working out for Disney

[Lilofan]

Hello

I did a really long workout this AM. I usually like shorter workouts, but this was the work out on the weekly schedule I have been following. It was body weight and pretty intense.

I made a really tasty burger yesterday. I put kimchi and provolone on my burger. It was such a good combination. I highly recommend it.

Yesterday, my husband was sniffing and sneezing a lot. But he has allergies and he took some of his nasal spray. He said he felt better. When I was working out this AM, I could hear him coughing and sneezing a lot. When I was done, I asked him if he should take a covid test. He was kind of resistant, but he did. He is positive. He has no fever, but just coughing. He was barely sick the last time he had covid. He was working through it, painting a room, going on masked walks with me. I got it and it was like the most unholy combination of the seasonal flu and norovirus--my son, too. I'm not doing that again. I lost 10 lbs in a matter of days, I lost my sense of smell and taste and I was seriously fatigued for a while. I am going to call my doc and see if he can give me an rx for paxlovid to prevent getting covid. He is in Manhattan 2-3/week, goes on the subway, his office is in Times Square--he is always in tight spaces with a lot of people. He has never gotten ill. He gets ill after going to Europe--again.

Paxlovid surely helped my mom deal with symptoms. I was on a plane recently and not a mask in sight but me. I don't like wearing my N95 but I need to. I haven't gotten covid, don't want it and don't want to pass on to my loved ones. I'm looking forward to the new covid booster coming out in the fall which will make it my 7th Moderna shot. I just shake my head and see the lax attitudes of others in very crowded places with no masking. They are making their bed, so they better be prepared to sleep in it. On a recent regular visit with my doc, he asked if I wanted pneumonia vaccine asked him I thought it was for seniors. He told me I could get one . I told him yes. Side effects last night was very fatigued after the shot but the shot will give me a better defense against this illness.

 

[Sans Souci]

Oh no!!! I hope you don't get it! My son is home from school today. He's been sniffling and sneezing for a few days, but we thought it was allergies. Saturday night I had a party for my work, so I was away, and my husband sent me a whatsapp to say that A had a fever. I've been sneezing and such too, and yesterday I kept getting dizzy, and we had gone out to lunch for father's day with my in-laws (without A since he was sick) and I was so overheated. Usually I'm the last person to say any place is too warm...I'm always wearing a jacket when everyone else is fine. But yesterday, I was sitting in that restaurant fanning myself with my menu because I was just way too warm. I hope I am not coming down with whatever A has...I have a choir event on Saturday that's an ALL DAY thing, and my choir is organizing it, and my daughter is volunteering...and now she has a sore throat and she's pretty sure it's a throat infection. None of us have checked for covid, but there are no measures here against covid anymore. No one even tests anymore. You can go to work/school as usual. But if I get sick, they have a real problem because there are only 2 first sopranos singing Saturday. One just had a baby a couple of weeks ago, so she's not going to be there, and the other's niece or cousin or something just dust died last week, and she's not sure she will be in a mental state to perform, and I think she was also singing 2nd soprano on most things. And the other first who WILL be there is not always the most...reliable? about knowing her part, etc. and she can't really nail the higher notes...they kind of rely on me a bit too much, so I can't be sick! But I just checked and my temp is just below 100. Hopefully, I'll be better by Saturday. Thursday, would be better because we have an extra rehearsal.

Hope your husband feels better soon and that you and your son can avoid getting it!!

I hope you're feeling better, too. Someone my husband works with came went to Orlando for vacation and came back with covid, so I think it's circulating everywhere now that school is out here and people are going on vacations. I hope you can sing on Saturday, you sound like their best hope! What kind of music do you guys perform? Is it like pop or the old standards?

 

[Sans Souci]

I have a psych degree. After getting my BA, I actually started a grad school program that would have led to me getting a PsyD. Phase 1 was a counseling Master's that fed directly into the doctoral program. I was pulling a 4.0 after the first semester, but I was just so miserable and I found myself having a difficult time with countertransference. I also kind of got scared out of it. I was really interested in forensics and criminology. I thought I might want to work with incarcerated individuals. Strike 1 - I was supposed to shadow someone at one of the prisons but it was canceled because an inmate escaped and they were worried about the safety of the counselor. Strike 2 - There was something similar in the news around that same time where the prison psychologist was attacked by one of the inmates. Strike 3 - I went on an interview at a youth detention camp tied to the maximum security prison and was too uncomfortable to ever go back.

