Friday, June 23, 2006

 

I'm being bad......

This weekend is the annual GLBTQ Pride celebration here in the great town of Columbus, and I am not going......

I've come up with lots of reasons why I'm not going, such as 1) I need to study for the NCLEX (but that is still a week and a half away), or 2) Buster is out of town, and I don't want to go alone (but a group of people from work is going, as well as groups of friends from other places will be going). Okay, so maybe the first reason is somewhat valid, but it's not like I could not spare a few hours to do out and celebrate.

Actually, I've come to the understanding of the real reason behind my not going: these parades annoy me. There I said it, I do not like Pride. If that makes me a bad f*g, then so be it. Yes, any straight readers, even some of us are annoyed by the jockstrap wearing leather-daddies, the extra large (in height and/or weight) drag queens, and all the other walking, talking stereotypes on display. I fully support them if that is what they want to do, and I am glad that they feel comfortable enough in their own skins to walk down the middle of the street at noon. But what is missing from these parades are the gay men like me. Where are the images of the boring, "married" f*gs who have simple homes in the suburbs (and not lavish townhomes decorated to the nines), who go to work, pay taxes, shop at Macy's (not those uber-chic little shops in the trendy part of town) and all the other boring little things in life?

Also, it seems that Pride has simply become another excuse to have a party with lots of loud dance music, body glitter, and alcohol. I mean, come on, am I the only gay man out there who pays attention to the news? Look at where we are as a community, the Republican party is using us to scare voters and they want to change the constitution to discriminate against us. We are still losing friends/families/lovers to HIV/AIDS and the rates of new infection are climbing, especially in our younger members. Crystal meth and other drugs are killing us too. GLBTQ teens are still killing themselves at higher rates than their straight counterparts. We are still in physical danger when we walk the streets. Hell, the military still classifies homosexuality as a mental illness, 30 some years after the APA stopped. True, we've made advances over the last 25-30 years, but I'm not sure we've come far enough to justify all this partying.

Okay, time to shut off the evil, bitchy queen mode. There are some NCLEX review questions calling my name..........

Thursday, June 22, 2006

 

A great big helping of blog-gy goodness

It's official. Volume 1, issue 1 of Change of Shift is ready for your reading enjoyment. If you've ever wanted to get a peek inside the head of your favorite nurse, here is your chance. A great showing for the first issue of this soon-to-be-fabulous blog carnival about nurses and nursing. Take a minute or ten and check it out.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

 

I have a date now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I got home from work tonight, I had my Authorization To Test (ATT) in my email. I immediately went on-line and scheduled my boards. Exactly 2 weeks from now, I should be done with my boards. July 5th at 9:00am is the date & time!

Now I just have to buckle down and study.................

14 days and counting

 

Nursing diagnosis: cooties?

According to the website I found this image at, this picture was from an Italian poster around 1916. I'm sure that it is supposed to be showing the patient's gratitude to her and the humility of the nurse as she accepts his thanks. However, is it just me, or does it look more like she's afraid she's going to catch something from him? If this was happening today, that would be a very real concern, not even considering that this would almost always be considered sexual harrassment. Then again, this patient has a head wound so it's possible that there is damage to the frontal lobe of his brain and he has impulse control issues. Hmmm, I seem to have stumbled across some sort of nursing thematic aptitude test (a psychological test in which the patient makes up a story about an ambigous picture and the psychologist analysizes the themes in that story as a way of looking for psychological disorders). Okay, enough geek talk for now.........

I submitted my previous entry to Change of Shift for publication. Woo woo my first official entry into a blog-carnival. I guess that makes me an official blogger. (Okay, maybe I wasn't done with the geek talk after all...........) Kim from Emergiblog is coordinating it, so I am sure it will be great. Emergiblog is one of the few blogs that I make a point to read every day since Kim is the kind of blogger I want to be when I grow up (and judging from her posts, probably the kind nurse I want to be too). She left a very positive comment, which left me all warm and fuzzy. Maybe I am doing something right with this thing after all!

Combine that with the fact I made it into the office this morning before the thunderstorm hit, so I didn't get soaked walking into work this morning, maybe this will be a good day......

