Two stories that I can talk about are...

English is not one of my strong suits, but I try none the less. I have enjoyed only a small handful of the stories that we were assigned to read in class. One of those stories is called Three Fragments by Charles Simic. This story has a lot of voice, you can tell what is going through the writers head at any moment. Also, this story has a contrast of emotions that area all tied in together. Personally I think that it is a great story. What I would like to take from it is the contrast of emotions. In the beginning he is telling a humorous story about how he once had a helmet full of lice. At the end of the story you realize how he obtained the helmet and the story instantly changes moods.

Another story that I enjoyed reading was The Drama Bug by David Sedaris. This story was refreshing, it was comical throughout and had great voice. Although it was a longer reading, the light comedy and the dialog kept me entertained. From this story I want to take the dialogue. It had such interesting dialogue that kept me interested in what was going on in the story. It also added a sense of personalization, It made me feel like I knew the characters, this is something I need in my blogs.

The Three Fragments, became two.

“I told him, but does Blake ever listen? Noooo!” My friend Tom was once again reciting one of the many stories he holds so dear to his heart. This time, it was a story about this one girl that I admittedly shouldn’t have gone out with. “Remember Blake, I said she must have herpes or something! What did I say!” Every single time he tells this dumb story I always receive a lecture about how ‘stupid’ I was. Tom thinks he knows the whole story, he thinks I told him everything; little does he know, he knows nothing except the bare shell of what really went down.

After a bad break up, I went bowling with a couple of friends, who in turn invited more friends. One of them was named Herpes. (Not really but I don’t like to say her real name.) She was a short, skinny, blonde girl who by an average judgment was pretty good looking. After bowling, me and her talked for a little bit. It was refreshing, someone who actually liked the bands I liked, and who loved just doing random things for fun. Afterwards she gave me her number and told me to call. Her number was burning a hole in my phone. I so badly wanted to text or call her, but thought if I waited a couple of days she might like me even more. It was horrible logic, but it worked. We went out on a couple of dates, all in all everything was going well. Every time I looked at her I just thought that Tom must be wrong. Then on one date I noticed she was texting another guy. It didn’t bother me though, who knows maybe it’s her friend, maybe she’s dating more then one person, it didn’t matter because I was with her at that second. I was wrong, it did matter though that she kept doing it, rejecting me when I was in her presence! I was very disgruntled, I had to end! I absolutely hate it when people are disrespectful towards me. I couldn’t stand to think that someone was just using me. I remember this conversation very well, it was so oblique and depressing. There was one phrase she used that I could never forget. “All the other guys don’t mind, they know what I’m doing.” After that it was pretty easy to break up with her.

The next day I received a phone call from my friend Tom. “ Blake! Remember when I told you she probably has herpes! Well guess what!” There was no need for an answer, it was quite obvious. Fortunate for myself, aware that she was doing something fishy, I never did anything with her.

“OH! Blake remember Leah!” Tom was at it again, telling stories embarrassing stories about me, but this story crossed the line. It was the most embarrassing story about me and my ex-girlfriend, and Tom was about to reveal it to my new girlfriend Alyssa.
“Tom, I swear to God! Not one more word!” I threatened, but it didn’t make a difference.
“You see he use to have a girlfriend by the name of Leah….” Tom started his story, time was running short, I had to do something. In a state of panic I did the only thing that came to mind. I ran across the room as fast as I could, my veins were sticking out, adrenaline rushing through my body, I was going to stop him. With one great leap I thrust Tom to the floor.
“Not one more word!” He looked at me and instantly knew he crossed the line.
“Maybe I’ll tell this one a little later.” As I let him off the floor, I new it would only be time before he attempted to tell this story again.

banana phone

1.) Living in Tempe, having to drive down to Mesa to work is defiantly a pain. So I have to make sure that I have all of my belongings before I leave for work. Unfortunately, I often forget my lunch at the apartment and am forced to eat hospital food. Its even worse when I forget to bring my homework or the charger to my computer or cell phone. I even have forgot my cell phone a couple times, I use to be addicted to my cell phone. I mean I was crazy addicted always texting my girlfriend relentlessly, which she didn’t mind at all. When I forgot my cell phone it was already to late to go back to get it, or was it? I drove all the way back to Tempe just to grab my cell phone and ended up an hour late to work.

2.) When I was 16 I decided it was time for me to buy my own cellular phone. Craving the ability to get all of my friends numbers, maybe get a special girls number, the possibilities were endless. My parents made me promise to do my research and get a cell phone plan that I could afford and that included the features I needed, mostly texting. I spent hours doing my research…looking up Version, Sprint, AT&T, Cingular, and Cricket. The company Cricket seemed too good to be true. Unlimited everything for forty dollars a month! That was insane, I could text like a thousand times a thousand times and still call for hours on end. When I got my brand new cell phone from my brand new cell phone from Cricket I decided it was to good to be true, I had no coverage anywhere, I guess I should of learned more about the company before making a decision.