Kendall had thought about shifting to psychology and taking University of Texas up on their CAP offer since she had the option of a BS. We saw more options and success rates with her goals if she stuck with a STEM field for her bachelor's, but it was a consideration for a little bit. I couldn't imagine juggling any of it with an infant!

OMG, that prison internship sounds scary. It's good you listened to your intuition. I would not want to be a young woman working in a mens' prison. Were your parents worried about you wanting to work in a prison? When I was in HS, our sociology class took a field trip to Stateville prison which was just across the bridge from my HS. John Wayne Gacy was housed there and he was still alive at the time. I didn't go. The girls who went said it was awful and the prisoners were cat calling them and saying X-rated things. That is exactly why I opted not to go. Why would you bring HS girls to a high security prison? On what planet is that a good idea? Planet NEVER.

I thought about getting a PsyD, too! I didn't even apply to any clinical psych programs, because I had to stay in the Chicago area. It's allegedly statistically more difficult to get into a clinical program than it is to get into Harvard Medical School, so I didn't even apply because I couldn't cast my net far and wide to different schools. In retrospect, I should have applied anyway, because the worst that happens is a rejection letter. lol I did look into PsyD schools, too. But the price really put me off. Again, I should have applied and seen what I would have gotten as a scholarships, financial aid, etc. I really wanted to work with women who had postpartum depression and do a better job identifying women who were at risk during pregnancy and create better interventions for them. But all of my experience as a research assistant was in developmental psych working with kids, because she was the only professor looking for help.

I took two years off and I began volunteering at my local hospice. I liked it, then I decided to look for social work schools that had programs for people who want to work older adults. I applied and I got a fellowship. I'm pretty sure only got a fellowship because almost nobody wanted to work with older adults. There were only six of us in that program and we all had fellowships. lol I almost did an internship at women's prison in their hospice unit, but I had to pass. It was a 90 min drive south of me and I was already spreading myself very thinly.

It's good K opted for STEM. Psych is great, but we definitely do need more female representation in the STEM field.

 

[Sans Souci]

Paxlovid surely helped my mom deal with symptoms. I was on a plane recently and not a mask in sight but me. I don't like wearing my N95 but I need to. I haven't gotten covid, don't want it and don't want to pass on to my loved ones. I'm looking forward to the new covid booster coming out in the fall which will make it my 7th Moderna shot. I just shake my head and see the lax attitudes of others in very crowded places with no masking. They are making their bed, so they better be prepared to sleep in it. On a recent regular visit with my doc, he asked if I wanted pneumonia vaccine asked him I thought it was for seniors. He told me I could get one . I told him yes. Side effects last night was very fatigued after the shot but the shot will give me a better defense against this illness.

My husband said he was the only masked person in the US pre clearance line at Dublin. He wears his mask when he flies and so do I. I don't care who gives me looks. I am not asking anyone to mask up, so why give me grief? My husband did go out for dinner every night after work with people from his office and people from the local office. It looks bad if you don't go. He went into busy restaurants, but you can't really wear a mask in a restaurant.

My husband is one of those people who rarely gets very ill. He never developed a fever. He said he feels like he has a cold. He went out for a walk (in a mask) this morning. I don't think he would have tested if I hadn't said something to him, because he thought his allergies were playing up. There's a lot of tree pollen in my area right now. This is a sneaky little virus, it mimics allergies.

I'm kind of worried about this bird flu. It's been percolating for a while now. Is any action being taken to try to halt it? It's moved to cows and now humans. What is the CDC doing?

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I did a 60 min power yoga practice this morning. I read that high intensity workouts can weaken your immune system and yoga does the opposite. My husband set up camp where I do my workouts, so I am stuck doing workouts in my bedroom--that means low impact. I don't dare do my kettlebell workouts up here. I'm scared of dropping one and it crashing through the floor, even though I've never lost control of one. lol It might not be a bad idea to take it down a notch anyway.

