I have this...let us call it perversion of character.
I love it - LOVE IT - when I get to witness episodes of social awkwardness. Not anything bad, you understand. No one gets hurt or anything. I can't even give a concrete example of such a situation. But you know those situations - it's usually between 2 people - when bystanders slyly glance at each other as if to say, "AWKWARD!!!"?
I delight in the awkwardness. I love the tension slowly winding up like an elastic band being twisted around and around. I can feel the heat as the gears in people's head rotate faster as they try desperately to figure out how to extricate themselves from this horrible position. For me, it's like taking a big slice of chocolate cake and sniffing in the moist chocolatey smell from the spongy goodness.
Before I know it, there's a tiny little crooked smile on my face, almost imperceptible but you can see it in my eyes. My inky black pools of death are laughing so hard, but you'll never know for sure.
Is it so bad, really? Is this evil? I always claimed that I was so.
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Random. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Snippets of a conversation you would have overheard if you were seated at a certain table at Fran's 2 Saturdays ago
Anonymous: I just wish I could check if his Blackberry really did delete everyone like he said or if it was just me.
Judy: At this point in the romantic comedy that is your life, you would wait until he leaves his phone at his desk, casually saunter over and frantically dig through it for the information that you seek, but he would come back unexpectedly and you would have to shove the phone into your own bag and then a whole bunch of hilarious misadventures would ensue.
Anonymous: Like I even could. He keeps his phone in the back pocket of his pants.
Judy: Yeah and I'm sure that would deter you. o_O That would just add to the hilarity as you try to extract and then replace the phone in said pocket.
-----
Anonymous: Too bad he has a girlfriend.
Judy: At this point in the psycho drama that is your life, you would go over to his house, clonk the girlfriend over the head with a stiletto, wait for him to come home, clonk him over the head as well, tie him up and then demand to know who he loves more; you or her. Then you would probably buy and subsequently boil a bunny to show him how serious your feelings are for him.
[Okay, so that bunny bit was stolen from something else.]
-----
Anonymous: I just wish I knew what was going on. Does he really like me or no?
Judy: At this point in the romantic drama that is your life, you would meet him outside in the POURING RAIN, you in a modest dress that suddenly becomes ever so slightly see through in the precipitation and he in a light-coloured shirt that becomes clingy and reveals his toned physique. You would tell him that it's too late, he's left it too long and you've finally given up. As you turn to leave him in a teary huff, he grabs your arm, pulls you back and kisses you ever so passionately. Even as you protest, "No no, we musn't, it's too late", he scoops you up in his arms in a princess hold and carries you back to his abode, where the camera delicately pans away to the window where the storm is starting to subside, for it isn't that kind of film, oh no. The next morning, the camera pans back from the window along the streams of sunlight to the bed where you are vowing to love each other forever and ever, but then! The audience hears a slight plaintive cough. It turns out that you have both contracted pneumonia for not drying off properly like sensible people after your lovers' quarrel out in the rain.
Anonymous: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! Pneumonia?
Judy: After months of suffering from this debilitating respiratory infection, one of you dies just as your love was starting to blossom.
Anonymous: What? NO! I want a happy ending.
Judy: It's you who dies.
Anonymous: WHAT? Why me?
Judy: You want HIM to die?
Anonymous: NO, I DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE!
Judy: Well it's got to be you.
Anonymous: But WHY?
Judy: For the tragic effect, of course! He had JUST realized he loves you after such a long time period of stringing you along and being wishy washy. And THAT is when he loses you. What is more tragic than that? You're dead.
-----
[2 weeks later]
Anonymous: And he was just smiling at me. There we were, just smiling at each other on the subway.
[Looks at Judy expectantly.]
Judy: ...
Anonymous: ...
Judy: What, is your life a shoujo manga? Give it a rest.
Judy: At this point in the romantic comedy that is your life, you would wait until he leaves his phone at his desk, casually saunter over and frantically dig through it for the information that you seek, but he would come back unexpectedly and you would have to shove the phone into your own bag and then a whole bunch of hilarious misadventures would ensue.
Anonymous: Like I even could. He keeps his phone in the back pocket of his pants.
Judy: Yeah and I'm sure that would deter you. o_O That would just add to the hilarity as you try to extract and then replace the phone in said pocket.
-----
Anonymous: Too bad he has a girlfriend.
Judy: At this point in the psycho drama that is your life, you would go over to his house, clonk the girlfriend over the head with a stiletto, wait for him to come home, clonk him over the head as well, tie him up and then demand to know who he loves more; you or her. Then you would probably buy and subsequently boil a bunny to show him how serious your feelings are for him.
[Okay, so that bunny bit was stolen from something else.]
-----
Anonymous: I just wish I knew what was going on. Does he really like me or no?
Judy: At this point in the romantic drama that is your life, you would meet him outside in the POURING RAIN, you in a modest dress that suddenly becomes ever so slightly see through in the precipitation and he in a light-coloured shirt that becomes clingy and reveals his toned physique. You would tell him that it's too late, he's left it too long and you've finally given up. As you turn to leave him in a teary huff, he grabs your arm, pulls you back and kisses you ever so passionately. Even as you protest, "No no, we musn't, it's too late", he scoops you up in his arms in a princess hold and carries you back to his abode, where the camera delicately pans away to the window where the storm is starting to subside, for it isn't that kind of film, oh no. The next morning, the camera pans back from the window along the streams of sunlight to the bed where you are vowing to love each other forever and ever, but then! The audience hears a slight plaintive cough. It turns out that you have both contracted pneumonia for not drying off properly like sensible people after your lovers' quarrel out in the rain.
Anonymous: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! Pneumonia?
Judy: After months of suffering from this debilitating respiratory infection, one of you dies just as your love was starting to blossom.
Anonymous: What? NO! I want a happy ending.
Judy: It's you who dies.
Anonymous: WHAT? Why me?
Judy: You want HIM to die?
Anonymous: NO, I DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE!
Judy: Well it's got to be you.
Anonymous: But WHY?
Judy: For the tragic effect, of course! He had JUST realized he loves you after such a long time period of stringing you along and being wishy washy. And THAT is when he loses you. What is more tragic than that? You're dead.
-----
[2 weeks later]
Anonymous: And he was just smiling at me. There we were, just smiling at each other on the subway.
[Looks at Judy expectantly.]
Judy: ...
Anonymous: ...
Judy: What, is your life a shoujo manga? Give it a rest.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Summer of Judy
You know that Seinfeld episode where George loses his job at the Yankees and decides to spend the summer putzing around willy nilly?
Well, it's turning into a Summer of Judy for me. I had originally planned on having a nursing job by now and studying for the licensing exam in October, but due to some unfortunate circumstances (which I have droned on and on about to so many people that I can't even muster the energy to do it once more in writing), that ain't happenin'! The delay is so infuriating that I was getting flashbacks to the days of Science in Society class when I was threatening to bonk my brains out with the pointy end of a scanner while Linda laughed and laughed hysterically, both of our minds on the verge of crumbling like delicious cinnamon dusted graham crackers.
So I've been spending my energy taking Japanese classes and studying nursing stuff from time to time so that my brain doesn't completely rust. And, since I am a poor student and in need of money until a bunch of bureaucratic nitwits tell me when I can start working in my field, I've advertised myself as an English/French tutor on a Korean message board. Ahhh, it's like being back at U of T all over again. Except the fact that I refuse to teach chemistry and math now. Thank goodness.
Oh, and you know how in that same Seinfeld episode, George slips on an invitation and hurts his legs? Guess what I did last night. I slipped on Robert's floor and twisted my ankle. Yes, the same one that I always twist. Thanks to my nursing interventions, it is not as swollen as it would normally be. But yes, it hurt so much that I cried last night for 10 minutes or so. So we all know what's going first when I'm 70-something and have osteoporosis. Something to think about.
Well, it's turning into a Summer of Judy for me. I had originally planned on having a nursing job by now and studying for the licensing exam in October, but due to some unfortunate circumstances (which I have droned on and on about to so many people that I can't even muster the energy to do it once more in writing), that ain't happenin'! The delay is so infuriating that I was getting flashbacks to the days of Science in Society class when I was threatening to bonk my brains out with the pointy end of a scanner while Linda laughed and laughed hysterically, both of our minds on the verge of crumbling like delicious cinnamon dusted graham crackers.
So I've been spending my energy taking Japanese classes and studying nursing stuff from time to time so that my brain doesn't completely rust. And, since I am a poor student and in need of money until a bunch of bureaucratic nitwits tell me when I can start working in my field, I've advertised myself as an English/French tutor on a Korean message board. Ahhh, it's like being back at U of T all over again. Except the fact that I refuse to teach chemistry and math now. Thank goodness.
Oh, and you know how in that same Seinfeld episode, George slips on an invitation and hurts his legs? Guess what I did last night. I slipped on Robert's floor and twisted my ankle. Yes, the same one that I always twist. Thanks to my nursing interventions, it is not as swollen as it would normally be. But yes, it hurt so much that I cried last night for 10 minutes or so. So we all know what's going first when I'm 70-something and have osteoporosis. Something to think about.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A letter in Japanese~
リンダちゃん、おげんきですか。
ロンドンはどうですか。先週、ここはＧ２０のかいぎでとてもさわがしかったです。
さいわいに私はしないに行きませんでした。いつトロントへ着ますか。
ここはあついですがおもしろいです。いっしょにおいしいたべものをたくさんたべましょう。
そしてジェンちゃんとヴィキちゃんといっしょにカラオケにいきましょう。
７月６日 ジュヂ
Linda, how are you?
How's London? Last week, it was very noisy here because of the G20 meeting.
Luckily, I didn't go downtown. When are you coming to Toronto?
It's hot here, but fun too. Let's eat lots of yummy things together.
And we can go with Jenn and Vicky to karaoke.
July 6. Judy.
Hahaha, really simple sentence structure, but I was still very proud of myself. Eeeeeee~
ロンドンはどうですか。先週、ここはＧ２０のかいぎでとてもさわがしかったです。
さいわいに私はしないに行きませんでした。いつトロントへ着ますか。
ここはあついですがおもしろいです。いっしょにおいしいたべものをたくさんたべましょう。
そしてジェンちゃんとヴィキちゃんといっしょにカラオケにいきましょう。
７月６日 ジュヂ
Linda, how are you?
How's London? Last week, it was very noisy here because of the G20 meeting.
Luckily, I didn't go downtown. When are you coming to Toronto?
