Las Vegas, Nevada

Where to begin…

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada now! Well, technically it’s Henderson, but it’s so close, and Las Vegas sounds way cooler, so yeah, I live in Las Vegas. Lol. My dad helped me pack up and my mom and sister helped me move down here on Friday. Thank you to all! I had a great time while my mom and sister were down here with me. The two of them left this morning. While they were here we hit the strip for two nights, drank, gambled and took in the sights.

More importantly, the three of us unpacked, organized and re-organized all my crap. Trying to get everything to fit is quite a challenge, but we made it work. My mom was kind enough to buy me a bunch of groceries from Costco, so the fridge and pantry (we have a pantry!) is all stocked up. She also bought me a new queen size bed, which is soooo comfortable. Sleep is going to be important in the years to come, so I think that’s my favorite new acquisition thus far. Additionally, I must have shopped at the super Walmart like 4 times now. Bought a nice computer chair for our office (we have an office!), glass desk for my bedroom, lamps, fan, curtains, mirror and all sorts of other living accessories.

Needless to say, all the activity that has taken place for the past few days has severely limited my free time; hence, the delayed blog.

My roommate is awesome. I think the two of us are gonna get along great. We’ve spent a good deal of time over the past few days tinting the windows to lower AC costs. So far, it’s working great, and my bedroom is like 5 degrees cooler on average. This is especially important considering it’s projected to be 116 degrees F on Monday. The heat couldn’t come at a worse time either because we have to dress formally on Monday for our first day of orientation, when we have our pictures taken. Perfect..

Anyway, to keep this brief and effective, I’ll sum up the rest of the things that happened this week:

• Last day of work = sad, but also happy
• Moving = rushed and stressful, but also exciting
• Sister got a tattoo = sooo cool
• Lost $100 on night one of gambling, then made $40 the next night = net loss of $60 = well worth it

This coming up Monday is orientation day 1. I think Ghandi said it best when he said, “That shit cray.”

Emotions Are High

I move to Las Vegas in 4 days. Needless to say, my nostalgia for all things related to home is running at an all-time high. The things that used to annoy me endlessly are almost endearing now. Almost. I’m going to miss home, though, and it seems that people are going to miss me as well. Hell, my dad is already trying to plan stuff for us to do during my first two week break after the end of my first trimester in October.. lol.

I cancelled my membership at In-Shape Fitness this morning. I lied and told them that I was undergoing surgery so that they would void the $50 membership cancellation fee. Isn’t that ridiculous? I decided to lie about the surgery after I explained to three membership representatives at my local gym that I recently took out a $67,000 loan for PA school and they failed to waive the cancellation fee. They pretended to empathize with me and even congratulated me, but still were going to make me pay to cancel my membership. Screw that. It’s not MANDATORY that they collect the fee. Gym membership contracts are a joke.

My grandparents are coming over for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I’m going to pick up the trailer I’m borrowing from Bryan’s parents. Thursday I’m taking down my TV from its wall mount and packing it up. Friday I’m getting my friend Ivan to help my dad and I pack up my truck and the trailer. Early Saturday morning we’ll load up my mom’s truck, and then my mom, sister and I will be on our way. Keep in mind that I will continue to work full time until the day I leave -__-

It’s forecasted to be 104°F on Saturday and 108°F on Sunday in Vegas. Fuck my new life (FMNL) haha.

First thing we needa do when we get there is go get me a bed. I decided not to bring mine from home because it’s like 10 years old and my quality of sleep has been waning in recent months. Is it weird that I’m really excited to get a memory foam mattress? Haha.

Anyway, life is short. All things, good and bad, come to an end, in time. So, enjoy the life you’re living by living in the present, but also keep short and long-term goals so that your life doesn’t become stagnant. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound preachy. My life is changing in a drastic way over the next few years, so I can’t help but reflect and project. The next time I blog, I will be living in Henderson, NV… I don’t think I fully comprehend that yet.

To-Do

Things to do over the next 2 weeks:

1. Return broken headlight halos to manufacturer
2. Dinner with bosses
3. Dinner with grandparents
4. Haircut
5. Sell printer
6. Smog truck
7. Register truck
8. Celebrate Father’s Day
9. Pick up trailer from sister’s boyfriend’s parents
10. Get chairs and spare room bed from sister’s house
11. A’s game with dad
12. Discontinue membership at In-Shape Fitness
13. PACK
14. Load trucks and trailer
15. Move to Henderson, NV
16. Unpack
17. Purchase bed frame, box spring and mattress

That list actually doesn’t seem as daunting when I lay it out like that, but trust me, a lot of those items are multi-step tasks; and I have to fight off nostalgia every step of the way. However, I did just watch a YouTube video by VSauce in which he explained a theory about why people might feel nostalgia in the first place, and it’s actually rather constructive and healthy. Essentially, one prevailing theory is that nostalgia is a way for a person to create continuity in his/her life and connect with his/her past, because we are all made of atoms that renew/replace themselves every five years or so, and without nostalgia, we might lose sight of who we were were/are. Weird.

