CSCS Exam

Well, I passed! I am officially a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. I'm almost too tired to write this because I probably slept about 4 whole hours last night and have been worrying about it for months now. My brain is so tired! I'm off to take a nap and relax for the rest of the weekend. NO MORE STUDYING. Although, it did pay off! I am a CSCS!

The big day

The next time I post here, I will be able to tell you whether or not I am a CSCS. The test is Saturday at 9am. I am trying very hard not to freak myself out about it, but I will more than likely be studying up until then. I can honestly say that, even if I don't pass it, I did my absolute best to study for this exam.

Just keep smiling

I have to say that so far this week hasn't been that bad. I've been trying to have a more positive attitude about it. Of course some things have gone wrong:

• I found the perfect way to get to class that avoids a lot of stop lights and traffic. However, it's only open to go East right now due to construction, so I have to take Dorr street to get home, which includes more stop lights and continued construction.
• The very first packet of information I received on Day 1 of class was a brochure for the police department. Not a good sign.
• I found out that we are supposedly going to be required to dress up for all guest speakers in class. We have guest speakers every day. Sigh.
• I was standing in the hallway with a group of friends when one of our instructors (who we don't even have this semester) came up and scolded us for what we wrote on our parking ticket appeals two months ago. Apparently "we were told..." was not to be written.
• We were required to go early yesterday to have lunch with the first and second year students. This consisted of me sitting on a bench with other people in my class and talking to one second year student the entire time. I still don't know who any of the first year students are.

Despite all of this, I am still trying to keep a good attitude. Getting all upset isn't going to solve any of it, so I might as well just smile and let it go. There are a lot more important things in life than worrying about these things for just six more weeks.

My big exam is this Saturday. I have been stressing out so much about it. The people in my class who have already taken it keep reassuring me that it's no big deal, but I can't help but worry. Every time I look at the book, I find something that I didn't remember from before. We have a 6 hour break tomorrow between classes and I am going to spend it studying with another person in my class who has yet to take the exam. I also have all day Friday to study for it. I keep reminding myself that I have more time, but that time is dwindling down! I think that if I do pass it, all of Toledo will hear me cheering.

Stressing

Tomorrow is my last "first day of class" ever. While it's only for 7 weeks, I just know that it's going to be the most stressful semester yet. I'm not exactly looking forward to it, but I know I can get through it. I just have to keep a positive attitude, as difficult as that may be at times.

I took the 2nd CSCS practice test today. I really improved in the content that I didn't do so well on the first time, but I also really declined in the areas I haven't reviewed since the 1st practice test (the ones I did well on the first time). Needless to say, I'm stressing. The test is Saturday. Looks like I have a lot of studying to get done before then. I don't know if I just wasn't focused today while I was taking it or if I was just tired or if I really don't know the information that well. Whichever it was, I need to get it figured out in the next 5 days.

However, the rest of the night, I am just going to sit back and relax and take it easy. I feel like maybe I over-did it a little bit this break and that's why I'm so stressed. A little relaxation and a good night's sleep might do me some good.

Where did the break go and did it ever even occur?

Would it be horrible if i just took this whole day off from studying and schoolwork in general. I've had one heck of a week. After my last post, I went out to check the air pressure in my car tires to make sure they were good to go and one of them was only at 20 psi (in case you didn't know, they are supposed to be at 44). So I take a closer look at it and there's a nail in the tire. It had to have been there the whole day I was driving around. Nice....Luckily, I have some very helpful cousins who fixed it for me and got it all patched up. It could have been worse, but it was just the start of one of those weeks.

Now that it's the end of the week, I just want to sit back and relax and take it easy just for one day. I want to go sit outside and read a book, play nintendo wii, and take a long nap. But....I know I probably won't do any of these things, because I will just feel guilty for not accomplishing more.

This is what I accomplished yesterday:

• reviewed two more chapters of the CSCS book (I'm on the 3rd time through)
• started the "pre-course assignment" and got it halfway done
• added one article to my scholarly project paper and did some revisions to sections that needed it, making the paper 20 pages long (double spaced), but it was only 7 pages long at the beginning of break, so I have accomplished something right?
• organized my stuff for next week so that I don't have to worry about it later
• reviewed my current stack of CSCS notecards
• reviewed a couple of old anatomy notecards (I'm reviewing 2-3/day from now until Boards)

That is enough accomplishments, am I right? I should not worry about accomplishing any more today. I need a break! If I do not do any school-related activities today, it will be the first day of this 5-week break that I actually take a break. Seriously. I have a feeling, I might take a peek at my CSCS book today, but the rest of this stuff...I am really feeling like putting it aside for one day. My mind could really use a day off.

Gotta Get Through This

After running errands all morning, I basically have no motivation to be productive this afternoon. Ok, so my errands only took 2 hours and consisted of:

• going to the bank to deposit my student loan check
• going to get my car serviced to prepare it for the 10,000 - 20,000 miles that will be put on it by May
• going to Walmart to stock up on everything so that I don't have to go as often once classes start

Despite the fact that there were really only three whole errands, I feel like now I should just sit back and do nothing for the rest of the day. That's pure laziness kicking in right there and I need to knock it off. I've been fairly productive for the past 2 days, so there's no need to waste any time today.