It's hot here, but fun too. Let's eat lots of yummy things together.
And we can go with Jenn and Vicky to karaoke.
July 6. Judy.
Hahaha, really simple sentence structure, but I was still very proud of myself. Eeeeeee~
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
I'm home!
Yes, I am home. Oh blessed home.
Robert arrived in Montreal by train on Monday night. Poor guy. He helped me move to Montreal three years ago (2 trips in the Subaru Forrester, so crammed full of stuff that it was threatening to expl0de its contents all over the 401) and endured a most hellish trip to Ikea with me. Honestly Ikea, why is your one location in Montreal in the ass-end of nowhere, accessible only from the madness that is Autoroute 40?
Tuesday was spent eating delicious pizzar from Amelio's and packing up all of my stuff. Robert did most of the bulk closet and kitchen packing while I did the cleaning and the little finicky stuff.
We woke up around 7 on Wednesday morning so that we could drag our sleepy butts to the U-Haul location in the east end of Montreal instead of the one at Pont Jacques Cartier. So much for your promise of giving me the most convenient location, U-Haul. We got there by 9am, as planned, picked up the cargo van and Robert drove it back to the apartment ever so carefully. He had back pains, so he couldn't turn around completely to look out the back and lack of windows made it impossible for him to check the blind spot on his right side. That made the drive through downtown Montreal FUN. TIMES.
We had everything packed in the van by 11:30am and then we had the fun task of making our way through the other half of downtown Montreal to get on the 20. At one point, a cyclist ran a red light as we were crossing the intersection and gave us a mini heart attack. I may have called him a son of a bitch. I don't tend to use that term as an insult towards a specific person, so I don't know what my exact feelings were at the time. The way he was zipping through Ste-Catherine indicated to me that he clearly had a death wish and we would not have been at fault if we had run him over. However, I would have been obliged to help him after turning his sorry ass into road goo since we were still in Quebec. But if I were muttering all kinds of mean things while doing chest compressions, could anyone reproach me for that? I don't think so. Damn cyclists.
Things went smoothly enough after that. We stopped at a St-Hubert in Dorion just outside of Montreal for brunch and the 401 moved along nice and smoothly. Until we were a few kilometres away from Kingston. The traffic slowed to a crawl and Robert estimates that it took us about 40 minutes to move 2 km. The thing about U-Hauls is that there's only an FM-AM radio. Robert had his Ipod, but I had forgotten to charge my Zune. I thought I was going crazy with boredom. Thankfully, Robert's laptop was fully charged and he had his external hard drive full of Scrubs episodes. I watched about 5 episodes while composing the following.
Robert arrived in Montreal by train on Monday night. Poor guy. He helped me move to Montreal three years ago (2 trips in the Subaru Forrester, so crammed full of stuff that it was threatening to expl0de its contents all over the 401) and endured a most hellish trip to Ikea with me. Honestly Ikea, why is your one location in Montreal in the ass-end of nowhere, accessible only from the madness that is Autoroute 40?
Tuesday was spent eating delicious pizzar from Amelio's and packing up all of my stuff. Robert did most of the bulk closet and kitchen packing while I did the cleaning and the little finicky stuff.
We woke up around 7 on Wednesday morning so that we could drag our sleepy butts to the U-Haul location in the east end of Montreal instead of the one at Pont Jacques Cartier. So much for your promise of giving me the most convenient location, U-Haul. We got there by 9am, as planned, picked up the cargo van and Robert drove it back to the apartment ever so carefully. He had back pains, so he couldn't turn around completely to look out the back and lack of windows made it impossible for him to check the blind spot on his right side. That made the drive through downtown Montreal FUN. TIMES.
We had everything packed in the van by 11:30am and then we had the fun task of making our way through the other half of downtown Montreal to get on the 20. At one point, a cyclist ran a red light as we were crossing the intersection and gave us a mini heart attack. I may have called him a son of a bitch. I don't tend to use that term as an insult towards a specific person, so I don't know what my exact feelings were at the time. The way he was zipping through Ste-Catherine indicated to me that he clearly had a death wish and we would not have been at fault if we had run him over. However, I would have been obliged to help him after turning his sorry ass into road goo since we were still in Quebec. But if I were muttering all kinds of mean things while doing chest compressions, could anyone reproach me for that? I don't think so. Damn cyclists.
Things went smoothly enough after that. We stopped at a St-Hubert in Dorion just outside of Montreal for brunch and the 401 moved along nice and smoothly. Until we were a few kilometres away from Kingston. The traffic slowed to a crawl and Robert estimates that it took us about 40 minutes to move 2 km. The thing about U-Hauls is that there's only an FM-AM radio. Robert had his Ipod, but I had forgotten to charge my Zune. I thought I was going crazy with boredom. Thankfully, Robert's laptop was fully charged and he had his external hard drive full of Scrubs episodes. I watched about 5 episodes while composing the following.
5:13pm - Robert and I have been stuck on the 401 for the past 2 hours now. From what I can tell, we are just outside of Kingston. The 401 is closed. No explanation has been given. We have moved approximately 2km in 40 minutes. Robert says that the 401 better have collapsed if there is all this fuss. I can only surmise that there is a possible zombie uprising up ahead. In which case, we're pretty screwed, because the only food supply that we have with us in the U-haul cargo van is a package of ramen, 3 servings of uncooked flour noodles and a ziploc baggie of dried anchovies used to make fish stock. And I have finished the box of Junior Mints that I bought in Montreal. We have no water. To either side is a densely forested area and we have no viable weapons. We are in the worst case possible situation for a zombie outbreak. At this point, it would be just easier to get our butts bitten by zombies and join the winning side. If our zombie selves somehow make the 300+km trip back to Toronto and bite your butts, just remember that we only did what we could.
5:24pm - If I become a zombie, the first people I'm biting are smokers. Robert doesn't mind smokers, but hates people who throw their cigarette butts everywhere. Just saw a man jump out of his idling SUV and head off into the bushes. Thought he had mysteriously received news of the zombie outbreak and was abandoning his car to take his chance in the wilderness until Robert pointed out that he probably just had to pee. Am rather glad of the fact that am thirsty and not in need of relieving my bladder. Robert has taken to reading a book during the 20 minute intervals between inching forward.
5:31pm - If there is a zombie uprising and if I do end up surviving this traffic nightmare of 401 with some kind of weapon, I would want the soundtrack of my zombie mercy killings to be Knights of Cydonia. It would be kickass. Thought: Why am I so into zombies lately?
5:48pm - Seem to be moving ahead at about 70km/h all of a sudden. Robert is very perplexed. I would come up with some kind of zombie-related reason for this, but am strangely unable to muster enough crazy at the moment. As soon as the above was written, the traffic has slowed back down. Actually saw two cars ENTER the 401. Poor suckers.
The signs later informed us that the 401 had been reduced to one lane for 7km, because they were working on expanding the highway. So avoid the 401 around Kingston this summer at all costs. Once we got past Kingston, everything was smooth sailing again. We got to Toronto around 9-ish and got off the 401 at the Bathurst exit. The thing about Bathurst and 401 is that you can't get off directly onto Bathurst from the 401. You get off on Wilson and that takes you to Bathurst. We got on Bathurst and drove. It was taking longer to get to Finch than I thought. I distinctly remember saying, "St. Clair is after Lawrence, right?" but I must have been too tired because I didn't register at all what that was implying. It was only when I saw the huge red and yellow sign for Honest Ed's that I screamed, "We're at Bloor! We're at Bloor!" It was UNBELIEVABLE. Does this happen to everyone or is it just me? It seems like whenever I go on a road trip, some crazy thing happens and I end up spending the night in the back of the car or unpackaging a headboard in the middle of the Ikea parking lot at 10pm. We finally got to Robert's house (we weren't in any shape to unpack any luggage, oh no) and just crashed. This experience has thoroughly ruined my desire to move anywhere more than say, 50km away. But it makes for a crazy story, no?
Plus, I'm home. That's always awesome.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
A declaration.
To: You people know who you are
Please, for the love of beans, stop over analysing stuff. Especially relationship-y stuff.
You make me oh so tired.
Yes, I am your friend. I consider myself a damn good empathetic willing-to-cry-with-you-if-something-bad-happens type of friend. But I am only willing to do so if there is truly something to empathize about.
If you believe that the guy you rejected but now have feelings for but he was seeing someone but then you have reason to believe from the oh so reliable evidence from Facebook stalking that he isn't seeing that girl anymore so maybe you have a chance again- You see? I can no longer form sentences to describe your situation. And I used to be excellent at forming seemingly run-on sentences that were actually quite sensible.
The point is, if you do this to me, I will sit there with my smile-that-isn't-quite-a-smile and say, "Ah."
Maybe in the process of becoming a nurse, I have learned to differentiate between "hard evidence" and "you are analysing the way someone waved at you across a dark room?" level of foolishness.
Do me a favour. If you are interested, ask the person out. Do it. And no, a text message asking if the person is "free" sometime in the future to do "something" is not good enough. SMART goals, people.
Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Relevant-Time-bound
If you didn't include all these components into your significant discussions for plan making with someone, then I can't be bothered to listen to you whine when it falls through. And I don't believe in coddling anyone. You can find someone else to help you cling to false hopes or any sort of delusions by saying, "Oh yes, she will totally come back to you one day. TOTALLY.", because I don't do that.
I. Don't. Do. That.
So don't call me heartless and unsympathetic and wah wah wah. Because it's not just one person who is filling a balloon with honey-coloured daydreams that aren't at all realistic. It's MANY people, each with their own individual balloons and it is SUFFOCATING me.
At one point, I had to resort to scream-praying to God, okay? I haven't prayed since grade 6, okay? I don't even believe in God. I did that because of you. And your yammering. And believe me, I'm not trying to burst your bubble. I'm trying to deflate it as gently as I can.
So please, help me preserve my sanity. By doing so, you will be helping to create a sarcastic and fun Judy. Someone you can truly rely on to congratulate or comfort you when something significant happens.
Help me help you.
Help me help you.
Love and hugs, your friend.
Please, for the love of beans, stop over analysing stuff. Especially relationship-y stuff.
You make me oh so tired.
Yes, I am your friend. I consider myself a damn good empathetic willing-to-cry-with-you-if-something-bad-happens type of friend. But I am only willing to do so if there is truly something to empathize about.
