The Beginning of Fall Break
I'm feeling pretty good about life right now. I'm relaxing at home, nice and clean after a bath not too long ago. My fingers are still a little sore on my left hand, but its the good soreness that comes from having spent some quality time with a guitar in your lap playing songs. I dug out this book of Hank Williams tunes and went through a lot of my favorites. I also tried one of my originals that I had written January of last year. I think its the last song that I've written both music and lyrics to and the last Christian song I've written. I play it a lot though, whenever I get around to digging out the guitar its usually the first or the second song I play. I had written it on my twelve string uncapoed, so it had a different sound to it, but I like the variation I just played on my regularly tuned six string. This means it'll be a much easier song to pitch for worship team ... just a thought. That same wild dream of mine that ended unfulfilled over four years ago and brought a slow death to the musical side of me for a time. Maybe this time will be different. I had forgotten how much I liked to play, how much it helped me. I need to make a point of getting the guitar out more, the pen too. I've been writing ideas down like crazy. Its time to turn some of those ideas into lyrics and turn some of the lyrics that have been gathering dust into songs.
This is an interesting start to a journal entry of mine. I'd usually recite events and feelings from the past couple of days, weeks, or months. But my little concert got me in a different mood. I'm going to try and make this fast for several reasons. This different mood might just be good fodder for songwriting and I've got work early in the morning. I think part of it is I'm just happy to be home. It was a relief to be done with all those tests, now that I'm back home, I think it added a whole other level of relaxation.
The weekend was pretty lazy for me, I just relaxed and did as little as possible. Saturday night I started coming down with a cold. I treated it pretty aggressively with a lot of vitamins and hot baths. The nice thing about a fixed utility bill is that its the same price no matter how much or little water I use. Other than sleep, a hot bath that'll steam my lungs, preferably on the border of tolerance as far as temperature goes has always worked the best for easing a cold. I just went through the motions in class, like pretty much everybody else. A major noteworthy event came yesterday though. As part of my geriatrics elective we go to an assisted living facility to work with a patient. I may have mentioned my first visit about a month ago, this time we were going as a part of a whole team including the occupational and physical therapy students. Because ours is an elective, there's a shortage of pharmacy students to go around among the teams. When they asked for volunteers to take on another patient, I stepped up immediately. That was three weeks ago, yesterday was my first look at the person's profile. In spite of that handicap, I think I was able to ask some meaningful questions and find a few details that leapt out in my mind. It was also nice to go along with the OT and PT people and see what they do. Truth be told I've always thrived in this kind of environment. Practical application of things is where I really shine. Not to discount my academic skills, but I think I've repeatedly mentioned that sitting in a class listening to lectures is not the most effective method of learning for me and that I do better in getting my hands dirty actually applying what I've learned. One need only look at my grades in the School of Mines days to see the truth. Most often, my ChemE course grades were Bs, not bad, but not up to my capabilities. In contrast, for the most part, my laboratory grades were solid As. Doing it, rather than learning it, is what I live for. I do think all the information I've gathered in the courses is taking the metamorphasis that I noticed this last summer to a new level. I had mentioned that I was more confident in what I did and had a better understanding of everything. What I did yesterday actually felt like I was a practicing pharmacist, my first step into the new world that will be my career for a really long time. It felt good, I think I walked away from the facility with a little bit more of a spring in my step.
Well, I suppose I better hit the sack. Its an early start tomorrow, but maybe it'll be a chance to continue what got started yesterday. Its good to feel hopeful about the future, for a long time my opinion has been ambivalent at best. I like this and I hope it lasts for at least a little while.