I want to take my second CSCS practice exam before classes start. That means, I need to be prepared to take it by Sunday night, at the latest. I have 3 practice exams total, so this will leave me with one more to take before the big day (a week from Saturday). I'm getting more and more nervous for it as each day passes. Every day, I think - "I've studied enough to pass this test" and then I start reviewing things in the book and think - "hmm..I wonder why I didn't remember this sentence/paragraph/chart. It looks pretty important." In other words, I think I need all the extra study time I can get.

I also need to get started on a "pre-course assignment" that is due before classes start. Yes, I'm being totally serious. A pre-course assignment. Seem pretty ridiculous? It is, which is why I haven't started it yet. It's a 6-8 page paper that will more than likely not get started until the very last minute because a) I am bitter about it and b) I feel like my other projects are more important right now.

Scholarly project? I don't even want to think about it. I keep changing the layout of the paper to make it look longer. It's gone from double spaced to single spaced to bigger headings, etc. Right now, it's 11 pages single spaced with 16 font headings with my abstract taking up the entire first page. Don't get me wrong, I have added some actual writing to it, but every time I sit down with an article, it's like a huge sigh and groan takes over my entire being and I end up just staring at it. blah.

But...rather than complain anymore, I think I might as well go do something about all of this and go get some work done. In the end, I know it is going to be worth it. Just gotta get through this next year.

Change

I've changed. It's as simple as that. Not a huge change, but I've definitely not the same person I was a few months ago. It's been on my mind for some time now, and it wasn't too long ago that I decided that if I want to become a good, respectable individual, I need to make some changes.

First, and probably the biggest change, is that I'm just not that into the drinking and partying scene anymore. I just don't find it entertaining these days. Don't get me wrong, I still like to go out and have fun (I did make an appearance at the music fest last night), but I'm just not into going out and drinking. This presents a problem, because 99% of my friends do like that scene and that's what they want to do with their free time. Anymore, I'm perfectly happy just staying home and watching movies, however, I don't know anyone else who is. So basically, this has left me feeling a little "friendless" lately and kind of lonely. But, even if my phone no longer rings at 3am with texts about "after-bar" parties, I still know that this change will be for the better. There are a lot of little girls in my family who might look up to me as a role model as they go through their early teenage years, and if I want to set a good example and be a good role model, the partying and drinking is OUT.

Another change is that I'm making more of an effort to know and understand what is going on in the world around me. I think we have some pretty big issues in our own country right now that we should all be well-informed of. I am a firm believer that you have no right to complain about something unless you really understand the facts of what you are complaining about. The only way to know what's going on in the world is to watch the news, read the newspaper, and just take a look around. That being said, watching the news is, of course, going to give you a distorted view of the reality, as everyone knows that most of the newsmedia is biased one way or the other. Since I'm too poor to actually travel the world and see things firsthand, I've made an effort to watch various news networks, in an attempt to get "both sides" of the story. This means...be prepared for the shocker here...that I've been watching Fox News. I've even go so far as to watch Bill O'Reilly. My political viewpoints have changed. I'm not a Republican, but I'm not a Democrat either. I just have more conservative viewpoints than I thought I did. I would have to say that most (not all) of my viewpoints are along the lines of the Libertarian party. Too bad they don't have a news network.

Another change: I've been going back to church again. I have missed it. I met the new minister while my mom and I were going on walks in the evenings (the minister and her husband walk as well). I thought she seemed like a very nice person and very outgoing and easy to talk to. I started going to church to see what her service was like and I realized that I should have gone back a long time ago. It's hard to explain, and I am not one of those people who tries to push religion onto others, but as soon as I started going back, I just knew that it was the right thing to do. Not just because we have a new minister, but because I needed that sense of security I guess. That being said, our new minister really does do a good job and I like her services. I think our church will really benefit from having her here.

Change #4, of course I've already talked about this is numerous other posts, I've been eating better and trying to exercise most days of the week. I can already notice a change since I started this a little over a week ago. I don't know if I've lost any weight (I don't weigh myself), but my clothes fit better and I feel more awake and alert during the day. Putting all that crappy junk food into my body was making me feel sluggish. Now I feel like I have a lot more energy.

The last change, which I haven't had a chance to really try to put into effect yet, is that I am going to try to have a better work ethic. Not that I think I had a bad work ethic at my last clinical (I actually think I had a pretty good one), but I think that I need to have a better attitude about my work ethic in class for the next 7 weeks. I'm not looking forward to going back at all, for a variety of reasons that I have already mentioned in previous posts, but I am going to try to have a better attitude about it. I especially need to work on this better attitude when it comes to staying late and driving through hectic Toledo traffic to get to and from the Scott Park campus. I have never had a good attitude about having to stay late for school or work, but this year, I am going to try. In my career, it's something that I am just going to have to get used to and it's going to be the biggest obstacle that I have to overcome. It will be interesting to see if I can tackle it.

So there you have it, my life's recent changes. Like I said, they're not huge changes, but I do feel like I may be a better person for them. I guess I'll let everyone else decide in the weeks and months to come.