If you believe that the guy you rejected but now have feelings for but he was seeing someone but then you have reason to believe from the oh so reliable evidence from Facebook stalking that he isn't seeing that girl anymore so maybe you have a chance again- You see? I can no longer form sentences to describe your situation. And I used to be excellent at forming seemingly run-on sentences that were actually quite sensible.
The point is, if you do this to me, I will sit there with my smile-that-isn't-quite-a-smile and say, "Ah."
Maybe in the process of becoming a nurse, I have learned to differentiate between "hard evidence" and "you are analysing the way someone waved at you across a dark room?" level of foolishness.
Do me a favour. If you are interested, ask the person out. Do it. And no, a text message asking if the person is "free" sometime in the future to do "something" is not good enough. SMART goals, people.
Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Relevant-Time-bound
If you didn't include all these components into your significant discussions for plan making with someone, then I can't be bothered to listen to you whine when it falls through. And I don't believe in coddling anyone. You can find someone else to help you cling to false hopes or any sort of delusions by saying, "Oh yes, she will totally come back to you one day. TOTALLY.", because I don't do that.
I. Don't. Do. That.
So don't call me heartless and unsympathetic and wah wah wah. Because it's not just one person who is filling a balloon with honey-coloured daydreams that aren't at all realistic. It's MANY people, each with their own individual balloons and it is SUFFOCATING me.
At one point, I had to resort to scream-praying to God, okay? I haven't prayed since grade 6, okay? I don't even believe in God. I did that because of you. And your yammering. And believe me, I'm not trying to burst your bubble. I'm trying to deflate it as gently as I can.
So please, help me preserve my sanity. By doing so, you will be helping to create a sarcastic and fun Judy. Someone you can truly rely on to congratulate or comfort you when something significant happens.
Help me help you.
Help me help you.
Love and hugs, your friend.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives..."
Into the second year of Harvest Moon now. Relationships becoming more soap opera-like by day.
Year Two: Spring
Denny, that rat bastard, didn't do anything for Spring Harmony Day, which is when boys are supposed to give girls sweets. Sigh. Didn't get anything from Vaughn either, but that was expected seeing as how I only get to see him two days out of the week.
Decided to put all my efforts into my ranch to deal with the disappointment and was rewarded with the first prize at the potato festival. Mirabelle also gifted me with a white horse. I named her Winnie and brush her everyday.
Denny asked me out, but it was only to Chen's general store. Chen kept teasing us about how he should take me out to a nicer place on our next date. Denny kept insisting that we were just hanging out. I'm starting to get annoyed with his vacillations. Also, if he tells me one more time that I should start getting up earlier because the early bird catches the worm, I'm going to sock him. If he had to renovate his house just to fit another bed for a future spouse and figure out how to raise an island so that a church can be built for the wedding, he wouldn't be able to get up at 6am either.
Year Two: Summer
Spent summer trying to figure out how to upgrade my damn equipment so that I don't have to do all my farm chores one square at a time. I also raised up Rice Island out of the sea, which was a bad idea in retrospect, because I just don't have the time or the necessary equipment right now to grow rice. Dammit, should have raised Mushroom Island instead so I can forage for mushrooms, which is easy money.
Denny organized a fishing contest. I only got fourth place, because I'm still only catching small fish. Lanna, a former pop star, won first place. Now that I think about it, she's always hanging around the beach just down the street from Denny's shack. And I see them sitting together all the time in the Café. She better not try anything or I will cut someone.
My worries were later assuaged when I attended the Fireworks Festival. Denny asked me if I wanted to watch the fireworks with him. Ha! Take that, Lanna!
Year Two: Autumn
I walked into Mirabelle's store to buy some feed and was unexpectedly asked to help Vaughn take care of some farm animals. He was reticent at first, but accepted my help and told me that I wasn't completely useless. As heartwarming as his praise was, unfortunately I spied him a few days later talking to Sabrina, the meganekko daughter of the mine owner. He fixed the chain on her necklace for her. Damn them! I've got to either raise up Mushroom Island so I can start giving him mushrooms as presents or buy a cow so that I can get some milk and cook some porridge. ARGH, my brain!
As I still have many things to do before I can propose to Denny with the certainty of being accepted, I have decided to start up a friendship with the new guy in town, Will. He showed up on his yacht after I raised up Volcano Island. He's Sabrina's rich cousin, who's out to see the world. He's a bit of a playboy and I saw him talking up Lily the treasure hunter a few days into our acquaintance, which annoys me. But he has a yacht, dammit!
Year Two: Winter
Mining the depths of Volcano Island is the primary source of income for me in winter. As I am but a beginner miner, most of my finds are amethysts and topaz, but it should be sufficient to get me through the winter. How is it that you get a plate of gelatin when you pour water on little pools of lava? Perhaps it makes sense to a Harvest Moon geologist.
Gave chocolates to Denny and Will for Winter Harmony Day, but Vaughn wasn't around since it wasn't a Monday or Tuesday. I must say that the challenge of courting Vaughn is making him more desirable than Denny. Relationship with Will is coming along nicely. I'm keeping my eye on Lily, that treasure-hunting hussy, to make sure that she doesn't get her claws into Will.
Went to the Starry Night Festival with Denny like last year. Not close enough to Will yet and Vaughn is (AGAIN!) nowhere to be found. At this rate, I think I'll just end up marrying Will with his yacht and mining heir money. It's not mercenary if I find him genuinely likable.
*meganekko: "glasses(-wearing) girl" in Japanese, a term used in anime and manga to refer to females wearing glasses , which is considered their most attractive trait
Year Two: Spring
Denny, that rat bastard, didn't do anything for Spring Harmony Day, which is when boys are supposed to give girls sweets. Sigh. Didn't get anything from Vaughn either, but that was expected seeing as how I only get to see him two days out of the week.
Decided to put all my efforts into my ranch to deal with the disappointment and was rewarded with the first prize at the potato festival. Mirabelle also gifted me with a white horse. I named her Winnie and brush her everyday.
Denny asked me out, but it was only to Chen's general store. Chen kept teasing us about how he should take me out to a nicer place on our next date. Denny kept insisting that we were just hanging out. I'm starting to get annoyed with his vacillations. Also, if he tells me one more time that I should start getting up earlier because the early bird catches the worm, I'm going to sock him. If he had to renovate his house just to fit another bed for a future spouse and figure out how to raise an island so that a church can be built for the wedding, he wouldn't be able to get up at 6am either.
Year Two: Summer
Spent summer trying to figure out how to upgrade my damn equipment so that I don't have to do all my farm chores one square at a time. I also raised up Rice Island out of the sea, which was a bad idea in retrospect, because I just don't have the time or the necessary equipment right now to grow rice. Dammit, should have raised Mushroom Island instead so I can forage for mushrooms, which is easy money.
Denny organized a fishing contest. I only got fourth place, because I'm still only catching small fish. Lanna, a former pop star, won first place. Now that I think about it, she's always hanging around the beach just down the street from Denny's shack. And I see them sitting together all the time in the Café. She better not try anything or I will cut someone.
My worries were later assuaged when I attended the Fireworks Festival. Denny asked me if I wanted to watch the fireworks with him. Ha! Take that, Lanna!
Year Two: Autumn
I walked into Mirabelle's store to buy some feed and was unexpectedly asked to help Vaughn take care of some farm animals. He was reticent at first, but accepted my help and told me that I wasn't completely useless. As heartwarming as his praise was, unfortunately I spied him a few days later talking to Sabrina, the meganekko daughter of the mine owner. He fixed the chain on her necklace for her. Damn them! I've got to either raise up Mushroom Island so I can start giving him mushrooms as presents or buy a cow so that I can get some milk and cook some porridge. ARGH, my brain!
As I still have many things to do before I can propose to Denny with the certainty of being accepted, I have decided to start up a friendship with the new guy in town, Will. He showed up on his yacht after I raised up Volcano Island. He's Sabrina's rich cousin, who's out to see the world. He's a bit of a playboy and I saw him talking up Lily the treasure hunter a few days into our acquaintance, which annoys me. But he has a yacht, dammit!
Year Two: Winter
Mining the depths of Volcano Island is the primary source of income for me in winter. As I am but a beginner miner, most of my finds are amethysts and topaz, but it should be sufficient to get me through the winter. How is it that you get a plate of gelatin when you pour water on little pools of lava? Perhaps it makes sense to a Harvest Moon geologist.
Gave chocolates to Denny and Will for Winter Harmony Day, but Vaughn wasn't around since it wasn't a Monday or Tuesday. I must say that the challenge of courting Vaughn is making him more desirable than Denny. Relationship with Will is coming along nicely. I'm keeping my eye on Lily, that treasure-hunting hussy, to make sure that she doesn't get her claws into Will.
Went to the Starry Night Festival with Denny like last year. Not close enough to Will yet and Vaughn is (AGAIN!) nowhere to be found. At this rate, I think I'll just end up marrying Will with his yacht and mining heir money. It's not mercenary if I find him genuinely likable.
*meganekko: "glasses(-wearing) girl" in Japanese, a term used in anime and manga to refer to females wearing glasses , which is considered their most attractive trait
Friday, January 8, 2010
So Robert gave me Harvest Moon for Christmas...
...and so began the adventures of Jutea, owner of Moopie Ranch.
Year One: Spring
So I started working on my new ranch. It wasn't as run down as Taro and Mirabelle intimated, seeing as how I have a huge island all to myself, with a dinky house, stable, supply shed and a large field. Started farming a few plots of turnips and potatoes and cleaning up my field of stones and branches. Turns out clearing away the rocks and branches was a bad idea, seeing as how they can be turned into material stone and lumber by using the sledgehammer and axe. Huh. There are also these huge boulders in the field that I just have no idea how to get rid of. It's still okay, because my stamina runs out at an alarming rate and I don't know how I would water all the crops if I had more planted than I do right now.
Wandered around town, saying hello. Everyone was welcoming, if slightly repetitive. Started scouting for eligible bachelors and found three that seem even remotely interesting. Denny is the fisherman who lives in the purple fishing shack on the east coast. He's super nice and friendly. Vaughn is the animal wrangler who lives...well, actually, I don't think he even owns a house. He's also standoffish, but he has an awesome black hat and has that mysterious vibe thing going on. Pierre is a well off gourmet who's on the main island to study ingredients and develop new recipes. Tried to give him some curry as a present, but he wouldn't take it, the snooty bastard.
There was a turnip festival at the end of the month, but alas, I had sold all my turnips accidentally and couldn't enter the contest. I won't make that mistake again.
