One Week Out of School

Since being out of school, I haven't had much to blog about, but don't want to totally ignore this awesome little blog. There's not much to report on the massage front, other than that the school has sent off my transcripts to the national certification board to go with my application.
As far as regular life, I enjoyed the weekend away on the Eastern Shore also, despite the rain, wind, and cloudiness on Saturday. I was even somewhat excited to get back to the J-O-B on Monday.
Prior to starting school, my routine after work consisted of maybe making dinner and then sitting in front of the TV for far too long and then going to bed. I used to think that I didn't have time to "do" anything during the week. The last year has taught be otherwise.
After my first week of being out of school, I have not fallen back into that routine, thank goodness, but have tried to do things around the house, take walks, make dinner, and then sit on the couch in front of the TV. I have certainly not been watching nearly as much TV as I used to before starting school.
I still have a lot of catching up to do with all that I missed in my house, but this is Easter weekend and I am not going to push myself too hard with that. Besides, I know I have time during the week and that makes a world of difference!

Adventure in the Smith Graduation Land

Since graduation was Friday, I had taken a couple hours off from the J-O-B to make sure that I get to the ceremony on time. Meanwhile, WGH left work at his usual time, which coincidently was the same time I left early. However, he had bad traffic in the 50 miles it takes for him to get home from his J-O-B and he got home about 10 minutes after I felt we needed to leave. At least he had prepared me for it and I had gotten everything ready for him to go away for the weekend to celebrate my new found freedom.
We got to the ceremony without incident and got to see the classmates dressed up, the teachers and staff dressed up, and I wore sneakers. The speeches were poignant and appropriate for the occasion. The announced special honors for honor roll students, including yours truly and a nice representation of my class.
When we got to the "walking across the stage" part, guess who got to be FIRST across the stage? Especially with a last name that begins with an "A" as in Allgood-Smith!

It's happened to me before, too. I was the first to walk across the stage when I graduated from Salisbury State University a "few" years ago.
After the ceremony, we retired to the multi-purpose room at the Chesapeake Arts Center for some refreshments. I abstained from them in hopes of a real meal once we departed. I visited a little with staff and classmates and then decided I'd had enough and wanted to get on the road.
WGH and I headed down the road, had a bite at Wendy's, and got across the Big Maryland Bridge.
While stopping at the Wawa in Easton, apparently there was some sort of formal high school/college group in white shirts and black skirts coming back from a competition as we saw a good number of them. I'm guessing they were a choral group.
Unexplained, however, was the middle-aged brotha man in a Tigger costume bouncing over by the cawfie machines.
We finally arrived at the luxurious Microtel in the 'Bury to commence the weekend o'celebration. Somebody must have known we were coming because they scheduled a rock band in the restaurant/bar about a football field away and they are serenading us with such classics as "Proud Mary" and "Blister in the Sun."

Tomorrow we plan to enjoy some of Ocean City's finest venues such as Dumser's Dairyland and Thrashers Fries. We'll head back to the 'Bury to enjoy the "Pork in the Park Festival" where anybody who's anybody on Maryland's Eastern Shore will be there. And we're somebody. Tomorrow night, we'll catch up with DJ Wookie at Dead Freddie's back in Ocean City for some heart-pounding, foot-thumping fun.
Well, I gotta bring this post to a close, as the band is playing "Purple Rain."
Peace Out.

Day 198 - It Is Finished

I would love to post the video from this evening's bell ringing, but I want to edit it down for highlights. But I am getting ahead of myself here.
After studying during my breaks from the J-O-B today and having WGH help me study on the way to school, I felt pretty confident going into my final final exam.
I have to admit, though, because of all the activity after the exam, I didn't really get to check what my grade was on the exam. But I am confident that I did well.
I added up all of my other points from class and figured that even if I got 16 points off my final, I would still get an "A" in the class. Since I was so confident in my answers on the exam, there was no way I was getting 16 points off.
With all that being said, that means that I have finished my massage school program with a 4.0 GPA.
Whoa!
After all of the exams were graded, we finally got to ring the bell! Prior to actually ringing the bell, we got a chance to say a few words. Some talked of how much they have grown to love each of our classmates, how much fun we have had, and how close we have gotten. Others shared a few "inside jokes" or phrases that only our class would understand and we all enjoyed that.
I took a Dale Carnegie course a few years ago in Human Relations and Public Speaking, so I would have felt remiss if I had just said something short, so I had a State of the Stacy speech. LOL!
In the end, we all rang the bell and there were tears and hugs.
As for me, I'm just glad it's done.
You may be asking yourself, "what about your blog?"
Well, that's a good question. This blog may evolve into something different and/or educational in the future, but for now, I still have some technicalities (like national exams, applications, and state exams) to go before I'm licensed to practice massage. I plan on sharing these adventures through my blog.
Tomorrow night is the graduation ceremony in which the graduates from October until now will walk across the stage and share the accomplishment. WGH and I will be in attendance and I get to walk across the stage. After the ceremony and all the formalities, we are going to drive down to the Eastern Shore for the weekend and enjoy Pork in the Park on Saturday and I'll get a chance to visit with some friends and family on the shore.
Stay tuned for further adventures!

