The reason I'm still single. Because THIS is what's out there!
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Reason some girls stay single...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Public Service Announcement
It's that magical time of year again. Flu-shot season. As a preemptive strike, I figured I'd get all my pet peeves out there to begin with. First of all, I apologize to whoever it was I was making fun of the other day for complaining that their arm ached after their flu shot. I got mine yesterday and my arm does indeed ache a bit today. So, whoever you were --I honestly don't remember --I'm sorry. Now on to the matter at hand.
You absolutely positively in no way can NOT NOT NOT get the flu from the flu shot. I assure you that it is physiologically impossible. We ask every patient who comes in the ER doors if they were vaccinated for the current or most recent flu season (thanks joint commission). I swear 90% of the people tell me that they get the flu from the flu shot. For the most part, I just bite my lip. Picking my battles if you will. As I said it is physiologically impossible. It canNOT happen. There is NO exception. I think part of the confusion comes from my second pet peeve on this topic.
The flu shot is not to prevent the stomach flu. It is to prevent influenza, the respiratory virus. Some people to get the unfortunate side effects of nausea with a possible bout of vomiting with the flu shot. This is not influenza. And quite honestly, throwing up and being nauseated for a day is much better than a week long bout of influenza where you cough up a lung, can't breath out your nose, drain rain gutters out of your sinuses, run fevers of over 101, and every muscle in your body --including ones you didn't know you had --aches.
I understand that not everyone will get flu shots, and that's ok. But at least know why you're not getting one. If you don't want it, don't think you'll get the flu (the influenza NOT stomach variety --again, just to be clear) or just don't believe in vaccinations, that's ok. But at least be educated about what the purpose actually is.
One more thing, because I foresee it being an issue. You can still get influenza if you just get the H1N1 vaccine. And you can still get H1N1 flu if you just get the normal flu shot, although your chances are less. And for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT wear masks!!! And wash your freaking hands! Wash your hands, sneeze into your elbow, not your hand, don't rub your eyes or your nose. Simple hygiene is the best way to prevent yourself from getting sick. From the flu and other colds coughs etc. One final tip --NyQuil. Best drug ever.
You absolutely positively in no way can NOT NOT NOT get the flu from the flu shot. I assure you that it is physiologically impossible. We ask every patient who comes in the ER doors if they were vaccinated for the current or most recent flu season (thanks joint commission). I swear 90% of the people tell me that they get the flu from the flu shot. For the most part, I just bite my lip. Picking my battles if you will. As I said it is physiologically impossible. It canNOT happen. There is NO exception. I think part of the confusion comes from my second pet peeve on this topic.
The flu shot is not to prevent the stomach flu. It is to prevent influenza, the respiratory virus. Some people to get the unfortunate side effects of nausea with a possible bout of vomiting with the flu shot. This is not influenza. And quite honestly, throwing up and being nauseated for a day is much better than a week long bout of influenza where you cough up a lung, can't breath out your nose, drain rain gutters out of your sinuses, run fevers of over 101, and every muscle in your body --including ones you didn't know you had --aches.
I understand that not everyone will get flu shots, and that's ok. But at least know why you're not getting one. If you don't want it, don't think you'll get the flu (the influenza NOT stomach variety --again, just to be clear) or just don't believe in vaccinations, that's ok. But at least be educated about what the purpose actually is.
One more thing, because I foresee it being an issue. You can still get influenza if you just get the H1N1 vaccine. And you can still get H1N1 flu if you just get the normal flu shot, although your chances are less. And for the love of all that is good and holy, do NOT wear masks!!! And wash your freaking hands! Wash your hands, sneeze into your elbow, not your hand, don't rub your eyes or your nose. Simple hygiene is the best way to prevent yourself from getting sick. From the flu and other colds coughs etc. One final tip --NyQuil. Best drug ever.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Decisions, Decisions
Do you ever feel like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't? You ponder and agonize and over analyze decisions. You think you make the right ones, and you go with what you decide is right even though it hurts like no pain you've ever felt before. It's got to get better, right? After all, you're sure this is where your life is supposed to go. So you push ahead and make the most of each day. No day but today, no time for regret. Then you realize that in spite of all that you've grown and all the great experiences you've had, that you're actually not happy. Too late to go back, you can't rewind time and change your mind. So you do what you can, you do it for you, and you're making your own way -screw the world or what anyone else thinks. And it feels good, and it's refreshing. There are still rough times, and there are still great times, but you're living for you -not for anyone else or their expectations, and that is a beautiful feeling.
Then life throws you a curveball completely out of the blue. Your head spins, your stomach fills with butterflies, and you like it. You've tied yourself down to your current path, for at least a little bit. And now you're not sure that you want that anymore. Maybe you want to be somewhere else entirely. Where you are now is ok, but you've been there for a while, and maybe you're just feeling a little clausterphobic and trapped, but maybe you really do actually want to be somewhere else. Just when you think you're settled and in the groove, you start to question decisions again. The "what ifs" drive you insane. Is this a repeat of the last decision that felt right at the time? What if you really haven't learned all that you thought you had, and you're wrong again. What's done is done. For now anyways. Only time will tell how life plays itself out. So you press forward and continue to make the most out of every moment. Make your own destiny. Forget the hauntings of perceived failures and make the most of today. Sometimes it hurts, and life is not a fairytale. Sometimes people have everything you ever wanted and they don't appreciate it. Sometimes you don't understand how people can be so terrible and careless with the treasures they are blessed with. But overall, life is better than the fairytale. It is what you make it. And no matter where you are, there are people who are worse off. There is always someone you can help, and helping others puts your focus where it should be. Keep your head in the game. This poem was written by one of my good friends, and I think it's amazing.