Year One: Summer
Finally saved up enough money and lumber to expand my house. Sadly, the renovation doesn't include a kitchen, which seems silly to me. Also bought a chicken coop and Mirabelle was kind enough to give me a chick. Named it Cheepy. Can't wait for it to grow up and start giving me some eggs. Bought another chicken and named it Lauren to keep Cheepy company.
Growing tomatoes and corn this summer. There's a tomato festival at the end of the month, so I'm going to enter it. Experimenting with watering and ripening times to get the grade A tomatoes I need.
Bought a fishing pole and started testing out the waters. Caught some dinky fish! Gave one to Denny and he was really happy about it. Gonna start giving him one everyday from now on. Figured out that Vaughn (the mysterious one in the cowboy hat) likes eggs. Excellent. Going to give him a fresh egg whenever I happen to see him.
My tomato got second place in the festival! It should help me in my hunt for a husband!
Year One: Autumn
Finally built myself a kitchen, but so far I can only make chestnut rice, normal rice and bread. Gotta get more recipes somehow. Oh! I got myself another chicken and named it Kko Kko. And the brand new incubator lets me hatch new chicks every 3 days. Time to sell me some chickens! Going to keep the original three and sell the rest. Mirabelle also gave me a little dark brown puppy! I have named him Poopy.
Took an eggplant to the island potluck to add to the stew. Everyone said it was delicious. Of course it was. After all, my eggplant got first place at the festival!
Gave Denny a fish for his birthday. He was really happy and we have progressed to 4 hearts. Vaughn continues to be taciturn, but still accepts the occasional egg. Sometimes, I think he's just using me for the eggs.
Year One: Winter
There's no farming to do in winter, so focusing on my animals and gathering stone and lumber. Went to the snow festival and built a snowman with Gannon the carpenter, because no one else would help me. Apparently, I haven't been paying enough attention to them all. Well, of course not, I've been focusing on Denny and Vaughn!
Gave chocolate to Denny on Winter Harmony Day. Was going to give some to Vaughn, but as usual, he can't be found when you want him. So I ate the chocolates for stamina. Denny's showing more interest now. He invited me to watch the ocean with him and then guess what? He asked me to go to the Starry Night Festival with him! He invited me over for dinner (some fish stew and burnt chestnut rice) and then we went to the festival together. Now whenever I talk to him to give him his daily fish present, he hints at having a wife and children to go fishing with him. As much as our relationship has progressed in the past year, I'll continue giving presents to Vaughn until I can be sure of Denny's affections. Also, I've got my ranch to run. Hope next year will be more profitable so I can build a barn and get myself some sheep!
Year One: Spring
So I started working on my new ranch. It wasn't as run down as Taro and Mirabelle intimated, seeing as how I have a huge island all to myself, with a dinky house, stable, supply shed and a large field. Started farming a few plots of turnips and potatoes and cleaning up my field of stones and branches. Turns out clearing away the rocks and branches was a bad idea, seeing as how they can be turned into material stone and lumber by using the sledgehammer and axe. Huh. There are also these huge boulders in the field that I just have no idea how to get rid of. It's still okay, because my stamina runs out at an alarming rate and I don't know how I would water all the crops if I had more planted than I do right now.
Wandered around town, saying hello. Everyone was welcoming, if slightly repetitive. Started scouting for eligible bachelors and found three that seem even remotely interesting. Denny is the fisherman who lives in the purple fishing shack on the east coast. He's super nice and friendly. Vaughn is the animal wrangler who lives...well, actually, I don't think he even owns a house. He's also standoffish, but he has an awesome black hat and has that mysterious vibe thing going on. Pierre is a well off gourmet who's on the main island to study ingredients and develop new recipes. Tried to give him some curry as a present, but he wouldn't take it, the snooty bastard.
There was a turnip festival at the end of the month, but alas, I had sold all my turnips accidentally and couldn't enter the contest. I won't make that mistake again.
Year One: Summer
Finally saved up enough money and lumber to expand my house. Sadly, the renovation doesn't include a kitchen, which seems silly to me. Also bought a chicken coop and Mirabelle was kind enough to give me a chick. Named it Cheepy. Can't wait for it to grow up and start giving me some eggs. Bought another chicken and named it Lauren to keep Cheepy company.
Growing tomatoes and corn this summer. There's a tomato festival at the end of the month, so I'm going to enter it. Experimenting with watering and ripening times to get the grade A tomatoes I need.
Bought a fishing pole and started testing out the waters. Caught some dinky fish! Gave one to Denny and he was really happy about it. Gonna start giving him one everyday from now on. Figured out that Vaughn (the mysterious one in the cowboy hat) likes eggs. Excellent. Going to give him a fresh egg whenever I happen to see him.
My tomato got second place in the festival! It should help me in my hunt for a husband!
Year One: Autumn
Finally built myself a kitchen, but so far I can only make chestnut rice, normal rice and bread. Gotta get more recipes somehow. Oh! I got myself another chicken and named it Kko Kko. And the brand new incubator lets me hatch new chicks every 3 days. Time to sell me some chickens! Going to keep the original three and sell the rest. Mirabelle also gave me a little dark brown puppy! I have named him Poopy.
Took an eggplant to the island potluck to add to the stew. Everyone said it was delicious. Of course it was. After all, my eggplant got first place at the festival!
Gave Denny a fish for his birthday. He was really happy and we have progressed to 4 hearts. Vaughn continues to be taciturn, but still accepts the occasional egg. Sometimes, I think he's just using me for the eggs.
Year One: Winter
There's no farming to do in winter, so focusing on my animals and gathering stone and lumber. Went to the snow festival and built a snowman with Gannon the carpenter, because no one else would help me. Apparently, I haven't been paying enough attention to them all. Well, of course not, I've been focusing on Denny and Vaughn!
Gave chocolate to Denny on Winter Harmony Day. Was going to give some to Vaughn, but as usual, he can't be found when you want him. So I ate the chocolates for stamina. Denny's showing more interest now. He invited me to watch the ocean with him and then guess what? He asked me to go to the Starry Night Festival with him! He invited me over for dinner (some fish stew and burnt chestnut rice) and then we went to the festival together. Now whenever I talk to him to give him his daily fish present, he hints at having a wife and children to go fishing with him. As much as our relationship has progressed in the past year, I'll continue giving presents to Vaughn until I can be sure of Denny's affections. Also, I've got my ranch to run. Hope next year will be more profitable so I can build a barn and get myself some sheep!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
시
읽을수록 머리 안이 하얘지네.
이주동안 까맣게 탄 나의 가슴
어디 누가 주스로 달랠텐가.
The more I read, the whiter my inner mind becomes
My heart has turned into black ash in a fortnight,
Who will soothe it with a glass of juice?
이주동안 까맣게 탄 나의 가슴
어디 누가 주스로 달랠텐가.
The more I read, the whiter my inner mind becomes
My heart has turned into black ash in a fortnight,
Who will soothe it with a glass of juice?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Less than 3 weeks left.
I can do itsssssssssssssssssss.
The past 2 months have been nervewracking. I hate the sight of calendars now, as mine have scribbles all over the place with colour-coded due dates and notes on what I want to finish by when. Plus this flame of hatred that I feel whenever I look at certain bits written in fire engine red.
But it's okay. I'll be home soon. Granted, the rest of my family's gone ladidah-ing to Korea, so I'm going back to an empty apartment with probably no food. Yes. They're gone! My parents are gone until April to visit with relatives and look at some investment opportunities and my brother is staying there for...a year? two years? to teach English. I envy them mainly for the food. I was dreaming of a duck stew specialty in my hometown, but my mother's latest e-mail tells me that it's all gone to hell. It makes me mad. My brother started a blog of his own. There's a link to it on the right.
But I'll be in Toronto. That's the point. I'm going to stuff myself with food and meet friends and putz around watching the Food Network and playing video games. The last part will have to be at Robert's house, since I won't have cable or internet at the abandoned apartment. Le sigh.
I submitted my placement proposal for the final clinical course today. I'm applying to study at the PICU in SickKids next May. I'm hoping it will be a foot in the door for when I apply to work there as a real nurse. I want to work there SO BAD. It would help me oh so much. But can't think about it now. I gotta do readings. Then after readings, studying. Then after studying, exams. Possibly an interview with the head of the School of Nursing to discuss my placement at SickKids in between all of that.
I'll be home on the 19th. 17 days to go!
The past 2 months have been nervewracking. I hate the sight of calendars now, as mine have scribbles all over the place with colour-coded due dates and notes on what I want to finish by when. Plus this flame of hatred that I feel whenever I look at certain bits written in fire engine red.
But it's okay. I'll be home soon. Granted, the rest of my family's gone ladidah-ing to Korea, so I'm going back to an empty apartment with probably no food. Yes. They're gone! My parents are gone until April to visit with relatives and look at some investment opportunities and my brother is staying there for...a year? two years? to teach English. I envy them mainly for the food. I was dreaming of a duck stew specialty in my hometown, but my mother's latest e-mail tells me that it's all gone to hell. It makes me mad. My brother started a blog of his own. There's a link to it on the right.
But I'll be in Toronto. That's the point. I'm going to stuff myself with food and meet friends and putz around watching the Food Network and playing video games. The last part will have to be at Robert's house, since I won't have cable or internet at the abandoned apartment. Le sigh.
I submitted my placement proposal for the final clinical course today. I'm applying to study at the PICU in SickKids next May. I'm hoping it will be a foot in the door for when I apply to work there as a real nurse. I want to work there SO BAD. It would help me oh so much. But can't think about it now. I gotta do readings. Then after readings, studying. Then after studying, exams. Possibly an interview with the head of the School of Nursing to discuss my placement at SickKids in between all of that.
I'll be home on the 19th. 17 days to go!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Okay, so clinical placement this year...
There was a lot of confusion over my clinical placement this year. Honestly, I get a little jolt of fear running through me whenever I open my school e-mail and see a new message waiting for me.
First, the prof who is in charge of the course had some difficulty finding placements for people, because of all the health institutions trying to prepare for the possible resurgence of H1N1 pandemic in the fall. Which meant that instead of getting our placement information sometime in July as promised, we got them in late August.
When she did e-mail/call me, it was to ask if I'd had a psychiatry placement already. Because she'd asked for our résumés back in April, I hadn't included my fascinating experience from May (of which you know). She had wanted to put me BACK at the psychiatric institution. O_O
At that point, I was just worried about having a damn place to work during the year. I told her that it was not my first choice, since I'd already done psych and I'm sure there were many students who hadn't had that wonderful experience. (It's kind of mandatory to have psych before you graduate.) She said okay, that psych placement wasn't even a sure thing anyway.
