HOLY COW....

I'm still speechless (no pun intended) at what I just found over at Neatorama.

You can watch The Miracle Worker all you want, but to see Helen Keller HERSELF is moving to me beyond words.

"....wading through a shitstorm of people....."

Yes, it's official.

I'm hooked.

Many people in my life will say "Well duh...." But for some reason I didn't make it to the second episode of Nurse Jackie when it was originally airing. It wasn't because the show wasn't good enough, but timing... my timing... was off.

In this age of "come back and view it later" when you can more often than not go to the website of a show and catch up on episodes, I find myself doing just that. If I miss a premiere episode or a couple just after, I won't try to come back in. Instead, I like to have one of those vegetative days where I just marathon a program, catch up on rest and catch up on the show I've been missing.

Nurse Jackie is nearly every nurse's chance to say "Hell yeah!" because the writer's allow Jackie to say and do the things we were never able to. Don't get me wrong. MUCH of what she's doing is SO very illegal. I even found myself toward the end of my marathon beginning to feel worry because she's going to get in trouble sooner or later. I mean... shave a corner here... OK.... do a little trickery there... well.... gotcha covered. But by the end I'm starting to fear for my OWN non-existent nursing licence!

My fellow blogger RadioPeter is thinking about nursing school. I think that this show is a great primer for wannabe nurses. OK, forget the part about how easy it may seem to steal and freebase Oxycontin (it's not... you WILL get caught) but the real, raw look into what nursing is and what they go through is unapologetically placed on the screen and BAM.. that's it.

In one scene Jackie's nursing student feels like she just can't do the job. Sometimes that's a sign for you to tell the student "Yes, you're right, get the F out now and go into stenography because all YOU want is a doctor husband..." But there are some that you KNOW they have the spirit for it and while the job is crap, you don't want them washed out by it. Jackie lays it out in a line that will be cheered by me for a long time:

What's this about? Nobody ate your muffins? You found an ear in the toilet? So what? You know what this job is honey? This job is wading through a shit storm of people who come into this place on the very worst day of their lives. Just so you know, doctors are here to diagnose, not heal. We heal. All saints is in the business of flipping beds. That's it. End of story. The fact that you have even the slightest inclination to help people puts you miles ahead of 100 percent of the population. So stop crying, okay? Buck up. If you need to cry, go do it in the ladies' room. Is that clear?

Tonight's episode is the season finale. All I can say is I hope Edie Falco is enjoying her hiatus... cuz lady, you better get back to the set soon because if I can't watch you find new ways to incorrectly take your illegal pain meds... I may have to try them myself.

Compassion is as compassion does!

I'm afraid if I went Feisty today all I'd have to complain about is work and that's not good. One thing I will mention is my distaste for the release of a terrorist.

Today, the Scottish justice secretary announced the decision to release the Libyan intelligence officer convicted of taking part in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The convicted terrorist, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and is being released on “compassionate grounds.”

Did Ali al-Megrahi have any compassion for the people in the plane? Nope. Do I think he should have been released. HELL no. But he was, and he's not going back into prison. The only icing would have been if he'd been shot 2 steps from actually stepping on Libyan soil. Whatever. There's a nice spot in hell for you brillo headed asshat. Enjoy....

But today, while not the happy good weather Friday I'd like to have, does have a pick-me-up to it. Fellow blogger RadioPeter is working his way toward nursing school. Last night we met for dinner so I could regale him with nursing stories and school advice. I hope it's helpful as it is a decade old and from a southern state. He asked "Were you in a union?" and I sat there, chopsticks in mid bite with an undoubtedly dumb gaze as I thought... "uhhhh.. no... didn't know they had those.."

He introduced me to Vietnamese (corrected by Peter! whooops!) food and I gave him my favorite ER gems like the whistling coke bottle and the patient who sat on the fan blade of his riding lawnmower engine.... Equal trade I think. I also learned of a Nurse Jackie marathon and I will be submersing myself into Jackie world this evening and tomorrow as I let my mind recover from this ASS of a week that is ending well with a new friend and a nurse who had it worse than me.

