Living In the World, Not on It

There are a lot of wonderful things in life to enjoy: a good dinner out; wearing jeans to work; a walk on the first brisk autumn day. But one of the best things in life is to have my hair washed. You may be thinking, "Eeeeeewwwww, don't you wash your hair?" Of course I do, and every day. People with hair and skin as naturally oily as mine cannot go overlong without washing. That is not what I meant. I mean when I have my hair coloured and cut, the woman who does it washes it and it is... heavenly. I sit in the chair, put my head back and close my eyes. The water comes on and is adjusted - hot, please, I hate having my hair washed in cold, cool or luke warm water. She rinses out the left over colour and then lathers up a bit of shampoo and then she digs in and scrubs my tingling scalp. Ah, that is amazing. It is relaxing and invigorating and makes me feel great. It is a very personal thing to wash someone else's hair. One is not accustomed to allowing others to invade ...

Bet you are wondering what that means! It doesn't mean nearly as much as you think, Cowboy. It means exactly what it reads. In a plainer sense, it really means that this is more mindless rambling as opposed to any serious topic. I'm just going to aimlessly write and whatever comes out, well, there it is. No specific topic. There actually really IS a perfect double semi-circle there on my office chair (the one at home, noodnick!) and there is a simple and completely non-shocking reason for it. Very often, I will sit down at my computer right after showering in the altogether as it were. I use baby powder to keep things fresh and dry and it leaves a pattern on the chair. That's it, folks. Nothing amazing or abberant there. Although it is funny, one of my coworkers called me a freak (she was, in fact, referring to my eating habits more than anything else) but she was dead-on with that description. Funny, after lunch she came to my office and apologised. There was absolutely n...

Before anyone says anything, I know it's not MY ambulance. None of them are. But aside from my husband's car, I only drive either 66-3, 66-2 or on one freaky occaision, 66-4. Those are the ambulances of the Rockaway Neck First Aid Squad. I love riding. And I love driving, and patient care, and I am good at dealing with the patients. I can't lift much which is a detriment, but I can do everything else - write reports, check vitals, do trauma assessments, be comforting to the pati ent and family, take charge when needed, do CPR, use the equipment. I have been on a lot of minor calls and some major trauma and dead people and heart attacks. I have not yet delivered a baby - but that is a matter of time. So is a gun shot wound (something I am admittedly curious to see). I love the people I ride with. I am not friends with all of them and I'm not popular (I was nominated for two e-board positions but not voted in - which wasn't a surprise although one cannot help but feel...

This is a company that I worked in from March to July of this year. I haven't been there for almost six months and it is not likely that I will be back. That is not a bad comment on me, it just strikes me as a one-time experience. And what an experience! So, it is time to talk about it. I first heard of this company while I was still working for Universal Solutions. I knew that USI was eventually going to terminate its HR staff - it wasn't at all hard to see THAT writing on the wall - and I had the agency out searching for something new for me. I really wanted to put in my notice first. As it happens, everything worked out very much for the best. When I first heard about this company, it sounded ideal. I wanted in. They manufacture fragrances and flavours, and this was for the Liquid Compounding department, which made only flavours and specialised in liquid flavours, like for soups, beverages, whatever. Tell me that doesn't sound completely fascinating. They were slow to m...