Long time no see
Okay, well I haven't updated in a long time, and I have nothing to do at work, so I might as well do some typing to pass the time.
This is the first night shift in a long time that it's been quiet! Hardly any call bells and even the problem patients seem to be sleeping soundly (more or less).
Nothing much happening with me socially. I haven't seen my friends or talked to them. Mostly because they don't call me and I'm the one always having to call them so I'm not going to do that anymore. But also I figure they're busy, I'm tired (and sort of busy), so no big deal. I've been going out with my mom to lunches out and shopping on my days off and that's always nice. Did you know Ikea has a breakfast special for $1 until 11 am? We're definitely going to do that.
I've been thinking of ways to occupy my time, and I thought I might like to do an Evangelion model. Except the cheapest one was $55 and it was the silver one (05?) and not the one I was looking for. I couldn't find any other ones. Me and my mom even went to Crystal Mall on the spur of the moment on my day off - turned up nothing. I drove there and that was not as hard as I thought. A little stressful, but the traffic wasn't too bad so it was okay.
I've been working on my drawing, though. Anyone remember that winning entry to the anime contest that i drew? the one with the 4 girls and their silhouettes in the foreground and that blond one that everyone thought was a guy (Grr them)? Well, I"ve finally finished my poster that I had been planning for about a year or year and a half. I had the sketch done awhile ago and then hadn't done anything with it since then. I got back to it just a few weeks ago and totally revamped the design and it looks so much cooler than the original. I have yet to color it. I suppose I'll get Shannon to scan it so I can put it on the internet...sometime.
I'm also currently working on a height comparison full body picture of those girls (all 6) all in a row so you can see how tall they are in relation to one another. I've got ambitions to do another sketch of all of them lounging at their HQ in their work/school clothes. That'll be a tougher one since I"m not very good at drawing backgrounds and settings. I've been thinking up their names and their almost-super powers (stuff that's in the realm of possibility, not too far-fetched like mutant powers). I'm also thinking it would be a neat idea to do a mini poster for each of them.
I watched The last Samurai a few weeks ago. Not a particularly compelling, unique, or good movie. So why did I watch it? You figure it out. It's an alright movie, but not the best I've seen. Mystic River is a good movie - it's different and the ending isn't a happy one, it's realistic, and i liked that. I also watched Interview with the Vampire just because. God Tom Cruise was hot in that movie. And possibly bisexual (woohoo?). Except for the fact that the character he played was an arrogant asshole, what's not to like? And after watching The Last Samurai and commercials for Collateral (doesn't look particularly good, but i'll watch it anyway), I have made one conclusion:
He's still got it. And how.
Now THERE'S a 42 year old man I would mind going out with.
A Home at the End of the World (or whatever the title is) seems like a really good movie too, according to the reviews anyways. It's a quiet type of drama about the nature of love, innocence, and the meaning of home. I'm glad i'm making more intelligent movie choices now. Shannon still likes the Chick flick girl power movies, but frankly, i find them formulaic and boring. I guess i have all the confidence i need. But I still like mindless action movies, just none of that smarmy romance crap.
I got my palm read by my patient's wife. According to her, I will get married when I'm 28, have 3 children (Good lord i hope that won't happen), and be rich by 30 (i like that). She said my husband will be handsome (who doesn't like to hear that?) and that I'll be closer to my children than my husband is. She also told me it's better to marry a husband who is at least 5 years older or younger than me and not someone close to my age. She told me when people get mad at me, i brush them off instead of fight back (true), that my family isn't too rich right now (true), that I save my money instead of spend it all (true), I try to do my best in everything I do (mostly true, depends on my mood), and I care a lot about people (again, depends on the mood).
Well then, I guess I have another 7 years to flirt around and paint the town red, as my mom puts it. But I forgot to ask her if I'll have any pets. Darn.
There's this song called The Reason (or something like that), and the guy's singing about how he's found a reason to start over and change everything because of this one person (whoever it is) and he wants to tell him/her before he goes (where?). And I couldn't figure out why I hated it so much. It's a nice angsty song in itself, but whenever it came on the radio I had to tune it out or turn it off. I figured it out though, and the reason I detest it is because it simply isn't true. It's silly and idealistic. People don't change for someone. Also, what's the point of saying to someone "You changed my life. But I'm going now, so bye". You're just making that person feel like they've lost something when you're trying to say 'thank you' to them.
Okay, so I'm being biased. People can change, but to be honest, that's in the cases of a life-threatening disaster or illness, say. On the whole, people don't really change all that much once they've matured (from what I've learned). I guess, from my own experiences, that song is complete BS. I guess it's nice to affect someone so much that he/she would change their life for you (unrealistic as it is) and when it doesn't happen, it leaves a bit of a bitter after taste. But that's life and you takes what you gets. And I still don't like that song.
Well, my dad's on holidays for the rest of this month, so we'll be doing lots of day trips and that'll be fun. It would have been fun to go on a real holiday, but it's way too expensive to go to the states (passports: $60x4 + accomodation + spending money), and neither Shannon nor I have the money to spare on airfares, etc. if we go overseas. I did get a part-time line on my surgical ward, but i'm still beginning to make money, so i don't have enough expendable income for a big holiday.
