do the monkey dance!

it's alive!

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:01:09 GMT

Okay, so with a two month lj hiatus behind me, I return - as a NURSE. As in monkey_pie, BSN. Graduation was last night. AND I have a job. It's at the same hospital where I just finished my senior practicum, on the Mother/Baby unit. So, come February when I start, I'll be spending my days with new moms and babies...and getting paid for it!. It's all pretty exciting. To celebrate graduation ms. sin and I are going on vacation to Mexico. yay! I think it will be necessary after spending Christmas in chilly Pittsburgh.

Anyway, I won't even try to wade through all my friends pages I've missed, but if anyone is up to anything good, drop me a line. Because while real life has been pretty consumming I haven't forgotten my nice lj friends.

Boobies & other distractions

Sat, 09 Oct 2004 17:42:44 GMT

Spent yesterday going around with the Lactation Consultants at the hospital, and it was great. Won't gush about empowering women and supporting them and all, but what a great job. And man, I want a baby. Like hardcore.

I started watching Smallville since it just went into syndication on abcfamily. Oh, the slash. AND tripping_sin and I watched 'life as we know it' and it was good so there's another show on the schedule now. Like I really needed more distractions in my life? I will never get my midterm reading done at this rate. I am ruled by pron and tv.

i hab a cold

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:39:15 GMT

Curse my lovely girlfriend. I caught her cold and am feeling miserable and whiny. And stuffy. bleh. However, she rented Return of the King, so at least I know how I will spend my afternoon. Well, I'll either be watching that or reading porn. I've gotten terribly predictable. Also, I've been ~~sucked into~~ reading HP slash, which at one point I swore I wouldn't do. I think I've scared tripping_sin by reading Harry/Snape. oh well.

In other exciting news (exciting to me, anyway) - I stared my senior practicum! Yay. This is the clinical I get to do in my special area of interest, so I am working on a Mother/Baby unit at a local hospital. I went on Sunday and loved it! I'm wondering if it's too early to ask them to hire me when I graduate in December. The hospital is very nice, smallish, newish, about 15 miles away. And omigod the nurses were all so nice. In past clinicals, they've been sort of like 'do what you gotta do, but stay out of our way.' Here they're all 'we're so happy to have you, we hope you'll like it here.'

I love Mother/Baby. I had thought I wanted to work Labor & Delivery, but am changing my mind. The pace is different (slow, my pace), but the nicest part is the way you get to work with new moms, educating them, empowering them. I'll avoid rhapsodizing, but suffice to say, I spent some very enjoyable time helping a first time mom breastfeed. It was good to feel like I was teaching her and reassuring her. I could feel her anxiety decrease by the time I left. It appeals to the 'fix it and make it better' part of me. Also, my preceptor is the sweetest, a very nice older woman. I hope I do a good job and they hire me in December. I go again next Sunday and I can't wait.

road tripping fun

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 18:36:34 GMT

So, tripping_sin and I had an adventure this weekend. We drove to Indiana for a wedding and had the most lovely bonus of meeting cincodemaygirl. She is the best, and I wish she lived closer, we had such a fun time. I plan to lure her to the East Coast with copious amounts of Bailey's. We had such a good time that we could not bear to get back on the road until nearly 10:30pm, which, with the time zone change, meant we did not arrive at our stopping point in Pittsburgh until 6am. And it was so worth it.

I've never driven through the middle of Ohio in the middle of the night, but it was interesting. I wish I could do justice to the "local color" we saw. Best moment was when I was trying to figure out how to use a gas pump that didn't have a credit card swiper. I stared at that thing for wayyyyy too long before I realized I would have to pay inside. While inside the GoMart I stood in line behind two truckers just in time to hear the punchline of a joke:

...'So, are you a real cowboy?' and the guy says 'No, turns out I'm a lesbian.'

And the truckers and cashier all laugh. I spent a lot of time on the rest of the trip making up the beginning of that joke. Any thoughts? I'm thinking it has something to do with leather harnesses, but that could just be me.

Anyway, the weekend turned out to be really great. The wedding was lovely, it was great to see Amanda & Kathleen again, and so good to see them so happy together. We got up to wacky hijinks at brunch the following morning (mostly involving large plates of bacon from the breakfast buffet). We tooled around Indiana with ever actually doing anything (we are so spoiled with everything being free in DC!). I drove the wrong way down a one way street - always a hair-raising good time! And then coffee, talking, dinner, talking, dessert, talking, and much much laughing with cincodemaygirl. And a whole lot of driving and eating of M&Ms, favorite of the road trip snacks.

My cat keeps biting me because he's either mad I left or happy I'm home. Hard to tell.

vacation

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 17:08:47 GMT

off to the beach for a few days w/ tripping_sin and her family (if she ever gets herself packed, that is) -- whee! lemme know if i miss anything good while i'm away.

meanwhile - GO SEE Garden State! it was so good, i wanted to stay and watch it a second time. also, go see Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. funny. I want some Harold/Kumar fic because they totally do the gay thing.

shoot me now

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 00:01:11 GMT

omigod. i just need to moan a bit. i just spent the past few hours dealing with my flooding house. wah. rain was pouring in the study window (which is closed!) and the floor, the area rug, the day bed -- all soaked. threw towels on the big puddles then ran out back to check the storm drain, which was clogged. so the basement also flooded. waded in more than ankle deep water to clear drain, with the overflowing gutter dumping on my head. wah. wet-vacced the basement, set out buckets to catch the drips from the ceiling as the study flood leaked through the floor. am now doing much laundry, i think i used every towel and blanket in the house to clean things up.

and my big plan for today had been to come home, shower and take a nap after a fucking long day at the hospital. no such luck.

if anyone sees my lovely tripping_sin online, tell her to let me buy new windows. tell her if she loved me we could get new windows and be done with floods and invading yellow jackets building nests in our house.

drive shaft!

