Karma

I’m a firm believer in “what goes around comes around”.  And up until 20 minutes ago I was thinking to myself I must have done some cosmically shitty stuff recently cos the day I just had, had to be the worst in recent history.  (When I say recent, i really only mean the last 6 months).

So lets start at the beginning.  It’s wet. It’s rainy.  And everyone that owns a vehicle is using it today, so you know what the traffic is like.  So today of all days I need to be on the road driving from one hospital to the next.  Except it wasn’t raining when I left home, so I didn’t take a jacket with me.

And it’s just my luck that on the days I get to work at a hospital close to the waterfront, very close, that it should rain and howl.  I mean, why couldn’t I get the summer days?  (The whole reason I am here today is because one of my colleagues is ill in bed.  Why’d he have to get ill in the middle of winter?  I hope it’s swine flu.)

But I first had to go to my office at the other hospital.  I went there, did the work I needed to, packed my case, and made my way to the car.  By now it was pouring.  so it was a mad dash to the car.  At the car, I discovered that I had left my keys in my office.  FUCK.  So mad dash in the rain back to the office.  Soaking wet, I discovered that my keys were not in the office and the only other place it could be was in the ward.  I retrieved it from the ward and made my way back through the pouring rain to my car.

On the road now, travelling at snail’s pace towards the hospital. And there is only shit on the radio.  And on talk radio is only a bunch of idiots talking and complaining about how some doctors charge more than others.  And the damn Deejay was the one saying it, yet when challenged by a caller that his argument actually held no water, since another DJ may charge more than he does to MC an event………anyways…..thank goodness for MP3’s.

At the hospital. Had to park 4oom away from the hospital entrance becuase the construction of the GreenPoint Stadium was causing havoc even there.  400m Dash in the rain.  Pouring Rain.  Usain Bolt eat your heart out.  I must have been faster over 400m than you are over 200m.

(Running in the rain should be an Olympic Event)

Now apart from this hospital being close to the waterfront…..theres isn’t anything good about it.  It’s run down, it’s overcrowded.  And worst of all a significant female from my past works there.  Not only works there, but is part of the team I have to oversee.  And how significant?  Let’s just say I asked a question and she said no.  So yeah, I’m only doing it cos I have to.

So after my Usain Bolt beating dash for the door, it looked like I had of course not driven to the hospital but instead swam over.  Given the proximity to the sea, this does not seem that unplausible.   I got some theatre scrubs and donned them, and left my clothes by the heater in the on call room.

Some things seem like a good idea at the time.  But really they’re not.  Hindsight is 20/20.

In Grey’s Anatomy (TV Show), the On-Call room is often the scene of some heated “fireworks”.  No such luck in my world unfortunately.  Only Fire. FIRE.  FIRE!!!!  ALARM!  EVACUATION!

Shew ok, not that bad.  but it seems that leaving wet clothing too close to a heater is really not a good idea. even if it’s not a bar heater.  So the clothing caught fire.  And there were screams of FIRE EXTIGUISHER!  and the smell of burnt clothing could be smelt down the corridor.  On my arrival at the on-call room all I saw was the haze of the fire extinguisher and a smoldering mess on the floor of the on call room, and ash everywhere.!!!!

Of course no one was pleased initially….but later….I couldnt stop laughing.

Because the irony was…..today is that hospital’s 150th birthday

I could see the headlines now….”Visiting doctor burns down hospital on its 150th birthday!” with a subtext…..”doctor rejected by hospital employee”

I can laugh about it.  I can.

And up until 25 minutes ago I thought I must have done something to deserve this.  Something bad.

But then something else happened. Someone else told me they had had a bad day.  And I told them that today I burnt my clothes.  And made them forget about their bad day for maybe a minute.  I got to be there for someone going through something I went through 18 months ago.

And 18 months ago, someone else was there for me.  It was full circle.

Karma.

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Six degrees and 30 Somethings

I was at a dinner party/birthday braai event last night. I was surprised to be called by a friend that I’ve known for 13 years to come over to her new house for a braai. Initial surprise later made way for thought about ulterior motives and I slightly suspicious about the call out of the blue. (It’s quite complicated, her family links were aiming to procure my services for a venture they were undertaking, and I thought that this may have had something to do with it.) But I quite happily discovered that no-one talked business at all, and it was really just a bunch of 30-somethings having a nice social evening.

I usually love these things, cos I meet people whom I would ordinarily not have met, and yesterday was no exception. There were two couples, married with 1 child each, and then two single guys, and two single ladies.
Did someone say set-up? But actually it wasn’t like this at all and she is not that type of person anyways.

What was unnerving though was that I had to watch my tongue all evening, to prevent divulging too much info about myself and getting myself into some serious kaka. See, one of the single ladies, turned out to have met me many years ago, (I didn’t remember), but worse than this is, I used to date her sister. She didn’t know this, because she had been abroad for a good few years. And I only realised they were sisters halfway through dinner when she mentioned where her parents live and what her last name was. So there I was all evening, like, biting my tongue!

I so much wanted to tell my friend “….uhm….you know your friend from so-and-so, well you know, uhm, I used to date her sister. And then I stopped dating her, because well, I didn’t really see it going anywhere, and well, frankly, the driving the 1 hour to get there, uhm, seemed like too much effort.”

I’m not sure that would’ve gone down very well.

Then the conversation turned to Facebook. Apparently no self-respecting 30-something uses facebook mobile. Or updates status on Facebook. And Facebook is for voyeurs and exhibitionist, BUT, it’s a great tool for reconnecting with people. And did you hear about the guy that divorced his wife, because he found his ex-girlfriend on facebook?

I also discovered there were 30 somethings that had never heard of Wikipedia. Can you imagine that Nooj?

POSTSCRIPT!

OMW!!!!…..I just discovered she (the sister) got married 8 months ago……facebook pics and everything!

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The Rebirth

Comment Moderation. Why on earth had I not used Comment Moderation? 

Should we be using comment moderation. Is comment moderation a form of censorship? Does it stifle freedom of expression? Should all thoughts be expressed without any form of moderation?

We perform comment moderation all the time in our mind, only thing is, we moderate our own comments. For instance, a husband says to his wife, “Would you please pass me the salt dear” when he actually wants to say “You wretched woman, you’ve ruined my life!” Clearly had the latter comment been made he might have had the salt shaker thrown at him!

Recently on a few blogs there have been a slew of unwanted anonymous commenters launching personal attacks upon blog authors, causing some blogs to close down. Had the authors moderated the comments would it have made any difference? Freedom of speech Yes. But this is my blog Dammit!

Your thoughts? Be warned though, I reserve the right to moderate!

 

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