Anyway, patients at work continue to say/do very nice things for me as my time at my current job nears an end. I’m truly flattered by their kindness, and it makes me feel happy to know that I have affected some of them so positively.

I went camping over the weekend (Friday-Sunday) with my dad, sister and her boyfriend, Bryan. We went to Beaver Creek, just passed Dorrington, CA on Highway 4. We’ve been camping there for as long as I’ve been alive, and my dad has been camping there since he was just a boy, as well. It was hot, but still a great weekend. We went fishing, swimming, did a lot of lounging around, sat around the campfire, played with my sister’s dog and basically just had a good time, as we always do. I took a picture beneath my favorite shade tree to try and capture the relaxed feeling I felt while lying under the cover of its branches, reading The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande, M.D. Also worth noting, Bryan invented S’nores. It’s a s’more, but with a chunk of a Snickers bar instead of plain chocolate. I coined the name, so I deserve partial credit.

I have a great life. I reflect on this fact more often than I speak (or write) about it, but it’s true. I have wonderful, loving and giving family and friends, and for that I am grateful. Extrapolating from that, and this is not meant to sound conceited by any means, but right now, it’s a great time to be me! Things are about to change for me in so many new and exciting ways. I cannot and will not fully grasp the essence of the changes until they begin to occur, but the anticipation is exciting nonetheless. It’s a great time to be Anthony.

Don’t believe me? Proof to follow every Tuesday for the next 29 months – give or take.

Looking Forward

I’m beginning to feel the imminent changes that time is bringing. In 18 days, I will be uprooting myself for the first time since 2009, when I moved 75 minutes away from home to attend UC Davis. However, this time I will be moving to an entirely new state. Granted, it is only Nevada. Haha. But still, there is no denying that my life will be significantly altered by this transition! Even as I write this, I find myself breaking gaze with my laptop screen and becoming anxious as I stare into my bedroom wall and daydream. I’m going to be in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, mastering a complex science. Give me a moment to dwell on this….. Gahh! It’s exciting, but nerve-racking at the same time! It’s not just unsettling because of the uncertainty of what to expect from school and new living arrangement, but also, and perhaps more-so because of the things that I am forgoing in order to attend PA school in the first place – namely, my family, friends and current job/coworkers.

Speaking of family, my sister, Jami, just called me. Lol. She’s the same sister I mentioned in a past blog who is attending nursing school at a local junior college with intent to achieve her BSN by transferring to CSU East Bay. Last weekend my mom asked me, “Who do you think will miss you most when you move?” Without hesitation, I answered, “Jami.” I think she’s my biggest fan, and I am hers; I wouldn’t have it any other way. As we have gotten older, we’ve grown much closer. I feel like I can talk to her about anything, even though I sometimes feel like she talks too much (especially when I’m on my lunch break at work and she’s distracting me from reading an article on Digg.com or watching a re-run of The Office on Netflix. Haha). She got the chatterbox gene from her father… and mother. Lol. I’m not sincerely complaining though. I love and cherish our friendship. Truth be told, if someone were to ask me who I would miss most when I move, without hesitation, I would answer, “My sister.” Sometimes I think about where I may end up after school is all said and done, but any thoughts of me living anywhere but California are fleeting at best. I would hate to be too far from my family. Luckily, that won’t be an issue as a PA because the societal demand for healthcare practitioners is so high.

Last week I received a tentative schedule that outlined the upcoming academic year at TUN, with holidays and breaks from classes demarcated. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have four breaks of approximately two weeks that are spread throughout the calendar. That’s far more than I expected. I wonder what I will end up doing with that free time. More scarce is the free time that I will have during the trimesters. I’ve been brainstorming, trying to determine if/when I will have time to exercise, watch the Raiders play, watch my favorite TV shows, purchase and play the PS4 (did I mention I’m a nerd?), and actually go out and socialize. After talking to many current PA students, I fear the worst… and expect the worst. Lol.

My weekend was a ton of fun, by the way. On Saturday I played golf in a memorial tournament and went to an associated BBQ for a friend who lost his life to leukemia. Then on Sunday I served beer with the Lion’s Club at the Antioch fair for Latino Pride day. Finally got that sun everyone’s been telling me I “need.” Haha.

I was trying to think of a funny way to end the blog, then my cat threw up in the hallway. Problem solved.