This $#!+ Is Fi-in’ To Get Real, Yo

OK, I don’t know what’s up with that blog title, except that it’s the first thing that popped into my head and it’s TOTALLY tongue in cheek.

Anyway, this thing really is starting to get real.  Let me ‘splain.  No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.

After more than a few months of thinking about and making not entirely whole-hearted attempts at taking this EMT class I’ve talked about, I had sort of begun to lose momentum on the whole subject.  I’ve been enrolled in the class for a few months but with months to wait it didn’t exactly feel real, so much as just a vague notion, far off in the future.  Once I enrolled in the class, there wasn’t much more to do with regard to the school and the truth is, I sort of let it all fall by the way-side, thinking, “I’ve got plenty of time.”  The campus bookstore didn’t yet have the information about my textbooks and I still had to take CPR for the Professional Rescuer and Standard First Aid as well as getting two Tuberculosis skin tests and the first two of three shots for the Hepatitis B vaccination.

To be fair, I scheduled the first injection and the TB test right away after I enrolled in the class and it’s a good thing I did because there’s a specific timetable for those.  But as for scheduling the CPR and First Aid classes I kind of dragged my feet.  Can anyone spell Self-Sabotage?

Finally, I realized I was running out of time to take the safety courses and I got busy scheduling those with The American Red Cross.  The CPR class was last week Monday and by the time I was creeping up on it, I was feeling a little apprehensive.  I think that’s somewhat normal but at the same time, I’ve taken Basic CPR w/AED three times.  It’s not like I didn’t have any idea what I was getting myself into.  This class was just going to expand on what I’ve already learned.

The class was awesome!  I really enjoyed it, and it actually served to re-energize me about the whole thing!

I have a month and two days until my EMT Class starts.  I have had my two TB Skin tests and two of the three Hep B shots with the third one to be administered in November.  I have taken the CPR class and the Standard First Aid class is scheduled for this Saturday morning.  Just today the bookstore has my textbooks which have been order and should arrive tomorrow.

It looks quite a lot like my friend isn’t going to take the class with me after all, which is really OK.  I had mixed feelings about her taking the class to begin with.  I had looked forward to taking the class with someone and having someone to turn to if I needed help with the material, but I was concerned that walking in the door with someone I know would hold me back from opening up and getting to know other people in the class and I didn’t want that to happen.  Also, when I first found out that she was thinking of taking the class, I told her if she did, I would drive her to and from if she wanted.  I realized early on that driving her to class was going to be tough unless she could meet me at my office at 5:00 and be dependable to be on-time.  I told her that and she didn’t resist.

The thing is, when I made the offer, I didn’t realize that the school is less than a mile from my house.  If she decided to take the class with me and take me up on my offer, I would have to drive about 12 miles, one way, out of my way to take her home before going home myself… at 9:30 at night.  Now, I made the offer and I know her circumstances.  If she decides to take the class, the offer will stand and I’ll drive all that way out of my way to help her out… but I won’t be bummed if I don’t have to do it.

It’s kind of funny how these things work, I guess.  When I started this process my thinking was that I felt like I didn’t get enough information from the CPR and First Aid classes I have taken and that I’d like to know more.  I considered the idea of a career change but didn’t really think it a very likely possibility.  Later I thought of it as something that I might like to do, but I didn’t know how likely it was to happen, feeling that there were a number of things to hold me back.  Just in the last week or so, though, my thinking has changed.  I don’t know when it happened or what it means, but my thought process has been more along the lines of, “After this class is over, I’m going to become an EMT and I’ll just have to find ways around the road blocks.”

I know I can.

And I will.

This $#!+ is fi-in’ to get real, yo!