I am still negative. I do feel "sinus-y" I have pressure and post nasal drip, but that's not unusual for me. However, that's how it started for me in Sept and I had those symptoms for 3 days before my viral load was enough to test positive. Then all hell broke loose. lol

We're having a heat wave. I hope the power grid can take the increased demand. I opted out of making a lasagna this week. I don't want to turn my oven on in this weather and it takes 90 minutes to bake one. Also, Callie left on one of her little adventures Sunday. I am also hoping she has somewhere safe to ride it out, or that she comes back and we can take measures to keep her cool.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Good for her! We need more girls in STEM fields. I loved Science when I was in elementary school, especially when we did experiments. They were never anything really big, but just that it wasn't sitting and reading out of a textbook made it exciting to me. Then I got to high school and had some pretty bad experiences in science classes. When I complained to my Biology teacher that I was being harassed by the boy who sat next to me and asked if he would change the seating chart, he did....but he put the boy right behind me, so instead of making it better, it made it worse because he was closer to me and could actually touch me. And the teacher completely gaslit me, telling me it was my own fault I was being harassed, and that I needed to learn to deal with people I didn't like. Trying to focus on learning while a boy is snapping your bra and whispering dirty things in your ear, and messing with your hair and ears is really difficult. Another boy chased me around with fish guts when we were disecting.

I don't remember much about my earth science teacher except that I didn't like him. He was a short balding man who was very arrogant and I didn't learn much in his class. I remember getting in trouble because a boy in my lab group was being an idiot and ruined our experiment, and somehow it was my fault because I should have been able to keep him from goofing off. It was something with evaporation where we had to determine what was in the water by evaporating the water and using the characteristics of whatever substance was left behind to determine what it was, but the boy decided he wanted to see how hot the little bowl was, so he picked it up with his bare hands after it had been over the flame for 15 minutes, he burned his hand and dropped the bowl, which meant the water all spilled with the substance still in it and we never got the water evaporated. I think if I had had good teachers who made learning fun, I would have loved it. Instead, I DREADED science class because teenage boys are idiots and the male teachers were no better. Now my daughter is going to major in a pretty complicated STEM field and I see how much I might have liked it if I had had a good experience.

That's part of why she made the shift. She said that the world has plenty of lawyers. She noted that it's great seeing women seeing a lot more success in that field, STEM felt like a better path...like she could do more with it in the interim if she needed a job between her BS and upper-level degrees. She took college level Physics her junior year and did really well. It made her realize that she can do this. So, she took college level biology in her senior year. It's a special program through University of Texas Austin where they're given the same class curriculum as the first year college courses in these subjects. It was her freshman year science teacher that kept pushing to get her into National Honor Society as well as Science NHS, so that gave her an added vote of confidence.

It's really unfortunate that you had student and teacher issues. I had some awful science teachers in high school, so I'm no better, but it's all so interesting. In the right hands with the right classmates, it can be really rewarding. K's biggest issues were periodically being put on teams with one lazy person. Thankfully, she's a total "squeaky wheel" kind of kid and refused to stand for any of that. If she couldn't light a fire under the lazy teammate, she would address it with the teacher and get them reassigned or have something added to the project file to specifically show who did what. One was pretty gratifying because it was a former friend. Long story, but she'd often blame things on her mom if she didn't want to make an effort. It's one thing with social stuff, but it's unacceptable for schoolwork. I have no idea what the teacher did with her, but the rest of the team opted to be a group of 3 and split up her portion of the work vs. leaving her name on the project and allowing her to get credit for doing nothing. I guess we can both live vicariously through our STEM kids!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

OMG, that prison internship sounds scary. It's good you listened to your intuition. I would not want to be a young woman working in a mens' prison. Were your parents worried about you wanting to work in a prison? When I was in HS, our sociology class took a field trip to Stateville prison which was just across the bridge from my HS. John Wayne Gacy was housed there and he was still alive at the time. I didn't go. The girls who went said it was awful and the prisoners were cat calling them and saying X-rated things. That is exactly why I opted not to go. Why would you bring HS girls to a high security prison? On what planet is that a good idea? Planet NEVER.

I thought about getting a PsyD, too! I didn't even apply to any clinical psych programs, because I had to stay in the Chicago area. It's allegedly statistically more difficult to get into a clinical program than it is to get into Harvard Medical School, so I didn't even apply because I couldn't cast my net far and wide to different schools. In retrospect, I should have applied anyway, because the worst that happens is a rejection letter. lol I did look into PsyD schools, too. But the price really put me off. Again, I should have applied and seen what I would have gotten as a scholarships, financial aid, etc. I really wanted to work with women who had postpartum depression and do a better job identifying women who were at risk during pregnancy and create better interventions for them. But all of my experience as a research assistant was in developmental psych working with kids, because she was the only professor looking for help.

I took two years off and I began volunteering at my local hospice. I liked it, then I decided to look for social work schools that had programs for people who want to work older adults. I applied and I got a fellowship. I'm pretty sure only got a fellowship because almost nobody wanted to work with older adults. There were only six of us in that program and we all had fellowships. lol I almost did an internship at women's prison in their hospice unit, but I had to pass. It was a 90 min drive south of me and I was already spreading myself very thinly.

