Hump Day

Here I am half way through week three and surving just nicely.
I'm actually getting a handle on this bus thing. The drawback is that I have to be at school about 35 minutes early 3 days a week but the alternative is to be 10-15 min late so I have to bite the bullet and get up earlier. I'm here ot get an education, not sleep. This may just work itself out afterall.
The upstairs neighbour from hell, although heavy-footed, is behaving himself.
This Friday will be my first trip back home with a fellow student. I plan to pay for half the gas. Hopefully we can keep that going all year without her getting sick of me, LOL.
This is a shorty so I can get to bed. Tomorrow is not an early bus day but it will begin early nonetheless.

It can only get better

I know its been a long time since my last post but I have been super busy. I'm trying to wean myself off the car. Last week I had the luxury of having it again for my second week in Moncton because DH took the week off and said I might as well take it with me. That was all well and fine until some guy ploughed me at an intersection and totalled it. If I could get the pics off my phone I would post the damage. There is no fixing this thing. So I had to get really good at being without a car really fast. Frankly if I don't have to drive again any time soon I'd be ok with that. But I had no choice. The very next day I had to rent a car and drive home on Thursday evening because I had an early appointment Friday morning.
I just got back to my apartment because its Sunday night now. I'll return the rental after school Monday. Maybe I can find a cheap bike. I have a bike at home but its too nice to bring here and have it weather the elements. If I had a cheap one to chain up outside I would not care if it got rained on.
Drives home are not going to be difficult since there are two other girls in my class who make the trip so I'm ok there. Its the day to day, back and forth to school that will be difficult. The bus gets me there too late so perhaps an earlier bus is in order. Things like this you can't learn until you do them and figure out the best way.

I experienced my first drawback to apartment living Wednesday morning. No class so I was sleeping late only to be woken up by a domestic dispute. Yeah every apartment has them. Its inevitable. I called the landlord and when it got nasty I called the cops. I had to give a statement of what I heard and the whole bit. I'm told that this is not the first time and I'm not surprised. I can guarantee that it won't be the last. People like that never change. This happened on the same day as my car crash so Wednesday really blew as days go.

I can say with great surety that this week will be better because it surely can't get any shittier than this. Why am I being tested so much? Don't the gods know that I'm going through enough here? Lets just pile on more crap and see if she cracks. Did she survive that? Let's see what else we can throw at her.

I've never been happier to be home. It was Harvest Jazz and Blues week. I got together with friends and we walked around downtown taking in the free events and drinking / eating at a couple of bars. I'm so thankful to have a mature, responsible boy who does not mind being home alone while his parents go out. This is definitely a nice new era in parenting that I'm going to enjoy. It was one of those nights that you as a couple hook up with another couple, then one more person joins and then 3 others join. It was fun, relaxing and no set plan and we had a ball. What a great way to unwind. I love the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival. Someday I'm going to buy a ticket. But really the free stuff is just as nice. Some of those singers singing for free are really good.

This seems like a good time to hit the books a little bit more before hitting the sack. Wish me luck; the good kind.

Weekend and Sugar Plums with a touch of Verticals

First weekend home was great! I arrived home shortly before the school bus. It was some nice to be home for my boy like old times. I got to hear stories about his day and his new school first hand instead of through Skype. That's huge.

I got on the road shortly after a quick lunch. Fridays are only a half day so it should be easy to get home for weekends as long as mother nature co-operates. I know there will be times when the impending weather report makes driving prohibitive but I don't want to think about that right now.

This is the time of year when I start to clean the cobwebs off my houseplants and bring them inside for the winter; put pool floaties away in preparation for the pool to be drained; and the most joyful task of all, picking all the plums off the plum tree and even ones off the ground that were too ripe to stay on the branch. They may only be coin-size but they are juicy and sweet. I brought a bunch back with me.

Hubby was in a baking mood so both of us now have freezers full of oat cakes and whoopie pies. This is not usually on my menu but they make great snacks at break time. The oat cakes are my favorite. Our recipe is exactly like the oat cakes you can buy in any coffee shop.

Got back to the apartment at around 8pm Sunday evening to find my vertical blinds finally installed. They are the ugliest sons-o-guns I've ever seen. They absolutely ruin the look of my beautiful bay window. I'll never use them but I have to keep them up because they belong to the property. Boy are they ugly.

The 70's called... they want their verticals back!!!

