Soundtrack Saturday: Vox Populi - Thirty Seconds To Mars

I am actually getting this post up on its proper day! Yay! I ran 4 miles today at a pace slightly faster than my normal pace, which is a huge accomplishment for me. Don't get me wrong, I still ran slower than Internet Explorer loading a web page. Relatively speaking, though, it is a personal best in both distance and average pace.

One of the things that keeps me motivated during a run is the music that I listen to. That's why I do these Soundtrack Saturday posts. I don't understand how someone can run without music - I would get bored in two minutes. The song I'm sharing to day is The Song for me when it comes to motivation.

There is no music video for this song. Just a bare bones lyrics video.

Thirty Seconds to Mars is one of those bands that you either love or you hate. I fall in the former category. As a sci-fi/fantasy girl through and through, I love music that makes me feel like I'm in an epic story. Listening to Thirty Seconds to Mars makes me feel like I am preparing to go into battle alongside my favorite characters. I don't just listen to it when I run, I listen to it whenever I'm on my way to something and need a little courage. It's basically the musical form of these two scenes from Lord of the Rings.

Aragorn at the Black Gate

My all time favorite movie scene and my all time favorite quote.

Lord of the Rings was my very first fandom, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. 

In other news, my rotation schedule is coming together. We found out where we will have our required rotations yesterday, so I updated my list.

New additions include advanced community at Kroger, advanced institutional at LeBonheur, and ambulatory care at the St. Francis Medical Clinic. I picked Kroger for my advanced community site since I work there already and know the system. I plan to do hospital pharmacy, not community, so I wanted to make my adv. comm. rotation as easy as possible. Dr. Edgerson at LeBonheur is supposed to be a great preceptor, so I am looking forward to that, although LeBonheur is a children's hospital and you all know how much I do not want anything to do with pediatrics. Hopefully that will be the only rotation I have at that site. I picked the hardest am. care rotation, even though it's not an area I plan to pursue. The preceptors are great, though, and I know I will learn a lot. Plus, one of my best friends is on the same rotation that month! 

As you can see, I now know what my final semester in pharmacy school will look like. I also know who I will be on rotations with for most of them, and so far it's all people I'm friends with, which is excellent news. I turn in my elective picks next week, so I should know my entire schedule before my birthday!

Diamond Candle Review, Part 2

After much waiting and almost setting myself on fire a few times, I finally got to the ring in my Diamond Candle! I've been able to see the little packet for a few days now, but I wanted it to burn down far enough that removal would be easy. I fished it out with a spoon and wiped off the liquid wax with a paper towel.

I see you!

A note about the candle itself: the farther it burns down, the more difficult it is to light. I don't have a lighter, so I was using matches, and that definitely made it harder. I either need a proper lighter or longer matches once it burns down much farther!

After fishing it out of the melted wax

The ring was wrapped in gold foil and sealed in a small plastic bag, so it didn't get wax all over it. It's definitely not one of the expensive rings. But hey, it was free, it's my favorite color, and it fits my index finger perfectly. It's a nice bit of costume jewelry to add to my collection. I like the little heart on the side too.

My new ring!

Cute little heart detail on the side

I would definitely consider getting another one of these candles or giving them as gifts. They've got the fall scents available now, and I'm a sucker for anything cinnamon scented!

Soundtrack Sunday (Again): Good Life - OneRepublic

I know, I knooow, I failed to post on Saturday again. This past week was an exercise in "how many things can I put off until after my test?" and the answer was "everything I was supposed to do". So I've been playing catchup all weekend and haven't gotten around to writing a blog post until now. In addition, A LOT has happened in the last seven days. In fact, it's going to take multiple blog posts to cover all of the events of the week.

I will start with the biggest announcement, and the one that inspired my song choice for today. We had our international rotation picks on Friday, and I am official going to JAPAN in April of 2015!!!! This is exciting on so many levels!! It will be my fourth continent to visit, my fifth country outside the United States, and my second time studying abroad. The song I've chosen is one of my favorite travel songs, and I especially like to listen to it when I am packing for a trip. 

(This song does have a swear word or two. Please refrain from panicking.)

Good Life - One Republic

I have been to most of the places mentioned in this song.

This pleases me. 

There are so many things I want to see and do in Japan. We will be staying in Hiroshima, but will have the opportunity to travel to other cities. I plan to visit Tokyo and Kyoto for sure, and Nagasaki if I have time (hooray for bullet trains!). I will be there during the Cherry Blossom Festival, so I definitely plan on attending some of the events. Some other things I want to do are visit Mt. Fuji, experience a traditional tea ceremony, visit some of the castles (obviously), and see a traditional Japanese theatre production.