It's good K opted for STEM. Psych is great, but we definitely do need more female representation in the STEM field.

The one with the internship and shadowing was local and a lesser security level. It was a real eye opener that even minimum security with lesser criminals was still super risky. The camp where I interviewed was tied to the Florida State Prison in Raiford, FL. It's the prison where Ted Bundy was executed (already done by this point) and Danny Rolling, the guy that killed all of those University of Florida students in 1990 was being held. What seemed so interesting on paper felt a bit too real when I was standing there in person in my business suit staring down a bunch of kids who were on the "youth camp" side for violent crimes.

I heard the same. My advisor was worthless and never told me anything, but the department chair (who was quite scary) told us that if we weren't pulling a solid 4.0 and weren't taking a handful of grad level classes as undergrads, we didn't stand a chance. What's funny, I had a friend who got a BS in psych, couldn't get into any clinical psych programs, so she shifted to a med school path and became an anesthesiologist...Harvard Med educated! The issues you noted were part of the turn off. It was a lot of money, the people in my program were always talking about how going through divorce led them to this program for a career change, and I felt like I was repeating a lot of what I learned in undergrad.

I took a different shift. I took a handful of business related courses at a local community college and just decided to move to an area with a better job market. Houston worked out because I had free housing for a while, the cost of living was much lower here than anything else on my list, and it was growing job market at the time. It took a while, but it worked out.

I had several friends who were chemistry and biology majors. I don't remember their end goals, but they were able to get well paying jobs right out of school. That was a real challenge for me. Like you said, we need more women in STEM, so I think it's a good shift.

 

[Lilofan]

My husband said he was the only masked person in the US pre clearance line at Dublin. He wears his mask when he flies and so do I. I don't care who gives me looks. I am not asking anyone to mask up, so why give me grief? My husband did go out for dinner every night after work with people from his office and people from the local office. It looks bad if you don't go. He went into busy restaurants, but you can't really wear a mask in a restaurant.

My husband is one of those people who rarely gets very ill. He never developed a fever. He said he feels like he has a cold. He went out for a walk (in a mask) this morning. I don't think he would have tested if I hadn't said something to him, because he thought his allergies were playing up. There's a lot of tree pollen in my area right now. This is a sneaky little virus, it mimics allergies.

I'm kind of worried about this bird flu. It's been percolating for a while now. Is any action being taken to try to halt it? It's moved to cows and now humans. What is the CDC doing?

I read Finland is giving the bird flu vaccine to a few groups shortly. I will be seeing what will happen moving forward.

 

[Songbird76]

I hope you're feeling better, too. Someone my husband works with came went to Orlando for vacation and came back with covid, so I think it's circulating everywhere now that school is out here and people are going on vacations. I hope you can sing on Saturday, you sound like their best hope! What kind of music do you guys perform? Is it like pop or the old standards?

Well, right now I have stomach flu. That should be over by Saturday, but obviously my immune system is weak if I've got the stomach flu. Hopefully it won't lead to something longer lasting.

We always described ourselves as a band with 20 lead singers, but we haven't done any gigs like we were doing for a couple of years now. We used to all have headsets and a live band, etc, but the performances are really expensive to have the sound guy, and pay for a venue, etc. We did a lot of rock stuff... Queen, Sting, Dotan, etc with some of the more edgy pop stuff like Pink. Lately we've kind of been moving more towards top 40 because it's hard to do the rock stuff without a band, and most of the band members have bands they play with full time. We only perform a few times a year, so we'd have to fit those in when the band members were available, but then they quit and the people we got to play with us were only for one or two gigs. We don't really have a band anymore, so we can't do that kind of music. This weekend we are organizing a choir festival. We have like 11 choirs coming to perform and do a workshop and then everyone gives each other feedback. We're singing Miley Cryus' Flowers, Lewis Capaldi Someone You Loved, Di-rect Through the Looking Glass, and Son Mieux Multicolor. The big problem if I'm not there is Through the Looking Glass because Esther can't really hit the notes. And a bit of Multicolor because we have the lead on the second verse and she can't remember the words. But it's not really a high stakes performance. We're not getting paid for this one. But I still feel bad if I miss.

