Final Weeks

So I've been away from LA for about 2 months. I've been meaning to write this final post before I forgot all of the details...

We'll see how we do. I basically want to highlight 5 things:

1. SFMC Beach Bonfire
2. Closing Retreat
3. Final Days at The Medal
4. Where I am now
5. Where I want to go from here

SFMC Beach Bonfire:

Michelle and Sergio planned a going away party for Holly and me. It was at Huntington Beach in Orange County. It was pot luck and we had a bonfire. A ton of the staff turned up with their families. I'd wager 70+ people came out for this. It was such a blast. I mean, a day at the beach is always fun, but we had so much good food, games and great company. It was great to see everybody outside of work.

The staff also presented me and Holly with some really awesome gifts, which include personalized embroidered hoodies, engraved iPods and a SFMC coffee mug (for Holly this was a cookbook). Everything had SFMC on it and I treasure them all because of who they were from and what they represent. It really caught me by surprise but it was really the icing on the cake of an amazing day that showed that we're all surrounded by love. SFMC 8th Floor Family.

VSC Closing Retreat:

The sweetest part about this is that we went to the Hollywood Bowl and watched "West Side Story" but the music was edited out ant the L.A. Phil played the music. It was awesome! You could see the entire bowl and the Hollywood sign off in the distance. Having the whole VSC crew there and a handful of the support people there made it a nice closing event.


The next day everyone said their good byes. While at the DePaul center we got one last "tree picture". It was done quickly as there were hundreds of ants in the tree. None of us recalled ants from the first tree picture, which was taken 2 weeks later in the year. Oh well. It turned out just fine.

Final Days at The Medal

Holly had to leave a little over a week before everyone else. Her departure marked the beginning of several sentimental farewells. Personally, it wasn't so much that she was leaving (I'd see her in a few weeks back in MN) but rather that it was our family was starting to part ways. The following weeks was marked by a good number of "lasts". Last Pho; Last Yogurtland; Last J & S; Last Stoop Time. It was also marked by a lot of cleaning and classic MM antics. We also worked down the last perishables with great creativity (turkey/mac & cheese spring rolls) and polished off the last of the alcohol.

Jonathan Sunday; Fischer Monday; Jess & myself Tuesday; Laura Wednesday and Adrienne headed back up the coast a few days later. That was that.

Where I am now

I flew in from LA and embarked on a 2 week journey of friends and family. I had my job interview in Duluth and got a call the next day. I then spent two weeks finding an apartment and enjoying my time not working. I crashed and Kenzie & Eric's place for a week as I awaited the move into my new place in Duluth. It's been 4 weeks tomorrow and I've settled in nicely. It's not especially homey at this point, but I'll get there. It's bizarre living alone. I think I will need a housemate(s) down the road.

Work at St. Mary's is going very well so far. My orientation period is rather long (roughly 4 months) because I will orient for a few weeks on all the units and then a few days on the floor. There are also education days peppered in there as well. I spend six weeks in Neuro/Trauma. It's great to be back there and catch up with all the people that I know. I'm already halfway done with my stint there.

It's been about 5 weeks in Duluth. I'm getting settled nicely into work and home. The weather is changing, which is refreshing albeit chilly. I'm getting my finances together now that I have student loan payments and other bills. Once that happens it will be time to get my own vehicle and give Rainbow Stu his buick back.

Where I want to go from here

I can see myself spending a few years at Essentia and then moving on. Where? Beats me. During those years, I'd like to really get a handle on my Spanish Skills. I'd like to do more traveling. I'd consider doing travel assignments for a while, especially if I dig the float pool gig. I'd also like to do more volunteering. I'd most likely combine the traveling and volunteering. Grad school is likely down the road. Ultimately, I just wanna see new places, meet new people and eat lots of things; jam with the people I know and love; and rest just enough to give me the energy to do it.


That's it. That's a year of post-grad volunteering. It's been real. It's been fun. I would do it all over again.

The Entire Month of June: Pride, Premiere, Party & Parents

So It's been a long while to say the least. As I previously mentioned, one of my goals was to live my last several weeks in LA to the fullest. I feel that I've done well and continue to do so. Here's what's happened in June:

Aquarium: We found a half-off deal for the Long Beach Aquarium around memorial day. It was something that we found on the lists of things to do while here that previous groups left. It was a fun Aquarium. Very busy with the deal, but once we got into the exhibits a bit the crowd dispersed. There was an a caged in area where they had lorikeets. There were signs that sign not to pet them because they may bite. Well, something outside made a loud bang (It sounded like a fire cracker) and all the lorikeets went crazy. They were swooping down in groups and flying back. We all ducked low and they were still way too close for comfort. One of them grazed Jonathan's shoulder. Thankfully, that was all. The rest of the trip was less stressful. Long Beach was super cool. It was the first time I had been there. Where we were, right at the Ocean reminded me of Duluth.

