All fans on deck. Blog Post #28 is here and likely my last…..for 2017. Like a lot of people, I’ve been pretty busy as George Michael Memorial Day (December 25th) approaches. My discipline has been waning in recent weeks and I’ve been battling to ‘Just Do It’ and get stuff done. It’s taken every ounce of my mental strength to get to the gym, go for runs, and work on various writing projects. Working at the hospital, Xmas preparation, and all the general rigors of life have all been considered for use as excuses to stop, rest, and/or be lazy. However, despite a drop in motivation, I have stuck to it and continue to work away. Discipline cares not about motivation and how much I want or don’t want to do something. It only looks at results….sweet sweet results.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have any results. I’ve submitted a couple of fun writing projects for publication, only to hear silence. I also applied to a few new publications/websites with underwhelming response. Is that Vancouver food blog still needing someone? Why did I start this freelance writing thing again?

Oh yeah….Words, words are cool. I’ve finished a couple of projects and hope to have more “Published Works” for you soon. Patience.

Check out this George Michael Memorial Day Tree. This photo is actually taken by my wife near where we live. It turned out quite well so I thought I’d share her work here.

Looking Back

At the beginning of the year, I made some bold predictions. Let’s see how I did:

1. Celebrities of various levels will die. Yeah, I think we can say I got that one right. From Carrie Fisher, Hugh Hefner, and David Cassidy to Roger Moore, Bill Paxton, and Tom Petty (to name just a few), there were a lot of well known actors, singers, and musicians who left us. I was especially sad at the death of Gord Downie. Downie died the day before my birthday in October from aggressive brain cancer. Downie was the artistic and animated front man for The Tragically Hip, a Canadian rock band that formed in 1984. Downie was making music and playing shows right up until his death this year. I will continue to enjoy his music Fully and Completely.

2. I predicted The Weeknd’s “I Feel It Coming” would be the biggest song of the year….guess I was wrong.

3. Atheism didn’t make any real headway….as I predicted.

4. Fentanyl laced street drugs continue to be a major health threat as predicted. It’s difficult to see where the solutions lie or how we can do a better job protecting public health. Especially where I live (Vancouver), it’s a crisis that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.

5. As predicted, there were positives. We just have to focus on them. No nuclear war (tree punch), a new Star Wars movie released (fist bump), and this blog continues to hum along (self back pat).

Words of Wisdom

1. Be careful as ‘tis the season for work Xmas parties. Don’t fall down stairs, make inappropriate jokes or be overly intoxicated in public. I recently heard the story of an open bar put on by management to get staff to speak more freely about work and how they perceived their performances. One boss was openly spiking the punch with various liqueurs and spirits. Eventually, an employee was heard to say, “What kind of boss mixes five different types of alcohol at a work party?”

“Ummm….an awesome one!!”

2. Take your job seriously and always do the best that you can. I recently responded to a Craigslist Ad looking for a “Music Video Pitch Writer.” I responded with “concert footage of the band playing the song”…that’s free and just for you (self back pat).

It’s the ending jokes. Flu and cold season is here….nothing funny about that Roy!

It could be worse.

You could be a nurse.

Enjoy

At the end of her day shift, Mary, the Charge Nurse, wasn’t feeling well. She was scheduled to work again the next morning. She decided to call in sick right away even before her shift had ended as it was the best thing for her and her patients. Mary faxed her info to the staffing office and called into the Sick Call/Absentee Line to inform her employer that she was calling in sick for the following day. A few minutes later, the staffing office called the nursing station asking to speak to the Charge Nurse. They informed Mary (the Charge Nurse) that Mary called in sick for the following day and would need to be replaced. For fun, Mary told staffing to call Mary back and tell her that she had to come in because the Charge Nurse said so. Names and facts were changed for this story.
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There was a Norwalk outbreak at work. I cleaned up a lot of vomit and liquid stool. I changed a lot of diapers because I wanted to do my doody. We were often working short because of staff getting Norwalk. One co-worker called in and said she was sick when we were already short. I said, “C’mon! Just nor walk it off.” Norwalk proves that life is like a box of chocolates, you’re eventually going to get sick with diarrhea.