 

[Songbird76]

OMG, that prison internship sounds scary. It's good you listened to your intuition. I would not want to be a young woman working in a mens' prison. Were your parents worried about you wanting to work in a prison? When I was in HS, our sociology class took a field trip to Stateville prison which was just across the bridge from my HS. John Wayne Gacy was housed there and he was still alive at the time. I didn't go. The girls who went said it was awful and the prisoners were cat calling them and saying X-rated things. That is exactly why I opted not to go. Why would you bring HS girls to a high security prison? On what planet is that a good idea? Planet NEVER.

I thought about getting a PsyD, too! I didn't even apply to any clinical psych programs, because I had to stay in the Chicago area. It's allegedly statistically more difficult to get into a clinical program than it is to get into Harvard Medical School, so I didn't even apply because I couldn't cast my net far and wide to different schools. In retrospect, I should have applied anyway, because the worst that happens is a rejection letter. lol I did look into PsyD schools, too. But the price really put me off. Again, I should have applied and seen what I would have gotten as a scholarships, financial aid, etc. I really wanted to work with women who had postpartum depression and do a better job identifying women who were at risk during pregnancy and create better interventions for them. But all of my experience as a research assistant was in developmental psych working with kids, because she was the only professor looking for help.

I took two years off and I began volunteering at my local hospice. I liked it, then I decided to look for social work schools that had programs for people who want to work older adults. I applied and I got a fellowship. I'm pretty sure only got a fellowship because almost nobody wanted to work with older adults. There were only six of us in that program and we all had fellowships. lol I almost did an internship at women's prison in their hospice unit, but I had to pass. It was a 90 min drive south of me and I was already spreading myself very thinly.

It's good K opted for STEM. Psych is great, but we definitely do need more female representation in the STEM field.

Ugh why does it have to be so hard to get into a program?? It seems so dumb now. Like, I grew up knowing there was no chance of me ever going to Harvard or Yale or anything and even if I could have gotten in, which I couldn't, I wouldn't have been able to afford it. And really, are those schools giving kids that much better if an education? When you take into account the miniscule chance of getting in, and the amount of money tuition alone is... Is it even WORTH it? Sure, it's prestigious, but is it exponentially better than other 4 year institutions? I'm sure if E took the ACT, she'd score in a range that would make her eligible for Ivy league. One of her classmates who has probably a 6 or 7 average took it so she can go to college in the US and scored a 28. E's average is about 8.5 and her English is WAY better. And her scores in the subjects needed for the ACT are all close to a 9, and that's for a school that's basically AP level. She's graduating in the top 2% of the nation, so I'm reasonably certain she'd score in the 30s. But why pay so much for an education that is probably not THAT much better than she could get here? And here, as long as you pass and meet the requirements for the subjects, you're in. There are only a couple of majors that limit the numbers of students and her grades are high enough that she would have gotten a spot had she wanted to do one of those. They are such popular programs that they have to limit it. They can't take everyone, but that's like a total of 5 majors, all in the medical field. Everything else is just a sign up thing. You pick a school and a program and yay, you're in. No competition between kids for GPA or extra curriculars, no essays or entrance exams. You graduate, you go to university. It's so much less stress. No rejection letters or application forms. I'm glad E doesn't have to go through that!

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I have been in bed all day and I am in a window where I feel decent for a bit from taking Advil. Yesterday, I became really tired and I had no appetite. Then I spent all night in the bathroom. I took a covid test this AM. It's negative. I have body aches, a very hoarse voice, headache, chest congestion. I slept most of today. My husband offered to call our doctor to see if I could get on paxlovid, I forgot it is Juneteenth. So, he spoke to a doctor on call, because it's very hard for me to talk. He came into check on me while he was talking and he put me on the phone to her. We had a discussion about my symptoms. She said she didn't want to give me Paxlovid because I have tested negative and she thinks I have a sinus infection instead. This is not a sinus infection, I can't even touch my face when I have a sinus infection. I can't win for losing, the last time I had covid, it was over Labor Day weekend and I had symptoms, but testing negative. The doctor on call then asked me why I didn't seek help sooner. I said I had been testing negative. She said, no, it's from the onset on symptoms that starts the 5 day window for paxlovid. So, I don't know who to believe anymore. I have shared a bed, in a car with someone who has covid, but I have a sinus infection. Make it make sense. I have three factors that make me high risk and I am concerned about long covid mostly. I'm kind of frustrated because my husband is only coughing, but he got paxlovid without an issue. He has been doing yard work, working out, etc.

The upside is I am not as sick as I was the last time I had it and I hope it stays that way.

