funny bone

Posts Tagged ‘conundrums’

Niles, my hairdresser-bestie, and I live in the same building. He’s in my “bubble” so we have dinner together a lot. Monday before last dinner on his balcony was like any other since March. His housekeeper, Hortensia, was there cooking, cleaning…

On Tuesday Hortensia’s sister was sick, so she got tested. On Wednesday sis learned she’d tested POSITIVE. So Hortensia tested, and yes, unfortunately: POSITIVE.

Niles got tested and said it was “easy-peasy” at the drive-through set-up at the Veteran’s building, plus he got his NEGATIVE results within 24 hours.

I went to the website,  filled out the forms, watched the video twice (“don’t drop anything”) printed the receipt with my number… so far so good.

On Saturday I was psyched to go. The line was long, but kept moving. It took about an hour to go through. One of the masked guides told me to go to Tent #1. When I got there, I asked the next masked guide if there would be another Tent #1 and she told me there would be. She asked if I’d been there before.

No it’s my first time.

She explained that up ahead they’d tell me what to do… piece of cake, right? Uhhhhh… not exactly for me.

Passing a sign PUT ON YOUR MASK, I eventually I got to a window where a guy asked for my number and then attached a sealed plastic bag with the test kit on one of those extended grabber things and pointed it to me in my car.  After I grabbed the plastic bag, he told me to roll up my window, which I did.

After that something went wrong, because I followed the car in front of me for awhile without stopping and noticed that the driver dropped something in a receptacle and continued to drive on. I had no idea what he was doing since no one had told me to take the test yet and there’d been no place to stop and do what was shown in the video. I continued in the moving car line, a little nervously…

The next masked guide told me to get into Row 3, which I was aware wasn’t Row 1, but I figured maybe I didn’t have to get to Tent #1 after all.

Then, after I’d been there an hour my car line exited out! I FREAKED and pulled over to the side as quickly as I could.  Frantically I opened my plastic bag, but in my nervousness, the white gauzy circle-thing fell to my car floor. Noooooo! (“don’t drop anything.”) I speed-dialed Niles.

Am I supposed to take my test in the car and send it somewhere?!

No– didn’t someone watch you take the test?

No, and Niles —  I accidentally dropped my white gauzy-circle thing!

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dance whenever! wherever!

Loved, loved, loved seeing ELECTION DEFENDERS make lemonade out of long-line-lemons,  spreading cool moves and positivity to VOTING in Philly.  Rachel Maddow interviewed the enthusiastic Nelini Stamp and showed what creative get-the-vote-out-thinking can accomplish. Nelini’s contagious smile and kick-ass movement: JOY TO VOTERS made me want to boogie back to the polls again.

Imagine a place where no one’s asking what party you’re part of because everyone’s partying together. Yeah,  you might need to go to a SWING STATE to see it —  or you can bring a social-distancing-dance-vote-movement to your own State. Remember, the State of the Union is up to each one of us.

Cha Cha Slide to the POLLS —

It’ll make you believe in democracy again

At my hospital ER Volunteers are still on “Pause” for Covid, but this week we all got emails saying it’s time to come in for Flu Shots. It’s a mandatory situation for anyone working in our hospital, so we always get them.

Gotta be honest, going back to the hospital after 6 months forced leave felt a little eerie, like walking into a black-and-white Twilight Zone episode where things seem normal but not. Fewer, quieter people walked through the lobby. Hardly anyone was sitting. No Volunteers behind the Information Desk. Just a guard.

Masks are mandatory in the hospital, even on outside bridges. I avoided elevators, wore rubber gloves to open doors and skipped using the restroom.

A nurse whisked me through the vaccination process – I barely had time to fill out my form. Probably was there eight minutes tops, and that included a short, socially-distanced wait in line.

Thinking about everyone in the ER…

I took the outside stairs down to the ER and hung out by the automatic glass doors just long enough to wave to Anthony Chan, wearing a face shield over his mask, triaging a patient.  It didn’t feel right to walk in, yet…

Dr. A’s car was the parking lot, so I left him a cute note on his windshield. I wonder when he’ll find it…

I miss all my friends/co-workers — Dr. A, Anthony Chan, Mira, Tyrell, Miguel — even Charlayne.  I miss the patients and their families, the EVS workers, the paramedics, the doctors, the nurses. I miss helping. I miss giving hugs. I miss being in on the action. I even miss the bad coffee in the employee lounge. I especially miss the non-paranoid, non-mask-wearing me.

Who knows about Covid, but at least I won’t get the flu…

I’m glad I got my flu shot at the hospital because I’ve definitely built up a lot of anxiety about the place. It felt less scary than I’d anticipated. But not going-back-to-work comfortable yet.

So strange, these times. Fears get magnified. The known feels unknown. Normal feels like an unattainable dream…

Frontline Workers will be among the first to get the Covid vaccine. Is an ER Volunteer a Frontline Worker? Google doesn’t have the answer. If Google doesn’t have the answer, what’s the world coming to?

I sometimes wonder… a lot actually…

(I wonder how he liked the note…)

Meet Darby Carter —

Half-hour rom-dramedy at its best — 

HBO Max’s LOVE LIFE by creator Sam Boyd is perfect for pandemic binging. The series follows DARBY CARTER (Anna Kendrick) through her twenties as she navigates her career and romances in NYC. Darby gets lots of input from her impulsive best friend Sara (Zoe Chao), Sara’s likeable boyfriend Jim (Peter Vack), and the brutally honest Mallory (Sasha Compère).