Ain't life grand? :)

From Bad to Good

I'm in a foul mood today. I'm trying my best to come out of what work has put me in so my usual recourse is Facebook and my favorite blogs. I realized I can't get out of blue funk when I keep seeing Michael Vick and that poor dog so I'm cannibalizing Neatorama for a fun story they just posted.

In honor of the children's game Candyland having its 60th Anniversary, Lombard street in San Francisco was turned into Candyland and several children's benefit organizations brought kids out to enjoy it, interact with characters and have snacks at the end. Very cool idea I believe!

Not enough to pull me out of the mood, but it's a step!

Look! Something Shiny!

Fiesty Friday - ADHD edition

I've not had much of a Fiesty Friday feeling lately, but in the past few days I've been getting inspiration left and right! Time to make up for lost time.... Let's start with:

Are you F-ing kidding me????

Michael Vick is not only out of jail early, but he's also being signed on to the Eagles. He can't play until the NFL lifts his ban, but someone still signed him.

The Eagle's coach said on the news this morning that everyone deserves a second chance. Apparently he knows as many of his team members have criminal records. I agree... people do deserve a second chance.... so do dogs.

Can we tie Vick up naked, pour A1 steak sauce on is wang and let this poor guy below go after him? If we're lucky, the NFL will not lift the ban and he'll be a dead duck. If he DOES get permission to play by November 22 when they come to Chicago to play the Bears... it won't be the Bears that soulless fucker has to worry about. Myself and a whole bunch of other animal rights folks will be looking for a way to make his life hell! (and it won't be pouring beer on him)

Beer? Segue moment!

The Wrigley Beer Thrower
- OR -
Why suburbanites shouldn't be allowed at Cubs Games
(yes, a gross generalization of suburbanites)

My own views on why suburbanites shouldn't be allowed at games stems from their apparent inability to function when it comes to CTA and public transportation.

(We could HONESTLY be half way home before they figure out where to put their money while they juggle their barely hidden beer which IS illegal on CTA no matter what you do out in Wheaton on Metra)

What happened my dear non-Chicagoan readers may ask?

Well, this asshat, J0hnny Macchione from Bartlett, IL comes to the game... He's on Facebook, go hound him!

Gets the DUMBASS idea (like many testosterone + beer addled straight boys with stupid facial hair) to dump beer on this Phillies player as he's going to catch a ball.





THEN, when security comes to take care of the offender, what does this friggin douchebag do? Points his finger at someone else!!!




Causing security to go after the guy in glasses


Then the stupid facial hair, beer tossing, testosterone ridden, fuckwit from Bartlett, let the guy take the fall and disappeared into the crowd.

Now I will give the knuckle-dragger 2 points of credit. He had good aim. If you watch on video how quickly and nonchalantly he tossed the beer, it's a wonder it hit the player so perfectly. The other point of credit, he quickly realized (or someone told him) that on a nationally televised game by a Chicago TV station when an opposing player was about to catch what was about 4 feet from being a Cubs home run, there was PROBABLY a video of him dumping the beer.

He apologized (oh so sincerely.... whatever) on TV and said he was sorry for disgracing the Cubs. You didn't disgrace the Cubs Fuckwit, you disgraced yourself, Bartlett, and other stupid 21 year olds with lame facial hair. The only person who could possibly be happy with your antics was the guy who caught the ball and caused the Cubs a win several years ago. For now the spotlight is off of him... for a moment.

YELLING! - OR - I'd rather be Deaf than listen to more of your bile!

The whole health care and death squads crap makes my head hurt. I'll let my other new BFF explain it better. Take it away Rachel!




and finally on a serious note.....

Why can't it be the bad people?

This reminds me of a story Max's Dad did back in September of 2008 about the senseless death of an innocent. While Taccara Swain is still alive as of this blog post, she's in critical condition after being shot in the head by someone who was having a heated argument with another gang banger in another car on the South Side of Chicago.