At first, I applied for a temporary (maternity leave) part-time line on 10A. And then 2 weeks later I got the permanent part-time line on 10A (which I had also applied for). What's funny is they both have the same types of shifts, but now they're just switched. the temporary had me working 2 nights, a week of nothing, then 2days 2nights, then a week of nothing, and repeat. But now on regular line, it's the same pattern of shifts, but it's staggered. On the week when i would have had nothing, i'm working 2 nights. And on the week when I would have been working, I have nothing. This doesn't work out so well for me because instead of having my birthday and my best friend's birthday off, I'm working both those days! Grrr.
I got lucky last week. I had just finished 2 day shifts and was scheduled for 2 nights when staffing called me and asked me if i wanted to work a day instead of that first night. it would be overtime pay, she said: time and a half for the first two hours and then double time for the last 10. I said Yes of course, partly because I like working days instead of nights. But that day, I made almost $600 (pre-tax)!! I think I like this overtime.
I got to watch the finale of the fireworks tonight. Best seats in the hospital: 10th floor in front of the elevator bank. We all stood, and there were patients, nurses, LPNs, and residents. I felt kind of bad for the 1 or 2 staff who were left on the floor, but ah well. I said I was just going for a 'peek' but ended up staying to watch all of it although i missed the first bit of China's show. I liked Spain the best, but i'm also biased towards upbeat music. Shannon and the Gay Co. went to watch it on Granville Bridge and I thought I wouldn't get to see it all since i was working tonight. How wrong I was.
This night shift and the next one tomorrow are going to be ones i'll savour. I float for the first 4 hours which means I don't have an assignment and see if anyone on the ward needs help. then i pick up an assignment at 2330 (after all the 2200 meds have been done). So essentially, all the hard work's done by the time I pick up my patients and I just have to monitor them for the rest of the night. It also helps that I have 5 of a max of 6 patients, they don't ring the call bell much, only 2 of them are fresh post ops, only 2 have IV bags i need to maintain, and only one has a catheter i need to empty. On my worst nights, all 8 patients have IV bags, need vital signs done throughout the night and at least half of them have drains that need emptying and need pain meds. the amoung of work isn't bad, it's just the way it's balanced. 80% of the care needs to be done at 22 and 06 because we total up the fluid ins/outs at 06. And when you have 8 patients that all need vitals, IV bags changed, and drains emptied, PLUS charting on each patient, it's hard to leave on time.
Hopefully tomorrow night will be as good as tonight.
Did I just jinx things?
This is the first night shift in a long time that it's been quiet! Hardly any call bells and even the problem patients seem to be sleeping soundly (more or less).
Nothing much happening with me socially. I haven't seen my friends or talked to them. Mostly because they don't call me and I'm the one always having to call them so I'm not going to do that anymore. But also I figure they're busy, I'm tired (and sort of busy), so no big deal. I've been going out with my mom to lunches out and shopping on my days off and that's always nice. Did you know Ikea has a breakfast special for $1 until 11 am? We're definitely going to do that.
I've been thinking of ways to occupy my time, and I thought I might like to do an Evangelion model. Except the cheapest one was $55 and it was the silver one (05?) and not the one I was looking for. I couldn't find any other ones. Me and my mom even went to Crystal Mall on the spur of the moment on my day off - turned up nothing. I drove there and that was not as hard as I thought. A little stressful, but the traffic wasn't too bad so it was okay.
I've been working on my drawing, though. Anyone remember that winning entry to the anime contest that i drew? the one with the 4 girls and their silhouettes in the foreground and that blond one that everyone thought was a guy (Grr them)? Well, I"ve finally finished my poster that I had been planning for about a year or year and a half. I had the sketch done awhile ago and then hadn't done anything with it since then. I got back to it just a few weeks ago and totally revamped the design and it looks so much cooler than the original. I have yet to color it. I suppose I'll get Shannon to scan it so I can put it on the internet...sometime.
I'm also currently working on a height comparison full body picture of those girls (all 6) all in a row so you can see how tall they are in relation to one another. I've got ambitions to do another sketch of all of them lounging at their HQ in their work/school clothes. That'll be a tougher one since I"m not very good at drawing backgrounds and settings. I've been thinking up their names and their almost-super powers (stuff that's in the realm of possibility, not too far-fetched like mutant powers). I'm also thinking it would be a neat idea to do a mini poster for each of them.
I watched The last Samurai a few weeks ago. Not a particularly compelling, unique, or good movie. So why did I watch it? You figure it out. It's an alright movie, but not the best I've seen. Mystic River is a good movie - it's different and the ending isn't a happy one, it's realistic, and i liked that. I also watched Interview with the Vampire just because. God Tom Cruise was hot in that movie. And possibly bisexual (woohoo?). Except for the fact that the character he played was an arrogant asshole, what's not to like? And after watching The Last Samurai and commercials for Collateral (doesn't look particularly good, but i'll watch it anyway), I have made one conclusion:
He's still got it. And how.
