Aqua Regia

Would have been the first day of Residency if I had gotten one. I was surprised how much it hurt to see some of my former classmates posting on Facebook about starting them yesterday.

I know I'll feel better once I've passed my tests (July 9th and July 16th!) and have a stable job. Hopefully at a hospital. I got an email back from one I applied to ages ago that said to contact them after I get my board results in late July, so...*crosses fingers* Let's hope that goes somewhere. It's not exactly close to home, but I would certainly be willing to move for the right job.

The other night I got a call from one of my old pharmacists from CVS. It was super nice to hear from her and we talked for a good half hour. But what she really wanted to tell me was that "If you ever had any doubts that not signing with CVS was the right decision, don't." She filled me in on all the horrible things that happened at our store and to her and the pharmacy manager since I left, and it was very upsetting to hear about such awful things happening to two people that I looked up to and respected a great deal. But I'm really glad she called because I was starting to doubt my decision recently.

I just have to trust that the right opportunity will present itself through my searching.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but I've been seriously pursing a Pharmacy Residency. For those who don't know (which is probably everyone seeing as how I didn't even know what it was until a year or so ago XD), a residency in pharmacy is an extra year of paid "study" with a special institution or hospital. So basically you trade half of a normal pharmacist's salary for the opportunity to build your clinical knowledge in order to trade that up for a non-retail pharmacy job later on.

For a long time, I wanted nothing to do with residency. I was (and still am to a degree) very burnt out. Six straight years (year around for the last three) for my doctorate has been grueling, and something that I don't know if I'd repeat if I had to go back to the beginning. The last thing I wanted was an extra year of being not-quite done. But the more I've moved through my Rotations, the more I've found that regular retail pharmacy (like CVS or Walgreens) is really not where I want to work and spend the next thirty five years of my life. I may brain myself on a rock if that's what happens.

Plus, I think that all the dramas of CVS threatening to fire me for not signing their one year post-grad commitment letter might have something to do with pushing me more toward inpatient pharmacy, yes?

So, to take my mind off the stress of interviews, I have been watching Rome, which is a really splendid series. The city that they created for these characters has to be the closest to the living, breathing Rome of the late Republic that has ever been put to screen. I just started season two this evening, and can't wait to see what twists and turns the series takes before it's done!

Also, Bloom, Flora, and Musa arrived today, so my Simba Winx collection is complete! Finally. I seriously don't think I can deal with ordering any more of them. Aside from having horrendously expensive shipping to import, they are just expensive to begin with. The grand total (including shipping) ended up being about $50 per doll. If they weren't so awesome, I probably would have just stayed away.

So yeah, I haven't posted anything here for quite awhile. That tends to happen on my breaks - I barely open my laptop. In fact, I barely even use the computer period.

This break has been strange. The first week and a half (roughly) was nerve wracking as I awaited my grade from the hardest class. We were supposed to know our grade by the Friday of the first week of break, but ended up not finding out until the following Tuesday. This led to some very vivid dreams. YES, I HAD MULTIPLE NIGHTS OF DREAMS ABOUT MY TEST. I swear my subconscious was trying to run through every scenario that could possibly happen (whether it involved passing the class or not). Thankfully, however, I passed the class and will be moving on to Second Year. I also had the best grades this semester of any so far in graduate school, which was kind of exciting. :D

So aside from work I've basically been a bum/hermit over this break. And work had an interesting shocker this week when we found out that Longs was bought out by CVS. I'm not sure what this means for my job however, and am a little anxious to find out. Otherwise, I find the work fairly interesting and enjoyable (except when people are real dicks because they want you to solve their insurance problems) and of course I love actually having some spending money again after a year of being broke.

Actually, I've been a little stir-crazy and ended up taking a trip to Barnes and Noble to buy books last Friday, which was lovely. Also, today I saw the new Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie. When I looked up reviews, I was surprised how much people hated it. Granted, it's not like it broke any new ground or anything, but it was fun nonetheless. The animation (while rather stylized, which I actually liked) seemed rather stiff for being associated with the company that owns Industrial Light and Magic. The character's movements and a bit of poor dialogue were the movie's only real problems to me, though. Especially when you remember that it's basically a pilot for the upcoming TV series.

So this break has been full of movies and books, basically. I'll give a mini-review of each.
Books read this break include:
1. Shadow of the Flame by Chris Pierson. I was glad to finally finish this Dragonlance trilogy, possibly the last I'll read for a very long time. I used to love the Dragonlance world, but lately it feels strange. However, this was an excellent trilogy that you could probably read without having read almost any other Dragonlance books.
2. The City of Ember by Jean DuPrau. I've had this book sitting around for awhile, but was compelled to read it once I found out the movie adaptation is coming out this Fall. Nice and very imaginative first novel, even if the writing could have possibly used a little more polish.
3. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer. It's no secret that I love the Artemis Fowl books - this is no exception. Fun, FUN book with witty writing and totally engaging characters. This series probably beats out Harry Potter even in my book. I really need to re-read this series from the very beginning too.
4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Yeah. So I finally broke down and read the damn book. And you know what? I secretly enjoyed it. It's nothing ground-breaking, but at least Meyer thinks outside the box a little when dealing with her vampires. I'll probably have to read the rest of the series now...>_<;
5. Fawn and the Mysterious Trickster. Another fairly standard Disney Fairies entry, which, while enjoyable, seemed like it didn't really add anything to the world.
5. The Host by Meyer and Esther: A Story of Courage by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole are also both in progress.

Things watched this break:
1. Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. I've loved this story ever since I saw the movie a couple of years ago, and this futuristic anime adaptation didn't disappoint. Very highly recommended.
2. My Fair Lady. I haven't watched this in years, but Mom wanted to see it (since she's reading the Jule Andrews biography and she starred in the stage version). It's still very enjoyable, and full of very interesting art direction (not to mention the lovely Audrey Hepburn and hilarious Rex Harrison).
3. Batman and Batman Returns. It preparation for seeing The Dark Knight (which I have yet to actually go see), I wanted to see the previous film incarnation of the Joker. This lead to wanting to see the other Burton Batman (which is much darker than I remembered).
4. Star Trek I-VI. I've had this box set of DVDs for probably 2 years now, and finally had the time to sit down and watch them all. I was surprised by the amount of continuity between the films, which showed up in little ways. The Original Crew films are always a pleasure to watch.
5. The Infinite World of H.G. Wells. A fun Hallmark mini-series where a fictionalized H.G. Wells (yes, the writer) experiences various scientific phenomenon with his scientist friends and gets inspired to write his stories. Much better than I'm making it sound.
6. Nim's Island. I generally enjoy "family" movies, and this didn't disappoint. Jodie Foster was especially wonderful as the adventure writer who happens to be afraid of leaving the house. :)
7. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. I LOVED this movie - it's heartwarming and imaginative and terribly sad and nostalgic all at the same time. All four of the main character had very touching storylines which I could relate to. The whole thing ended up coming out like a modern fairy tale. I really want to buy this movie.

So anyway, after that exhaustive list, I'll mention that I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow for five days. Yay for renting a house by the coast at Sea Ranch (no actual horses or cows). :D Hopefully I'll be able to finish Chapter 3 for my Jewel Riders fic while I'm there (I'll have the laptop but no internets!).