Nothing is happening, and I really like that!
It's been raining steadily since Saturday morning, with the intensity gradually increasing, it seems. We've probably had 3-4 inches of rain so far, and no sign of it letting up. It really kept the trick-or-treaters away in droves... we only had two bunches before I left for work. Kim brought Patrick and Lacee over in their costumes and they went up and down the block, with Kim holding an umbrella over them.
Patrick was a very authentic-looking ape and Lacee was, naturally, an angel. Both of them were exceptionally cute, of course.
I was really surprised that we weren't really busy tonight... as I was coming in, I saw one fender-bender, and damn near got ran into twice. Wet, slick roads and people partying... usually a bad combination, but I guess a lot of them got by really lucky tonight.
Like I said, the rain is steady, and the wind has turned from the north-east, cold cold cold. It's probably about 45F or so right now, and not forecast to get any warmer during the day tomorrow. Herman and Tyler did a good job putting in the skylight... no leaks noted yet!
We were talking in the ER tonight about some of the people that we get in here... the drunks and psychos. It is not unusual for there to be patients cussing out the docs and nurses and everyone else around, patients making threats to life and limb... this is regarded as "normal"; how many other lines of work are there that put up with such abuse? Cops, probably, and that's about it. Why do we do it? Why, for the money, of course... no. It's not worth any amount of money... it's because we like helping people. The problem is... we get really cynical after a few years. Some of us, well, it takes longer... but it's inevitable. It will happen.
And we try really hard not to be cynical... to treat each and every patient like a loving, normal human being. But.... lots of them aren't. Some of them are the scum of the earth, right here in Topeka, Kansas. They would just as soon kill you as look at you... they want drugs, they want.. they want... well, most of them want drugs. And if we figger this out, suddenly they become very abusive.
But... we have security people to handle these instances, and they do very well.
Later...
I went to sleep about 10:00 yesterday and I got up about 15:30 to go pee; there was nobody home. Went back to bed and couldn't get back to sleep. Pretty soon, about 16:00, I heard someone in the living room and I got up to investigate. It was Karen, home from somewhere... she'd gone out to get candy. We watched the last quarter of the Nebraska/Texas game and I decided to try to get some more sleep.
I laid there for about five minutes, then I thought, "I don't get to spend much time with Karen.. I should get up..." so I did, and we spent a very pleasant evening together before the grandkids came over. Unfortunately, I'm now paying for those sleep-stolen hours... there is no adreneline to be had around here, and I don't dare drink any coffee this late... it's about 05:00 now... or I'll never get to sleep. So I've gotta find ways to amuse myself.... keep moving, y'know. I guess I'll go flirt with some nurses...
Damn. Nurses all busy. O'well...
We've had two recent cases of infanticide by mothers' boyfriends here recently. In both cases, the children were removed from the parents by a government agency, then returned to the mothers. Both of the murderers... the boyfriends... were ex-convicts with violent histories; one of them had been convicted of murder.
This is really difficult for me to separate my feelings about. The guilty parties are too many... the parole boards, for letting these guys out of jail in the first place; the government in general, for forcing the parole boards to make... shall we say... marginal decisions, because the prisons are full of real menaces to society... drug abusers and trafficers; the mothers, for allowing dangerous people around their kids; or the social agencies who put the kids back in danger after evaluating the risks involved.
Home. Damndamndamn doubledamn, the
 My Gold Jack- o-lantern earring |
Not that I will necessarily be able to do better... but I don't want to have to blame Tyler for something that is basically my fault.
And the rain continues.