Thu, 17 Jun 2004 22:27:51 GMT

Drive Shaft. Could there BE a gayer name for dom's band in Lost? The clip of him talking about the band kills me. Anyway, back when I first heard a rumor of Drive Shaft I made some icons. Because really shaft? *snicker*

Anyway, here's some Drive Shaft icons for the taking, and some miscellaneous things I did while playing around. Enjoy, lemme know if you take, and please credit (btw, i think the bases for #1 & #4 are by bleedskint, so props to her too)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7.
8. 9. 10.

11. 12.

funny things i saw today

Tue, 08 Jun 2004 22:00:25 GMT

just watching the news and there was a story about a kitten trapped in a sewer (collective awwwwwww now). and they were interviewing a guy and below him on the screen it said "Joe Smith - Heard Meows" *HA* that is awesome.

also, i saw a kid riding his bike and talking on a cell phone. it made me do a little double take and laugh.

my warning label

Wed, 26 May 2004 19:47:09 GMT

monkey_pie
Look out for the

m
HOLE

From Go-Quiz.com

i can't imagine why, but this made me laugh.

phun with photoshop

Wed, 19 May 2004 15:10:38 GMT

tripping_sin has me working on some icons for her, so while i'm at it, i'll put this offer out there -- anyone have any icon requests? send 'em my way and i'll see what i can do. semester is over so i'm finding ways to amuse myself until summer classes start. breaking in photoshop seems like a good place to start.

baby fever

Wed, 19 May 2004 01:24:22 GMT

i think i just spent like 2 hours at babies r us shopping for my friend's baby shower. it's like crack. i refrained from indulging in my impulses towards cuteness though and got her sensible things like a diaper bag and special kit with a thermometer/bulb syringe/tweezers/medicine dropper/etc (i figured it was an appropriate gift coming from me). okay, there was some cuteness - a little outfit and some toys. i'm not made of stone.

so - i never did get around to writing about my last 2 weeks of OB clinicals. so much action and excitement!

OB Clinical - I'm probably gonna do a half-assed job remembering everything, but wow, I saw so much the last few weeks. (I'm so glad I'd been keeping track of things here, because it was great when I was doing my self-eval...my memory is so spotty for specifics.) I finally got to go in for a C-section, and remind me not to get one of those if at all possible. Seriously, they just cut you open and YANK. You've got a doc on one side, a first assist on the other, and they just tugtugtug at your open gut. but then, ta da - a baby. I got to do the newborn assessment, the apgar test, first vital signs, vitamin K shot and eyedrops. woo! i've given 3 shots now, feeling pretty confident about that now. feeling much more confident handling the newborns too. i just love it. i got to swaddle up the baby and give her to the dad - awwww.

I also spent time in Labor & Delivery with my own laboring patient. She had an epidural so there wasn't much to do but chart (you have to chart every 30 minutes). But, it was interesting because she was HIV positive, so was on prophylactic AZT, and I was curious to see how the nurses interacted with her (very well, no weird treatment at all). Irritatingly, I missed the actual delivery though because we had to go to a lecture in the afternoon. But you know, even missing the actual birth, I still enjoy being on the L&D unit.

Oh, but for the sadness (skip this if you're squeamish)...there were four fetal deaths on our unit last week. One was a patient who had to have a therapeutic abortion because her baby had a very serious gastroschisis - which is a condition where the abdominal organs are outside the body. It can be fixed sometimes, but in this case, the baby's condition was incompatible with life. Can you imagine having to go through that? The woman was 23 weeks along, and had to deliver this baby that didn't have a chance at life. That's just heartbreaking. We got to see the baby, and I have never seen anything like it. It's hard to describe, I didn't even feel like the baby was real, a 23-weeker is just surreal, so perfectly formed, but ridiculously small. It was just laying there, looking like a picture in a textbook, with it's little organs laying on its tummy. I'm not really doing a good job talking about it now...I feel like as I type I'm either getting maudlin or crass and keep having to edit myself. Suffice to say it was an experience that will stay with me.

So, here's to an excellent senior practicum, probably in L&D (fingers crossed for a good placement). I got a glowing review from my instructor, so hurrah!

Also - to any interested parties, I'm selling a bundle of text books. I'll list 'em later, but if anyone needs nursing research, informatics, or psych books, lemme know.

another semester down

Tue, 18 May 2004 04:31:43 GMT

hurrah! today was officially the end of the semester. after exams we all went drinking and i only just got home a bit ago. so much fun. so much alcohol. i think i even smoked a cigarette (wtf?). lots of folks from school went and i even talked to the annoying noisy girls and made nice. also, one girl who i don't really know said she remembered me from class and that i had 'cool clothes.' what an awesome compliment. then, she specifically mentioned pants i inherited from tripping_sin, so, guess i can't take much credit. also, there was puking (but not by me!) lemme tell you, if you're gonna puke, might as well do it with a bunch of nursing students handy. also, there were boobs. boobjob girl was there and was totally giving free shows in the bathroom. i touched them...they're hard. ew. and, i might have let someone else touch my boobs. but then, i'm generous like that.

also, i got a haircut. who's a pretty pretty girl now? (um, i'm either still drunk, or tired, so my apologies for this randomness. i very much want to update with all the cool things i saw in clinical the past two weeks - gastroschisis, people! - but that will have to wait for a more lucid moment)

