by Ayoob » Thu 04 Jan 2007, 04:13:05
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Falconoffury', 'I') think it's time to spice up the old resume, and start posting at career builder or monster.
You need to read Bait and Switch, by Barbara Ehrenreich. Posting at career builder or monster??You're kidding, aren't you?
Y'all post like Ayoob has picked from one of several options. What part of economic breakdown don't you understand? The "What colour is my parachute" endless opportunity, American dream bullshit, is dead, and has been for a long time, excluding the top 10%, who manage through corporate ass kissing or connections to get somewhere. We can't all be doctors. Someone has to drive the ambulances.
I guess I don't meet Ayboob's criteria for posting here, but couldn't resist. My apologies.
If you do not live in the hood or work in the hood, then please do not post to this thread. Your opinions are worthless in the context of discussing personal experiences.
Today I saw things that you only see in movies. One was a street blowing with garbage in every direction, and food vendors deployed in this whirling dervish of garbage. Another one was a dilipidated shack that apparently is owned by some church or another, because somebody had appointed this structure with one sign that said something like First Church of God in Christ or whatever, and then had handpainted a sign with some kind of entirely too thick a brush and it read: Weddings Here.
Another was a guy that was balancing a 4x4x6 enormous blue plastic bag of I don't know what on his head while riding a bicycle around. Where are we, the Congo? You would not see anyone in a normal American part of the country somebody riding a bicycle and balancing anything other than a helmet on top of their heads. It is not civilized behavior to do this. We do not live in a third world country. Totally unacceptable, and should be ridiculed thoroughly.
There was one headsnapping shot of bizarreness after another. I had my cell phone camera out at dinner tonight and was telling stories, all four of us were laughing our heads off and pounding on the table with our fists at the pictures and the stories. I rack up more stories in a week than I did in a year. It comes so fast that you almost get used to it and think it's normal.
I understand the cops now. They live in this every day. It makes much more sense now.
Also to address threadbear, please do not make excuses for what I do for a living. I am investing my time in a medical career. I made a decision to leave sales and to reinvent myself in the medical field. EMT, because I could establish myself and make a living immediately. On my off time I study biology and am in a registered nursing program at my local community college. I was elected president of my class and am liked by the faculty and students. As and RN I will be essentially in a managerial or highly respected hands-on role in the medical field. With a Masters I can hang my own shingle and operate as a family practitioner, and probably more useful and advanced than an MD was 50 years ago (with the exception of surgeons). This is just a blip on the radar for me. I chose to do what I do to see the insides of the medical profession immediately while getting an education to better myself.
I end up in the hood in Los Angeles because apparently this is Mecca for dialysis. More diabetes in this area than in most, so I'm dragging Martha off to give her kidneys a break most of the time. While talking to retired paramedics and other EMS people who have been in the field for 20 years and are taking a break for a while. They can teach you something if you listen. The whole world can be your school and you can look anything up in the textbook that you want, and can read as many hours over and above the normal nursing student workload as you can put together. I have also put together my phlebotomy cert, and I understand that there is a medical center in Westwood that is hiring people just like me right now for more than double what my certificates amount to. Unfortunately, the student workload is such that I can't commit to as many hours as they would require. Until the summer, perhaps. It might be interesting to operate in that capacity for a couple of months.
Also consider that no doctor in my community would hire anyone without at least several years of experience to work as a phlebotomist. This is a skilled profession. You have to know what you are doing to draw from black, darker asian, and very large patients. Guess who you are going to see most of? I wonder. Six months in this part of town and you know what you're doing. You're not going to be digging for a vein. Then you can move on and move up.
Also, tonight I knocked one out on babycakes, a very highly paid executive at a local defense contractor who talks a lot of shit to the guys that blow up unexploded ordnance at the local military base and goes shooting with me and is generally a brilliant and sexy hardass.
I have no problems at all in my life. And she is taking me to Hawaii for a week starting very soon.
Would you like any advice on life, fuckface? I don't take any shit from people like you. I am proud of myself and have nothing but ambition and eyes on the prize. If you only knew. I live in a rich man's neighborhood. I love this place and everyone in it. I just want to give this whole neighborhood a hug. Two days ago I was driving down the street in my neighborhood and saw a large dead palm frond lying across the street. I love this place so much that I pulled over, picked up the palm frond, and moved it off the street to the gutter, just so nobody else would have to drive over it. I said that tonight in the restaurant and the men at the adjacent tables made eye contact with me and raised their beers to me. They know that I appreciate this place and will keep an eye out on their young daughters in the neighborhood. I'm a health services professional, and it is in my best interest to keep this neighborhood safe. Everybody I walk past says Hello to me, would you like to pet my dog?
It is like walking hand in hand with Christ every single day here. You have no idea how bad it can get in the hood. The amazing stupidity and fuckheadedness you find here will make you lust to be around your own people so hard... I just am so happy being among my own kind. We have such a rich history and tradition. My girl is interested in essentially taking on a role as a person in the community that would like to practice European traditions. She knows so much about the holidays and all the different European traditional handicrafts. It's really something. She weaves scarves and things like that. Do you understand that I'm totally content and happy with my life, its just that cameras are so cheap and there is so much ridiculousness all around us that I cannot help myself but document that which happens in the hood.