Mt. Fuji

Matsumoto Castle

Painting of a Japanese tea ceremony

I also really want to visit Disneyland Tokyo! I may stay an extra day or two after my rotation just to do this. I would love to visit every Disney park before I die!

Disneyland Tokyo - because you are never too old for mouse ears

ALSO on Friday (it was an emotional roller coaster of a day), I found out my first real pharmacy rotation. We had turned in our priority picks earlier in the week. Basically, we ranked our top three rotations that we really wanted and that are hard to get. Then, all our papers go in a stack, get mixed up, and the people in charge of scheduling our rotations start from the top of the stack and work down. I got my top choice priority pick, so I must have been near the top of the pile this time. I'll be doing a cardiology rotation at the VA here in Memphis with Dr. Parker in January of 2015. This is probably the most sought after rotation here in Memphis, so I am ecstatic that I got it!

Here is what my rotation schedule looks like so far. Next up, I'll find out where I will be for my three required rotations. I will update and repost this list as I find out more of my schedule.

I got both of the things I ordered in the mail on Thursday, so expect to see a post with those soon. They are both awesome and it was so nice to have packages waiting for me after my test! Also (I am just full of news today), I finally reached the ring in my Diamond Candle, so I'll be posting part two of my review this week as well. I will leave you with one more picture from my future host city of Hiroshima. 

Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima

Soundtrack Sunday Double Feature: The Great Divide & San Francisco - The Mowgli's

I was late on my soundtrack post again! That's what test weekends will do to a girl though. BUT I'm making it up to you by featuring not one but TWO awesome songs from the band The Mowgli's another of Hipster Kristin AltNation discoveries! Both of these songs will be on my half marathon playlist so I guess I'm not totally cheating. Honestly, I couldn't decide which video to share with you because I love them both so much! 

This first one is "San Francisco" and I just love the pay-it-forward message of the video. It's a great reminder that an act of kindness can be simple yet still make someone's day.

The second video is for "The Great Divide". They look like they are having so much fun; I want to be friends with these guys! Also, cute puppy!!!

I've got my second round of exams on Thursday so this is probably my last post until Friday or Saturday. I should have some (hopefully) good news to share by then about my international rotation. Pick day is Friday, so say a prayer for me! 

A Big Week Over Here in Nerd-ville

This week has been a huge week for those of us who are immersed in nerd culture. There have been major announcements for two of the fandoms to which I belong, plus two other exciting and nerdy things happened in my life this week. I don't think I could possibly be freaking out any more than I am at this moment!! So, without further ado...

Big News #1: First Look at the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Episode

While I am relatively new to the Doctor Who fandom, the show itself has been on since 1963! That makes this year the 50th anniversary of the show, and there will be a special anniversary episode on Nov. 23rd, the date the very first Doctor Who episode aired. Very little is known about the anniversary special, but the first official image was released by the BBC earlier this week!!!

Courtesy of the BBC

David Tennant, Matt Smith, and John Hurt will be playing various incarnations of The Doctor, with Hurt playing an as-yet-unknown Doctor. If you need me on Nov. 23rd, I will be parked in front of the TV wearing my TARDIS dress and COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT!

Big News #2: J. K. Rowling will be writing a new film series

If you thought I was freaking out about the new Doctor Who poster, you can multiply that excitement by about 1000 and you still won't get how excited I am about the announcement by J. K. Rowling that she would be writing a new series of films set in the Harry Potter universe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As a Potterhead of the highest degree, this is a HUGE DEAL!!!!! 

Me at Hogwarts - there are few things that I will voluntarily
get up at 5am for. This was one of them.

The new movies will be based off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, one of the textbooks used at Hogwarts that Rowling wrote for charity. It will follow the story of Newt Scamander, the author of Fantastic Beasts, and it's set about 70 years before the Harry Potter books. You can bet I will be first in line for the midnight premiere!

Big News #3: I got my international rotation ranking!

At my pharmacy school, we have the option to go on rotation in a foreign country for a month. We pick where we get to go based on a ranking system that takes into account our GPA, extracurricular activities, and an essay. We got our rankings today, and I am almost exactly where I predicted in the list, so I'm happy with my rank. Now I just have to prioritize which countries I want to pick! The official picking process will occur next Friday. I am both excited and nervous, but I'm ready to be done with the whole process so I can start planning my next big adventure!