Wed, 05 May 2004 20:55:00 GMT

eep, today's the first day i've been on lj since friday!

the may moot was wonderful! AQ and sumbitch are the best hostesses, and it was good to see aprilkat again. plus, i got to meet libitina and traveller. good food + porn talk is my idea of a very good saturday evening. it's such a pleasure to spend time with such smart, funny, naughty women.

my day has been full of weirdness. i had psych clinical, and it turns out my uncle was a patient today. very unexpected meeting for both of us. but, since we've been out of touch we took it as a chance to catch up with each other (and then my instructor let me spend the rest of the day working on the adolescent unit, because really, how weird is that to be working on the psych unit where you've got a relative).

nurse's notes

Fri, 30 Apr 2004 22:03:08 GMT

it's such a pretty day i came home and put a skirt on. it's like i needed to feel pretty too, and trust me, the white uniform wasn't cutting it.

Happiest news: my big-ass psych term paper is done.
Crappiest news: still have to do my OB term paper. poo. fortunately, it's short.

OB clinical was lovely as always. I had a very sweet mom and her new baby on the postpartum unit. I gave my second injection, and did so much better this time. I wasn't even hardly nervous, and the baby didn't cry much. So, hooray for new skills mastered. Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet day. We got out early which was a treat, I was able to go buy some wine for the May moot dinner.

Anyway, it was a quiet day. My patient was a discharge, so I got to do discharge teaching and then take her in the wheelchair downstairs to her car. It was fun to see her and her baby off. Afterwards, we had a talk from the nurse who runs the Teen Parenting clinic at the hospital. They had an 11-year old pregnant girl. Eleven, can you even imagine!?!

Psych clinical is almost over. Hooray. I actually had a pretty good day, but not much to report because it is boring. Highlight was the tour of the Residential Treatment Center, led by my new crush - mr. hot counselor, who is likely coming to my school in the fall. I may need to volunteer to show him the ropes.

hmmm, that's all i guess. uneventful. i have to go and decide w/ tripping_sin what we're doing tonight. here's how it'll go: "you decide" "no, i want you to pick" "no, it's your turn" "well, whatever you want to do" -- because sometimes we are indecisive bitches like that.

buffy come lately

Wed, 28 Apr 2004 23:25:54 GMT

hi. my name is heather and i was a buffy virgin.
and now i'm just trying to figuring out how i totally missed getting hooked on this show. seriously, was i living under a rock when it first came on? the very kind sumbitch and abundantlyqueer lent me their season 1 dvds and i've been having a buffy fest lately. and loving it. i feel like one of the cool kids now.

also, here's a first: hot guy at psych clinical today. woo! there's a cutie counselor who is gonna be my orlando-bloom-knock-off crush. big brown eyes, dark curly hair. kinda precious. plus, he works with troubled adolescents, how can you not love that?

my aching feets

Sat, 24 Apr 2004 02:24:56 GMT

ow. my feet hurt. my legs hurt. even my ass hurts. too much standing around at the hospital today i guess. that, and i'm a whiny wuss. also, i am buried under a mountain of schoolwork and can't do any fun writing. not until i finish three term papers. though somehow the crush of responsibility did not prevent me from enjoying joaquin phoenix & liv in inventing the abbotts. apparently WE television is having a special movie man-athon.

OB clinical - I got to see a birth! Yay. And I wasn't even scheduled for L&D, so I got lucky.

I spent the morning in postpartum again, but no drama this time. I'm feeling very comfortable on the unit now, and I still like it. Some people think it is boring, but I think it is my kind of nursing. The people aren't very sick, there aren't beeping monitors and dozens of meds to give. It's mostly about talking to patients and doing teaching and such. So, I took care of mom and baby and handled their discharge. Oh, and I saw another circumcision. EEK. I am so not doing that to my future baby boys. Seriously, it breaks my heart, the poor babies. Also, while we were there a baby stopped breathing - it was the freakiest thing, because he was with the mom and they took him back to the nursery to work on him and he was just totally nonresponsive. He was taking little breaths, and the nurse's couldn't get him to take a big cry. He didn't cry at all, no matter how much they fussed at him and pinched him. And his muscle tone was all flaccid. They couldn't figure out what was going on and they had to admit him to the NICU.

I saw him in the NICU when I was there in the afternoon. They still didn't know what was going on but were running a lot of tests. As for my rotation to the NICU, well, I've found an area I don't want to work in. I didn't enjoy working there, I just don't think it's my kind of thing. Some of the babies are just so tiny and sick, and I just don't feel very comfortable in such a critical environment. I didn't get to do much care while I was there, just some vitals and feedings. Is it wrong to enjoy working with the healthy babies more?

So, I cut out of NICU early and met up with the rest of the clinical group in Labor and Delivery where we generally spend our afternoons. And, I guess I had good timing because another girl's patient was just getting ready to push, so I got to go in with her. And then there was pushing and then there was a baby. Mom had an epidural, and it was her third baby, so she had a pretty easy time. No complications or anything. She wasn't my patient, so I just observed, didn't do the newborn assessment or anything. I saw the placenta get delivered and watched the mom get some stitches. I don't think I'll ever not be amazed at the whole birth process. It's just incredible. I didn't cry this time though.