Holly's Trip to MN and my Long week at SFMC:

Holly's cousin was getting married so she went back to MN for a week. She had a couple of job interviews, which ultimately led to her getting the job in the Pediatric ICU! My week was a long 4 day stretch at SFMC. Tuesday and Thursday were skills fair days and I covered assignments for hours at a time. It was unexpected and tiring. Ultimately, I made it through the long week. Not that exciting to read about, but it was a crazy enough week that it is worth mentioning.

LA Pride:

LA Pride came and went. It was awesome. Jess, Adrienne, Meaghan and I went to the West Hollywood park for the festival on Saturday. Unlike Minneapolis, LA Pride Festival has an admission fee. It wasn't terrible and it was worth it. We saw lots of vendors, got lots of freebies, spun wheels and jammed to some music at the outdoor stage. They did have more variety of things to do than Minneapolis, but their layout just wasn't the most user friendly. Typical of LA, the weather was gorgeous. That night Adrienne, Jess and I went out in West Hollywood, which of course was PACKED. We started at the Abbey then moved to the East West Lounge, which was awesome and slightly less packed. It was a great night. It ended with Jack in the Box and use prepping the dining room for Jonathan's Birthday.

Premiere: It wouldn't be a time in Los Angeles without seeing some celebrities. Well, I already saw Josh Duhamel and Fergie on the plane at Christmas. Earlier this year we saw Corey Monteith and Mark Salling at a bar in Westwood. Unfortunately, it was lost on everybody because nobody watched Glee. We only knee because Jess heard other people at the bar talking about it. Anyways, I went to do some Celeb Sighting at the Green Lantern Premiere with Jess and her cousin. We got good spots on Hollywood Blvd and waited for them to arrive. We saw 0Ryan Reynolds and a bunch of other people I didn't know. I got Ryan Reynold's Autograph for the person standing behind me (I didn't particularly care and I didn't have paper of any sort....didn't think that one through). I got my picture with Max Adler, who is another Glee cast member. I took other pictures of people I was vaguely familiar with. It wasn't something that I would do all the time, but I had fun and I am so glad I did this very, very LA thing.

Jonathan's Birthday was pretty mellow, but it did involve a trip to yogurtland. That guy loves his yogurt....more than the rest of us and that's a lot! We had a big party right before Laura's birthday which was also a party/BBQ for all of our friends and co-workers to attend. We didn't have the epic turnout we'd expected, but we still got a good number showing up. Ruthi, Corina and Marylou came from St. Francis! It was awesome!

A week earlier than expected the parents rolled into town. We went to Griffith Observatory after showing them St. Francis the first day. The next day we rented a car and hit up Santa Monica Beach and got to experience LA traffic at its finest. I'm very impressed neither of them freaked out. We did a lot of driving around just so they could see a good sized chunk of LA. The following day I took them to Hollywood Blvd which included the Chinese Theatre. They got to see the Hollywood sign. I took them for a short driving tour through Skid Row, which was very mellow as it was a Sunday Afternoon. They got to experience some fine tastes of LA including J & S drive in (twice), YOGURTLAND! (twice), The Hat's world famous (and HUGE) pastami and Thai food. Yes. My father was willing to get adventurous. He appreciated it for what it was. I was very happy. On the morning of their last day I led them out of town. I had the rental car. Each of them was on their bikes. I took them on surface streets to the 5 to the 134 to the 101. Let me just say that traffic wasn't terrible, but I've never, ever been so on edge driving. Ever. It's hard enough leading someone in a car in traffic. It's another leading not one but two motorcycles with your parents! As I signaled them to break away and head up the 101, Ma hit her kill switch and had to pull over and regroup. It took us about 20 minutes to get in contact with her. Let's just say it was nervewracking to the the least. Everything turned out all right thankfully. Neither Holly nor I worked that day so we went and soaked up some sun at Will Rogers. It was a nice bit of relaxation after a busy weekend and a stressful morning.

America Party: We had a 4th of July party on the 2nd of July. Why not the 4th? The answer should be explained shortly. It was a fun party that involved a lot of jello shots. Some of which were in citrus wedges crafted by Alli and myself! Check them out!
The ones in the lime are indeed lime, but instead of using vodka, we used tequila and triple sec.