Day 197 - Sitting On My Hands (Tomorrow - OMG!)

This evening we had the first of our last two final exams - in Sports Massage. First, of course, we had the written final (97/100) and then we took the hands-on portion (98/100).
When I finished the written portion, I knew I had about an hour before I had to be back for the hands-on portion. I took advantage of the time to go fill up the gas tank on the car and got a chance to see one of my buddies at the gas station. In the year I've been going to the school, I have become friendly with a couple of the guys at the station - mostly because one of the guys started teasing me that they don't give out change. I guess I have that "mess with me" face.
Anyway, when I broke the news to my buddy that tonight was my last night of coming by, he took my hands in his across the counter and told me he'd miss me. So sweet. And I'll miss him, too.
I'm sure I'll miss a lot of things about the school, but the drive there - not so much.
On another note, while I was at the J-O-B today, my co-worker noticed how antsy and sassy I was. Wait until tomorrow! I'll definitely be bouncing off the walls!

Day 196 - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil???

(One Day Left - Well, Two...Something Like That)

Since TPTB got our curriculum fouled up last year, we (the graduating students) got separated out from the newbies and we got to learn about the "special senses" such as Eye, Ear, and Nose.
The eye information seemed very familiar to me, so it seemed like a review, but when we got to the ear, I was quite fascinated by how it all works. One of my friends lost her hearing in her adult life and has since had a cochlear implant activated. Now, I can understand what the cochlear implant does, in a rudimentary way, anyway.
It simulates the cochlear part of the inner ear to send the signal to the brain to interpret sound.
Amazing! Rudimentary, but amazing nonetheless!
The inner ear is also the responsible party for maintaining balance and equilibrium. It would make sense, then, that if somebody becomes deaf because of damage to their inner ear, their balance may be thrown off, too.
We also learned a little about the nose and the olfactory sense (sense of smell). The olfactory nerves are found on the ceiling of the nasal cavity and rather than having surrounding tissue, they are out in the open, so to speak.
That made me realize why I felt like my brain was burning when I tried to use the neti-pot with a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide instead of saline solution. All those nerves got the brunt of the hydrogen peroxide.
Poor babies.
At the end of the lecture, we ended up taking a quiz (10/10) on the information we had just studied. I like that way. Learn it and take the quiz.
As for the next two days, well, what more can be said? Two finals, ring the bell, walk across the stage, and I'm outta there!

Day 195 - Gettin' My Sports On (2 Days Left, According to Google Countdown)

Over the weekend, I had the priviledge to be invited to give chair massages (back, neck, shoulders) at a fundraising event for short-term missionaries going to Honduras this summer. Which means that I actually bought a massage chair that I found on craigslist! WGH and I went on Saturday to pick it up in Alexandria, VA, which is basically a whole other world.
A world where people don't really believe in turn signals.

Even better is that my lovely seester gave me the ducketts as a graduation gift to get it!
Which this also means that once I'm licensed, I will basically have all I need to do "mobile massages" as well as having some clients come to my house or me go to theirs for regular massages.
It's exciting to see this starting to come together!
Back to class from tonight. We studied more about sports massage, got a demo, and practiced. There isn't much else to say except that half of my class, including me, the ones who are graduating this week, seem somewhat disinterested. We're doing what we have to do to get through this week and looking forward to not having to go to school this time next week.
Here's to three more classes left.

Day 194 - Much Ado About Nothing (6 Days Left)

Because of the school's change in curriculum about six months ago, aside from a quiz (9/10), tonight's class was a waste of time for me and makes me wonder why I trudged out of the house to drive 41 miles only to have to drive back.
TPTB decided to change up the curriculum half-way through our program, add newbies to our class and then not give us all the information we need AND repeat information we've already had. We noticed this the first night we got our syllabus for this class. Several students have been working to get everything straightened out with administration and get us the information we need - the stuff that wasn't on the syllabus and hadn't been covered any other time during our program.
Tonight we were supposed to have the quiz, then my original class was to separate out and go get a lecture and information on the other stuff. However, the instructor scheduled to teach us ended up getting sick and after we took the quiz, we sat in the student break room for a good hour and a half and talked or whatever. After that, we rejoined the class and "listened" to the lecture on the cardiovascular system - which we had at least six months ago. I ended up organizing some of my papers in my notebook and touching up the color on my name badge.
As I've said, other than the quiz (which I could have made up on Monday or Tuesday) and chatting with my classmates and teachers, tonight's class was a total waste.