The playbook was written eons ago,
actions determined before my birth,
evolving over time with situations
into this new age capsule that holds
no promises of a joint tomorrow,
nor any hope for fairy dust and tales
to re-emerge as your new reality.
Instead, this new capsule is padded
with cynicism and wires of openness,
and one should swallow this capsule
with caution and buckets of pragmatism
or it will oil up your throat, choke you
and make you wish your heart had died.
Keeping your head in the game
means keeping your sanity unlocked,
this playbook does not forgive easily,
nor does it forget any lapse in judgement,
as it has no space or literature
to allow for tenderness and gentleness.
Wonderland is no longer an option, Alice,
so pack up your teacups and make haste,
readjust your head to fit the game,
reconfigure your notions of that
rainbow of joint tomorrows dusted by
those old, odd, comforting fairy tales...
this is the stuff with which dreams are killed
this playbook of life, bereft of time and nostalgia,
takes absolutely no prisoners.
--Mercy Mkhana Simiyu
Then life throws you a curveball completely out of the blue. Your head spins, your stomach fills with butterflies, and you like it. You've tied yourself down to your current path, for at least a little bit. And now you're not sure that you want that anymore. Maybe you want to be somewhere else entirely. Where you are now is ok, but you've been there for a while, and maybe you're just feeling a little clausterphobic and trapped, but maybe you really do actually want to be somewhere else. Just when you think you're settled and in the groove, you start to question decisions again. The "what ifs" drive you insane. Is this a repeat of the last decision that felt right at the time? What if you really haven't learned all that you thought you had, and you're wrong again. What's done is done. For now anyways. Only time will tell how life plays itself out. So you press forward and continue to make the most out of every moment. Make your own destiny. Forget the hauntings of perceived failures and make the most of today. Sometimes it hurts, and life is not a fairytale. Sometimes people have everything you ever wanted and they don't appreciate it. Sometimes you don't understand how people can be so terrible and careless with the treasures they are blessed with. But overall, life is better than the fairytale. It is what you make it. And no matter where you are, there are people who are worse off. There is always someone you can help, and helping others puts your focus where it should be. Keep your head in the game. This poem was written by one of my good friends, and I think it's amazing.
The playbook was written eons ago,
actions determined before my birth,
evolving over time with situations
into this new age capsule that holds
no promises of a joint tomorrow,
nor any hope for fairy dust and tales
to re-emerge as your new reality.
Instead, this new capsule is padded
with cynicism and wires of openness,
and one should swallow this capsule
with caution and buckets of pragmatism
or it will oil up your throat, choke you
and make you wish your heart had died.
Keeping your head in the game
means keeping your sanity unlocked,
this playbook does not forgive easily,
nor does it forget any lapse in judgement,
as it has no space or literature
to allow for tenderness and gentleness.
Wonderland is no longer an option, Alice,
so pack up your teacups and make haste,
readjust your head to fit the game,
reconfigure your notions of that
rainbow of joint tomorrows dusted by
those old, odd, comforting fairy tales...
this is the stuff with which dreams are killed
this playbook of life, bereft of time and nostalgia,
takes absolutely no prisoners.
--Mercy Mkhana Simiyu
Thursday, September 3, 2009
The Dayshift Experiment
So I've been working at the same hospital for a combined year and a half. As a traveller. Now that I'm becoming "staff" I have to go through general hospital and patient care services orientation. I do not like hoops. And I don't like wasting my time. I've spent all week getting paid to sit in a chair, roll my eyes, and being so bored I could claw my own eyes out. The up side is that it's all during the day. It's really like a whole week off. I get to sleep at night for a whole week in a row and be awake all day every day for a week. This is very nice. It's amazing how you don't even realize how zombie like you are until you see how normal people get to function :) Being awake during the day is great ...and the short break from cpr and wrestling drunk crazy patients is nice in theory ...but there's a reason I got my degree in nursing and not business. There's a reason that I work in the ER and not on the floors. I do NOT sit well. Every day when orientation is done I literally jump up and RUN out of the room. Then I run a LOT at the lake when I get home just to release all the pent up energy. The great thing is that there's a lot of time in the days!!! I can work all day, run for a couple hours and still have daylight left! I can still go to dinner and hang out with friends, and go to bed at a reasonable hour. It's amazing! Being awake in so much sunlight though has necessitated the purchasing of new sunglasses. Yes, my old cracked Chanel sunglasses from NY will finally rest in peace. I had to get new ones.
Not much else has been going on lately. Lots of time spent with lots of GREAT friends. A few songs that have been running through my brain's internal iPod:
Goodbye --Kristina DeBarge
One Headlight --The Walflowers
Danny's Song --Kenny Loggins
Easy --Commodores
...and as always:
Dock of the Bay --Otis Redding
Not much else has been going on lately. Lots of time spent with lots of GREAT friends. A few songs that have been running through my brain's internal iPod:
Goodbye --Kristina DeBarge
One Headlight --The Walflowers
Danny's Song --Kenny Loggins
Easy --Commodores
...and as always:
Dock of the Bay --Otis Redding
Here's all the wasted paper to go along with all my wasted time at hospital orientation :) And my new "official" nametag --woot woot!
Here's me awake, outside, and in the daylight!! (in my rockin new sunglasses :) )
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