Psych - whatever. I'm so done with psych clinical. I got to go to art therapy again this week with the patients, so that was my big highlight. I love art therapy. I think I need to give myself art therapy. If anyone wants an art therapy assignment, go get some magazines and construction paper, glue and crayons. Select a picture of a person, a place and a thing. Now stick those pics down on your paper and draw around them to tell a story. Do it. It's fun, it's therapy. It's good for you.

Well, I'm off to eat ice cream and watch Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux on MTV2 (uh, what schoolwork?). Is it wrong that I'm kinda excited at the prospect of the new Olsen Twins movie? C'mon Eugene Levy is in it too. That makes it better, right?

random text generation

Sun, 18 Apr 2004 20:51:07 GMT

"plain exterior belied the pulsing chaos within. Elijah practically attached himself to Anna and leaves the island of slots for the challenge. I won't spill the scenarios I got, but I have a patient i can only blame my poor memory so much). anyway, it was a slight language barrier as her English was not his intention, but there weren't the schizophrenics and such that we had to buy her some jeans (she needs new clothes more than his time with her? She could imagine Anna doing her best to ignore the churning in his heart he once again pledged"

wow. frighteningly, this is sometimes what it's like to live in my head. it's like all worlds colliding at once. thanks to 1420 for the link

nurse's notes...or, how i totally embarassed myself

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 16:05:05 GMT

When I am a licensed nurse working in the hospital I will always be nice to students. You would not believe how some nurses want nothing to do with you and how shitty that can feel. Alternately, I have been lucky to work with some amazing nurses who take mentoring to heart. I hope I'm one of them when I grow up.

So, I have a tale of drama (and me being stupid) from OB this week...

I had a high-risk patient on the post-partum unit this week. She had pre-eclampsia, which is a pretty bad complication that can develop during pregnancy. Anyway, she had been admitted to the hospital and put on all kinds of serious drugs to help with the condition, and was on bedrest for days - ultimately having a c-section. So, she was transferred to the post-partum unit to recover, and it was my responsibility on Friday to take care of her.

Most of the care is routine stuff that I had been doing, but this woman was just a lot weaker than the other moms I've worked with. Plus, she had not been out of bed since Monday, and that is a BAD THING. (If you are in the hospital and you get surgery or something, all you prolly want to do is lay in bed, but believe me, those nurses will come and kick your ass out of bed. It doesn't seem right, but it's important to get moving, trust me. Listen to your nurses.) Anyway, I was told to help this woman get out of bed to use the bathroom (I had just removed her catheter) and maybe try sitting up in the chair for a while.

Now, I should say at this point that my instructor spent a lot of time going over the risks for this patient pertaining to her condition and the serious medications she had been on before. She drilled into me that one of the adverse effects of the drug she was on was seizures. So she said, keep an eye out for signs of seizures, and we discussed that at length. Imagine me now feeling very vigilant.

Back to patient's room. Her husband and I are helping her to sit up, and it is taking her a lot of effort (to be expected, the lady has a row of staples in her tummy from the c-section). I'm telling her to go slow, and make her sit on the edge of the bed so that she can rest and not get too dizzy. Husband supports her and I go to open the bathroom door and make sure it's ready for her. At this point, husband yells for me (!) and I rush back to see the patient all slumped over with her eyes sort of rolling back into her head, and he's all panicked, and then so am I. Ack! What's the first thing I think? Seizure! Oh shit.

I make sure he's got her supported and she isn't going to fall on the floor and I run out into the hallway all - "I need a nurse to help me! I think my patient's having a seizure!" I run back in and try to help husband get wife to lay back in the bed. She is concious at this point, and probably only lost consciousness for a brief moment really. So nurses come in and we get her settled. She seems okay. Whew.

Then I am told (by more than one nurse) that you NEVER run out and say something like that. You don't diagnose 'seizure' - basically that is a bad thing to say. If the patient or family hears you they'll think that's what happened (whether it did or didn't, even if I only said "I think"). Very bad for liability and stuff too. Anyway, I pretty much came off as looking like a big twit. And I was so scared! My instructor had totally drilled the risk into me and then she was all unconscious. Eep. I can't begin to really describe how it felt - a nurse is supposed to be capable, and I felt like I'd not really lived up to that in my panic.

In my defense, the nurse I was working with was very kind and said I did a good job - I made sure the patient was safe before I left her room and I did everything else I was supposed to do and made myself as helpful as possible (yeah, I got her some juice! go me!). The husband was so frightened too, but I felt like I was able to help him feel calmer, and he was so nice to me and encouraging - like he valued my learning experience as a student. The wife (I should mention here there was a slight language barrier as her English was not so great) was okay, but a little out of it from being tired. It wasn't a seizure. She passed out because she was weak, anemic, probably hadn't been eating much, and had been in bed for four days (which is a BAD THING).

And you know what? After all that drama, the nurse was like "Okay, let's try again." So we did (with her there). And you know what? The woman got as far as a tentative stand next to the bed and then got all wobbly and weak again and dizzy and nearly fainted. So we put her back to bed, and decided it was bedpans and bed baths for her that morning. Man, afterwards I apologized to every nurse there I think. But you learn, right?

My afternoon was much calmer - I was on Labor & Delivery and didn't do much but learn how to read the fetal heart rate/contraction monitor strips. And I got to be nice to a laboring mom during her contractions. I'm good at being nice. Seriously - I might be an idiot sometimes, but I'm very good at being comforting and kind to patients. If you were in labor, you'd want me there. I am a font of reassurance.

Well. This is quite enough for now. I don't have it in me to do a psych clinical wrap up. It was on the adult unit, it was not so bad as last week. It was kind of boring.

