On Being Assertive

Apologies again for lack of posting. I really have no excuse. But heregoes!

My mother's visit was splendid, pics on Facebook. She got to see my work, favorite places to go, and we even tried out a few new things I had on my list - eating at the Oasis and going to see Toy Story 3 at the Alamo Draft House (the movie was sooooo good! bring a tissue!). After she left, I had a crazy week at work entertaining TWO interns instead of one and in general it just being busy.

Last weekend was super fun! I helped my friend Dawn move and afterwards, we went to the lake and just chilled in the water. I LOVE THE LAKE. I might have to make it an official life goal of mine to either live in full-time or own a lakehouse. Certainly living in Austin has not helped to qualm this desire AT ALL. One of Dawn's friends was in town who was getting married in a month on the beach. Since her bridesmaids (and her, and her mom) won't be wearing shoes, she decided to make foot jewelry instead. And that's what we did. I think we started at around 2:00 pm and I left at 11:30 pm! It took awhile, but was still a good time. I definitely have a new respect for jewelry makers. Think about all that hard work next time you buy a necklace! :)

My roommate left for Scotland on Tuesday (for TWO weeks), leaving me in my house. Alone. Have I ever mentioned that I don't sleep well alone? All I need is to know that someone is in the other room, really. Even when living at my mother's house I wouldn't sleep well when she was gone. Sigh. I mentioned this to my coworkers and said, "Maybe I just need a man!" to which they replied, "Maybe just a dog? You don't have to pick up after them!"

Today was my Evaluation at work. It is special because the Evaluation comes only once a year and is the basis for your any raise you might get (I'm new to Adult Full-Time Job World, as you can see). It actually was really good. I was able to see how my employer views my work and also able to express goals and desires for the next year. In general, one area I need to work on is being more assertive. It conveys confidence and importance of the subject to the patient, and in turn results in higher compliance with treatment. Naturally I am very laid back. In addition, my self-confidence isn't very high. The result isn't necessarily a lackadaisical attitude about patient education but more a lack of urgency in getting the message across.

I just prefer to be nice. :)

So how do you become more assertive? Certainly there is an aspect of self-confidence in there, which is more of a personality trait and one that will take time to develop. I'm assuming assertiveness isn't the same as being mean or demanding. So what is it? And how does one become more assertive? Most of the time so far I've been focusing on getting all the answers right instead of communicating those answers in a way that motivates my patients to change. I'm still learning facts and information, so I can only hope that as my knowledge base increases, so will my confidence and therefore assertiveness in delivering my message.

Thoughts?

Momma May is coming!

I really should've posted more this week, but I was so excited and looking forward to my mom coming to visit, I barely had time to think! I have a handful of already-written posts for such occasions, but I even was too busy to do THAT, sheesh.

Let's see, random stuff that happened this week:

1. Checked two more movies off my AFI Top 100 list: American Graffiti (think young Ron Howard) and The Graduate (Dennis Hoffman). I for some reason thought All That Jazz (autobiographical movie of Bob Fosse's life) was on the list, so I watched it, but it isn't! It was still good. I particularly enjoyed the parts where he's in the hospital for 3 weeks because of chest pain. They didn't have the stent procedure around back then, so he just rested until they finally did open heart surgery. Wonderful to see where they've taken it now!

2. Had a mini-freak-out moment but after some journaling and prayer, felt better. God is just taking me on this crazy ride and I never know when stuff is going to hit the fan. :)

3. Attended the Music Under the Star event last night, complete with free Rudy's BBQ and ice cream, and walked around the museum gift shop wishing I could afford the outrageously priced yet so adorable items.

4. Applied for a job at the Container Store, only to find out they don't have any openings. My list of places I would ENJOY working at for a second job is dwindling. Please, God, don't make me work at Target! Next up: Hobby Lobby.

5. And today, I spent 2 hours in the group exercise room at my gym, which actually was a sauna since the AC broke. It was so uncomfortable. And then I step outside and it's not much better. Sigh, hello Texas summer!

An Update on Being New

I recently reminded myself that my blog is subtitled, "I'm New Here," which means I need to write specifically to that topic if possible. I feel that writing every entry about the new things I'm doing and/or how I'm progressing in my transition would be quite boring, especially if that was 2-3 times a week. Time gives a better perspective, so here's my latest update on "being new."

Several months ago, I posted a list of place to visit in Austin that my friend Mark had suggested. Since then, I've completed a few more of them:

1. Attending Blues on the Green in Zilker Park with Dawn, Laney, and Sarah on Wednesday evening. I noticed as we were walking to the park that there's awesome sand volleyball courts there but so far my success in finding information about an indoor or outdoor league has failed.

2. I visited the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in April with my roommate on the first Saturday of the month, which made admission free! It was good, informative and visual look at the history of Texas.

My mother is coming to visit in a week, and I'm planning on checking off two more things from the list: Alamo Draft House (to see Toy Story 3) and eating at The Oasis. If she's feeling up to it, we might even attempt to "climb" Mount Bonnell.

