Old habits are hard to break

So are old typing methods. Plus, it doesn’t help that when at work due to the applications we use our hands are all over the place, including the function keys. We’re also very right sided; to the point where I have to wear a wrist bandage/guard thingy to prevent carpal tunnel. If I don’t wear it and we’re busy (which is most of time these days), I can feel it in my wrist, forearm, and sometimes to my neck. So I wear it.

The keyboards are old. The pull out on the side that holds the mouse seems like it was an after thought it, it’s slightly lower and awkward. However, we finally did get some new chairs that can be properly adjusted and they have arm rest as well. Now if only the desks, the computers and the keyboards would be upgraded then everything would be considered modern. Like the 5 years ago modern. The new building of the hospital has nice shiny things. Oooh, ahhh. So jealous. Sad the things that make you jealous as you get older.

My point I’m trying to babble on about, is that after working a long day at work in emergency registration, with some people telling me I’m not nice because I’m asking all those questions when they are dying; and yes, as long as you can talk we will be asking you all those questions. So no, you are not dying. My hands, my mind, and my soul are tired. I’m up and down and all over, it’s exhausting. Sometimes I don’t feel like sitting in front of a computer to practise typing. I can feel the stiffness in my fingers when I try. Yes I played the piano and the flute when I was younger, but the operative word being “younger”. I haven’t practised piano in years. Okay, we’re pushing a decade or two. Shhh.

The happy place on my U-curve needs to kick in, like now. Any day now would be great.

Dee

picture: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/bds/bds1212/bds121200977/16680692-tired-businesswoman-

New class. Here we go again

So here we go again, writing a journal/diary/blog for class again.

This time it’s for Medical Documents. Really. As to why we need to write a journal for Medical Documents is beyond me. Since I’m taking it online (yes, I’m doing yet another online course; let the good times begin) I assume it’s to see if we can put together a sentence properly, and I mean properly. When reading the assigned text book and going over all the grammar we supposedly learned in grade school, nouns, adverbs, and all the proper punctuations, it’s amazing how much we learned. It’s also amazing how much we have forgotten. I mean, I don’t remember learning about nonessential phrases, or parenthetical expression, but the paragraphs I’ve just written has them. Ha.

My first journal entry for this class was quite brief. My second entry existed, well in my mind it existed and it just failed to make it to paper is all. No excuse, but I can explain. I was working nights that week out of the blue and I remembered I had to do it, but when working nights is not part of your regular schedule you tend to get a bit absent minded and lose track of things, especially what day/time it is. Also my mother’s house, which is a semi-detached, was affected by lighting that had struck the neighbour’s house. The wall that is between them blew all her plugs and few others in different locations; along with the phones, TV and the cable. So I helped her in dealing with the insurance, cable, Bell Canada, and the hydro people. Luckily, we have a family friend who is an electrician and he went over right away to make sure things were safe.

I had mentioned in my first med-doc journal that I was going to look for my piano timer to help with my typing speed. While at my mother’s house, I looked for the timer; which is called a metronome by the way. My mother thinks my niece took it when she was learning piano. This means I’ll never see it again, sniff... sniff. Oh well, I still have to slow down and focus. My mind is constantly wondering while I type. I see the letters, think of my finger placement, might even say the letters softly, yet my mind sometimes wonders off. How I am suppose to write my best selling novel?  Those games don’t help me; good ole practice is my thing. Maybe I’ll use voice recognition when I write my novel(s). Yet, the way my mind wonders that might be scary to see down on paper, but it would be very interesting. Smile.

Ciao for now,

Dee

Friday Nights

Friday night.

I’ve had a long week and here I sit with a glass of wine, trying to figure out what to write for this week, sounds sophisticated doesn’t it? Except for the fact I woke up not too long ago from a nap because I’ve barely slept for the past few nights, worked, had classes and ran around all over the place today with my mum. So here I sit with a small glass of really nice wine in a glass that has the Roadrunner on it; not your average classy wine glass is it. Maybe I’ll start a trend.

I remember the days when Friday night meant coming home from work, chilling, taking a nap and hitting the road around 11pm to venture off to whatever club or pub was the happening. Spend a stupid amount of money, might repeat it on Saturday night and then back to work on Monday. Now, we pray that we make it to the end of the week without doing bodily harm to someone at work, pray we don’t have road rage driving home and hope the house is still somewhat clean. Because if you meet someone’s sock(s) at the front door and the twitch in your eye returns (and be very scared if it’s only one eye twitch) it’s safe to say you will probably lose it on the first person you see, including the cat. This is the highlight of your Friday nights now baby.

I was curious about what older adults these days do on a Friday night. Last year the girls and I would occasionally go down the street to a local bar/pub. For a while it was a happening place for 30-50 yr. olds, and then for some reason it died down. The place closed and I think it was sold to a new owner; haven’t had time to check it out the new place yet. Why did it die down? My guess is that we (being those 30-50 yr. olds) can’t afford to go out every weekend like we use to. We have bills to pay, mortgage, family responsibilities. Plus, we’re probably just too tired. The concept of date night is great, when you’re not tired, cranky, and actually feel like spending quality time with your other half and want to have a real adult conversation. We just don’t go out like we use to and it’s hard to for places that will cater to us for stay in business for long.

I Googled “things to do on a Friday for older adults” and got hits about insomnia, elder abuse. So I Googled again and got everything from taking a bubble bath, going to a museum, club (like I want to be in a sea of 20-year-olds) curling, dinner, movies, etc. There are things out there but it depends on whether you are by yourself or if you can drag someone along with you.