O_o Why would you even offer it to me unless it was a sure thing?
She got back to me a few days later and said that I'd been placed at community clinic. Okay, it's sort of on the opposite side of Montreal, but hell, I commuted to Maimonides, which is like 2 bus stops down from there for a term. I wasn't particularly picky about it. The placement was described as "Services Généraux", which I assume to be regular check-ups and such. I contacted the preceptor listed on the professor's ginormous Excel file and sent my résumé.
I was so relieved at having found a place that was not psych (again) and was not exclusively geriatric (again).
Oh, this is not the end of the story. Last Friday, I got an e-mail from the prof, telling me that my placement was "lost". I was confused, because I'd already talked to my preceptor and he hadn't said anything about changing jobs. Apparently, I had talked to the wrong person, because the prof couldn't figure out how to line up my name properly in the Excel file.
Yeah. She couldn't figure out how to move my name down 3 rows in an Excel file.
-_____________________-
That's a severely disgruntled face.
She wrote that she was trying to find another spot for me somewhere else and that I shouldn't panic, because there was still a whole week left before our first week at the clinics.
I did not take this well. It was more of a panic than anger. There are clinical hours that I need to fulfill to graduate. How could they lose a placement in the span of a week? Also, why wasn't the prof telling me the possible consequences of not finding a place for me at all? Why the terrible lack of organization?
Okay, so there was a teeny bit of frustration in there. Just a tiny bit. That's when I decided, screw it, I'm not going to let it keep me from relaxing the Labour Day weekend away. So I did the Buddhist ritual of 108 bows, meditated and generally felt better.
Finally after badgering her in class and via e-mail, I received word that I would be placed in an Enfance-Famille program on the southwest corner of Montreal. I was really happy about it. It's easier to get to (on the green métro line) and babies! On Friday, my newly assigned preceptor called me back.
The first thing she said after we'd said hello was, "Do you want to talk to your prof about finding another preceptor for you?"
I think when she heard the voicemail I left in English (because duh, I'm anglophone), she thought she wouldn't be able to communicate well enough with me. I wasn't about to give up three bloody days before the start of our clinical duties. Unless she was going to move out of the city, get pregnant or fake her death, she was going to teach me and I was going to learn from her, goddammit.
Her: I use French mostly and I'm afraid I won't be know how to explain some things in English. I only use English with my anglophone clients.
Me: That's okay. I've been studying French since elementary school and I feel comfortable with it.
Her: Could you say something in French for me?
[Rest of the phone conversation was in French]
Her: You see, we write our charts here in French.
Me: I was at the Douglas in May and all the nurses there were francophone, most of the patients spoke French and reports were done in French and I had no problems. I took courses at McGill for both conversational French and written French.
Her: Hmmmm....
Me: Sometimes I might get confused if someone talks really fast, but I can look things up and I have no problems asking for clarification.
Her: Okay, which day would you prefer to meet?
If she had asked for a writing sample, I would have totally composed a damn essay right then and there in my zeal to keep this placement.
So hopefully, this year will go well. If another thing goes wrong with this, I don't know what will happen to my already fragile sanity.
Click the photo to see the detailed contents.
First, the prof who is in charge of the course had some difficulty finding placements for people, because of all the health institutions trying to prepare for the possible resurgence of H1N1 pandemic in the fall. Which meant that instead of getting our placement information sometime in July as promised, we got them in late August.
When she did e-mail/call me, it was to ask if I'd had a psychiatry placement already. Because she'd asked for our résumés back in April, I hadn't included my fascinating experience from May (of which you know). She had wanted to put me BACK at the psychiatric institution. O_O
At that point, I was just worried about having a damn place to work during the year. I told her that it was not my first choice, since I'd already done psych and I'm sure there were many students who hadn't had that wonderful experience. (It's kind of mandatory to have psych before you graduate.) She said okay, that psych placement wasn't even a sure thing anyway.
O_o Why would you even offer it to me unless it was a sure thing?
She got back to me a few days later and said that I'd been placed at community clinic. Okay, it's sort of on the opposite side of Montreal, but hell, I commuted to Maimonides, which is like 2 bus stops down from there for a term. I wasn't particularly picky about it. The placement was described as "Services Généraux", which I assume to be regular check-ups and such. I contacted the preceptor listed on the professor's ginormous Excel file and sent my résumé.
I was so relieved at having found a place that was not psych (again) and was not exclusively geriatric (again).
Oh, this is not the end of the story. Last Friday, I got an e-mail from the prof, telling me that my placement was "lost". I was confused, because I'd already talked to my preceptor and he hadn't said anything about changing jobs. Apparently, I had talked to the wrong person, because the prof couldn't figure out how to line up my name properly in the Excel file.
Yeah. She couldn't figure out how to move my name down 3 rows in an Excel file.
-_____________________-
That's a severely disgruntled face.
She wrote that she was trying to find another spot for me somewhere else and that I shouldn't panic, because there was still a whole week left before our first week at the clinics.
I did not take this well. It was more of a panic than anger. There are clinical hours that I need to fulfill to graduate. How could they lose a placement in the span of a week? Also, why wasn't the prof telling me the possible consequences of not finding a place for me at all? Why the terrible lack of organization?
Okay, so there was a teeny bit of frustration in there. Just a tiny bit. That's when I decided, screw it, I'm not going to let it keep me from relaxing the Labour Day weekend away. So I did the Buddhist ritual of 108 bows, meditated and generally felt better.
Finally after badgering her in class and via e-mail, I received word that I would be placed in an Enfance-Famille program on the southwest corner of Montreal. I was really happy about it. It's easier to get to (on the green métro line) and babies! On Friday, my newly assigned preceptor called me back.
The first thing she said after we'd said hello was, "Do you want to talk to your prof about finding another preceptor for you?"
I think when she heard the voicemail I left in English (because duh, I'm anglophone), she thought she wouldn't be able to communicate well enough with me. I wasn't about to give up three bloody days before the start of our clinical duties. Unless she was going to move out of the city, get pregnant or fake her death, she was going to teach me and I was going to learn from her, goddammit.
Her: I use French mostly and I'm afraid I won't be know how to explain some things in English. I only use English with my anglophone clients.
Me: That's okay. I've been studying French since elementary school and I feel comfortable with it.
Her: Could you say something in French for me?
[Rest of the phone conversation was in French]
Her: You see, we write our charts here in French.
Me: I was at the Douglas in May and all the nurses there were francophone, most of the patients spoke French and reports were done in French and I had no problems. I took courses at McGill for both conversational French and written French.
Her: Hmmmm....
Me: Sometimes I might get confused if someone talks really fast, but I can look things up and I have no problems asking for clarification.
Her: Okay, which day would you prefer to meet?
If she had asked for a writing sample, I would have totally composed a damn essay right then and there in my zeal to keep this placement.
So hopefully, this year will go well. If another thing goes wrong with this, I don't know what will happen to my already fragile sanity.
Click the photo to see the detailed contents.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Two days left until my last first day at McGill.
I've bought all my textbook already. $600 that I could've spent on so many other books that I would actually love to read. The English translation of "Good-bye Tsugumi" will have to wait a bit. At least until I get my OSAP money.
So I'm spending the 2 days tidying up the apartment and getting binders and books ready for the new school year. I'll be home in less than a year!
내일모레가 학교 첫날입니다.
나는 그때까지 쉴껍니다.
일어공부도 하고요.
The day after tomorrow is the first day of school.
Until then, I will relax.
I will also study Japanese.
Lendemain est le premier jour d'école.
Jusqu'à ce temps-là, je vais me relaxer.
Je vais étudier le japonais aussi.
My mother is right. I live for self-improvement. ^_~
So I'm spending the 2 days tidying up the apartment and getting binders and books ready for the new school year. I'll be home in less than a year!
明後日、学校のはじめの日です。
私はそれまでレラックスするよ。
日本語の研究もする。
내일모레가 학교 첫날입니다.
나는 그때까지 쉴껍니다.
일어공부도 하고요.
The day after tomorrow is the first day of school.
Until then, I will relax.
I will also study Japanese.
Lendemain est le premier jour d'école.
Jusqu'à ce temps-là, je vais me relaxer.
Je vais étudier le japonais aussi.
My mother is right. I live for self-improvement. ^_~
Thursday, August 27, 2009
My last day as a summer extern
Today was my last day working at the Children's Hospital as a nursing extern. While I might not have learned much about new ailments, medications and procedures, I learned lots of other things. Working in a small unit also meant that I got to see the same patients for a long period of time and follow their progress and development. When I first arrived back in June, none of the three toddlers could walk on their own, but now they're zipping down the hallway as soon as your back is turned and you have to chase them down before they lick the wheels of a baby carriage or something. There's a routine there and sometimes it did get a bit tedious, but it helps you become super efficient.
Anyway, you know how I love lists. So here we go...
Things that I learned
1) How to feed toddlers: I learned distraction methods, ways to disguise certain foods in other foods, hiding dessert until the main meal had been consumed, techniques to maneuver the spoon around scrambling hands to the mouth and ever so much more. Got a kid who likes to spit stuff out in order to see your reaction? Oh, my "I'm ignoring you for the next 30 seconds" face is positively stony.
2) How to stop tantrums: My brother used to fling himself backwards onto the floor from a sitting position when he was a toddler. I was about 7, but I learned to strike my hand out lightning fast to cushion his head centimetres above the floor. Oh he would continue to whine, but at least there was no danger of a head injury. I found that the best method to deal with a tantrum is to pay attention but don't. One kid likes to fling herself backwards (from a standing position, no less). Of course I grab her arms so she doesn't get hurt, but then I lower her onto the floor gently and she can writhe around all she wants. Meanwhile, I stand above her with my arms crossed. "What drama for nothing at all. Let's stop the nonsense, " I say in a bored voice. She cries and wriggles for a minute or so and when she gets up and stops sniffling, then she gets properly comforted with a hug.
3) How to give report: Report is passing pertinent information to the nurse who is taking over for during your break or the next shift. I still need some work on this. Usually my thoughts are so jumbled at the end of the day that I need a minute just to figure out where to get started. Of course, everything is charted, but it's faster for the nurse to hear the info directly from you and be able to ask questions. Lately, I've been writing down a short list of issues I want to mention as I write the chart, like "Sprint, Splints, Genetics, Nystatin" and these help jog my memory when it's fried from a 12-hour shift.
