The word, on Sunday night

So, this weekend...I cancelled my plans for Friday night, came home and slept. I have yet another cold (after finally getting rid of the one that lasted more than a month, I was "healthy" for maybe 3 days before showing symptoms of this one)...I've been such the social butterfly for so long now, saying yes to everything and thus having really late Friday and Saturday nights every weekend (involving alcohol, naturally, see my previous post on how over here, social event=alcohol), I think my body just decided enough is enough. I slept for a solid two hours after work, woke up, sent my apologies to the people I was supposed to meet, had dinner, and went back to bed. However, I did join up with Nicole and Rob and a whole bunch of their friends, plus housemate Nicole and her boyfriend Dave, last night for a great meal and then drinks...it's hard to say no when you're having fun, so it ended up being a late night once again. Luckily, today being Sunday, there was plenty of time for a lie-in.

In other news, let's see...I've been a busy bee getting together Christmas gifts, both homemade and bought. It's a bit more difficult to come up with ideas for things you know people really want or will really like, when you're not around to pick up the hints they drop in daily conversation. And I've always been someone who hates to say, "Ok tell me what's on your list, give me an idea..." But I think I'm managing! However, housemate Nicole's birthday is coming up in a little over a week, and I'm a bit stumped on that one, even though I live with her. And Dave has not been of much help, grrr. Hopefully I'll think of something really soon here...I've got a bit of a grace period since we're not actually celebrating her bday until the 16th, even though it's really on the 12th.

And at work, I am still very happy, which still seems to continue to amaze my supervisor. I guess in the past, she's been used to some basic grades being really stressed out, not liking the rotation for some reason, or only really settling in and realizing that they like it when the 6 months are almost over. Apparently, she heard ahead of time how much I was looking forward to starting on the stroke unit, and she was afraid it wouldn't live up to my expectations. But I'm a little different from the other basic grades, given how much experience I already had in rehab world before moving across the pond, and I already knew I wanted to specialize in stroke, had worked with stroke patients, knew what I was getting myself into. I explained to her that, professionally, doing this kind of work is why I made the move. And I'm loving every minute of it, even the hard parts of it. Nothing like taking on a challenge, and overcoming barriers. I wrote a little bit earlier about how much I enjoyed my first Bobath module, which took place on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I am so looking forward to the next two pieces, plus I am putting in my application for the three-week Bobath course. Apparently, even though it is supposedly offered worldwide, there are no Bobath courses presently in the States...and I am now looking into the Senior II position at Whipps, which has a rotation on the acute stroke unit, and apparently I have a very good shot at securing. There are only two basic grades with enough experience to apply, me being one of them, and there will be some vacancies shortly. Good thing too, as with my work permit situation and the current OT job shortages, I can't get a Senior II job anywhere else.