Elaine, The Debauchery Fairy's Journal

Subject:	Gifs and Lives
Time:	10:01 am.
Mood:	awake.
Music:	The sound my laptop's fan makes.

The other night we were hanging out in Shaun's garage, and the boys decided to pose for me:

Of course, Gote didn't want to be the only one injured for comedy's sake, so he designed is own little moment of animated gif glory:

Other than that, it's been an insane week. We went to Q's House on Tuesday night and my car broke down on the way home. Now, I imagine most of you have not been to Q's House (which is a terrible shame, really,) so I'll simply state that hanging out at Q's is not really an activity one undertakes in a sober state of mind. Well, I do, because I'm driving home, but everyone else? Yeah.

So, picture this: broken down after midnight in perhaps not the nicest Orlando neighborhood, waiting in a 7-Eleven parking lot with three drunks. Thus was my Tuesday/early Monday night.

Sherri and Mom were the day-savers, though. Mom arranged for a tow truck for me, and Sherri came and picked our asses up off the side of the road. Now, I have a lot of cool friends. But, honestly, how many friends does a person have that will drop everything and drive three counties over in the middle of the night and back for her? I'm a lucky bitch. ^_^ She also drove me to Orlando yesterday to drop off my keys and see about getting the car fixed at the shop that my car was towed to and is picking me up from clinic so I can see about getting my car back. I owe her big!

Clinic has been nuts this week. Two new patients, both of whom need x-rays, one re-eval, and everything I normally have to boot. It's been awesome! I'm very pleased that I finally got some new patients that didn't come in with x-rays already... hehe. Ours are cheaper, after all, so it's as good for them as me. ^_~

It is worth mentioning that due to having 8:30 or 9 AM patients all week, my normal insomnia, and not getting back from Q's/car breaking down until 4 in the morning, I was OBSCENELY tired. I fell asleep before ten last night, which is like as common as a solar eclipse when you're me. And I still overslept this morning! I had two alarms set, both of which betrayed me, and so I wasn't even awake when Wayne arrived to pick me up at 7:17 this morning! Ack! Thankfully he waited for me to throw on clinic clothes and grab my shit and drove me to school anyway. Hooray for Waynie. ^_^

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Subject:	Don't Make Me Laugh
Time:	11:28 am.
Mood:	indescribable.
Music:	Lisa's truck pulling out of the driveway.

An empty void, that echoes laughter
Beyond the hidden screen
Rivers of imagination winding, twisting
Covered with diamond sheen
Not one amongst us can taste the river
Always out of reach
So they scheme and dream of each gemstone
On a deserted beach
The Jester dances for all to see
A whirlwind melody
Wicked, terrible desire pours out
Blinding all to see
A fancy house, a comfortable life
So close and yet so far
So sweet a treat to reach out and touch
But reality does bar
Did you know or did you see,
Open up your eyes
Want is a terrible disease which hides
The conversation, lies
Forgotten, information lacking, silent rotting
All those pretty gems
All this hope held dear and tight
Soon the glory dims
Avoiding fire where ever you see it
Forsaking that which burns
The rain may put out the fire
But a person learns

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Subject:	My day has been INSANE
Time:	11:02 am.
Mood:	anxious.
Music:	Chattering interns.

Okay, so I go to bed last night planning to wake up and be in clinic when it opens at 7:30. I don't really run through everything I need to do the next day the night before like I do usually, since I figure I can figure it out in the hour and a half from the time I get to clinic and my first patient. Thus, when my alarm fails to go off and I wake up just in time to get to clinic for my appointment, I am unaware of the impending doom of the day ahead.

I forgot that I hadn't done all the necessary paperwork for the 9:00 patient. And I didn't figure this out until roughly ten minutes before she's due to arrive. Shit.

I run off to find the clinician of record (aka the doctor I work under when I see this patient or COR.) She's busy with another patient, and I can't wait in the hall for her without loosing my ability to hear the intercom telling me when the patient arrives. I spend the next few minutes scribbling furiously, trying to get as much of her paperwork done as humanly possible before the patient checks in.