Big News #4: Impulse buys are awesome!

I was minding my own business, reading a magazine today, when I came across the greatest dress ever designed. It is so perfect for me, I even look like the model wearing it. If you follow me on Instagram, you already know what it is. For the rest of you, you'll just have to wait until it comes in the mail!

I Won A Thing!

I never win anything. Contests, raffles, the lottery....never. I've been wanting to try these Diamond Candles, though, so I entered two different blog giveaways on the off chance that I would win one. And lo and behold, I won the contest I entered on Pamplemousse!! I was so excited!! Incidentally, Pamplemousse is a super cute blog and I really enjoy the mixtapes she posts. You should check it out.

What is a Diamond Candle? It is a soy candle that has a ring hidden inside it. The ring can be worth anywhere from $10 to $5000! The candles themselves cost $24.95 and you can buy them on the Diamond Candles website. I wanted to try one because I thought they might make good gifts. I got mine in the mail today, so I'm going to do a partial review of it for y'all. Whenever I burn it down to the ring, I'll do a follow-up post to tell you more about it.

The candle itself is much bigger than I expected. I would say it's about the size of a travel coffee mug, and comes in a sturdy glass container with a lid. I will definitely reuse the container once I use up the candle. It's a soy candle, too, which is nice. A soy candle of this size is probably worth $20-$25 on it's own. They offer a good variety of scents, and the scent I chose was vanilla lime. It's not too sweet like some vanilla candles can be, definitely a good balance between the citrus of the lime and the vanilla scent. I was a little disappointed that I can see where the ring is (top left picture). I was hoping it would be more of a surprise when I reached it. The ring itself is wrapped in foil, so it doesn't get candle wax all up in it.

It burns nicely but the flame itself is big, so be careful where you put it. If you have a dog I would put it on a counter or high table so your pup doesn't wag his tale over the flame and get singed. It probably wouldn't be good for a home with cats since they could jump onto the counter/shelf/any flat surface and burn themselves. However, once it has burned down farther into the container the flame will be more guarded.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this candle and would definitely consider buying them as gifts! When I burn it down to the ring, I'll post a review part 2! Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be worth some $$!

Disclaimer: I was not compensated by DiamondCandles for this post. I won it fair and square and am sharing my opinions with y'all. Also, there is a good chance at least one person reading this will get one as a Christmas present, so act surprised anyways.

Soundtrack Saturday: Believer - American Authors

Today was a big day for me in my training. I ran for 3.5 miles! This is the first time I have broken the 3 mile mark. Saturdays are my long run days, so every Saturday from now on, I will be running farther than I have ever run before. This week was also the first time that I have be able to do my entire workout plan as scheduled, and that was with my exam on Thursday. I can feel my body getting stronger, and it is a great feeling!

I have a sweet spot for indie bands that have banjoes.

Which brings me to my song of the week! I was initially attracted to this band solely based on their name. American Authors just sounds like a band I would like. I love to read more than life itself. This song has the eclectic sound that I love to listen to, and the lyrics reflect where I am right now, both in my training and in life. 

One of the things I like about the video for this song is all the signs and stuff with the lyrics on them. The shirts in particular tie in well with what I did today, which was go to a paint party! It was my pharmacy fraternity's last rush event, and it was so messy and so much fun! I didn't get a "Before" picture, but here are some "After" pictures to give you an idea of the mayhem that occurred. 

Photos by Daniel Jinks, one of our unofficial official photographers

Soundtrack Sunday (Oops!): Domino - Jessie J

My normal Soundtrack Saturday post didn't make it out of my brain and into my computer yesterday. I worked three days in a row on top of my normal class stuff, so I was beyond exhausted when I got home last night. Thankfully we have two days of the week that start with "s" so I still get my alliterative title today. There's no real story behind today's song. It's just a song I enjoy listening to. It makes me want to get up and dance, and if you know me, you know I LOVE to dance.

I'm going to try a version of that domino-themed nail art sometime soon.

My first test of P3 year is this Thursday, so you probably won't here from me until after that (unless I decide to procrastinate via blogging). Also, a special shout out to some of my friends who shared my St. Jude Heroes page on Facebook! I have now raised over 50% of my goal! Don't forget to check out the "About My Half Marathon" tab to read about the St. Jude Marathon and visit the link to my Heroes page!