Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Clinicals are finished

I am breathing a deep sigh of relief. I got through clinicals for this quarter without any problems. I have a couple weeks left of class, and then I am on holiday until January. I will be at Valley Medical Center for winter quarter.

It was definately a very interesting experience working at the VA hospital in the spinal cord injury unit. I always assumed that if you had a spinal cord injury and were paralyzed, that you also couldn't feel anything. That is true for some people, others have exactly the opposite. I won't get into neurons and sensory receptors, but essentially, a simple touch can overstimulate them, causing extreme pain, so some were on so many pain medications you wouldn't believe.

The following may have some references to poop and rectums, so it is not for the faint of heart......beware!!

I learned how to change a simple dressing, flush a catheter (next quarter is when I get to learn how to insert one....anyone interested in letting me practice on them?) I also learned how to do a bowel program. That is really interesting. People who can't feel their bowels and don't have control of their rectal sphincter can train their body to go to the bathroom once everyday or so. The inner sphincter still works, so essentially, you glove up, put on some lubricant on your finger and use it to stimulate the inner sphincter. It stimulated the colon to push stuff down a bit, so you use your finger to pull it out - the feces. Weird! Today I did it for the first time and I can't stop thinking about it. I keep trying to go back to a happy place in my head instead of thoughts of putting my fingers up someones ass............

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Civil rights anyone?

I am feeling really angry right now. I am not sure why I am having such a strong reaction. So there is now a ban on gay marriage in California. Apparently, a lot of people are mad at mormons because they were the biggest financial supporters who used propaganda to get people to vote for it. (fyi, propaganda just means using persuasive words, images, etc to get people to think the way that you do) Apparently many other churches had people donate money, but mormons donated upwards of 20 million.

Fast forward to today, and you have a bunch of upset people. Mormons, because they will tell you that it is NOT authorized by the church to tell you who or what to vote for, but will say that you need to think about what we (being the church) believe in, pray about it, and vote that way. Well, obviously it went much further than that for Proposition 8.

I am saddened about a video that I saw that shows some mormon youth at the temple in LA where people are protesting get into it with the protesters. The protesters had put up posters and written things on the temple gates. The youth tore them down, and were yelling at people for doing that to their church. They won't show what pursues because it is fighting and using bad language, but essentially, 3 protesters went to the hospital and the boys are going to be investigated for a hate crime.

So, how would a gay person like to have a bunch of signs saying that they are wrong on their house? How would they feel if people came over and yelled about them being bigots or whatever. Uh....they probably would get pretty damn angry. So I can totally see how these young boys got VERY upset. It is the TEMPLE for heavens sake!!! Should the people who vandalized the temple get investigated for a hate crime because they are basing it on religion and were fighting, or are hate crimes just reserved for the gays? I know that for most people it is just a building (the temple) but to mormon people it is a sacred building, and doing that means much more to them that an average building. Of course, on the other hand, I don't think that a lot of mormons are open to understanding how a person who isn't allowed to get married to the person they love is feeling.

I hate the whole situation. I think that anybody should be able to get married to whomever they want. Why the hell should I care? I mean, yeah, I got pretty pissed when my sister Gen decided to marry Scott. Should it be legally mandated that since I didn't agree with the marriage choice that they aren't allowed to get married? That would be RIDICULOUS. (I like you now scott....)

And I think what makes me the most angry is probably my family. I hate the whole thing about how if you are gay that it up to you, but marriage is between a man and a woman. UH.....whatever. Civil rights means that everybody has the same rights as the other. All other groups are allowed to get married, whether you are fat, religious, disabled, stupid, white, black, asian, etc. Gay people aren't in that mix. It bothers me that people can't see how it isn't fair.

It reminds me of my stepdads mom. She 'likes' black people (so she says) and says that she really like those cute girls that work in the restaurant where she lives. They are great. In the same breath though, she will say that a black man shouldn't be president because he isn't smart enough. It just sucks that people think like that. It is her opinion, but it is really annoying. And when it come to gay rights, people can't even see how they are doing the same thing. Saying, well that is fine for them, it is their choice, BUT they can't get married like me.

What I don't understand is why so many mormons gave money for the proposition. I thought that we were taught that being on earth is your chance to make decisions. FREE WILL. Taking away our free will was what SATAN wanted. So doesn't that mean that if you are mormon and forcing your beliefs onto other people that you are being like satan? I think that it is a right to be involved in politics no matter what your belief, but this is a civil rights matter. This involved not letting other people choose for themselves. It is a little different, in my mind, than supporting health care for everyone or not.

I wrote a paper about gay marriage in college 10 years ago. Interesting that the people who were the strongest opponents of gay marriage either turned up to be gay, or were trying to 'save the sanctitiy of marriage' but had been married several times.

So now all you mormon people that are out there, reading my blog (I know you are out there because my whole family is) why the hell do you care? And, in fact, why the hell does the church care? I mean, mormons have a pretty damn high divorce rate, just as high as the rest of the country. I think that 20 million would be much better spent in more easily obtained couples counseling, required counseling before marriage, and many other things to deal with your own mess. Hell, every mormon person I know who is married has been divorced at least once. So, please tell me, I would love to hear you tell me about the sanctity of marriage. Please.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Cunty follow up

So, I did consider the whole cunt thing. I personally am feeling pretty comfortable with the word, but I couldn't get myself to have Edith say it. Just not that liberal I guess

Teary eyed

How I felt when I found out that McCain had conceded and Barack Obama is our new president elect. Yes, I am a cynic and I doubt anything will change, but WOW!!!!!! I am moved! Despite all the hatrid that this country still carries around, we have a black president. I am just amazed. I never thought that in my lifetime that could ever happen. I am speechless........

Election Day

so the powers that be, and even just the way we have been raised, have led us to believe that by voting today we are taking part in democracy (right) and with the new president, 'change' will occur. Isn't that what every president promises. Yeah, the cabinet changed and the linens might change, but that is about it. The only way to change the world is through the people, not by a politician. I got swept up into the wave of Obama, and I will defend him when people start talking about stupid blacks, how he is muslim (who cares if he is?) etc. But in the end, but he sold out to big money for the campaign. McCain was okay. He has had some good ideas for immigration that I liked, but he picked a total dip from Alaska as a running mate. It just shows how irrational he can be, and we don't need that.

I guess when push comes to shove, when everybody is expecting something from this election, all it will be is relief from the crazy ads, and someone new to blame the problems of our country on. I mean, if I believed that Jesus was god and would come down to earth and became 'president', I am sure that the people would think that even he did it wrong - especially the extreme 'you name your group' people.

anyhoo. I am such a light sparkle in the dark of the world aren't I?