One Month with H20

It started with not wanting to drive in the dark. In the snow.  Last week, the weather here at the coast was cold. And a little icy. I had a clinical shift and luckily, I carpool the majority of the way to Seaside. But I was anxious just thinking of driving to our meeting place. Anxiety usually brings on a stomach full of knots. They'll go away once I get to the hospital, I thought. Yeah not so much. I was calmly pouring an Ensure-like fluid into my patient's G-tube when I could feel my blood pressure start to drop. You know the feeling. Palms are clammy. Nausea sets in. You feel like you are going to pass out. Luckily the nurse I had that day was supremely understanding and ordered me to sit down immediately while she finished the tube feeding. The patient and the patient's friend were both "Are you okay? You don't look so good." Um wait a second. I should be caring after the patient not have the patient concerned for me. The nurse instructed me to drink some orange juice and go to lunch. Which I did. I crashed as soon as I got home and thought it had passed. Nope. The rest of the week I basically had some sort of stomach thing. The point of this is that I couldn't drink what I usually drink: Diet Dr. Pepper. I drink that every day. A lot of it. You know the 36 can cases at Costco? I go through one of those a week. But that sweet liquid made me gag when I tried it and so far, I haven't had any since Valentine's Day. That is a long time for me. So I figure what a perfect time to test out the water and soda debate. Will I have more energy drinking water? Does it really help your skin look better? If I was drinking diet soda before and now I am drinking water, will I lose weight? I have had less energy as of right now and get a headache off and on but I am going to give it a month. March 14 guys. I almost gave in today but I can make it a month. By March 14 I'll be about done with this term of school. It will fly by. I have noticed that in drinking more of H2O I spend a lot more time in the bathroom. I read somewhere that this usually passes as your body gets used to all the water. Hopefully this is true. Ahem. Now excuse me. I have to go. Again.

Listen

Like I am sure everyone else does, I go through music phases. Levels. Groups. Whatever its called. It starts with the discovery of a certain genre. For me, middle school. 97.1 KISN FM. The Oldie's station. My dad listened to it so I did too. I had a weird paranoia that if I turned to any other random radio station, I'd get an earful of something horrible. After two years or so of Sugar Pie Honey Bunch and Brown-Eyed Girl, my ear caught what my older sister was listening to. What is that? They sound so young. And happy. And clean. Yup. I had found my next genre- contemporary country. I couldn't get enough of Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and Le Ann Womack (that dance song throws me back to freshman year every time). I remember I'd catch a good one on the radio, grab a blank tape, and record it. Sometimes I got the whole song, sometimes I cut off the beginning. I hated it when I got the DJ talking. Then in ninth or tenth grade, I remember exactly when I found pop music. Or rather my sister found it and introduced us. The song? Yeah Britney Spears' first single. But I loved bubble gum and so it worked. Pop music, the oldies, and country music were my music staples all through grade school. At college, I had a roommate who loved Dashboard Confessional and I instantly fell for "Screaming Infidelities." Its still my favorite song. So emo or alternative or whatever its called became the music while at BYU. With the previous genres making an appearance every now and then.

What brought on this whole music thing? Yesterday my friend Katie sent me a list of her current song favorites. And it snowballed from there. Ever used Pandora? Dangerous for those who tend to get lost in iTunes and emerge an hour later with new tunes. And a large bill. But I love finding new songs. I can't sing well at all but I love running to them. The song I listened to for an entire run: Hedley "Hand Grenade." And when I couldn't get to sleep last night: The Crash Motive "Don't Shut Your Eyes."