Posts Tagged ‘conundrums’

help!

OMG! I’m the one who needs to be resuscitated!

I get to my late afternoon shift and things are already outta control! Sunday Night Special! Patients wall-to-wall. No available beds. Missing wheelchairs, codes blasting on the PA, screamie-meemies, chest pains.  Anthony Chan’s being a bigger-than-normal pain in the ass —

VOLUNTEER, what part of “limping” do you not understand? Get my patient a wheelchair, stat!

I check the hallways, L & D, parking lots – nada, nowhere, now what?

I’ve gotta return with wheels pronto, so I head into unfamiliar territory, open a daunting door with a “Staff Only” sign and step into a brightly lit waiting area, where I discover:

Two Empty Wheelchairs!  Voila! Yay! Perfect!

Uhm… WAIT!  What’s that abandoned patient doing lying on that gurney? Read the rest of this entry »

nightmare!

They say — “Timing is everything” but when is it gonna to be my time? The right time? Time to cash a paycheck?  Booking a job is like an oasis – it seems like it’s right there in front of me…like I’m on theverge. But when I get closer it just vaporizes into a cloud of disappointment. I feel like I’m constantly letting down the people who care about me — the ones who believe in me… it totally sucks.

I keep trying to — Read the rest of this entry »

Working in the hospital has the side benefit of Sensitivity Training. I’m not referring to overcoming prejudices, though that’s certainly a big part of helping people. I’m talking about assumptions as in, do not make them. When I make them, they backfire.  Learn from my mistakes. 

Generalizations lead to Oops Moments —

Part of my job as an ER Volunteer is to take Patients in labor up to the 3rd Floor — the Floor for Labor and Delivery and Post Partum. It’s where we get to look through the windows and see all of those cutey-patooty-newborns in their first hours of life. And it’s a Floor where Patients usually get to take home more than just a hospital bill.  For months whenever I’d meet people in the elevator going up to the 3rd Floor  I’d say something like — Read the rest of this entry »

Last night I went to a friend’s birthday party at Katsuya — one gigantic rectangle of people I kinda knew with a few I didn’t, including a lovely network exec whose mere presence put me back into pimply high school mode. It had nothing to do with what she did — she was warm and open — and it wasn’t because we were talking about the business —I doubt that she even knows I’m an Actress. We were just two people saying “hi” for the first time, except that one of us was behaving like a mental freak show for no apparent reason. And though I knew I wasn’t doing myself any favors, I couldn’t get out of my own way.

Sabotage Syndrome

Why do we sabotage ourselves like that? People like CONFIDENCE. Insecurity makes people nervous, uncomfortable and everything gets so awkward. This is pretty true across the board – at work, in auditions, in relationships… Read the rest of this entry »

You know how when you step on gum, you can’t get it completely off? Your favorite shoes are never quite the same because part of the yuck stays with you wherever you go? Like you’ve tarnished your sole?

That’s kinda how my soul feels about an school friend “B” who has now come back to haunt me where I volunteer in the ER. Six years have past, we’ve both become adults (supposedly) and the guy who came between us is probably in some residential facility, or wearing an orange jumpsuit or pumping gas in Oxnard. Clearly he’s not a part of her life or my life, but for some reason his past connection has had an indelible effect on our frenemy-ship.  Sad…   Read the rest of this entry »

Be nice, or else…

On my ER shift, a Little Kid’s freaking out about having to get stitches, so I ask him if he can keep a secret? Uh-huh.

Wanna know our  SECRET CODE WORD ?

Yeah!…
…so I whisper: “Owww!”

Minutes later when  Dr. A dabs numbing cream on his wound, the kid yells, “Owww!” So I SHUSH! him about giving away the CODE WORD and he actually giggles — PLUS I get a “trying-not-to-smile-but-I-can’t-help-it” from Dr. A! So it’s a win/WIN of epic proportions! (My Mom would be so proud!)

Then in Triage, ANTHONY shouts at me for taking too many visitors back to see their Mom (c’mon Chan!) which is sooo frustrating! As I’ve said before — working in the ER is a LOVE|HATE situation!

ER Ambivalence —
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WHATEVER! Read the rest of this entry »

what drives you?

What do you thrive on?
What’s the air that you breathe?
What needs to be part of the mix, to keep you interested?

In ACTING we figure out our character’s “Motivation.” Have you ever tried that exercise in real life with the people you know? Have you ever tried it with yourself?

APPRECIATION
Mira, my good-karma gal-pal at the ER, will do anything and everything, as long as it’s appreciated.  She thrives on smiles, “thank you,” and people who say, “you’re an angel” (even when she’s not wearing wings). But take her for granted, and she’s instantly over it – ready to move on— done, NEXT!

LOVE
There’s an Actress in one of my Acting Classes (I can’t name-drop) who is always falling in love. Se throws herself completely into each and every new relationship. Sometimes her love connections last two years, sometimes two weeks. But no matter what, she’s never discouraged in her search for a soul mate. She’s certain he’s out there. She’s so totally open to “romantic possibility” and baggage-free, I envy her. Read the rest of this entry »