The good, the bad, and the not-sure-what-it-is-yet
*pokes head out and looks around*
I am actually still here. Just woefully bad at keeping up lately. Have completely and utterly missed at least one flister having Major Life Stuff until after the fact and probably done a pathetic job of apologizing. That means I've probably completely and utterly missed way more than that, so if there's something you've posted and wondered, "WTF? Why hasn't she said anything?" then please link me.
Meanwhile, there's some newsy stuff I've run across this week that I decided to share. Thanks to rm for the first and estaratshirai for the second.
Rape as a pre-existing condition. Nutshell version: get raped, receive HIV prophylaxis, become uninsurable. Or just be denied coverage if you're raped a second time, because now it's a pre-existing condition. How there are people that can still say the health care system in this country is not severely broken when stuff like this happens, I don't know. I get disagreeing over how to fix it. I absolutely do not grok thinking there's nothing to fix, and I've actually had conversations with people who've tried to argue this.
On the flip side, there's an article about a surgeon in Colorado who does genital mutilation reversal surgery and a group called Clitoraid that helped fund his training. I had no idea that was even possible, but am so glad to hear that it is and that it's being done.
And, as catch-up posts are wont to do, this got long, so here come the cuts.
Clinical was intense this week. First time with two patients, which was a trip. Doing care on more than one patient? No problem. Have been the only PCT on a full floor with 22 patients before. Sucks, but doable. Look up meds and write care plans on two, keep who is who straight when they have similar diagnoses, and do all the charting without mixing them up? *babbles incoherently* So that was fun. Then next week I'm in the OR, the following week I have pedi, and then back to med-surg for the remainder of the semester. *chants quietly, "I can survive anything. I can survive anything."* That really has become a useful mantra this semester.
Exam seemed stupidly easy on Thursday, which left me wondering ... if I thought I did so badly on the last one and pulled off an A-, what does it mean to come out of this one thinking it was a cake-walk? As I suspected, it means I got the worst grade yet of the semester, though as it's still a B, I'm not complaining.
Loved the geriatrics class. Prof was the same one who did newborns and was my OB clinical instructor. This is not her area of expertise, but she threw herself into it, solicited student feedback as she was developing the unit, and did an impressive amount of reading and research to prepare, and it shows. She had a great in-class project that really helped integrate the material. And when I approached her after class with a question that I knew she wouldn't have been expecting (hence the saving it for after class), well, I bought myself a mini-research project with it, but she gave me some tools to help.
See, the thing is, the in-class project involved going through our functional assessment tool and developing interventions in each functional area (cardio, respiratory, etc.) for patients experiencing normal aging. (Next week, I gather, will be the shift to people with various disease processes.) And while it wasn't the functional area my group was assigned, something jumped out at me about the genito-urinary functional analysis. The class was barely managing to have coherent discussion around older people having sex at all (yeah, more ageism fail), so again, I saved my question for after class.
Me: I have a question about something we really didn't touch on in the genito-urinary segment.
Prof: Yes?
Me: Well, the focus was a bit heteronormative, and I found myself wondering if there aren't specific sexual function concerns for older gay men with benign prostatic hypertrophy. [aka enlarged prostate]
Prof: Huh. I hadn't thought of that, but you're probably right.
Me: Any idea where I might find some research on that, assuming any has been done?
Prof: [Assorted suggestions, links, how to access a better journal database than our little community college has, thus upping the odds of finding something, and a request to post whatever I find to Blackboard.]
Now if I could get *either* journal database to even give me a login screen, much less let me log in, maybe I could follow through. Google was, unsurprisingly, unhelpful. If I don't find anything by Monday, I'll ask my clinical instructor, whose husband is a urologist, for any specific journal titles that might be helpful.
So, with the intensity of clinical, I came home Monday night and begged Patsfan to take me somewhere to do something, anything, that was not work or school related after clinical on Tuesday. (Not that I just had a getaway to NYC or anything. *snort* But seriously, we hadn't had any time together that didn't involve television in way, way too long, so it was much needed.) We ended up going out to dinner, and at some point, I remembered that a) this was where we'd been when he'd raised the possibility of going to see Gary Moore playing in Cardiff this fall and b) that that is coming up next bloody Monday, making that entirely impossible due to my clinical schedule. *sigh* But that conversation had included the possibility that we could plan a trip there as a graduation thing next year, so I decided to bring that up again.
Me: The thing of it is, I'll be graduating in December.
Patsfan: Do you remember how horrible the weather in Scotland and England was in November?
Me: Yeah. But if we wait for summer, I might be in a job where I'm too new to be taking time off.
PF: That's true.