4) I don't like 12-hour shifts: They have 12-hour shifts at this hospital, because they say that it's less hectic and confusing for the patients to have 2 different nurses throughout the day than 3. But it's very tiring and rather unfair, as the day nurses pretty much do a huge chunk of the paperwork and follow-ups while the night nurses are doing vitals or something. I hope that my hopeful working place when I'm a nurse (Sick Kids? Pretty please?) has 8-hour shifts. During the summer, I would start work at 7am, take a 30-minute break around 11am, take an hour lunch around 3pm and then go home at 7pm. I had lunch when most people would be going home. Guh. From now on, I shall never feel that 8 hours is a long time to work. NUH UH.
5) How to be patient: Let's face it. People are dumb. Children can be frustrating as heck. For heaven's sake, I'm trying to give you banana-flavoured medicine. BANANA-FLAVOURED MEDICINE! Do you really want something up your bum instead? Because that's the alternative: suppository up the bum. But no, you must never lose your composure. If you can't manage a smile, at least have a really good placid mask. It'll keep the patient from being startled at the sudden murderous flash in your eyes when she bites your arm. Which actually happened once, I'm sorry to say.
6) Never get married to a relative: I of course knew this long before I started working at the hospital, but this summer, it's been pretty much hammered into my brain. If you can trace a common ancestor somewhere in your family records, then it's too close. Even if they're your fourth cousin twice removed (whatever that means), it's too close. Don't bother arguing with me. IT'S JUST TOO CLOSE. Now stop it. *shudder*
7) I'm okay with all bodily fluids except for mucous (from nose, mouth, trach) and earwax: Feces? Fine. Urine? Fine. Blood? I LOVE blood. Blood is the best thing on this list. Snot? It's not fine. It's especially not fine when you're suctioning the nose and your Yankauer just keeps sucking out an enormous amount of [stuff] (edited for sake of reader comfort). And have you seen the way peroxide solution fizzes when it meets earwax? *deep breath in and out*
8) But even when you're disgusted, don't show it: You're a professional, goddammit. If you need to silently scream because of the [stuff] that's shooting out from the trach when your patient coughs, put on a damn mask.
All in all, it was a very good learning experience, wouldn't you say?
Anyway, you know how I love lists. So here we go...
Things that I learned
1) How to feed toddlers: I learned distraction methods, ways to disguise certain foods in other foods, hiding dessert until the main meal had been consumed, techniques to maneuver the spoon around scrambling hands to the mouth and ever so much more. Got a kid who likes to spit stuff out in order to see your reaction? Oh, my "I'm ignoring you for the next 30 seconds" face is positively stony.
2) How to stop tantrums: My brother used to fling himself backwards onto the floor from a sitting position when he was a toddler. I was about 7, but I learned to strike my hand out lightning fast to cushion his head centimetres above the floor. Oh he would continue to whine, but at least there was no danger of a head injury. I found that the best method to deal with a tantrum is to pay attention but don't. One kid likes to fling herself backwards (from a standing position, no less). Of course I grab her arms so she doesn't get hurt, but then I lower her onto the floor gently and she can writhe around all she wants. Meanwhile, I stand above her with my arms crossed. "What drama for nothing at all. Let's stop the nonsense, " I say in a bored voice. She cries and wriggles for a minute or so and when she gets up and stops sniffling, then she gets properly comforted with a hug.
3) How to give report: Report is passing pertinent information to the nurse who is taking over for during your break or the next shift. I still need some work on this. Usually my thoughts are so jumbled at the end of the day that I need a minute just to figure out where to get started. Of course, everything is charted, but it's faster for the nurse to hear the info directly from you and be able to ask questions. Lately, I've been writing down a short list of issues I want to mention as I write the chart, like "Sprint, Splints, Genetics, Nystatin" and these help jog my memory when it's fried from a 12-hour shift.
4) I don't like 12-hour shifts: They have 12-hour shifts at this hospital, because they say that it's less hectic and confusing for the patients to have 2 different nurses throughout the day than 3. But it's very tiring and rather unfair, as the day nurses pretty much do a huge chunk of the paperwork and follow-ups while the night nurses are doing vitals or something. I hope that my hopeful working place when I'm a nurse (Sick Kids? Pretty please?) has 8-hour shifts. During the summer, I would start work at 7am, take a 30-minute break around 11am, take an hour lunch around 3pm and then go home at 7pm. I had lunch when most people would be going home. Guh. From now on, I shall never feel that 8 hours is a long time to work. NUH UH.
5) How to be patient: Let's face it. People are dumb. Children can be frustrating as heck. For heaven's sake, I'm trying to give you banana-flavoured medicine. BANANA-FLAVOURED MEDICINE! Do you really want something up your bum instead? Because that's the alternative: suppository up the bum. But no, you must never lose your composure. If you can't manage a smile, at least have a really good placid mask. It'll keep the patient from being startled at the sudden murderous flash in your eyes when she bites your arm. Which actually happened once, I'm sorry to say.
6) Never get married to a relative: I of course knew this long before I started working at the hospital, but this summer, it's been pretty much hammered into my brain. If you can trace a common ancestor somewhere in your family records, then it's too close. Even if they're your fourth cousin twice removed (whatever that means), it's too close. Don't bother arguing with me. IT'S JUST TOO CLOSE. Now stop it. *shudder*
7) I'm okay with all bodily fluids except for mucous (from nose, mouth, trach) and earwax: Feces? Fine. Urine? Fine. Blood? I LOVE blood. Blood is the best thing on this list. Snot? It's not fine. It's especially not fine when you're suctioning the nose and your Yankauer just keeps sucking out an enormous amount of [stuff] (edited for sake of reader comfort). And have you seen the way peroxide solution fizzes when it meets earwax? *deep breath in and out*
8) But even when you're disgusted, don't show it: You're a professional, goddammit. If you need to silently scream because of the [stuff] that's shooting out from the trach when your patient coughs, put on a damn mask.
All in all, it was a very good learning experience, wouldn't you say?
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Is this the explanation for all those Twilight readers?
Ah, Zetsubou sensei, you are wise. あ、ぜつぼう先生は賢いですね。
Well, I don't suppose everyone can have a childhood rich in literature. *snicker*
New Japanese word today: 賢い （かしこい） － adj. Wise
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Live blog: Overnight shift at the hospital
Believe me when I say that this will probably be more interesting due to my various antics to stay awake and keep busy than it will be for the things that go on at the hospital during the night. Especially, since I'm back on the chronic care unit. I was on the surgical unit unexpectedly last night and it was so drag-yourself-on-the-floor fatiguing.
8:45pm - Patients 1 and 2 are asleep in their cribs. They will stay asleep until I leave at 7:00am tomorrow morning (my gods willing). Patient 3 has a personal caregiver 24/7, so all I have to do is give him his feeds and his meds. I am now starting my Japanese exercises. Having mastered hiragana, I will now practice katakana. Kanji that's more complicated than "person", "big" and "I" can go straight to hell.
9:10pm - Okay, I lied. I actually haven't started studying Japanese yet. First I had to eat my delicious sammich (egg bread and spicy sausage slices - hell yes!) while browsing websites about terrible celebrity fashion. Now that my delicious sammich is all gone, I worry that I will be hypoglycemic later in the night. Thankfully, I also have a peach. But I'm no good at picking out peaches and fear that it won't be ripe enough and that I will be sorely disappointed as I have been so many times before with this particular fruit. Alas. Also, I have just tried out an anime site. It isn't blocked, BUT! this computer doesn't have flash player which pretty much makes it impossible to watch any videos on it. Victory snatched away!
9:15pm - But apparently it has a DVD player. Fate is kicking me in the butt, because of course, I don't HAVE any DVDs with me. Unless I want to watch Dora the Explorer or other kiddy stuff we have on the unit. And that's a no. What will I do when I have kids and I have to buy them crappy DVDs? Will I have to actually WATCH with them? I'd much rather read books with them or play with toys or make up imaginary play. Maybe it will be a "Mommy's naptime" activity. "Here kids, go watch this blue dog count to five ad nauseam while mommy honkshus for 2 hours. ZZZZZZZZ." Oh yeah, that will totally work. *thumbs up*
10:40pm - Slowly getting through the different types of verbs and how to conjugate them. It's easy enough once you have the rules down, but it's a matter of knowing enough verbs. Ever so slowly getting there.
11:30pm - There are sleep studies being performed in the room opposite ours. Which means the alarm rings whenever the heart rate, respiration rate or oxygen saturation drops below a certain limit. The alarm's so loud that I thought it was a fire alarm or something. One kid keeps ringing so often that it's waking up the other kid who's getting the study done. Which means that the other kid will probably have to do the study again tomorrow night, since the results from tonight won't be accurate. Finally, we've put tape over the speaker portion of the monitor and it's been quiet ever since.
12:30am - My preceptor's gone for her 2.5 hour nap. I usually sleep later than her, because 1) I have trouble falling asleep during work unless I'm tired out and 2) the later I take my nap, the less hours I have left to work when I wake up. Plus, I'm really into my studies now. 2 more chapters in this book and I should have the means to say basic sentences in Japanese. I think, I will now take a short break, however, to do some charting. Since I love making lists and crossing stuff off...
- do charting [done]
- finish off 2 more chapters [done]
- turn off the feeding pump and flush the gastric tube for patient 3 [done]
- take nap [done]
- wake up [done]
- do meds and more feedings [done]
- read Aishiteruze Baby online
4:15am - Back from my own nap. I've been taking my night shift naps on a spare cot that I drag into the conference room just next door. I put my eye mask on, zip up my hoody and huddle under the blankets. Even then, it takes me a good while to fall asleep. Tonight, I had an anime theme song running through my head. I have my cellphone alarm to wake me up, but I forgot to tell that to the PCA who scared the crap out of me by knocking on the door just ahead of the alarm. Ahhhh well.
5:00am - Well, I'm done everything on my list except reading Aishiteruze Baby and I don't feel like doing that just now. 2 hours left and I'm stuck for what to do? Should I study more? Read the news?