By the time the patient gets here, I'm totally frazzled. Luckily, the COR lets me treat her without her paperwork being finished, but I wasn't exactly at my best taking her daily notes as I was so hyped up. Gah. Before I leave, the COR tells me I have to do the rest of her paperwork today. That means I have to go polish up everything before the COR's scheduled paperwork time at 1:00PM. That gives me three hours... one of which I must spend seeing a different patient.

Meanwhile, I've got Barney bugging me to finish other paperwork for yet another patient that he's transferring to me because he's about to check out. He wanted it done this morning. That took me a bit because I had to fill out a form that basically summarizes everything there is to know about a patient. That was fun. Then I had to fill out the transfer form, find Barney to sign it, and find that patient's COR to sign it, who is, coincidentally, the same COR from this morning.

By the time that I finish all that, I have about ten minutes til my next patient is scheduled. That is what time it is now. I wouldn't have time to write this other than that this patient isn't early for the first time since I started seeing him. He could get here any minute now.

So, after him I have to find a CTA (Clinic Teaching Assistant) to go over the paperwork from the first patient, which is how this particular COR does things and get the CTA to go over the file for me. Fun. Dunno how long that will take. Probably have just enough time for that before I have to meet with the COR again, and then my advisor ten minutes after that and then I'm suppose to go talk to the lady in financial aid about next quarter.

GACK

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Subject:	Seahorse
Time:	4:18 pm.

Why? Who the eff knows?

Went to Wet 'n' Wild this weekend, which is a water park that's essentially "across the street" from Universal Studios. Of course, the "street" in question is a major interstate, but whatever. It was cool because from the tops of the highest slides you could totally see the roller coasters. ^_^

We went in a big group, seven of us, including most of my current adult friends (James, Ashley, Gote, and of course Sherri,) but also Gote's 8-year-old brother, Matthew, and Ashley's 3-year-old sister, Mia. It was fun to see the kids be so excited, but also kind of exhausting chasing them around. I spent a significant amount of the day watching the kids by myself, but it was okay because I figure it's good practice for the future and I expected to do that in the first place. Poor Sherri allowed herself to be roped into solo kiddie duty, too, and wasn't as happy about it as I was. Oops.

Yesterday was primarily spent recovering from the day before and doing as little as possible. I actually fell asleep before 10PM last night to give you some idea of how tired I was. Unfortunately, I ended up getting up super early, even though I didn't have an early patient, because there's something wrong with Jackson. I wasn't able to tell exactly what, but last night I had a hard time convincing him to jump up into bed with me (which has never been a problem before.) And when I got up this morning at 6:30 to pee, he got up and refused to return to bed. I finally got him to jump up again, but he cried, and I spent the next 15 minutes comforting him. Poor puppy.

He cried when he jumped OUT of bed when Lisa got up, so I'm thinking there might be something wrong with one of his front paws. I'm wondering if maybe he wasn't playing with Chippy and since it'd been so long since they'd been together, Chippy was too rough with him. I hope it's something as simple as that. I'll have to inspect him for injuries when I get home.... again, poor puppy.

I got TWO new outpatients today! Hooooooooooray!

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Subject:	Yesterday Was Fucked Up
Time:	9:42 am.
Mood:	blah.
Music:	Fans.

Like the subject says, yesterday wasn't exactly your average everyday kind of day. Ashley got in a car wreck! She's (physically) fine, but her car's radiator leaked out all its fluid, making it not exactly drivable for the moment. It's still up in the air whether or not the car is a) capable of being fixed and b) worth being fixed. It's not exactly new or in perfect condition, after all.

The upside is that if she can't have her car anymore, at least she gets a cool van for a replacement. She and James were already discussing how they could fix up the van if she ends up with it.