3.) Driving down the freeway, I grew bored, as I often do and decided to make up a game. I remember from many road trips where one person would try to find a word that begins a letters of the alphabet usually starting with the letter A then continuing in alphabetical order till Z. So I quickly took out my cellphone and took a picture of a word that started with the letter A. I sent it to my girlfriend and she knew quickly what I was trying to do and said that we would start the game once I was stopped driving, because like usual people, she was afraid of death. Everyone forgot of my sad attempt to start a fun game until the next day. While in class she sent me a picture with the letter B. The rest of the day was full of the adventure, running around Tempe searching for the rest of the alphabet.

Out the window

Starring out the window all I can see is a stucco wall and most of a tree. The breeze is gently drifting in the morning air and is gently brushing against a tree, who is shivering in reply. Occasionally pigeons like to perch themselves in that large tree, to do pigeon-y things, mostly just sit there. Everything seems peaceful outside, but in my head a different story emerges. I’m trying to focus on the outside world, but thinking of everything that needs to be done with in a couple short hours. About how I mistakenly wrote this blog late, and how I swore to myself that I wouldn’t be late again.

Regaining focus, I try to concentrate on the faint outline of cars through the trees thick branches. How day after day, it seems as if only some of them get used, while the rest seem to be rejected and set aside. They also seem to be impenetrable to the winds power, not budging an inch to the winds soft breeze. Then once again my mind starts to wonder to the night where the wind was not so forgiving. When the mighty wind pushed trees upon many of those cars months ago. Then my mind falls into the trap of school work again. How I need to complete two essays this weekend. I also need to study to keep my grades up.

It almost seems like irony, the way the world works. What we perceive and what we think. Like outside can be so peaceful yet in you mind there is utter chaos. It also seems to be ironic in the way that just one variable, such as the speed of the wind, could make so much of a difference. Every thing tries to balance its self out in the end, also my mind is clouded and chaotic right now, I am sure that it will even itself out and be focused in a couple of hours.

A Case of the Mondays

I know that I have already had three blogs about my work, but I worked today so here’s another great hospital story! Walking down the halls, often I exchange pleasantries with my fellow hospital employees, they are pointless, but some how vital to keep up moral. This day was no different than any other, walking by the secretaries desk, one of the nurses approached, with a great big smile asked, “So Blake, how was your day?” As usual, her name evaded me, but it was evident that in her dark blue scrubs she was in fact a nurse. So I dodge the whole situation by calling her ‘hey’. I inhaled and took a moment thinking about how I would respond, I started to mess around with the pockets of my very faded, overly worn wine colored scrubs trying to concentrate. Should I just go with the flow and tell her it was good, or maybe bannerific (named after the hospital I work at, Banner Baywood) or maybe just tell her exactly how its going.

Just in a daze about how I was going to answer this seemingly simple question I started to reflect upon my day. Earlier in one of my rooms a patient was under contact precautions. This simply means they have a nasty virus or infection that is easily spreadable and really sucks to get so you put on a plastic gown and gloves to avoid direct contact with the patient. This patient simply did not respect me for what ever reason, I’m too young, I look like a hippy, or whatever, he just simply would not respect me. He wouldn’t listen to the advice I was giving him, and even yelled at me to help him with his legs, and he continued to make it worse and explained to the nurse that he doesn’t like it when people just stand around, when I was literally in the middle of trying to help him. Which I really do not understand, how can you stand, sit, lay there when A) you can’t even walk by yourself and B) your wearing a dress that waves just enough to get an eye full of bottom.

Then I reflected about joking around with my mom on one of her floors. You see my mom is the director of nursing on the fourth floor, and is a pretty easy going person, so her nurses are pretty easy going with me, therefore are pretty friendly. I overheard my mom talking to one of her coworkers saying,
“Oh, there’s my son…blah, blah, blah”. Then, like usual, the person said, “Oh, I didn’t know that he was your son!” You see him saying that was a mistake, because whenever this happens my mom drops everything she’s doing to run me down and stick her face right against mine and say “ See we look just a like!” So when I saw her lunging for me I yelled across the room “No, I’m not your son strange lady!”. I was hoping that other people would be like wow that is a strange lady, since my mom looks like a civilian clothes, and doesn’t wear scrubs with the rest of us. Unfortunately, the all the nurses new who she so they immediately started laughing. Just then my mom grabbed my face and did the same thing she does every time.

I could tell that the nurse was starting to worry about me taking such a long time to respond. Knowing I had to respond quickly, I searched my thoughts for one more second.
“Well, it was a Monday.” I responded.
“Ya, same here she responded, can’t wait for it to end!”
“Ha, ya me too, just three more short hours and I’m free.”
She left with a smile, and I knew that my answer satisfied her question.