Aristus
Aristus's JournalSaturday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.
I love you all.
Hats off to niyad. Celebrating (what was it?) nineteen years at DU!
Officially off call now!
Let the weekend begin!
I didn’t receive any calls last night, but it’s always a relief to be done with call. Six weeks or so of restored work/life balance until next time.
Happy Saturday, Loungers!
Whew! I feel like I got hit over the head. I'm still a little woozy.
Went in to an exam room to visit with a Spanish-speaking patient. The video interpreter was already up on the screen. She was so beautiful, my jaw just about dropped. I think I fum-fuhed my introduction a little, trying to regain my composure. I kid you not, she looked like Morena Baccarin.
I'm a professional. I was able to stay focused and ensure the patient got good medical care, and I tried to look at the interpreter screen as little as possible. But it was some tough going there for a few minutes.
In order to provide a frame of reference:
With church-state separation eroding, will private secular schools become a thing?
Privately-owned and operated schools where students learn science, civics, and how the world really works, no discrimination, and no mandatory chapel?
It's an interesting thought...
Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.
Having a nice strong yummy cocktail. Vodka, dry vermouth, simple syrup, and dash of chocolate bitters. Shaken with ice and poured into an Old Fashioned tumbler.
The weekend is looking bright already. 
I love you all…
Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.
Couple of shots of vodka. Now I just mixed myself a cocktail called, I’m not kidding, a Gorilla Tit. Bourbon, rum, and Kalua, shaken and poured over ice.
I love you all…
Yesterday, I walked into the exam room, and the patient told me "You look nice today".
Why do people only tell me that when I'm wearing a mask? 
Lost another patient last night.
Cardiogenic shock. I just got the notice from the hospital. He was admitted ten days ago, and then put on comfort measures. He was only fifty.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that life on the streets is some kind of picnic; that homeless people "choose" to be homeless, and that they're living it easy, no job, no rent, no responsibilities. It's heartless blame-the-victim bullshit.
Our dystopian country is really taking it out of the young people.
My 22 year-old grandson just got a vasectomy. He has no kids, and only one (maybe) pregnancy scare in his history. But he got a vasectomy the other day, because although we live in liberal Western Washington, he's not taking any chances with the PTB. He, like a lot of politically-engaged young people, sees the writing on the wall. He senses the police state we're turning into.
Mrs. Aristus and I were talking to his SO the other day, a transgender man, about jobs and work and what sort of working life they are moving towards. (They both live with us.) We talked about the huge sacrifices Mrs. Aristus and I had to make in order to get the education necessary for high-paying jobs.
He said he doesn't want to make sacrifices, and doesn't see a potential for anything better than his low-paying retail job. At first I was a little non-plussed, and could feel myself gearing up for a "kids these days" response.
But I actually got what he was trying to say: We adults have ruined American society and the American economy, and left young people with very little hope for the future, and no hope that sacrifices today will earn them anything worth having in the future.
And that's leaving the ravages of climate change entirely out of the picture. Factor that back in, and young people today have very little to look forward to. Our desire for low taxes and a threadbare social safety net have killed their future.
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Puyallup, Washington
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 66,320