Intern

Wed, 14 Apr 2004 23:55:04 GMT

Okay. Here is the beginning of a little AU story my brain has hatched. Elijah's a college student interning in Washington, DC. Herein, he meets his new roommate Orlando (a British au pair). If folks think it's a promising beginning I will write more.

Title: Intern
Rating: PG (smut to come later)
Disclaimer: Not my boys, never happened. All lies.
A/N: Many thanks to lostangels18 for her most excellent beta skillz

Mt. Pleasant.

Elijah liked the sound of it, and hoped it was an accurate description of his new neighborhood. Subletting an apartment without checking it out first was not his intention, but there hadn’t been enough time to travel to DC in advance. He’d had too many things to take care of back home before this internship began, and if it weren’t for Sean - the staff member who had initially interviewed him for the position - he would already be joining the ranks of DC’s homeless.

As his cab slowed, Elijah surveyed the scene before him. ‘So, this is it’ he thought to himself, taking in the colors and sounds of DC. Small shops lined the street with their bright signs in both Spanish and English. The older apartment buildings mingled in with them, standing tall with windows thrown open to the late summer breeze. He loved it all, right down to the children playing by the street and the hodge-podge of people waiting for their bus. Everything was so alive to him, and very unlike anything he knew back in Iowa. He wasn’t nervous exactly, but it felt like he’d been holding his breath since his plane landed.

* * *

Feeling a bit foolish, Elijah knocked on the door to his new apartment. He knew he lived there now, but it would've felt strange to just walk in. Besides, scaring his roommate to death hardly seemed like a great first impression. Instead Elijah found himself on the receiving end of a heart attack when he was nearly knocked to the ground by an overly-exuberant hug.

"Elijah! Right, man? Great to meet you, come on in – welcome home!"

The dark haired stranger grabbed at his suitcases, and Elijah found himself contemplating the advisability of hooking up with one’s roommate. There was no doubt in his mind that this guy was hot. ‘Seriously cute, with an accent to boot,’ he thought to himself with a silent giggle. He wondered why Sean hadn’t mentioned anything to that effect when he helped Elijah get the apartment, then remembered that Sean had no clue Elijah would be interested in knowing that kind of information in the first place. As far as Sean knew, Elijah was straight, and he’d really prefer to keep it that way. There was no way he was going to screw up the awesome opportunity he’d been given this semester by letting the whole Senator’s office know he’s a Big Gay. He just wanted to fit in and learn more about politics. It had been his dream ever since the first visit he took to the Capitol at the age of eleven, and he’d be damned if he was going to blow it now.

"Hey, you okay mate? Long flight, huh?"

"Yeah, but I’m okay – maybe just a little spacey, sorry. It’s great to meet you too, um, uh..."

Shit! He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten his room mate’s name. He knew he had it written down in his bag somewhere...something vaguely fancy was all that he could recall.

"It’s Orlando. Friends call me Orli - c’mon I’ll show you your room."

Elijah, feeling like an idiot, followed Orlando through the small but tidy living room to a closed door at the end of a hall.

"Now, you’re gonna have to bear with the girly shit," Orlando warned, pushing open the door, "Liv put a bunch of stuff in storage when she went abroad for this semester, but..." his words trailed off as Elijah surveyed his new room.

It wasn’t so bad really. It wasn't like there were posters of Josh Hartnett all over the walls, or a big pink quilt on the bed or anything, but there were quite a few more candles scattered around than he’d ever put in one room. He suspected they were scented.

Elijah threw one of his bags onto the bed, disrupting about seven decorative pillows. ‘Okay, maybe it is more than a little girly,’ he thought. But it had a bed and a closet and a surprisingly nice stereo system, so he certainly wasn’t complaining.

"Let me show you the best part," Orli gushed, moving across the room to the huge window. He pushed aside filmy curtains and slid the window open. In one graceful movement, he ducked his head out and the rest of him quickly followed, disappearing from Elijah’s view.

"Hey, where’d you go?" Elijah asked, already kneeling on the wide window seat. He clambered out to join Orlando on the roof, startled by what he saw. "Wow," he gasped in awe, "This is incredible. You can see the whole city!"

"Not quite man, but you can see the whole park. See those trees down there? That’s the zoo. Liv told me you can hear the monkeys in the morning if you keep the window open."

Rooftops and backyards were spread out below them, dappled with the late afternoon sunshine. Elijah leaned against the railing of the rickety roof deck and turned his head to Orlando grinning like a fool. "This is sweet."

"Oh, no doubt. Only thing it needs right now is a couple of beers. Sit tight, I’ll be right back."

* * *

"So you’re a babysitter?"

"No man, I’m an au pair."

"What’s an au pair?"

"Um, like a nanny."

"Can I call you Mary Poppins then?"

"Shut it Elijah. I’m an au pair. A child care professional," Orlando said trying to look serious. He failed miserably, causing both boys to laugh.

Elijah reached for another beer, looking over to where Orlando was sprawled on the deck. "Okay dude, you’re an au pair, whatever....spend your days wiping babies' noses. I bet the chicks dig that."

"Eh, they prolly do. I know the blokes love it."

"Do they now?" Elijah questioned, taking in this new piece of information. Not that he was really surprised, this guy was just way too good-looking to be straight. "Hmmm, maybe you’ll have to let me take the kids to the park some day."

"And poach on my territory? I don’t think so."

"So, does that mean you’re looking then? I mean, are you seeing anybody?"