Guinea Pigs

The day after meeting our buddies, our buddies worked on us in the clinic. I got my teeth scraped and flossed and polished all for free and all from my DH2 buddy. We held mirrors so that we could see what they were doing. She explained all along the way what she was doing and why she was doing it. It was a far cry from the 20 minute appointments I'm use to getting at my Dentist's office. This appointment took 2.5 hours. She did some things that I'm sure my dental office doesn't bother doing. One thing is she put a purple dye on my teeth that showed up all the areas I'm missing with the dental floss. This was not your ordinary Agent Cool Blue. This heavy stain turned even calculus purple so she had to scrape it away with a tool.
Friday is called preclinical. Its designed to teach you everything you need to know before going into the clinic. We learn about the tools and sterilization and cleaning. This class is long and hard to focus but the teacher is interesting. Her voice I find is a little loud for me in the morning. I'll either have to sit farther back or find some mild earplugs. She is a loud sharp speaker and I find those sounds piercing in the morning. On the flip side she has a great sense of humor. Her jokes wake you up so I don't really drift off that much. Its just a long 3 hours to sit there with only one break.
The best thing about Fridays is that we are done at 11:30. Then its back to the apartment for a quick bite before I hit the open highway and make my way back to Fredericton. I arrive at the house just before my son's bus arrives so its perfect.
Next week we will be working on "Dexter." I think it will be a little disconcerting to work on a head that does not have a body to it. LOL.
Toodles until Monday.

Connected!

My Internet is hooked up! They told me between 5 and 8 but I was on the phone by 7 asking if the appointment was still on. The tech came to the door while I was on the phone. I don't feel bad. I miss my boy and I was dying to Skype with him.
Hookup went off without a hitch and I skyped with Adrian and now all is good. These first two blog entries are back to back because the first one had to be composed in TextEdit to be posted when I got connected.
I actually ate some real food today. I was getting sick of white rice and butter so I went to the store and charged enough groceries for a single batch of spaghetti sauce. What a treat.
First day of classes was boring. Sure meeting all my classmates was fun but those icebreaker games can get a bit overdone. The type-A in me just wanted to learn something.
I met some Frederictonians and I can happily say that trips back home should not be an issue. Huge relief off my mind.
We were paired with our buddy today too. Every DH1 gets paired up with a DH2 in case we have questions or trouble with something. They get to work on us tomorrow. I'm going to get a cleaning and a fluoride treatment tomorrow. Pretty cool. In a couple months we will be doing the same thing to each other. Working on patients is still a while off.
Not much more to report. I'm totally loving my new apartment. Its so squeaky clean you could eat off the floor. I intend to keep it that way. No cats or husband to mess it up.
I even took out my scrubs and put them on. How lame is that? I'd like to wash them first but not enough quarters in the seat cushions and the damn machine does not accept loonies. I got too preoccupied to go to the Irving to buy some. It will have to wait until tomorrow. I think I'll wear them tomorrow anyway. As long as I can keep the pantlegs from falling down. A sewing kit is not something I thought to bring.

Learning to be a Dental Hygienist

I have only written in this blog once and never found anything else to write, or "blog" about.

I'm going to change the focus a little and use this Blog as a way to document my times, good or bad, as a Dental Hygienist in school. Moving to Moncton while family remains in Fredericton is the hardest thing I hope I ever have to do.

And so we begin with day one...

Well here I am, day one in Moncton. Still no Internet so I'm composing this in TextEdit to post tomorrow after the Rogers Tech hooks me up.

I’m going to try and keep this blog fairly current. I know myself though; I’ll be all gun-ho for the first few days and then the breaks in between entries will get longer and longer. I hope not though. I’d like to document the entire two years of my training and life here.

First and most importantly, I’m feeling like the worst parent in the world. I need my boy. My boy needs me. Through the wonders of modern technology and the Internet we will be able to talk on the phone and Skype. And yes, it sure seems like you are there but the reality is I feel like I left him. I want him here to share this with me but I know he is better off starting Middle School with friends in his own neighbourhood. I was there for the first day. I saw his classroom and met the teacher. I think he’s going to have a great time there. Certainly our first phone call indicates that this is true.

My first day is tomorrow. That gave me all today to register for my school and move into my new squeaky clean apartment. Well its more like 90% clean. I went the extra 10% before I put anything away. Apparently if you want all your drawers cleaned out too you have to do that yourself.

The best part is that this place is clean. There is no cat hair or vomit on the floor. There is no mess whatsoever. Everything has a place and everything is away. lt’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that. Cleanliness does not come easy in our house. Here, I am in complete control.

But enough of that. I was able to buy a few books today so I’m going to crawl into my new bed; a queen size air mattress; and take a look. No scrubs yet. Tomorrow is just business casual. I’m sure it will be more like an orientation then an actual class. We may even be let out early. This is good news because I need the rest of the day to fight with the Student Loan idiots that pass for employees there. I got my Notice of Assessment a month ago but the College did not receive it so they could not release my money. Its almost too funny though since I got up this morning and told myself that Student Loans would probably find a way to screw up my funding. There are times when I hate being right that I could just spit. This will be my third CSL in my life and they have been a nightmare all three times. At least this time my eyes are wide open.

So for all of you who have asked me to keep them up to date on how I’m doing here, please feel free to tune into this blog regularly as I progress.

Big day tomorrow.