Was Taccara hooking on that street? No
Was Taccara out causing trouble on the streets? NO
What was she doing? Walking her 2 year old cousin home after they'd been playing. Taccara heard the shots begin, she bent down to shield the two year old and took a bullet herself.

If the guilty parties are caught, I say tie them up and put them in the same room with Michael Vick when we let the dogs go after them. Then they'll really be singing 'Who let the dogs out!'

Taccara, we're all thinking of you and hoping for a recovery for your physical injuries for now, and, God willing, you live your psychological injuries later.

What a loss!

EUNICE KENNEDY SHRIVER 1921 - 2009

All the papers keep showing her more recent pictures, but knowing what she did with the Special Olympics I like to think that no matter her age or outside appearance, Eunice still had the heart and drive of the young woman pictured above.

In today's RedEye there was a piece where world leaders expressed their thoughts on the passing of Mrs. Shriver. Her brother, Sen. Edward Kennedy said

"She understood deeply the lesson our mother and father taught us - much is expected of those to whom much as been given. "

Too often that saying would fall flat when those of us regular folks are hit so hard by the economy and we look at the lavish lives the Kennedy family lead. However, with Mrs. Shriver I can see that she truly took this to heart. If you don't believe that, would we ever see pictures of joy and inclusion like the ones below without her?



I had the opportunity to work with the Special Olympics once and these people feel as joyous as Olympians!

Great work Eunice! We'll miss you greatly!

Update-a-palooza!

Hi Everyone, So sorry I've been absent. Between work and life it's been hard to keep up with the blog. No excuse I know, but part of what's kept me from regular posting is I'm actually writing! WOOHOO. I can hear some of you now screaming to see what I'm writing, but patience is a virtue. I will never show you raw writing so you have to wait for me to write it, review it, make some fixes and bring you an almost complete passage. Not that there's not editing suggestions I'll take once I put it out there, but as Stephen King said the first draft is written with the door closed. The door is closed people!

I will say that I've been surprised that some of my fears about writing have been alleviated. Some instructional books and famous authors say that they spend time writing out character profiles, outlining the story then filling in the detail after all the pre-emptory homework. Others (like my new BFF Stephen King) say that they just start writing and it comes. Mr. King said he doesn't write the story as much as his characters create the story and tell him about themselves and he trusts them, the characters, to tell him about themselves. When I initially read that, I thought it must be a trait that comes after years of consulting the writing muse. Just yesterday I started writing a new piece and surprisingly the story just started unfolding. I see the story happening in my imagination and I've been surprised to see the story taking turns that I hadn't thought of on my own. It's quite exciting!

So stay tuned for some short stories that will either appear here or in a brother-blog.

Even though I've been writing, I've still been annoyed enough to post my rants here so let me catch up on some.WHO

THE F*CK
CARES????

Why are we still paying attention to these baby factories? They divorced, someone cheated, the kids squeal, eat and poop? WHO CARES? This morning as I was watching the NBC news they said NBC staffers in New York stated that when Kate was a guest on the Today show she was one of the worst guests, that she cursed like a drunken sailor and when the camera was moving to take a shot of her entourage she threatened to walk off the show. Merideth Viera denied this, but I have a feeling there's a little truth in there.

I can't wait til their 15 minutes are LONG since over!

... for that OMG moment...

I've never watched Gossip Girl. Even before it started it sounded sophomoric. I have absolutely no clue what the show is about. I couldn't name one person who stars in it. The only thing I know that came out of it is the OMG phenomenon and how every product or service aimed at tween and early teen girls has used it somehow.

and now I will too, but in a completely unrelated way. (its my blog, just go with it)

Several weeks ago I wanted to find an image that was related to Clemson University (where I went to college if you didn't know) or Tiger Band to use as my profile image on Facebook for a change. I came across a picture that was impressive; a tattoo on a guy's back in the shape of a tiger paw with the tiger face inside it.

Nice art work, right?

So today (even as I type this) I'm on a conference call where my only contribution is to start the call and then convert oxygen into carbon dioxide. I've been surfing the web for the past hour and I found a site with about 50 + lists ranging from 15 Worst Plastic Surgeries, 20 Unbelievable Human Medical Conditions to 15 facts you didn't know about your body (did you know the human body can produce aspirin on its own? It's a FACT!)