That didn’t sound too awkward, did it? God, he felt like such an idiot. Elijah didn’t want to totally freak his new roommate out. What the hell was he thinking? He told himself he was most definitely *not* thinking about putting the moves on Orlando; he knew it was a terrible idea. But the beer and the jet lag and that dark curly hair were conspiring to make his brain a little slow tonight.

Orlando laughed, clearly seeing through the question. "Don’t you get any ideas, puppy. You’re a cute one alright, but not my type."

"Hey," Elijah sputtered, turning pink. "That’s not...I mean...oh, screw you."

"You wish," he shot back with a grin.

* * *

After a few beers, they decided that the best way to celebrate Elijah’s first night in town was to go out dancing. Elijah wasn’t entirely sure that was a great idea, but he didn’t think that begging off to read for work on Monday would be an acceptable excuse. Not like he thought he would get much work done. He really was itching to enjoy his new city and was grateful to have Orlando play tour guide.

They walked through a neighborhood Orlando called Dupont Circle. Elijah couldn’t get over how packed the sidewalks were with all types of people out for a good time. The bars with outdoor patios were overflowing with happy drinkers. Restaurants and x-rated video stores stood proudly beside each other. Trendy new clubs rubbed shoulders with faded convenience stores. And everywhere, there were people. Gay, straight, black and white, and everything in between.

“Where’re we going again?”

“Apex, it’s just down here, c’mon.”

Elijah stared dubiously at the blank front of the non-descript building. Just where was Orlando taking him? This didn’t look like much of a club, but he followed Orlando through the door. Once inside he realized how wrong he was – the plain exterior belied the pulsing chaos within. Elijah practically attached himself to Orlando’s back; it was all he could do to not get lost in the dizzying crowd.

Music pounded, bodies gyrated, lights flashed, and it was about all you could ask for in a club. Orlando shimmied his way through the crowd by the dance floor, tossing out the occasional greeting, until he found them a space by the back bar.

“Hey, you’re working tonight!” Orlando leaned over the bar to plant a kiss on the bartender’s lips.

Well, thought Elijah, that answers that then. The bartender returned Orlando’s kiss and ruffled his hair. Elijah tried not to feel too disappointed.

“Not working, just covering for Craig.”

“Found someone who caught his eye, did he? Can’t even wait ‘til he gets off work to get off? You’re a good man, Vig. Oh hey, meet my new roommate; he’s staying in Liv’s room.”

Introductions were made, and drinks were procured. Viggo and Orlando chatted, and Elijah wanted to laugh at the schoolgirl-in-love air that settled over his roommate as Orlando basked in Viggo’s presence. It was clear that Orlando suggested this outing with motives beyond celebrating a new housemate.

Elijah scanned the crowd, unconsciously moving his hips to the beat of the pounding house music. He was pretty sure he’d never been in one room with so many hot guys. He felt his fleeting crush on Orlando fade, and a smile ghosted across his lips as he surveyed DC’s finest offerings.

He didn’t know he was being watched in return until he looked up and met the gaze of a stranger with shaggy blond bangs and eyeliner.

nurse's notes

Tue, 13 Apr 2004 03:41:11 GMT

Today I registered for classes for my final semesters of nursing school. Woo. Sadly, looks like summer session is gonna be hellish. Here's to having no life. S'okay, I'm too poor to go on summer vacation anyway.

OB was awesome. I was on postpartum unit again, and I could definitely see myself doing that full-time. I had a mom/baby pair that I was responsible for, and it was her first baby, and she was there by herself and I really felt like I helped her. Got to do some teaching, which I liked - though I need to be a bit more confident about what I know (or a bit more certain about what I *think* I know). Plus, I got to remove an IV - though the hardest part of that was unsticking all the tape. One the baby side of things, I gave my first shot!!! Poor baby, I gave him his HepB vaccination. I was shaking so bad, but I did it with no major trouble. I just really like the dynamic of being responsible for mom & baby and all the opportunities for teaching and nursing care.

In the afternoon I observed in the antenatal testing unit and saw three sonograms. It was incredibly interesting (though not something I'd be particularly keen to do). I was in the room when two new moms found out the sex of their baby and I was freakin' excited for them, even if they didn't get all squealy with the news. Mom #1 was actually putting her baby up for adoption, so it was really interesting to hear her talk about that decision and try to offer what support I could in our conversation. I don't think I could do it. B and I have talked, in the abstract, about being surrogate moms for our gay friends, and I don't have it in me. I'm too selfish and would want to keep the baby. Of course, I'm currently baby crazy.

The last ultrasound of the day was sad. The woman's baby had so many defects there was no way it would be viable. She knew that, but opted not to terminate the pregnancy and was determined to try to maintain the pregnancy. I didn't really understand everything that was wrong, but the ultrasound nurse couldn't find the baby's stomach or bladder, and it had too much fluid in its chest and not enough amniotic fluid around it. I didn't envy her the job of having to talk through that with the couple.

Psych sucked. We switched units and now I'm on the adult wing and I hated it. To pieces. Totally different energy with the adults. As in, no energy. It felt like the land of the walking dead, and I missed my kids so bad. I'm trying to keep an open mind for this week, but I don't have high hopes. I realized on the way to school today that this may be because I am a bad person and am going to hell. Seriously, very bad person. Because in the back of my head I worry I don't have patience with the adults. The kids...well adolesence is such a mess anyway - it's understandable. With the adults, I'm afraid there's a subconcious process that says "pull it together for chrissakes, you're a grownup." Like I'm disappointed in them, or frustrated. How bad is that? I'm all about no stigma in mental illness, but I worry there's a part of me that holds it against them nonetheless. I only hope that owning that, and being aware of it will help me to overcome it. I think it doesn't help that most of the patients were depressed, but there weren't the schizophrenics and such that we had on the kids floor - those kids were really sick, and you knew it. Okay, I know depression is an illness, and I know a lot of people who have it, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy the experience of working on a ward of depressed adults, right? I just hate feeling like a hypocrite, like I should know better. Because I do. Maybe this week will prove a different experience.