Day 193 - Workin' Out (7 Days Left)

With taking the sports massage class, it reminds me that I will need to start working out soon - after I'm done with classes, I need to start taking off the extra weight I've put on in the last year (or so). I think that when I do start working out, some sports massage knowledge will come in very handy.
In tonight's class, we concentrated on post-event massage, which is done to relax the athlete as well as help in recovering quickly. It includes a nice mixture of strokes and stretching.
During the stretching portion, I was a little concerned with the decision to have black-eyed peas for dinner and any - uh - reactions I may have. But everything was All Good.
As for the deliberations about sports massage and whether or not I liked it, I think I do, but it's not one of my favorite modalities. Maybe once I get more practice at it.
In the few minutes in between the J-O-B and having to leave for class this evening, I was able to find a portable massage chair, brand new, and at really good price on craigslist. I have plans to pick it up on Saturday and am very excited about my find.
The other thing I also figured out is that between the first day of school last year (4/19) and the last day of school this year (4/14), I will have travelled over 17,000 miles.
Since once I'm done I'll be saving money on gas, I plan on putting that money toward my student loan, since I'm used to it going out the window anyway. It won't be like I'll miss it.
It seems like things are workin' out like they're supposed to.

Day 192 - Mechanical (8 Days Left)

A couple weekends ago, it was time to change the toilet seat. Exciting, right?
Upon attempting to remove the nut from the bottom of the seat, I found it was extremely tight - I couldn't even budge it with just my fingers. I had to go to my handy-dandy tool box and get my pliers, which ended up working just fine.
In tonight's anatomy class, we studied the reason why the pliers worked when just my fingers didn't: it all had to do with the lever system. We studied the differences between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class levers and how they relate to every day life and also to the body, specifically muscles and bones. We even did a little math, learning the formula for figuring out force needed to be effective in each lever class.
I actually enjoyed it, once I started understanding what we were talking about. I sometimes wonder if I'm mechanically inclined. But then I think about all the grease on the car and how dirty I would get and decide that, no, I'm not mechanically inclined.

Addendum

I would like to add an addendum to last night's post.
When I started sports massage class, the instructor was showing us how to get up on the table and stretch the client/receiver and most of the classmates practiced it. I was totally not comfortable even trying that - getting up on the table to stretch the client. I was even saying that it's one of my boundaries that I didn't want to cross.
Last night, however, I figured, what the heck - I got up there, stretched my clients, and got back down again. I did it a couple times, but the first time was rather freaky.
I think I had a breakthrough!

Day 191 - Energizing (9 Days Left - Yes, I Can Count The Days Left on Two Hands!)

After a weekend, it's pretty difficult to get back into the swing of thing and back to the regular grind on Monday. Today was no exception. After a nice weekend of visiting with friends, going to church, and doing my weekend thing, today was pretty tough. I know my head nodded a couple times at the J-O-B.
On the way to school on I-70 close to I-695, three dudes on the racing motorcycles, commonly known as crotch rockets, flew by me going about 100 MPH and then weaving in and out of traffic to get ahead. Once I got onto the beltway (aka the 695hundred), a mile or so down the road, traffic seemed to stop and there was obviously an accident that had just happened and they were in the process of calling emergency personnel and such. One of the dudes on one of the racing bikes was off his bike and walking over toward the scene of the accident. I saw his buddies about a half mile down the road.
From the looks of it, I think the bikes were somehow part of the cause of the accident, even if they weren't directly involved.
Why do people feel the need to act like idiots and put themselves and others in danger like that in high volume traffic? Ugh!
After I got to school and we began the lecture, along with the class with which we had been combined (I'll save my sarcastic comments), I forgot about that incident and then focused on the task at hand: sports massage. We learned more techniques for stretching and strokes that are more specific to sports.
Pre-event sports massage is meant to be invigorating and stimulating to the recipient to prepare them for their sporting event. However, if you're taking a massage program in night school, it's somewhat annoying to be invigorated at 9:00 pm - a time when most people are starting to really wind down and prepare for going to bed.
Usually when I get home from class, I have to wind down anyway, but after the sports class, I really have to work on winding down. At least I didn't have to worry too much about falling asleep on the drive home.