On the day of the fourth Meaghan and Becca from Boyle Heights House got together with our house for an all day trip to Huntington Beach. We took two cars. The first left at 4 am to secure a fire pit as the beach opens at 4:30. Apparently the beach got swarmed at 4:30. We shared a fire pit with an incredibly nice family. I was in the car that left at 9 with the majority of stuff including the table and cooler. Everybody was settled in around 11am. We spent the day lounging in the sun, reapplying sunscreen, playing games and playing in the ocean. The ocean was perhaps my favorite part of the day. When the sun went down we started the fire and made more bonfire food. The fireworks went off at 9. To the dismay of many, the finale was lost in the smoke created by the previous fireworks that was consolidated by the shifting winds (They could have just waited for about 5 minutes, but that didn't happen). It was an epic departure from the beach. It took us less than an hour to get there over 2 hours to get home. We had a good walk to our car and slow street traffic to the 405. The other car was just stuck in a lot for about one hour. Gross.

Our final retreat is this weekend. Holly leaves next Saturday and the rest of us shortly thereafter. Time is winding down fast. I'm going to stop blogging as I'm up to date AND I need to continue with my job search.

Silent Retreat; Brendan's Visit and The Beginning of the Ending

I was thinking lately about how I need to update this blog because of Brendan's visit. I realized that I didn't even post anything from the silent retreat! Clearly, I'm a bit behind. Fortunately, not a lot happened the silent retreat so I can get myself up to speed pretty quickly.

Miraculous Medal was busy preparing for their Spring Carnival. This is a full on carnival. There were rides, a midway, food vendors, a beer garden and live music all in our parking lot. It's pretty sweet-unless you're trying to get some sleep. Fortunately, the first night of the fair was Thursday night and none of us worked Friday as we were headed up to Los Altos Hills the next day for the retreat.

The ride up to Los Altos was uneventful. I drove most of the way with Jess and Alli. Everybody arrived in reasonable time, we ate dinner and gathered to talk about the impending silence. Everybody shut off their phones and we put them in a basket which was locked away for the weekend. I fell asleep at 7:30pm and woke up at 7:30am. It was glorious. We ate breakfast in silence and had only 3 30-minute sessions where Fr. David Pettingel spoke to us. He is a fantastic speaker that makes you feel alive and gets you thinking. It was nice. In between all of these sessions and regular meals I would basically do the same thing: walk around the beautiful campus for 20-30 minutes and then nap for 30-45 minutes. Repeat. I went to bed at 9:00pm and woke up at 8am. Glorious.

We debriefed about the silence. For me, it was fine. Neither amazing or terrible. I was just thankful to get caught up on some much needed rest. Jess, Alli, Meaghan and I drove back on the 101-S. We wanted to take the PCH, but there was a landslide that blocked our way creating an epic detour. Still, the 101-S was much better than taking the 5-S. Totally worth the extra 1.5 hours on the road.

The carnival's last night was Sunday and nearly all of us worked Monday. Alli and I took advantage of the beer garden and enjoyed some of the music. They shut down at 11pm and began tearing everything down. My room is on the front of the house overlooking the parking lot where everything was. While I am a hard sleeper, it was difficult to get to sleep. I think it was around 1 by the time I fell asleep. Fortunately, I slept a lot that weekend. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday. After work Wednesday, I picked up Brendan from LAX. We got back to the medal around midnight. Brendan is a friend and mine and Holly's. She and Brendan are both from Brainerd and have known each other since middle school. I met Brendan in college and lived together with 2 others last year at CSS.

The next day Brendan, Holly and I went to St. Francis as Holly was taking the Pediatric Advanced Life Support Class. We dropped her off and took the car to West LA. We went to La Brea Tar Pits and then to the Grove, neither of which I had been to yet. Her class was scheduled to end at 4. While at the grove she called saying she was done at about 12:30. We bustled over to Lynwood to pick her up. While there, we gave Brendan a tour of SFMC and the 8th floor. We met up with the housemates at Spitz in downtown for some Happy Hour. Later that night Brendan and I went to Chico's for additional drinks and so he could see what our neighborhood bar was all about.

We didn't do a great deal the next day since we knew Holly would be home early. We got Pho and Yogurtland that afternoon and showed Brendan more of where we live and work. That night we prepared ourselves for the Abbey in WeHo. Jonathan and Laura were kind enough to drive us there. It was a blast. Sally, from the Santa Barbara house, was there as well as Courtney Mitchell, a CSS OT grad doing travel OT in Santa Monica. It was a great night out with everyone.

