A surprisingly nice day! :)
It's not that I'm surprised the day was nice; most days have more positive in them than negative. :) But today I had the pleasant surprise of sharing and enjoying my lunch with a very cool total stranger, and in a very uncommon/unusual place to have lunch in the first place. I'll put it under an LJ-cut to keep this main page tidy (altho if you're reading this due to following a Facebook link, the cut won't be visible).
Today, around 11:30 a.m., I went to Kaiser to pick up a mundane prescription refill at the pharmacy. Now that I live in Redwood City, I have my Rx refills sent to the RWC Kaiser pharmacy (in the Cypress building, to be specific) rather than having them go to the San Jose/Santa Teresa Kaiser pharmacy (in the One North building, to be specific). Sometimes I also do refills by mail; I've already updated my mailing address for that as well.
I'd planned to go to Costco after Kaiser, but I realized I was hungry. And I knew the dangers of visiting a place like that (especially with all their food demos) when I'm hungry! :"> So I thought, what the heck, I'll check out the cafeteria in the basement of the actual hospital of that Kaiser. (Are all hospital cafeterias in the basement? Seems that way!) It wasn't nearly as big as the San Jose Kaiser cafeteria, and didn't have as much variety, but it DID have an area for hot foods (soups, casseroles, chef's specials, etc.), an area for getting custom deli sandwiches made, a self-serve salad bar, a freezer tub full of ice cream confections, a big refrigerator full of drinks (like you see at convenience stores), and of course lots of vending machines and even microwaves.
I got the small soup + half sandwich special: the former was chicken gumbo (not spicy, yay!) and the latter was tuna salad w/ lettuce & tomato. Yes, the soup had OKRA in it, and yes, I actually like okra! It's only slimy if you cook it wrong; it was great in this soup! I also had fried okra once at the now-defunct Santa Clara County Fair, and it was wonderful. Anyhoo, back to Kaiser: I also got a Snapple peach iced tea, which I haven't had in AGES; I'd forgotten how good that stuff is! All the tables were taken except for a large-ish square table, so I sat down. About a minute later, a friendly-looking, middle-aged blonde woman in a sweater with festive, colorful stripes and an awesome Celtic knotwork ring asked if she could share my table. I said sure! (What was I going to say with the shortage of tables? No? Besides, as you can tell from the icon I chose for this entry, my "default setting" truly is to like people!) :D
Turns out, we had a great lunch together! On her badge I saw her name was Sherry W. (for privacy I won't give her last name, not that it really matters) and she was a registered nurse in the oncology department. I also noticed that she too had a bottle of Snapple peach iced tea! So I struck up a conversation right away, introducing myself as having the same name as hers (but spelled in a way that unfortunately was different from hers). I also mentioned the coincidence that we both chose (of all the many drinks there) the same beverage! She laughed and gushed about how much she LOVES peach iced tea -- a woman after my own heart! LOL! I thought I'd end up having a quick lunch, but we ended up sitting and talking for quite some time. I told her how I moved to RWC to live with my fiance, and we both just talked and laughed about all sorts of topics -- including wondering why the heck there are so many MALE ob/gyn doctors and the fact that we both much prefer the empathy of having a female one! (For me, it's a nurse practitioner back in San Jose). As Sherry & I sat there, it occurred to me that if someone walked past our table, they'd think we were two good friends who got together for lunch. :) But then again, that's VERY typical of me!! I love meeting & talking with people; I always assume a new person could become a new friend, and I guess somehow others respond to that warmth and openness.
We swapped all sorts of stories too; I learned she first became a nurse in her home state of Florida. She worked in Arizona and Washington (the state) as well as Southern California before coming to Northern California. She even worked for a time at the San Jose Kaiser! I told her about my journalism degree and the Cliffs Notes version of my work history. As an RN, she was familiar with NurseWeek (one of Gannett Healthcare Group's magazines) and even takes the online continuing education modules that I proofread/edit for GHG! I have to say, I felt proud about that. :"> When she told me she'd been an RN for 20 years, I asked her secret for not getting burned out, and revealed to her how I had to move from writing to editing because my creative juices slowly but surely ran dry and I burned out on writing. (ACK! Speaking of editing, look at that run-on sentence!) She told me for her anyway, the secret was to keep changing things around. Not only did she work as a nurse in different states (as I already mentioned) but she also worked in different departments, including ER, orthopedics, home health, and now oncology. She also told me that she's been really inspired working in oncology because her patients with cancer have underscored for her the importance of living each and every day to the fullest, and enjoying everything you can in life. I know it sounds corny or cliche, but she was very sincere. :) I guess working in a department like that, you could either become depressed or inspired; I'm glad for her it's the latter!
Unfortunately I kept forgetting to compliment her on, and ask her about, the story behind her Celtic knotwork ring, but oh well. Her last name was one of Scottish background, although I don't know if it's her maiden name or married name. Eventually we finished our lunches AND our conversations and parted ways. But it left me thinking how FUN it is to sit down at a table with a complete and utter stranger, and then 45 minutes later you both know a huge chunk of one anothers' life stories! As I've said, that's typical for me, being a happy extrovert who loves talking and who reads & senses people very well. I know this type of thing would be very, very difficult for some folks. But for me, it's easy and it's one of the things I love about myself! There are enough things that frustrated me/disappoint me about myself, especially with the ADHD/ADD challenges, so it's nice to be reminded of something that I do really well. And in fact, something that I've heard (from other people) and read (in magazines and online) is that this is one of the most positive traits of most folks with ADHD. We tend to be creative, extroverted, talkative, jovial and empathic/empathetic. Basically the polar opposite of autism. Not that autism is bad; folks with autism have their own unique strengths of which they should be proud. (Including my rocking cousin B, who's And folks with ADHD sure as heck have our own challenges. But it's better for everyone to focus on their positives rather than their negatives! :)
Wow, this sure turned into a meandering missive, didn't it? *blush* Then again, that IS the title of my blog! heh
Today, around 11:30 a.m., I went to Kaiser to pick up a mundane prescription refill at the pharmacy. Now that I live in Redwood City, I have my Rx refills sent to the RWC Kaiser pharmacy (in the Cypress building, to be specific) rather than having them go to the San Jose/Santa Teresa Kaiser pharmacy (in the One North building, to be specific). Sometimes I also do refills by mail; I've already updated my mailing address for that as well.
