EUReKA!

I am watching the defunct TV series that lasted up to 5 seasons on Amazon instant video.

The origin of the word Eureka are the Greeks. They say heureka when they find it. I wonder what they say when lose it.
Fuck!
Nope, the British coined the word from an acronym. Fornication under consent of the king. Of course, it's the same king who lived at Fuckingham.
Sure, manure!
I first heard the phrase sure manure from then seven year-old Carlos. I said sure manure to Lev and I never forgot his reaction.
"Seriously?"
I felt like I was the shipment high in transit. Seriously!
"Pluck yew too!" It was adopted l'il brother again reacting when I titled my blog "go pluck yourself".
Pluck yew which became fuck you is flipping the bird to Ancient According to my friend Wiki, flipping the bird is a gesture that dates back to Ancient Greece. The gesture was known as katupugon, kata means downward and pugon means rump or buttocks.
Here's to fucking trees!

Priceless!

Makeup, $40
Tattoo, $400
Boob job, $4000

Forgetting to tuck in your nuts, PRICELESS!

The photo was posted privately as a joke by my once normal group. None of us would dare post the photo in our closed group so as not to offend anyone.

What's really PRICELESS! is the Supreme Court's ruling to strike down DOMA, the defense of marriage act. In 30 days, women can marry women and men can marry men. Of course, opposite sex can still marry.

I am not a dyke but I could have been. By a streak of luck, I was able to work my way out from the looming pattern of single blessedness.

So what the elf is single blessedness?

Single blessedness is a term I learned while wandering into Catholic religious formation. To Catholics, there are unmarried individuals who have answered the call. The call refers to the vocation to doing the will of God obediently and celibately. These unmarried Catholics go through rigorous training of praying for answers if they have been called by God to become priests and nuns.

Single blessedness is an option for those who do not become priests or nuns. Many are called but few are chosen, so the bible says.

And I say many are cold but few are frozen.

Good to the last drop

It's been a week in the clinic. Monday, I saw Dr. Shalauta, my primary care physician for my physical examination, a requirement to the telemetry program I am attending at Grossmont College this fall. I got referral for a mammogram and requested a breathing test because of being SOB on some hikes and colonoscopy for crapping too much as observed by my babe.
Yesterday, I did my breathing test at the scripps clinic in Rancho Bernardo. The respiratory care practitioner (RCP) made me think of blowing candles on a birthday cake. I didn't do much. I didn't care about birthday cakes. I had many missed moments for birthday cakes and candles that I didn't even want to think about them. The RCP changed the scenario and got me into a watermelon seeds spitting contest instead. I did better and scored. I learned from initial computer markings that albuterol does not increase my lung capacity. I will always be the SOB hiker else I condition myself if I want to be with life-long hikers. It was Vincent, Maritie's husband who agreed with me that I probably need more conditioning for moderate to strenuous hikes.
Today, early this morning at 4 am I got my babe drive me to urgent care at scripps clinic at Torrey Pines having coughed for the last two weeks. Urgent care early morning visitors consisted of a young woman, more on the overweight side and with sleeve tattoos complaining of pain on her nape. The screening nurse gave her hot packs. After the visit intakes, she went back to the couch where her husband was waiting and worked on her iPhone. An elderly lady accompanied by her son came after me. A man complaining of pain because of kidney stones also arrived and he was ushered into the clinic as soon as he came. Meanwhile, the lady with the sleeve tattoo left without being seen by a doctor and the elderly lady was ushered in first. I waited almost 2 hours before I was ushered inside the clinic by a dark haired middle-aged looking nurse named Samantha.
Richard joined me in the waiting room after I was seen by Dr. Kenneth Alan Schild, a proper-looking doctor who looked more like a college professor or a research scientist to me. Dr. Schild ordered x-rays for me: one for sinus and two for lungs, one frontal and another taken sideways.
Dr. Schild came back to the consultation room after about two hours with verdict. Pneumonia!
Huh?
The RN who came to discharge me wanted to make sure I was alive before she sends me home.
"So you don't send anyone home if they're dead?" My babe asked the RN.
Dr. Schild sent me home with doxycycline and Iophen C NR liquid. Its codeine phosphate with guaifenesin, a cough syrup with codeine. CVS pharmacy gave a medicine dropper for the narcotic relief cough syrup. To urgent care early morning visitors like the guy writhing in pain for kidney stones, narcotic relief is a treat. My babe saw him leaving the clinic happy and relieved and happy after only about an hour of visit.
I am sure the Iophen C NR will be good to the last drop since there are no refills for narcotic relief.

