I went to Vegas with Alex, Danielle, and her boyfriend, Justin over the weekend.  It was fun getting to go back to Vegas with Alex again.  We’ve only been one other time together about 2 years ago, and I wasn’t old enough to gamble at the time.  We had fun playing blackjack together   And when I could barely walk because of my joint pain late at night, he helped me walk.  He was also a good sport about leaving the casinos earlier than planned because it was getting to be too much for me.  So we went back to the hotel and he drew me a bath and gave me massages and everything.  It’s so nice having someone that cares about me so much when I’m having difficulties like this.

Speaking of the pain… I have another doctor appointment this Friday and I made an appointment to see a Rheumatologist on December 2nd, which was the earliest I could get in.  It’s getting unbelievably frustrating not knowing what is going on with me.  I can’t do half the things I was able to do before this started happening.  And while I may have a few days or even a week where I don’t really experience much pain, it always comes back.  And I’m sick of the doctors taking forever to see me and then not even having anything to tell me when I do see them.

On another note… I registered for classes this morning for next semester.  Here’s what it looks like:

MON - 4:15-7:00p - Marriage & Family Therapy I (PSY 639) with Amy Tuttle
TUE - 5:00-7:00p - Psychopharmacology (PSY 627) with Diana Hurlbut (only meets 9 weeks)
THU - 4:15-7:00p - Techniques of Counseling & Psychotherapy (PSY 637) with George Nalbach
THU - 7:15-10:00p - Clinical Management of Psychopathology (PSY 600) with Lisa Fasnacht-Hill
SAT (1/10 & 1/24) - 9:00a-4:45p - Human Sexuality (PSY 628) with Susan Johnson

It sounds like a lot… but it’s only 12 units, 1 class only meets on 2 saturdays in January, and 1 is only a 9 week course.  I just think it’s so doable so it doesn’t make sense not to cram this much in, especially while I still don’t have to do my practicum.  So it shouldn’t be too bad of a semester.

I know it’s been awhile since I updated.  I’ve just been keeping my mind preoccupied with so many other things that I haven’t really even thought about this blog in awhile.  Anyway… to pick up from my last entry… everything was fine with the heart monitor, so it was definitely just anxiety.  I started trying some relaxation techniques (that Sarah recommended to me) everytime I get an attack, and they work pretty well most of the time!  So that’s good.

A little over a week ago on Friday night I saw Memphis (a musical) at the La Jolla Playhouse with Mike…  I completely fell in love with it.  The lead guy is flippin incredible and I think I have a major crush on him (too bad he’s gay haha).  I was just so amazed by his acting… and I think it’s actually the best acting job I’ve ever seen in a leading guy before (which includes all the many shows I’ve seen on Broadway).  I liked the show so much that I saw it again this past Thursday and I’m seeing it yet again tonight!  I know it’s crazy… but when you have an awesome friend who can get you however many free tickets you want… why not??

Switching topics now… yesterday Alex and I went hiking in Malibu.  We decided to do a 4.5 mile round trip hike to Escondido Falls in the Santa Monica Mountains.  When we got to the Falls… our map said that this was the turn around point for those not comfortable with a “bit of rock scrambling.”  We decided we were perfectly comfortable with a bit of rock scrambling (lol).  Little did we know that “a bit of rock scrambling” should have been called “a bit of mountain climbing.”  Some parts of this trail were so steep that they actually tied ropes onto branches for us to help us climb it.  It was super challenging, but also pretty fun.

HOWEVER… on our way back down we made a wrong turn (honestly we aren’t sure where we went wrong).  While the way we went did take us back down to where we started (at Escondido Falls), we sort of ran into a mishap.  Since we were not on the trail, we ended up running into a mini cliff that dropped down to the ground near where the falls were.  We had no choice but to just slide down the cliff on our asses.  Alex managed this a lot better than I did.  I have scrapes and cuts all over my ass and legs.  It hurt so bad that I actually started crying after.  And we still had to hike back.  What an insane adventure…

Well, two days ago Alex and I returned from our AMAZING camping trip in June Lake and Yosemite!  I’ve been so busy the past few days, however, that I only just this evening got around to sorting through our pictures, resizing them, and uploading them to Flickr.  But I’m done now!  You can check out the new set in my travel gallery here.  There were probably hundreds of amazing photos that we took between the two of us, so it was REALLY hard to pick the “gems” to put in that album.

It really was an amazing trip though, one I will never forget.  Yosemite is so awesome that I can’t wait to go back, hopefully next spring.  I’ve figured out that I’m the most content and relaxed when I’m out in nature, and I just LOVE all the little creatures we ran into on our hiking trails.  We saw little squirrel/chipmunk things, a bigger furry animal (maybe a possum or a badger or something), a deer family (2 big ones and a baby), and even a super tiny snake!  It was so much fun, especially the deer.  We actually saw deer twice on our trip, the first night near June Lake and also on our 7 hour hike on the Glen Aulin Trail to Tuolumne Falls.  They’re SO sweet and beautiful!  They didn’t mind our presence even though we kept following them deeper into the woods to take pictures of them.  Awesome.  Yosemite (and actually the entire Eastern Sierras) is so freakin awesome.