Monday, June 19, 2006

 

Today is where my book begins

Over the weekend, I was trying to come up with something to contribute to the premier issue of Change of Shift (a blog link/carnival/round table/what have you for nurses, by nurses, about nurses), since I thought it was somewhat fitting that it is starting just about the same time as I start my career as a nurse. But for whatever reason, I was coming up blank. I will be the first to admit, that deep and meaningful prose is not exactly my strong point. Then, while listening to my XM radio while reading email, I heard a song that sums up my thoughts far better than I ever could. So, with my thanks to Ms. Natasha Bedingfield, and her song, Unwritten, here are my thoughts on becoming a nurse.


I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can't live that way
Aside from some of the more obvious "nontraditional" aspects of my life, my entire time in nursing school was also nontraditional. Being the first class of "on-line" nursing students in the area caused more than a few raised eyebrows. We even had one faculty member tell us that our program was too easy (mostly because we only had 2 hours of pharmacology lab scheduled instead of 3 hours, since we did not need an hour of lab time for teaching us math). Of course, this just inspired us to prove her wrong. And that we did, when 7th quarter came around, all 19 of us passed our outcome exam on the first try, something that no class had ever done before. If you believe in statistics, this means there is a 95% chance that we will all pass our boards on the first try.
There is also the whole aspect of being a man in nursing. I had a couple of nurses during clinicals who seemed to be someone annoyed with my presence (mostly during my OB/GYN rotation), but for the most part I've always felt welcomed on the unit. It was nice to have another man as a preceptor, and it turned out that he was an excellent nurse. Definately gave me a role model to follow in the future.
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inner visions
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
As I sit here, waiting for my diploma and authorization for the boards, I'm trying to figure out what the future will be like. Between my career change, and the possibility of Buster's new job, everything ahead of me is unknown. Completing nursing school while working full time, and managing to not only maintain existing relationships, but also develop new ones, has shown me that I can do anything I want to. Nursing is a field with virtually limitless options. It is up to me to discover those options, and go after the ones I want. No one else can or will do it for me. I have an idea of where I want to go, but who knows how that vision will change. If you'd asked me 10 years ago when I graduated college the first time if I'd be finishing nursing school 10 years (almost to the day) from then, I would have said "He*l no". As of right now, I plan on going on in school and becoming a nurse practioner. Hopefully that will not take me another 1o years, but if it does, so be it. I have long ago learned to trust in fate, and to go along with what life gives you instead of fighting against it. I simply open my arms and accept it as it comes. As my mother says in her email signature "Life is like trying to hug an elephant"
Today really is where my book begins.....
PS. This metaphor is a bit scary, considering that my first quarter clinical instructor told me she one day expects to see a book of nursing care plans with my name under the title. I just remembered that as I was writing this. Not sure if this is a sign of fate, or just a really bizarre coincidence.
Of course, she also said she could see me being a neonatal transport nurse. We'll have to see on both of those things!

Friday, June 16, 2006

 

[Insert Witty Title Here]


I was bored today at work waiting for reports to update, so I went out to find more fun pictures to include in my blog. Some of the old medication ads are just remarkably scary.

Take this ad for example. From what I can tell, this is an ad for a morning sickness pill. Of course, judging from the picture, my first guess was some sort of antidepressant, because she looks WAY too happy. Can you imagine telling a woman today that if she takes this pill while pregnant she'll be able to get up and cook breakfast. Most of the pregnant women I've known would chase you around the kitchen trying to hit you with the frying pan rather than cook with it. I realize that some women actually need medication to deal with morning sickness, however, I doubt it is so that she can spend the morning cooking (and you know she was the one doing to dishes afterwards too).

Buster should be finished with the first portion of his interview by now. He had an interview today and tomorrow up near Cleveland. I don't exactly want to move north of here, but in terms of both of our careers, this would be a very good move. From what I've seen on their websites, the hospital systems in Cleveland have a lot more openings for nurses then the ones here in Columbus. And of course, this would be a step up to top level leadership position in his job, so it would be a huge advancement for him. Of course, that means we would have to find a new house, and move all of our sh*t, but there is always a price to pay.