Some Falcon Nights

The night before, CC was in my hotlist. It was my second night in a row with her. Although she treated me like her paid maid, she was at least nice to me. The night before, ML approached me if he can switch with me the his hotlist. I said no in a definite tone. Later, MJ approached me asking if I could have CC from ML's hotlist. CC, a week before had screamed at ML to get out of her room. CC complained ML was wearing a very strong cologne. I agreed to MJ that I would take CC into my list.
"I was asking you nice", ML said to me. I always find ML too condescending.
"What do you mean by asking me nice?" I am sure he meant about my refusing to switch with him his entire load at the west wing. The last time he asked about switching, I wanted his entire hotlist load, not just CC who had screamed at him to get out of her room.
"The last time, you wanted to switch with me my entire hotlist." I knew why he wanted to switch with me his entire hotlist. The west wing is usually the heaviest hotlist. The first time he approached about switching loads, he said that he had my load the previous night and if he could have it.
Last night's hotlist started out quite smoothly. TG had me give WF some oatmeal and shave RB. WF and RB were two from TG's hotlist. Opportunities of completing tasks endorsed by the day shift somehow gives me satisfaction. WF's daughter thanked me profusely and RB was so happy about his smooth shaved face.
CC was happy to have me again as her maid. I kind of like the new designation for our role on the white board in hotlist rooms: Nurse Partner! Of course, we would always be the aide. A lot of the Filipino nurses refer to us as their aide. I wish I can tell them that I am not there as their aide. I am there for the patients. I always introduce myself to a patient as someone who who would be working with their nurses for the night.
I was by the front desk when AC asked PB the NL for the night if she (AV) was getting another admission. It seemed that AV and DH switched a patient. If AV was getting another admission, she would have 11 in her hotlist. I think AV was trying to explain to PB that DH should have the next admission since AV had one of DH's initial patient because of the switch.
PB told AV that AV and DH should arrange things among themselves. AV tried to explain about the switching to PB. I happen to be by the nurse station getting some forms for strict intakes and outputs and I could not help over hearing the conversation. I heard the words "complain" and "sarcastic" from PB.
I later found AV at the nutrition room and she was very upset.
PB is my friend off the floor and I thought if it had been me clarifying with her about hotlist loads, she could have a more harmonious response. Of course I felt for AV.
Some falcon nights end well. I went home wondering if I'd be written up.
I was finishing up my documentation at 0700. I am sure I heard RT telling JB that SP was continent. SP came from a procedure before midnight and RT was with her the whole time. At one time, RT put SP on a bedpan and I was the one who retrieved the bedpan. At about half an hour past midnight, RT asked me to go to the laboratory to get the blood for transfusion to SP. RT monitored SP's vital signs during the blood transfusion.
In between attending to LM who also came to the floor during the night, I was also attending to WF at the south wing who kept sitting up in bed setting the bed alarm. SV told me later that she gave WF seroquel and she would be okay for awhile. SV called me later to help WF into the commode and we both changed WF's sheets. WF went back to sleep before I could put a brief on her.
I went home thinking of SP's incontinence and wondering what else I could have missed. There are RNs who really take charge in their patients' care. They check their patients' skin at the start of the shift. They know their patients more than their partners. There is team work. They acknowledge their partners' efforts. Those nights are better.
Last night was one of those falcon nights.

Acceptable Risk

The title of the book by Robin Cook, copyright  1994 and freebie from PQ library. The story started with the Salem, Massachusetts witchcraft trials. In real history, the Salem witch trials were a series of  hearings and executions of people accused with witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. The timeline started in 1692 when 9 year old Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams began to have grand mal seizures. People, mostly women were arrested and executed by hanging.

In Robin Cook's story, the main character based on the Salem witch trial history is Elizabeth Stewart, a farmer's daughter who became a merchant's wife. The setting is 17th century when women were primarily left at home to raise a family. As a farmer's daughter, Elizabeth was keen to using local farm products to help farmers. Rye was among the local products which Elizabeth wanted to promote. Aside from using local products such as rye, Elizabeth was also a prominent women leader in the community managing her household, acting in behalf of her husband in business transactions such as buying and acquiring properties and feeding orphans. A visit by the nosy doctor's wife one day while Elizabeth multi tasked with baking rye bread, feeding orphans and sending them the freshly baked rye bread and telling the doctor's wife of her beliefs and revealing some practice of black magic such as a pin cushion human figure resembling the local doctor with a needle in his heart. Suddenly, the doctor's wife witnessed seizures that in the olden times were considered as being possessed by the devil. Elizabeth along with other women were put to trial for witchcraft. Despite of his husband's money and influence, Elizabeth was executed in the gallows.
Kimberly Stewart is a present day generation of Elizabeth Stewart.

A taste of Leonardo da Veggie

The name sounded a bit gay but I still went for Leonardo, out of curiousity. Light garlic herbal cream cheese, pickled red pepper and Muenster cheese.

Lao Tzu becomes Holy Shih Tzu

When I found this smiling monk in Baguio, I was not even thinking that a journey to a thousand miles begins with a single step. That Lao Tzu said so. Back then I was more concerned with Lao Tzu's idea of teaching men how to fish so they  can eat fish everyday for a lifetime. I never got to read the article I submitted to the ILS digest about Lao Tzu since by the time the article got published, I was already wandering in America with Lao Tzu in my pocket.

