Bria's Blogie

Why I want to be a Physical Therapist

I can honestly say that my journey toward this career path has been interesting. The adventure began when I was fourteen. I managed to injure my shoulder playing tennis and was prescribed physical therapy by one of the local orthopedic specialists. I had never heard of physical therapy. I did know that "crazy" people went to therapy, so was a little apprehensive on my first visit. I visited an outpatient clinic that was associated with a hospital, but was surprised to find that the environment wasn't anything like the sterile white hospital across the street-- no chemical smell, no groans of pain, no hustling nurses, mostly people moving, or trying to at least. When I met my therapist I was further intrigued; she wasn't wearing a white coat or loafers, but athletic attire. I was beginning to like this place. Then came the barrage of tests. That I didn’t like too much. I was quite surprised at how many ways the therapist could make my injury hurt and continue to ask silly questions like, "Does that hurt?" Over the next few weeks, I went to therapy a few times a week and slowly the pain began to subside and I became stronger. At one point, I remember my dad asking me if I thought I might like to be a physical therapist some day. I considered it and thought that I could enjoy writing down a few notes and being bossy all day long. How hard could that be? And so, I had a parent-approved answer to the never ending stream of "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Eventually, I got to a point where the therapist felt I could continue the exercises at home by myself and did not need to come to the clinic anymore. I was distraught and even faked pain to get to stay in therapy longer. Of course, I couldn't fool the therapist!

Time went by I began to make my rounds observing physical therapists at work, because that's what Daddy told me I needed to do to go to PT school. (In order to apply to physical therapy school, one must watch PTs work for a certain number of prescribed hours.) The first therapist that allowed me to totter along in her shadow amazes me now that I look back. I don't recall what her specialty was, but she worked is several fields. She worked in an open setting with eight to ten other therapists, so I got to look over the other therapists' shoulders as well. Never was there such a large body of free flowing knowledge! I was exposed to so many different areas of physical therapy during my time at that facility. I felt like I could jump from one area to another for years and never see everything! I could handle that-- having a seemingly endless array of options to choose from within one's field.

Not long after my first stint at that particular setting, I got into my major classes at university. There I realized that I really do have a passion for people and their health and fitness. I had cared about fitness early on in life not by my own design, but due to the urging of my dad. Tennis, to him, was life... for me anyway. He was quite sure that I was going to be a tennis super star and go to some huge school on full scholarship. Well, that didn't happen, but somewhere in all those years on the court, a love of fitness and wellness was instilled within me and now I have a desire to light little fitness fires in everyone I meet. I'd like to set the world ablaze!

Tennis did play another role in my journey though. I may not have gotten a scholarship, or played the best players in the world, but I have watched many players. In all the watching I've done, rarely did I see someone playing a game, but rather a body in motion. There on the tennis court I found beauty in the human form in motion-- a fluid grace. Then someone would get injured and that grace would be stunted. What a loss, the injury of beauty.

During one summer I took a part time desk job at a local tennis shop. The job got exciting every thirty minutes when a flood of the teaching pro's lessons would swarm the pro shop paying for lessons, purchasing grips or strings, or whatever tennis paraphernalia they desired. The job was menial and did not involve using one's brain in the slightest. There I learned that I would never hold a job in which I didn't use my brain on a daily basis to solve problems and be satisfied with myself. I craved a daily challenge.

Prior to a Pre- PT Club meeting last year, I was dawdling on the front porch of the university's physical therapy school. There in the window was a little sticker from the American Physical Therapy Association, whose motto read "The art of caring, the science of healing" There. I had it. I was in the right place for sure. I've always cared for anything that will allow me to care for it. That's why I have four pets and have a passion for gardening. I like to care for things and that extends to people as well. I love to volunteer for service work. Seeing as how I have no medical certifications at the moment, doing volunteer work is the only outlet I have found to care for people. I have always loved science, even from an early age. When I was a kid I read everything I could get my hands on; however, I doubt I read anything fiction until I was forced to for a class in middle school. I devoured books filled with scientific facts and spent hours quietly gleaning knowledge from whatever came my direction. But to heal! What a magnificent gift! I am at a loss of words in awe of the ability to heal one's own species' maladies. I would give anything to blend those two loves of my life-- caring and healing.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place for me this past summer. At my last observation round, I was lucky enough to work alongside a therapist who also is a professor at the PT school. I don't recall exactly what the conversation was or what he said, but the meat of the line was this: physical therapists use their knowledge of human anatomy and physiology to puzzle out what is going on with their patients and how to use the patients' body to fix the problem. Bingo. Anatomy and physiology are my favorite subjects of all the sciences. The human body fascinates me to no end. God our bodies to perform certain functions and given the lack of disease, do so perfectly. And there is where my faith gets tied into my chosen career.

These reasons really only scratch the surface. There are dozens of other smaller reasons why I'd like to be a PT, but these are the most significant in my eye.

So you see I've found my dream job. Now the question is, can I convince my superiors that I am worthy of training to become their colleague? Say a prayer for me!

