it's for people like you that keep it turned on.

because it so rarely happens to me, i love waking up too early because my only job in the world is to go back to sleep. or to do enjoyable things that might help me get sleepy. now, you are probably thinking that noon is far too late to be considered early. however, starting wednesday i work night shifts and have been trying to stay up late and get up late to get into night schedule. last night i went to bed after 4 and woke up around 10:30, which is just not ok.

this is The Summer of People Going Places and Doing Things. because of facebook, i am getting to see just enough of people's travels to get super, super jealous. i've done my fair share of traveling: most regions of the US, mexico, canada, france, spain, ireland, and the UK. but i can't help wishing my Summer of Doing Things was taking place somewhere more exotic than st. louis. oh well. i am still very grateful for the experience i am getting here, and as long as i make it back to ireland someday i'll be satisfied. plus, in 22 days i'm leaving to be on the east coast for the first time! savannah, GA and hilton head island, SC. 6 days of resorting, beaching and tanning, relaxing, seeing stuff, shopping, drinking, seeing dolphins, and who knows what else...yeah, i can't wait.

we decided to go for a place closer to the city than the beach, because while we intend to enjoy the beach, it's not like priority numero uno, we'd rather be within walking distance of shops and restaurants and bars (you know, menowns are all about safety). i just looked up the description for the place we rented and it's a short drive or bicycle ride from the beach! i am ridiculously excited by the thought of taking bikes to the beach.

yeah, toast!

it is noon thirty-nine in st. louis, MO, and i just changed out of my scrubs into pajama pants. no, i did not just get off work...i just woke up after sleeping about 12 hours without changing out of work clothes or even turning off the light. i had been laying there talking on the phone having a lovely conversation till about 12 something (1 something his time, whoops) and just passed out. i mean, that's not surprising for me to be able to do that, but...just goes to show how incredibly exhausted 3 days of work in a row leaves me. i also hit a new personal low last night by falling asleep on a bench outside of the hospital. chris girouard just came back from japan and we were going out to dinner so he could regale me with stories of the orient, and while i was waiting for him to pick me up, i narc-ed out on the bench. like a hobo, except sitting up and trying not to look like one.

i just finished my 7th week of my 10 week externship and that is astounding. work is still fantastic. just so draining. it's really difficult to go to bed at 9 pm in order to get my full 8 hours of sleep, so i just don't. and feel the consequences every day. dummy. yesterday i placed an NG tube on a 10-week-old! i don't get many opportunities to practice skills like that on kids but the baby's parents were gone and my preceptor walked me through it. (if you didn't know, a nasogastric tube is a feeding tube that goes through a nostril all the way to the stomach). this baby happened to need one because she refused to swallow food. 10 weeks old and only about 8.5 pounds, sad. and due to her multiple healing rib fractures, it's been decided that she's either a victim of abuse (even sadder) or she has osteogenesis imperfecta, which is incredibly interesting.

i'm very hungry and thirsty this morning and probably will be for a while because solving that problem involves going to the grocery store. all we have to drink in the house right now is spoiled milk and beer. oh, the glamorous life of college students. if you've been talking to me at all this summer you have probably heard me bitch about my pathologically messy roommates. i went home to kansas city this weekend and sunday night when i returned, found the kitchen was just disgusting because the trash had not been taken out, and thus was overflowing onto the floor. i was horrified, thinking my roommates had both lost their arms in some kind of brutal accident. alas, i found them lifting things like food, beer, and remote controls without any problems at all. so yeah, it is just that their personal maid was gone for the weekend. i will look on the bright side of this, however. these 10 weeks will serve as a lifelong lesson: never live with boys. i suppose if i want to get married i will have to violate this rule, but damn if that man will not be trained to do at least the bare minimum of household upkeep.