Me: And, actually, I've recently discovered there might be an event worth catching specifically in December, or at least, has done for the last few Decembers and might again.
PF: But it's going to be cold.
Me: Well, aside from the geekitude of the Plass and the Quay, we'd mostly be indoors anyway.
PF: But what if Gary Moore's not playing there again?
Me: *considers and discards the idea of pointing out that not every trip to the UK is required to have a Gary Moore concert as its focal point, not least because, apparently, if Patsfan is involved, it is*
PF: But I guess he might be playing somewhere else over there, and we could still work in a couple of days in Cardiff.
Me: *crosses fingers that next year's tour schedule has him in the UK or Ireland, preferably Wales, next December, sometime after finals* At least a couple. I mean, you'll want to see the Who Museum too, right? [Note, yes, I have since worked out that the actual museum is in Blackpool and that the Cardiff exhibit will likely have ended its run long before we get there. But the rest of the conversation is priceless anyway.]
PF: Really? That's in Cardiff too? I thought you were just talking about Torchwood stuff.
Me: Well, both.
PF: Why is it in Cardiff though?
Me: Er, because they do a lot of the filming there, I guess.
PF: *confused look* I mean, I'd expect it to be in Leeds.
Me: *confused look* Um, why?
PF: Well, that'd make sense, right? "Live in Leeds" and everything?
Me: WTF are you talking about?
PF: It's one of their most famous albums.
Me: *still not following, trying to come up with any episode that ever occurred in Leeds* Albums? Wait, the musical special thingies were in London, weren't they? I mean, the one we just watched was at the Royal Albert Hall, even.
PF: WTF are you talking about?
Me: *light finally goes on* Doctor Who, not The Who.
PF: *facepalm* Well, I'll bet The Who have some kind of museumy thing, too, so maybe we can add that to the itinerary?
Me: Considering we managed to work in "the house where Jimmy Page used to live" last time? Yeah, I'm sure we can.
Conversation also drifted to the recent NYC trip, including a repeat of the "teenaged groupie" comment. This led back across the pond, with me pointing out that I was the one who stood in the cold, November rain at night in Liverpool to get him Gary Moore's autograph while he fetched the car, a performance I do not intend to repeat. He wants another one, he can stand in the rain this time. (Should the opportunity arise to collect any other autographs of more interest to me than to him, yes, I shall do so myself. Though I wouldn't mind meeting Moore again, if only to see if saying, "Yes, we flew over to see you again. Could you please score some US tour dates, like, ever?" gets anything other than a blank stare. Considering it's been 7 years, probably not.)
Also, on a related note, I'm observing that Patsfan seems to rather heartily approve of my recent shift in fixation. I find this rather amusing, as it seems to indicate he finds it "safer" somehow. Because it was so likely that I was ever going to run off with Alan Rickman. *eyeroll*
And that leads to writing. Still completely possessed by The Fic That Wouldn't Stay Dead. Have attempted everything short of bombs and concrete (considering avoidance of these particular devices is part of The Point, it would be rather hypocritical to use them on the fic itself, after all, besides which, I don't exactly want to destroy my laptop in the process), and the damned thing keeps gasping back to life. *sighs* I would like to actually write something else for a bit. Thought meeting Alan Tudyk might have made it easier to write the Wash-fic that's at the top of my writing to-do list, at least, but not so far. However, have discovered an OT3 DW/TW/Firefly fic that at least has my head partway back in that 'verse, so maybe there's some hope.
TFTWSD is now over 41K. Still have very serious doubts about it ever seeing the light of day, and not just because TW fandom is, if anything, even more batshit than HP. Then again, that's what I was saying at this stage of TKWIA, and that version never even got seen by my alpha-readers *shudders @ the thought of even opening those files ever again* but yet the thing did get beaten into shape eventually, so ... *shrugs* Interestingly, the thing is organizing itself into episodes rather than chapters. Which makes sense, I suppose, but I haven't written fic that way since my teens.
Also, have joined saying_yes_2010. Dunno if I'll end up writing anything for it, but I do heartily approve of the idea behind it. And their art- and fic-bit-athon is running in January, while I'm on break from school, so maybe. If I can get my brain back from the Hub's secure archives by then or, failing that, at least manage to write something TW that is not TFTWSD.
That's probably enough of an update for now. Time I got some stuff done around here. Not necessarily work stuff, especially as the 2nd shift person kindly did most of my usual cleaning for me, but, y'know, stuff. (Aside: I'm apparently off tomorrow night. I have no recollection of requesting it off. It would make my life easier on Sunday, as I have a shower to attend, but then again, it doesn't look like anyone has taken the shift. Weird.)