5:10am - What's this, what's this? I've been snooping around the computer, trying to see if anyone has copied a video worth watching onto it and found "Midnight Sun - partial draft", a PDF file. That sounds familiar, I thought. So I opened it up. And got through the middle of the second page and said, "Waaaaaaaaaait a minute." Title based on astronomical phenomenon? Character names taken from a smutty book in the 18th century, like Rosalie and Emmett? Pointless drivel that kept me completely uninterested? The name "Edward" hogging a whole line by itself AND italicized? This is a Twilight book! I closed the file with the speed of a hypochondriac shoving away a leper. (Digression: What a curious sentence.) But I find myself wondering, who was reading this at 6:30am on May 12th, 2009? Well, I do know that there were McGill students doing shifts here during that time. Bwahahahaha~
I don't know why I find this so amusing. A sense of gleeful superiority, I guess. I've been careful to avoid anything Twilight-related and am determined to keep it that way. Forever. Well! This has given me a second wind. I will fetch a glass of water and find something else to do!
5:40am - Found some tea biscuits in the kitchen. Sweeeeeeet. One of the sleep study kids are awake, thanks to the freaking alarm of the other kid. Now she's wandering up and down the hallway, practicing her recently acquired support-free ambulation. She's walking without holding onto anything, I mean. My kids better sleep until 6:50am at least. I mean it!
6:56am - Everyone woke up around 6:15am, just when I was trying to chart and tiptoeing around. Ah well. Kids are in playpens or walking around. It's great that some of these toddlers have started walking by themselves, but it makes it so tiring to chase them around and stop them from shoving electric plugs up their noses. No more night shifts until the end of the summer! Yatta!
8:45pm - Patients 1 and 2 are asleep in their cribs. They will stay asleep until I leave at 7:00am tomorrow morning (my gods willing). Patient 3 has a personal caregiver 24/7, so all I have to do is give him his feeds and his meds. I am now starting my Japanese exercises. Having mastered hiragana, I will now practice katakana. Kanji that's more complicated than "person", "big" and "I" can go straight to hell.
9:10pm - Okay, I lied. I actually haven't started studying Japanese yet. First I had to eat my delicious sammich (egg bread and spicy sausage slices - hell yes!) while browsing websites about terrible celebrity fashion. Now that my delicious sammich is all gone, I worry that I will be hypoglycemic later in the night. Thankfully, I also have a peach. But I'm no good at picking out peaches and fear that it won't be ripe enough and that I will be sorely disappointed as I have been so many times before with this particular fruit. Alas. Also, I have just tried out an anime site. It isn't blocked, BUT! this computer doesn't have flash player which pretty much makes it impossible to watch any videos on it. Victory snatched away!
9:15pm - But apparently it has a DVD player. Fate is kicking me in the butt, because of course, I don't HAVE any DVDs with me. Unless I want to watch Dora the Explorer or other kiddy stuff we have on the unit. And that's a no. What will I do when I have kids and I have to buy them crappy DVDs? Will I have to actually WATCH with them? I'd much rather read books with them or play with toys or make up imaginary play. Maybe it will be a "Mommy's naptime" activity. "Here kids, go watch this blue dog count to five ad nauseam while mommy honkshus for 2 hours. ZZZZZZZZ." Oh yeah, that will totally work. *thumbs up*
10:40pm - Slowly getting through the different types of verbs and how to conjugate them. It's easy enough once you have the rules down, but it's a matter of knowing enough verbs. Ever so slowly getting there.
11:30pm - There are sleep studies being performed in the room opposite ours. Which means the alarm rings whenever the heart rate, respiration rate or oxygen saturation drops below a certain limit. The alarm's so loud that I thought it was a fire alarm or something. One kid keeps ringing so often that it's waking up the other kid who's getting the study done. Which means that the other kid will probably have to do the study again tomorrow night, since the results from tonight won't be accurate. Finally, we've put tape over the speaker portion of the monitor and it's been quiet ever since.
12:30am - My preceptor's gone for her 2.5 hour nap. I usually sleep later than her, because 1) I have trouble falling asleep during work unless I'm tired out and 2) the later I take my nap, the less hours I have left to work when I wake up. Plus, I'm really into my studies now. 2 more chapters in this book and I should have the means to say basic sentences in Japanese. I think, I will now take a short break, however, to do some charting. Since I love making lists and crossing stuff off...
- do charting [done]
- finish off 2 more chapters [done]
- turn off the feeding pump and flush the gastric tube for patient 3 [done]
- take nap [done]
- wake up [done]
- do meds and more feedings [done]
- read Aishiteruze Baby online
4:15am - Back from my own nap. I've been taking my night shift naps on a spare cot that I drag into the conference room just next door. I put my eye mask on, zip up my hoody and huddle under the blankets. Even then, it takes me a good while to fall asleep. Tonight, I had an anime theme song running through my head. I have my cellphone alarm to wake me up, but I forgot to tell that to the PCA who scared the crap out of me by knocking on the door just ahead of the alarm. Ahhhh well.
5:00am - Well, I'm done everything on my list except reading Aishiteruze Baby and I don't feel like doing that just now. 2 hours left and I'm stuck for what to do? Should I study more? Read the news?
5:10am - What's this, what's this? I've been snooping around the computer, trying to see if anyone has copied a video worth watching onto it and found "Midnight Sun - partial draft", a PDF file. That sounds familiar, I thought. So I opened it up. And got through the middle of the second page and said, "Waaaaaaaaaait a minute." Title based on astronomical phenomenon? Character names taken from a smutty book in the 18th century, like Rosalie and Emmett? Pointless drivel that kept me completely uninterested? The name "Edward" hogging a whole line by itself AND italicized? This is a Twilight book! I closed the file with the speed of a hypochondriac shoving away a leper. (Digression: What a curious sentence.) But I find myself wondering, who was reading this at 6:30am on May 12th, 2009? Well, I do know that there were McGill students doing shifts here during that time. Bwahahahaha~
I don't know why I find this so amusing. A sense of gleeful superiority, I guess. I've been careful to avoid anything Twilight-related and am determined to keep it that way. Forever. Well! This has given me a second wind. I will fetch a glass of water and find something else to do!
5:40am - Found some tea biscuits in the kitchen. Sweeeeeeet. One of the sleep study kids are awake, thanks to the freaking alarm of the other kid. Now she's wandering up and down the hallway, practicing her recently acquired support-free ambulation. She's walking without holding onto anything, I mean. My kids better sleep until 6:50am at least. I mean it!
6:56am - Everyone woke up around 6:15am, just when I was trying to chart and tiptoeing around. Ah well. Kids are in playpens or walking around. It's great that some of these toddlers have started walking by themselves, but it makes it so tiring to chase them around and stop them from shoving electric plugs up their noses. No more night shifts until the end of the summer! Yatta!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Trying to stay awake as late as possible tonight.
The next five shifts for me are all overnight, so I need to change my sleep pattern. So let us see how much I can ramble on.
I've been reading Rousseau's Confessions over the summer. Just during my breaks at work, you understand. I tried reading it straight through back in high school and just couldn't do it. An autobiography can be so tiresome to read. Maybe my age also had something to do with the repugnance with which I abandoned it? Anyhoo, I'm past the middle point now and I honestly don't know what to think. I don't, or didn't know anything about Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I know nothing of philosophy except for that darn "Philosophy of Science" course I took in U of T and I hated it, to put it simply. I can't even be bothered to elaborate on what a waste of money and time that was.
The only other book of Rousseau's I have in my possession is La Nouvelle Héloïse and I haven't read it yet. I mean to, after Confessions and I hope I can get past the epistolary style. I know the first time I read "Les Liaisons Dangereuses", I was extremely confused about what was going on.
How do I find this autobiography of a man who describes himself as "too loving"? I suppose if he's being as truthful as he claims to be, then I can forgive his effusiveness. But here's the general feeling that I felt while reading:
Rousseau the child, clever but not thoroughly educated - Understandable.
Rousseau the teen, easily swayed by passions and whims - What a dumbass.
Rousseau the young adult, too full of dreams to be any useful - Still a dumbass.
Rousseau the somewhat successful adult, useful but still all over the place - Eh.
Reading the above, you can probably tell that I'm not too horribly impressed by his life. But maybe that's an indication that he really is trying to be honest about everything he's done. He's not trying to build himself up as anything more. All the impressions I got of his stages in life are what he thought of himself, I think. So that's good. Will it make the book very interesting for anyone but himself (and maybe his friends who are mentioned in it)? Probably not. I feel as though I'm reading it to be reading it. And that's never a good thing to say about a book, is it?
I have a feeling that once I'm done with it, it'll go back on my shelf and stay there for a long looooong time. ^_^;;
I've been reading Rousseau's Confessions over the summer. Just during my breaks at work, you understand. I tried reading it straight through back in high school and just couldn't do it. An autobiography can be so tiresome to read. Maybe my age also had something to do with the repugnance with which I abandoned it? Anyhoo, I'm past the middle point now and I honestly don't know what to think. I don't, or didn't know anything about Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I know nothing of philosophy except for that darn "Philosophy of Science" course I took in U of T and I hated it, to put it simply. I can't even be bothered to elaborate on what a waste of money and time that was.
The only other book of Rousseau's I have in my possession is La Nouvelle Héloïse and I haven't read it yet. I mean to, after Confessions and I hope I can get past the epistolary style. I know the first time I read "Les Liaisons Dangereuses", I was extremely confused about what was going on.
How do I find this autobiography of a man who describes himself as "too loving"? I suppose if he's being as truthful as he claims to be, then I can forgive his effusiveness. But here's the general feeling that I felt while reading:
Rousseau the child, clever but not thoroughly educated - Understandable.
Rousseau the teen, easily swayed by passions and whims - What a dumbass.
Rousseau the young adult, too full of dreams to be any useful - Still a dumbass.
Rousseau the somewhat successful adult, useful but still all over the place - Eh.
Reading the above, you can probably tell that I'm not too horribly impressed by his life. But maybe that's an indication that he really is trying to be honest about everything he's done. He's not trying to build himself up as anything more. All the impressions I got of his stages in life are what he thought of himself, I think. So that's good. Will it make the book very interesting for anyone but himself (and maybe his friends who are mentioned in it)? Probably not. I feel as though I'm reading it to be reading it. And that's never a good thing to say about a book, is it?
I have a feeling that once I'm done with it, it'll go back on my shelf and stay there for a long looooong time. ^_^;;
Friday, July 3, 2009
What a day...
I worked 12 hour shifts on Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was alright, even though it WAS Canada Day. Thursday was admittedly more difficult. When you've been out of the house for 13.5 hours only to drag yourself back out early the next day, your brain is going to falter a bit.
