Le Imbecile watches Les Miserables

I was warned that the cinema would be 90 percent full and I may have to sit at the very front row looking up to the big screen for the entire duration of the movie. I told the lady at the ticket booth that I did not mind sitting in the very front row of the cinema. I figured that by the time I'd get in the cinema, the "go big or go home" warning to moviegoers would already have been shown. So I bought a ticket for the 7:00PM screening. I will be watching alone since RN and Karlee decided to go home instead of watching the movie with me after not being able to find a pha khin parking lot close to the cinema. I have always wanted to go big.

A man was swimming with a limp body of a man out of the sewage. He was being pursued by a man in uniform who looked like the actor who played a schizophrenic in an older movie, The Beautiful Mind. The movie was obviously on its climax. I felt like a lost idiot entering the wrong cinema. I entered the cinema that started at 5:15PM. Moviegoers watching Les Miserables did not know that Le Imbecile was watching the end part of the movie with them. It was 7:20 and the movie would end in half an hour. Anne Hathaway looked shockingly anorexic singing "I dreamed a dream". I could not imagine Susan Boyle playing Fantine and singing the same song at West End in London where I took the billboard photo when Aunt Pauline and two cousins strolled by Soho District almost two years ago.

I did at one point consider someday watching Les Miserables at West End in London into my bucket list. Chris Cruz made it sound so big watching the musicale in London that I got inspired. I did wish to go back to London and see Soho District once again.

I wondered if that was really Anne Hathaway singing. The big kid confirmed it really was Anne Hathaway singing. Not bad for someone who played bastard princess in Princess Diaries. I don't remember Russel Crowe singing anything. All I thought of during the movie was schizophrenic character he played. I was even relieved when he jumped into his death as Inspector Javert. I loved the young Cosette. I love how her face was captured to replicate the portrait of Cosette by Emelie Bayard from the original edition of Les Miserables in 1862. The portrait reminds me of a photo taken by Lev Alcantara of a girl child laborer in Silay City in Negros Occidental some years ago. The older Cosette would always be the girl at Dear John to me. Beautiful, virginal and somewhat obsolete. I'd rather see women portrayed as strong and unconventional. Just like Eponine. In the story, Eponine was so enamored to Marius who on the other hand is so enamored with Cosette. Eponine took part in the revolution kind of disguising as a male just to be close to Marius. I did not like that enamored stalking part of the character. It's the trouser and cap-wearing part that I really like.

One of my first kindle downloads is the Les Miserables. I have always gotten interested with stories beginning with someone being imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread but I never got past the preface of the story. I find the book so damn difficult to read. It's like the Holy Bible and Glorious Koran combined.

One dumb ass

I can never play the role of a Flip show off. Besides, I have never driven a Mercedes Benz, a big shot car that Flips would drool over no matter how old the car is.
I drove for the first time to work RN's Lincoln Hybrid MKZ last night and felt cool driving a gentleman's town car. I did not have to do the Gloria parking, my signature dumb ass parking. The Lincoln has a back up camera so my fears of backing up on another car are lessened.

Industrial Peace

Teamwork has become an overused meaningless word to me. So let me think about industrial peace instead, Daniel Silva called it cheating when he saw me helping Corrine Bailey Rae work on her learning module series. I told Daniel Silva it's not cheating, it's teamwork.

I wish Adele did not have to do a one-on-one lecture about teamwork  when all she was trying to tell me was to be obedient like a a dog.

The Big Round Belly of Pha Khin Phat

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"The pot-bellied laughing buddha is a symbol of prosperity, joy and family. The presence of a buddha statue symbolizes good fortune , and is thought to be specially lucky if you rub the big round belly."

The Return of the EEO Fish Bowl

I created the EEO fish bowl more than two years ago to vent off all the nosocomial crap that I try to shower off every time . I thought nobody was reading until i was asked about Ikabod, a wanna be big fish that I blogged about.

Coult it be workplace bullying?

Corrine Bailey Rae  finally succeeded leaving the workplace she had for almost twenty years. I was not around to wish  Corrine Bailey Rae  the best of her  getaway for good as  I was running around on a temporary getaway from the workplace I shared with her for the last two years myself. I was glad I did not have to go through listening to anyone tell Corrine Bailey Rae  how she would be missed in the work the unit. I dreaded to witness and hear the pretensions everyone would offer her through kind words on her very last day at her workplace for almost twenty years.

Workplace Bullying...could it be?

The note was from Lev, a former co-worker in the Philippines. It came with two CDs of Joey Ayala, an artist I used to listen to a lot and the montage of the former workplace photos in DVDs. In the organizational structure, Lev was more senior than me but I much older than him. I have kept closely in touch with my former co-workers. some of them like they are relatives. I owe them the debt of gratitude. On certain occasions and situations, it's payback time, on other occasions, it's me asking for favors. Warm regards and missing his bullying us...There are three of us who have left the Institute for North America: Beng in Seattle, Bobit in Toronto and myself. Lev meant heckling rather than bullying but he provided me with the word I needed at the moment.

 I have always been a participant-observer. The social worker in me always takes notes and thank heavens for blogging. I don't like to put words in anybody's mouth and you decide for yourself whether what I saw are cases of bullying in the workplace. You don't have to have a PhD in Behavioral Sciences to have an opinion for yourself.

The Bitter Chocolate 

G was so upset that she even expected the chocolate to taste bitter. Surprisingly, the chocolate was sweet and G felt a little embarrassed with her emotional state. Too much Dramamine! What started when Ms Y asked G to pull a chair ended with G feeling like a total slacker. "Why did you refuse to switch with Ms E on the patient in 205." Ms E thought that it was unfair that she be given a heavy patient with an acuity score of 20 for a primary and she wanted to switch for a patient who is not as heavy. G did not say no but told Ms E that she could help her anytime. G really believed that Ms B from day had a reason for giving Ms E the patient. G thought that Ms E belongs to the Whiners Clicque and her reply to Ms E must have been interpreted as how she would have said it if she did not bite her tongue. The night before, G worked with Ms S who was also given a similarly heavy patient for her primary by Ms B of day. But Ms S did not complain nor asked to switch with G for an easier patient. The truth is, had Ms S asked G the favor, G would have gladly complied. Ms S has always been very pleasant to work with. G did Ms S' peer evaluation review and  gave her the highest rating. She is among the nicest ones in the floor. As G wrote in my review, Ms S is always totally involved with her patients' care and always made herself available when her partner needed a hand. G did not tell Ms E that Ms B probably wanted the likes of Ms E to take charge and get involved with patients' total care, not only passing medications.

G could not believe that Ms C who is in the same level as Ms B of day  and was sitting about 2 meters away from Ms Y and G remarked that Ms B did not have a particular reason for giving Ms E a heavy patient. Ms C lectured G about teamwork on a one-on-one basis like completing learning module systems online and attending seminars on efficiency, quality service and other productivity pep talks every year for the last five years was not enough. Earlier that night, Ms J also instructed G to take a heavier patient that Ms B initially assigned her. Ms J ventually went to Ms C who approved the switch. Ms C later told G that Mr F, the patient who Ms J switched was unhappy with G that night. Ms C then instructed G to go to Mr. F's room and express her apologies and admit to Mr F that she was inefficient. G had Mr F the night before with Ms S and was aware that Mr F had altered mental state. G tried to explain to Ms C that Mr F was upset because Mr. F had called several times for Ativan. G tried to explain to Mr F that Ms J was with another patient at the moment but she would be with him shortly. G thought that admitting her worthlessness to a patient with an altered mental status is like to taking a confused patient's compliment seriously.