Which reminds me, my car didn't precisely have the greatest weekend itself. The driver's side window got stuck down while we were driving to the One Night Stan show on Friday. v_v Yeah, I know I mentioned that in Sunday's entry, but just in passing and without discussing the implications of it. Keep in mind it is the rainy season in Florida, and one cannot simply cover THE DRIVER'S SIDE WINDOW and be able to see. That meant that I got to have the extreme fun of driving home in the rain Sunday. I did learn something, though. At nearly 80 miles an hour, not much rain comes through a window on the side of a car. Just enough to get one side of one thigh wet. Since I had already been swimming that day, I didn't mind so much.

In turn, that prompts me to mention why and where I was swimming on Sunday. Well, after I posted my ONS show entry, I ended up going to the Boynton Beach Mall with James, his girlfriend, Nikki, Ashley, and Gote for a few hours, and then we visited James's friend Jesus. While we were hanging out in the woods with Jesus, my cousin called and we arranged to go over to her mom's house and see her.

When we got to Aunt Joyce and Uncle Larry's house, Jenny and her Jesus (aka her husband) were already there. In fact, Jesus was in the pool already. Now, you have to realize that with my window stuck down, we couldn't turn on the air conditioning in the car, and it was DAMN hot. So, first we're driving around with no air, then we ended up hanging around OUTSIDE in the woods. Thus, we were all hot, sticky, sweaty messes, and even though none of us had packed a swim suit, just seeing Jesus lounging in the cool water was motivation enough for us all to decide to join him. I ended up swimming in my nightgown, haha.

Consequently, I had spare everything to change into after swimming but my bra. So my shirt and chest were still wet during the drive home, part of which was in the rain, meaning I didn't mind so much a little additional dampness, especially given the heat.

Anyway, I spent most of yesterday comforting or calming Ashley. She called me right after the wreck, just a crying mess that I could barely understand, and I ran off to attend to her. I didn't really know what to expect until I saw it-she was only able to communicate to me that there was some sort of accident and the rough location when she called. She was an emotional wreck when I got there, so I was glad that I could be thereto calm her down. She's very attached to her car and was very upset at the prospect of loosing it. Not to mention that she caused the accident, and now has to pay two tickets. I think that's a really messed up system. You're at fault, so you have to pay to fix your car, and while we're at it, let's add insult to injury and make you pay fines. It was an ACCIDENT. She didn't do it on purpose. Why do you have to punish her more?? It's so lame.

Well, that's it. My week started out with a bang, though not so much as Ashley's.

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Subject:	Things are getting worse in Zimbabwe
Time:	8:11 am.
Mood:	pissed off.
Music:	Chattering interns.

"A woman and a child were killed in stampedes at a Zimbabwe agriculture show packed with people lured by scarce snack foods and cheap Chinese toys and exhibitors hoping to skirt a government price freeze and sell their animals, police said Sunday.

The two died Saturday in two separate surges against the exit gates as the show at the Harare Exhibition Park was closing, police spokesman James Sabau told state radio. People were hurrying to get into lines for public transportation outside, witnesses said.

Acute gasoline shortages have crippled transportation services and commuters routinely wait more than three hours to board buses for a 30-minute trip to the capital Harare's impoverished satellite townships..."

"...A government order in June to slash prices of all goods and services by about half in a bid to tame the world's highest inflation. Official inflation is 7,634 percent annually, though independent estimates put actual inflation closer to 25,000 percent. The International Monetary Fund has forecast it could reach 100,000 percent by the end of the year..."

"...Earlier this month, two people died in a stampede in a sugar line in the city of Bulawayo. In southern Zimbabwe, another woman died of strangulation when her neck scarf caught in a gas-fueled generator during the nation's daily power outages.

Attorneys this week reported clients facing acute food shortages in prisons. Relatives asked to bring food often could not find enough in the shops or get rides to prisons.

A panel of lawmakers has reported acute shortages of basic foods in government youth training centers, which are used to train the ruling-party militants blamed for much of country's political violence and intimidation.

The state Sunday Mail newspaper, meanwhile, reported 36,000 tons of wheat destined for Zimbabwe was being held at the Mozambique port of Beira awaiting payment.

With shortages of bread and bakery products worsening, Didymus Mutasa, the powerful security and lands minister, said the nation's wheat was down to a week's supply.