I was okay until about 3:30pm on Thursday. That's when I got back from my lunch. I work in the tech-dependent unit, which is a room with 3 patients and a nurse's desk in the corner. The kids there are mostly toddlers with tracheostomies and require constant supervision and oxygen monitoring. One baby was out on day pass with his parents and the other two toddlers were napping. So I was free to drift along in my Elvish sleep. The 3.5 hours passed without incident and my shift was over.
There's a mini bus schedule that I made on a cue-card that has all the important times (when my shifts start and end) for the bus that conveniently connects the hospital and my apartment along a road without much traffic. I love that bus.
Yesterday, however, I left the building and realized that the bus wouldn't come for another 15 minutes. No problem, the hospital is right next to a subway station. What I didn't account for was the half-zombified state of my brain.
I went to Atwater métro station, paid my fare and went down to the platform. I remember looking across the tracks to the opposite platform and noting that it was heading towards Honoré-Beaugrand (which is kind of like Kennedy station on the Bloor-Danforth line). What I didn't note was that THAT was the direction I was supposed to be heading in. Believe me when I tell you that I am well acquainted with this particular station. Last fall, I did my clinical placement at this same hospital. I go down there to shop at the Korean market which is nearby. I know Atwater station damn well, is my point. Now why, on this particular day, I decided to go down the staircase on the left instead of the right is a mystery. Maybe my brain was angry with me for subjecting it to the smell of chlorhexidine all day, I don't know. But there I was, placidly looking up at the TV screen and wondering what the weather would be like in the evening for 5 minutes straight without even thinking about whether I was on the right platform or not.
The train arrived and I got on. Now, my station, Place des Arts, is 5 stops east from Atwater. So one doesn't want to zonk out completely during the subway ride. Zonking out partially is okay, though. While I was in this haze, I heard the announcement, "Attention. Attention. Charlevoix station is closed. Buses are available from..." I thought to myself, "That's strange. They don't do that announcement unless you're going west on the green line." Then came the announcement, "Next station, Lionel-Groulx." It took 2 seconds to sink in. That's right. I was heading west. Thankfully, it was only one station in the wrong direction, so I got off.
Lionel-Groulx is like Bloor, where you can transfer between the green and orange lines. But unlike Bloor where you change floors to change lines, here you change floor to change your direction. Nonsense, you cry! I tell you, it's true. My brain apparently wasn't done screwing with me, so I mindlessly walked across the platform and got on the train, thinking that my misadventures were at an end.
I wouldn't be posting this if that was the end. Oh no. Being squishy of brain, I had changed to the orange line. When they announced, "Next station, Place St. Henri", I actually said aloud, "Bloody hell!" By this time, I would have been better off just sitting on the bench in front of the hospital and waiting for the damn bus. With a supreme burst of effort, I forced myself to stay alert and made it back to Place des Arts without making any more blunders.
All that was left was to take a bus for a short distance to my apartment. Imagine what I discovered when I exited the station! It's Internation Jazz Festival time here in Montreal and all the streets in the area were closed off for the concerts. This was the last straw. I was hungry, I was tired, it was bloody hot and sticky. If I were a child of less principles, I would have thrown a screaming tantrum right then and there. (Fact: My parents swear that I have never thrown tantrums, just death glares which is infinitely more endurable.)
Grumbling, I walked to my apartment. It was only a 10 minute walk, but I let myself wear the cranky pants that had been collecting dust in the closet of mind. Once I was home though, a shower and some food fixed EVERYTHING. Ahhhh~ Then I passed out on the bed and slept the night away. ^_^
Later in the month, I have to work three 12-hour NIGHT shifts in a row. I'll be happy if I don't somehow end up in Ottawa after that.
I was okay until about 3:30pm on Thursday. That's when I got back from my lunch. I work in the tech-dependent unit, which is a room with 3 patients and a nurse's desk in the corner. The kids there are mostly toddlers with tracheostomies and require constant supervision and oxygen monitoring. One baby was out on day pass with his parents and the other two toddlers were napping. So I was free to drift along in my Elvish sleep. The 3.5 hours passed without incident and my shift was over.
There's a mini bus schedule that I made on a cue-card that has all the important times (when my shifts start and end) for the bus that conveniently connects the hospital and my apartment along a road without much traffic. I love that bus.
Yesterday, however, I left the building and realized that the bus wouldn't come for another 15 minutes. No problem, the hospital is right next to a subway station. What I didn't account for was the half-zombified state of my brain.
I went to Atwater métro station, paid my fare and went down to the platform. I remember looking across the tracks to the opposite platform and noting that it was heading towards Honoré-Beaugrand (which is kind of like Kennedy station on the Bloor-Danforth line). What I didn't note was that THAT was the direction I was supposed to be heading in. Believe me when I tell you that I am well acquainted with this particular station. Last fall, I did my clinical placement at this same hospital. I go down there to shop at the Korean market which is nearby. I know Atwater station damn well, is my point. Now why, on this particular day, I decided to go down the staircase on the left instead of the right is a mystery. Maybe my brain was angry with me for subjecting it to the smell of chlorhexidine all day, I don't know. But there I was, placidly looking up at the TV screen and wondering what the weather would be like in the evening for 5 minutes straight without even thinking about whether I was on the right platform or not.
The train arrived and I got on. Now, my station, Place des Arts, is 5 stops east from Atwater. So one doesn't want to zonk out completely during the subway ride. Zonking out partially is okay, though. While I was in this haze, I heard the announcement, "Attention. Attention. Charlevoix station is closed. Buses are available from..." I thought to myself, "That's strange. They don't do that announcement unless you're going west on the green line." Then came the announcement, "Next station, Lionel-Groulx." It took 2 seconds to sink in. That's right. I was heading west. Thankfully, it was only one station in the wrong direction, so I got off.
Lionel-Groulx is like Bloor, where you can transfer between the green and orange lines. But unlike Bloor where you change floors to change lines, here you change floor to change your direction. Nonsense, you cry! I tell you, it's true. My brain apparently wasn't done screwing with me, so I mindlessly walked across the platform and got on the train, thinking that my misadventures were at an end.
I wouldn't be posting this if that was the end. Oh no. Being squishy of brain, I had changed to the orange line. When they announced, "Next station, Place St. Henri", I actually said aloud, "Bloody hell!" By this time, I would have been better off just sitting on the bench in front of the hospital and waiting for the damn bus. With a supreme burst of effort, I forced myself to stay alert and made it back to Place des Arts without making any more blunders.
All that was left was to take a bus for a short distance to my apartment. Imagine what I discovered when I exited the station! It's Internation Jazz Festival time here in Montreal and all the streets in the area were closed off for the concerts. This was the last straw. I was hungry, I was tired, it was bloody hot and sticky. If I were a child of less principles, I would have thrown a screaming tantrum right then and there. (Fact: My parents swear that I have never thrown tantrums, just death glares which is infinitely more endurable.)
Grumbling, I walked to my apartment. It was only a 10 minute walk, but I let myself wear the cranky pants that had been collecting dust in the closet of mind. Once I was home though, a shower and some food fixed EVERYTHING. Ahhhh~ Then I passed out on the bed and slept the night away. ^_^
Later in the month, I have to work three 12-hour NIGHT shifts in a row. I'll be happy if I don't somehow end up in Ottawa after that.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
It was a sweet dream.
I told her exactly what I thought of her. A lengthy diatribe so exquisitely worded and delivered with such righteous contempt. She finally recognized herself for what she really was and I laughed in the face of her utter mortification. Oh, the satisfaction!
If the dream had ended with me judo chopping her face, it would have been DELICIOUS.
If the dream had ended with me judo chopping her face, it would have been DELICIOUS.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
*blink blink*
That is correct. I am up at 2am on a Friday night, figuring out how to install and use the Japanese IME on my computer instead of sleeping like a normal person.
그렇소. 새벽 2시에 자기는 커녕 컴퓨터로 일어 쓰는 방법을 궁리하고 있소이다.
そうです。にじ、きんようび、にほんご、 バソコン、something something. I'm working on it.
그렇소. 새벽 2시에 자기는 커녕 컴퓨터로 일어 쓰는 방법을 궁리하고 있소이다.
そうです。にじ、きんようび、にほんご、 バソコン、something something. I'm working on it.
Monday, May 4, 2009
One year left.
I came back from Toronto last night after a blissful vacation of 10 days and found a one-year lease renewal form stuck on my door. My lease is up at the end of July and even though my original plan back in 2007 was to work in Montreal for awhile after graduation, I've been feeling rather homesick of late. Therefore, I'm planning on applying to a hospital in Toronto for my final internship next May. So I asked my landlady what I have to do if I want to leave before my lease is up next year and she told me that I shouldn't have too much trouble finding a tenant to sublet. That's fine with me.
I like my life in Montreal. My tiny studio apartment is crammed with my own stuff. Not quite perfect, given the small amount of space and lack of counters in the kitchen, but it's MINE. I cook when I want to, I leave the door open to the balcony and there's no one around to poke around my stuff. I find that I'm a lot neater now that I don't live with anyone. When I leave, I'll probably leave a lot of stuff behind, like the kitchen table where I usually toss books and keys and knick knacks rather than actually eat something. I'll leave behind my old crappy Ikea desk and dresser for sure. I'm kind of excited about the prospect of getting rid of this stuff, actually. Like shedding off the old things and becoming a more grown-up version of me. It's quite nice to think about.
I'll have to buy a new desk and everything else when I get back to Toronto, but it'll be okay. I'll get the ginormous dark-coloured desk of my dreams so I can spread books and papers all over it. It'll be freaking sweet.
I like my life in Montreal. My tiny studio apartment is crammed with my own stuff. Not quite perfect, given the small amount of space and lack of counters in the kitchen, but it's MINE. I cook when I want to, I leave the door open to the balcony and there's no one around to poke around my stuff. I find that I'm a lot neater now that I don't live with anyone. When I leave, I'll probably leave a lot of stuff behind, like the kitchen table where I usually toss books and keys and knick knacks rather than actually eat something. I'll leave behind my old crappy Ikea desk and dresser for sure. I'm kind of excited about the prospect of getting rid of this stuff, actually. Like shedding off the old things and becoming a more grown-up version of me. It's quite nice to think about.
I'll have to buy a new desk and everything else when I get back to Toronto, but it'll be okay. I'll get the ginormous dark-coloured desk of my dreams so I can spread books and papers all over it. It'll be freaking sweet.
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