Kim over at Emergiblog is starting a new link sharing/blog carnivale/roving link collection (I really have no idea what you would call it) for nurses, by nurses, about nurses called "Shift Change". I am going to have to write something insightful (or snarky, or witty, or mildly amusing, or completely random) about starting my nursing career. Seems someone fitting that the first edition of "Shift Change" have something about becoming a nurse. Guess that will be my homework for the weekend.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

 

A weekend heavy on the symbolism

Last week was a bit of a crazy week for me. Now that it is over, it is a bit of a let down.

Last week was the last week of school, at least for this degree. I took vacation time from work on Wednesday through Friday, but even with 3 days off, it did not really feel like much of a break. Here is the breakdown of that crazy week.........

Wednesday: Wednesday morning was set aside for rehersal for the pinning ceremony, and then a class luncheon afterwards. We were only given the start time for rehersal, no end time and no location. Hmmmm, not exactly a welcoming sign, but I had the whole day off so I was not overly concerned. So, I penciled in 2 hours of time in my planner for the rehersal, and made an educated guess about the location. Sure enough, rehersal was in the gym (just like the ceremony would be) so my first guess was correct. Since I was right with my guess on one question, I was feeling pretty good about my guess on the other. Boy was I wrong! We spent a sum total of about 30 minutes on rehersal! Somehow, they managed to take a 2+ hour ceremony last about 30 minutes. Of course, we did not actually do the part of the ceremony which actually took the longest time (the reading of the bios/thank yous), but still seemed a bit rushed. When all was said and done (such as it was), I think everyone was more confused after rehersal than before. I left there not exactly feeling comfortable about the upcoming ceremony.

Lunch was scheduled to start at noon, but we were finished with rehersal at just after 10. Hmmmm, so what to do? Most of the class spent about a half hour just hanging out, catching up on the latest news/gossip and one of the class officer announced that the restaurant could seat us an hour early if we wanted to go there early. Since this place served alcohol, off we went to the restaurant. Over all, a good time was had by all. Much food, much alcohol (some people had more than others....), much laughing. All in all a good time. Spent the rest of the day wandering around window shopping since the cleaning lady was at the house and I did not want to be in the way.

Thursday: the actual ceremony was in the evening, so I had most of the day to sit around and relax. Of course, the closer it got to time to go downtown, the more nervous I got. Of course Buster was being feisty all day and teasing me about having to work late, or forgetting he had to be there or whatever else he could think of. Of course, I should have expected this when I told him he had to go up on stage with me and be the person to actually pin me. The ceremony actually went A LOT better than I had expected. We only had a couple of minor glitches. The biggest problem was that we had something like 600 people crammed into the gym and no where near enough ventilation. That would not have even really been a problem if people had stuck to the 100 word limit in their bios/thank yous. Our friend B who was there said they needed the music from the Oscars which started playing after a certain amount of time. Afterwards, Buster told me that he was almost crying when he was up there pinning me. Guess my thanks to him was better than I though!

Friday: was a day of recovery. I was feeling pretty drained/tired. I spent much of the day sitting on my butt playing video games. Definately needed that by this point.

Saturday: we had a wedding to go to for a lesbian couple from my work. Buster did not really want to go, partly because he had a village meeting at 8am that morning, and partly because he was not going to know anyone there (since it will be a bunch of people I know from work). Once we got there, he said he was actually having more fun than he expected. The ceremony was simply elegant and beautiful. The food at the reception was great, and the bar was open. Some of my coworkers too liberal advantage of that fact! I was a little surprised that I managed to get Buster out on the dance floor during the "couples" dance, but since the brides specifically told us to get out there and dance, it is not like we had much choice. It was a little surprising that we were one of the last couples out there when the DJ started asking people to step off based on how long the couple had been together. I guess 10 1/2 years actually IS a long time. We got home way later than I had expected, but it was a fun evening.

Sunday: was another day of recovering and dreading Monday morning. By this time, I was almost ready to go back to work, mostly because I'll be less busy there!

Man, this ended up being much longer than I had expected. I need to make more frequent updates, or have less going on in my life......