Now THERE'S a 42 year old man I would mind going out with.
A Home at the End of the World (or whatever the title is) seems like a really good movie too, according to the reviews anyways. It's a quiet type of drama about the nature of love, innocence, and the meaning of home. I'm glad i'm making more intelligent movie choices now. Shannon still likes the Chick flick girl power movies, but frankly, i find them formulaic and boring. I guess i have all the confidence i need. But I still like mindless action movies, just none of that smarmy romance crap.
I got my palm read by my patient's wife. According to her, I will get married when I'm 28, have 3 children (Good lord i hope that won't happen), and be rich by 30 (i like that). She said my husband will be handsome (who doesn't like to hear that?) and that I'll be closer to my children than my husband is. She also told me it's better to marry a husband who is at least 5 years older or younger than me and not someone close to my age. She told me when people get mad at me, i brush them off instead of fight back (true), that my family isn't too rich right now (true), that I save my money instead of spend it all (true), I try to do my best in everything I do (mostly true, depends on my mood), and I care a lot about people (again, depends on the mood).
Well then, I guess I have another 7 years to flirt around and paint the town red, as my mom puts it. But I forgot to ask her if I'll have any pets. Darn.
There's this song called The Reason (or something like that), and the guy's singing about how he's found a reason to start over and change everything because of this one person (whoever it is) and he wants to tell him/her before he goes (where?). And I couldn't figure out why I hated it so much. It's a nice angsty song in itself, but whenever it came on the radio I had to tune it out or turn it off. I figured it out though, and the reason I detest it is because it simply isn't true. It's silly and idealistic. People don't change for someone. Also, what's the point of saying to someone "You changed my life. But I'm going now, so bye". You're just making that person feel like they've lost something when you're trying to say 'thank you' to them.
Okay, so I'm being biased. People can change, but to be honest, that's in the cases of a life-threatening disaster or illness, say. On the whole, people don't really change all that much once they've matured (from what I've learned). I guess, from my own experiences, that song is complete BS. I guess it's nice to affect someone so much that he/she would change their life for you (unrealistic as it is) and when it doesn't happen, it leaves a bit of a bitter after taste. But that's life and you takes what you gets. And I still don't like that song.
Well, my dad's on holidays for the rest of this month, so we'll be doing lots of day trips and that'll be fun. It would have been fun to go on a real holiday, but it's way too expensive to go to the states (passports: $60x4 + accomodation + spending money), and neither Shannon nor I have the money to spare on airfares, etc. if we go overseas. I did get a part-time line on my surgical ward, but i'm still beginning to make money, so i don't have enough expendable income for a big holiday.
At first, I applied for a temporary (maternity leave) part-time line on 10A. And then 2 weeks later I got the permanent part-time line on 10A (which I had also applied for). What's funny is they both have the same types of shifts, but now they're just switched. the temporary had me working 2 nights, a week of nothing, then 2days 2nights, then a week of nothing, and repeat. But now on regular line, it's the same pattern of shifts, but it's staggered. On the week when i would have had nothing, i'm working 2 nights. And on the week when I would have been working, I have nothing. This doesn't work out so well for me because instead of having my birthday and my best friend's birthday off, I'm working both those days! Grrr.
I got lucky last week. I had just finished 2 day shifts and was scheduled for 2 nights when staffing called me and asked me if i wanted to work a day instead of that first night. it would be overtime pay, she said: time and a half for the first two hours and then double time for the last 10. I said Yes of course, partly because I like working days instead of nights. But that day, I made almost $600 (pre-tax)!! I think I like this overtime.
I got to watch the finale of the fireworks tonight. Best seats in the hospital: 10th floor in front of the elevator bank. We all stood, and there were patients, nurses, LPNs, and residents. I felt kind of bad for the 1 or 2 staff who were left on the floor, but ah well. I said I was just going for a 'peek' but ended up staying to watch all of it although i missed the first bit of China's show. I liked Spain the best, but i'm also biased towards upbeat music. Shannon and the Gay Co. went to watch it on Granville Bridge and I thought I wouldn't get to see it all since i was working tonight. How wrong I was.
This night shift and the next one tomorrow are going to be ones i'll savour. I float for the first 4 hours which means I don't have an assignment and see if anyone on the ward needs help. then i pick up an assignment at 2330 (after all the 2200 meds have been done). So essentially, all the hard work's done by the time I pick up my patients and I just have to monitor them for the rest of the night. It also helps that I have 5 of a max of 6 patients, they don't ring the call bell much, only 2 of them are fresh post ops, only 2 have IV bags i need to maintain, and only one has a catheter i need to empty. On my worst nights, all 8 patients have IV bags, need vital signs done throughout the night and at least half of them have drains that need emptying and need pain meds. the amoung of work isn't bad, it's just the way it's balanced. 80% of the care needs to be done at 22 and 06 because we total up the fluid ins/outs at 06. And when you have 8 patients that all need vitals, IV bags changed, and drains emptied, PLUS charting on each patient, it's hard to leave on time.
Hopefully tomorrow night will be as good as tonight.
Did I just jinx things?