My OMG moment came when I clicked on the list called "Another 10 Misspelled Tattoos".....

OH

MY

GOD!

I'll even throw in a WTF for this one.

When I got my tattoo it was illegal to get tattoos in South Carolina. (I drove an hour north and was in North Carolina.. so there you Bible thumping blue law freakshows!) But now the laws have changed and you can. Perhaps they may have needed a spelling test for certification.... I don't know... .but the only reason I could possibly think of for a South Carolina person not to be able to spell Clemson properly is that they were a USC GAMECOCK FAN! (Clemson's century old rival) or really hated this poor boy.

Perhaps he went out of state... perhaps he went west of the Mississippi or however far you have to get away from the southeast or eastern seaboard to not have heard of ClemSON. Hell, even the name Clemmons has two "m"s in it.

The back piece is beautiful, the tiger paw still has me in awe of the artwork. But this child is scarred for life and I KNOW the University won't change its name to help him.

I bet he was a Kappa Sig....

... whilst Deirdre' wept cool tears...

I've been doing my due diligence with my writing and learning what I can where I can. I've learned a lot and hope to be successful from taking the advice of people who know, even if they seem an unlikely source for that knowledge. I've discovered something through the advice though;

Like the TLC show "What Not to Wear" I think there should be a show called "What Not to Write". Sadly, many of the people who need this valuable lesson probably see themselves as too professional to need the advice.

Such is a writer for the Los Angeles Times, Shari Roan.

Shari wrote a piece that appeared in today's issue about a little boy, born deaf, that has received cochlear implants . While her article offers hope for the boy, and I'm happy for him, she apparently was absent the day they taught the lesson "make sure your article and title don't piss off people" The initial title on this article is "The Sound of One Boy Healing". The subsequent title is "Cochlear implants open deaf kids' ears to the world"

Lesson 1: Healing. Was his hearing loss due to an injury? Nope, he was born deaf. It happens. He's healing from surgery yes, but the title alone, as it always has, makes deafness sound like an illness. If you believe that, I have about 8,000 people in the Chicago area alone that I can text and have them share with you how wrong that is.

Lesson 2: This is nitpicky, but I'm pissed so I can be nitpicky. "...open deaf kids' ears to the world" If you paid attention to the "how the implants work" section in your own article, Ms. Roan, you'd see that the technology bypasses the ear entirely. So there! NYEAHHHH!

Lesson three: Not a "What Not to Write" but just a point to my readers who may not know. The father of the child says:

"We just want him to hear," says his father, Michael, 38, a registered nurse, on an October day at the couple's town house in Harbor City. "We want him to be independent."

Talk about pigeon-holing your kid early?!?! I guess I had better tell my Deaf friend Raymond who owns the largest interpreting and Deaf services agency in Chicago who just purchased a vacation home in Michigan, owns a gorgeous condo and just bought a nice new Lexus that he better give it all back since being deaf means not being able to fend for yourself. And a NURSE said that....

Lesson Four: Wouldn't it be simpler to say...?
This reminded me of a bit in "Auntie Mame" when she's writing her memoirs with a wordy ghost writer:

"I wonder if the general public is going to understand all this symbolism. (She reads) 'Like an echo from the caves of Coccamaura, I came forth whilst Deirdre wept cool tears.' Wouldn't it be simpler to say, 'On the day I was born, it rained in Buffalo?'"

Yes, Ms. Roan, instead of your sensationalizing with "some sliver of the racket... can penetrate his brain" wouldn't it be simpler to say "He can hear"? (thanks Just Kevin for the reference!)

Anyway, I will tip my hat to Ms. Roan for one thing. As I found out in my short and ill-fated job when I lived in Southern California, nothing is a complete waste. If nothing else, from that job, I learned what NOT to do in convention & event planning. As with Ms. Roan, (and as if I didn't know this already... called common sense) I have strengthened my knowledge of What Not to Write!