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

 

Lolly, lolly, lolly get your soapbox here

Last night on the way home from work, I was listening to The Randi Rhodes Show on Air America Radio where she was discussing the stupidity going on with the whole debate over gay marriage. Needless to say, I was getting madder and madder with each mile. By the time I got home, I had decided to let my "representatives" (and I use that term loosely) know that I felt they were wasting their time and to get to work on something that actually matters. Since all of my representatives are Republicans (not my fault, I voted for Democrats), I decided to avoid talking about the fact that any ban on gay marriage is immoral, unethical, and illegal (hello, remember the "Full Faith and Credit" clause of the Constitution????) and focus on the fact that this amendment has no chance of passing (as admitted by the Republicans themselves) and redundant (remember DOMA *thanks Mr. Clinton*?). I know that it will not make any difference what so ever, but it made me feel better.

Since I did not have my representatives email addresses handy, I had to do some looking. I found a pretty cool site where you can type up a message and they will deliver it to all of your representatives, based on the zip code you enter. This site will actually work for any issue you might have too. Want to do write your elected officials in Washington DC? Go here......

Congress.Org

I didn't do too much research about this site, but judging from the comments on the site, it looks like they are nonpartisan. If I find anything different, I will post accordingly.

Monday, June 05, 2006

 

I really should do this more often


Another image that I've spent waaaaay too much time thinking about. I'm not exactly sure what nurses or babies have to do with tires, nor do I understand what that woman is going to do with one bottle and 3 babies, nor can I figure out why these kids are on the counter. Is this some sort of cruel, bizarre Darwinistic experiment? Is she trying to teach these babies how to fly? Why does it look like she has drank a quart of uncut lemon juice/ Was there a fourth baby to correspond to a fourth tire? Like I said, I've spent way too much time thinking about this picture.

Since it has been almost a month since my last update, I guess I have some updates to give. Well, here goes.......

School: I took my last final last week! Woo woo! I'm fairly sure I should feel more excited about that fact, however, I still have the boards ahead of me. Maybe this week will generate some excitement, since on Wednesday we have rehersal for our pinning ceremony, and our ceremony itself is on Thursday night. For you non-nurse types out there, pinning is kind of like graduation just for nurses. We have speakers, give awards and stuff. We also get to have a school pin (if we wanted one) put on us by someone important in our lives (which means I'm forcing Buster to come up on stage with me). I'm not sure if we are still taking the Nightingale Pledge (the nurse's Hypocratic oath) at our school, but I guess I will know on Wednesday. After rehersal, we going out for a class luncheon. That should be a blast. It still amazes me how well we all get along. Of everything going on this week, I am looking forward to that the most.

Work: I finally had my second interview for the fellowship program that I applied for. It took them several weeks to get back to me, just to tell me that I did not get in. Hmmmm...... I'm still not sure if that is a good thing or not. I guess it means that they at least had to think about it. I guess I would have been more upset if they called me the next day and told me that I was out. I was pretty bummed about it, but as Buster pointed out, everything happens for a reason and that there is a reason that this happened. So that means that I still have to find a new job. The HR person at the hospital forwarded my info to a couple of other departments, and I have put in some applications with another hospital system here in town. I'm not overly concerned about finding a job (partly since I already have a decent job, albeit one that I do not exactly like), but I hate the whole process of it.

Buster's work: Buster finally heard back from a job that he applied for back in April. He has an interview next weekend for a job up near Cleveland. The interview actually takes place over 2 days, on Friday and Saturday. Kind of weird for that type of job, but that is how they want to do it. He drove up yesterday and looked around at the surrounding community. Sounds like a pretty expensive place to live, but then again, where we live now is not exactly cheap. We've talked a lot about what to do if he gets the job up there, but that is kind of putting the cart before the horse, so we'll see what happens during/after his interview.

Misc. updates: the other main thing going on is that we may be getting a roommate. Our friend from www.OutInColumbus.com chat, Sportinator, has moved here to Ohio from New Jersey, and has had a little bit of instability in his living situation (let's just say it involved an unkept house, numerous large dogs, and an unpaid water bill). Since we have some extra room (okay, lots of extra room), we've entered into negotiations about him moving in as a roommate. It will be kind of weird having a roommate, but it will be good to help out a friend who needs some help.

That pretty much sums up the last month (not sure if that is sad or not). I'm going to try to make more frequent updates, since in theory, I should have a little more free time.

Keep checking back for more............

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