Pre- Girls' Night Chatter

I'm still feeling rather mentally exhausted from the summer. Two weeks off just wasn't enough. My mind is still rebelling against my studies. This past week, I totally forgot about a VERY easy assignment; I NEVER just forget. Perhaps it could be the lack of purpose I'm feeling in some of my classes. I have three classes with one professor. I like his teaching in that he doesn't believe in just sitting and taking notes; he requires discussion in class which I enjoy immensely. Sometimes though the discussions sound more like Sunday School than class. Sunday School is great and all, but I'm paying way too much for the classes to learn nothing new. That professors classes unnerve me a bit too, because the professor is also the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-p ants sort and so hasn't let us know when our tests are. I like to know so I can fit in the studying for each test around other tests, activities, etc. Enough about school...

Tennis is here. Our short season has just begun. We played our first tournie this past weekend. I got second in singles and ... not last but not good either in doubles. The singles play was really good for me. I wasn't playing super hard people that were way out of my league, but they weren't push overs either. Just what I needed. I lost the championship to a high national ranking D2 freshman in a 10-point tie breaker for the third set 9-11. (I know that probably doesn't mean much to most people, but basically we went to over time and I barely lost.) I was rather disappointed. Winning would have been a great cap for a great tournie. I'm not sure how the team as a whole did. I'm not entirely thrilled with this year's team yet. There are too many people first of all. Then some of them don't have the greatest work ethic. Well, I say that, but I hold myself to exceptional work ethic standards and so do for others as well. But then again, the team is really young and it could just be the immaturity coming through loud and clear. All I can say is that if they want to win they had better get over the cutting corners very quickly. Because if they don't, they'll have an angry Bria to deal with. There are no short cuts to championships after all. It has been a lot of work to get back into the sport, since I didn't play all summer long. I've wondered many times in the past few weeks if continuing to play is even worth all the effort I'm putting into it. The cons include: I'm really rusty and out of shape; none of my good buddies have returned to the team this semester, but one will be back next semester. The pros include: I'm still active and so improving my quality of life both currently and down the road; I'm making new friends; I'm still competing athletically; tennis gives me a break from school work and makes my mind work more efficiently; and lastly, I tend to manage my time better when I'm busy. So as you can see, the pros are there and so I'm still hanging around, despite having to swim up river in regards to general fitness for the sport and friends.

On a happier note, I've been invited to interview for the physical therapy school I want! And I got the interview date I wanted!!! I am so pumped and getting nervous too. It's on the afternoon of the 19th so say a prayer or a few hundred for me. Well, it's girls' night so I'm off to go chatter with my gal pals.

The Super Duper Mega Church

I awoke late this morning realizing that it is Wednesday and that I haven't checked my mail since early Monday. (I am expecting two textbooks in the mail any day now. When those arrive, they tend to take up the entirety of my tiny mailbox, so it is imperative that I check the box everyday until they arrive.) I literally stumbled down the two flights of stairs to the mailbox block and opened the box door. Lo and behold, junk mail and that was it. I slammed the door shut in frustration, dropping the mail in the process. I stooped down to get the junk off the ground, grumbling at the people I bought my textbooks from because at least one of my books is overdue. One piece of mail caught my eye--a booklet entitled "2008 Fall Preview". It looked like something the University would send out, so I assumed they were already searching for places for perspective students to stay for the fall preview. I ripped open the little seal and read the first page. The page title read "4 services @ 3 times". Perplexed, I turned the booklet over to investigate the to/from and... it wasn't addressed to me. Oops. It wasn't addressed to any of my housemates either, but to someone that used to live here. Her stuff shows up in the mailbox a lot. The booklet was from the Super Duper Mega Church. Now understanding what the booklet was, I tucked it under my arm with the rest of the junk mail and proceeded to stumble up the stairs. (Yes, I am talented enough to stumble up the stairs too.) When I arrived back in my apartment with a few more scrapes than I had gone out with, I sat down in my favorite chair, pulled out the booklet and proceeded to peruse the  Super Duper Mega Church's offerings for the fall.

I read the first page. Four services, huh? Interesting. Why the need for FOUR services? It appears that the difference between them is the volume. At first I concluded that the loudest were for the old people that couldn't hear, but then when investigating the service times, found that the softest were in the morning for the early risers and the loud ones in the late morning for the non-morning people. Ah, the loud ones are for the rocker younger people like me. Gotcha. So I continued to flip through the pages... and I flipped... and I flipped... read some here, read some there... and I continued to flip... my eyes began to bug out... and I flipped some more. The booklet was twenty-seven pages long! And each page was filled with microscopic print detailing services, groups, studies and events the church has each week! I wasn't even at the Super Duper Mega Church and I already felt lost in the amount of services they were peddling at me.