 

[Lilofan]

Hello-

I have been in bed all day and I am in a window where I feel decent for a bit from taking Advil. Yesterday, I became really tired and I had no appetite. Then I spent all night in the bathroom. I took a covid test this AM. It's negative. I have body aches, a very hoarse voice, headache, chest congestion. I slept most of today. My husband offered to call our doctor to see if I could get on paxlovid, I forgot it is Juneteenth. So, he spoke to a doctor on call, because it's very hard for me to talk. He came into check on me while he was talking and he put me on the phone to her. We had a discussion about my symptoms. She said she didn't want to give me Paxlovid because I have tested negative and she thinks I have a sinus infection instead. This is not a sinus infection, I can't even touch my face when I have a sinus infection. I can't win for losing, the last time I had covid, it was over Labor Day weekend and I had symptoms, but testing negative. The doctor on call then asked me why I didn't seek help sooner. I said I had been testing negative. She said, no, it's from the onset on symptoms that starts the 5 day window for paxlovid. So, I don't know who to believe anymore. I have shared a bed, in a car with someone who has covid, but I have a sinus infection. Make it make sense. I have three factors that make me high risk and I am concerned about long covid mostly. I'm kind of frustrated because my husband is only coughing, but he got paxlovid without an issue. He has been doing yard work, working out, etc.

The upside is I am not as sick as I was the last time I had it and I hope it stays that way.

Sinus cavity is near the brain so if you get worse or not improving perhaps go to the ER. I hope you feel better.

 

[Songbird76]

Hello-

I have been in bed all day and I am in a window where I feel decent for a bit from taking Advil. Yesterday, I became really tired and I had no appetite. Then I spent all night in the bathroom. I took a covid test this AM. It's negative. I have body aches, a very hoarse voice, headache, chest congestion. I slept most of today. My husband offered to call our doctor to see if I could get on paxlovid, I forgot it is Juneteenth. So, he spoke to a doctor on call, because it's very hard for me to talk. He came into check on me while he was talking and he put me on the phone to her. We had a discussion about my symptoms. She said she didn't want to give me Paxlovid because I have tested negative and she thinks I have a sinus infection instead. This is not a sinus infection, I can't even touch my face when I have a sinus infection. I can't win for losing, the last time I had covid, it was over Labor Day weekend and I had symptoms, but testing negative. The doctor on call then asked me why I didn't seek help sooner. I said I had been testing negative. She said, no, it's from the onset on symptoms that starts the 5 day window for paxlovid. So, I don't know who to believe anymore. I have shared a bed, in a car with someone who has covid, but I have a sinus infection. Make it make sense. I have three factors that make me high risk and I am concerned about long covid mostly. I'm kind of frustrated because my husband is only coughing, but he got paxlovid without an issue. He has been doing yard work, working out, etc.

The upside is I am not as sick as I was the last time I had it and I hope it stays that way.

Ugh, that's so frustrating when the doctor won't believe you!! I think sometimes doctors get so caught up in themselves that they forget their patients know themselves and every person is different. And seriously, if you've been sharing a bed with someone with covid and you start to get symptoms, it seems like a no-brainer that they probably have it. Doctors should know better....it can take DAYS before you actually test positive after getting symptoms. Isn't that why all those restrictions were in place in the beginning? Because the incubation period was so long and you could have symptoms and still test negative for a few days? Is there somewhere you can go for a 2nd opinion??

 

[Sans Souci]

The one with the internship and shadowing was local and a lesser security level. It was a real eye opener that even minimum security with lesser criminals was still super risky. The camp where I interviewed was tied to the Florida State Prison in Raiford, FL. It's the prison where Ted Bundy was executed (already done by this point) and Danny Rolling, the guy that killed all of those University of Florida students in 1990 was being held. What seemed so interesting on paper felt a bit too real when I was standing there in person in my business suit staring down a bunch of kids who were on the "youth camp" side for violent crimes.

I heard the same. My advisor was worthless and never told me anything, but the department chair (who was quite scary) told us that if we weren't pulling a solid 4.0 and weren't taking a handful of grad level classes as undergrads, we didn't stand a chance. What's funny, I had a friend who got a BS in psych, couldn't get into any clinical psych programs, so she shifted to a med school path and became an anesthesiologist...Harvard Med educated! The issues you noted were part of the turn off. It was a lot of money, the people in my program were always talking about how going through divorce led them to this program for a career change, and I felt like I was repeating a lot of what I learned in undergrad.