The next day we went to Santa Monica to meet up with Courtney and roam about. Unfortunately, she was unable to meet up with us. We still roamed about. We walked the farmer's market, the promenade and went down to the beach. It was a beautiful day. We had planned to go to WeHo again, but the crowd was looking to stay in and it was too difficult logistically to go out, so we stayed in with the gang and had a great time, as we always do. We made homemade margaritas, which I now have a great recipe for, and ended the night with J & S (Cheap, mexican drive in food just down the street that is SO good and SO cheap).

Jess, Brendan, Holly and I went to Worldfest in Van Nuys on Sunday. We took public transit, which was in the spirit of Worldfest, but was more time consuming and most costly in the end. Thanks LA. Your public transit system is terrible in so many ways. Worldfest was all right. I was under the impression it was going to be music, green vendors, etc (peace, love and recycling). It was really focused on vegans and animal rights. A bit much for me in that regard, but was still a good time. We heard some life music and ate some really good food. I had an amazing Thai Red Curry.

We had yogurtland again that night (because you can never have too much yogurtland). Monday was Brendan's last day. We went to Homegirl Cafe, checked out the giftshop and stopped by Dockweiler beach before dropping him off at LAX. It is a great beach to watch the airplanes fly overhead, which Brendan loved as he is a plane fanatic. Once Brendan was gone it was back to work for me and Holly.

Yesterday we went to Redondo beach and soaked up the sun. It was beautiful there. The waves were pretty big and we got misted every now and again as we laid out on the sand in the sun, which felt amazing. That night we went to Bahn Mi Che Cali (A Vietnamese diner, which I will miss like crazy). The gang got pho, I got dac beit (Sandwiches). It is so delicious and hella cheap. Alli and I had beer on the stoop.

We're off to the Aquarium today (1/2 off!) Pictures to come. I have 81 more hours to meet my required 1700 to get my AmeriCorps grant. I'll be done with them at the end of next week. After that, everything is a buffer. I'll still go in, but I will be a bit more liberal with the days off. We're all starting to feel the service year's end close in. We're going to take the next two months and own Los Angeles like we did when we came!

Beach Bonfire: Take 2 & ¡Caballo de Mayo!

Following the great night out with the co-workers last Sunday, I had a long work week. I did four 12s in a row at SFMC. Friday I went to work with Adrienne. She and I left from St. Vincent's to the Thai consulate where I did manual blood pressures and she handed out referrals. Kat, who works at the consulate and is super cool gave us Thai take out, too! I went home after to get some errands done. I picked up Alli, Adrienne and Laura and we headed to Dockweiler beach. We met Jess, Jonathan and various friends and co-workers. Boyle Heights met us there later, too! We stayed until a few hours past sunset. We had a little fire, which was enough to warm us, make s'mores and give all of our clothes that awesome bonfire smell.





Saturday everybody but Jess and Jonathan went to Connor and Darby's (A couple of VSCs from last year) for a ¡Caballo de Mayo! Party. Caballo (Horse in Spanish) because it was the Kentucky Derby and de Mayo because it was just past Cinco de Mayo. Ann, another VSC from last year was also there and a handful of their friends. Ann was dressed like a Mexican Horse (She wore a piñata around!) It was a blast. Great food, drinks and entertainment. We stayed there for about 9 hours. Alli, Adrienne & I went to Chico's just down the street when we got home for some dancing.




I worked yesterday; it was an all right day. I covered a float LVN-she works on the 7th floor, but they had enough nurses and we needed more so she floated to our floor. She was awesome, but the report we got from night shift was one of the worst I had ever received in my life. The night nurse was registry, so I didn't recognize her. One of our patients, he was motorcycle versus tow-truck, was so thankful for the care he got in the first 3 hours. He said it made up for the terrible nights he's experienced thus far. Honestly, neither Lupe, the LVN, nor I did that much, so it was a bit distressing. Either way, he was in good spirits and doing well, which is what it's all about. He was a cool guy. He also gave me my first high five from a patient at SFMC. Excellent.

Dinner out with SFMC crew

So last night Holly and I met up with a bunch of the crew from SFMC at a restaurant to hang out. It was a blast. The food was excellent but the company far exceeding it's goodness. Most of the Ates were there and Kuya Alfred. I may not have learned any Tagalog, but I can recognize it when I hear it. I love it. We ordered a few pizzas and pasta dishes and shared across the great table. It was fabulous. I really enjoy spending time with these people because they are really great and it really demonstrates the family aspect of SFMC-especially the 8th floor.

