Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Sometimes it's really handy to have a blog. I can channel all of my frustration into words that don't particularly harm anyone. Yet I still get to express my opinion. Yesterday at work, I had a total of 5 patients (at different times) because my assignment kept changing. I started out with 3, one notable for being exceptionally inquisitive and likely suspicious, who needed lots of reassurance that we knew what we were doing (as achieved by explaining what we were doing and why. although I'm not entirely sure that's why she was actually inquisitive, because some of her questions didn't really reflect on us. For example, she wanted to know why her liquid tylenol was measured in milligrams if it was a liquid; shouldn't it then be measured in milliliters? [the answer: concentration. mLs can easily change according to how much liquid you add. mgs don't.]) Midway through the morning, I swapped this patient for one of my co-worker's patients because he (patie...

I got called off work today because our census is just too low to require the assigned staff. It is a wonderful thing. When I got the phone call this morning at 5am asking if I wanted to be off today, I said "Yes" and laughed. Then I slept for 5 more hours (that's counting the naps I took), read in bed, clipped my toenails, and otherwise acted like an invalid, which I justified because I had had a migraine the night before, and woke up with a sore throat. The sore throat will be temporary. The migraines, not so much. I went to a chiropractor last week because my roommate gave me a coupon for free services. As I filled out the New Patient information, I let my personality show. I gave my insurance information, but on the line asking who would be paying for this visit, I wrote "You." I truthfully answered how long I had been suffering from the chief complaint that brought me in, and even wrote what precipitated said complaint (genes), but when it got to the line...

I think I have hit upon a life lesson. Planning doesn't make a good day; Good friends make a good day. Or the best day ever. It's not that I didn't put any planning whatsoever into the day. It's just that I think the relationships I have been building with others made the greatest impact on the greatness of the day. Several weeks ago, my roommate decided that it would be cool to go on a free boat tour of the Port of Houston. We agreed we would go in celebration of my birthday, so I made the invitation list. Regrettably, I neglected to remember that I had friends outside of Facebook (who has those, right?), so those that were not my Facebook friends were not invited. My apologies. We scheduled the tour for the evening, to allow for sufficiently deliciously cool temperatures, and to allow me to play Ultimate Frisbee in the morning. Other than that, I had no plans for my birthday. And truth be told, I can't even claim the boat tour as my idea. So all I organize...

Continuing backward in our journey of blog posts I should have written already, we get to last weekend. I'll set the scene for you: Unusually chill weather for Houston summer. "Chill" here is a synonym for "60-70 degrees Fahrenheit." Bright, indeed, effusive, sunlight. Construction on the major roads in already sluggish Houston traffic. And the Parents within 20 minutes, in town for a graduation celebration. Not mine. Not my sister's. My mother's. Not a high school diploma. Not an associate's. Not a bachelor's. Not a master's. A Doctorate. Understandably, the past 5 years have been quite busy for her. Oftentimes conversations were rushed, dinners were of the re-heated variety, and "relaxing" meant being in the same room while she studied statistics. But where the requirements are so great, the victory is all the more rewarding (in her case) or relieving (in my case). As most people already know, attending a graduation ...

This is not the post that I should be blogging on first, in matter of importance, but we'll just have to dive backward into my mind. Start at the end. It's a very good place to start... Yesterday at work, my boss (not the immediate boss, but the one above) came up to me and told me that I would get photographed in my role as a nurse. He told me the internal photographer recommended soft makeup. We both didn't know what that meant. This moment goes back to about a month ago when a great-uncle boss (meaning not my immediate boss, but pretty important) told me he had decided to have the inside newsletter people interview me on my role as a pain resource nurse. I think this happened because I go to the monthly pain resource meetings. Take note, ye work shirkers. So today, I got in a minute late to work because I was busy applying my interpretation of soft makeup (natural colors, no fake eyelashes, and no red lipstick). That, and I was late from an inability to walk too qu...

When I was in 8th grade, I took this academic preparedness class. It changed my life. Except I don't really remember what we learned. It's actually not the class, but one particular moment that I reflect on often. We were all asked to rate the percentage that various things affected our decisions: friends, religion, teachers, books, etc. I had just recently been homeschooled, and I guess I didn't take much advice from my friends, because I gave peer pressure a very low percentage. I stand corrected. This isn't the first time I have reflected on how awfully naive it was to think peers do not affect my decisions. But I am not here to dwell on all of my faults. Just this one experience: For the past year, one of my friends has asked that I go to Six Flags amusement park with her. Amazingly, I worked every time she went. But last month, she realized I was not working on the day she wanted to go (yesterday), and so has been dropping hints. Asking me to check my calendar....

Sadie, Sadie, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? The specifics elude me, but something to do with the elements: water, earth, sun, plant food [which is composed of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, which are of course elemental, hence a part of this list] and singing. You could say that the singing is the air element. Or you could say it is the quintessential element, that elusive alchemist's 5th element believed to transcend the other four earth-bound elements [well, actually, the Earth is bound to the Sun, but the point is that there is a bond]. It is, I hope, the secret ingredient to life. I selected my garden tenants based on drought tolerance and sturdiness. But they are quite different.   This is my Japanese plant.  I like it a lot, because it's not the typical color of greenery. I guess this makes it maroonery. I sing "Body Language" [it has the word konnichiwa in it] and Ue o muite [or rather, I hum it, since I can't remember the words...