As far as feeling "new," it's slowly fading away. Summer in Austin is a GREAT time to see the city and I'm constantly amazed at the free and fun stuff there is to do! I'm a regular follower of the 365 Things to Do in Austin Texas blog, which is where I'm beginning to get a lot of my ideas for what Austin has to offer. Next week I plan on practicing my Stand-up Paddling skills on Monday, seeing a free concert & eating free food on Friday at the museum, and then seeing Annie in Zilker's Hilltop Theater on Saturday. So much to do!

In other realms of life, work is still awesome and becoming really fun and rewarding. I'm finally settling into my role and learning how to expand my ideas for projects. I'm also learning all there is to about having a full-time job! I had no idea! Everything from yearly evaluations & raises to professional behavior and respect, it's so different. I'm getting more involved in my church, Austin Stone, and planning on visiting a few small groups these next few weeks in anticipation of joining them in the fall and meeting new people my age at the Stone!

All in all, I'm understanding that Austin is an awesome place to live and I'm becoming more excited about why the Lord has brought me here! It's really exciting and crazy, but I'm loving it. :)

The Magic of the White Coat

As part of my job, I work in the actual hospital, on the floor, with patients. (My main realm is in an outpatient area). When I first started and we didn't have a uniform policy yet, we would wear long white lab coats over our "street" clothes so we could be more easily distinguished from just anyone. We started our uniform policy in April, which cleared up a lot of confusion for the patients on who was who. However, we still continued to wear our lab coats because we go from inpatient to outpatient settings fairly quickly and if we were to get some kind of inpatient, um, fluid, on us, we would have to wear it the rest of the day. So we wear lab coats.

I have been confused for a doctor many occasions. Usually it's by visitors or the patients themselves when I step in the room. I always explain who I am and my job, so they aren't confused. Today one of the nutritionists (who I can only suspect doesn't know me or didn't read my nametag) asked as I was writing in a patient's chart, "When do you project she [the patient] will be going home?" I immediately said, "I have no idea." Then it hit me when she seemed stunned that she was expecting that I WOULD know since I'm the DOCTOR and all. Funny.

My favorite part about wearing a white coat, though, is smiling at people. Doctors are quite busy and there are plenty of caring and compassionate ones, but when they're in transit like walking down the hall, they are hardly thinking about the people they see. They're usually on the phone or focused on the next task, whether it be outpatient clinic, another surgery, etc. So they don't usually greet those near them. But since I don't have those things to think about, I try and make sure I smile at everyone. And because the visitors and staff don't know I'm really not a doctor, they think, "Wow, what a nice doc! She smiled at me, how thoughtful!" I don't mind pretending in that notion, because then it means they have a good impression of our physicians and their caring nature. I see it on their faces, and it's pretty cool.

And I only went to 2.5 extra years of school, not 4+! :)

Movie Reviews: AFI Top 100 #1-3

Ever since I was in a film class in college, I've come to understand and appreciate the art of film and storytelling. I printed out (and memorized at one point) the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films. They re-did the list a few years ago for their anniversary, but most of the movies are the same. Out of the 100, I've almost half already. They have some evaluation process that I'm not sure of, but the films I have seen on the list are great, all for different reasons.

For some of the films it's been awhile since I've seen them, but since I'm a super-organized type, I want to start with the #1 film and go all the way down the list, posting every now and then when my brain isn't producing any kind of awesome blog topic. If you need an idea for a good date movie or night at home, these might be helpful. Here's the first 3:

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

This was the first film I watched in film class at JBU. I wouldn't watch it when you're in a jovial mood - it's kind of a "thinker" movie if you will. The premise is after a publishing tycoon's death, the reporters try to make sense of his life and death. It's kind of a creepy/different perspective, but it's well worth the viewing as their #1 Film of All Time.

Why It's in the Top 100: The message the film brings across is that money and wealth don't buy you anything except for loneliness and isolation. Without spoiling it, at the end of the film you see the simple and basic need the main character wanted; yet could never buy. I'm very happy that this film is #1 for that reason - money won't buy happiness. AFI obviously believes that's a good message, as well as a good movie.

2. The Godfather (1972)

Last summer I watched all three of the Godfather series films, two of which are in the Top 100. The first film chronicles the Corleone family in 1945 and their aging patriarch, Don Vito, or "the Don." Michael, the youngest son, has just returned from war but doesn't want anything to do with the family "business." Through several events, the family changes and has different ideas about how to run the family. The film ends, and though we all know there's two more films, it leaves it open-ended for the possibility of a sequel.

Why It's in the Top 100: There are plenty of stars in this series: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. The story is very riveting and brings the theme of change from old to new. And it also contains the #2 movie quote as determined by AFI, "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

3. Casablanca (1942)

Set in early WWII in Morocco, a cafe owner reunites with an old flame to produce a crazy mix-up of emotions and desire to do anything necessary to get out of Africa.

Why It's in the Top 100: Besides having several of the AFI's Top 100 movie quotes, like "Here's looking at you, kid" and "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," it's got Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in it. It's also just a classic love story, the highest rated in the Top 100.

Out of the next three, I've only watched two, so I won't post again until I've seen the third movie. I'm renting them all from the library, so it might be awhile. :)