I took a different shift. I took a handful of business related courses at a local community college and just decided to move to an area with a better job market. Houston worked out because I had free housing for a while, the cost of living was much lower here than anything else on my list, and it was growing job market at the time. It took a while, but it worked out.

I had several friends who were chemistry and biology majors. I don't remember their end goals, but they were able to get well paying jobs right out of school. That was a real challenge for me. Like you said, we need more women in STEM, so I think it's a good shift.

That's wild about your friend not being accepted at any clinical programs, but being accepted to Harvard Med! I love it. Good for her.

I never applied to any clinical programs, because I didn't think I'd get accepted. I just assumed without applying, which was dumb. My grades were good andI had a paper published in a journal and presented it at conference, but I was so worried about being rejected. I kick myself, because as much as a rejection hurts, you don't die. I get angry with myself because I have functioned like that my whole life. lol

 

[Sans Souci]

Ugh why does it have to be so hard to get into a program?? It seems so dumb now. Like, I grew up knowing there was no chance of me ever going to Harvard or Yale or anything and even if I could have gotten in, which I couldn't, I wouldn't have been able to afford it. And really, are those schools giving kids that much better if an education? When you take into account the miniscule chance of getting in, and the amount of money tuition alone is... Is it even WORTH it? Sure, it's prestigious, but is it exponentially better than other 4 year institutions? I'm sure if E took the ACT, she'd score in a range that would make her eligible for Ivy league. One of her classmates who has probably a 6 or 7 average took it so she can go to college in the US and scored a 28. E's average is about 8.5 and her English is WAY better. And her scores in the subjects needed for the ACT are all close to a 9, and that's for a school that's basically AP level. She's graduating in the top 2% of the nation, so I'm reasonably certain she'd score in the 30s. But why pay so much for an education that is probably not THAT much better than she could get here? And here, as long as you pass and meet the requirements for the subjects, you're in. There are only a couple of majors that limit the numbers of students and her grades are high enough that she would have gotten a spot had she wanted to do one of those. They are such popular programs that they have to limit it. They can't take everyone, but that's like a total of 5 majors, all in the medical field. Everything else is just a sign up thing. You pick a school and a program and yay, you're in. No competition between kids for GPA or extra curriculars, no essays or entrance exams. You graduate, you go to university. It's so much less stress. No rejection letters or application forms. I'm glad E doesn't have to go through that!

They aren't a lot of clinical PhD programs and it's not like law school or business school, where large numbers of students are expected. These programs only admit so many people, so it's very competitive. The school where I got my social work degree had a PhD program; they only accepted 5-8 people into the program a year, but the tuition is free.

Honestly, I would not come here to study from overseas. Schools (and society in general) are at this weird inflection point. I'd stay away until things calm down. E is much better off staying there. I'd imagine it's much cheaper as well. It seems like a less dramatic process for university, too.

 

[Sans Souci]

Sinus cavity is near the brain so if you get worse or not improving perhaps go to the ER. I hope you feel better.

I didn't have a sinus infection. But seemed to think it was, even I know what one feels like when I have one. Spoiler alert: she was wrong.

 

[Sans Souci]

Well, right now I have stomach flu. That should be over by Saturday, but obviously my immune system is weak if I've got the stomach flu. Hopefully it won't lead to something longer lasting.

We always described ourselves as a band with 20 lead singers, but we haven't done any gigs like we were doing for a couple of years now. We used to all have headsets and a live band, etc, but the performances are really expensive to have the sound guy, and pay for a venue, etc. We did a lot of rock stuff... Queen, Sting, Dotan, etc with some of the more edgy pop stuff like Pink. Lately we've kind of been moving more towards top 40 because it's hard to do the rock stuff without a band, and most of the band members have bands they play with full time. We only perform a few times a year, so we'd have to fit those in when the band members were available, but then they quit and the people we got to play with us were only for one or two gigs. We don't really have a band anymore, so we can't do that kind of music. This weekend we are organizing a choir festival. We have like 11 choirs coming to perform and do a workshop and then everyone gives each other feedback. We're singing Miley Cryus' Flowers, Lewis Capaldi Someone You Loved, Di-rect Through the Looking Glass, and Son Mieux Multicolor. The big problem if I'm not there is Through the Looking Glass because Esther can't really hit the notes. And a bit of Multicolor because we have the lead on the second verse and she can't remember the words. But it's not really a high stakes performance. We're not getting paid for this one. But I still feel bad if I miss.

I hope you're feeling better and can perform tomorrow.

