Epic Nervousness

Friday was a big deal. All of it. The whole day. Why? Because Brittany and I spoke to an audience of about 800 people. It is kind of a long story...
It all started when I visited a church a few weeks ago. I went to visit a youth minister (and his precious family) named Marcus Neely, a guy I know from Harding. Well, one of the kids in his youth group recognized me from Uplift. We talked a little bit. She was really nice. Well, a few days later, Marcus calls me and tells me that this girl wants me to speak at a conference... ummm. I was a little confused, because why would she want me to speak at a conference?
It turns out it was for HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America). She wanted me to talk about child life and my experiences in that field. Well, okay. Me, being in super LEARN MODE during this internship was like, OKAY! I also roped the other two interns into doing it with me, thinking it would "impress our supervisors." Well, after I agreed to it and got the girls to agree to it... I find out that there will be close to 800 people there. My first thought, other than I'M GONNA PEE MY PANTS was: Well, I guess everything IS bigger in Texas.
We planned it out, my supervisor agreed to go with us... I guess to chaperone us or observe us or something, I don't know. She even gave us a powerpoint to use, so we didn't have to make one.
All good right...???

The day of the conference: Friday, February 17, 2012... duhn duhn duuhhhhnn.....
First thing: Heather was sick. She wasn't coming.
Okay okay, we can fix this. Brittany and I just did some last minute adjustments to our powerpoint preparations. No big.
10 minutes before we were set to leave, the girl calls me and says, "are you on your way yet?! Can you make sure you are here a little early?!" Okay, this girl was freaking out... did I tell you she's a senior in high school...? Anyway, she was stressing, which made me stress. I reminded her that we were going to use a powerpoint and she was like, okay... is it on a flash drive? I said yes.
When Alana (my supervisor) showed up, the ppt wasn't on a flash drive, but it was on a disc. I sent a quick text to the other girl saying it was on a disc... needless to say, she said it would be easier if we didn't use the powerpoint. Awesome.
THEN!! We got stuck in traffic. (SIDE NOTE: I miss Arkansas... where the worst traffic means getting stuck behind a school bus because you left your house too late in the morning. )We ended up showing up at 2:15...ish. The conference started at 2:15.
When we got there, there was somebody waiting for us at the door. They said, "Are you the speakers?"
"ummm. yes?" They escorted us to our seats. ESCORTED!!! Like we were important. That should have been my first clue...
Then, when we were seated, I looked around and we were pretty much surrounded by students. I asked the lady that "escorted" us in who was speaking after us. She looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "no one." Then I said, what is happening after we speak? and she said, "nothing...?  You're it."
AHDIFNDKFDSOIKLDAMFISODFNS?! Huh?
Yep, ladies and gentlemen! We were pretty much the key note speakers of the night.
Nobody told me that we were that important! We showed up with a 'career day' powerpoint for goodness sake... that we didn't even get to use!!! It was weird... the whole thing.
The presentation went alright... I mean, Brittany and I were both shaking the whole time, but we pushed through it.
After we spoke, the girl came out on stage and presented us with certificates... and THEN called Alana up on stage. Poor Alana... she was in scrubs (it was a sea of black business casual in the audience, very professional.. picture like an FBLA conference) She walked up on stage and for some reason... was presented with a FRAMED certificate of appreciation. Like I said, this whole experience was weird... miscommunication allll around.
We left immediately... When we were driving away... everyone was exiting the auditorium. I guess we really were... 'it'
So weird...
Then we got sonic happy hour.

Activity

Fact: Kids love origami.
Who knew???

Independence

Ryan came to visit this weekend. Poor guy, he came all this way and I had no plans and we just kind of did whatever. Friday night, we went out and hung out at "The Flying Saucer." Saturday, we slept late, went to lunch at Olive Garden, then went shopping. blahhh. This is where I attempted to find a dress for my sister's wedding and failed... again. But whatever. Red Chiffon is hard to find. It's cute, but I keep finding it on old lady dresses and not... 20-something dresses. Anyway, we gave up. We decided to go to a comedy club called The Hyena. We went to Brittany's apartment for a while, then grabbed pizza, ate it in the CAR, then got in line JUST IN TIME to claim our seats. It was a close call. We ended up getting 8 free tickets to this place. We had coupons, and they wouldn't take them, so they gave us free tickets for next time. SWEET! It was fun, I want to go back.

On another note...

I am "completely" independent at work right now.
That basically means that any procedure that comes up, I get to do by myself. Prettttyyy cool.
Today is Valentine's day and in the unit, we decorated sugar cookies with icing, sprinkles and "painted" marshmallows. That is just where you take milk and food coloring and "paint" your marshmallows. It just adds color and it's pretty fun. The staff had a lot of fun with it... and I ate a lot of cookies.
I am becoming more and more comfortable here, on this rotation... but, I leave in a week and a half. I move to another unit. This is soo sad! I mean, it is good, but I will miss the kids and the staff. I have learned so much and I have spent so much time with them. It is just going to suck leaving them and moving on to another group of people. They keep saying I won't come and visit, but I WILL!

Also, I am planning a REALLY AWESOME activity for next Thursday and Friday. It is going to be E.P.I.C.!!!!! I'll post on that for sure.

sad

Oh, and one of the patients I work with died today.
...

fail.

I've failed at blogging lately. Sorry. Maybe I will write one soon.
Things I've done lately:
I've done a total of 6 procedures!!!!
I get to start "flying solo" tomorrow. (That means I get to do stuff without being observed by my supervisor)
I have come to love my Dialysis family, both staff and patients.
I went to a super bowl party in Dallas with Kristofor's church.
I need to start working on my sister's sparkler stuff for her wedding.
I need to find a dress for my sister's wedding.
I picked up my dress for Mary's wedding from the alteration's place.
I got a note from one of my patients saying she loved me and that I'm "the best." It really warmed my heart.
I got to see Marcus Neely and his family and everything they served for lunch that day had lime in it... oopsie. I ate it without saying anything...
I got to be a mic boom operator for a videographer!!
Ryan is coming this weekend.
I am going for a run right now.