"We do not have wheat stocks at the moment. We are feeding from hand to mouth. As soon as we pay, a little amount is brought in ... this is usually a week's supply," he was quoted as saying by the paper."

Read the rest of the article here.

100,000% inflation?? The money of Zimbabwe is already pretty much worthless! They have to import all their food, since Mugabe decided to take the land of white-owned farms and didn't have a plan to keep that land agriculturally viable afterward. So they have no food. Soon their money will be worth so little that they will have no way to buy food.

I think that kind of puts things in perspective.

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Subject:	Luck?
Time:	8:51 am.
Mood:	okay.

You might be wondering whether or not the morning yesterday was a fluke (as hoped) or if it was just all unlucky and horrible. Well, it wasn't so bad.

I had lunch with Waynie and then went with him to the video game store Brittany's boyfriend, Eddie, works at. There I got three movies (The Fifth Element, Kung Fu Hustle, and Where the Heart Is,) and the first season of The Simpsons for just $25. Not bad at all. Shopping always cheers me up, haha.

While I was at lunch, though, one of my afternoon patients canceled on me, too. That definitely sucked, but it happens. So, I was seeing my last patient of the day and getting ready to leave the Outreach (or free) clinic when a ton of new patients came in, and Dr. Bobo grabbed me to take care of one. So I got a new patient yesterday after all! Of course, the adjustments in the free clinic don't count the same as the adjustments in the paying clinic, (incidentally, we must have 50% paying adjustments than free ones... wonder why....) but I can still get X-ray credits, new patient credits, and complicated cases from the free clinic, so lucky day for me.

Plus, I got scheduled for a new lottery patient in the paying clinic for this morning. Hooray! He's supposed to come in at 10, so I have a little bit to prepare. Not that you can prepare much, but yeah. Also, I scheduled a new patient who is one of Ashley and James's co-workers for tomorrow. So, things are hopefully working out.

I overslept this morning. My alarm didn't go off for whatever reason and I ended up sleeping in until 7:30. I woke up and considered my situation. I was tired, I didn't have a patient until 10, and so I decided to just go back to sleep for a while. But I couldn't. So, I got up, took my shower, and was sort of chilling for a bit at home when Ashley called and told me to schedule her co-worker. It was very lucky that I was already up, because I was able to come in here to clinic sooner and thus ensure my ability to schedule him as soon as tomorrow. That was handy. So, yay.

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Subject:	OMG, Finally!
Time:	10:06 am.
Mood:	blah.
Music:	Still fans.

Well, after posting that weepy entry, I find this fantastic news to cheer me up:

Attorney General Gonzales resigns

Hooray!!!! It might be too much to hope, but maybe now we can have an Attorney General who isn't a lying sack of shit! ^_^

Edit: of course, for every bit of good news, there is something that puts it into grim perspective:

""We can't get anything now – no bread, no petrol ... nothing," says Shephard Lunga, a truck driver from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. "If you don't have somebody who's outside the country supplying you with things, you're finished."

The country's beleaguered economy has taken a turn for the worse since late June, when President Robert Mugabe ordered all prices cut by at least 50 percent in a bid to slow runaway inflation. The move backfired, causing manufacturers to stop producing their goods. Now grocery store shelves are barren, and people are increasingly hungry."

-From this article Entitled "Zimbabwe Economy In Free Fall."

So, in this country we get liars and thieves... but at least our leaders don't starve us!

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Subject:	GAH! #%$#@#$
Time:	9:57 am.
Mood:	depressed.
Music:	Fans.

Today is not my best day ever.

I get up early as I supposed to have a brand new patient at 8 AM this morning. I'm not exactly happy to have to get up super early on a Monday to see this patient, but I'm thrilled to have a new patient at all, so I certainly wasn't complaining. Until the patient failed to show. Dammit.

This is the THIRD new patient I've had cancel on me in a row that I didn't even get to meet. On the one hand, I know it's not anything personal, but on the other hand what the mother fuck? Seriously. I never had this happen to me with this startling degree of frequency before, and all of a sudden it's like I can get a new patient in when I need them the absolute most. This is so unbelievably frustrating it's beyond all description.