Not a whole lot besides that went on this weekend. Laura and Jess came back from there adventures in Ohio and the Grand Canyon respectively. Alli has a friend in town-we all played games Friday night. I did a lot of cleaning and resting. It was nice. This week is another long one. Four 12s in a row at SFMC and the Thai Consulate on Friday. Caballo De Mayo this weekend at Connor and Darby's (A Cinco De Mayo and Kentucky Derby celebration). Next week we have the Silent Retreat in Los Altos Hills.

Also, we now have a Foosball table we found for cheap on Craigslist and bought as a community. neat!

Easter Weekend-Rapid Post

As previously mentioned, I've been picking up lots of hours at SFMC and even some elsewhere. Two weekends ago we went up to...not sure where at this time....to some Lake and watched Jess and Meaghan do their mud run. Basically, it was a 5K with obstacles! Including a mud pit you had to army crawl through! I will need to post pictures. I want to do one someday. In fact, that may be the first MM reunion event.

A busy work week followed. I had Wednesday off, which was the first weekday off I've had in a while-and those are days I really get things done. Last Saturday I volunteered with the SFMC mobile health unit doing screenings at a big Easter event in a park in Paramount, which took about 20 minutes to get to from The Medal. Afterwards, Adrienne, Jonathan, Alli and I drove to Santa Barbara. We spent the night with Sally.

We cooked, ate and played games pretty much all day Easter Sunday. Holly, her mom and sister came up and joined us for the eating and some games before they ventured off into the many beautiful sights of Santa Barbara. We got home around 10pm-exhausted.

I worked today and spent some time going over stuff for my ACLS class tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm excited. Once that's over it is time to apply for jobs. No foolin' around.

Visitors and Logging lots of hours!

The Monday after RE Congress my good friend from school, who moved to Chicago a few years ago, Matt Keane, visited for a few days. We went to Runyon Canyon, Santa Monica and wandered the Silverlake neighborhood semi-successfully. The weather was very hot/sunny one minute and rainy/cloudy the next. Very un-LA. Overall a great visit. At the same time, Laura's Boyfriend, Ted, and Jess' mom were visiting. A full house it was. Great times were had.

The first weekend in April was busy and wonderful. The weather was in the 80s for the most part. Friday I went to Venice beach with Jess and Meag. I lounged in the sun on the sand for a while, walked up and down the many ecclectic shops and finally got some food truck food as it was Venice's first friday. A lot of art vendors and performers come out on the 1st Friday of each month and there are hella food trucks.

We didn't stay out very late because we got up at around 4 am the next day for Cardinal Manning's (Laura's Service Site) Hike for the Homeless. It was the first time the event happen. Laura helped plan this very successful event. All of us volunteered at the event. I helped direct people to different paths, helped set up and took down signs and things of that sort. It was a great time and the hike itself was great. That night Laura's Mom and Aunt came into town. That girl has been VERY busy with work, the Hike and Visitors.

On Sunday the 3rd we went to Thai town for the Thai New Year festival. It was many blocks of food vendors, artists, performers, and more. There was Muay Thai fighting and some really awesome dance groups. We got Thai food and walked up and down the streets in the hot sun. We hoped on the redline back and I recovered from the busy, busy weekend.

I worked a busy week the next week. Mon-Thurs, all 12's. Friday I went with Adrienne to the Thai consulate and did blood pressure screenings. I do like community outreach even if the events are small. It can still have so much meaning. There were a lot of nurses who weren't going to be at SFMC so I went into work Saturday in case they were short-staffed. One of the med/surg floors closed earlier that week due to low census so we had enough staff with their nurses on our floor. I stayed for 8 to make it worthwhile. Apparently, the heat wasn't working on our floor (and the AC was on??) Either way, it was really cold the whole day.

I got a lot of errands run on Sunday-not enough though. I did spend some time finishing up my resume in the back yard and soaked up some sun. That was really great.

This week Holly and I are taking an EKG interpretation course at SFMC. It is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It's been good. I'm familiar with EKG, but this is really taking time and breaking it all down, so I feel really good about my knowledge and look forward to being able to use it. In two weeks we're going to take the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) class. This will make us much more appealing when we apply for jobs, which I am starting to work on.

That's what's up.

On the Horizon: Cherry Blossom Festival a couple miles down the road Saturday in Monteray Park. Jess is doing a 5K mud run on Sunday. We're going to cheer her on. I'm working M, T, Th and F next week. I am getting crazy hours in April, which is fine (I make my own schedule for the most part). By the end of the month I will only have about one more month's worth of hours to get done before mid July, which means I can take off days when Brendan, The Parents and Kenzie come out! Yeah!!