So it turns out that my one (male) (Tibetan) coworker has been talking some with the one older resthome resident who wants to die, since she's raised the issue with him too.
He told me that he reminded her that suffering and pain is always part of the human condition.
"That's like Buddhist, right?", I was like
"Yes," he was like. "I am Buddhist and I read that."
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018
Jokes with a (Ghanaian) coworker.
One of my dining services coworkers is this young woman from Ghana, and the other day in the dining room me and her and some residents were talking, and this one resident asked her how her modelling was going, and the resident told me that she had encouraged her to look into modelling.
"You're so beautiful," the one resident was like. "And tall and thin, too."
And, my coworker pulled out her phone and showed us a few pictures that a friend took of her, for a portfolio.
As it turns out, she had taken up the resident on her advice to explore modelling!
Later, too, me and that coworker were talking, and it turns out that she's in community college and is doing her science prereqs, and then she's going to transfer out to finish her undergrad.
"Are you thinking of medicine?", I was like.
"Yes, I think I want to be a doctor," she was like.
"You know," I was like, "That would be great. After you work as a model and break men's hearts, then you can work as a doctor and help heal them."
She *loved* that joke.
"You are so funny!", she was like.
West Africans have the best sense of humor; it really is like a pleasure in non-mean jokes about the ridiculous or in wordplay. It's very affable, it is.
"You're so beautiful," the one resident was like. "And tall and thin, too."
And, my coworker pulled out her phone and showed us a few pictures that a friend took of her, for a portfolio.
As it turns out, she had taken up the resident on her advice to explore modelling!
Later, too, me and that coworker were talking, and it turns out that she's in community college and is doing her science prereqs, and then she's going to transfer out to finish her undergrad.
"Are you thinking of medicine?", I was like.
"Yes, I think I want to be a doctor," she was like.
"You know," I was like, "That would be great. After you work as a model and break men's hearts, then you can work as a doctor and help heal them."
She *loved* that joke.
"You are so funny!", she was like.
West Africans have the best sense of humor; it really is like a pleasure in non-mean jokes about the ridiculous or in wordplay. It's very affable, it is.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
My joke with a new (Ethiopian) coworker.
My one new (Ethiopian) coworker at the resthome is like 24, and her name is "Zabiba."
Like I always tend to do with people from different ethnicities, I asked her if her name meant anything, and said that it was an Arabic word meaning "raisin."
That surprised me, and then I said that she was too young to be "Raisin," that that might work for when she's old and wrinkled, but it doesn't work now, she should be called "Grape" instead.
She laughed and enjoyed that joke a lot, so the next time I worked with her, we were talking about "Raisin" again, and me and her looked up the Arabic word for "grape" on my smartphone.
It's something like "Enab," which when she saw it she realized she had heard it before.
So, now I always call her "Enab."
She loves that joke, and just finds it funny.
Like I always tend to do with people from different ethnicities, I asked her if her name meant anything, and said that it was an Arabic word meaning "raisin."
That surprised me, and then I said that she was too young to be "Raisin," that that might work for when she's old and wrinkled, but it doesn't work now, she should be called "Grape" instead.
She laughed and enjoyed that joke a lot, so the next time I worked with her, we were talking about "Raisin" again, and me and her looked up the Arabic word for "grape" on my smartphone.
It's something like "Enab," which when she saw it she realized she had heard it before.
So, now I always call her "Enab."
She loves that joke, and just finds it funny.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
A possible theme for a TV ghost reality show?
"Hos and horror" or something like that, on prostitutes' paranormal experiences.
My one client with disabilities loves reality shows about ghosts and stuff, and that was totally her idea.
I'd watch it!
My one client with disabilities loves reality shows about ghosts and stuff, and that was totally her idea.
I'd watch it!
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
A recent dream, of my client.
The other week I dreamnt -
From the back right behind, I see my one client with disabilities sitting in her wheelchair and taking off her t-shirt. Her shoulderblade is right there and outlined very strongly, and you can see the bones around her spine, and she's just very thin.
I think to myself that I knew that she was thin, but I had no idea that she was that thin.
Then, I wake up.
. . .
From the back right behind, I see my one client with disabilities sitting in her wheelchair and taking off her t-shirt. Her shoulderblade is right there and outlined very strongly, and you can see the bones around her spine, and she's just very thin.
I think to myself that I knew that she was thin, but I had no idea that she was that thin.
Then, I wake up.
. . .
Monday, November 5, 2018
My coworkers are so much more normal now, than in academia.
My coworkers are so much more normal now, than in academia.
I had taken a few extra days off from my resthome job so I could stay at home and work on projects more (i.e., my campaign, though I didn't tell the RN that specifically), and she arranged my days off so I had them all in a row, so I wasn't around the resthome for like almost a week.
On the day I got back, then, I was walking in on the street outside, and coming towards me were two of my (Tibetan) (female) coworkers who had just clocked out, and so I waved to them and said hi as we were approaching one another, and one of them was like, "Where were you?, we haven't seen you for a while!", and so I said that I had taken a few extra days off and that I hadn't been in for like a week, and that today was my first day back.
"Good, I hope you had a good rest," my one (female) (Tibetan) coworker was like.
Honestly, it is so nice to be in a normal workplace! That interaction was so normal! Did I ever have an interaction like that in academia?
It's interesting, I've been in touch recently with like two to three grad students I know who are finishing up, and all of them are like, "F*ck academia," not because of how few tenure-track jobs there are, but how miserable the working environment is, both the short-term jobs you get while you try to finish up your degree and maybe get a tenure-track job and then, too, the tenured people you have to be around while you do all that.
"Self-centered clowns," is how one (Italian) grad student described (most of) the tenured, in a social media posting.
I had taken a few extra days off from my resthome job so I could stay at home and work on projects more (i.e., my campaign, though I didn't tell the RN that specifically), and she arranged my days off so I had them all in a row, so I wasn't around the resthome for like almost a week.
On the day I got back, then, I was walking in on the street outside, and coming towards me were two of my (Tibetan) (female) coworkers who had just clocked out, and so I waved to them and said hi as we were approaching one another, and one of them was like, "Where were you?, we haven't seen you for a while!", and so I said that I had taken a few extra days off and that I hadn't been in for like a week, and that today was my first day back.
"Good, I hope you had a good rest," my one (female) (Tibetan) coworker was like.
Honestly, it is so nice to be in a normal workplace! That interaction was so normal! Did I ever have an interaction like that in academia?
It's interesting, I've been in touch recently with like two to three grad students I know who are finishing up, and all of them are like, "F*ck academia," not because of how few tenure-track jobs there are, but how miserable the working environment is, both the short-term jobs you get while you try to finish up your degree and maybe get a tenure-track job and then, too, the tenured people you have to be around while you do all that.
"Self-centered clowns," is how one (Italian) grad student described (most of) the tenured, in a social media posting.
Sunday, November 4, 2018
A resthome story: A bonding gesture.
My one (male) Tibetan coworker taught the one hundred-and-one-year-old resident with dementia how to do a fistbump, and they do that now whenever they see each other.
"I like to have something with everyone," he was like, "so they know me."
"I like to have something with everyone," he was like, "so they know me."
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