How is it that 12 hours in bed can seem so short, yet 12 hours at work is so bloody long? Yesterday was my first experience working an unpaid 12-hour day at the hospital (and actually I kinda lie because we got to leave an hour early, so it was really 11). Not something I intend to repeat for any significant period of time. This just reinforces my belief that I can't sanely work in a hospital. Thank god for the breaks.....and for friends to spend the breaks with..it's the only thing that makes the day bearable.....

I recall working the occasional 12 hour shift as a bartender and/or waitress, and while it seemed long, I don't recall it being as bad as this. Then again, I was also getting paid well for it and had unimpeded access to alcohol........hmmmmmmmmm....

And the scrubs, good god the scrubs....as though stumbling around, sleep deprived carrying a bedpan weren't detrimental enough to one's sense of dignity, we must do so in what is unequivocally the most unattractive uniform ever. No wonder so many health care workers seek comfort in amphetamines.............

Still want a bike...need a bike...well, okay need a car and want a bike......the bruises are staring to heal, tho

Oh, speaking of the bruises.....yesterday morning we had this inservice(like a seminar) on domestic violence identification and prevention...as they were talking about clues that an injury is the result of violence, such as bruising along the underside of the forearm consistent with a defensive pose, I suddenly felt all these eyes on me and looked down at my own bruised and battered forearm flagrantly displayed in my short sleeves (damn scrubs again!)....arg...

Motorcycle course$350
Tuition $7000
Scrub Top $30
Having motorcycle injuries mistaken for domestic violence.........priceless

E

I did it!

I am now the proud holder of an M2 license! I feel as tho I was flung off the back of an 18 wheeler and subsequently hit by a gravel truck, but I passed! Bruised, sore and somewhat humbled by the entire experience, never let it be said I did it the easy, painless way.....turns out riding a bike is not as easy as it seems. God damn $&^%** clutch! I have never experienced such sheer frustration as I did trying to get the flippin thing going in 1st..well, except trying to get it going in 1st on a small hill...terrified of stalling (this particular bike had to be kick-started every time it stalled, which only adds to the humiliation when you do it three times in a row), I'm looking at the hill and thinking that it's going to need a fair bit of throttle to get up it and not roll backwards,so I twist the throttle, let off the back brake a bit, and somehow manage to completely pop the clutch, bike goes lurching forward, I freak and grab for whatever I can reach and manage to drop it between my legs, but only after letting it break a bunch of blood vessels and shear off a bunch of skin on my leg on it's way down. This wouldn't have been so bad, hey, I've got 2 legs..I can limp, right? Except that I managed to do in the other leg the day before when I lost control and dumped it..I now know what it feels like to hit the pavement....

So I passed the test, making only one mistake...apparently the instructors must have been rooting for me since two of them felt compelled to hug me when I passed.....sheesh..

I suppose my next venture should be to finally master driving standard........

E

I have a theory that sleep deprivation, if frequent or chronic enough, will lead even the more-or-less sane to border on psychosis...hmmmm...Gotta go to bed early tonite...right now my sanity is questionable at best, prolly better not to push it. Tossed and turned for most of last night, and just when I finally started to drift off, I was awoken by my (neutered!) cat attempting to bury his face into most inappropriate spots. Once I might have been willing to call a fluke, but he's a persistent little bastard....this doesn't bode well for my habit of sleeping in my birthday suit.

So I went to the ridiculous little meet-and-greet for first years at my school, loaded up with enough text books that their weight alone probably constituted a deadly weapon in most parts of the civilized world. At the mere mention of books for sale I was beseiged by a sea of eager-looking first-years, their little faces not yet showing the dejection and hopelessness that sets in after the Faculty of Nursing is through with you. One particularly ambitious one offered me $260 for a set of books that only cost me $300 to start with....ka-ching!!! Why, that must work out to..let's see..50 gin& tonics! Well, okay maybe 12 if you buy them in the club district....

The kids are going away for the weekend.....sadly, tho, this will not translate into long, leasurely sleeps for me as I have to be at the motorcycle training course by 8:15 at the latest ( a most ungodly hour). I suspect the training people are closet sadists......

E

Well, I am thoroughly exhausted.....

So I'm doing the motorcycle course this weekend....I can barely manage a 5-speed and it's supposed to rain on Saturday.... this ought to be entertaining (for somebody).

TGTF..thank god tomorrow's Friday....except that every day brings me one closer to having to go back to school on Monday...if anyone's having a root canal that day, I'd gladly trade. I suppose I'll go tomorrow to sell my old text books from last year..pass them on to some poor unsuspecting first-year that doesn't yet realize that none of them are necessary...that was an expensive lesson to learn.....

Time for a shower, and off to bed....

E

You know, I thought I was creating a username to post a comment on someone else's blog, only to discover that I was, in fact, creating this....hmmm....

Oh well, I recently read that when life gives you lemons, ask for tequila and salt and call a friend over. I'm not really sure how that fits in here, but what the hell, I thought I'd say it anyway.

I can't really see anyone ever reading this, so I don't really know why I'm still typing..especially considering that I will probably lose the address for this and never find it again myself, but whatever.....

Anyhow, off to try to navigate thru cyberspace to find the original blog that I was trying to post on.. (betcha anything when I get there I won't remember the user info I just created for myself..LOL)

E