But not officially official,yet, if you know what I mean. I have been duly informed by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians that, with the passing score I earned on the computer test, provided I pass my psychomotor skills test, I will be granted the dubious honor of becoming a paramedic. Of course, I passed the skills test on June 4th.
Two years of my life, and countless hours driving back and forth to class and clinical, and I am done. The disco patch will soon be in the mail. There are times when I still wonder if I went the right route. If I should have stayed with the whole biology thing, and kept on looking for a job (usually those thoughts came when I got calls from biotech recruiters while in school). I realized with about a week or 2 left of school that I had made the right decision.
How did I know?
I stopped biting my finger nails.
For as long as I can remember, I've been a nail biter. Bored, stress, whatever...I bit my nails down to the quick and beyond. Nothing I or anyone else (read: my mother) did stopped me from biting my nails. Bribery, threats, funny tasting chemicals, tips, polish; all went by the wayside in my single-minded attempt to chew my nails down. Usually boredom was the problem.
So imagine my surprise when, with just a few weeks left till class, and theoretically the most stressful time I could be going through (finals, graduation, NREMT tests), I realized I had no desire to bite my nails anymore. I still am not biting my nails. And while I am still stressed (finding a job, state protocol test, etc) I am not biting my nails still.
Who knew that getting into a field you really liked would make such an immediate difference?
Of course, after playing a bit of frisbee with some of the kids at the station today, and breaking a nail, I realized why have longer nails is not such a good idea given my activity levels.
Anyway, I am now a NREMT-P. The card is in the mail.
May God have mercy on my souls (and the souls of my patients).
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Halfway there
Graduation has occurred, though I wasn't actually there to experience the joy that comes from sitting in a hot room with 3000 of my not-so-closest friends while listening to boring speeches. Figured I'd already been there, and done that, so I skipped. The fact that I got back from Florida the day before, where I had approximately 4 hours of sleep over the course of 5 days, walked around the parks all day long, and battled feet covered in blisters was a large part in my decision to stay home that day.
The National Registry practical has come and gone. I passed with one retest on an oral board. Now I'm just waiting for them to send me my stuff so I can choose a testing site and date for the written.
So now I look for a job. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of departments hiring right now, thanks to the economy. I will be putting in again for the alphabet agencies, such as FBI, DEA, ATF, and Marshals. I'm finding in myself another case of wanderlust, the intense need to travel again; to uproot my life completely and move somewhere else. I have that restless feeling that occurs every few years. Working for one of the agencies would satisfy that need to travel. But that need to travel and go places is competing with the feeling that I get from being a firefighter and EMT...that I am a member of something that is important. That I am helping people and am part of something larger than myself.
I have a hard time explaining this to people. The Engineer particularly has a hard time with it. He's one of those people who has known what they were going to do since they were little, because that's what mom or dad did. He has no desire to move around, and travel more than for a brief vacation, and even then, he doesn't have much desire to do even that. He is not equipped to understand where I am coming from, and where my 'adventurous' streak (as he calls it) longs to take me.
So, yeah. I'm trying to find a job now, anticipating that I'll pass the written test in a few weeks. I'm attempting to curb my desire to uproot myself and my life (and my fiance) to get a job in a different state. In the meantime, I'm working out, my training schedule being derailed significantly by school, illness, travel and injury. I am running the Marine Corp 10K in October, and a sprint triathlon in September. Not to mention a friend's wedding in September, and my own in October.
The National Registry practical has come and gone. I passed with one retest on an oral board. Now I'm just waiting for them to send me my stuff so I can choose a testing site and date for the written.
So now I look for a job. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of departments hiring right now, thanks to the economy. I will be putting in again for the alphabet agencies, such as FBI, DEA, ATF, and Marshals. I'm finding in myself another case of wanderlust, the intense need to travel again; to uproot my life completely and move somewhere else. I have that restless feeling that occurs every few years. Working for one of the agencies would satisfy that need to travel. But that need to travel and go places is competing with the feeling that I get from being a firefighter and EMT...that I am a member of something that is important. That I am helping people and am part of something larger than myself.
I have a hard time explaining this to people. The Engineer particularly has a hard time with it. He's one of those people who has known what they were going to do since they were little, because that's what mom or dad did. He has no desire to move around, and travel more than for a brief vacation, and even then, he doesn't have much desire to do even that. He is not equipped to understand where I am coming from, and where my 'adventurous' streak (as he calls it) longs to take me.
So, yeah. I'm trying to find a job now, anticipating that I'll pass the written test in a few weeks. I'm attempting to curb my desire to uproot myself and my life (and my fiance) to get a job in a different state. In the meantime, I'm working out, my training schedule being derailed significantly by school, illness, travel and injury. I am running the Marine Corp 10K in October, and a sprint triathlon in September. Not to mention a friend's wedding in September, and my own in October.
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