed about using chopsticks is that you can't really cut with it.  There was absolutely no way I could shove a whole piece of dragon ball in my mouth so I was trying to cut it with the chopstick but found myself stabbing it instead.  Also its hard to pass food across the table using chopsticks.  I was trying to pass over one of my dragon balls to my girlfriend and I had a hard time carrying it over to the other side of the table to give it to her.  Although I was not using the chopsticks the right way, my sister was laughing at me because I had one chopstick in each hand.  However, even though I was using them weirdly, I managed to get an entire piece of sushi roll to the other side of the table perfectly intact while my sister, the chop stick police tried taking one from my plate and it fell apart... hmmm... its all about technique I guess.  I was then told to try the ginger on my plate but I do not like the taste of ginger but due to peer pressure I gave in and tried it and let me say the instant it hit my tongue I had to spit it out.  I did not even dare try the green goop next to it that I heard was really hot.  

To top things another situation happened.  My girlfriend who is allergic to seafood made her allergies clear to the waitress when she ordered her chicken and rice.  After receiving her rice a bunch of us were eating from it since there was probably a pound of rice sitting on the table on this plate.  The waitress came back and informed her that the rice may have been contaminated and asked if she had eaten any of it, luckily she had not.  However, the waitress at first did not clearly define what contaminated meant so all of us that ate from it thought she meant contaminated with E coli or some other bacteria until she said contaminated with seafood.  She brought her an entire new plate of rice, it was like a bottomless pit of rice.  After we were done eating the waitress informed us that it was her first week of work and how sorry she was about the delay of our food arrival especially the one yam roll ordered by another girlfriend which she said the restaurant would cover.  That was really nice of them, but why didn't they offer to pay for the contaminated rice that could have really harmed my friend???  


To make up for it all she brought us ice cream and dough balls.  At first I just thought it was ice cream and I was confused when I stuck the spoon in the bowl and a huge ball stuck to the spoon.  However it was delicious!!!  Not as good as Jeni's though that I was excited to get later.  They made me taste that green goop right after ice cream to make my first sushi experience a complete one.  Once again giving into peer pressure I went against my better judgement and right after I had the sweet refreshing taste of ice cream in my mouth.  I tasted a piece of this goop smaller than pea size and I can't even describe the horrible horrible hotness of it.  My girlfriend had an antidote ready for me the last remaining spoonful of ice cream.  It helped a little but I almost wanted to lick the bowl for the last bit of ice cream to further get rid of the taste.  


I did get to taste Lavender Gum after that a girl got from Mexico, very neat flavor.  


After all of us went over to the Gallery Hop which was packed probably because this was the first really nice weekend they have had for it since last year.  Very interesting things we saw such as plates that when hung side by side created a skeleton, a gold skull, a wall full of this artwork that seemed to be representing various versions of male parts that one of my friends couldn't stop looking at.  I'm telling ya eating a green tea ball, looking at the wall of male parts and wanting to go wine tasting... may have to counsel her ;)  

The one sad thing is we did not get Jeni's... the wait would have been worth it but the line was around the corner.  

Gist of this extremely long post, I would try sushi again it was fun and a change from anything I ever tasted before and I will be getting Jeni's sometime this week to satisfy the craving!!  

Moondog Coronation Ball 2010

My sister and I love oldies music so she surprised me with tickets to the Moondog Coronation Ball at Quicken Loans Arena. The concert included performances by

The Turtles with Hits "Happy Together" and "Elenore"

Grand Funk Railroad with Hits "Some Kind of Wonderful," We're an American Band" and "The Loco-motion"

Paul Revere and the Raiders with Hits "Kicks" and "Hungry"

And lastly one of my favorite oldies bands of all times Anthony and the Imperials with Hits "Tears on My Pillow," "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop," "Hurt so Bad" and "Goin' Out of My Head"

It was a great concert. My sister and I were the youngest people there but let me tell you the older generation knows how to party. They made a dance floor and everyone was dancing and singing it was so so much fun. There was a grandfather sitting with his grandson behind us and the little boy was so cute he at one point said, "Grandpa, all those people down there have bald spots!!"

How I Love Our Economy!

Today my sister and I decided to go up to the mall because she needed to pick up a few things. I had such a craving for some candy so I decided to stop at the candy machines inside the mall to get some Mike and Ikes. I put in a quarter but every time I turned the handle the quarter would pop out, so I tried a different machine and the same thing happened. My sister put a quarter into a gum ball machine and the machine ate it so she put another one in and she got her gum ball.

We noticed that the Mike and Ike machine was 50ç now instead of 25ç. I guess prices for everything are going up even for quarter candy machines. I gave in though and put in the 50ç but really it was not even worth it for like 8 measly candies. What hope does our economy have if they are even raising the prices of gum ball machines? Where does the money from those machines even go to? The establishment they are located in?

My sister told me at least your candy tasted good, my gum ball cost me 50ç and its flavor is already gone after a minute.