I am actually still here. Just woefully bad at keeping up lately. Have completely and utterly missed at least one flister having Major Life Stuff until after the fact and probably done a pathetic job of apologizing. That means I've probably completely and utterly missed way more than that, so if there's something you've posted and wondered, "WTF? Why hasn't she said anything?" then please link me.
Meanwhile, there's some newsy stuff I've run across this week that I decided to share. Thanks to rm for the first and estaratshirai for the second.
Rape as a pre-existing condition. Nutshell version: get raped, receive HIV prophylaxis, become uninsurable. Or just be denied coverage if you're raped a second time, because now it's a pre-existing condition. How there are people that can still say the health care system in this country is not severely broken when stuff like this happens, I don't know. I get disagreeing over how to fix it. I absolutely do not grok thinking there's nothing to fix, and I've actually had conversations with people who've tried to argue this.
On the flip side, there's an article about a surgeon in Colorado who does genital mutilation reversal surgery and a group called Clitoraid that helped fund his training. I had no idea that was even possible, but am so glad to hear that it is and that it's being done.
And, as catch-up posts are wont to do, this got long, so here come the cuts.
Clinical was intense this week. First time with two patients, which was a trip. Doing care on more than one patient? No problem. Have been the only PCT on a full floor with 22 patients before. Sucks, but doable. Look up meds and write care plans on two, keep who is who straight when they have similar diagnoses, and do all the charting without mixing them up? *babbles incoherently* So that was fun. Then next week I'm in the OR, the following week I have pedi, and then back to med-surg for the remainder of the semester. *chants quietly, "I can survive anything. I can survive anything."* That really has become a useful mantra this semester.
Exam seemed stupidly easy on Thursday, which left me wondering ... if I thought I did so badly on the last one and pulled off an A-, what does it mean to come out of this one thinking it was a cake-walk? As I suspected, it means I got the worst grade yet of the semester, though as it's still a B, I'm not complaining.
Loved the geriatrics class. Prof was the same one who did newborns and was my OB clinical instructor. This is not her area of expertise, but she threw herself into it, solicited student feedback as she was developing the unit, and did an impressive amount of reading and research to prepare, and it shows. She had a great in-class project that really helped integrate the material. And when I approached her after class with a question that I knew she wouldn't have been expecting (hence the saving it for after class), well, I bought myself a mini-research project with it, but she gave me some tools to help.
See, the thing is, the in-class project involved going through our functional assessment tool and developing interventions in each functional area (cardio, respiratory, etc.) for patients experiencing normal aging. (Next week, I gather, will be the shift to people with various disease processes.) And while it wasn't the functional area my group was assigned, something jumped out at me about the genito-urinary functional analysis. The class was barely managing to have coherent discussion around older people having sex at all (yeah, more ageism fail), so again, I saved my question for after class.
Me: I have a question about something we really didn't touch on in the genito-urinary segment.
Prof: Yes?
Me: Well, the focus was a bit heteronormative, and I found myself wondering if there aren't specific sexual function concerns for older gay men with benign prostatic hypertrophy. [aka enlarged prostate]
Prof: Huh. I hadn't thought of that, but you're probably right.
Me: Any idea where I might find some research on that, assuming any has been done?
Prof: [Assorted suggestions, links, how to access a better journal database than our little community college has, thus upping the odds of finding something, and a request to post whatever I find to Blackboard.]
Now if I could get *either* journal database to even give me a login screen, much less let me log in, maybe I could follow through. Google was, unsurprisingly, unhelpful. If I don't find anything by Monday, I'll ask my clinical instructor, whose husband is a urologist, for any specific journal titles that might be helpful.
So, with the intensity of clinical, I came home Monday night and begged Patsfan to take me somewhere to do something, anything, that was not work or school related after clinical on Tuesday. (Not that I just had a getaway to NYC or anything. *snort* But seriously, we hadn't had any time together that didn't involve television in way, way too long, so it was much needed.) We ended up going out to dinner, and at some point, I remembered that a) this was where we'd been when he'd raised the possibility of going to see Gary Moore playing in Cardiff this fall and b) that that is coming up next bloody Monday, making that entirely impossible due to my clinical schedule. *sigh* But that conversation had included the possibility that we could plan a trip there as a graduation thing next year, so I decided to bring that up again.
Me: The thing of it is, I'll be graduating in December.
Patsfan: Do you remember how horrible the weather in Scotland and England was in November?
Me: Yeah. But if we wait for summer, I might be in a job where I'm too new to be taking time off.
PF: That's true.