I named the smiling monk carved from acasia wood I found in Baguio Lao Tzu. Lao in Mandarin could be old and Tzu means master.  I am good at name-calling but I did not have the heart to call him Pha Khin What or Pha Khin Who because Lao Tzu is not just any Pha Khin Thing to me, he is the Old Master.  I was sort of revering the Holy Shit!

Lao Tzu becomes Holy Shih Tzu.

Maybe in two weeks, when the new Holy See has been selected, I will revert him to Lao Tzu. He is not even a dog.  Shit happens*, this is what this post is all about!

Footnotes:

*Shit happens in the urban dictionary means universal religious concept, dickhead!

Life goes on

Living and working as a plucked one is a moving on process. Now that I know how to make trail ducks, I will keep making them. Since I have failed as much challenge as I have ventured into, I will keep on and keep trying.

I wish I had the serenity of my late friend Priscilla who lived on a borrowed heart for about eighteen years. We talked about the desert and the desert flowers that abound in spring. It's almost spring and I promised to myself to go back to more than blogging whether I fucked up another attempt to   climb a mountain that would let me soar a little more. I promised myself to work on my humility virtue with my self-esteem intact and strong no matter what. (Look, I am posting this blog for myself and if anyone ever reads this, don't ask me to explain.)

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

Add caption

"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.

Rubber-necking at a Korean Market

Twy! Twy! Twy!

I wish I could twy the sashimi.

Fish be with you!

Better than getting leid at the Peak

All for the sake of documentation and freezing the moment in pixes. On my first attempt to reach the Mount Woodson Peak, I thought I was going to pass out. I rewarded myself by lying down on the side of the paved road to have eye level view of the sky. It felt good to be supine on the ground. Photo credit to Tina, my hiking buddy on my first ascent to Mount Woodson.

Maybe it has something to do with the caption that went along with the posting of the photo taken by Xing at Morena Butte. Getting to the peak of the top butte along a southern Pacific Crest Trail is an extreme feat to this slowpoke. Rewarding one's self and describing to friends how it felt to be on top of the top butte was just as innocent.

The umbrella guy who held his sun block all the way to the summits of Mother Miguel and San Miguel Mountains did not mind how odd he must have looked to fellow hikers. I handed Xing my cell phone for a better than getting leid feeling photo. I was not aware the whole group was watching while I posed looking at the sky at eye level. It felt good actually like getting leid at the paved service road to San Miguel Mountain antenna towers. I couldn't be the umbrella guy but I could have used his umbrella to hide myself when I realized that my fellow hikers were watching me in amusement.

Pha Khin pose!

Meet Mitt, the bobcat in the hood

It's the sceond sighting of the bobcat. I am sure I have seen him last spring.
Back then, I would not have called him Mitt because Mitt could have been a presidential name.

Double Rainbows

"Wooah! Double rainbows!"

"Double rainbows all the way!"

"Oh my gut!"

"What does it mean?"The video that made waves more than two years ago had already generated more than it could and had at one became an app. The video is basically a spoof on Stendahl Syndrome. It's this ecstatic orgasmic ejaculations that are exaggerated upon seeing something out of the ordinary but nothing new. And I did my spoof.

I should find better things to do!

Keiko Teruya on Rachel Maddow

Keiko Teruya is an artist in her own right. She may not be as widely known as Keiko Matsui but her being a Japanese makes me consider her an unordinary Asian.Keiko Teruya is certified by the Sacramento Board of hair dynamics to practice Brazilian blow job. Keiko Matsui is, of course, a Japanese jazz pianist. Both Keikos are as pretty as Hello Kitty, not that I have met Keiko Matsui in person to be right. Japanese women, to me, have the most cosmopolitan looks of all Asian women no matter how many Brazilian blows any other Asian woman gets.

I showed Keiko Teruya Rachel Maddow on my phone when she ask me what else could she give me other than a Brazilian blow out. She looked at Rachel Maddow for a second and asked if the person on my phone is my friend. I told Keiko to copy Rachel Maddow's haircut. Rachel Maddow is not really my friend but I follow her on Twittter. She began the job by directing me to the sink so she could shampoo my hair to prepare my hair for an optimal smoothing result. She thought Asian hair are as firm as a wild pig's hair. After towel-drying my limp smoothened hair, Keiko went on to divide my hair into sections assuring me that I could look even prettier than Rachel Maddow. I told her to cut it short and that Rachel Maddow did not need to look pretty. She agreed on Rachel Maddow not needing to look pretty because she looks more like a boy. She remembered two women coming to the salon at the same time recently and she cut their hair pretty short, just like Rachel Maddow's. I did not realize she was almost done with the Brazilian blow out as she finished her job by blow-drying my Rachel Maddow cut. The next time I visit Keiko Teruya, I would show her the picture of Howard Stern on my phone.