Updatage
Well,
Its been quite some time since I've posted in my LJ. Mainly because, as I've stated on the boards, I've been overswamped with work due to staff departures. The whole situation is pretty surreal. Things went from everything being hunky dory, with lots of people to help out with work, to like a handful of people doing it all. It really hammers home something that Maelona said to me a long time ago. She said that, while yes a GM has particular responsibilities within the game. WM Guru, Magic Guru, Quest Designer, etc. But the fact of the matter is that first and foremost, a GM is a DragonRealms GM. When you come down to it, a GameMaster responsibility is the game as a whole. The game as a whole must be taken care of before you ever need to worry about the small particulars. Yes the small particulars are what helps move along the game as a whole, but a GM's ultimate responsibility is to the game itself.
I guess the most disheartening thing about all the departures, is that a lot of the folks who have left are close friends of mine, or people I worked closely with. I will dearly miss working with them. In fact, just recently I was talking with Chakram, and I realized that in the time I've been here, I'm becoming an oldie. LOL. When I was hired, everyone was older than I was, heee. And now, a short 4 and a half years later, that's no longer the case. My how time flies. In the end, I realize that I'm still having fun, even though alot of my friends have left. So I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I do wish the best for all those GMs who have departed, and hope they keep in touch.
Now, off that subject. The day before yesterday I passed my Medic Driver's test. So now I can drive the Medic to calls, and transport patients, yay! And yesterday was my first shift where I was the medic driver. And you know, while driving a Medic is different -- its not especially hard. Its really just a big huge truck, with no rearview mirror. So backing it into the bay takes a bit of getting used to, but its not actually overly difficult.
However, I realized yesterday that while driving the Medic isn't difficult, the story really changes when you have lights and sirens going. What you never realized before, is how nervous you are. When you drive the Medic, you are responsibile for its safe operation, and the safety of the crew and patient(s) in the back. Driving lights and sirens is inherently dangerous in itself. And even though you can drive fast, you've still got to make sure everyone on that medic is safe, and the other drivers on the road are safe. And all of this weighs on your mind as you're driving. At the very same time you're trying to think of the quickest route to the hospital you're driving to, LOL. Patient safety and care was really driven home during one of my calls yesterday. There was a patient who called us cause he fell. He had prior back surgery where he had to get pins put into his spinal cord or something like that. When he fell, he thinks he knocked something lose. So needless to say, whenever the patient moved, he was in pain. The back of the Medic is a bumpy ride. So I had to be extraordinarily careful. Everytime I hit even the littlest bump that jarred the back, I could hear him moan in pain. Very nerve wracking, but we made it.
My first transport was to a hospital we don't go to alot. And needless to say I missed both the obvious turns to get there fastest. So.....I took the scenic route that you would never really take. (Thank god the patient didn't need transported ER with lights and sirens.) So, of course, I got harassed big time back at the station. Heee. And even though it was an innocent mistake, if the person was one of those sorts of people, it could really end up in a lawsuit. For some reason in this day and age, people like suing EMS providers. So we've really got to mind our p's and q's. Thankfully the rest of the transports went relatively smoothly.
Overall though, I had a really good time. Before yesterday I was more or less a ride-a-long. I couldn't really do anything. And yesterday I really felt like a useful part of the crew. It was very refreshing :).
~V
Its been quite some time since I've posted in my LJ. Mainly because, as I've stated on the boards, I've been overswamped with work due to staff departures. The whole situation is pretty surreal. Things went from everything being hunky dory, with lots of people to help out with work, to like a handful of people doing it all. It really hammers home something that Maelona said to me a long time ago. She said that, while yes a GM has particular responsibilities within the game. WM Guru, Magic Guru, Quest Designer, etc. But the fact of the matter is that first and foremost, a GM is a DragonRealms GM. When you come down to it, a GameMaster responsibility is the game as a whole. The game as a whole must be taken care of before you ever need to worry about the small particulars. Yes the small particulars are what helps move along the game as a whole, but a GM's ultimate responsibility is to the game itself.
I guess the most disheartening thing about all the departures, is that a lot of the folks who have left are close friends of mine, or people I worked closely with. I will dearly miss working with them. In fact, just recently I was talking with Chakram, and I realized that in the time I've been here, I'm becoming an oldie. LOL. When I was hired, everyone was older than I was, heee. And now, a short 4 and a half years later, that's no longer the case. My how time flies. In the end, I realize that I'm still having fun, even though alot of my friends have left. So I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I do wish the best for all those GMs who have departed, and hope they keep in touch.
Now, off that subject. The day before yesterday I passed my Medic Driver's test. So now I can drive the Medic to calls, and transport patients, yay! And yesterday was my first shift where I was the medic driver. And you know, while driving a Medic is different -- its not especially hard. Its really just a big huge truck, with no rearview mirror. So backing it into the bay takes a bit of getting used to, but its not actually overly difficult.
However, I realized yesterday that while driving the Medic isn't difficult, the story really changes when you have lights and sirens going. What you never realized before, is how nervous you are. When you drive the Medic, you are responsibile for its safe operation, and the safety of the crew and patient(s) in the back. Driving lights and sirens is inherently dangerous in itself. And even though you can drive fast, you've still got to make sure everyone on that medic is safe, and the other drivers on the road are safe. And all of this weighs on your mind as you're driving. At the very same time you're trying to think of the quickest route to the hospital you're driving to, LOL. Patient safety and care was really driven home during one of my calls yesterday. There was a patient who called us cause he fell. He had prior back surgery where he had to get pins put into his spinal cord or something like that. When he fell, he thinks he knocked something lose. So needless to say, whenever the patient moved, he was in pain. The back of the Medic is a bumpy ride. So I had to be extraordinarily careful. Everytime I hit even the littlest bump that jarred the back, I could hear him moan in pain. Very nerve wracking, but we made it.
My first transport was to a hospital we don't go to alot. And needless to say I missed both the obvious turns to get there fastest. So.....I took the scenic route that you would never really take. (Thank god the patient didn't need transported ER with lights and sirens.) So, of course, I got harassed big time back at the station. Heee. And even though it was an innocent mistake, if the person was one of those sorts of people, it could really end up in a lawsuit. For some reason in this day and age, people like suing EMS providers. So we've really got to mind our p's and q's. Thankfully the rest of the transports went relatively smoothly.
Overall though, I had a really good time. Before yesterday I was more or less a ride-a-long. I couldn't really do anything. And yesterday I really felt like a useful part of the crew. It was very refreshing :).
~V