And to top it all off? My phone did itself a master reset, meaning that I lost all personal data on it. All phone numbers and other contact information, all personal settings, all my appointments in my planner, everything. But most disappointingly... all my pictures. Included in these were the last pictures of Alpha that were ever taken. Sure, they were mostly backed up already, but I can't exactly take new ones of Alphie to carry around with me. And I can't exactly get new pics on here of everyone I love as many of them are thousands of miles away. It just sucks.

Luckily, I had recently transcribed all my contact info off my phone, so I lost a minimum of data in that regard at least. I had this nagging feeling I needed to (especially after having so many friends loose their numbers in various ways) like two weeks ago, so I took a morning and devoted it to writing all my info down. I have a few new numbers since then that got lost, but since I have the majority of my information intact, it shouldn't be hard to get that back, thank goodness.

Anyway, I hope that this terrible start to the week is a fluke rather than the rule.

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Subject:	Awww
Time:	11:40 am.
Mood:	happy.
Music:	The Simpsons.

Lisa and Chippy left early this morning for Philly and will be gone for two weeks. It'll be weird without them around, but I'm sure Lis will have a good time. ^_^

So it's just Jackie and me for a little while, but I'm willing to bet that there will be plenty of guest appearances. In fact, I'm planning on having a small get-together Friday night... so if you'd like to come, email me or whatever for the particulars. Ashley and James have off on Saturday, so we can stay up late, sleep in, and go to the flea market for excellent products with incredible prices! Hooray for everything.

Last night we went and hung out at Q's House. He as rebroadcasting an old show as this is his summer hiatus, so it was more of just chilling than anything in particular. I must say Q and Jess are wonderful hosts... I got offered and gladly excepted kool-aid, cookies, chicken on a stick, and the chance to smoke a hooka with Jess. She had tasty flavored tobacco, so I decided to indulge. ^_^

Susie's out in the house looking for Lisa, I think. She's just meowing and meowing and wandering around. I think she'll miss Lisa the most... they were always pretty well bonded. Muggy was being a total love bug this morning when I came home after my appointment to pick up my laptop and take it to the techies to be fixed. Which reminds me, I need to go pick up my lappy! It should be done by now. I also got the crack in my car's windshield fixed today. I guess it's be a productive one. ^_^

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Subject:	Drink a warm glass of Bailey's...
Time:	3:39 pm.
Mood:	tired.
Music:	The Very Best of the Grateful Dead.

And lie down in a creamy bed in a romantic position..........

Last night was fucked up. Suffice to say that I ended up dragging my ass to clinic at eight this morning after only two and a half hours sleep. And no, it wasn't for fun reasons either. I had no less than three if not emergencies, then quite pressing problems occur simultaneously.

It all started yesterday afternoon when Ashley called to see if James and I wanted to go with Gote and her to Q's House for the radio show. This was while James was still in work. In short order it was decided for him that we would go. ^_^;;;

Then the rest of the evening proper was mostly pretty normal, though very cool. Q and his ladyfriend, Jess, (I'm not sure as to the exact nature of their relationship, as it was not explained to me) were very kind hosts and we had a lot of fun hanging out while the show was recorded.

Then after that we went back to Gote's, where I had left my car, and went our separate ways. Ashley was quite anxious to get her inhaler, which she had left at her house in New Smyrna, and James and I both had to be up for eight the next day, so we went straight back to my house.

Now, it is important to note that while the show was being recorded, I turned my phone on "silent." That comes in to play later.

So, James and I arrive back at my house at around midnight and endeavor to have some of our delightful banana cream cheesecake. We let the dogs out to run around as we secured our desired confections. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see Erik, the great dane I'm dogsitting, sink to the floor, unable to get back up.

He's scared and panicky, and I immediately move to calm him. I try to help him stand up, but he cannot. Slowly, a puddle of strong-smelling urine starts to seep out from underneath him. I become very worried then, wondering what could cause him to loose the ability to walk and control of his bladder so completely and all at once. He starts crying and I stop thinking about the whys, only how I can clean him up and get him some place comfortable.