Your choir sounds cool. I had idea you guys performed with a band. I guess in my mind, there was someone playing the piano, while you all sang. lol How often do you perform these shows?

 

[Sans Souci]

Ugh, that's so frustrating when the doctor won't believe you!! I think sometimes doctors get so caught up in themselves that they forget their patients know themselves and every person is different. And seriously, if you've been sharing a bed with someone with covid and you start to get symptoms, it seems like a no-brainer that they probably have it. Doctors should know better....it can take DAYS before you actually test positive after getting symptoms. Isn't that why all those restrictions were in place in the beginning? Because the incubation period was so long and you could have symptoms and still test negative for a few days? Is there somewhere you can go for a 2nd opinion??

Yeah, the medical school aphorism of "When you hear hoof beats think horses, not zebras" applies here. I kept trying to tell her the symptoms followed the same pattern last time. She was clinging to her sinus infection theory. Unfortunately, I am going to be charged for that phone call. It made me angry because I kept going downhill the rest of the day and night, when she could have written me as 'script for paxlovid.

 

[Sans Souci]

Hello-

I finally tested positive yesterday morning. It was very faint, but positive nonetheless. I had gotten so bad overnight. I had this cough that was like a machine gun and it was hard to catch my breath, plus it was a dry cough. This is what I wanted to avoid, because it's awful. I felt like I can't catch my breath and I get breathless-but no, it was a sinus infection.

So, my husband called the doctor for me the next morning and left a message because I could only squeak out words. lol An hour later, I got a text from CVS to pick up my Paxlovid. Hallelujah! That stuff is magic. By about 7 o'clock, I was able to move from the bed to the couch in my bedroom to watch TV. It was only like 30 min, but to me, it was a sign the meds were working. I felt even better when I woke up. I was even able to go downstairs to check for Callie. I regretted it because the kitchen was a mess--only after 2 days of me being in bed.I have done light stuff like loading the dishwasher and laundry. I am not pushing it.

I am worried about my son, not only is he unvaxxed, he refuses to wear a mask. So, I am wearing a mask when I have to leave my room and I have been staying in my room with the door shut. Today is last day I am staying in my room with the door shut. If he can't wear a mask, he needs to stay in his room. I am done humoring his paranoia. I am not staying in my room until I am testing negative, especially if I am feeling better.

Then my gyn NP called me yesterday to tell me they saw dodgy stuff on my ultrasound. I was out of it and struggled to talk with all chest congestion. But to get a polyp removed/biospied and something else biopsied. This is not a place I want to be have a biopsy, tbh. Allegedly, the doctor's office where I am supposed to have this done is supposed to call me today to schedule, but knowing this medical system, I will hear from them in 2 months and the earliest they will fit me in will be March 2025. I am half-joking.

 

[Figgy1]

Hello-

I finally tested positive yesterday morning. It was very faint, but positive nonetheless. I had gotten so bad overnight. I had this cough that was like a machine gun and it was hard to catch my breath, plus it was a dry cough. This is what I wanted to avoid, because it's awful. I felt like I can't catch my breath and I get breathless-but no, it was a sinus infection.

So, my husband called the doctor for me the next morning and left a message because I could only squeak out words. lol An hour later, I got a text from CVS to pick up my Paxlovid. Hallelujah! That stuff is magic. By about 7 o'clock, I was able to move from the bed to the couch in my bedroom to watch TV. It was only like 30 min, but to me, it was a sign the meds were working. I felt even better when I woke up. I was even able to go downstairs to check for Callie. I regretted it because the kitchen was a mess--only after 2 days of me being in bed.I have done light stuff like loading the dishwasher and laundry. I am not pushing it.

I am worried about my son, not only is he unvaxxed, he refuses to wear a mask. So, I am wearing a mask when I have to leave my room and I have been staying in my room with the door shut. Today is last day I am staying in my room with the door shut. If he can't wear a mask, he needs to stay in his room. I am done humoring his paranoia. I am not staying in my room until I am testing negative, especially if I am feeling better.

Then my gyn NP called me yesterday to tell me they saw dodgy stuff on my ultrasound. I was out of it and struggled to talk with all chest congestion. But to get a polyp removed/biospied and something else biopsied. This is not a place I want to be have a biopsy, tbh. Allegedly, the doctor's office where I am supposed to have this done is supposed to call me today to schedule, but knowing this medical system, I will hear from them in 2 months and the earliest they will fit me in will be March 2025. I am half-joking.