Mindless musings of a pianilinistherapist

I knew PT school was going to be hard, but I never imagined that it would be this hard. I feel like even though I study hours on end, it never seems like it's enough or that I'm making any progress. Just frustrated, and incredibly overwhelmed....

Yes, I'm finally going to start physical therapy school.  I got into USC (#1 in the nation), and start classes on August 27.  In order to cut down the commute time (it would have been 1 hour w/ traffic if I had stayed in the marina), I moved to downtown Los Angeles, not too far from the staples center.  Aside from that, not much is going on.  I finished all of my prerequisites for PT school (obviously), quit my job at the clinic, and have just been trying to settle in to my new place and relax before the school year starts back up again.  Exciting times.  I'm sure I'll be posting a lot more as a means of my procrastination....

what's been going on?

Wow...
I totally forgot that this existed until just now when I was clicking around out of sheer boredom.  So much to catch up on, but I need to finish my last assignment of the semester.  I'll be back, don't you worry.  Just wanted to say hi to those who still check :)

So this is an update on everything that's been going on....
I got the job that I wanted (aka. wilshire) The place is called Forster Physical Therapy. They've been responsible for providing therapy and training for athletes such as Anna Kournikova, Pete Samras, Jackie Joyner Kersee, etc. This place is really great, and they've pretty much just thrown me into the water and expected me to learn how to swim while I'm drowning. I'm working 7am-12pm Monday-Friday. The Monday/Wednesday/Friday shift seems to go through a lot smoother because the person who is training me is working that shift and pushes me to learn everything, but is very conscious of what I do and don't know and will teach me whatever I don't, or need some reinforcement on. The Tuesday/Thursday shift is a little rougher because there are only 2 aides (me and another girl Laurel) working between the Gym and the rooms with 2 therapists who are all juggling about 6-8 patients per hour. So that's where I've done a lot of the learning, but all through mistakes. There's SO much stuff to learn. I'm currently trying desperately to memorize how to do all these stretches and strengthening exercises. There are basically 6 areas that we treat: Cervical (neck), Lumbar, Shoulder, Knee, Ankle, Elbow/Wrist, and each area has 3 phases of stretches and strengthening. I basically have to sit down and learn everything about each stretch, which phase it's in, how to set it up, what equipment to use, how many seconds you hold it, how many times you repeat it and how many sets you do it for. My poor brain can't take it anymore!! Especially at 7am! But i've already learned half of the stretches, so I just need to work on them and get them down piece by piece. All this work will hopefully pay off, and that I'll be able to get a fantastic letter of recommendation for grad school this winter. So there you have it. Life is great. I couldn't be happier. It's scary to think that after all this hard work, I'm just this much closer to achieving what I think is my goal of going to physical therapy school. it's going to be an interesting year for sure. We'll see where I go from here.

So this is a followup from the last entry... less than 1 week has gone by... record time, but I have to get this off my chest, because it is just so... NUTS.

First off, I'm home in Kansas City for my spring break (got back Sunday).

So I had my interview with the last physical therapy place on Wednesday. We shall call this place... WILSHIRE. It went well, as I said. They followed up on Saturday and called me after I was done teaching (How considerate of them!! They remembered what time I said I was done!!). They basically said that they were still very interested in talking to me again (second interview... check), but because I was going out of town the next day for the week, and the guy was going out of town the day I get back to LA, they just wanted to let me know they were still interested and set a tentative date to meet again when the guy got back (does that even make any sense?)

I was all happy, because it's a good sign that they're willing to wait that long (2 weeks) to interview me again... right? So all is fine and dandy, and I am eagerly awaiting our next encounter.

BUT WAIT.....

So remember the OTHER physical therapy place I interviewed at about a month ago? (ok, so 2/28... a few weeks ago) We shall call this one OLYMPIC... The one who said that they couldn't hire me because I didn't have experience, but was like... "if we have another opening, you'll be the first to know..." Yeah, so today at 1:20pm, I got a voice message on my phone from THIS PLACE saying "Hi this is blah blah blah... I would like to invite you to join our staff at [olympic]... give me a call back and we can discuss times and pay and blah blah blah."