Me: And, actually, I've recently discovered there might be an event worth catching specifically in December, or at least, has done for the last few Decembers and might again.
PF: But it's going to be cold.
Me: Well, aside from the geekitude of the Plass and the Quay, we'd mostly be indoors anyway.
PF: But what if Gary Moore's not playing there again?
Me: *considers and discards the idea of pointing out that not every trip to the UK is required to have a Gary Moore concert as its focal point, not least because, apparently, if Patsfan is involved, it is*
PF: But I guess he might be playing somewhere else over there, and we could still work in a couple of days in Cardiff.
Me: *crosses fingers that next year's tour schedule has him in the UK or Ireland, preferably Wales, next December, sometime after finals* At least a couple. I mean, you'll want to see the Who Museum too, right? [Note, yes, I have since worked out that the actual museum is in Blackpool and that the Cardiff exhibit will likely have ended its run long before we get there. But the rest of the conversation is priceless anyway.]
PF: Really? That's in Cardiff too? I thought you were just talking about Torchwood stuff.
Me: Well, both.
PF: Why is it in Cardiff though?
Me: Er, because they do a lot of the filming there, I guess.
PF: *confused look* I mean, I'd expect it to be in Leeds.
Me: *confused look* Um, why?
PF: Well, that'd make sense, right? "Live in Leeds" and everything?
Me: WTF are you talking about?
PF: It's one of their most famous albums.
Me: *still not following, trying to come up with any episode that ever occurred in Leeds* Albums? Wait, the musical special thingies were in London, weren't they? I mean, the one we just watched was at the Royal Albert Hall, even.
PF: WTF are you talking about?
Me: *light finally goes on* Doctor Who, not The Who.
PF: *facepalm* Well, I'll bet The Who have some kind of museumy thing, too, so maybe we can add that to the itinerary?
Me: Considering we managed to work in "the house where Jimmy Page used to live" last time? Yeah, I'm sure we can.
Conversation also drifted to the recent NYC trip, including a repeat of the "teenaged groupie" comment. This led back across the pond, with me pointing out that I was the one who stood in the cold, November rain at night in Liverpool to get him Gary Moore's autograph while he fetched the car, a performance I do not intend to repeat. He wants another one, he can stand in the rain this time. (Should the opportunity arise to collect any other autographs of more interest to me than to him, yes, I shall do so myself. Though I wouldn't mind meeting Moore again, if only to see if saying, "Yes, we flew over to see you again. Could you please score some US tour dates, like, ever?" gets anything other than a blank stare. Considering it's been 7 years, probably not.)
Also, on a related note, I'm observing that Patsfan seems to rather heartily approve of my recent shift in fixation. I find this rather amusing, as it seems to indicate he finds it "safer" somehow. Because it was so likely that I was ever going to run off with Alan Rickman. *eyeroll*
And that leads to writing. Still completely possessed by The Fic That Wouldn't Stay Dead. Have attempted everything short of bombs and concrete (considering avoidance of these particular devices is part of The Point, it would be rather hypocritical to use them on the fic itself, after all, besides which, I don't exactly want to destroy my laptop in the process), and the damned thing keeps gasping back to life. *sighs* I would like to actually write something else for a bit. Thought meeting Alan Tudyk might have made it easier to write the Wash-fic that's at the top of my writing to-do list, at least, but not so far. However, have discovered an OT3 DW/TW/Firefly fic that at least has my head partway back in that 'verse, so maybe there's some hope.
TFTWSD is now over 41K. Still have very serious doubts about it ever seeing the light of day, and not just because TW fandom is, if anything, even more batshit than HP. Then again, that's what I was saying at this stage of TKWIA, and that version never even got seen by my alpha-readers *shudders @ the thought of even opening those files ever again* but yet the thing did get beaten into shape eventually, so ... *shrugs* Interestingly, the thing is organizing itself into episodes rather than chapters. Which makes sense, I suppose, but I haven't written fic that way since my teens.
Also, have joined saying_yes_2010. Dunno if I'll end up writing anything for it, but I do heartily approve of the idea behind it. And their art- and fic-bit-athon is running in January, while I'm on break from school, so maybe. If I can get my brain back from the Hub's secure archives by then or, failing that, at least manage to write something TW that is not TFTWSD.
That's probably enough of an update for now. Time I got some stuff done around here. Not necessarily work stuff, especially as the 2nd shift person kindly did most of my usual cleaning for me, but, y'know, stuff. (Aside: I'm apparently off tomorrow night. I have no recollection of requesting it off. It would make my life easier on Sunday, as I have a shower to attend, but then again, it doesn't look like anyone has taken the shift. Weird.)