I must admit, the variety of services is alluring. As I read, there were a few times where I exclaimed to myself, "OOO! I'd like to be involved with that!" either as the server or servee. Is that the draw of the Super Duper Mega Church? The sheer variety of services offered? The four worship services? The "not your average" business meetings? The hundreds of small groups? The dozens of Sunday schools? The twenty weekly courses? The never ending options for Wednesday night? The huge college group? The equally large youth group? The multiple aging and still single groups? The enormous  children's department, which by the way offers a separate class for the mentally or physically disabled children staffed by professionals? Or is it the dozens of venues in which one committed Christian could serve his or her Christ within the church walls. WHAT IS IT?!?!

Why is the Super Duper Mega church so huge that it needs several policemen to direct traffic on Sunday morning? Why is it that the Super Duper Mega Church is so obviously successful that they can afford ostentatious sculptures that tower over their parking lots while my family's church just down the street still lacks a real sanctuary after being in the the new building for four years and is staring bankruptcy in the face?

I've been to this church for concerts numerous times. Even sat in on just one of their many Wednesday night services on occasion. Walking into that place gives me the chills because the rooms are so huge! Then the people! There are so many of them that the services look more like sardine cans. The body heat is almost unbearable. And that's not even at the concerts!

Tell me, why do people flock to the Super Duper Mega Church, but zoom past my family's church, almost running over our congregation as they pull in, in their rush to get to one (or several in the case of the families in mini-vans) of the services offered by the Super Duper Mega Church?

Miscellaneous. That's a funny word.

To be completely honest, I have no writing goal in mind. Usually I begin a blog with a topic at least, but I don't really have one right now. I'm just writing again to improve my English skills. The wonderful thing about the blog is that you and the reader, have no idea how many times I've edited this! haha.

I was browsing through flair on the pieces of flair app a little while ago (Facebook application where you can pick out buttons to put on your very own cork board space on your profile) and found it funny that a portrait of Jesus was right next to a portrait of Bob Saget.

 It has rained all day today. That never happens here, much less in August. It's supposed to do the same tomorrow. The freshmen are moving in tomorrow too. I hope they bring big plastic sheets to throw over their stuff so it's not soaking wet by the time they drag it up from the parking lot! Due to the rain, I slept for four hours this afternoon. That's what Sunday afternoons are all about. The problem lies in that I really need to go to bed early tonight because I have a dentist appointment at 8:30 am.

My cousin Ryan ran a triathlon today. I am so jealous of him! He just got started in the outdoor sports a few months ago and he's already doing all this stuff with it. Like he's done this and he goes mountain biking on the weekends and hiking! He's a member of some group up where he lives. People around here just aren't interested in that kind of thing. Of course, the mesquite trees and scrub brush don't get me real excited about spending time in the great outdoors either. But sheesh, you'd think in a decent sized city there'd be something! There is a bike club. Maybe I should look into it. I suppose the reason I haven't is because the only bike trail near here has a really big drop with a gravel pit at the bottom in which I've heard everyone takes a big spill. I don't want to fall! That's where the group rides. I may try to find out some more info though, because that's what the adventure sports are all about; conquering one's fears.

I'm pretty sure that the school's population of ducks has waddled away from the pond in the rain and taken up residence under my window today. Either that or a very large chorus of frogs. Well, toads. It's too dry around here to have real frogs. Usually, not today though. Maybe they came out from hibernation. If a frog were to hibernate around here to wait for rain, they'd have ridiculously long lives. But the point is that there is something making quite a bit of noise down there. I'm not on ground level, so I'm sure I'm not getting the full effect. I'm sad. Not.

I've been wanting to read for days, so I'm off to do so. 

Summer's end

I finally finished my horrible summer. No more physics. No more heavily mathematical classes EVER! You have no idea how excited I am about that. Now I can graduate in May too! Hooray! I really and truly have no idea how I escaped all that work with my sanity. Well, some would argue that I didn't. I've had my nose glued to my calculator for so long my English skills have flown out the door. I find that often times what I'm thinking will come to me in Spanish rather than in English. Which is bizarre. That happens all the time when I've been studying my Spanish, but I haven't been... in a while. So to fix that problem, over the next few days I'm going to read a lot in the book I picked up at the beginning of the summer but have had little to no time to read so far-- the Arabian Nights. It's been great so far. It is basically a large story book for grownups. I will probably also be writing around here.

I just got back from vacation. I deserved that. I went and played at a waterpark, shopped, went to the spa for a mani, pedi AND massage, ate some awesome food and just chilled. Great times with my housemate, Tink. 

I have the rest of this week and next week to prepare myself for school. I've got a lot to do and I haven't even finished making my to-do list yet! I won't be sitting around too much, that's for sure! However, treating myself will continue because I intend to only set my alarm on the days on which I have early morning appointments. Alarms and I aren't the best of friends. I would worry about someone who did enjoy their alarm though. 

It's raining outside. That's a miracle around here-- an August rain. 

Anyway my summer is a total blur to me. I think I've blocked it out of my memory as a protective mechanism. (I did learn something in those silly intro to psyc classes after all!)