WHAT THE FUCK!?!!

So now you call me, after I just interviewed at the PT clinic of my dreams ([wilshire])who still hasn't rejected me, and offer me a freakin job?! Why didn't you just give it to me in the first place!? So basically, I procrastinated the ENTIRE day and put off calling Wilshire because I all of a sudden became extremely intimidated and scared. But I wanted to call and see if there was any possible way we could move up my second interview. I'm willing to go as far as fly back to LA 3 days early so I can have an interview before this guy leaves. I need to find out if they're even considering hiring me, or if they're just stringing me along, because I don't want to lose Olympic if they are. Then I'll have no jobs and I will be SUPER sad. But regardless, I think I'm going to call Olympic tomorrow and tell him that I'm on spring break and not in town, so I can't make a decision until next week.... then we'll see what happens.

But seriously guys, what gives?

I think God was mad at me (ok.... probably not mad, but just saying "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? LISTEN TO ME!) because I applied for the pepperdine position even though he kept giving me signs. He even went as far as to deem me "Not Qualified" for the pepperdine position when I accidentally applied for it (that's a WHOLE other story....) But yes, in case any of you pepperdine people are wondering, I applied for Student Orgs coordinator, they told me I am not qualified, and no, I'm not going to apply again. Because I think 3 signs is persuasive enough.... I don't want it to rain frogs or locusts any time soon...

So a lot of exciting things have been happening (aside from my stupid physics class, which I had a test in today... but I digress)
Over the past month or so, I've been actively looking for a job as a physical therapy assistant. So far, I've had 3 interviews, and a bunch of calls saying that they had already filled the position. One interview was almost a month ago, and I haven't heard back from them... so I'm assuming that's a no go. The second one, which was last week, called me back with a regret, but was like "we're looking for someone who has experience... and you don't have any. But I'm really impressed with your enthusiasm, and you'll be the first one I call and hire if there's an opening"

Thanks for nothing....

So this last place, I had an interview on Wednesday, and it went really well. I'm supposed to meet the owner of the place tomorrow and we'll see where that leads me. But I'm super excited I even got an interview, since this is a place that had originally said that they didn't have any openings. Then out of the blue, I get a phone call from their HR person asking if I was still looking for a job. So, they came back to me!! which makes me happy that they even considered me.

There's a position that's opened up at Pepperdine, which just so happens to be my old boss's job. My old boss, Chris, is going to teach english in China! How awesome is that!? Remember last year when I was considering doing that? So several people have approached me about applying, and I haven't done it yet. Honestly though, it'll take me about 10 minutes to fill out the application since most of it is done already from the previous positions I applied to last year. The reason why I'm having a problem deciding on applying is because I don't want to apply unless I'm 100% ready to commit to the job. And I don't know if I am, especially since I'm 3 classes away from finishing my prerequisites for physical therapy school.

So, as the saying goes, when it rains it pours.

My physics teacher is incompetent. For the most part, I give my teachers a great deal of respect. I can't do it for this guy. He's nice and all, but he doesn't have the slightest clue how to teach physics. it is PAINFUL. Someone will ask him a question over a homework assignment, and if he hadn't done it before, he would just bull shit his around in circles until we run out of class time. I don't think we have ever had a straight problem where we work from beginning to end without him screwing some step up or something. I want to gouge my eyes out every time I sit in class. luckily I haven't done it yet. Luckily for me, my friend Abe's room mate is a PhD candidate in physics at USC, who teaches general physics to undergrads at USC. I spent 3 hours working with him and he basically went through the entire chapter with me in order to prepare for my test today. He's so great.

A present:


Ahhhh.... asian moms... this scene has happened countless amounts of time in the Ying household (only in my mind though... if I said that outloud, I'd get smacked around like a ball in the game pong)
This is more of what happens:


I love my mom. But it's ironic how both my mom and the mom in the picture have curly hair, and the girl and I both have straight hair.... hmmmm....