Worst of all the machines were located right outside of a Wal-mart... I really should of just gone there and bought a whole packet of candy for 25ç more. I guess we are not that smart.

8 Hours of My Life...

For three years of my education all I kept hearing about through my program was "Boards." Well lucky me all of that is over as of yesterday, hopefully. I tend to be a procrastinator so I really didn't get to studying until this past week. And from my last blog post, I had many other things to study for besides boards.

I ended up finishing my finals as of Tuesday morning but ended up staying in Columbus until Tuesday night because yes I wanted to watch LOST with my sister and friends. But I promise you I am not a pathetic person that arranges her schedule around a t.v show, well maybe for LOST I would. I ended up driving home at 10:00 at night Tuesday and got home really late only to find I did not have a bed to sleep in. My mom is painting her room and closet so everything since I was home a week ago got moved into my room. My bedroom was so packed with furniture and it looked like her closet exploded all over my room, I couldn't even walk inside let alone get to my bed. So I had to sleep on the sofa in our family room which was not very comfortable at all. And considering my mom gets up at 5:00 in the morning to let my dog Maggie out, that is when I would get up too regardless if I was up until 3 the previous day because I had no choice... my bed was in the living room!!

I ended up studying non stop from Tuesday night to Friday morning besides an occasional sleep and wedding planning with my sister and grandma. I was living on energy drinks which is so unhealthy which I would never recommend to anyone. However, Thursday night (the day before my test) my mom told me to go to bed early, to calm down and just get a good nights rest. So I did, or as nice of a sleep you can get on a couch. Well life sure is funny, because I had a hard enough time falling asleep because of how much anxiety I had built up inside me and about 3:00 in the morning my mom's fiance gets home after a 6 week long trip in Arizona. My dog went ballistic because she was so happy to see him and never have I heard a yelp so loud as I did that night. After all that noise I was wide awake and could not fall back to sleep. So I got up took a shower, ate some breakfast and did the worst thing of all studied two hours before my test which made me feel more sick because I felt like I knew nothing.

I ended up driving to Westlake to the testing center only to get lost and all turned around. My GPS is not always reliable but lucky for me that I left plenty of extra time for myself. When I arrived there were about 8 people already there that were taking all sorts of different tests. I had to take a number and look over these rules and regulations before they called me up to get my information. I ended up stepping out to go to the bathroom and I left my paper and my number on my seat. When I came back from the bathroom I walked inside only to find this young guy sitting in my seat holding my paper and number. I asked him if I could have my number and he got all upset at me because the lady told him to take a number over by the lamp but he failed to see the box of numbers above my chair. Whatever, the guy was rude and nasty to me but I like to think that he was just nervous about his test rather than a mean person in general.

My number was called and the lady had me give her my identification cards. She looked up the test I was taking and she congratulated me that I was taking the longest test out of anyone that day, I said thank you, what else could you say to that statement. I then had to sign this really cool pad that wouldn't show my signature on it but apparently it was hooked to the computer and it got transferred onto this program. I had a palm and vein test done so they would know it was me and they took my picture. I had to put everything in a locker because I couldn't take anything in with me besides my driver's license. I had to even take off my hair tie off my wrist because it was a violation. Really? After all of that was done I had to wait until I was called to go to the back room.

Now to set the scene, there were only 10 people at the testing site that morning and I didn't leave the room from the time I had my picture and vein test done until the time they brought me back. However, as soon as the lady called me to the back room to take me to my computer, she made me do the vein and palm test again to make sure it was me... I guess they have to do that but really??? Would I have really changed from the two minutes prior?? I guess my picture, my drivers license and signature weren't enough, I am surprised they didn't want my DNA.

The lady though was super nice she escorted me to my computer and gave me my dry erase board and told me if I had any questions or if I needed to get up for any reason to raise my hand because we had to be escorted to and from our computer with someone. I began the test, 200 questions that took me about an hour to complete however, I spent another two hours contemplating on whether or not I should change my answers. I was so tired as I was taking this test that I thought I was going to fall asleep. I ended up taking an "unscheduled break" to go to the bathroom half way through the first part. But to leave I had to get my veins scanned again, really?? I was just escorted in and out, there are video cameras and eyes on you 24/7 do you really need to verify that I was me? I ended up going to the restroom, getting a drink of water and sitting outside a few minutes to clear my head. When I walked back inside I had to have my veins scanned again and their machine was never working properly so I would have to do it like five times. The funny thing was that they made such a big deal about being escorted, getting your veins scanned but they didn't care that I went to the bathroom myself? Who knows I was probably being videotaped in there too. I was escorted back to my computer where I finished the first half in three hours.