Sara Yang, Darby’s fearless bff —

Sometimes you’ve got to find yourself before you find the one…

In the first five minutes we know we’re on a journey to help Darby, the wounded pleaser, find the love of her life. Darby struggles through her fear of rejection to make romantic connections, short and long — with a couple of broken hearts, flings and hook-ups in her path. What gets in her way? She doesn’t know what a true connection feels like — thanks to her narcissistic mom, weak dad and confusing examples surrounding her. What keeps her going is her unshaken belief that she’ll find what she’s looking for someday…

Augie and Darby… what does it all mean?

Darby’s love life reminds me of mine – catastrophic yet eternally hopeful. LOVE LIFE is a hybrid anthology series that turns the rom-com upside down… definitely worth watching — with unexpected twists and turns and a really good ending. That’s all I’m going to say. Don’t want to spoil it.

(Wish I could star in my own anthology series. Would definitely like to know how it turns out, ahaha.)

Me too, Darby!

It seems craaaaazy to me that humans who see dying rates all over the U.S. are arguing about wearing masks. Come on people! It’s a small inconvenience with a possible big payoff. Huge.

I talked to Dr. A the other day and he’s very worried that our ER capacity is going in the wrong direction. I’m very worried about him. He says it feels a little creepy being at the hospital in the time of Corona. At the end of each work day he takes all his clothes off before he goes into his house and heads directly into the shower.

Spikes — Yikes!!!

Yeah, our hospital and all the others in L.A. are now spiking. California is cluttered with Covid.  It’s hardly a surprise after Memorial Day crowds gathered at beaches, boardwalks and bars. Add to that the gazillion Protests where everyone yelled in each other’s faces.

A couple of days ago I got an email that Volunteers were being called back to my ER, but then today I got another one that said they’ve decided to hold off. To be honest, I’m a little relieved they’re holding off…

High Quality Masks from Etsy

Getting back to masks… if we need to wear them, they might as well be good ones, right?

I like the ones made in Japan. They’re breathable, fit well and they stay on. They also come in different sizes. And some have extra layers.

Here are two excellent sellers:

MaryRoseArtCrafts masks are high quality and fit really well. You can order them in men’s women’s or kid’s sizes. With one two or three layers.

BotanicFolkShop linen masks are so lightweight you forget that you’re wearing them (which is a good thing.) They’re very simple and flattering, plus they come with a separate layer you can add.

If not for you, wear a mask for someone else…

Oh… and when you wear your mask, please wear it the right way — thanks!

Trying to stay up, but feeling down in the time of Coronavirus. As Californians attempt to follow the rules by staying in and binging on TV, Americans in other states have things ass-backwards. They’re distancing themselves from the guidelines and binging on boardwalks and beaches which of course will not bode well 2-3 weeks from now — for any of us. Ugh.

Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but the writing’s on the wall. Just as my hospital is getting things under control, those who can’t control themselves are gonna mess everything up. They’re gonna make it a longer recovery for the rest of us. Sooooo frustrating.

Binge Shows NOT Beaches!

Meanwhile, back at the screen — here are my recommendations for binging shows. My favorites tend to be about female protagonists who keep getting in their own way and who fall in like/love/lust with someone off-limits. Big shock, right? I know, I know…

NORMAL PEOPLE — Warning: it’s addictive. Everyone who watches Normal People becomes obsessed. OBSESSED!!! Heavy emotions, heavy breathing, lots of sex and melancholy. You’ll fall in love with Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Connell (Paul Mescal) and want to knock some sense into both of them. Set in Ireland in 2010, it’s gorgeous. 12 half-hour episodes on Hulu.

FLEABAG — I know, it’s not new, but shockingly some people haven’t seen it yet. Second season is by far the best. BY FAR. Phoebe Waller-Bridge deserved every award she received. It’s brilliant. She’s brilliant. She’s the bad girl who is sooooo good. The attraction/seduction between Fleabag and the Priest (Adam Scott) is catastrophic, crushing and electric. 12 half-half hour episodes on Amazon Prime.

NEVER HAVE I EVER –Mindy Kaling’s creation about a first generation Indian family in the Valley is loosely based on her own experiences. It’s a unique, smart, coming-of-age comedy about Devi’s (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) complicated life. Devi, an overachieving high school sophomore, has a short fuse (like John Mc Enroe, the narrator) that gets her into trouble with her Mom (Poorna Jagannathan), her friends, her crush, her nemesis… basically everyone. You’ll love her “perfect” cousin, Kamala (Richa Moorjani) and her therapist, (Niecy Nash.) Snappy dialogue, clever catastrophes, and lots of heart. 8 half-hour episodes on Netflix.

The NEWS is BUMMING ME OUT. Big shock. It’s bumming everyone out. Divisiveness, name-calling, blame-gaming – it’s happening every day, obnoxiously… sooooo obnoxiously!

What happened to —

• “Live and Let Live”
• “Agreeing to disagree”
• “Doing onto others…   ???

Why can’t our government work more like a hospital?

One of the things I really like about Volunteering in the ER is that it’s an equalizer. Old, young, rich, poor, black, white, brown, yellow, educated, uneducated, males, females, gays, lesbians, gender non-specifics… everyone gets sick. Everyone has accidents. Everyone needs medical assistance at one time or another.  Doctors, Nurses, Surgeons, Anesthesiologists, EMTs, Clinical Partners, Radiologists, Environmental Service People come in all colors, all ethnicities, all religions, all economic groups, and guess what – everyone manages to successfully work together. Go figure. 

As a volunteer I always try to find the common ground. It’s always bonding in some way. Finding the common ground immediately helps the other person relax. It’s easier to solve problems when we’re not biting each other’s heads off.

Let’s bring back civility. Let’s listen to each other, learn from each other and find the common ground.

Wish someone would help us relax on a national basis, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen any time soon.

We need to reclaim our humanity and make America kinder again…

Enuff said.