Dear lord, that's enough nursing rambling.

Five Things that Never Happened to Dominic Monaghan

Thu, 08 Apr 2004 03:57:28 GMT

Five Things that Never Happened to Dominic Monaghan
Rating: PG
Author’s Notes: from the “Five Things” challenge by oneangrykate. Many thanks to my lovely beta tripping_sin.

(Five Things, special reality show edition!)

1.
Dom had waited in line - in the rain mind you - for over 27 hours for this chance. His big break. He'd met some nice people, some desperate people, and some freakin’ weird people, but no real competition. Well, except for that small fellow with the green eyes, but he wasn't worried about him. He was a bit worried about the state of his own hair though. The rain had not been kind. And, his eyeliner was smearing. He tried to fix himself up in the lav, but could barely find a place in front of the mirror. The room was so crowded with other primpers and preeners and panicked guys running scales. Dom is saving his voice.

When they call his number, Dom leaps from his spot on the ground and approaches the judges. They don't scare him. This is his destiny. Confident, he opens his mouth and starts singing, and it’s just like he imagined it would be. He's hitting every note; his voice is clear and true.

“I don’t know dawg, I’m not sure about the image.”

“Well, I think he’s totally adorable!”

“I think he looks like a hobbit. But, he’s got a good voice.”

“Congratulations -- you're going to Hollywood!”

2.
Dom and Billy jumped off the train and broke into a run. They saw Elijah and Orlando get stuck in a crowd of schoolchildren and tried not to smile at their luck. They couldn’t be sure the other teams hadn’t caught an earlier train, but things were looking good for them.

They followed the red and yellow flags from the station to the nearby outdoor market. Sure enough when the reached the clue box there were several envelopes remaining.

“What’s it say?”

“Roadblock. I’ll do it, s’my turn.”

Of course, as Dom’s luck would have it the Roadblock involved helping local Chinese fishermen load up their truck with slippery fish. By the time he’d managed to get all his slimy cargo loaded, Elijah and Orlando had caught up with them.

“Damn, Billy, I smell like a fish.”

“Naw Dom, fish smell better, but there’s no time to fuss. Hurry yer arse up!”

The two jumped a cab and sped away, trusting to train schedules and luck that their lead would hold. Once they reached their destination, Billy barely gave Dom a chance to grab his backpack before they were sprinting through the public gardens, always following the route markers. Breathless, they spotted Phil and slowed down to approach the mat. They held hands nervously.

“Welcome Dom and Billy, you are the first team to arrive.”

3.
He was short. Dom knew that would be a problem for him. He’d already heard it from Janice once, but he was determined to prove her wrong. He would make up for his height (or lack thereof) by wowing them with his sassy walk and style sense. He didn’t have the tall willowy figure of Orli, but he certainly wasn’t the emotional mess that Elijah was, always weeping at the drop of a hat.

Tyra was such an inspiration; he still couldn’t believe he was here learning from his idol. He soaked up every tip and trick she shared, from makeup to posture to dress. He practiced on the runway in the loft, took advice from all the designers, photographers and advisors. And he felt like his hard work was paying off. Dom was surrounded by beauty, but he knew he had what it takes to be a supermodel.

4.
Rolling the stem of the rose between his fingers, Dom couldn’t help but think about how these past few weeks had been like a fairy tale. He had done this in the first place because he was tired of dating. He knew he was ready to find someone special to spend his life with. And now, he hoped he had found him.

It had been love at first sight. He hates to say that, but he knew when he met him that he had met his match. All the guys had been great, of course. In some ways he knew that tonight he was making the toughest decision of his life, but when he felt those butterflies swarming in his gut at the Rose Ceremony, he knew this was for real.

“This is for you, Billy.”

5.
They had arrived in twos and threes all morning, new to the city and loaded down with luggage. Dom thought he had known what to expect, but nothing could have prepared him for the outrageous luxury of this new environment. He and his new roommates ran through the house, exclaiming over each new discovery. They claimed rooms, with only a minimum of fuss and cattiness. It’s a good thing he was so easy-going or else a real disagreement might have broken out amongst the guys.

Everyone seemed pretty cool though. He liked that bloke Billy and was glad they were sharing a room. Orlando seemed alright, if a bit dim. Elijah promptly made both friends and enemies by hijacking the stereo and blasting music from his CD collection. The girls struck him as a high maintenance blur of long limbs and swirling hair. He was glad they wouldn’t have to share a bathroom. And, Dom was afraid Sean might be a real pill. They’d only been in the house for a few hours and Sean was already trying to draft house rules and create chore schedules. His calls for a house meeting had fallen on deaf ears so far.

Dom was already starting to miss his privacy. But he was excited for this adventure, and couldn’t wait to see what happened when people stopped being polite and started being real.

rock on

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 15:51:54 GMT

saw liz phair last night and she was awesome. love her! she is such a sexpot. and, she is so nice she stayed afterwards and signed things for us (i got my ticket stub signed). the opening band - Wheat - was also very good, i recommend checking them out. tripping_sin bought their cd for me and the guys in the band all signed it. why have i never been a groupie? being in a band seems to make you automatically sexy.

we have decided that despite a lack of talent and musical ability, we will start a band. like all good ideas, this came to us awash in beer. our name...Scrumtrulescent. our first album...Lather.Rinse.Repeat. tripping_sin will be lead vocals and bass, i'm on drums and our friend j will play guitar. the details of learning how to do these things are vague, but we decided to be a cover band to save us the trouble of having to write music and lyrics. clever.

whee!

