Venom

Thank God for Friday and the fact I could go and see Spiderman 3.

Came out of it feeling rather angry. I wasn't sure why... I'd really enjoyed the movie (although it was a bit comic book corny in places) A smart friend noted it was probably cos it stirred up some recent issues that've been simmering below the surface.

Angst at being pushed away. Painful decisions to lie to in order to spare others more hurt. A friend's grudge held for a long ago betrayal. It's stuff we all deal with at some point in our lives.

But there was one addition that I thought made this film better than the prior sequel...

Venom!

Dark, brooding and deadly. At odds with the world because he is at war with himself. Spiderman realises that there is the blackness inside all of us. The humiliation and the loss of control lead Spidey down a dark path... and brings forth the alter ego.

Lately it feels like life just gets darker and darker. The reality of suffering and this broken world just seems to seep into our marrow as the days go by. Do we decide to let it rule us? Or will we rip off the black suit and fight for truth, justice (and the American way*)? The anger and darkness of life can either grow us or grow over us.

I know its corny comic book ethos... but it's true:
We always have a choice... our choices make us who we are.

* What was with the lame shot of the American flag in the movie? Served no point whatsoever!

It's gettin hot in here...

Sitting at my desk doing some paperwork when the sharp shrill of the fire alarm went off. Within 2 seconds all the fire doors in the ward slammed shut and the whooping wail of the ‘Emergency Evacuation Tone” blared from all directions.

Given the number of false alarms in our hospital we sat around and waited for the noise to stop. But it didn’t. The indicator on the wall said the alarm triggered was on our floor.

The nurses eventually straggled out of their meeting to come and reassure the patients they would not die (at least not today) and then I noticed it. 2 of the nurses were peering out the window looking at the street below. “I can see them… FIREMEN!” Next thing I know the nurses are running around checking their hair in the mirrors and straightening the folds in their clothes. Apparently it turns out the firemen are a fine catch in a nurse’s eyes and so the 3 single attractive nurses (aged 23-30) on our ward readied themselves for the kill.

We heard the noises of people running up the stairs and I watched as around the corner lumbered (in slow motion) a large moustache endowed 60+yr old man with a BMI of 30. The look of disappointment in the nurse’s faces was worth capturing on film… their faces dropped through the floor and they started turning to go back to their meeting until…the last fireman straggled in from the stairwell. Younger than his counterparts and not sporting a beer-belly he couldn’t avoid the peripheral vision of the lead nurse who spun around with a beaming smile and said “Hi I’m M and I’m single… and so are these other 2 nurses!”
The fireys soon realised the fire alarm was not set off by someone’s nicotine addiction the door in the meeting room the amount of hot air trapped in the room set off the fire alarm’s heat sensor”. How perfect! Stick a bunch of nurses in a room and they set off the fire alarm with all the hot air that’s blowing around.

As the firemen trudged back to their chariot, the nurses smiled and waved coyly at them. “Nice to meet you… come back soon!”

Short Notice

It was just another balmy autumn day. Skipped breakfast (again) for the sake of another 10 minutes in bed and darted off to start the day.
10am swung by and the temporary consultant waltzed onto the ward. "Don't worry guys, I'm busy today so you can do your ward round alone... oh and J by the way, our team is due to present a case today at the case conference so can you photcopy a discharge summary onto an overhead and present that in 2 hours time? Thanks"

A semi-delerious panic syndrome set in as I realised I had 2 hours to see 22 pateints and somehow find something interesting to entertain the masses at the lunchtime meeting. Last week's case had been a non-stop extravaganze with the team's consultant presenting the case in conjunction with the registrar and intern and with powerpoint slides and lots of cool eosin stained histopathology pics.

The round blitzed its way along the corridor flying through patients with a cursory glance to make sure they were opening their bowels and managing their waterworks. I glanced at my watch as we finsihed in record time. 20 minutes to photocopy some kind of presentation. I found a mildly interesting case (ie one that didn't involve a fall or fracture) and quickly rammed it through the photocopier.

Rocked up to the meeting to find 30 people scoffing down food and waiting with baited breath for me to present. But somewhere along the line the need for an overhead projector had been omitted. And so Dr J was forced to stand up like a kid on speech day and read out his bodgy discharge summary. The physios, the OTs, the social workers and the doctors looked as bored or confused as 1st year arts students. I felt the rush of blood going to my cheeks as they ripened with embaressment. I hoped that by speeding up the reading of the discharge the earth would somehow swallow me up and save me from this public humiliation.

As soon as it was over I darted back to my seat at started muching on some free drug company food. "Such an idiot J!" I berated to myself. Why did the boss have to give me virtually no notice?
Meh!