My next trip (in a week) is to Las Vegas.  I don’t think these two trips could be any more different LOL.

We should be there in about an hour and 20 minutes (according to Mister Garmin)! I think we’re going to June first to see if we can get a camp spot there for the night and we might try Yosemite tomorrow.

It looks like our plans for Yosemite this weekend aren’t going to work because as it turns out… we’ll be lucky to even get into one of the campgrounds and if we do manage to get in… the only working showers are in the village which is like an hour drive from where we were planning on going anyway.  So we’re looking into some other options.  We’re thinking either Lake Tahoe which is farther than Yosemite… or Sequoia National Park which is closer than Yosemite.  While Lake Tahoe sounds better to me… it is a much longer drive so we’re probably going to move our camping trip to Sequoia/Kings Canyon (not sure which since they’re right next to each other).  Alex and I are going to look at travel books at the bookstore tonight and decide what we want to do exactly.  Also, Sequoia is still taking reservations for this weekend so that would be perfect.

To be honest, I was really really looking forward to Yosemite, but I’m even more looking forward to just camping/hiking in general so I know it will be fun whatever we do.  Not to mention, this is mine and Alex’s first real trip together as a couple and it’s been 4 years!  He did visit me a couple times when I was living in San Francisco and we’ve driven up to Ventura to visit my family and stuff, but none of that really counts.  This is a real trip .  So no matter what we do it’s going to be awesome.

Next weekend Alex and I are going to Yosemite for his birthday.  We’re driving up Friday the 15th (which is his birthday) and coming back Tuesday the 19th.  We actually just got back from REI because we needed a tent.  It was so awesome… the associate there actually let us pitch it in the middle of the store to make sure we liked it.  We ended up pitching 2 different tents before we made our decision.  The first one we tried was a 2 person tent, but we decided it was too small for the 2 of us, lol, so we ended up trying out a 3 person tent that we really liked and we ended up buying it even though it cost $189 (which is $90 more than the 2 person tent cost).

It’s the Sierra Designs Sirius 3 Tent and it’s awesome!  It got super good reviews on the website.  Can’t you just picture Alex and I all sprawled out in there?  Hehe.  It’s also super light so if we want we can take it backpacking.  And I love how easy the REI tents are to put up, which totally makes them worth the extra money.

Also while we were there we bought a nice detailed map of Yosemite and Alex bought a membership which means some cool perks that we can share for the rest of our lives.  We still need to buy a portable grill to take with us, but we aren’t exactly sure what we want for that so we might shop around some more.  We liked the REI ones though.

I’m so excited for Yosemite!!!

So beautiful

I am slowly becoming more and more appalled by the health care system in this country. It is complete bullshit. I’ve always been one of the lucky ones who has great health coverage because my dad always pays for the best health plan his company has to offer, so I’ve never had a problem. I also get to stay on his insurance until I’m done with grad school, which is nice. However, it must be very frustrating for those who are less fortunate (and quite possibly for me once I’m out of college). For example, I had to take a friend to the hospital last night because she was experiencing a severe pain in her back and couldn’t stand up straight. She also recently had her purse stolen which contained all of her insurance information. At the hospital, they barely even let us through the front doors because she didn’t have her insurance card or a photo ID. It was such a struggle. She was in severe pain and all the stupid hospital staff cared about was her insurance information.

They examined her, of course, as is required by law. It turned out she had a kidney infection and a muscle spasm, so they prescribed her some antibiotics. After all that was said and done, they hassled her once again for the insurance info. It took us over an hour to leave the hospital because of this. In the end they decided to put her down as a cash customer, and I don’t even want to KNOW what that is going to entail (in terms of $$$), until she can call them back with her insurance information.

Furthermore, my poor boyfriend had to have some dental work done yesterday, and, of course, his insurance isn’t going to cover all of it. He has to pay upwards of $1000 out of pocket.

Not only does the health care system suck in the US, but health insurance sucks as well. What really bothers me is how the Republicans in this country don’t want socialized health care because they think that the quality of our health care is going to decline, even though countries who DO have socialized health care are doing just fine, if not better, in that department than we are. Out of the Western nations, the US actually has one of the highest infant mortality rates. That is extremely sad and is likely due to the fact that plenty of people here don’t have any kind of health coverage whatsoever. I think either Norway or Sweden has the lowest infant mortality rate on the planet. And, of course, they have socialized health care. It really goes to show you how ignorant the right side of the political spectrum can be.

Wow, that’s the most worked up I’ve gotten in awhile!

Alex and I are kayaking in Dana Point Harbor today! The weather is pretty gloomy but it’s still nice out! Right now all we have is this inflatable 2-person Clear Blue Hawaii kayak, but next year we plan on investing in 2 1-person regular kayaks. Fun times!

Alex and I are at Camel Point Beach in Laguna right now. It’s a beautiful day in the 70s and with an awesome breeze. I’ve been listening to my ipod and napping while he’s been taking lots of pics on his SLR and his new lens that zooms up to 250mm. We’re having a bitchin time!