So with my roadrunner cup of wine, I sit and write. Later I will try to track down my teammates as we have a few projects to work on (remember my steps blog) and then pickup a medical textbook and read until I fall asleep. Welcome to the new Adult (sometimes student) Friday night. My Generation X peoples where are you?

Cheers,

D

Adult Acne

Adult Acne.

As if I didn’t have enough issues in my life, actually let me re-phrase that as, enough stress in my life. Now add to it adult acne. You remember that dreaded thing you had as a teenager, it was almost a rite of passage into your adult years. Everyone had it from the mild, like me to the extreme. But it was all part of puberty along with raging hormones, and that awkward first kiss.

So why do I have even more acne now than I did as teenager? Ask the almighty Google (honestly, what would we do without search engines, that’s a whole other topic) and go through the list of reasons and my new middle name “stress” pops up. Nice.

According to the various articles (thank you aging population) it’s very common and the majority of women between 30 - 50 are victims. Yes I said victims. Increased stress levels (I actually saw the words chronic stress) and hormonal changes are some of main causes that can cause an overproduction of the oils on our faces that clog our pores, which create blackheads.

So how do we get rid of them? In a nut shell they say a healthy lifestyle and limit the stress. Ha, and Ha again. Wait one more haaaaaaa. And no chocolate is not a direct cause, Hallelujah. I’m not a big chocolate freak but I do like the occasional sweet treat. We should use adult acne products, and or, see a dermatologist. Honestly the amount of money I’ve spent on products I should have just gone and seen a dermatologist. Lastly, proper cleansing techniques don’t over scrub.

Again, that freedom 55 or 65 is really looking good, seriously. I’m booking an appointment with the dermatologist.

http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/elizabeth-tanzi-md/adult-acne-common-frustrating-problem

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/my-adult-acne-wont-subside-what-can-i-do/article623477/

http://beauty.about.com/od/skinflaws/a/adultacne.htm

U-Curve

I’m a lot happier now than I’ve been in the month. I quit my condo board, just too much on my plate right now. A few weeks back it was like if anyone looked at me the wrong the way I’d want to snap their heads off; then sit alone somewhere, usually my car and sometimes cry. I don’t know why I find comfort in my car but I just do.

School is still frustrating. I’ve done this b4 (not the online) so not sure why I find it such a struggle right now.  I talk to other mature students about how frustrating online courses are and then they tell me they also tried and gave up. Are mature students simply programed differently? Most of us didn’t grow up with laptops or IPods attached to us with everything easily accessed at the tips of our fingers.

 

The other day I typed in Google “30s 40s and unhappy”. I found a study a few years back called the U Curve that said we are at our unhappiness, depressed at this age. According to Prof Oswald "The 30s and 40s are therefore painful times when reality sets in but when you get older you've learnt to accept yourself”. Yep, I feel it. That we are in a U curve and currently at the bottom of the curve right now.
I am not alone, thank God. Reading this surprisingly made me feel happier.  Yes misery does like company.
Here’s one of the articles: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576872/44-is-the-age-of-depression-say-researchers.html.

I used to laugh at those Freedom 55 commercials, it’s looking real good these days.

...steps

 To add to my step process: If you are put into an online team and find yourself constantly chasing them down to work on an assignment, make sure you copy the teacher. You may have to submit a project with half the team or on your own, at least the backup will be there to prove you’ve tried.

Steps

A few weeks back the online program was down for a whole week. Gotta love technology.

 Was thinking other day that there should be an easy (operative word being easy) rulebook or guidelines for this system, because whomever designed it clearly did not involve the end user, the adult end user that is. Especially one that is taking an online course for the very first time.

I tried looking for something but all I found was characteristics of the adult learner and or, teaching the adult learner. Yes we are a different group, we think and react completely different. When I first learned the Blackboard 1 system I was in the classroom with a teacher. Good. They took a bit a time, not as much as I would have liked, but still it was something to show us a few things. So for their next generation Blackboard 2 that was similar we had no guidance. No teacher actually showing me where to go and I was left on my own to figure it out. 

So what does the adult learner do:

Step 1. Freak out. Yes freak out, curse, and curse some more. Just get it all out for a day, or two, or even a week but let it all outttttttt. Trust me you will feel so much better.

Step 2. Email (that is once you figure out how to do it on the new system) your teacher asking a lot of course related questions. And if you happen to be put into a group for assignments, chances are that they are in the same boat. It’s the blind leading the blind. Plus you may end up to babying the young ones. I’m really am too old to chase some people’s children down to get them to do their part of an assignment. Your teachers will probably curse your name upon seeing yet another email from you, but meh, they are there to guide you, non?

Step 3. Now calm down. Chances are you’ve probably read too much into what is needed to be done. You see young people don’t have all those so called live experiences that were supposed to have, so I know when I look at problem/question I over think it. I’m like it can’t be that simple, right. But guess what, it can be. We Adults like things straightforward. So when you first look at Blackboard 2 with all your online course stuff coming at you from every direction and you think your mind is going to explode. You might even find yourself saying “what have I gotten myself into”, don’t you dare quit. Take a deep breath, pray you don’t strangle someone and relax a bit.

Maybe I’ll end up writing out more steps as I go along. However, I don’t have time to fully write and or read another thing. I’m not working today (notice the time of this post) but I’m behind with both with school and home life. I’m doing laundry right now (again notice the time) Ahh the joys of the adult learner.

So that’s where I am right now, steps to be hopefully continued.

dee