I ended up taking the "scheduled break," but I really did not feel like eating anything because I was so nervous. So I sipped on a diet soda and ended up calling my ST in Louisiana for moral support. I did not take the full one hour break because I just wanted to be done. When I came back inside I had to have that same tedious vein test done again and was escorted to my station to finish the last half of the exam which were all .... case studies. Perfect!! I felt like I was totally screwed for this half of the exam because much of it had to do with medications and I did not look over that section of my notes as much because I felt no matter how hard I studied that section I would never understand it. There were like 20 case studies and I was so tired by the end of it. They have an option where you can flag answers you are not sure about that you can review later, well when I was done going through all the questions, I clicked on the "review flagged items" button and found that I flagged about 2/3rds of the questions. Even better I had to use the restroom after all that soda but I didn't want to leave and go through the entire vein/palm test again so I stayed and sat for 3 and a half hours to finish this part of the exam. For each case study, they had radiographs, intraoral pictures and charting all on the computer, but there were some questions for example asking me the patient's occlusion classification with only a frontal view of their teeth. I couldn't even see the canine relationship let alone the molar relationship to answer this question, so you better believe that I wrote a comment about that on the survey at the end. Other than that one question, sure it was tedious jumping all over looking at medical history forms, radiographs, charting etc., they did have a nice layout. By the end of the case studies portion though, I was just clicking on any answer because I just wanted to be done.

I raised my hand to be escorted out only to find the nice lady I was with all day had left for the day. The woman said I was in there a long time and had seen me that morning so she said "bless my little heart..." Thats right, actually bless your heart if you have read this far. Any person that would sit there for like 8 hours deserves a gold star and an automatic A on the test.

I walked out of the building feeling like I completed failed that exam but I didn't care, it was done, it was a beautiful day in Ohio and I drove home with the windows down. My mom and sisters were both at work so luckily my mom's fiance was home and he took me out to lunch to celebrate being done!! I couldn't feel more free, however I do have to wait four weeks to find out the results (no idea why since it is all done on the computer), they should have the test structured like the nursing test... my sister told me that she found out the next day after her nursing exam. Not fair, I won't find out till the end of April. Oh well until then, I will pretend I passed and even if I don't... well I can always be a couch potato. :)

I am so glad I have nothing to do for school right now!! Thank you friends and family for your support!! It really did help me get through this wonderful experience! :) HAPPY SPRING!!

Study Box!!

It is only Tuesday and this has been one stressful week already. On top of final exams, papers and quizzes that were due within these past two days I have been trying to also study for my Dental Hygiene National Board Examination I am taking in three days. I think I am averaging two hours of sleep a day since this past Saturday which has led to me walking around like a zombie these past few days. One thing that has sure helped this past week is a gift I received from my brother King. He put together what he calls a "Study Box." Inside is nothing but deliciousness, a great survival kit for finals week. Chocolates, sour patch kids (my favorite candy), drinks, fruit, it was great. I haven't eaten a lot of it because I tend not to eat as much when I have all this anxiety but I think of how nice that was to do and that gets me through my studying.

So here are some words from a song by Josh Groban, since I know how much you love him from when we listened to his CD in the car on our road trip to Medina with our sister!!

"It's up to us to be the change, and even though this world needs so much more, there's so much to be thankful for."

And if that isn't enough thanks, since I found out Family Matters is one of your favorite shows... here is a little clip for you... ;)

Do The Urkel Dance

Why Do We Go Out On A Limb?

Tonight I had a wonderful conversation with a friend that I have not spoken to in awhile. It was mainly my fault because I tend to avoid facing problems or issues ... instead I ignore them in hopes that things will get better. But really that takes so much more effort than just talking things out. Scruffy once told me that you can not be mad at someone or about something if you never told them the reason you are upset or what it is that is bothering you. He was so right ... people are not mind readers, they won’t know how you are feeling or what they can do for you unless you say something.

I have really missed this friend in my life, and what I love most about him is the fact that he is so loving and caring. When I showed up at his door tonight he just opened up his arms to me and it was like no time had elapsed between us in the last month. A person who could make you feel like that is truly a wonderful friend.

It is really so much easier to just communicate with one another. I don’t know, maybe because of the fact that I may be leaving Ohio in the next couple of months I have developed this no care attitude. Which is a good thing, I want to do everything and say everything I can so I have no regrets. Sure I may get hurt at times, and things may not always work out the way I wanted them too, but how would you ever know anything if you never took risks?

One of the first conversations I ever had with Arizona he said this...

Isn't that the truth???

Happy One Year!!

So today was a pretty special day for me because it marked my one year anniversary. Today had caused me to reflect on this past year. It was not an easy year, but definitely a worthwhile one. I think I have grown and learned more about myself in this past year than any other point in my life. It just goes to show you how drastically life can change in such a short period of time, and how one person can make all the difference. Life is too short to be anything but happy!! :)

These beautiful flowers were delivered to my apartment today from my ST. She sent me twelve beautiful yellow roses for each month that I have been a member. I have been blessed with such great friends!! XoXo

Couldn't be happier... love you ST!!