So I have proved my gimpiness once again.... I've sprained my ankle and am now on crutches for the next week or so. Usually when this happens, I can walk it off and be back to normal in a couple of days. However, this time when I went down, I heard/felt a snap, and it hurt like a mofo. I was on my way to San Gabriel for a meeting and decided to go to the meeting and stop by the ER on the way back since I could technically still kind of walk on it. Spent 3 hours in the ER (Missed grey's anatomy too!!) and came back with crutches, an air brace and crutches.
I AM SO AWKWARD on crutches. I almost fell on my face trying to get to my car. They gave me a bag to carry all my stuff in, but it's so awkward walking with bags....
Today, I went to lunch with abe, afterwards, I went to savon to pick up an ace bandage, and he went to get me jamba juice (he owed me one). When he came back to savon to meet me, he gave me my jamba, but failed to realize that I needed both hands to get around, and he started to walk away. So I was stuck there momentarily with an ace bandage in one hand and a jamba in the other hopping around and screaming for him to get back. It was definitely an amusing sight to say the least...

absolutely amazing

So I have my first test in physics on thursday. I'm not ready, and frankly, I'm scared. This teacher is one of the worst teachers ever... not because he's a bad person, quite the opposite, he's a great person.

but he's dyslexic and confuses us so much during lecture that after each class I have to pick up the pieces of my brain which have escaped through my ears during class.

oh, and he thinks my name is Jess.
Scenario:
When I'm bored in class, I'll space off, but my brain will still absorb the information and when the professor asks questions, I'll kind of murmur whatever comes to my mouth first, whether it's right or not. So this particular day, no one was answering and I happened to say something under my breath and he saw me. That something I said just happened to be the wrong answer. So he starts advancing towards me...
Him: I'm sorry, what'd you say?
Me: (snapping back to reality) uhhhh..... [what I just said]
Him: Ok... let's think... why would it be that?
Me: [realizing the RIGHT answer] COULOMB'S LAW!
Him: [stopping] uh.... [completely confused]
Me: Sorry, I didn't answer your question, but the right answer is coulomb's law
Him: ok... and why would it be that [still advancing towards me.... and standing right over me]
Me: [panic-ing] uh... [shouting out basically everything I have ever learned in this class]
finally I say the right answer and he says:
Him: Good job! What was your name?
Me: Janice
Him: Good job Jess!! ..... and as Jess pointed out .... blah blah blah blah

whatever....

So now I have test over the first chapter (after 4 weeks of class) on thursday and I really need to study. But in honor of my prime procrastination skills, I'm doing this instead.
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My ipod was broken and I had to send it back to apple for it to get fixed. They sent me back an email yesterday saying:

Dear Janice,

Your service request has been completed and your replacement IPOD PHOTO is on its way. Please allow two business days for delivery.

Does this mean that I get a new ipod, or does it merely mean that they fixed my old one and sent it back? Either way, I am stoked to get it back and can't wait to put all of my songs back on it. And I just bought an ipod condom so it won't get scratched up any more than it already is.

So this week is turnng out to be quite the busy week for me. kind of... I have to do homework all day monday and I'm taking Jen to long beach for her cruise, I'm going out for drinks with my friend from my old stats class (remember crazy cat lady prof?) on tuesday before physics. Have an assignment due wednesday for psych, class all day thursday, and friday I'm going to ikea with my old chem lab partner and having lunch/coffee with the fabulous Tiffany Calhoun.

one of my favorite pianists, Martha Argrich is coming to LA and playing with the LA Phil with Charles Dutoit conducting. SUCH a genius combination. I can't wait to get tickets... I just want to find someone to go with so I don't look like some lonely geeky asian girl who is a struggling musician and has nothing better to do on a friday afternoon (because the other two concerts are already sold out)...

oh wait, I am... sin the geeky part (I hope...)

The superbowl was the biggest waste of 4 hours.... EVER (ok, with the exception of a handful of commercials). Halftime show sucked, that annoying dude from new orleans singing the national anthem sucked and sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. This is the last week of my physics class and I am SO STOKED. Friday, we're going to my favorite bar Howl and the Moon, and Bev and I are going to get TRASHED. Not much is happening really, but I'm ok with that.

This song is Janice's anthem for 2006. Enjoy.