Sat, 03 Apr 2004 00:30:08 GMT

my feets are hurting, but i am aglow from a v v good day. today was my first clinical day in OB. have you ever had the feeling like,

we actually got patients this morning - 2 of us paired up with a mother/baby pair. i did the postpartum assessment on the mother. small roadblock, she only spoke spanish and my high school spanish is incredibly rusty. have decided i must do something about that because i felt like a total tool pantomiming and using my limited spanish vocabulary (of course, we never learned how to say "have you peed today?" or "this is for your swollen labia" so i can only blame my poor memory so much).

anyway, it was just very cool - i got to palpate her uterus, woo! i'm a dork. i look forward to being able to do more patient education and stuff when i have a patient i can communicate better with. i can't imagine how scary it would be to be in the hospital and not be able to communicate with the people taking care of you.

also got to hold the baby and do some of the baby's assessment. got to hold quite a few babies in the nursery actually. my biological clock is going to explode. i just loved being around all the newborns. we also toured the NICU (would not want to work there i've decided. we saw a 24 wk pre-term baby that was just so incredibly small you can't believe...) and toured labor & delivery, but didn't have patients there. i'm looking forward to l&d nursing, as i think that is what i am most interested in. either l&d or postpartum i think.

my instructor told me that i was very good at patient interactions and that i worked well with the babies, so that made my day. i'm so glad i liked it because women's health is what i came to nursing school to do.

in other news, am actually writing a fic. it's lotrips au, and i'm pleased with the premise and amused by the first section. not sure if it's good enough (or finished enough) to post yet, but am getting good feedback from tripping_sin. of course, she has to be nice to me.

haiku

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:17:53 GMT

aahh, feeling the OC love...

monkey_pie's Accidental LJ Haiku

just serves to highlight
how friggin cool seth is cool
hip calm totally

Find your own LJ Haiku

i had to buy ANOTHER new tire for my car. dude, what is that about? i just had two new ones put on the front, but they weren't well balanced so took the car back (for the second time!) to get them rebalanced so i don't vibrate all the way to school (which, while not always bad, is not always appropriate either). then the guy says, oh, your back tire is bald. and both back tires have nails in them. doesn't it make you wonder if they just do that, like last time i was there they thought, pop a nail in her tire and we'll see her back again soon enough. anyway, i opted to get a new tire to replace the balding one and will continue to drive on the other one w/ a nail in it since i haven't had any problems with leaks. i'll take it to the local gas station and get it patched there for cheap. stupid Just Tires. i can't get the smell of tire rubber and auto mechanic out of my nose.

what i did on my spring break

Tue, 30 Mar 2004 05:33:15 GMT

the birds were singing, the sun was shining and i hung out in the house reading porn. i did not a lick of work all spring break, and it was glorious. i read so many good things, here is a short list of some of the best things i read this past week.

Void by wax_jism - Faculty slash (Casey/Zeke/Delilah). WIP, but wonderful, I am jonesing for more. This was rec'ed by sumbitch, she is wise and I am grateful. I just hope wax writes more.

Beekeeper by uluithiel - LOTRips AU, DM/EW. Farmer boys in 1840s Ohio. A long (but complete) story that appealed to the Laura Ingalls Wilder fan in me. Rec'ed by aprilkat.

Prophecy: Destiny & Design by pecos - LOTRips AU, OB/VM/SB & DM/EW. I don't know where to start with this book! I was riveted and couldn't stop reading...good thing I was on break, this is super-long but I couldn't back away from the computer. It's a sci-fi type, action, adventure and intrigue story. It's one of the most exciting and original things I've read, thanks to deleerium for the recommendation.

Football & Skaterboy by deleerium - LOTRips AU, Orlijah. I just love these so much. Football just keeps getting better, cute lil' high school Lijah and Orli. aww. Skaterboy is the first AU I ever read and I love it, and hope Dee writes more (bribes forthcoming, if they're incentive).

Off the Ropes & Clue series by abundantlyqueer - NC-17. Off the Ropes is up to 32 parts now, and I never want it to end, it gives me something to constantly look forward to. It's got a cast of thousands and more pairings than I can name. I can't say enough good things about this incredible story, and it's about fighting - I never would have guessed how much I would grow to love this. As for See Under: Clue, Getting A - I just reread it over break, and was in a fog of lust all day. Seriously, hot Orlijah goodness.

The Sum of Our Parts by hackthis - DM/BB, PG. Hooray for hackthis's happy week, I've been loving it all. This is just sweet and delightful.

Panicking by beizy - BB/DM, NC-17. Dom & Billy and shower sex, just so well written and enjoyable. Reminds me why they are my OTP. The dialogue is spot on..."Scatter my ashes round your living room?"/"I'll serve you as tea."/"I'd make a delicious tea."

Something Bowl, Something New by torchthisnow and shoshannagold - OC slash, Ryan/Seth, PG-13. Oh, this makes me remember why I came to slash in the first place! The Seth banter, the serious Ryan. This is OC slash perfection (despite the lack of hot and heavy sex).

First by cupidsbow - Afflection! Ben/Matt, NC-17. OOOO, it's so wrong, yet so right. Delicious haiku porn, god bless Cathy.