With much effort, James and I manage to dry him up some and move him toward my room. He fell down again right in front of the door to my room, which is right next to the front door. I get a towel and properly clean him off before I let him lie on my bed.

Right as James and I start to help him to his feet again, there is a knock at the door.

It was Sherri. As soon as we let her in, she tells me that Ashley and Gote are stranded on the highway. Gote's car has died, and they need someone to help them. All three of them, Ashley, Gote, and Sherri, had been calling me for quite some time but to no avail. I remember then that I had not taken my phone off silent.

So, once Erik was securely placed on my bed and seemed content there, I sent James to bed and took Sherri with me on a rescue mission to New Smyrna. The first place we must go is to get Ashley's inhaler, which is still at her house after all. As I pulled up in front of Ashley's house, I say to Sherri, "I'm going to someone's house in the middle of the night to get drugs," and laugh.

It didn't take long to find Gote and Ashley stranded by the side of the road after that. They had secured a ride back to Gote's house with the wrecker, so after the tow truck arrives, Sherri and I leave them to it.

From that point onward I finally get to talk to Sherri, who was having a shitty night for more reasons than one. I realize that she needs a friend to talk to (as to I, to a lesser extent,) and so we ended up sitting in my car in the driveway until after three in the morning hashing it all out.

After she left, I went back inside only to discover that I wasn't tired at all. The excitement of the last three hours didn't exactly lend itself well to restfulness. So, it was after four-thirty before I finally fell asleep.

Two and a half hours later, I was up, getting ready, waking James, and at long last eating some of that damn cheesecake that started it all. I went in and saw my patient and then decided to come home, if for no other reason than to check on Erik. Shortly after getting home, I got a call from my friend Theresa, who lives in WV and I don't get to talk to very often. She tells me that one of her best friends died on Monday and we talk for a while.

Exhausted, but feeling quite unclean, I take a shower and then pass out at about 10:30 this morning. Two hours later, Ashley calls. Fifteen minutes later, I pass out again. Half an hour later, James calls. I decide to give up sleeping anymore.

Time to start it all over again. ^_^;;;

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Subject:	Harold is alive! Well, sorta...
Time:	11:01 am.
Mood:	geeky.
Music:	My hard drive hard at work.

I am currently on my laptop, Harold, typing out this entry. Does this mean that my beloved notebook is fixed? Sadly, no, but I finally figured out how to hook it up to another monitor and it's working fine. That means that the problem lies with the screen, which sucks on one hand in that it must be fixed, but is good in that it seems like all my data is safe. Still, I decided to spend the morning backing up my hard drive rather than sit in clinic just to be safe. After I'm done, Harold will be off to the techies and I probably won't see him for a while as he's being fixed. Hopefully he can be fixed and without any charge-but if it does cost something, I hope it's at least not much.

Last night was fun. My friend Jason is back from his family trip to Colorado, so we went to see him last night, James and I. Ashley was already there, as she couldn't wait for a minute longer than she had to do to see him. ^_^;; We ended up going to Jason's favorite Mexican restaurant so he could have a beef tongue burrito (ew!) and then over to his friend Shaun's house. I guess Shaun's house is where he and Jason practice with their band, because we hung out in the garage surrounded by the One Night Stan drum kit and PA system. ^_^ We ended up hanging out over there with Shaun and his girlfriend, Chere, so long that we missed going to this open mic thing in Winterhaven that we originally planned on going to. Oh well, hehe.

Then we went back to Jason's house for cheesecake and cartoons. Pretty nice way to end a night.

By the way, I don't know if any of you are into podcasting, but Jason (Gote) will be on a podcast tonight for Q's House if any of you are interested. It's sad that we don't have Open Mic at the Coffee Connection anymore, but at least Gote has this to entertain his fans on Tuesday nights now. ^_^

Well, I've got a few more cds full of Harold's data finished, but a lot to go. Better focus on that if I want to be done by the time class starts in an hour and a half!

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