I'd planned to go to Costco after Kaiser, but I realized I was hungry. And I knew the dangers of visiting a place like that (especially with all their food demos) when I'm hungry! :"> So I thought, what the heck, I'll check out the cafeteria in the basement of the actual hospital of that Kaiser. (Are all hospital cafeterias in the basement? Seems that way!) It wasn't nearly as big as the San Jose Kaiser cafeteria, and didn't have as much variety, but it DID have an area for hot foods (soups, casseroles, chef's specials, etc.), an area for getting custom deli sandwiches made, a self-serve salad bar, a freezer tub full of ice cream confections, a big refrigerator full of drinks (like you see at convenience stores), and of course lots of vending machines and even microwaves.
I got the small soup + half sandwich special: the former was chicken gumbo (not spicy, yay!) and the latter was tuna salad w/ lettuce & tomato. Yes, the soup had OKRA in it, and yes, I actually like okra! It's only slimy if you cook it wrong; it was great in this soup! I also had fried okra once at the now-defunct Santa Clara County Fair, and it was wonderful. Anyhoo, back to Kaiser: I also got a Snapple peach iced tea, which I haven't had in AGES; I'd forgotten how good that stuff is! All the tables were taken except for a large-ish square table, so I sat down. About a minute later, a friendly-looking, middle-aged blonde woman in a sweater with festive, colorful stripes and an awesome Celtic knotwork ring asked if she could share my table. I said sure! (What was I going to say with the shortage of tables? No? Besides, as you can tell from the icon I chose for this entry, my "default setting" truly is to like people!) :D
Turns out, we had a great lunch together! On her badge I saw her name was Sherry W. (for privacy I won't give her last name, not that it really matters) and she was a registered nurse in the oncology department. I also noticed that she too had a bottle of Snapple peach iced tea! So I struck up a conversation right away, introducing myself as having the same name as hers (but spelled in a way that unfortunately was different from hers). I also mentioned the coincidence that we both chose (of all the many drinks there) the same beverage! She laughed and gushed about how much she LOVES peach iced tea -- a woman after my own heart! LOL! I thought I'd end up having a quick lunch, but we ended up sitting and talking for quite some time. I told her how I moved to RWC to live with my fiance, and we both just talked and laughed about all sorts of topics -- including wondering why the heck there are so many MALE ob/gyn doctors and the fact that we both much prefer the empathy of having a female one! (For me, it's a nurse practitioner back in San Jose). As Sherry & I sat there, it occurred to me that if someone walked past our table, they'd think we were two good friends who got together for lunch. :) But then again, that's VERY typical of me!! I love meeting & talking with people; I always assume a new person could become a new friend, and I guess somehow others respond to that warmth and openness.
We swapped all sorts of stories too; I learned she first became a nurse in her home state of Florida. She worked in Arizona and Washington (the state) as well as Southern California before coming to Northern California. She even worked for a time at the San Jose Kaiser! I told her about my journalism degree and the Cliffs Notes version of my work history. As an RN, she was familiar with NurseWeek (one of Gannett Healthcare Group's magazines) and even takes the online continuing education modules that I proofread/edit for GHG! I have to say, I felt proud about that. :"> When she told me she'd been an RN for 20 years, I asked her secret for not getting burned out, and revealed to her how I had to move from writing to editing because my creative juices slowly but surely ran dry and I burned out on writing. (ACK! Speaking of editing, look at that run-on sentence!) She told me for her anyway, the secret was to keep changing things around. Not only did she work as a nurse in different states (as I already mentioned) but she also worked in different departments, including ER, orthopedics, home health, and now oncology. She also told me that she's been really inspired working in oncology because her patients with cancer have underscored for her the importance of living each and every day to the fullest, and enjoying everything you can in life. I know it sounds corny or cliche, but she was very sincere. :) I guess working in a department like that, you could either become depressed or inspired; I'm glad for her it's the latter!
Unfortunately I kept forgetting to compliment her on, and ask her about, the story behind her Celtic knotwork ring, but oh well. Her last name was one of Scottish background, although I don't know if it's her maiden name or married name. Eventually we finished our lunches AND our conversations and parted ways. But it left me thinking how FUN it is to sit down at a table with a complete and utter stranger, and then 45 minutes later you both know a huge chunk of one anothers' life stories! As I've said, that's typical for me, being a happy extrovert who loves talking and who reads & senses people very well. I know this type of thing would be very, very difficult for some folks. But for me, it's easy and it's one of the things I love about myself! There are enough things that frustrated me/disappoint me about myself, especially with the ADHD/ADD challenges, so it's nice to be reminded of something that I do really well. And in fact, something that I've heard (from other people) and read (in magazines and online) is that this is one of the most positive traits of most folks with ADHD. We tend to be creative, extroverted, talkative, jovial and empathic/empathetic. Basically the polar opposite of autism. Not that autism is bad; folks with autism have their own unique strengths of which they should be proud. (Including my rocking cousin B, who's And folks with ADHD sure as heck have our own challenges. But it's better for everyone to focus on their positives rather than their negatives! :)
Wow, this sure turned into a meandering missive, didn't it? *blush* Then again, that IS the title of my blog! heh